Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

“If anyone is destined for captivity, into captivity he will go; if anyone is to die by the sword, by the sword he must be killed.”

“Here--"Herein": in bearing their appointed sufferings lies the patient endurance . . . of the saints. This is to be the motto and watchword of the elect during the period of the world kingdom.”

Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. This beast had two horns like a lamb, but spoke like a dragon.

“As the first beast was like the Lamb in being, as it were, wounded to death, so the second is like the Lamb in having two lamb-like horns (its essential difference from the Lamb is marked by its having TWO, but the Lamb SEVEN horns…”

And this beast exercised all the authority of the first beast and caused the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose mortal wound had…

“Christ's three offices are thus perverted: the first beast is the false kingship; the harlot, the false priesthood; the second beast, the false prophet. The beast is the bodily, the false prophet the intellectual, the harlot the spiritual power of Antichristianity [AUBERLEN].”

And the second beast required all people small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their forehead,

“Contrast God's seal and name in the foreheads of His servants, Re 7:3; 22:4; and Ga 6:17, "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus," that is, I am His soldier and servant.”

so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark—the name of the beast or the number of its name.

“The "mark" (Greek, "charagma") and "name" are one and the same. The first two radical letters of Christ (Greek, "Christos"), Ch and R, are the same as the first two of charagma, and were the imperial monogram of Christian Rome.”

so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark—the name of the beast or the number of its name.

“And--So A, B, and Vulgate read. C, IRENÆUS, 316, Coptic, and Syriac omit it. might buy--Greek, "may be able to buy." the mark, or the name--Greek, "the mark (namely), the name of the beast."”

Then I looked and saw the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him 144,000 who had His name and His Father’s name written on their foreheads.

“As the 144,000 of Israel are "the first-fruits" (Re 14:4), so "the harvest" (Re 14:15) is the general assembly of Gentile saints to be translated by Christ as His first act in assuming His kingdom, prior to His judgment (Re 16:17-21, the last seven vials)…”

And no lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless.

“Joh 1:47. for--So B, Syriac, Coptic, ORIGEN, and ANDREAS read. But A and C omit. without fault--Greek, "blameless": in respect to the sincerity of their fidelity to Him.”

And he said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come.

“Fear God--the forerunner to embracing the love of God manifested in the Gospel. Repentance accompanies faith. give glory to him--and not to the beast (compare Re 13:4; Jer 13:16). the hour of his judgment--"The hour" implies the definite time.”

Then a second angel followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, who has made all the nations drink the wine of the passion of her immorality.”

“A, Vulgate, Syriac, and ANDREAS support the second "is fallen." But B, C, and Coptic omit it. that great city--A, B, C, Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic omit "city." Then translate, "Babylon the great." The ulterior and exhaustive fulfilment of Isa 21:9. because--So ANDREAS.”

he too will drink the wine of God’s anger, poured undiluted into the cup of His wrath.

“The same--Greek, "he also," as the just and inevitable retribution. wine of . . . wrath of God-- (Ps 75:8).”

Here is a call for the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

“Here, &c.--resumed from Re 13:10; see on Re 13:10. In the fiery ordeal of persecution which awaits all who will not worship the beast, the faith and patience of the followers of God and Jesus shall be put to the test, and proved.”

And I heard a voice from heaven telling me to write, “Blessed are the dead—those who die in the Lord from this moment on.”

“22:17; and in the saints, 2Co 5:5; All "God's promises in Christ are yea" (2Co 1:20). unto me--omitted in A, B, C, Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic.”

Then another angel came out of the temple, crying out in a loud voice to the One seated on the cloud, “Swing Your sickle and reap, because the time has…

“By the harvest-reaping the elect righteous are gathered out; by the vintage the Antichristian offenders are removed out of the earth, the scene of Christ's coming kingdom.”

So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and gathered the grapes of the earth, and he threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath.

“"The vine" is what is the subject of judgment because its grapes are not what God looked for considering its careful culture, but "wild grapes" (Isa 5:1-30).”

And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, beside which stood those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name.

“It has a pregnant sense: "standing" implies rest, Greek "epi" with the accusative case implies motion "towards." Thus the meaning is, Having come TO the sea, and now standing AT it.”

and they sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb: “Great and wonderful are Your works, O Lord God Almighty!

“The point at issue in the Lord's controversy with the earth is, whether He, or Satan's minion, the beast, is "the King of the nations"; here at the eve of the judgments descending on the kingdom of the beast, the transfigured saints hail Him as…”

Who will not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy.

“The present preaching of the Gospel is gathering out the elect remnant; meanwhile "the mystery of iniquity" is at work, and will at last come to its crisis; then shall judgment descend on the apostates at the harvest-end of this age (Greek, Mt 13:39, 40)…”

After this I looked, and the temple—the tabernacle of the Testimony—was opened in heaven.

“So Re 11:19; compare Re 16:17. "The tabernacle of the testimony" appropriately here comes to view, where God's faithfulness in avenging His people with judgments on their foes is about to be set forth.”

And out of the temple came the seven angels with the seven plagues, dressed in clean and bright linen and girded with golden sashes around their chests.

“But A, C, and Vulgate, "a stone." On the principle that the harder reading is the one least likely to be an interpolation, we should read, "a stone pure ('and' is omitted in A, B, C, and ANDREAS), brilliant" (so the Greek): probably the diamond.”

So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and loathsome, malignant sores broke out on those who had the mark of the beast and worshiped…

“The very same Greek word is used in the Septuagint as here, Greek, "helkos." The reason why the sixth Egyptian plague is the first here is because it was directed against the Egyptian magicians, Jannes and Jambres, so that they could not stand before Moses…”

And the second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it turned to blood like that of the dead, and every living thing in the sea died.

“But A, C, and Vulgate omit it. upon--Greek, "into." became as . . . blood--answering to another Egyptian plague. of a dead man--putrefying. living soul--So B and ANDREAS.”

Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was given power to scorch the people with fire.

“But A, B, C, Vulgate, and Syriac omit it. upon--not as in Re 16:2, 3, "into." sun--Whereas by the fourth trumpet the sun is darkened (Re 8:12) in a third part, here by the fourth vial the sun's bright scorching power is intensified.”

And the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness, and men began to gnaw their tongues in anguish

“Or, as "gnashing of teeth" is one of the accompaniments of hell, so this "gnawing of their tongues" is through rage at the baffling of their hopes and the overthrow of their kingdom.”

And the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings of the East.

“Israel's promotion to the priest-kingdom after Pharaoh's downfall, and at the Lord's descent at Sinai to establish the theocracy, typifies the restored kingdom of Israel at the Lord's more glorious descent, when Antichrist shall be destroyed utterly.”