v. 1. new. This is the order in which that will take place which he has already spoken of by anticipation, that he “saw one sitting on the throne, from whose face the heaven and the earth fled away;” namely, when the ungodly were judged. Then the fashion of this world will pass away by the conflagration of the supernal fires, that when the heaven and Ch. vi, 8 Ch, xix. 20, Ch. xx, IL the earth are changed for the better, the incorruption and immortality of holy bodies may have a condition of existence corresponding with the twofold change.
sea. As to what he here says, whether it is dried up in that extreme heat, or whether it also is changed for the better, I could not easily say. For we read of ‘“a new heaven and a new earth” as future, but not also of a new sea. But as it is not unusual in prophetical language to intermix metaphysical with proper terms, it may perhaps be, that he has represented the turbulent life of this age, which will then come to an end, under the name of the sea.
2. new Jerusalem. This city is said to “come down from heaven,” for that God made it by heavenly grace.
adorned. For there is another Jerusalem which is not adorned for her husband, but for an adulterer.
3. people. God Himself will be to the elect the reward of eternal blessedness, which, as possessed by Him, they will possess for ever.
4. tears. So great and so exalted will the glory of that city appear from the gift of God, as that there remain in it no vestiges of old age, since both a heavenly incorruption will refine their bodies, and the
sight of the eternal King will feed their mind.
death. For he had said that death was cast into
the lake of fire. For the same sentence
understood thus, that when the holy ci
at the last judgment, pain, grief, and 1
remain in hell.
2 St, Pet, iii, 13. tC
6. write. These things it behoves to be believed, not explained, especially because he says, that “it is done” of the past, so as not to suffer any one to doubt of the future.
Omega, As He testified at the beginning of the book? that He was this, so it had need to be repeated the third time, that “neither before Him,” as Isaiah says? “nor after Him,” should there be believed to be another. And because the discourse is of the end of the world, the finisher of the age Himself, Who is called the Creator, may be understood.
athirst. He now sprinkles believers in the way from the fountain, which, in their own country, He grants to thgse who overcome to be abundantly drawn forth. And both are a free gift. For “the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord,” and “of His fulness have we all received, and grace for grace.”
8. fearful. To introduce a caution, he always mingles with the bland the austere. So also the hundred-andforty-fourth Psalm, when making known abundantly the grace of the Lord’s mercies, suddenly brings in His severe judgment, saying, “The Lord preserveth all them that love Him, and all sinners will He destroy.” And he joins the fearful with the unbelieving, because he fears to incur the danger of the contest, who daubts of the reward of the conqueror.
liars, He shews that there are many kinds of lying, but that the most dangerous and most detestable is that in which there is. sin against religion, concerning which hg says above, “They say that they are Jews, and are not, but they lie, for they are the synagogue of Satan.”
9. seven. The same preachers who inflict the sevenfold, that is, the universal plague upon the ungodly, reveal also to the Church the joys that are to come.
bride. He calls the Church the bride” aad “wife,” in that it remains immaculate, and always brings forth spiritual sons to God. Or, this is because she is now betrothed to. God, and is then to be brought to an immortal marriage.
10. mountain. After the fall of Babylon, the holy city, which is the bride of the Lamb, is seen placed on a mountain. For the stone “cut out from the mountain without hands,” broke in pieces the image of worldly glory, and became a great mountain, and filled the whole world.
11. glory. For she will then appear more beautiful, when through the Spirit by Whom her husband is believed to have been conceived and born, she has attained to bear fully the heavenly image.
precious. The precious stone is Christ, Who says, “ The glory which Thou gavest Me, 1 have given them.”
jasper. It is compared with jasper from the whiteness of virtues; to. crystal, from the inner purity of the mind, and faith unfeigned.
12. wall. That is, the impregnable firmness of faith, hope, and love. The Lord also Himself Who pro- Ch. ii. 9. Dan. ih 34, 45. St, John xvii. 22. tects the Church on every side, may be understood to be the wall, of Whom also Isaiah says, There shall be placed in her a wall and bulwark #;” that is, the protection of the Lord, and the intercession of the saints, who make a way for Him by teaching to the heart of believers.