Prophetic Expositions, vol. 1

CHAPTER VI. THE SEVEN LAST PLAGUES

The first question to be settled, in reference to the seven last plagues, is, are they, any or all of them, past, or are they all future? It is the opinion of most expositors of the Apocalypse, that there are at least six of them already executed. The time has been when I was disposed to fall in with the prevailing opinion; but more recently have been constrained to dissent from that view, and consider them what they are emphatically said to be—“The seven LAST plagues,” in which “is FILLED UP the wrath of God.” The chronology of their execution seems to me to be in the future, and after the second advent. Some of the reasons for this opinion are the following:— PREX1 175.1

1. They are introduced after the Son of man comes on a white cloud to “reap the harvest of the earth,”-the saints,-for they are the wheat. Then the vintage will come, and the vine be cast into the great wine-press of the wrath of God. Revelation 14:14-20. PREX1 175.2

2. The redeemed are represented as standing on the sea of glass, having the harps of God, and singing the song of Moses and the Lamb, before the vials are poured, out. But the song of Moses is the song of triumph and deliverance. See Exodus 15. So also is the song of the Lamb. “Thy judgments are made manifest.” See Revelation 15. PREX1 175.3

3. Another reason for considering them all future, is analogy. In the destruction of the old world, God secured Noah in the ark, before the flood came on the ungodly. Before the storm of fire came on Sodom, God, by a special interposition, and the ministry of his angels, brought righteous Lot out of the devoted city, to a place of safety. PREX1 176.1

When destruction was to come on Jerusalem, the Saviour took care to deliver those that trusted in him, and they were led to a place of safety before the dreadful siege began, and not a Christian perished there. PREX1 176.2

4. Yet again, the very first vial, when it is poured out upon the earth, will affect the men who have the mark of the beast, and them that have worshipped his IMAGE. Revelation 16:2. The image of the beast did not exist until the present century, (see Chapter 3. of this book,) and could not be worshipped before it existed. And also those who gain the victory over the image of the beast are to stand on the sea of glass before the vials are poured out. PREX1 176.3

Although the saints are to stand on the sea of glass, as it were mingled with fire, before the vials are poured out, no man can enter the temple of heaven until all the plagues are fulfilled. Revelation 15:5-8. The saints will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, to be forever with him, in a moment, at the last trump. But the New Jerusalem will not come down and the saints enter it, until the earth is desolated, and the new heavens and earth appear, and the New Jerusalem comes down. Then the saints shall have right to the tree of life, and enter in through the gates into the city. PREX1 176.4

The vials, I must regard, as producing: the same literal effects ascribed to them in the 16th chapter of Revelation. The plagues are almost identical with those which came on Egypt when God delivered his people, and I can see no reason why these will not be as literal as those. PREX1 177.1