The matter of the Angel’s oath is,—­“that there should be time no longer.”  Here it is humbly suggested that our excellent translators are faulty as in ch. iv. 6, already noticed.  Neither the original Greek text, nor the coherence of the symbolic narrative, will sustain or justify the version.  John, like all pious people, when he heard the lion’s voice, followed by the “seven thunders,” was filled with solemn awe, anticipating the coming dissolution of all things.  It was not the only instance of his weakness and misapprehension, (ch. xix. 10;) nor is this infirmity peculiar to the apostle John; for we find other disciples mistaking “the times and the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power.” (2 Thess. ii. 1-3.) These Thessalonians had misapprehended the language of Paul in his first epistle to them, when speaking of the end of the world. (1 Thess. iv. 15-17.) To relieve the anxieties of the Thessalonians, relative to the apprehended and sudden coming of the Lord, Paul wrote again to correct their mistake; so it may be supposed that the Angel interposed this solemn assurance to his servant John, for the like purpose, of allaying his forebodings.  The words in the original, literally translated, stand thus:  “That the time shall not be yet.”  That is, the “time of the end,” as we read in Daniel xii. 9, shall not be, till the seventh trumpet begins to sound.  The phrase,—­“time of the end,” may signify either the final overthrow of antichristian power, or the end of the world, because of the resemblance between the two events.  The plain and certain meaning, then, of the Angel’s oath is, that the “mystery of God shall be finished” only by the work of the seventh angel.  What this mystery is, we will discover in the following chapters.  Indeed, it had been long before “declared to the prophets,” but still accompanied with comparative obscurity suitable to their time; for the word “declared,” is expressive of glad tidings, being the same in origin and significance as that which we translate,—­gospel, good news.  Accordingly, our Saviour directs his disciples, in view of his appearing either to overthrow the Roman power, or to judge the world, in the following words of cheer:  “And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.” (Luke xxi. 28.) To the prophet Daniel the same event was attested with like solemnity. (Dan. xii. 7.) This is the period to which the suffering saints of God have been long looking forward with believing and joyful hope.  As Abraham rejoiced to see Christ’s day of appearing in our nature, and by faith saw and it and was glad; so the covenanted seed of the father of the faithful, in the light of prophecy, and by like precious faith, are favored with a view of the certain downfall of mystical Babylon.

8.  And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth.