Cassiodorus

In his own words on Revelation

• Revelation 1:4

  him that is. He wanted His eternity to be denoted by the present tense. This use of present time "today" is acknowledged to be peculiar to the divine Scriptures in this sense of perpetuity.

• Revelation 6:10

  [The psalmist begs] that the Lord avenge the blood of the faithful, who endured martyrdom for his name. Vengeance is the means by which force and injustice are repelled by just retribution. But there the prayer seems to be directed toward the conversion of the enemy. For when temporal vengeance is exacted from them in this world, they escape the destruction of eternal damnation; it is in this sense that we read in Revelation that the souls of martyrs under God's altar demand to be avenged by divine decree. This vengeance is to be interpreted as we have defined it, for saintly people do not seek a cruel vengeance since they accept the precept "Pray for your enemies, do good to those that hate you," and the like. Finally the Lord himself, who executes most powerfully his own commands, spoke these words on the cross: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

  EXPOSITION OF THE PSALMS 78:10

• Revelation 21:1

  This passage announces the power and strength of the Lord with the words "He has established them forever, and for ages of ages: he has made a decree, and it shall not pass away." This is to remove all doubt that God is almighty, for what he has established continues in being without change, since this conclusion is applied to the things of heaven. But we read of the world to come: "There will be a new heaven and a new earth," so how can one say of the present heaven "He has established them forever"? There is however no doubt that all things have been established by God. Though man himself dies, he is "established" in God's eyes when he rises again; similarly heaven and earth remain in God's sight when they are made new. Once they have laid aside their roughness or corruptible character, nature itself is made better and abides, since it has been bidden to exist in eternity. As Paul says about the transformation of our bodies: "When the corruptible has put on incorruption, and the mortal puts on immortality." A "decree" means a law or condition, so that we may realize that all things are in his power. It cannot pass away because the Almighty established it, and Truth has promised it in return.

  EXPOSITION OF THE PSALMS 148.6