Ticonius

In his own words on Revelation

• Revelation 2:7

  "Who conquers, I will grant to eat from the tree of life," that is, from the fruit of the cross, "which is in the paradise of my God." The church is to be regarded as paradise, for "all things were done in figure," and Adam was "the shadow of the one to come," as the apostle teaches. Indeed, the tree of life is the wisdom of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, who hung on the cross. In the church and in the spiritual paradise, he gives to the faithful food of life and the sacrament of the celestial bread, of which you read, "Wisdom is the tree of life to those who embrace her."

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 2:7

• Revelation 2:9

  He speaks to every church that is poor in spirit yet possesses all things, as the apostle says, "as having nothing, and yet possessing everything." "And you are slandered by those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan." Here certainly it is shown that he was not speaking only to a special church, for it was not only at Smyrna where there were or are Jews who slander. However, it is possible that there is a double meaning of "Jews" here, either those who are openly Jews outside or those who are Jews within [the church], that is, false Christians. For religiosity is characteristic of the Jews, as the apostle says, "He is a Jew who is one inwardly, and real circumcision is a matter of the heart, spiritual and not literal." And again he says, "We are the circumcision who worship God in spirit, and put no confidence in the flesh." Nor ought we ourselves to abandon those [in the church] when they are even called a synagogue of Satan. For we know that the Lord has presented us with an example of longsuffering by tolerating Judas even unto the end.

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 2:9

• Revelation 2:13

  "I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is." This he says to every church, since the tempter is everywhere, and to him it is said, "She shall watch your head, and you shall watch for her heel." "For the world is placed in evil." Those persons are the throne of Satan whom he owns in wickedness. The Evangelist reverts to the species, for although the entire sevenfold church is symbolized by these seven locales, nonetheless certain things have occurred in them specifically which he either praises or rebukes.

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 2:13

• Revelation 2:13

  "You hold my name and you did not deny my faith, even in the days of Antipas my witness, my faithful one, who was killed among you." Indeed, Christ is killed among many, who either do not believe that he rose again, or who deny him among themselves through condemnable faults, and this is "where Satan dwells."

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 2:13

• Revelation 2:14

  "But I have a few things against you." To be sure, he speaks against some members who must be blamed, but not against those to whom he says, "But you did not deny my faith. You have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat food sacrificed to idols and to practice immorality." To eat and to commit fornication are the two principle forms [of sin] that the hypocrites struggle to enjoy, as the Lord says, "Inside you are full of plunder and incontinence and every iniquity." Idolatry is spiritual fornication. "You have lost," it says, "all who go whoring from you."

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 2:14

• Revelation 2:17

  "To him who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna." This manna is the invisible Bread which came down from heaven, which indeed was made man, so that "man might eat the bread of angels." And the figure of this was indicated beforehand in the manna given in the desert. Whoever ate of that bread were said by the Lord to have died, because remaining faithless, they did not eat of this hidden and uniquely spiritual manna by which [Christ] offers immortality to the faithful. For he said, "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you will not have eternal life in you." For, indeed, whoever at that time was able to eat spiritually, they were worthy to obtain the same immortality, as were Moses and others. As the apostle teaches, "They ate the same spiritual food." For the visible manna was in no way detrimental to those who used the bodily food in a spiritual manner. So also now, the spiritual manna of the Lord's body does not profit persons in the present if they receive it unworthily, for "they eat and drink judgment upon themselves."

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 2:17

• Revelation 2:23

  How is it that before God hands over adulterers to death the churches do not know that God is he who searches mind and heart? How is it that the church is said to know at the end of things and not at the beginning of her faith that God knows all secrets? When he said, "all the churches will know," he was not saying that the church would know only after the event but that the church knows from faith. For the words "I will kill" do not refer to that death that is visible but to spiritual death. Just as his revenge on the mother specifically would become visible, so he here promises that among all the churches it would become clear that the children of the woman, that is, those born of the same spirit, were subject to spiritual death, although they were not [visibly] delivered over to it. David also made this distinction between the particular and the general when he fought Goliath. He said, "I will kill you and all the earth will know that there is a God in Israel." … Then he adds the particular when he says, "And all this assembly will know that the Lord saves his people not with sword and spear." He said "all this assembly" because there were persons there who doubted that David could prevail against Goliath. To be sure, there were also spiritual persons who believed that he would defeat [Goliath] in the name of God. Those among whom this event occurred in their presence saw with their own eyes, not by faith. However, through faith we see God at work today, not as they did but in a marvelous way. And so, as with Goliath we see the children of Jezebel, who do not want to be subject to the truth, punished with death. We recognize from the phraseology [of the text] itself that in her children the Lord signifies the woman's posterity. For he threatened the mother with a temporal punishment that he might hand her over to eternal sorrows. However, he did not say, "I kill the children with the sword" but "I will slay them with death."

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 2:23

• Revelation 2:24-25

  To be sure, the Lord speaks to those who kept their minds from the doctrines of the devil, lest they turn from the dogma of the truth of the church. For they were taught that they should follow no man but rather the truth of the faith, for the Lord said to those who had left the faith, "I never knew you, you evildoers." For just as those who do iniquity do not know God, although they speak of him, so also God does not acknowledge the workers of iniquity, although he knows them all. In this way, the righteous do not know the teaching of Satan, although they might hear it and feel the attraction of his temptations. And so it can happen that the righteous do not hear evil things from which they abstain by righteous living, since it is written, "There must be heresies so that those who are genuine among you may be recognized." And again, "Should they say to you, Lo, Christ is in the inner rooms, do not believe it."

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 2:24

• Revelation 2:26-27

  The church has this power in Christ. Whoever holds fast to his body will be co-heir with the Lord and will have whatever the Son of man received, for "he has given us all things with him."

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 2:26-27

• Revelation 2:28

  It is appropriate that we understand the morning star to represent both Christ and the first resurrection, because his appearance scatters the darkness of error and the worldly shadows of the night are put to flight by the approaching resurrection. For, as this star brings an end to the night, so also does it mark the beginning of the day.

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 2:28

• Revelation 3:7

  "Who has the key of David," that is, royal authority. He says "the key of David" either because Christ was born from his family or because David himself foretold many things concerning Christ. Through the dispensation of Christ, as though by a key, the secrets of the law and of the prophets and of the psalms were made manifest. Christ himself attests to this when he says, "Everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled."

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 3:7

• Revelation 3:7

  "Who opens and no one shall shut, who shuts and no one opens." It is evident that Christ opens [the door] to those who knock, but to hypocrites who knock and say, "Lord, Lord open to us," he closes the door of life and says to them, "I do not know from where you come; I never knew you, you evildoers."

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 3:7

• Revelation 3:8

  The door, which Christ opened, he then began to reveal to the church when he opened the mind of his disciples so that they might understand the Scriptures. This door is never shut, by the power or the effort of anyone, which is already opened to those who preach to the whole world. For this reason the apostle says, "A wide door has opened for us in the Lord, and there are many adversaries."

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 3:8

• Revelation 3:8

  He had said before, "who opens and no one shuts," lest anyone say that the door of the church, which God opens in the whole world, can be closed by anyone in some part of the world.

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 3:8

• Revelation 3:9

  "Behold, those from the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie: behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and learn that I have loved you." At that time he promised to the universal church that there will be "one flock and one Shepherd." We should note that it was not only in Philadelphia that there were believers from the synagogue of the Jews, as we find recorded in the Acts of the Apostles.… He said to the second angel, "You have the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not." Nevertheless, he did not promise that there would be some who would come from them, that is, [fall] at the feet of the body of Christ. We believe that this will happen everywhere, since God will command his church to be gathered from the whole world. Therefore, to the sixth angel, that is the one before the last, he promised what he had indicated to the others without any promise. And so he foretells to the sixth angel what will happen before the final end, that the unbelieving will come as suppliants to the church of God.

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 3:9

• Revelation 3:10

  Although the church is constantly put to the test by both internal and external conflict, and either individuals partially or the whole generally are attacked by various temptations, yet the hour of temptation may also refer to the time of the antichrist who will come in the future. From this hour Christ the Lord promises that he will free every church that remains firm in his [commandments], so that the temptation to ruin might be recognized to be a deception.

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 3:10

• Revelation 3:12

  "And I will write on him the name of my God." That is, we are signed with the name of Christian. "And the name of the city of the new Jerusalem which comes down from my God out of heaven." The name of the church that daily comes down from God out of heaven, that is, from the church that is reborn by the Lord. He speaks of it as new because of the newness of the Son of man who is the new Jerusalem.… "Indeed, the name which is above every name." However, this name is not new because it refers to the Son of God, who existed before the world and possessed this glory with the Father. Rather, this name is new in regard to the Son of man who died and on the third day rose again and, ascending to the heavens, sits at the right hand of the Father. For it is the Son of man who said "my new name," whom [John] saw "in the midst of the seven lampstands." This Son of man is God "at whose name every knee bows, in heaven and on earth and under the earth."

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 3:12

• Revelation 3:12

  "And he shall never go out of it." The nations went out from God, and they gave to idols that worship which they owed to God alone. But "all the families of the nations will remember and turn to the Lord and shall worship before him." This refers to those whom he foretold would come "from the synagogue of Satan." For having broken the bond of charity, the schismatics have gone out of the house of God. They are those who have separated themselves from the body of the whole church which is throughout the world and who vainly glory in themselves and firmly believe that they are the whole church, even though they themselves are not everywhere. For when he says that "he shall never go out of it," he shows that at the end of time there will be a struggle. For it will happen that after unity there will be a final struggle in which there will be another separation. And wherever anyone will have been freed, he shall certainly not go out, and he shall remain in the house, not as a slave but as a son. And therefore God allowed those who were saved from the flood in the ark to go out, because until that time there was still time for returning from one's sins. However, at the end of time it will not be allowed one any longer to come out, for whoever at that time will go out, will have not occasion for repentance.

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 3:12

• Revelation 3:21

  [In the image of the Son] sitting with [the Father], he shows that the Son participates in the power of the Father. For what else does it mean that he is seated on the throne of the Father than that he is of one and the same substance? And just as he conquered the devil and sat at the right hand of the Father, so also he who conquers will sit with him. For God the Son is powerful, who in the Father is everywhere and by his own power fills the heaven and the earth.

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 3:21

• Revelation 4:1

  "Afterwards," John said, "I saw." After seeing the vision, he remembered that he had seen another. The interval in time belongs not to the events but to the visions. If one were to describe a single event in different ways, it would be the descriptions that differ in time, not what took place at one time. In this way, he retraces the whole span of the church using various figures to describe it. "Behold," he says, "an open door in heaven." The open door represents Christ, who was born, suffered and was raised. Christ is the gateway, as he himself said, "I am the door." Heaven represents the church because it is the habitation of God where the celestial realities are effected. This is why we pray that the will of God be done on earth even as it is in heaven. Sometimes, however, the church is represented by both heaven and earth, since the earth comes into agreement with heaven, either when the unfaithful are won by the righteous proclamation of the faithful, or when the flesh is subdued by the Spirit, or when the things of the earth are reconciled and united to the things of heaven.

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 4:1

• Revelation 4:4

  The elders represent the whole church, as we learn through Isaiah, "The Lord has reigned in Zion and in Jerusalem, and he will be glorified in the presence of his elders." However, the twenty-four includes at the same time both leaders and people, as though duplicating the twelve tribes of Israel on account of the two Testaments. For the very same church is established in both the old and in the new, since he shows the church in the twelve apostles, namely, the entire body of leaders. And so we discover Jerusalem in the description of the city descending from heaven. The twenty-four thrones, considered by way of a distribution of offices, are twelve, since also the leaders of the twelve tribes will be advanced. And the twelve thrones, considered by way of a mystical number, is one throne, where from comes the church. For the Lord Christ is alone the one who will sit in judgment. However, the church also will sit and does sit judging the twelve tribes, but she will do this in Christ in whom is the whole [church]. Therefore, the members will sit and judge, but in one head and through one head.

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 4:4

• Revelation 4:8

  In the animals the twenty-four elders are indicated, for six wings in four animals amount to twenty-four wings, and moreover he saw the animals around the throne, which is where he said that he had seen the elders. But how could an animal with six wings be like an eagle with two wings unless the four animals were one with twenty-four wings? And in this we recognize the twenty-four elders who are the church, which he likens to an eagle with two wings, that is, the two Testaments, upon which it is borne above, lest it be hindered by earthly affections.

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 4:8

• Revelation 4:11

  We also know of another translation: "Because you have created all things, and they exist and are created on account of your will." Indeed, all things existed in the artful wisdom [of God] before they were formed in the act of creation. However, they were created in order that those things might exist also visibly which in their natures are according to the ideas written in the wisdom of God.

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 4:11

• Revelation 5:5

  In this one elder we recognize the whole body of the prophets, for their prophecies consoled the church as they foretold that Christ would come from the tribe of Judah and would redeem the world by his own blood. Of him it was foretold: "Judah is a lion's whelp. For prey, my son, you have gone up. You lie in wait as a lion and as a lioness. Who will rouse him up?" Moreover, the same one is taught to be a lamb as well as a lion, for he assumed death with a devout innocence, even as he killed with power the death he had assumed. To death he had long ago truly issued threats, saying through Hosea, "I will be your death, O death, I will be your sting, O hades." And through Isaiah, "Behold, the root of Jesse will rise for the salvation of the people. The nations will entreat him, and his sepulcher will be glorious." For when anyone of the faithful individually and earnestly weeps for his or her own sins and recalls the promises of redemption "through the consolation of the Scriptures," [that person] will recognize that he or she has the hope of eternal salvation. As I say, by one of the elders this is confirmed with a similar response. For this reason, he mentions what is past while he is also promising the future, because in the things of the past the Spirit shows future things by way of subtle hints.

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 5:5

• Revelation 5:6

  The throne, the animals, the elders are all the church. For the church is in the midst, and he continues to describe the scene and says, "A lamb standing as though slain." For as often as Christ is preached in the midst of the church as slain, so often is the same Lamb seen as though sacrificed for the fault of the world, since what is unknown is made known to the uninitiated and the memory of the faithful is formed by a pious worship. For whenever the church, which Christ has put on, mortifies herself to the world that she might live to God, the Lamb is said to be sacrificed, as though the Head for the body. And so it continues: "Having seven horns and seven eyes which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth." The variety of words teaches but one understanding, for the horns symbolize the most excellent gifts of the Holy Spirit by which Christ reigns throughout the world in his church. It continues, "which are the seven spirits of God." For no one governs with a righteous prominence throughout the world or is especially glorified by the gift of the Holy Spirit spread abroad, except the church. As we know, seven signifies universality and completeness. And this is true, because the horns are upon the head, and so the exaltation of each church is rightly said to be placed upon Christ. For "upon this Rock I shall build my church," which is as though he said, "I shall build you upon me."

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 5:6

• Revelation 6:4

  This red horse, gory not with its own blood but with the blood of others, is said to fight against the victorious church when it is sent in to take that peace from the earth that passes all understanding. For [the church] is taught both from deed and from the sword.

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 6:4

• Revelation 6:6

  He is speaking of the church in the figures of the wheat and barley. He speaks either of those who are great and who are least in the church or of those who are leaders and the people. However, one two-pound weight is no less than three two-pound weights, for the same perfection subsists both in the unity and in the trinity. Thus, the Lord said that the leaven was hidden in the three measures of meal, showing the teaching of wisdom that from something small the whole people are consecrated by the mystical number of the undivided Trinity. But this teaches also that there is one price for both the wheat and the barley, that is, that although one person may exceed another in merit, both have nevertheless been redeemed by one price.

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 6:6

• Revelation 6:8

  There are two parts in the world, that which belongs to God and that of the devil. That which belongs to the devil is further divided into three parts, which are both within and outside [the church]. These are the Gentiles, false brothers and those separated by open error or schism. And these three parts are those that war against the one. This one is said to consist of three fourths, either because it believes in the threefold unity or because it is distinguished into orders by the goodly variation of three vocations, that of the virgins, of the widows and of the married. He says that now power is given in these three fourths. He speaks of the church which is one, and because the threefold vocation relates to one head, it consists from the three fourths in the stability of a square. As it says, "built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone." He foretells that the church will be placed into stress by the attacks of evil people, from the Gentiles, from false brothers and by heretical depravity. And this is also to be recognized in the number of the messengers, that the very same good would oppose three evil enemies—the red horse with the sword, the second, black horse with the balance, and the third, pale horse with the sign of death, for the sword signifies war, the black horse famine and the pale horse death. And since he mentions the plagues one by one, he foretells all the future outbreaks of plagues by enumerating them in or through the third, the names of the beasts being added. We may remain undecided whether the speech is literal or figurative. For a visible sword is commonly used against the body, while a spiritual sword is used against the soul. Similarly concerning famine, it can mean here either a famine of the Word of God or a famine that affects the body. And likewise concerning death, it can here mean either eternal death that affects souls or that temporal death that concerns bodies. Nonetheless, it is clear that the fourth good part, which is opposed by the three evils, is made to struggle in time by all of these visible persecutions. For those who are called according to the purpose of the will of God shall remain in the perfect number of the elect, especially those whom he wills to be preserved by the inviolate sacraments of the wine and oil. For when he said, "Do not harm the wine and oil," he was indicating the price of redemption in the wine and the anointing of baptism in the oil. Indeed, the Lord clearly said in the Gospel, "Father, those whom you have given to me, I have guarded, and none of them is lost but the son of perdition."

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 6:8

• Revelation 6:12

  In the sixth seal we recognize the sixth age of the world. Toward the conclusion of this age the last persecution will come, and it says that the vehement shock of this persecution will shake the whole world like an earthquake. The sun and the moon are Christ and the church. The sun is said to become black, because many will be terrified at the last persecution and will deny them. It says, "Even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, for the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, so that the brightness of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, might not shine." And therefore it says, "so that even the elect, if possible, are led into error." In this manner is the sun said to become black, when the power of Christ is hidden, or doctrine is obscured for a time, or defense is delayed when the impious are allowed to attack the saints. And therefore the prophet says, "Shall you leave this unnoticed, that the impious swallows the righteous?" And indeed of Christ himself we read, "Behold, this child is set for the fall and resurrection of many, and for a sign that is spoken against." In him some make progress; others, turning away from him, incur ruin. "The moon turned to blood." It is usually foretold that the church will shed more blood for Christ when the great outbreak of persecutions occurs. Therefore, this speaks of her own blood, not the blood of another as was the case with the red horse, which was described as red with another's blood.

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 6:12

• Revelation 6:13

  The stars signify those in the church who for a time seem, according to human opinion, to stand out from the number of the elect, but who, when the fury of a sharp persecution comes near, are said to fall from their high status as though from heaven. The Lord foretold this in the Gospel, saying, "For then there will be tribulation such as has never been or shall be. And unless those days had been shortened, no flesh would have been saved. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be shortened." The tree represents the church, and the sour fruit, which another translation calls "unripened," represents people. The winds are the turbulent turmoil of persecution by which people are shaken and fall from the church. And it is proper that they are compared with the unripened fruit of the fig tree. For they are either unfaithful and, "twisted like a deceitful bow," prefer this to the faith that they have abandoned, or because of the immaturity of the time the church suffers in them a tearful miscarriage, although it had sought for a happy birth at their conception.

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 6:13

• Revelation 6:14

  The church is also symbolized in the mountains and in the islands, for she is a "city set on a hill" on account of "the mountains round about." And we read, "also among the islands of the sea [is] the name of the Lord God of Israel" which foretells that impelled by persecution she will be moved from her place. This is to be applied to both parts [of the church], among the good she is cautious and is moved by flight, among the evil she is moved by a perverse will and is turned into something worse, as it is said, "I shall move your candlestick from its place."

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 6:14

• Revelation 6:14

  Rightly does he suggest that the heaven, that is, the church, withdrew like a scroll rolled out rather than as a scroll rolled up. For whatever is rolled up cannot ever be known by anyone, while that which is rolled out is uncovered ever more. And so when these things have been made manifest, [the church] withdraws and prudently avoids persecution, so that concealed from those outside she might not be seen. But through the unity of the Spirit she is wholly known to herself—that is, to her own to whom it is given to believe. And [the church] is cautious towards those who are not known and toward the stranger, and she hides herself through a spirit of discretion, lest becoming known she be betrayed. Therefore, John wrote, "Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are of God."

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 6:14

• Revelation 7:16

  They will not hunger because they are fed by the living Bread. He said, "I am the living Bread who comes came down from heaven." Nor will they thirst, for they will drink from a cup so excellent that it will be for them what the Truth said, "Whoever believes in me shall never thirst," and again, "Whoever drinks from the water that I shall give him, it will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." Nor will the sun strike them, nor will they be burned by the deadly heat of its fire. God promised something similar to his church through Isaiah, "A shelter from the storm, shade from the heat." He proclaims that the strength of his sacraments will be strong in those who belong to him and that they will not be vexed by the heat of temptation.

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 7:16

• Revelation 7:17

  Earlier he had said that the Lamb seated on the throne received the book. Now he says that the Lamb in the midst of the throne rules them. In this way he teaches that there is one throne for the Father and the Son, since the Father is in the Son, and the Son in the Father, that is, in the midst of the church, in which the one God, the entire Trinity, dwells through faith.

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 7:17

• Revelation 7:17

  All of these things will happen to us spiritually when sins have been forgiven and we rise to life, that is, when the "old man has been stripped off and we have put on Christ" and are filled "with the joy of the Holy Spirit." For this is the life that the Lord promised to his church when he said, "Behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and my people a joy. I will rejoice over Jerusalem, and be glad in my people; no more will be heard in it the sound of weeping or the cry of distress."

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 7:17

• Revelation 8:1

  "In heaven" means in the church. The silence for half an hour shows the beginning of the eternal rest.

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 8:1

• Revelation 8:2

  In the seven angels we shall recognize again the church according to that rule that indicates that universality is often to be acknowledged in the number seven. [The church] is said to have received a most powerful trumpet of proclamation by which she is strong and by which, we believe, every age comes to faith. For we read, "Life up your voice like a trumpet."

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 8:2

• Revelation 8:3-4

  The seven angels received trumpets, and another [angel], it says, came. One might think that this one came after the seven angels, although he saw all of this at one time. As the angel was coming, those seven received their trumpets, that is, when Christ the Lord was coming, his church received the power to preach. And we understand that he himself came over the altar, that is, over the church, which is wholly assumed as the body of the same priesthood and to whom Peter said, "[You are] a holy nation, a chosen race, a royal priesthood." He had a golden censer, which is his immaculate body that was conceived by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit and that he offered as an oblation and sweet-smelling sacrifice to God for the redemption of the world and through which he cleansed the conscience of all from dead works. He is also said to have received the prayers of the saints and to have offered them, for through him the prayers of all are able to come to God in an agreeable manner.

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 8:3

• Revelation 8:5

  The Lord received his body, that is, the church, and filled her with fire from the altar to accomplish the Father's will. This is to say that he filled [the church] with the power of loosing and of binding, which consists in sacrifices and the propitiation of God. Therefore, it is also said, "Who makes the winds his messengers and burning fire his ministers." For in them the church received all power in heaven and on earth, while she perfected the sacrifice of God, first of all the Lord offering up himself and the saints presenting their own bodies as a living and holy sacrifice. And he cast it upon the earth, for through the preaching of the church knowledge of the future judgment comes to the world, as Zechariah says, "I will place the officers of Judah as a flaming fire." … "And there were thunders and voices and lightning and earthquakes." All of these things are spiritual and have to do with the church. The voices are of those who reproach and who threaten, the "broods of vipers" and following. Or, [the voices say], "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." The thunder is the proclamation of the Christian faith; the lightning represents the virtues of those have have been made whole; the earthquakes are persecutions that are foretold to come and that are suffered at various times.

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 8:5

• Revelation 8:6

  The church, often indicated by the number seven, prepared herself for faithful preaching.

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 8:6

• Revelation 8:7

  A third of the earth and the trees and all the grass is said to be burned up. The "earth" represents everything terrestrial, while persons who wave about through unfaithfulness are depicted as "trees." For those blown about by "every wind of doctrine" are mentioned by the apostle Jude, "fruitless trees in late autumn, uprooted, twice dead." The green grass represents flesh fattened with luxury, for "all flesh is grass." Although in an earlier passage three fourths were set against one, that is, the church, this passage confines those opposed to the church to two thirds. One third consists of the false brothers who are mixed in among the good within the church, and another third that is separated by the error of the Gentiles or by heretical depravity or by open schism. And so the church (namely, the one third) must struggle against a double evil, as though it were simplicity resisting duplicity. It is as we read in the Gospel that a king with ten thousand went out to war against twenty thousand. And God did make a promise concerning this through Zechariah, saying, "In the whole land, says the Lord, two thirds shall be dispersed and perish, and one third shall remain in it; and I shall lead the third part through fire, and I shall refine them as one refines silver, and I shall test them as gold is tested. It shall call my name, and I will answer them and say, 'You are my people,' and they will say, 'The Lord is my God.' "

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 8:7

• Revelation 8:7

  The "trees" and the "earth" represent people who are the internal enemies of the church and whom [God] shall punish by a future judgment to everlasting punishment. The "grass" represents the flesh, which is fattened through the vices of sins and whose strength and beauty have dried through the heat of the sun. To be sure, the third part which it said was destroyed by being burned up refers to the heretics. For anyone who is found outside of the true church shall be condemned to perpetual torments, along with the devil, who is the author of such division. And so through Zechariah the Lord promised to strike the false shepherds and to free his sheep from their difficulties and to separate the third part, which he says is like the nations and "Sodom," from the midst of his sheep, that is, from the midst of the pious. "Awake, O sword," it says, "against the shepherds and those who are next to me, says the Lord Almighty. Strike the shepherds and scatter the sheep," that is, my people. "And I shall test it as gold is tested. It will call me and I will answer it and say, 'You are my people,' and it will say 'You are my God.' " Before this separation occurs, all are regarded as the people of God. However, after the separation has happened, then it will become apparent who are the people of God and who are of the devil.

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 8:7

• Revelation 8:7

  By the fire and blood he signifies the wrath of God, which devours the multitude of the impious.

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 8:7

• Revelation 8:8

  He speaks of the devil as a burning mountain, for he consumed those near to him as though he were a fire. He is called "great" because he is one angel among others and is himself a creature.… He calls the world a "sea," in which he saw the devil who had been cast down from heaven as a burning fire.

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 8:8-9

• Revelation 8:9

  Another edition has the reading "[a third of] those who have souls" and shows thereby that they have died a spiritual death, similar to that which the apostle said about the widow, "She who is self-indulgent is dead." And so the passage suggests that one third has killed another third by a poisonous tradition and by imitation of a useless teaching.

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 8:8-9

• Revelation 8:9

  When he speaks customarily of the part that has a soul, he refers to persons who are spiritually dead and separated from the kingdom of God. "And a third of the birds fell to the ground." Therefore, that third that died in the sea destroyed by its own death another third. He is describing the devil and those who are of one mind with the devil, who after the manner of birds fly around and deceive or wish to deceive all by their trickery.

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 8:9

• Revelation 8:10

  The "great star" is the devil, of whom the Lord spoke in the Gospel, "I saw Satan fall from heaven as fire or lightning." It is possible that this passage also refers to ecclesiastical people, who living the spiritual life in the church, have become forgetful of themselves and like animals bend down to the things of the earth and fall from their positions of authority. We read what has been written of such persons: "Although he is in honor, he does not understand; he is compared to the senseless cattle and has become like them."

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 8:10

• Revelation 8:11

  The rivers and fountains of waters signify the teachers of the divine Scriptures who instruct others but turn themselves away from the way of truth. Indeed, the name Wormwood indicates either the bitterness or the sweetness of sins, which give a present sweetness to those who desire them but afterwards change themselves into bitterness.

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 8:11

• Revelation 8:12

  The sun, moon and stars represent the church, a third part of which is struck. This third is a designation, not a quantity. For there are two peoples within the church, that part of God, which is compared with the light, and that part of the devil, which is surrounded by the darkness of shadows, as the Scripture says, "I have compared your mother to the night." And this part was struck so that it might become apparent who is of God and who of the devil. It has been given over to its own sins and desires, so that their faults that have remained hidden and unknown to all might be revealed.

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 8:12

• Revelation 8:13

  The eagle that he saw flying in mid-heaven is the Word of God, which has free course in the middle of the church and announces openly and publicly the plagues of the last time.

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 8:13

• Revelation 9:1

  In this star he speaks of the body of those many persons who have fallen from heaven through agreement [with the devil].… We ought to understand the key to the pit to be false teachings that confine those within it in such a way that they are not able to look upon the light of truth. And so the devil fell from heaven and received the key to the pit, and [he] opened his mouth in blasphemy and taught his followers not to do the will of God but to do their own will.

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 9:1

• Revelation 9:2

  "He opened the shaft of the pit" means that he revealed his own heart and taught people to sin without any fear or shame. "And smoke arose from the pit," that is, from the heart of a blasphemous people which also persecutes the church. "And the sun and air were darkened by the smoke of the pit." The sins that people constantly commit through the world obscure among them the sun of faith and of righteousness and in some produce a blindness so that they do not see the light of truth. "As smoke from a great furnace." This smoke that precedes the fire of the furnace generally refers to the last persecution, for the earlier persecution burns against the church, and then the crowd of hypocrites and unbelievers will be manifested. And outside [the church] the insanity of many caused by this smoke is already advanced.

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 9:2

• Revelation 9:3

  In the locusts he signifies spiritual and adversarial powers that we see flying around in the air in the manner of locusts for the purpose of harming humankind.

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 9:3

• Revelation 9:6

  They say that death is a rest. And so, they seek death, not that they may die but that they might have rest from evil things while the evil vices die away. They desired to die, that is, that they might die to the world and, as the apostle says, live again to God. "They seek death but will not find it," it says. They desire to be changed to better things, so that they might have rest after the labor of sins.… Therefore, "death will flee" while life is close by and we are truly dying while we are being freed from the chains of sins.

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 9:6

• Revelation 9:7-8

  In the image of the horses he shows the suddenness of persecution that runs around so that it might oppress the innocent and obstruct [their path] to the celestial kingdom.… We recall that it was written that upon the heads of the twenty-four elders, who were a figure of the church, there were crowns of gold. However, these [locusts] do not present a true figure of the church but one only by way of pretense, and so they are not said to have crowns of true gold but crowns similar to gold.… Likewise, they are not perfect human beings but like human beings.… And by the hair he speaks not only of the effeminacy and laxity of women, but he speaks of those from either sex who are given to wantonness and are stained by every baseness.… [By the teeth like lions' teeth] they daily devour the church.

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 9:7-8

• Revelation 9:9-10

  By the "tails" he speaks of the leaders who have fallen away from the Head of the church, that is, from the Lord, and so those who were the first have become the last. This is as God thought it worthy to say through Isaiah, "The elders who are honored and admired are the head; and the prophet who teaches iniquity is the tail." Therefore, the "power" of the locusts refers to the character of the false prophets who never desist from attacking the true church by their lying and venomous doctrines.

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 9:10

• Revelation 9:11

  [The angel of the bottomless pit] is the devil, who possesses his great power among the kings of the world.

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 9:11

• Revelation 9:13

  When it says that the first woe has passed and the trumpet of the sixth angel has sounded, it announces the final preaching, that of the sixth age.

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 9:13

• Revelation 9:14

  In these four angels that are bound at the Euphrates River we understand those adversaries that God will command to be loosed for the testing of his church. To be sure, this passage shows that the winds and the angels are the same thing, for it said that the winds were held back by the angels and now that the angels are to be loosed by an angel. "Loose," it says, "the four angels at the great river Euphrates." Those whom above it said were at the "four corners of the earth" it now says are bound "at the river Euphrates." The river Euphrates indicates a people that persecutes [the church]. In this people, Satan and his will are bound, lest he should accomplish whatsoever he desires before it is time. The Euphrates is in the land of Babylon, of which the prophet Jeremiah testifies as follows, "This says the Lord" concerning this Euphrates, "This is the day of the Lord God of hosts, so that he might avenge himself on his foes, and the sword shall devour and be sated and drink its fill of their blood. For the sacrifice to the Lord of hosts is in the north country by the river Euphrates." He speaks of sacrifice, but that of strangled animals, not of praise. And Isaiah said, "The sword of the Lord is sated on blood, it is gorged with the fat of goats and rams, for the sacrifice of the Lord is in Bosor and a great slaughter in Idumea." Bosor and Idumea are cities of Esau, who by persecution forced his brother, Jacob, to flee from his father's lands.

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 9:14

• Revelation 10:1

  In this angel the person of our Savior is indicated. On his body he wears the church as though she were a cloud. For the church was constituted in the body of Christ and is often described in diverse manners. At times we read of her as a cloud, as a robe, as the sun, as the moon and as clothes white as snow. And even the saints are compared with clouds, as we read in the prophet Isaiah, "These are they who will fly as the clouds." To be sure, the cloud with which he is clothed is his body, which was conceived by the Holy Spirit. The "rainbow over his head" indicates the promise and the perseverance of his church. "His face was like the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire." There is here a great and marvelous plan, so that at the beginning of this book he might show the fire of the last persecution and afterward might indicate the future brightness of the saints as a fire. For at first he spoke of "his feet as refined in a furnace," and afterward he describes his face "as the shining in full strength." That he might show how great is the brightness of the church, he now mentions the face before the feet, which are refined, and afterward compares his feet with pillars of fire.

  COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 10:1