The Expositor's Bible: The Book of RevelationMilligan, William
Philosophy
The Expositor's Bible: The Book of Revelation
Milligan, William
Bible. Revelation -- Commentaries
they that put their trust in Him."[16]
The Apostle felt all this; and, believer as he was in Jesus, convinced
of his Master's love, and one who returned that love with the warmest
affections of his heart, he was yet overwhelmed with terror. _And when
I saw Him_, he tells us, _I fell at His feet as one dead._ In
circumstances somewhat similar to the present, a somewhat similar
effect had been produced upon other saints of God. When Isaiah beheld
the glory of the Lord he cried, "Woe is me! for I am undone; because I
am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of
unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of
hosts."[17] When Ezekiel beheld a vision of the same kind, he tells us
that he "fell upon his face."[18] When the angel Gabriel appeared to
Daniel in order to explain the vision which had been shown him, the
prophet says, "I was afraid, and fell upon my face."[19] Here the
effect was greater than in any of these instances, corresponding to
the greater glory shown; and the Apostle fell at the feet of the
glorified Lord as one "dead." But there is mercy with the Lord that He
may be feared; and _He laid His right hand upon me_, adds St. John,
_saying, Fear not_: and then follows in three parts that full and
gracious declaration of what He is, in His eternal pre-existence, in
that work on behalf of man which embraced not only His being lifted on
high upon the cross, but His Resurrection and Ascension to His
Father's throne, and in the consummation of His victory over all the
enemies of our salvation,--1. _I am the First and the Last, and the
Living One_; 2. _And I became dead, and behold, I am alive for
evermore_; 3. _And I have the keys of death and of Hades_.
A few more words are spoken by the glorified Person who thus appeared
to St. John, but at this point we may pause for a moment, for the
vision is complete. It is the first vision of the book, and it
contains the key-note of the whole. As distinguished from the fourth
Gospel, in which Jesus clothed as He is with His humanity is yet
pre-eminently the Son of God, the Saviour while here retaining His
Divinity is yet pre-eminently a Son of man. In other words, He is not
merely the Only Begotten who was from eternity in the bosom of the
Father: He is also Head over all things to His Church. And He is this
as the glorified Redeemer who has finished His work on earth, and now
carries it on in heaven. This work too He carries on, not only as a
High Priest "touched with the feeling of our infirmities," but as One
clothed with judgment. He is a man of war, and to Him the words of the
Psalmist may be applied:
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