426 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And another angel came,.... The Ethiopic version adds, "from the east", as in Revelation 7:2; pointing to the same angel, and who is intended: for not a created angel, as Gabriel, or any other, is meant; nor any mere man, at least not Pope Damasus, who lived in Constantine's time, as Lyra thought; nor Constantine himself, which is the opinion of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the smoke of the incense,.... For the incense being put, as it was used to be, upon burning coals of fire, caused a smoke to arise like a cloud, Leviticus 16:13; so that the whole house, or temple, was filled with it (d): [which came] with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God out of the angel's hand; alluding to the incense the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the angel took the censer,.... The golden one before mentioned, the use of which was to take and carry in it burning coals of fire: and filled it with fire of the altar; of burnt offering, for upon that, and not upon the altar of incense, fire was; the allusion is to the priest "that was worthy to use a censer (e); who took a silver censer,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets,.... Given them, Revelation 8:2; prepared themselves to sound; they stood up, took their trumpets in their hands, and put them to their mouths; this was giving notice of what was coming upon the earth, and a kind of warning to men, and a call upon them to repentance, and to prepare to meet God in...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The first angel sounded,.... Or blew his trumpet: and there followed hail and fire, mingled with blood; somewhat like one of the plagues of Egypt, Exodus 9:23; in which was hail mingled with fire, only no blood, but what was caused by its fall on man and beast. Some have thought the Arian heresy is here intended, which may well enough agree with...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the second angel sounded,.... His trumpet: and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea; by which is meant not the devil, as some think; called a "mountain" from his height of pride, a great one from his might and power, and a "burning" one from his great wrath and malice against Christ, his Gospel, and his people;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea,.... The fishes; by whom men are meant, the inhabitants of the Roman empire; see Ezekiel 29:4, where by fish the Targum understands mighty princes and governors: and had life, died; were put to death by these savage and barbarous people, who killed all they met with, men, women, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the third angel sounded,.... His trumpet: and there fell a great star from heaven; not Mahomet, as some think, for this time is too soon for him, who rose up under the fifth trumpet; nor Arius, for whom it is too late, who lived in the times of Constantine; and still less Origen, who lived before his time; but rather Pelagius, who was a man of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the name of the star is called Wormwood,.... Because of the bitter afflictions, sorrows, and distresses which it was the instrument of; just as Naomi called herself Mara, because the Almighty had dealt bitterly with her, Ruth 1:20; and the third part of the waters became wormwood; that is, the inhabitants of the provinces and cities belonging...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the fourth angel sounded,.... His trumpet. Some think this refers to the Eutychian heresy, which confounded the two natures of Christ, and of two made one mixed nature, neither human nor divine; and brought great darkness upon the doctrine of Christ's person, the sun of righteousness and into the church, signified by the moon, and among the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven,.... The Alexandrian copy, the Complutensian edition, the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions, instead of "an angel", read "an eagle"; and to "fly" agrees with either of them, and the sense is the same let it be read either way; and this angel may design either Christ, or...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Revelation 9 This chapter gives an account of the blowing of the fifth and sixth trumpets, and of the effects following upon them. The fifth angel blows his trumpet, and a star falls; the key of the bottomless pit is given to him, which being opened by it, out of it comes smoke to the darkening of the sun and air, and out of the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the fifth angel sounded,.... His trumpet: and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: some take this star to be Jesus Christ, the bright and morning star; and understand by falling, no other than his descending from heaven to earth, in which sense the word is used in Genesis 14:10; and that because he is not only said to have the keys of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he opened the bottomless pit,.... With the key that was given him; he made use of his universal power over all bishops and churches, enacted laws, issued out decrees, made articles of faith, and imposed them on men's consciences, and obliged all to submit to his hellish principles and practices; and this, as it may be applied to Mahomet, the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And there came out of the smoke locusts the earth,.... Not literally, for these locusts might not meddle with the grass, nor any green thing, or tree, as locusts do, only men, Revelation 9:4; and had a king over them, Revelation 9:11; which locusts have not, Proverbs 30:27, though the allusion is to such, which spawn and breed in pits, and may be...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it was commanded them,.... The locusts, by Christ, who has a sovereign power over all men, and lays them under the restraints of his providence: that they should not hurt the grass of the earth: true Christians, private believers, it may be those of the lower class; who for their numbers, and for their flourishing estate under the dews of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And to them it was given that they should not kill them,.... As the power of the locusts was limited with respect to the persons they should hurt, so with regard also to the mischief they should do; for even those whom they were suffered to annoy they might not kill, that is, utterly root out and destroy, so as that they were no more: and thus,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And in those days men shall seek death,.... Or desire to die, as Job did: and shall not find it; or shall not die: and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them; death will be preferred to a miserable life; it will be chosen rather than life, Jeremiah 8:3. The ravages of the Saracens, their incursions, and the invasions by them, struck...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the shapes of the locusts [were] like unto horses,.... The heads of locusts, especially of some of them, are very much like the heads of horses: and here they are compared to horses prepared unto battle; as they are in Joe 2:4. The horse is a warlike creature, swift, strong, and courageous, Job 39:21. Locusts sometimes have appeared in the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And they had hair, as the hair of women,.... Some locusts have smooth, others hairy heads (n): this fitly points at the Arabians or Saracens, who, as Pliny says (o), used to wear long hair without cutting it, and attired as women, and have their names also from women: they were called Hagarenes, from Hagar, Abraham's handmaid, by whom he had...