The King's trumpet

Front matter

Class Book____^

CJ&PYRIGHT DEPOSm

By JASPER SEATON HUGHES

Chapter I

1. The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show unto his servants, even the things which must shortly come to pass: and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John;

2. Who bare witness of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, even of all things that he saw.

3. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things that are written therein: for the time is at hand.

4. John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from him who is and who was and who is to come; and from the seven Spirits that are before his throne.

5. And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loveth us, and loosed us from our sins by his blood.

6. And he made us to be a kingdom, to be priests unto his God and Father; to him be the glory and the dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

7. Behold, he cometh with the clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they that pierced him; and all the tribes of the earth shall mourn over him. Even so, Amen.

8. I am the Alpha and the Omega, saith the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.

Johns Experience

9. I, John, your brother and partaker with you in the tribulation and kingdom and patience which are in Jesus, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.

10. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet.

11. Saying, What thou seest, write in a book and send it to the seven churches: unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamum, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.

12. And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And having turned I saw seven golden candlesticks;

Christ's Official Insignia

13. And in the midst of the candlesticks one like unto a son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about at the breasts with a golden girdle.

14. And his head and his hair were white as white wool, white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;

15. And his feet like unto burnished brass, as if it had been refined in a furnace; and his voice as the voice of many waters.

16. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.

17. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as one dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying, Fear not; I am the first and the last,

18. And the Living one; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.

19. Write therefore the things which thou sawest, and the things which are, and the things which shall come to pass hereafter;

20. The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks are seven churches.

Chapter II

Open Letters to the Churches, Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos. First Group, the Spirit Pronounces the Promise

1. To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:

These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, he that walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks:

2. I know thy works, and thy toil and patience, and that thou canst not bear evil men, and didst try them that call themselves apostles, and they are not, and didst find them false;

3. And thou hast patience and didst bear for my name's sake, and hast not grown weary.

4. But I have this against thee, that thou didst leave thy first love.

5. Remember therefore whence thou art fallen, and repent and do the first works; or else I come to thee, and will move thy candlestick out of its place, except thou repent.

6. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

7. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. To him that overcometh, to him will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God.

8. And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write:

These things saith the first and the last, who was dead, and lived again :

9. I know thy tribulation, and thy poverty (but thou art rich), and the blasphemy of them that say they are Jews, and they are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.

10. Fear not the things which thou art about to suffer: behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life.

11. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

12. And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: These things saith he that hath the sharp two-edged sword:

13. I know where thou dwellest, even where Satan's throne is; and thou holdest fast my name, and didst not deny my faith, even in the days of Antipas my witness, my faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwelleth.

14. But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there some that hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication.

15. So hast thou also some that hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans in like manner.

16. Repent therefore; or else I come to thee quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of my mouth.

17. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. To him that overcometh, to him will I give of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and upon the stone a new name written, which no one knoweth but he that receiveth it.

Letters to Second Group, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea — The Promises Were From Christ

18. And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write:

These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like a flame of fire, and his feet are like unto burnished brass:

19. I know thy works, and thy love and faith and ministry and patience, and that thy last works are more than the first.

20. But I have this against thee, that thou sufferest the woman Jezebel, who calleth herself a prophetess; and she teacheth and seduceth my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed to idols.

21. And I gave her time that she should repent; and she willeth not to repent of her fornication.

22. Behold, I cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of her works.

23. And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he that searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto each one of you according to your works.

24. But to you I say, to the rest that are in Thyatira, as many as have not this teaching, who know not the deep things of Satan, as they are wont to say; I cast upon you none other burden.

25. Nevertheless that which ye have, hold fast till I come.

26. And he that overcometh, and he that keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give authority over the nations:

27. And he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to shivers; as I also have received of my Father:

28. And I will give him the morning star.

29. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.

Chapter III

1. And to the angel of the church in Sardis write:

These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars: I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and thou art dead.

2. Be thou watchful, and establish the things that remain, which were ready to die: for I have found no works of thine perfected before my God.

3. Remember therefore how thou hast received and didst hear; and keep it, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.

4. But thou hast a few names in Sardis that did not defile their garments: and they shall walk with me in white; for they are worthy.

5. He that overcometh shall thus be arrayed in white garments; and I will in no wise blot his name out of the book of life, and I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

6. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.

7. And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:

These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth and none shall shut, and that shutteth and none openeth:

8. I know thy works (behold, I have set before thee a door opened, which none can shut), and thou hast a little power, and didst keep my word, and didst not deny my name.

9. Behold, I give of the synagogue of Satan, of them that say they are Jews, and they are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.

10. Because thou didst keep the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of trial, that hour which is to come upon the whole world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.

11. I come quickly: hold fast that which thou hast, that no one take thy crown.

12. He that overcometh, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go out thence no more: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God, and mine own new name.

13. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.

14. And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write:

These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God:

15. I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.

16. So because thou art lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spew thee out of my mouth.

17. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and have gotten riches, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art the wretched one and miserable and poor and blind and naked:

18. I counsel thee to buy of me gold refined by fire, that thou mayest become rich; and white garments, that thou mayest clothe thyself, and that the shame of thy nakedness be not made manifest; and eyesalve to anoint thine eyes, that thou mayest see.

19. As many as I love, I reprove and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

20. Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

21. He that overcometh, I will give to him to sit down with me in my throne, as I also overcame, and sat down with my Father in his throne.

22. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.

THE GREAT SEALED MESSAGE.

The high and artistic order we found in the message to the churches creates in every reader the expectation that the rest of the book will prove as orderly an array of teaching. It does indeed, only the order is not that of our books nor of the schools, but of the Spirit uniting spiritual things with things spiritual.

As we have the book, and turning over the leaves as our books require us to do, we come upon Chapter Four, after leaving the letters, and we come to a dead halt. There is no action. The scene presented is static and we go to guessing at the meaning of the symbols which we would not have to do if we would read that chapter in its proper place. It is a scene of the last state of the prophecy, and trying to read it destroys that hope and confidence wherewith we began to read those glowing words to the churches*

CHAPTER IV. The Last State, a Scene of the End of the Things Hereafter

1. After these things I saw, and behold, a door opened in heaven, and the first voice that I heard, a voice as of a trumpet speaking with me, one saying, Come up hither, and I will show thee the things which must come to pass hereafter.

2. Straightway I was in the Spirit: and behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and one sitting upon the throne;

3. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper stone and a sardius; and there was a rainbow round about the throne, like an emerald to look upon.

4. And round about the throne were four and twenty thrones: and upon the thrones / saw four and twenty elders sitting, arrayed in white garments; and on their heads crowns of gold.

5. And out of the throne proceed lightnings and voices and thunders. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God;

6. And before the throne, as it were a sea of glass like unto crystal; and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, four living creatures full of eyes before and behind.

7. And the first creature was like a lion, and the second creature like a calf, and the third creature had a face as of a man, and the fourth creature was like a flying eagle.

8. And the four living creatures, having each one of them six wings, are full of eyes round about and within: and they have no rest day and night, saying,

Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.

9. And when the living creatures shall give glory and honor and thanks to him that sitteth on the throne, to him that liveth for ever and ever,

10. The four and twenty elders shall fall down before him that sitteth on the throne, and shall worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and shall cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

11. Worthy art thou, our Lord and our God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power: for thou didst create all things, and because of thy will they were, and were created.

The result is a bewilderment which tends to reconcile us to the notion that the book was a mere ecstasy of an exile and may be compared to the heathen Sibylline oracles, as some scholars are now teaching, and that it has little or none of the authority we accredit to the vision of Paul, out of which was sprung that ministry which has so overshadowed our Protestant world. "Come up hither and I will show you the hereafter."

It is necessary to show the plan or form of the interior of the scroll to enable the reader to follow with an understanding mind. Here is a larger mold for our thought.

There are four leading programs in the interior, all in the sign of Seven, although they have eleven or more actual parts and they are to be read more as drama than literature, or like a moving picture show with words interspersed here and there that help to explain. We shall give no attention to the numerals as arithmetic, but more as the higher range, and not as seeing through a microscope as dissecting the words, but as through a telescope, not calling upon Daniel or Paul or other prophets but confining an open and honest heart and the flower of the mind to the Holy Spirit's own order, past, present and hereafter.

The interior, or sealed writing, has four major programs, each with its proper preface or stage setting, as a drama, and conclusion which marks the end of the time. The seal breaking belongs to Christ alone, and the trumpeting belongs to the apostles alone, except the last, which is Christ's own. Later, in Chs. 14, 15, 16, we have Christ and his apostles again acting as to the regeneration to be explained in their place.

The seals and trumpets are divided into groups of four and three, the four pertaining to their ministry together with Christ on earth, and the group three refers to the new ministry under and with the Spirit, which began on the day of Pentecost. The grouping of the letters and the two programs just mentioned, Chs. 14, 15, 16, is only formal or conventional to preserve the structure, like the constant repetition of "tribes, tongues, peoples and nations," is to keep the sign of four in place and to avoid confusion and give assurance.

A diagram may assist to show the difference in the groups so necessary to understand.

The Seals 12 3 4

s s s s

The Trumpets 12 3 4 T T T T

Evangels 12 3 E E E

Avengers 1 2 3 AAA

The Letters 12 3 L L L fi

W n

H

W O

S

S

H

S rn a*

T

T

C/J

T

E

E

E

E

4 5 6 AAA

4 5 6 7 L L L L

"Let him that hath wisdom, him that hath understanding and him that hath an ear hear."

TAKING THE SEALED BOOK. CH. V TO VIII :2.

It is easier to understand the Revelation to begin reading at the Ch. 5. The scene here is perfectly open to all observers and it represents that all in Heaven and earth and the underworld heard the call for someone who should be able to take the scroll from the right hand of the Almighty and to break its seals. Every one saw Him and heard the call.

No one having answered to the call, John says, "I wept much." But one of the elders spoke to him and said, "Do not weep. Behold the lion that is of the tribe of Judah, the seed of David ! He hath overcome to open the book and the seven seals of it."

If the reader has begun to read from the first chapter and had his hopes thwarted in reading the Ch. 4, he here begins to recover and expects the disclosure of secrets as the scroll, being sealed, would seem to promise.

What he sees is the ushering in upon the earth of a white horse and he is in no way informed by it. He has passed by the greatest lesson in the book already, which was enacted openly. It is the one supreme lesson. It is the lesson of the relation of Christ to the Almighty, that he alone of all in Heaven or on the earth or in the underworld could take the book, and that His power and ability and worthiness was because He had "washed us in His blood and had made us kings and priests unto God and His Father."

THE WHITE HORSE.

The white horse is a part of the group lesson. Alone and of itself, it stands for nothing, but in opposition to the other three horses that oppose Him, the group presents a broad frontage of Christ's venture on earth and his encounter with the powers that arise from the pit of the abyss.

The horse is white, an appropriated symbol, and one that is explained, Ch. 19 :8, "The white linen is the righteousness of saints." To the souls under the altar who cry to him, "white linen," is awarded, and the army that follows him from the battle of Armageddon rides upon white horses following his own, as they go to the marriage of the Lamb, and "the great supper of God," where the bride appears "arrayed in fine linen, bright and pure." His own head and his hair are white as snow, white as wool, "and here, wearing the crown of gold and going forth on the earth," conquering and to conquer with a bow that selects one here and there. Prince of Peace and to dispel all doubt of the intent of this bright equestrian, He is followed by the red horseman, wielding a great red sword to take peace from the earth, which the Prince came to offer. The white rider came "conquering and to conquer," instructive, purposeful, predictive, infinitive.

Could any one but Christ lead on a white horse ? It was from the great white throne he proceeded and his enemies came up out of the pit of the abyss called hades, led by Death, and followed by the dragonades, who come up to destroy, and the gathered saints are a white sea before the great throne.

The white horse let go on the earth came from God. He had just been presented to us as the one elect of God and who, but he, could lead in the conquering conflict of the world? Who else at that time was claiming worship from his servants, or to whom the souls of martyrs would cry?

The four, who are called beasts, and also "the living ones" that usher in these four horses upon the earth, are a unit and show no difference, for their office is one and they partake of both natures, human and beast. Their forms are the forms of beasts but they are seen at the last about the throne of God with the elders and the sea of white saints, giving honor to God.

We shall be getting better acquainted with them as we proceed. Wait.

The other three horses and riders are a subordinate unit. They follow Christ, the first one to "take away the peace" which the Prince of Peace brought to the world. He rides the blood-red sign, the color given the great red dragon, the devil, and from hades came to make war. War that calls for the black horse rider, a night merchant with scales to weigh in scant allowance what the people may eat after the war destroyers have destroyed and starved them, and then follows the pale horse and his rider "Death." Let there be no revolt against Christ being at the head of all princedoms and powers. For making this claim he was killed.

THE SECOND LESSON.

The second lesson of the vision is Christ's relation to the world powers, following the first lesson of his relations to the Father as Creator.

These four horses do not represent four successive governments nor point to any succession of time, but only oppose the claims which Christ exhibits to point out his opposition to the reigning emperors and to show the nature and origin of the world order of brutal selfishness in general, at that moment an acute agony by the edict of Domitian, Roman emperor.

Can it be possible that so great havoc has been made in this second lesson by our slogan of, "Separation of church and state?" Has it resulted in divorcing Christ from civil and commercial righteousness? When Christ stood in the presence of the Roman court and was asked whether he were a king He said, "I am, and to that end I was born." Do we resent the notion that Christ is a world power ? May it not be that in this we may find the real cause of the recent collapse in the land that gave birth to our Pauline form of Christianity? Was Nebuchadnezzar the head of gold under the older times? When we pray for the Kingdom of God to come do we expect it to be a Christian state or that two totally different civilizations can live in the same house?

The four horses present a single lesson and that lesson is that Christ assumes the leadership of the nations, "The government shall rest upon his shoulders." All human government is of one quality and the red horse and black horse and pale horse belong to all the works of men, and as the white horse proceeds from God so do the enemies of Christ proceed from the abyss, and the last horseman has the world sign of four, four ways of killing as the black horseman has four articles for sale. In other words, "Tribes, tongues, peoples and nations," the whole Roman world and Romanish idolatry.

The befogging interpretations which have been put forth on these four horses have produced a cynical and contemptuous attitude of mind toward the great vision. The visions of Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel were one, that of Peter and Cornelius one, that of Paul and Ananias one, and the lesson of the horses is one, but it is not finished. It will be taken up under new conditions.

SECOND GROUP.

We read, "And when he opened the fifth seal I saw under the altar the souls of them that had been slain for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus which they held."

With this beginning of the second group we find the spiritual world opening against the earth world of brutality and hades of the fourth seal, whence it came.

Here is bold opposition. Here is the antithesis of the two groups.

The lesson is Christ's relations to his followers. He has conquered and they call to Him.

It is not much like the order of books we make but of the Spirit. That was announced by Christ himself on the greatest occasion of his ministry on earth.

In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying: "If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spoke He of the Spirit which they that believed on Him should receive, for the Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified." John 7 :37.

Here is delay and ominous suspense. It is not necessary to tell any New Testament reader the painstaking in John's gospel to show the importance of the ascension and glorification of Christ. "I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away for if I go not away the comforter will not come unto you, but if I depart I will send him unto you, and when He has come he will reprove the world in respect to righteousness and judgment. Of sin because they believe not on me and of righteousness because I go to my Father and you see me no more."

Here is the order raised above all other kinds of order contrived by man. The fifth seal expresses an appeal to Christ from the martyrs who bore testimony to the truth of the resurrection. Their boldness before the rulers was a power that could not be resisted. But as Christ had the power to rise from the dead He was above all rulers. He had sent the Spirit to rebuke the world. His followers had followed in the way he led. They now seek Him to vindicate their preaching as by his resurrection he had proven himself able to do.

They are told to wait a while and white garments were given to them.

"Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord henceforth," so came the voice from Heaven saying: "Amen saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors and their works do follow them."

This carries us to the hither side of the resurrection and to the times of persecution and martyrdom following the ascension.

The "henceforth" points to the new era begun by the victory over the grave. The souls are to wait.

In our time, we are now after Pentecost. Christ may now be invoked, "Hitherto you have asked nothing in My name."

Three seals reply to the four out of Heaven and from the judgment seat.

THE SIXTH SEAL.

We are prone to think of these seals in terms of our own times.

It is certain that the sixth seal fulfills the promise of the fifth, for the retribution upon the rich men and captains and merchants of the world order shows they are vanquished. It is clear, therefore, that here is the justification of the righteousness of the claims of Christ and the vindication of "the faith and patience of the saints." It follows that they who live now are in the times of the sixth seal and are living followers of Christ, and those who have died in the Lord are included with those who from the first chose to "obey God rather than men."