And by this mighty angel . . . he signifies our Lord. By the words his face was as the sun he indicates the resurrection. By the rainbow over his head the seer indicates the judgment, which has occurred or will occur.

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.^[1] 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,^[2] and afterward he describes his face as the shining in full strength.^[3] 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.

He says, I saw an angel descending from heaven. The angel comes with various forms of punishment against those who were still alive and even though they had heard or seen the torments of the sinners had nonetheless not repented but had remained in their wickedness. His appearance and equipment were as follows. He was wrapped in a cloud. The cloud signifies the formlessness and invisibility of the holy angels, for the cloud is a symbol of invisibility, as the prophet clearly indicates when he speaks of the invisibility of God, saying, A cloud and deep darkness were around him.^[1] And a rainbow was over his head. This is as though he had said, The primary and distinctive feature of the good angels is brightness, for they are angels of light. And his face was as the sun, it says. This is a demonstration of unmixed brightness. While the rainbow grants a brightness and is indicative of that brightness that comes through virtues—for that reason, the brightness of the rainbow is not uniform but is varied, signifying all the virtues of the angels—the sun is symbolic of their natural brilliance. Therefore, he was wrapped in a rainbow—for the virtues are around us—but his face resembled the sun, for in us there is every natural excellence. And his feet were like pillars of fire. Fire symbolizes that punishment that he brought against the impious.

He sees the Lord Christ coming down from heaven dressed in a cloud, which is the church. Or, he is clothed by the cloud of his flesh, which is elsewhere said to be a new bride who descends from heaven,^[1] or as Daniel says, the Son of man has come on the clouds of the heavens.^[2] The arc above his head represents the promise of propitiation, which remains among those who are good, but it signifies also those who will be decorated with martyrdom before the advent of the Lord, as Abel and others. . . . And his face was as the sun, since the Lord Jesus Christ was made manifest through the glory of the resurrection,^[3] of which we read, In the sun he has set his tabernacle,^[4] that is, where he is revealed so that he might no longer be hidden. For by his face is indicated the revelation of the present, which the prophet awaited and said, Show your face, and we shall be saved.^[5] His feet are the apostles who were enflamed by the words of God and by the Holy Spirit and were sent out to preach. As it says, Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road and opened to us the Scriptures?^[6] They are called pillars on account of the stability of the church, and of them the prophet said, I have strengthened its pillars,^[7] and How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet which announce and declare peace.^[8] Finally, the apostle said, Who [Peter, James, John] were reputed to be pillars of the church.^[9]

The cloud, the rainbow and the light like the sun show how we are to understand this holy angel. For through these [symbols] the manifold character of its virtues and the brightness of the angelic nature and understanding is revealed.

The open book is the Revelation that John received. As we explained earlier, his feet are the inspired apostles. That he stands upon both the sea and the land signifies that all things have been placed under his feet. He speaks of him here as an angel, for he is the messenger of the almighty Father and is called the messenger of great counsel.^[1]

With reason did his face shine as the sun in full strength, for he opened the book that had been sealed in mystery. He placed his right foot upon the sea and his left foot upon the land, so that he might confirm the precept of his law by land and by sea. Nor was it without reason that he placed his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land. In the right foot he signifies the stronger members who have been made firm through great dangers. In the left foot he indicates the crowd of candidates^[1] who have not yet received the sign of the faith.

And he had in his hand, it says, a little scroll opened. Daniel recalled such scrolls when he said, The tribunal sat before him, and books were opened.^[1] It was the little scroll in which were written both the names and the transgressions of the severely wicked who are going to be punished. And therefore he used the diminutive little scroll, since there is a book or a scroll—both are mentioned in holy Scripture—in which the names of all people are written. But here he speaks of a little scroll in which the names of the exceedingly wicked are written. For those who worship idols and are marked by murders and sorceries and are enfeebled in other ways that he reports would not be sufficient to fill an entire book. And he set his right foot upon the sea and his left foot upon the land. On the one hand, this is an indication of the multitude of the saints, but on the other hand this indicates that he was carrying the instruments of punishment for those who transgressed upon the land and upon the sea, in that they were drowned in it, and who had otherwise done evil.

If earlier the deep secrets of the Old Testament were recognized to have been hidden in the sealed book, it is appropriate that the revealed grace of the New Testament is believed to be disclosed here in the opened book. Therefore, the apostle confidently says, And we, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from glory to glory, as though by the Spirit of the Lord.^[1] Indeed, this is why his face is said to shine like the sun. Moreover, the right foot upon the sea represents those members who are strong so that they might suffer the attacks of persecution. . . . The left foot upon the land represents those who are not exposed to the greater dangers. For God does not allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able, but with temptation [he] provides also a way, so that we might endure.^[2] It is certain, nonetheless, that the proclamation is extended by way of land and sea.

That he cried out with a loud voice signifies that great voice of heaven, which announces the words of the almighty God to people that when the time of repentance is closed there will afterward be no future hope.

That the holy angel roars like a lion is symbolic of his wrath against the impious. And when he called out, it says, the seven thunders sounded their voices. He calls the seven ministering spirits seven thunders. They were mentioned earlier. Here he mentions them by way of the definite article, the seven thunders, referring to those seven spirits who bear the offering. What does it mean that the seven spirits cry out? It means that these also concur fully with the punishments against the sinners and bring forth a hymn of thanksgiving to God, that all that he has done is just. And they cried out together revealing the forms of the punishments.

[The loud voice] indicates that through his servants he was proclaimed faithfully and with strength. As the prophet says, And he made firm the glory of his strength.^[1] When he called out, the seven thunders sounded. Because of the known use of the number seven, I think that the seven thunders signify the various manners of the church’s preaching.^[2] The apostle Paul spoke of this concerning his service to others, As babes in Christ, I fed you with milk, not solid food,^[3] however to others, solid food is for the perfect,^[4] yet also to others, avoid the heretical man after the first and second admonition.^[5] Therefore, the church is said to proclaim rightly through its usual offices of preaching.

The seven thunders uttered their voices. The Spirit of sevenfold power announced through the prophets all things that were to come and by his voice has given witness in the world. But since he said that he was going to write whatsoever the thunders had said, that is, whatever had been obscurely foretold in the Old Testament, he was forbidden to write but told to keep it [sealed]. For he was an apostle, and it was not good that the grace of the second rank should be given to the person in the first rank, for the time is already near.^[1] For the apostles overcame unbelief by powers and signs and wonders and mighty deeds. And after them the comfort of having the prophetic Scriptures interpreted was given to the churches which were confirmed in the faith. These interpreters [the apostle] calls prophets, for he says, He has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers and following.^[2] In another place he says, Let two or three prophets speak and let the others weigh what is said.^[3] And he says, Any woman who prays or prophesies with her head unveiled dishonors her head.^[4] When he said, Let two or three prophets speak and let the others weigh what is said, he is not speaking of some unheard of and unknown orthodox prophecy but of that prophecy which is already spoken.^[5] They weigh what is said to ensure that the interpretation conforms with the witness of the sayings of the prophets. It is clear that John, armed with a superior power, had no need of this, while the church, which is the body of Christ, is adorned by her own members and ought to respond from her own rank.^[6]

It was said to him, Do not write that which you have heard, so that what is in mystery and is reserved to the church would not be revealed to those who are unworthy and faithless. . . . [Elsewhere] he says, Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near.^[1] He shows that there are those to whom the mystery ought to be sealed and those to whom it ought to be opened. As the Lord himself said, To you—he is speaking to his disciples—it has been given to know the secret of the kingdom of God, but for others it is in parables.^[2] It says, Let him who continues to do evil, do evil still, and him who is filthy, be filthy still, and let him who is righteous still perform more righteous deeds, and likewise the holy more holy deeds.^[3] This is to say, This is why I speak to them in parables, that they who do not see may see and they who see might become blind.^[4] And again, Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.^[5] Daniel likewise said, Seal the book until the time of the consummation.^[6] And [John] explains why he was commanded to seal the book in the following words, Let the unrighteous transgress so that all the wicked and the sinners might not know, but let those who understand understand.^[7]

This shows that what is now undisclosed is to be explained through experience and the course of the events themselves. And from the heavenly voice the Evangelist learned that the voices are to be imprinted on the mind but that the final understanding and the clear interpretation of them is reserved for the last times.

God swears by himself, since there is none greater than he. But the angels, being creatures, swear by the Creator, for due to our untrustworthiness, they are the guarantors of what is said by them. They swear either that in the coming age there will no longer be time which is measured by the sun, since eternal life is transcendent to temporal measure, or they swear that there is not much time after the six voices of the angel before the prophecies are fulfilled.

The seventh trumpet signifies the end of the persecution and the advent of the Lord, our Savior. For this reason the apostle Paul said that the resurrection of the dead would occur at the last trumpet.^[1] Therefore, he affirms that in the time of the future peace the time of the church would no longer be one of cleansing. For the final persecution will cleanse the church until the seventh trumpet.

This is said in the manner of an ellipsis. For it says, When the seventh angel was about to blow his trumpet, all the various and different punishments against the impious will be fulfilled. He does not say that this will occur now when he blows his trumpet in this vision, since the other [woes] have not yet occurred. Rather, this will happen when he blows his trumpet at the appointed time. And when this has happened, the mystery of God as he proclaimed it to his servants, the prophets will receive its completion. For the prophets prophesied until the judgment and the recompense of the good and the wicked, but after that [they prophesied] no longer. Therefore, when the seventh angel blows his trumpet at that [seventh] age, every mystery and every prophetic foretelling will receive its fulfillment.

The voice from heaven is the command of God, who breathes into the heart of the church and orders her to receive from the open book that which the church is to preach before the future peace.^[1] For it seems to us that to accept the open book from the hand of the angel is to understand the truth of the law and the prophets, which has been made manifest in Christ. And for that reason it says that [the church] should take the open book, which is no longer, as above, the sealed [book]. For Christ is the end of the law unto righteousness for everyone who believes.^[2] Christ, who is the truth, wished then to be born from the earth, that is, from Mary, when Righteousness looked down from heaven.^[3] That is why I think that it is said, I heard a voice from heaven speaking with me, just as [Christ] himself said, I am the Beginning who is also speaking to you.^[4]

That he received the little scroll and ate it indicates that he committed to memory what had been shown [to him]. And it was sweet in the mouth. The fruit of preaching is very sweet to the speaker and to those who hear, but through suffering it becomes very bitter to the preacher and to those who persevere in the commandments.

Our belly stuck to the ground.^[1] They mean that our belly consented to the impious persuasion of that dust [i.e., godless persecutors]; for that is what the expression stuck to implies. . . . To cling to God is to do his will. It makes sense, then, to say of the belly that it clung to the earth, when we mean those people who could not hold out under persecution but yielded to the will of the wicked; for this is how they stuck to the earth. But why are they called the belly? Because they are carnal. It suggests that the church’s mouth is to be found in the saints, in spiritual people, and the church’s belly in the carnal. This is why the church’s mouth is plainly visible, but its belly is covered up, as befits something weaker and more vulnerable. Scripture supports this interpretation in the passage where someone says he was given a book to eat, and the book was sweet in my mouth but bitter in my stomach. What can that mean? Surely that the highest precepts, which spiritual persons accept, are unacceptable to the carnal, and that commands that delight the spiritual only give the carnal indigestion. What is in that book, brothers and sisters? Go and sell all you possess, and give the money to the poor.^[2] How sweet is that command in the church’s mouth! All the spiritual have obeyed it. But if you tell any sensual person to do that, he or she is more likely to walk sadly away, as the rich man in the Gospel walked away from the Lord, than to fulfill the injunction.^[3] Why does a carnal person walk away? Because that book, so sweet to the mouth, is bitter in the belly.

When I took it, it says, I ate it and it was sweet in my mouth, but after the eating, it was bitter to my stomach. Then the blessed Evangelist saw and heard the torments against the wicked that he might learn by experience, and not only by report, how bitter and abominable are the transgressions of people that are brought to God. He was taught this through this vision—for as a holy and chaste man himself, he did not know this from [his own] experience—and through the vision he came to know that the wrath of God against the wicked is just. For the book contained the names and the sins of those who were especially serious transgressors, as we noted above. He is therefore commanded to eat it, and as though by taste and a sort of spiritual experience of the bitterness of sin that comes through his vision, he found that what had been sweet to the mouth was, when eaten, bitter to the stomach afterward. For such it is with every sin. It is sweet in the doing but bitter in its consequences.

[I told the angel to give me the book.] The church is moved by divine inspiration to be thoroughly instructed about this mystery. And he said, ‘Take and eat it.’ This means that he was to store [the book] in his secret inward parts. And it will be bitter to your stomach but sweet as honey in your mouth. This means that when you receive it, you will be delighted by the sweetness of the divine speech and by the hope of the promised salvation and by the sweetness of the divine justice; however, you will then sense bitterness when you begin to preach this to the pious and to the impious.^[1] For when the preaching of the divine judgment is heard, some are turned by the bitterness of penance and are changed for the better, while others are offended and become yet more hardened and bear a bitter hatred toward the preachers. Reprove a wise man, and he will love you; refute a foolish man, and he will hate you.^[2] But the preacher takes in bitterness from either of these two persons. For he either sheds tears with the penitents out of a feeling of compassion, or he is tormented by the bitterness that comes from their failure. For this reason the apostle said, I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart; for I wished that I myself were accursed from Christ for the sake of my brothers.^[3] But I think it more apt that the bitterness mentioned here be attributed to the impious alone and the sweetness to the pious. For the spiritual person can say, How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey and the honeycomb to my mouth!^[4]

It will be sweet in your mouth but bitter in your stomach. By the mouth we are to understand the good and spiritual Christians, while by the stomach we understand the carnal and dissolute. And so it is that when the word of God is preached, it is sweet to the spiritual, but to the carnal, whose god is the belly as the apostle says,^[1] it seems bitter and harsh.

He says that although the knowledge of future things will be sweet to you, at the same time it will be bitter to your stomach, that is, to your heart, which is the dwelling place of spiritual foods. For you will have compassion on those who receive punishments given according to God’s judgment.

It is necessary that you again preach, that is, to prophesy, among peoples and tongues and nations. When John saw this revelation, he was on the island of Patmos, having been condemned to the mines by Caesar Domitian. There, it seems, John wrote the Revelation, and when he had already become aged, he thought that he would be received [into bliss] after his suffering. However, when Domitian was killed, all of his decrees were made null and void. John was, therefore, released from the mines, and afterward he disseminated the revelation that he had received from the Lord. That is what it means when it says, You must prophesy again.

In the one angel he clearly shows the body of the church. Although he speaks of one, he shows many. He says to me, ‘You must preach again.’ When did the church ever cease from its preaching, so that she should preach again what she had preached before? However, in the whole world [the church] is commanded to preach again among the peoples, tribes, tongues and in many regions what she had preached before. For there is one church diffused throughout the whole world, which she has filled with its preaching.

It is necessary that you prophesy again about many peoples and nations and tongues and kings. This is as though he had said, Although you have seen the consummation of the age and the wrath against the wicked in this vision, do not think that the day of fulfillment has in fact come. There remains much time yet for you to prophesy to many nations and to kings. And so it is that up to the present time the blessed Evangelist prophesies through his Gospel and his catholic epistles and this Revelation. For all things have been spoken and prophesied to him by the Spirit.

This passage indicates either that after the vision of the divine Revelation, that which was seen will not immediately receive its fulfillment, but that the saint must prophesy to those who read his Gospel and his Revelation until the consummation. Or the passage indicates that [John] would not yet taste death, but that at the end he would come to hinder the acceptance of the deceit of the antichrist.^[1]

He indicates that when he ate the book sweetness would be mixed with bitterness. That is to say, that when he is released from exile, he was to preach the gospel to the nations. This would be a sweet task as regards love, but it would be a bitter work on account of the persecutions that he would endure.

He received a measuring rod like a staff, that he might measure the temple and the altar and those who worship in it. In this passage he speaks of that authority that [John] afterward exercised in the churches after his release. For he later also wrote a Gospel. And when Valentinus and Cerinthus and Ebion and other sects of Satan had spread throughout the world, bishops from the neighboring cities gathered to him and persuaded him to write his testimony concerning the Lord. The measure of the faith,^[1] however, is the commandment of our Lord, namely, that we must confess the Father Almighty, as we have been taught, and his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who was spiritually begotten from the Father before the beginning of the world, who was made man, and when he had conquered death was received with his body by the Father into heaven, holy Lord and pledge of immortality; he was foretold by the prophets, he was described by the law, and through the hand of God and the word of the Father Almighty he is also the creator of the whole world.^[2] This is the rod and measure of the faith, so that no one worships at the holy altar except him who confesses this, the Lord and his Christ. The court on the inside leave outside. The court is called an atrium, an open area between walls. He commands that such as these are to be thrown out of the church, for they are unnecessary. It is given over to be trampled by the nations. This means that such persons are to be trampled either by the nations or with the nations. He mentions then again the destruction and the slaughter of the last times and says, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months.

When he says Rise, he arouses the church, for John, who is an image of the church, did not hear these things sitting down but standing up. Measure, it says, the temple and the altar and those who worship there. He did not command that everyone be measured; rather, he commanded that a portion be prepared unto the end [time], so that what is said in the Gospel might be fulfilled, Many are called, but few are chosen.^[1] But do not measure the court outside the temple, leave that out. The court, which is outside the temple, although it seems to belong to the temple, in fact is not the temple, for it has no relation to the holy of holies. These are those persons who appear to be in the church but are outside of it. . . . Those persons who are outside the temple are also the nations who have never believed the gospel of the Lord. Both groups will trample his church.

The blessed John had earlier seen a vision of the multitude of saints who are with Christ and who behold the throne of God. Among these there were many more Gentiles than there were those from Israel.^[1] The present vision now reveals something else to John. It reveals how many were pleasing [to God] at the time of the Old Testament and how many at the time of the New Testament. And note how cleverly this is sketched out for him. He is given a measuring stick that he might measure the temple of God and the altar in the temple (clearly the one in Jerusalem) and those worshiping in it. And he measured. Those who pleased God during the time of the Old Testament were easily measured because there were so few of them. But do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations. When he had measured the temple and the altar and those sacrificing within, he heard that it was necessary to place the court on the outside and to widen it, but definitely not to measure it, since it was to attain to greater things than measuring. The court, it says, is given over to the nations, and it is adjacent to and lies outside the temple. Likewise, the New Testament follows immediately upon the Old, for the New fulfills spiritually and in reality that which has but shadow in it. And realities of a different kind arise next to [the Old Testament], as Jeremiah says, Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, and I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.^[2] For this reason he calls the New Testament the court of the temple. And so, the vision indicates in a mystical manner that he who in the New Testament is named Christ and Beginning was Lord of the Old Testament . . . and he calls the New Testament the court of the Old Testament. For the court is the beginning and entrance to God, but it is not the temple. Therefore, he did not measure the court by which both the [New Testament] and those in it are signified. For both the New Testament and those justified in it are beyond comprehension, these because of their unspeakable magnitude and the New Testament because of its subtlety and the sublimity of its teachings. For it says, it was given over to the nations. The blessings of the New Testament were given also to Israel, but since the Gentiles in it are greater in number than those who were pleasing from Israel, it indicates the whole from the greater part, saying that the court was given to the nations. And they will trample upon the holy city for forty-two months. It speaks of the city, not of the temple, calling the church a city, about which it says, Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God, the heavenly Jerusalem, the mother of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven.^[3] And what does it mean that the measuring will be for forty-two months? It indicates that there is little time remaining upon the earth for the citizenship given in the New Testament and that afterward the end will come. For the number forty, the sum of four tens, is not complete, nor is the number two. By these numbers the verse shows that the duration of the New Testament does not last long in the present life, and so the Scripture calls the time of the New Testament the last hour or the eleventh hour, at which time the Only Begotten became man. But he will endure forever in the coming life.

He commands that the teaching of a false faith and the contagion of a sinful way of life among the heretics, Jews and Gentiles be expelled, for it is not right that such persons approach the holy of holies. For the apostle says, What have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside whom you are to judge?^[1] When all the Jews, heretics, and Gentiles incessantly attack the church by all means available, it is as though they are trampling upon the church. The number of the months signifies not only the time of the last persecution but also the entire time of Christianity. For there are six ages of the world and seven days by which all time moves by passing away and returning. Six times seven makes forty-two, and I believe that the passage refers to both of these [numbers].

We think that the church is called the temple of the living God, for in it we offer spiritual sacrifices to God. And I think that the court outside is the assembly of the unbelieving Gentiles and Jews, and so by virtue of their impiety they are unworthy to be measured by the angel. For the Lord knows those who are his,^[1] as it says, but he who knows all things is said not to know the transgressors. That the holy city, whether that be the new Jerusalem or the catholic church, will be trampled by the nations for forty-two months signifies, I believe, that at the appearance of the antichrist those who are faithful and trustworthy will be trampled and persecuted for three and a half years.

He said, Rise, not because John was sitting when he heard these words, but because by this word the heart of each person is aroused to measure the words and deeds of the Gospel. For there each will discover to what extent he has progressed and to what extent he is in agreement with the divine rule.