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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
The angel that represented Christ, is here represented to St. John as swearing.
Where observe, 1. The ceremony used in swearing, Lifting up of the hand to heaven, appealing thereby to God as a witness and a judge.
2. The person sworn by, God; described,
(1.) By his eternity. He lives for ever, before and after all time.
(2.) By his omnipotency, and almighty power in the work of creation, making heaven and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein.
An oath is proper to God, and as we are to swear by God, so God is only to be sworn by.
Observe, 3. The thing sworn, namely, That time shall be no more; that is, that there should be no farther delay of time, for the destruction of Jerusalem, and the obdurate Jews, say some; for the ruin of the Roman empire, for the destruction of Antichrist, say others; the performance of God's word, both in his promises of deliverance to his church, and in the execution of judgment on her enemies, is now at hand.
Observe, 4. The promise made, and the assurance here given, namely, That the mystery of God should be finished, that is, the deliverance of the church should be completed, and the final confusion of her enemies shall be accomplished; which is called a mystery, because the world understands it not, nor will they believe the same. As mysteries have their own time to be made manifest in, so, to the comfort of the faithful, and the terror of the wicked, a day was then approaching, in which the happy condition of the afflicted should appear, and the calamitous state of the ungodly be discovered.