e commission by a "great voice," (v. 1,) to these
angels, now that they have fulfilled his pleasure, solemnly declares his
approbation,--"It is done." The Lord Christ had solemnly sworn that "in
the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he should begin to
sound, the mystery of God should be _finished_," (ch. x. 6, 7.) He is
faithful to his oath,--_It is done._ Hence, it is undeniably evident
that the seventh trumpet agrees in time with the seventh vial; and it is
equally evident that the events which they represent are yet future.
What was obscurely intimated as following the sounding of the seventh
trumpet,--"the nations were angry,--and thy wrath is come," (ch. xi.
18,) is here amplified; for the "voices, thunders and lightnings," are
the visible and sensible tokens of the wrath of God. (Exod. xix. 16;
Heb. xii. 21.) Next follows an "earthquake," the usual symbol of
revolution; but this one is without parallel. An earthquake followed the
opening of the sixth seal, (ch. vi. 12;) when paganism was overthrown in
the Roman empire by Constantine, and another earthquake marked the close
of the second woe, (ch. xi. 13,) when "the tenth part of the city fell:"
but this _concussion_ is "so mighty and so great" as to "divide the
great city into three parts," or rival factions: next, "the cities of
the nations fell,"--revolted from their wonted allegiance, and "great
Babylon came in remembrance before God," who seemed to have forgotten
both her and his saints whom she had so long and so cruelly persecuted.
At the fall of Rome _pagan_, mountains and islands were only "moved out
of their places," (ch. vi. 14;) but at the fall of Rome _papal_, "every
island fled away, and the mountains were not found;"--the former
indicating _transition_, the latter utter _destruction_.--The "fall of
hail" is to be viewed as accompanying, not following, the fall of
cities, flight of islands and mountains. As hail-stones are symbolical
of divine judgments, and as there may be allusion here to another of the
plagues of Egypt, (Exod. ix. 18;) so more especially may the facts of
history supply the figurative language with which the judgments of the
vials terminate. If any escaped the destroying sword in the battle of
Armageddon, they are overtaken by these ponderous hail-stones out of
heaven; even as "the Lord cast down great stones from heaven" upon the
five kings of the Amorites; so that "more died with hailstones than they
whom the children of