Isa 61:2, 63:4, 66:14-16, Mal 4:1, 3, 2Th 1:7-9, Rev 11:18, 18:20, 19:2 | JFB | STEP | 2. acceptable year-- the year of jubilee on which "liberty was proclaimed to the captives" ( ; ). day of vengeance-- The "acceptable time of grace" is a "year"; the time of "vengeance" but "a day" (so ; ; Mal 4:1). Jesus ( , ) "closed the book" before this clause; for the interval from His first to His second coming is "the acceptable year"; the day of vengeance" will not be till He comes again ( ). our God-- The saints call Him "our God"; for He cometh to "avenge" them ( ; ). all that mourn-- The "all" seems to include the spiritual Israelite mourners, as well as the literal, who are in called "them that mourn in Zion," and to whom refers.

‏ Isaiah 61:2

2. acceptable year--the year of jubilee on which "liberty was proclaimed to the captives" (Is 61:1; 2Co 6:2).

day of vengeance--The "acceptable time of grace" is a "year"; the time of "vengeance" but "a day" (so Is 34:8; 63:4; Mal 4:1). Jesus (Lu 4:20, 21) "closed the book" before this clause; for the interval from His first to His second coming is "the acceptable year"; the day of vengeance" will not be till He comes again (2Th 1:7-9).

our God--The saints call Him "our God"; for He cometh to "avenge" them (Re 6:10; 19:2).

all that mourn--The "all" seems to include the spiritual Israelite mourners, as well as the literal, who are in Is 61:3 called "them that mourn in Zion," and to whom Is 57:18 refers.

‏ Isaiah 63:4

4. is--rather, "was." This assigns the reason why He has thus destroyed the foe (Zep 3:8).

my redeemed--My people to be redeemed.

day ... year--here, as in Is 34:8; 61:2, the time of "vengeance" is described as a "day"; that of grace and of "recompense" to the "redeemed," as a "year."

‏ Isaiah 66:14-16

14. bones--which once were "dried up" by the "fire" of God's wrath (La 1:13), shall live again (Pr 3:8; 15:30; Eze 37:1, &c.).

flourish ... herb--(Ro 11:15-24).

known toward--manifested in behalf of.

15. (Is 9:5; Psa 50:3; Ha 3:5; 2Th 1:8; 2Pe 3:7).

chariots ... whirlwind--(Jr 4:13).

render--as the Hebrew elsewhere (Job 9:13; Psa 78:38) means to "allay" or "stay wrath." Maurer translates it so here: He stays His anger with nothing but fury," &c.; nothing short of pouring out all His fiery fury will satisfy His wrath.

fury--"burning heat" [Lowth], to which the parallel, "flames of fire," answers.

16. Rather, "With fire will Jehovah judge, and with His sword (He will judge) all flesh." The parallelism and collocation of the Hebrew words favor this (Is 65:12).

all flesh--that is, all who are the objects of His wrath. The godly shall be hidden by the Lord in a place of safety away from the scene of judgment (Is 26:20, 21; Psa 31:20; 1Th 4:16, 17).

‏ Malachi 4:1

CHAPTER 4 Mal 4:1-6. God's Coming Judgment: Triumph of the Godly: Return to the law THE Best Preparation for Jehovah's Coming: Elijah's Preparatory Mission of Reformation.

1. the day cometh ... burn--(Mal 3:2; 2Pe 3:7). Primarily is meant the judgment coming on Jerusalem; but as this will not exhaust the meaning, without supposing what is inadmissible in Scripture--exaggeration--the final and full accomplishment, of which the former was the earnest, is the day of general judgment. This principle of interpretation is not double, but successive fulfilment. The language is abrupt, "Behold, the day cometh! It burns like a furnace." The abruptness imparts terrible reality to the picture, as if it suddenly burst on the prophet's view.

all the proud--in opposition to the cavil above (Mal 3:15), "now we call the proud (haughty despisers of God) happy."

stubble--(Ob 18; Mt 3:12). As Canaan, the inheritance of the Israelites, was prepared for their possession by purging out the heathen, so judgment on the apostates shall usher in the entrance of the saints upon the Lord's inheritance, of which Canaan is the type--not heaven, but earth to its utmost bounds (Psa 2:8) purged of all things that offend (Mt 13:41), which are to be "gathered out of His kingdom," the scene of the judgment being that also of the kingdom. The present dispensation is a spiritual kingdom, parenthetical between the Jews' literal kingdom and its antitype, the coming literal kingdom of the Lord Jesus.

neither root nor branch--proverbial for utter destruction (Am 2:9).

‏ Malachi 4:3

3. Solving the difficulty (Mal 3:15) that the wicked often now prosper. Their prosperity and the adversity of the godly shall soon be reversed. Yea, the righteous shall be the army attending Christ in His final destruction of the ungodly (2Sa 22:43; Psa 49:14; 47:3; Mi 7:10; Zec 10:5; 1Co 6:2; Re 2:26, 27; 19:14, 15).

ashes--after having been burnt with the fire of judgment (Mal 4:1).

‏ 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9

7. rest--governed by "to recompense" (2Th 1:6). The Greek is literally, "relaxation"; loosening of the tension which had preceded; relaxing of the strings of endurance now so tightly drawn. The Greek word for "rest," Mt 11:28, is distinct, namely, cessation from labor. Also, He 4:9, "A keeping of sabbath."

with us--namely, Paul, Silas, and Timothy, the writers, who are troubled like yourselves.

when--at the time when ... ; not sooner, not later.

with his mighty angels--rather as the Greek, "with the angels of His might," or "power," that is, the angels who are the ministers by whom He makes His might to be recognized (Mt 13:41, 52). It is not their might, but His might, which is the prominent thought.

8. In flaming fire--Greek, "In flame of fire"; or, as other oldest manuscripts read, "in fire of flame." This flame of fire accompanied His manifestation in the bush (Ex 3:2); also His giving of the law at Sinai (Ex 19:18). Also it shall accompany His revelation at His advent (Da 7:9, 10), symbolizing His own bright glory and His consuming vengeance against His foes (He 10:27; 12:29; 2Pe 3:7, 10).

taking--literally, "giving" them, as their portion, "vengeance."

know not God--the Gentiles primarily (Psa 79:6; Ga 4:8; 1Th 4:5); not of course those involuntarily not knowing God, but those wilfully not knowing Him, as Pharaoh, who might have known God if he would, but who boasted "I know not the Lord" (Ex 5:2); and as the heathen persecutors who might have known God by the preaching of those whom they persecuted. Secondarily, all who "profess to know God but in works deny Him" (Tit 1:16).

obey not the gospel--primarily the unbelieving Jews (Ro 10:3, 16); secondarily, all who obey not the truth (Ro 2:8).

Christ--omitted by some of the oldest manuscripts, and retained by others.

9. Who--Greek, "persons who," &c.

destruction from the presence of the Lord--driven far from His presence [Alford]. The sentence emanating from Him in person, sitting as Judge [Bengel], and driving them far from Him (Mt 25:41; Re 6:16; 12:14; compare 1Pe 3:12; Is 2:10, 19). "The presence of the Lord" is the source whence the sentence goes forth; "the glory of His power" is the instrument whereby the sentence is carried into execution [Edmunds]. But Alford better interprets the latter clause (see 2Th 1:10), driven "from the manifestation of His power in the glorification of His saints." Cast out from the presence of the Lord is the idea at the root of eternal death, the law of evil left to its unrestricted working, without one counteracting influence of the presence of God, who is the source of all light and holiness (Is 66:24; Mr 9:44).

‏ Revelation of John 11:18

18. the nations were angry--alluding to Psa 99:1, Septuagint, "The Lord is become King: let the peoples become angry." Their anger is combined with alarm (Ex 15:14; 2Ki 19:28, "thy rage against Me is come up into Mine ears, I will put My hook in thy nose," &c.). Translate, as the Greek is the same. "The nations were angered, and Thy anger is come." How petty man's impotent anger, standing here side by side with that of the omnipotent God!

dead ... be judged--proving that this seventh trumpet is at the end of all things, when the judgment on Christ's foes and the reward of His saints, long prayed for by His saints, shall take place.

the prophets--as, for instance, the two prophesying witnesses (Re 11:3), and those who have showed them kindness for Christ's sake. Jesus shall come to effect by His presence that which we have looked for long, but vainly, in His absence, and by other means.

destroy them which destroy the earth--Retribution in kind (compare Re 16:6; Lu 19:27). See on Da 7:14-18.

‏ Revelation of John 18:20

20. holy apostles--So C reads. But A, B, Vulgate, Syriac, Coptic, and Andreas read, "Ye saints and ye apostles."

avenged you on her--Greek, "judged your judgment on (literally, exacting it from) her." "There is more joy in heaven at the harlot's downfall than at that of the two beasts. For the most heinous of all sin is the sin of those who know God's word of grace, and keep it not. The worldliness of the Church is the most worldly of all worldliness. Hence, Babylon, in Revelation, has not only Israel's sins, but also the sins of the heathen; and John dwells longer on the abominations and judgments of the harlot than on those of the beast. The term 'harlot' describes the false Church's essential character. She retains her human shape as the woman, does not become a beast: she has the form of godliness, but denies its power. Her rightful lord and husband, Jehovah-Christ, and the joys and goods of His house, are no longer her all in all, but she runs after the visible and vain things of the world, in its manifold forms. The fullest form of her whoredom is, where the Church wishes to be itself a worldly power, uses politics and diplomacy, makes flesh her arm, uses unholy means for holy ends, spreads her dominion by sword or money, fascinates men by sensual ritualism, becomes 'mistress of ceremonies' to the dignitaries of the world, flatters prince or people, and like Israel, seeks the help of one world power against the danger threatening from another" [Auberlen]. Judgment, therefore, begins with the harlot, as in privileges the house of God.

‏ Revelation of John 19:2

2. which did corrupt the earth--Greek, "used to corrupt" continually. "Instead of opposing and lessening, she promoted the sinful life and decay of the world by her own earthliness, allowing the salt to lose its savor" [Auberlen].

avenged--Greek, "exacted in retribution." A particular application of the principle (Ge 9:5).

blood of his servants--literally shed by the Old Testament adulterous Church, and by the New Testament apostate Church; also virtually, though not literally, by all who, though called Christians, hate their brother, or love not the brethren of Christ, but shrink from the reproach of the cross, and show unkindness towards those who bear it.