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Eureka

AN EXPOSITION OF THE APOCALYPSE
Sixth Edition, 1915
By Dr. John Thomas (first edition written 1861)

 

 

Chapter 1

Section 5

Subsection 13

"His Aspect As the Sun"


 
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"His aspect as the sun shines in his power." The words (!greek!) which I have rendered "his aspect," are expressed in the English version by "his countenance." In modern style, this is generally understood of the face. But John certainly did not mean this. He began his description at the hair of the head; and if he had meant the face he would doubtless have referred to it before he passed down to the breasts. What he had reference to, after finishing in detail, was the general external aspect of the whole figure.

This was typified in the general appearance of the Alpha on the mount of Transfiguration. Peter, James, and John, were witnesses of this. It was a representation of the power and coming, or Majesty, of the Lord Jesus Anointed. Peter, alluding to it, says, "We have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the glory and coming of our Lord Jesus Anointed, but were eye witnesses of his majesty. For he received from Deity, the Father, honor and power, when a voice came to him from the excellent glory, saying, This is my Son the Beloved in whom I am well pleased" (2 Pet. 1:16,17). On that occasion "his face (!greek!), shone as the sun, and his raiment became white as the light." This transfiguration scene exhibited the Son of man personal and corporate in the glory of the Father as he will be in the Kingdom of Deity. His general aspect will be glorious; for "the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed when YAHWEH TZ'VAHOTH shall reign the glory on Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and in the presence of his Ancients" (Isai. 24:23).

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"Our life is hid with Christ in the Deity, and when he who is our life shall appear, then shall we (the Saints) appear with him in glory" (Col. 3:4); and, says John, "we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is" (1 John 3:2). When, therefore, the apocalypse of the multitude of the Sons of God, represented by John's similitude of the Son of man, shall be manifested, being all like to Jesus in transfiguration, the aspect of the Body will be "as the sun when he shines in his power." Jesus being the Sun of Righteousness, and they like him, they will be all "as the sun;" and "when he shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory." He will then "shine forth in his power" the Sun of an unclouded day; and as he shines, so will they; for he has said, "to him that overcomes I will give to sit down with me upon my throne, as I overcome and sit down with my Father upon his throne" (Apoc. 3:21), "then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father" (Matt. 13:43); and there will be no place found for the earth and the heaven, in which the Beast and the False Prophet, and their kings now shine in all the glory of Satan; for then they will have fled away from before the face and sun-like aspect of the Son of man, seated upon "the Great White Throne" established by his prowess for the Thousand Years (Apoc. 20:11).

From the illustration of the transfiguration, the personal appearance of the Saints will be splendid with brightness. But there is reason to believe that they will not be distinguishable from ordinary men in appearance until their labors are accomplished. When the angels visited Sodom, the citizens did not discern any difference between them and Lot. And so will it be with the Saints who arise to execute the judgment written upon "the Great City, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified" (Apoc. 11:8). The nature of their work requires that they should have the aspect common to humanity, which is not at all incompatible with the symbolical glory of their Body Corporate. If they flashed light from their persons as the sun shoots forth his rays, their enemies would be so panic-stricken, that they would not stand in fight, by which their punishment would be greatly impeded. The resurrected saints will therefore appear upon the theatre of war, as Adam and Jesus when they first emerged from earth. Jesus was mistaken for the gardener. The Angel of the Lord who descended from heaven to open his grave, was of lightning-like countenance, and raiment white as snow; and the guards did shake, and became as dead men; but when Mary saw Jesus, she conversed with him without trepidation. There was an interval between the

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restoration of the body to life and the glorification of Jesus seven days before Pentecost. During this typical interval of forty days, he associated with the disciples, ate, drank, and conversed with them as usual. The body raised not having been "received up in glory," or displayed in the brightness of spirit-body, was in a condition to shine forth in incorruptibility and immortality when the fitness of things required.

Now Jesus was the great example of all things pertaining to his Brethren, the Saints. When their bodies come out of their graves, they come forth as Adam or Jesus. Had Adam the First (who was the figure of Jesus) shone forth in glory, it would have been when he should have been permitted to eat of the Tree of Life. All the time between his creation and such eating would have been ordinary human existence. It was so with Jesus; and will be so with the Saints. Between their resurrection and glorification is the resurrection state, styled "in the resurrection," a period of forty years preceding the Millennium, in which some of the most important events of the Apocalypse are to be transacted. The end of this judicial period, during which the kingdom is being established, or "set up," is the "Evening Time" -- the time preceding the Millennial Day. When the night has passed, the Day of Rest arrives, in which the Saints, who have been "scourging throughout the earth," cease from their labors, and their works do follow them. They enter the kingdom, covered with glory, which the nations will bear in lively remembrance for a thousand years.

Now, according to this arrangement, Zechariah testifies, saying, that when the Mount of Olives shall be rent asunder by an earthquake, "YAHWEH, my Elohim, shall come in, all the Saints with thee. And it shall be in that day there shall be no brightness ... the Splendid Ones shall draw in; and it shall be one day that shall be known to YAHWEH, not day nor night; and it shall be at the time of evening there shall be brightness. ... And YAHWEH shall be for King over all the earth. In that day there shall be ONE YAHWEH, and his Name One" (Zech. 14:5-9). The "Splendid Ones" of this passage are the Elohim, or Saints, who will not shine forth in the brightness of their glory until the time of evening; then, when the kingdom is restored to Israel, they will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father, as Daniel, Zechariah, and Jesus have foretold.

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