TRV
Bede
Late Patristic · AD 500–800 · 6,271 passages across 45 books
Commentary
Revelation 7:15
· 3 passages
Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.
And they serve him day and night in his temple. Speaking in our manner, he signifies eternity.
To be continuously present at the praises of God is not a laborious servitude but a servitude that is pleasant and desirable. “Day and night,” indeed, do not exclusively signify the vicissitude of time, but typologically [they signify] its perpetuity.
And he who sits on the throne will dwell over them. The throne of God is the saints, upon whom and in whom God dwells forever.
Revelation 7:16
· 2 passages
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.
They will neither hunger nor thirst anymore. This is what the Lord himself promised: "I am," he says, "the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst" (John VI). For blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied (Matthew V).
Neither shall the sun strike them, nor any scorching heat. "We have passed," he says, "through fire and water, and you have brought us to a place of refreshment" (Psalm LXV).
Revelation 7:17
· 3 passages
For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Having attained the fullness of immortal joys, all sorrow will be entirely consigned to oblivion. For blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. But the vision of this robed multitude can also be understood of the present time, where we are saved by hope, and what we do not see we wait for with patience.
And he will lead them to the fountains of living waters. Surely to the fellowship of the saints, who are the fountains of heavenly doctrine. It can also signify the vision of God himself, in whom are hidden the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. As David says: "As the deer longs for the fountains of water, so my soul longs for you, O God" (Psalm XLI).
For the Lamb, who is in the midst of the throne, will shepherd them. He says that the Lamb is in the midst of the throne, who had previously said that the Lamb received the book from the one seated on the throne, teaching that the Church has one throne with the Father and the Son, in which through faith one dwells, the whole Trinity, God.
Revelation 8:1
And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
And when he had opened the seventh seal, etc. After the destruction of the Antichrist, a brief rest is believed to come in the Church, about which Daniel predicted thus: "Blessed is he who waits and comes to the thousand three hundred and thirty-five days" (Daniel XII). Which blessed Jerome explains thus: "Blessed," he says, "is he who, after the Antichrist is killed, awaits beyond the one thousand two hundred and ninety days, that is, three and a half years, forty-five days, during which the Lord and Savior is to come in his majesty." But why there is a silence of forty-five days after the killing of the Antichrist is known to divine knowledge. Unless we might say: the delay of the kingdom of the saints is a test of patience. Note that in the sixth seal he sees the greatest pressures on the Church, in the seventh he sees rest, because the Lord, crucified on the sixth day, rested on the Sabbath, waiting for the time of resurrection. Thus far about the opening of the sealed book and the six seals. Now he recapitulates from the beginning, intending to speak the same things differently.
Revelation 8:2
And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets.
And I saw seven angels standing before God, etc. The Church, often commended by the number seven, is devoted to the duty of preaching, the first trumpet signifying the common destruction of the impious by fire and hail; the second, the devil expelled from the Church, more fervently inflaming the sea of the world; the third, heretics falling away from the Church, corrupting the rivers of the Holy Scripture; the fourth, the downfall of false brethren in the obscuration of the stars; the fifth, the greater infestation of heretics preceding the time of the Antichrist; the sixth, the open war of the Antichrist and his followers against the Church, and, by recapitulation from the coming of the Lord, the insertion of the destruction of the same adversary; the seventh, the day of judgment, when the Lord will render the reward to His own and will destroy those who have corrupted the earth.
Revelation 8:3
· 3 passages
And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
And there was given unto him much incense, etc. From the prayers of the saints he offered the incense. For to them the Church entrusted its prayers, saying: "Let my prayer be directed as incense in thy sight" (Psalm 140). It is said that he received from the prayers of the saints and offered it, because through him the prayers of all can sweetly reach God.
And he stood before the altar, having a golden censer. Clearly, he appeared in the sight of the Church, having become the censer, from which God received the odor of sweetness, and was propitiated towards the world. Another Edition has "Upon the altar," which means that He offered His golden censer, that is, His immaculate body conceived by the Holy Spirit, upon the altar of the cross to the Father for us.
And another angel came. He did not say, "Then he came," but proposing that the angels had received the trumpets, he goes back to explain how they had received them. For although the Church preached before the coming of the Lord, it was not everywhere, until it was confirmed by His Spirit.
Revelation 8:4
And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand.
And the smoke of the incense ascended from the prayers of the saints, etc. Christ the Lord offering Himself as a sacrifice of sweetness made the compunction of the hearts of the saints acceptable, which, being born from the inner fire, usually stirs up tears like smoke.
Revelation 8:5
· 3 passages
And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.
And the angel took the censer, etc. Rightly he introduces the censer filled with fire. For God does not give the Spirit by measure (John 3). This we properly know was fulfilled in the humanity of Christ, in whom all the fullness of the Divinity dwells bodily (Colossians 2).
And there were thunders, and voices, and lightnings, and an earthquake. With the thunder of divine threat, and the voice of exhortation, and the lightning of miracles, He moved the earth, some following, others preceding, these saying: "He is good," but others: "No, but he deceives the people" (John 7).
And he cast it into the earth. Thus also the Lord in the Gospel: "I came to cast fire upon the earth" (Luke 12).
Revelation 8:6
And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.
And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound the trumpets. The Church, inflamed with the sevenfold spirit, prepared itself confidently to preach, intending to cast down the glory of the world with heavenly trumpets, as if to topple the walls of Jericho. For that seven-day circuit also indicates the entire time of the Church.
Revelation 8:7
· 2 passages
The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
And the first angel sounded the trumpet. Rightly, the preaching of the plagues of the trumpet, which is a sign of war, is compared. “Lift up your voice like a trumpet and declare to my people their transgressions” (Isaiah 58). And elsewhere, “Set the trumpet to your lips, like an eagle over the house of the Lord” (Hosea 8), that is, preach loudly that Nebuchadnezzar will come to destroy the temple.
And all green grass was burned up. All flesh is grass (Isaiah 40), which now, fattened with the softness of luxury, loses the flower of beauty under the burning sun of judgment, and, as the Lord says, today it is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven (Matthew 6). Tyconius says about the third part in this place. He calls the third part the internal enemies. However, anything outside the Church is called the third part, and the Church is the third part, which fights against the double evil.