When the preachers of the age of the Antichrist are heard, „in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he should begin to sound the trumpet‟—the seventh trumpet being the half hour after the Antichrist—then God’s judgment will be made manifest, as prophesied down the ages. „The mystery of God should be finished, as He has declared by His servants, the prophets.‟ Now, the seventh trumpet is the end of the world. The world will come to an end, and there will be a general judgment. „The mystery of God should be finished.‟ The history of man will be finished, and all mysteries, or a great deal of them, will be revealed in the general judgment.

John himself personally does not need this. Why not? Because the apostles themselves were all inspired with a complete understanding of Scripture at Pentecost or around that time. Consider Luke 24:45, an important verse: Our Lord said to them, „These are the words which I spoke to you while I was yet with you, that all things must needs be fulfilled, which are written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.‚ Then he opened their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures.‟ So that is the apostles being given the understanding of the Old Testament. In the Apocalypse here, it may also include the Epistles of Saint Paul because they are quite tough.

Therefore, John here is a figure of the preachers. It is not John himself needing to grasp Scripture, for he already does. If John is told here by the voice from heaven to go and take the book, he stands in for preachers who need, above all, a deep knowledge of Scripture. The preachers needing a deep knowledge of Scripture are figured here by John. John is told to go and get from the angel, which is Christ, the book; to get a complete understanding of Scripture.

I have recently been reading Cardinal Ratzinger’s little book somewhat attentively, as I am due to speak on it. It is clear that at the time of Vatican II, everything came back to exegesis. There is a German exegete or theologian named Geiselman who, in the 1950s, studied Trent. He found that on the crucial question of the sources of revelation—the Church classically teaches that there are two equal sources of revelation, Tradition and Scripture—Trent’s first draft said something like, „All revelation is found partly in Scripture and partly in Tradition.‟ Trent canceled that and stated, „All revelation is found in Scripture and Tradition.‟

Geiselman argued that if Trent did away with „partly, partly,‟ it is because Trent thought that revelation is wholly in Scripture and wholly in Tradition. If it is not „partly, partly,‟ then it is „wholly and wholly.‟ So, it is totally in Scripture and totally in Tradition. If it is totally in Scripture, then there can be no revelation outside of Scripture. And therefore, we are right back with Luther’s sola scriptura. Then, at the foot of the page, Ratzinger has the nerve to say how far we are from Luther’s sola scriptura. I do not know how he does it, but he does.

Therefore, all revelation is in Scripture, therefore exegesis is king. And Ratzinger says that from that moment onwards, the exegetes ruled the roost with just this little argument. The catchword was, „How stupid can people get?‟ This applies to these intellectuals leading and misleading the Church. Geiselman’s trick phrase, as translated in Ratzinger’s book, the buzzword on everyone’s lips, was apparently „material completeness,‟ meaning the material completeness of revelation is in Scripture. Not the formal completeness, but the material completeness. So it is all there in Scripture somehow or other. That is how the modernist exegetes became king. So again, it is Scripture; it is the falsification of Scripture. The right understanding of Scripture is very important. I have read somewhere that in the end times there is going to be a new grasp of Scripture, which seems very possible.

The stomach represents the lower part of human nature, for which the Word of God is a constant penance—a pain in the belly, dolor in ventre. Quoting Jeremiah 4:19: „My bowels, my bowels are in pain. The senses of my heart are troubled within me. I will not hold my peace, for my soul hath heard the sound of the trumpet, the cry of battle.‟ Destruction upon destruction is cried, for all the land is laid waste. Suddenly are my tents spoiled, my pavilions in a moment. Cardinal Innocentius said Jeremiah is our prophet. A well-said opinion. He is a prophet for our time because he lived through the terrible corruption at the end of the First Temple, just before Nebuchadnezzar came with the Babylonians. The glory of the temple had departed. Ezekiel saw the glory, the Shekinah, departing from the First Temple (cf. Ezekiel 10:18, 11:23). The glory of the Lord came upon the temple when it was dedicated by Solomon (cf. II Chronicles 7:1-3), with fire coming down and the majesty of the Lord filling the house. The departing glory signified the temple was being abandoned and the Babylonians would destroy it. So Jeremiah 4:19 refers to this agony.

„And he will make thy stomach bitter, but in thy mouth it will be like sweet honey.‟ The mouth is the higher part of human nature, for which God’s word is a continual sweet refreshment. Psalm 118 (119 in Hebrew) verse 103: „How sweet are thy words to my palate! More than honey to my mouth. By thy commandments I have had understanding: therefore have I hated every way of iniquity.‟ So, the stomach stands for the lower part of human nature for which the Word of God is a constant penance. The mouth is the higher part of human nature for which God’s word is a continual sweet refreshment.

„And I took the book from the hand of the angel, and ate it up: and it was in my mouth, sweet as honey: and when I had eaten it, my belly was made bitter.‟

The angel is saying to him that after the island of Patmos, he must return to Ephesus. John is presently on the island of Patmos in exile. The angel is telling him he will have to go back to Ephesus once more to feed his flock. He must feed his flock and write his Gospel, which is not yet written, for all future countries, generations, kings, tribes, and nations.

After chapter 9, the assault by the powers of evil upon the Church under the reign of the Antichrist, the author now shows the help that God provides to His servants against these formidable events. On the one hand, a special help from the Son of God and the renewed preaching of the Gospel in chapter 10. On the other hand, the intervention of two mysterious witnesses who are going to strengthen the faithful of Christ in the last days, and whose mission is described in chapter 11.

This chapter we have seen, Chapter 10, is a vision of a renewal of the Gospel. The vision takes the form of John himself asking for a grasp of Scripture. But as being part of the sixth trumpet, it is a special grasp of Scripture for the preachers at the time of the Antichrist, before the general judgment. The seventh trumpet will be immediately after the general judgment. So the first help is a renewal of the Gospel. The second help, Chapter 11, is the two witnesses.

It is not an easy book. This commentary [being used by Bishop Williamson] has the advantage that it does not try to apply the Apocalypse to specific historical situations, remaining general, except concerning the ages of the Church, which I think is accurate. It focuses on patterns of events, which are more important than particular events. People often err when trying to apply it to specific events. For example, some commentaries, like one reportedly by Father Kramer saying the United States will keep the faith, are unreliable, as the United States as a nation has never had the faith. This commentary stays at the level of patterns, which is good.

The seventh angel mentioned in verse 7, „in the days of the voice of the seventh angel,‟ is the seventh trumpet, which is detailed in chapter 11, verse 15: „And the seventh angel sounded the trumpet: and there were great voices in heaven, saying: The kingdom of this world is become our Lord’s and his Christ’s.‟ This is the period of preachers immediately after the Antichrist, just before the return of Our Lord, a period of about 45 days, if we read Daniel correctly.

Most commentators think the two witnesses will be Enoch and Elias, come back upon Earth. Elias left the earth in a chariot of fire and, as far as any human saw, never died. Some Church Fathers think both he and Enoch (who also was thought not to have died) will return. Elias will preach to the Jews under the Antichrist; Enoch, a Gentile, will preach to the Gentiles. Scripture verses suggest Enoch also did not die. It is thought they are somewhere on earth writing the true history of the world, which is quite different from what we are given to read.

Early Christians may have thought the two witnesses were coming soon, as many expected the end of the world relatively quickly. Saint Paul in Thessalonians warns against thinking the end is imminent. Few thought it would last 2,000 years. Gregory the Great, around 600 AD, thought the world was in a terrible state and laid the foundations for the Middle Ages, perhaps not expecting the world to last much longer.

For writing his Gospel, John will receive special lights, including a rod of discretion, or a yardstick. A reed of discretion to know how to convey the Word of God to various classes of men. It is a reed like unto a rod. A reed is supple, while a rod signifies strictness and governance. This suggests a new kind of Christian government, more merciful and understanding. Supple as a reed, but like a scepter for governing oneself and others.

„Arise and measure the temple of God.‟ „Arise‟ means get up and practice yourself what you preach. „Measure the temple of God, and the altar, and those adoring in it.‟ „Measure the temple‟ refers to the Church. Take the measure of the Church as being made for men and not for angels. Get the measurements of the Church right. John is going to write his fourth Gospel not for angels, but for men. The Catholic Church is for men, not angels.

The chapter division between 10 and 11 seems misleading, as the content flows directly; the angel is still instructing John. „And the altar‟: the altar is the humanity of Christ, or the human nature of Christ, meek and humble of heart. „And those adoring therein‟: the adorers are men, as being fallible, weak, and infinitely diverse. Take the correct measure of the Church, take the correct measure of the humanity of Christ, and take the correct measure of men: weak, fallible, and infinitely varied.

Verse 2: „But the court which is without the temple, cast out, and measure it not: because it is given unto the Gentiles, and the holy city they shall tread under foot two and forty months.‟ The outer court represents the hardened sinners and heretics outside the Church, who do not belong to the Church. „Cast out‟ means excommunicate them. Do not take their measure, and do not heed their false pleading.

We will carry on tomorrow.