Scripture Reading: Rev. 7:2; 8:3-5; 10:1-6; 18:1; 10:7
Ⅰ
In His work in the divine administration, Christ is another Angel—7:2; 8:3; 10:1; 18:1:
A
Christ is called "another Angel" because He stands on the position of one who has been sent by God:
１
In the Old Testament Christ was called the Angel of the Lord—Gen. 22:11-12; Exo. 3:2-6; Judg. 6:11-24; Zech. 1:11-12; 2:8-11; 3:1-7.
２
In the book of Revelation He is called "another Angel," the unique, special Angel, because He is the One sent by God to carry out His economy— 7:2; 8:3; 10:1, 5, 9; 18:1.
B
As another Angel Christ takes care of God's people, both the sons of Israel and the believers:
１
In 7:2-8 He takes care of the chosen remnant of Israel and is unveiled as another Angel in relation to "a hundred and forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the sons of Israel"—v. 4.
２
In His work as another Angel, Christ takes care of the believers, the redeemed saints of the church, preserving them throughout all the tribulations—vv. 9-17.
３
Christ as God's Angel controls the whole universe, directing the other angels to carry out God's judgment upon the earth—vv. 2-3.
C
In 8:3-5 Christ as another Angel executes God's administration over the earth by ministering to God as the High Priest with the prayers of His saints:
１
The incense altar (golden altar) is the executing center of God's administration—v. 3.
２
The golden censer signifies the prayers of the saints (5:8), and the incense signifies Christ with all His merit added to the saints' prayers.
３
When the prayers of the saints ascend to God with the incense of Christ, God carries out His administration—8:5:
ａ
God's administration needs the saints' prayers, which are their response to Christ's heavenly ministry.
ｂ
As we pray He administrates, and as He administrates we pray.
ｃ
Christ f irst offers our prayers to God and then pours out God's answers.
ｄ
The pouring out of God's answers to our prayers equals God's universal administration.
D
In 10:1-2 Christ comes as another Angel to take possession of the sea and the land:
１
His having one foot on the sea and the other on the land signifies that He is coming to take possession of the whole earth—v. 2b.
２
Although the earth and the sea have been usurped by God's enemy, one day Christ will no longer tolerate this usurpation, and He will come to claim His rightful inheritance—Psa. 2:8; 24:1.
E
In His work as another Angel Christ will come to declare God's judgment over Babylon the Great and to appear in glory to make the whole earth the kingdom of God—18:1-2; 11:15.
Ⅱ
The seventh trumpet, as the conclusion of the eternal economy of the processed Triune God, closes the present age of mystery; hence, Revelation 10:7 says, "The mystery of God is finished":
A
Daniel 9:24 speaks of the seventy weeks, which were apportioned to "seal up vision and prophet":
１
To seal up vision and prophet is to close the age of mystery (the age of the church), that is, to finish the mystery of God.
２
The vision and prophet will be sealed because everything will be fulf illed:
ａ
There will be no further need of vision and prophet.
ｂ
In the kingdom age, there will be kings and priests but no prophets.
B
In the dispensations from Adam to Moses and from Moses to Christ, everything was unveiled, manifested, and there was no mystery; also in the dispensation of the millennial kingdom everything will be unveiled, and there will be no more mystery.
C
In the dispensation from Christ to the millennial kingdom—the church age, the age of grace— everything is a mystery:
１
The incarnation of Christ, as the beginning of the dispensation of mystery, is a mystery— 1 Tim. 3:16:
ａ
Through the incarnation of Christ, the infinite God was brought into the finite man.
ｂ
The entire God, not God the Son only, was incarnated; hence, Christ in incarnation is the entire God manifested in the flesh.
２
Christ is the mystery of God—Col. 2:2:
ａ
God is a mystery, and Christ, as the embodiment of God to express Him, is the mystery of God.
ｂ
As the mystery of God, Christ is the embodiment, definition, and explanation of God; all that God intends to do is related to Christ.
ｃ
In Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; that is, the fullness of the Triune God dwells in Christ in a bodily form—v. 9.
３
The church is the mystery of Christ—Eph. 3:4-6:
ａ
Christ is a mystery, and the church, as the Body of Christ to express Him, is the mystery of Christ.
ｂ
This mystery is God's economy, which is to dispense Christ, as the embodiment of God, into God's chosen people in order to produce a Body to be the increase of God's embodiment in Christ, that God may have a corporate expression.
ｃ
Christ and the church as one spirit are the great mystery—5:32.
４
The kingdom of the heavens (Matt. 13:11), the gospel (Eph. 6:19), the indwelling of Christ (Col. 1:27), and the resurrection and transfiguration of the saints as the ending of the dispensation of mystery are also mysteries.
５
At the trumpeting of the seventh trumpet, all these mysteries will be completed; therefore, the mystery of God will be finished.