ACC ~ Revelation 11 v16 - 18

ONE WHO CORRUPTS BAPTISM WILL BE CORRUPTED. TYCONIUS: He speaks of the beginning and the end. When he says, “You have begun to reign and the nations raged,” he indicates the first coming, for at his birth Herod and the people of Jerusalem were troubled.However, the time of the second coming is declared by wrath and judgment. … “Behold, the third woe has come,” it says. By the sound of the trumpet of the seventh angel he refers to nothing other than the church, which is praising the Lord and is in the sound of the trumpet giving thanks to him without end. And from this we understand that the rewarding of those who are good is not without the punishment of the wicked. “To reward your saints and to corrupt the corrupters of the earth,” it says. This means that [the Lord] gives to the righteous a recompense proper to their merits and to those who were corrupters he gives evil proper to their [wicked] deeds. For whoever has corrupted in himself the temple of the Lord, that is, the church of the body of Christ in baptism, he will without doubt be subjected to corruption. As the apostle said, “If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him.” COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 11.16-18.

THE REWARD OF THE GOOD. TYCONIUS: He is now mentioning both the beginning and the end of the dispensation of Christ. For when he says, “You have begun to reign and the nations raged,” he is speaking of the first coming of Christ. But, indeed, when it follows that “your wrath has come and the time of the dead,” or as another translation has it, “at which time he will judge concerning the dead,” he is speaking of the second coming, when the saints and the prophets and those who fear his name, the small and the great and the old and the young, will receive their reward. As it says, “Your eyes beheld my imperfection, and in your book everything will be written.” And lest the wicked think that they may act with impunity, he subjects to destruction whomever has corrupted the earth. As the psalmist says, “The face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”It says that the third woe comes at the sound of the seventh angel, and when he sounded [his trumpet], only the church is mentioned as she praises the Lord and gives him thanks. And from this we learn that the recompense of the good is not apart from the woe of the wicked. And so the psalmist said, “When his wrath is quickly kindled,” certainly upon the wicked, “blessed are all those who trust in him.” And so now the church herself says, “Your wrath has come and the time for death, to reward your servants,” and following. This is the final woe. Since the bodily nativity of the Lord has been nicely recapitulated, he suggests that he is about to speak of the same things but in a different and more extensive manner. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 11.15-19.

THE ELDERS PRAISE THE TRIUNE GOD. OECUMENIUS: When the voice was heard, “the elders worshiped God,” bringing their own thanksgiving and saying, “We give you thanks, O God, the Almighty, who is and who was.” The phrases who is and who was are fitting to be used of the holy Trinity, although usually who is is used of the Father and who was of the Son. For “to be” is true of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and we speak rightly when we say “was” of the Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Therefore, the thanksgiving of the elders is ascribed to the holy Trinity. For it says, “You have taken your great power” from those on the earth, and you have taken your rule which you gave to them, and you now alone rule. And since the earthly kingdom is destroyed, naturally “the nations raged,” for they had been deprived of their dominion—by nations he speaks of the ranks of the demons and of unfaithful people. “But your wrath has come,” it says, “and the lot of the nations to be judged and to give reward to your servants the prophets and the saints.” Although, it says, you exercised great long-suffering toward them in the past, they made no use of your kindness, and now, that is, in the day of judgment, you have brought your wrath against them, and that fate that has been determined for the nations has come and is present. And what is this? This, that they are judged and that recompense is given to the saints who had suffered evil from them, and that they who had corrupted the earth by polluting it with their sins be destroyed by the recompense of punishment. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 11.15-19.

PRAISE TO CHRIST. ANDREW OF CAESAREA: Here again he says that the holy angels and those who live as do the angels send a hymn of thanksgiving to God, because for our sake he has become worthy to receive as man that kingdom that as God he possessed from the beginning. And having been patient with the unbelieving nations who were enraged at this as though it were a new and strange teaching, at the end he brings judgment upon them. … “The time of the dead” is the time of the resurrection of the dead, at which time recompense will be given to each, one after the other. In the “prophets and saints and those who fear God” we are perhaps to recognize the three orders of those who produce fruit a hundredfold, sixtyfold and thirtyfold.However, certainly the apostles will receive the first place and sit upon the twelve thrones. We think that the “small and great” are either the lesser saints and those who are rather more preeminent than they, or the “small” are the sinners who are subjects of contempt and the “great” are the righteous. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 11.15-18.

ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE GATHERED FOR JUDGMENT. BEDE: To be sure, from eternity you have reigned, although the wicked are in rebellion, but now their anger is suppressed and ceases to exist. For “the Lord reigns, let the people be angry.” “And the time for the dead to be judged and for the rewarding of your servants,” et cetera. This corresponds to the order we have in the Gospel narrative. First, all the nations are to be gathered before the judge; then those on the right will be placed in many mansions in the kingdom of the Father, while those on the left will be tossed outside the limits of the kingdom and cast into the flames of their condemnation. EXPLANATION OF THE APOCALYPSE 11.16-18.