On Rev 4:9-10:
In this passage, by the four
living creatures the four books of the Gospel are indicated; by the
twenty-four elders, the Fathers of the New Testament can be understood.
Therefore the four living creatures give glory and honor and blessing to the
One seated on the throne, who lives for ever and ever, because the teaching
of the Gospel is read and preached throughout the whole world, through which
glory and honor and blessing are given to the Father and the Son of the Holy Spirit.
At the voice of the four living creatures, then, the twenty-four elders fell
down before the One seated on the throne and worshiped the One who lives for
ever and ever, because the saints of God, established throughout the whole
world, when they hear the teaching of the Gospel, humble themselves in the
sight of God, so that they may live with Him for ever and ever. And they cast
their crowns before the throne, saying. We said above that good works were signified
by the crowns; therefore the saints cast their crowns before the throne when
they attribute to God, and not to themselves, whatever good they do, according
to the command of the Apostle: “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord” (2
Cor. 10:17). (Commentary on Revelation by Berengaudus of Ferrières [trans.
John Litteral; 2026], 91)
Rev 5:8:
We must inquire how the book
could have been opened before the unsealing of the seals. But this must be
understood spiritually. For the prophets foretold the coming of Christ, his
passion, and his resurrection, sometimes through certain figures, sometimes with
plain words; and the patriarchs also prefigured all these things in their own
deeds. But Christ, when he was born of the Virgin, when he suffered, and rose again,
and ascended into heaven, opened the book of the Old Testament, because the
things that were signified there he fulfilled in deed. Afterwards, what in the
Old Testament was obscure, and likewise in the New, he opened to the teachers
of the Church through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And this opening is
the unsealing of the seals. But what follows, that the four living creatures
and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, refers to those same
teachers of the Church; for as often as they recall to memory the birth,
passion, and resurrection of the Lord, and call to mind in whatever ways these
things were prefigured by the holy fathers and foretold by the prophets; as
often as they do not cease to investigate those things which in the Gospel are
set forth obscurely, so often is the sealed book opened to them. They fall down
before the Lamb, when, by meditation on the divine Scriptures, considering the
immeasurable mercy of God, they humble themselves in the sight of their
Creator, and the more they cast themselves down in humility, the more they burn
with love for him, because the humility that is practiced in the sight of God
nourishes the love of God. By the harps, moreover, which the living
creatures and the elders are said to have had, the mortification of the flesh
is signified, as the Apostle says: “Put to death your members which are upon
the earth: fornication, uncleanness, covetousness, and the rest” (Col. 3:5).
But the golden bowels are the hearts of the saints, filled with
spiritual wisdom, which are said to have been full of perfumes. And what
the perfumes are he himself explains when he adds: “Which are the prayers of
the saints.” And so that these perfumes may ascend to God, the psalmist
prays when he says; “Let my prayer be directed as incense in your sight.” (Ps.
141:2) (Ibid., 97-98)
Rev 5:14b:
In this place the twenty-four
elders have the same meaning as the four living creatures; therefore the
elders fall down and worship when the holy preachers, the more they see
their hearers have advanced in good works, the more they humble themselves in
the sight of God, as Scripture says: The greater you are, humble yourself in
all things, and you will find favor before God (Sirach 3:20). Next follows the
opening of the seals, which must be believed to refer only to the opening of
the divine Scriptures. For even the things that are said to have been done
under the openings of the seals refer to the opening of the Old and New Testaments.
And just as the whole body of the elect consists of seven parts, so there are
seven seals, which correspond to each part, to show those things that are
obscurely set down in the divine Scriptures, or what the deeds of the holy
fathers signify. The opening of the first seal, then, refers to the things that
were done before the Flood; the second seal to the patriarchs; the third to
those who were under the Law; the fourth to the prophets; and the three
openings that remain refer to the New Testament. The fifth opening refers to
the martyrs; the sixth to the casting down of the Jews and the calling of the
Gentiles; the seventh refers to the coming of Christ. And why the coming of the
Lord is placed in the seventh place we shall say in what follows. But we must
ask why the opening of the Old Testament is prefigured through the vision of
the four horsemen; for the horseman is, on the part of the horse, irrational,
but on the part of the rider is recognized as rational. Likewise, certain legal
laws, on the side of the letter, are irrational, but on the side of allegory
are shown to be very rational. (Ibid., 102-3)
On Rev 8:3:
The angel signifies Christ; he
came because through the mystery of the Incarnation he appeared in the world.
By the golden altar the Church is indicated. He is said to have stood
before the altar; for Christ lay prostrate among unbelievers, who
considered him a mere man; but he stood among the faithful, who believed that
he was truly God. Therefore he stood before the altar, because to the apostles
and the other believers, from whom the Church was then constituted, he revealed
that he was God. By the censer which he held in his hand are shown
the hearts of the apostles and of the other faithful. It is said to have been golden,
because the hearts of the disciples, purified by faith and golden by the wisdom
they had learned from Christ, were like gold. The censer is said to have been
held in his hand, because the hearts of the apostles were in the hand of
God, as Solomon says: “The king’s heart is the hand of the Lord; he will bend
it wherever he wishes” (Prov. 21:1). Was the heart of that Solomon in the hand
of God when he was worshipping idols? Was the heart of Antiochus or Herod in
the hand of God? Were the hearts of the kings who persecuted the saints of God
in the hand of God? They were in the hand of the Devil, who bent them toward
whatever crimes he wished; but the hearts of spiritual kings, that is, of the
saints, are in the hand of God, and therefore he will bend them wherever he wishes.
Consequently: “And much incense
was given to him.” The many incenses are the teachings of the Gospel; for
incense is placed in the censer so that, once it has received the heat of the
fire, it may spread the fragrance of its scent all around. In the same way
Christ placed the teaching of the Gospel in the hearts of his disciples, who,
inflamed with the fire of love, spread the fragrance of their faith among all
nations. Therefore it also continues: “That he might offer from the prayers
of all the saints upon the golden altar which is before God.” There are many
kinds of prayers; for the faithful pray with words, begging God that all their
sins may be forgiven them. They also pray by giving alms, as the Lord says in
the Gospel: “Give alms, and behold, all things are clean for you” (Luke 11:42).
And in another place it is written: “Just as water extinguishes fire, so
almsgiving extinguishes sin” (Sirach 3:33). They also pray by forgiving their
neighbors for what they have done against them, as the Lord says in the Gospel:
“If you forgive people their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you
your sins” (Matt. 6:15). Likewise, they also pray by keeping the commandments
of love, as it is written that “love covers all offenses” (James 5:20).
Therefore, that person prays to God in a wholesome way who keeps God’s
commandments; for it is of no benefit to us to implore God’s mercy with words
and to provoke it by our deeds. So God gave “upon the golden altar from the
prayers of the saints” when he placed upon the hearts of believers the faith,
teaching, and actions of the apostles and of the other preachers; so that they
might have been from what they could be instructed and what they could imitate.
(Ibid., 163-65)
On Rev 19:1-8:
But in truth, by the twenty-four
elders, the fathers who lived under the Law are signified. To them are
joined the four living creatures, through which the New Testament is
prefigured; because in the Old Testament, if it is understood spiritually, the
New is contained. They chanted “Alleluia,” because, observing the legal
commandments, they strove by good works to please God. By the throne,
however, the prophets are signified, in that they were the seat of God, and
through them he arranged his judgments. A voice went out from the throne,
because from the prophets holy preaching proceeded. They sang praise to God,
because they strove to serve him with all their strength. The great trumpet signifies
Christ: the voice of the trumpet is the preaching of the Gospel; and by
the voice of many waters is signified the multitude of nations
confessing Christ; by the voice of great thunder are understood the
elect who are to be born at the end of the world, and rightly by thunder,
because they will announce the terror of the day of judgment. Therefore three
voices once chanted “Alleluia,” because they have preserved, and will preserve
until the end, the faith of the Holy Trinity and the doctrine of the Gospel, which
proceeded from the great trumpet, that is, from Christ. Two parts, that
is, the first and the second, belong to the law which we have said is natural; the
two which follow, that is, the third and the fourth, to the law which was given
through Moses; but the three which remain, that is, the fifth and the sixth and
the seventh, to the law of the Gospel, so that they show that those men ought
to remain in the faith of the Holy Trinity until the end of the world. (Ibid.,
305-6)
