The Revelation of Jesus Christ - The Herald

Divine Plan, enables them to be delivered from and lifted above the errors of the false
systems and thus to escape the "plagues."
The position of the last members of the true Church, the overcomers, is portrayed in the
vision which St. John beholds in connection with the vision of the seven angels having the
seven last plagues--that of the victors on the glassy sea. This vision seems clearly to belong
to the same period when the last plagues are being poured out. Six of the plagues seem to
meet fulfillment before the glorification of all the Church class; the seventh after that
event. The following from two noted writers is pertinent here:
"Here we see the importance of an understanding of the symbols of chapter 13; for unless
we understood what those symbols [the beast and image] meant, we could not understand
who is overcoming their influence. In this way God has made His Word self-interpreting.
The understanding of one part or symbol is the key to an understanding of another. In
harmony then with Rev. 13 we understand the overcomers here referred to [chapter 15:2-4]
to be those Christians who are free from Papacy--the beast--and from organized sectarian
Protestantism--the image--and from all who bear the characteristics of their number--that
is, free to the extent that these have no influence over their actions, professions, or
thoughts--free indeed.
"This serves, too, to show about when the plagues are due, and when this sea of glass
condition may be reached; for if, as seems clear, the image was formed by the organization
of the 'Evangelical Alliance,' in 1846, then it is equally clear, that the overcomers of the
'image' could not occupy this position of favor and exaltation prior to that date. This
furnishes a general reason for believing that the plagues must commence this side of the
date mentioned [1846], since it is during the pouring out of the plagues that the
'overcomers' occupy this condition upon the 'sea of glass.'"
Mr. Elliott, writing about twenty years before this writer, took precisely the same position
regarding the "sea of glass" condition being contemporaneous with the "plagues." He says:
"The harpers [of Rev. 15:2], must hence naturally be construed as servants of God living at
the time of the vials' outpouring, and spectators of the judgments contained in them. . . . It
hardly accords with Apocalyptic usage, in these prophetic visions, to speak of God's
servants as victorious over an earthly enemy, except where victorious over him on the
earthly scene, and before the world's eyes; a case the direct reverse to that of the earlier of
Christ's saints under the beast's reign in their day and generation. For of them it is stated,
not that they conquered the beast, but that the beast conquered them (Rev. 13:7; 11:7); and
their ultimate predicted victory over the beast upon this earthly scene, by the beast's
kingdom giving place to their Lord's Kingdom, is declared in the very song of the harpers
to be an event, at the time symbolized in the vision, still future. 'For all nations shall come
and worship before Thee.'"