"Seven thunders uttered their voices." The seven thunders uttering their voices signify, the Holy Spirit of sevenfold power, who through the prophets announced all things to come, and by His voice John gave his testimony in the world; but because he says that he was about to write the things which the thunders had uttered, that is, whatever things had been obscure in the announcements of the Old Testament; he is forbidden to write them, but he was charged to leave them sealed, because he is an apostle, nor was it fitting that the grace of the subsequent stage should be given in the first. "The time," says he, "is at hand."45 For the apostles, by powers, by signs, by portents, and by mighty works, have overcome unbelief. After them there is now given to the same completed Churches the comfort of having the prophetic Scriptures subsequently interpreted, for I said that after the apostles there would be interpreting prophets.
For the apostle says: "And he placed in the Church indeed, first, apostles; secondly, prophets; thirdly, teachers,"46 and the rest. And in another place he says: "Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the others judge."47 And he says: "Every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered, dishonoureth her head"48 And when he says, "Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the others judge," he is not speaking in respect of the Catholic prophecy of things unheard and unknown, but of things both announced and known. But let them judge whether or not the interpretation is consistent with the testimonies of the prophetic utterance.49 It is plain, therefore, that to John, armed as he was with superior virtue, this was not necessary, although the body of Christ, which is the Church, adorned with His members, ought to respond to its position.
God swears by himself, since there is none greater than he. But the angels, being creatures, swear by the Creator, for due to our untrustworthiness, they are the guarantors of what is said by them. They swear either that in the coming age there will no longer be time which is measured by the sun, since eternal life is transcendent to temporal measure, or they swear that there is not much time after the six voices of the angel before the prophecies are fulfilled.
And the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his hand to heaven, and swore, etc. The angel swears by the one who lives forever, as Christ, coming in the name of the Father, confirms his words with his unchangeable truth: Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away (Matthew XXIV).
And the angel, whom I saw standing upon the sea and upon the earth, lifted up his hand to heaven, and he swore by him that liveth for ever and ever. When the Lord forbids swearing, what does it mean that he himself swears, if not that men are often mistaken in swearing, whereas he, who is the truth, is never mistaken? So, the angel lifting up his hand to heaven was our Redeemer carrying his humanity up to the Father's seat by his own power. His swearing by him that lives for ever and ever means that he shows that he, who is the Father's Word, and his flesh, which indicates the whole man, who consists of flesh and soul, are one person of God and the true God of man; or if it is not this, then certainly he swears by the Father because he attributes him everything. In what is said after that, who created heaven, and the things which are therein; and the earth, and the things which are in it; and the sea, and the things which are therein, he refutes the error of the heretics who are not afraid to claim that some things were made by the good prince and others by the prince of darkness. Now let us hear what he swore: That time shall be no longer, but in the days of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound the trumpet, the mystery of God shall be finished, as he hath declared by his servants the prophets. The seventh angel and the seventh trumpet are the end of the Church's preaching, with the completion of which the second coming of the Lord is expected to take place. However, if time shall be no longer when holy preaching has come to an end, how can the Psalmist say, Their time shall be forever? [Ps. 80:16] One should know then that for the just, whom the eternity of immortality will receive, no time of changeableness will come after that; whereas the unjust, whom an eternal decline will take possession of, will be as if they were confronted with times of mutability: for, since time declines moment by moment, it is fitting for the decline of the wicked to be called by the name of time. Therefore the Psalmist affirms concerning the unjust what the Lord denies concerning the just. Finally, when he says that the mystery of God shall be finished, it is not meant in the sense of destruction, but in the sense of completion. He says that it was foretold by the prophets because nearly all their focus was on the Lord's first and second coming and the end of the world.
This is said in the form of an ellipse; for he means that when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, all the different and varied punishments of the wicked will be completed. But he says that this will not take place now when the trumpet sounds in the vision, since the other events had not yet then occurred,
but only when the trumpet is sounded at the appropriate time. After this, he says, the secret purpose of God will be fulfilled, as he announced to his servants the prophets (Rv 10.7). For up to the time of the judgment and the rewarding and punishment of the good and the bad, the prophets prophesied, but after this they said no more. Therefore, when in that age the seventh angel sounds his trumpet, all God’s secret purpose will be fulfilled, together with every prophetic prediction.
[AD 304] Victorinus of Pettau on Revelation 10:3-9
For the apostle says: "And he placed in the Church indeed, first, apostles; secondly, prophets; thirdly, teachers,"46 and the rest. And in another place he says: "Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the others judge."47 And he says: "Every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered, dishonoureth her head"48 And when he says, "Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the others judge," he is not speaking in respect of the Catholic prophecy of things unheard and unknown, but of things both announced and known. But let them judge whether or not the interpretation is consistent with the testimonies of the prophetic utterance.49 It is plain, therefore, that to John, armed as he was with superior virtue, this was not necessary, although the body of Christ, which is the Church, adorned with His members, ought to respond to its position.