Note 599 — Footnotes.

13. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood. Red, as if dipped in blood—emblem of slaughter. The original of this image is probably Is. lxiii. 2, 3. See Notes on that passage. ¶ And his name is called The Word of God. The name which in ver. 12, it is said that no one knew but he himself. This name is Ὁ λόγος τοῦ Θεοῦ, or “the Logos of God.” That is, this is his peculiar name; a name which belongs only to him, and which distinguishes him from all other beings. The name Logos, as applicable to the Son of God, and expressive of his nature, is found in the New Testament only in the writings of John, and is used by him to denote the higher or divine nature of the Saviour. In regard to its meaning, and the reason why it is applied to him, see Notes on Jn. i. 1. The reader also may consult, with great advantage, an article by Professor Stuart in the Bibliotheca Sacra, vol. vii. pp. 16‒31. The following may be some of the reasons why it is said (ver. 12) that no one understands this but he himself:—(1) No one but he can understand its full import, as it implies so high a knowledge of the nature of the Deity; (2) no one but he can understand the relation which it supposes in regard to God, or the relation of the Son to the Father; (3) no one but he can understand what is implied in it, regarded as the method in which God reveals himself to his creatures on earth; (4) no one but he can understand what is implied in it in respect to the manner in which God makes himself known to other worlds. It may be added, as a further illustration of this, that none of the attempts made to explain it have left the matter so that there are no questions unsolved which one would be glad to ask.