And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:
The Woman with the Man-Child. Chap. 12 Rev 12:1-6
1. a great wonder ] Should be sign, as in the margin, both here and in Rev 12:3.
a woman ] Who is this? The two answers most commonly given are (1) the Virgin Mary, (2) the Church. Neither seems quite satisfactory. There can indeed be little doubt that the Son born of this woman is the Son of Mary: nor ought theological or ecclesiastical considerations to exclude the view that Mary is herself intended by the mother; the glory ascribed to her is no greater than that of a glorified saint (Dan 12:3; St Mat 13:43), and St John was not bound to suppress a truth for fear of the false inference Pius V. or Pius IX. might seek to draw from it. But it is not in harmony with the usage of this book for a human being, even a glorified saint, to be introduced in his personal character: if St John saw (see on Rev 4:4, Rev 5:5) himself, who was not yet glorified, sitting among the elders, it is plain that it is typical, not personal, glory or blessedness that this description indicates.
Who then, or what, is the typical or mystical Mother of Christ? Not the Christian Church, which in this book as elsewhere is represented as His wife: but the Jewish Church, the ideal Israel, “the daughter of Zion.” See especially Mic 4:10; Mic 5:3: where it is her travail from which He is to be born Who is born in Bethlehem. This accounts for the only features that support the other view, the appearance in her glory of the Sun, Moon, and stars of Son 6:10, and the mention of “the remnant of her seed” in Rev 12:17.
It may, however, perhaps be true that the ideal mother of the Lord is half identified in St John’s mind, and intended to be so in his reader’s, with His human mother: she embodies the ideal conception, just as the ideal of the false enemy of goodness in Psalms 109 received embodiment in Judas, or as the king of Israel who was to come is called “David,” by Hosea and Ezekiel.
clothed with the sun &c.] There may be a reference to Son 6:10, where however there is no mention of the stars. More certain is the reference, or at least similarity of imagery, to Gen 37:9, where “the eleven stars,” i.e. signs of the zodiac, represent Jacob’s eleven sons, bowing down to Joseph, the twelfth. Here, the ideal Israel appears in the glory of all the patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and their wives, are hers, and of the Twelve Tribes none is wanting. The whole description, in fact, is interpreted in Rom 9:5.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And there appeared a great wonder in heaven – In that heavenly world thus disclosed, in the very presence of God, he saw the impressive and remarkable symbol which he proceeds to describe. The word wonder – semeion – properly means something extraordinary, or miraculous, and is commonly rendered sign. See Mat 12:38-39; Mat 16:1, Mat 16:3-4; Mat 24:3, Mat 24:24, Mat 24:30; Mat 26:48; Mar 8:11-12; Mar 13:4, Mar 13:22; Mar 16:17, Mar 16:20; in all which, and in numerous other places in the New Testament, it is rendered sign, and mostly in the sense of miracle. When used in the sense of a miracle, it refers to the fact that the miracle is a sign or token by which the divine power or purpose is made known. Sometimes the word is used to denote a sign of future things – a portent or presage of coming events; that is, some remarkable appearances which foreshadow the future. Thus in Mat 16:3; signs of the times; that is, the miraculous events which foreshadow the coming of the Messiah in his kingdom. So also in Mat 24:3, Mat 24:30; Mar 13:4; Luk 21:7, Luk 21:11. This seems to be the meaning here, that the woman who appeared in this remarkable manner was a portent or token of what was to occur.
A woman clothed with the sun – Bright, splendid, glorious, as if the sunbeams were her raiment. Compare Rev 1:16; Rev 10:1; see also Son 6:10 – a passage which, very possibly, was in the mind of the writer when he penned this description: Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?
And the moon under her feet – The moon seemed to be under her feet. She seemed as if she stood on the moon, its pale light contrasted with the burning splendor of the sun, heightening the beauty of the whole picture. The woman, beyond all question, represents the church. See the notes on Rev 12:2. Is the splendor of the sunlight designed to denote the brightness of the gospel? Is the moon designed to represent the comparatively feeble light of the Jewish dispensation? Is the fact that she stood upon the moon, or that it was under her feet, designed to denote the superiority of the gospel to the Jewish dispensation? Such a supposition gives much beauty to the symbol, and is not foreign to the nature of symbolic language.
And upon her head a crown of twelve stars – A diadem in which there were placed twelve stars. That is, there were twelve sparkling gems in the crown which she wore. This would, of course, greatly increase the beauty of the vision; and there can be no doubt that the number twelve here is significant. If the woman here is designed to symbolize the church, then the number twelve has, in all probability, some allusion either to the twelve tribes of Israel as being a number which one who was born and educated as a Jew would be likely to use (compare Jam 1:1), or to the twelve apostles – an allusion which, it may be supposed, an apostle would be more likely to make. Compare Mat 19:28; Rev 21:14.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Rev 12:1-2
A great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun.
The sign of the woman in heaven
Let us consider the scene. There is a woman clothed with the sun, crowned with stars, and having the moon under her feet. A woman has ever been the chief symbol of the Church. The relation between the Lord and the Church is most correctly represented by the relation between a true husband and a faithful wife. The husband is delighted to supply his wife with every comfort; his counsel guides, his strength defends her. So is the Lord to the whole universe, but especially to heaven and the Church. A wife, on the other hand, loves her husband, and him only, as a husband. She trusts in his judgment, she has confidence in his strength and protection, she delights in carrying out his views so far as she can see them to be right (Psa 45:10-11). The Church, then, is the Lords wife: she loves Him–leans upon Him–confides in Him–is jealous for His honour, worship, and dignity, and clings fondly to Him in life, death, and eternity. She, therefore, is represented by this glorious woman. And the teachings of this chapter show us that when the Church would be manifested to the world, she would be a great wonder, she would startle and astonish mankind, and would have to encounter the fierce opposition of those who are meant by the dragon, which sends out floods from his mouth to destroy her and her man child. The Church, then, especially as to her love for the Lord, His law, His kingdom, and His children, is meant by this woman. And, in truth, it is this love which forms the very essence of the Church (Joh 13:34-35). No other qualifications have the Church in them if there be not charity in them. To be, then, in the love of truth and goodness, is to be in that blessed community, the Church, which is represented by the magnificent symbol presented to the spiritual sight of St. John, a woman clothed with the sun. The sun corresponds to the Divine love, and this all-essential source of blessedness appears to the angels of heaven as a sun immeasurably surpassing ours in splendour, and while its holy glow warms, it also blesses them. The Lord (Jehovah) is a sun and a shield, lie giveth grace and glory: no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly (Psa 84:11). The sun is the centre of the solar system. Divine love is the centre of the spiritual system. The sun warms all nature, Divine love warms all heaven, and every heaven-seeking spirit in the world. The soul is cold, chilled, and barren, until Divine love cheers, encourages, and quickens the affections. The woman, then, was clothed with the sun, to teach us that the Church in her purity is filled, nourished, embosomed, and blessed, by the Divine love of the Lord. To be clothed with the sun is then the privilege of the Church, when she is single-hearted and true to the Saviour. She feels His presence cheering, purifying, exalting, and blessing her; He raising her up far above all that is low and sordid, with healing in His wings. The object next offering itself for our attention is the moon. The moon was under her feet. And when we remember the two great lights mentioned in Genesis, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night, we shall readily perceive that the moon corresponds to the light which shines in the soul when we are in states of spiritual night. Our limited powers tire, and must have rest, variety, and restoration. In spiritual things the mind opens with delight to the beauties of the Divine Word. Worship is welcome, and we enjoy a delightful season of refreshing. There are showers of blessing, and, like the apostles of old, we exclaim, It is good for us to be here! Let us make tabernacles and abide. It is full day. But, after a season, we feel the necessity of a change. We have been hearing and enjoying, now we must go and act. We have had our spiritual day, now we must have night, and that is often the period of external activity. We are engaged in natural business, and our natural feelings and perceptions become dim. It is night; we are no longer conscious of the cheering presence of the light of love in which we formerly rejoiced, but we are not without light, we have the light of faith: this is the moon. Faith, like a beautiful moon, rules the night. Upon such a moon, then, the woman was observed to stand. And so it is with the true Church. She relies on an enlightened faith, not upon dark mysteries. The moon reflects light, and illuminates the darkness, and just in proportion as it faces and reflects the sun. Faith, in proportion as it perceives the Divine love prevalent in all things, affords light and comfort to its possessor. While, then, the sun of Divine love is described as embosoming the woman, the moon of faith is under her feet. The one affords nourishment, support, and joy, the other yields a firm foundation. Faith is a rock, derived from the Rock of Ages. And a clear, firm, heartfelt, rational, spiritual faith, will enable the members of the Church to stand firm under every trial, and to conquer in every conflict. There was upon her head a crown of twelve stars. The stars are used to represent the glorious possessions of this woman, because they correspond to the smaller lights of religion afforded by individual truths. When we clearly see and know the spiritual lesson afforded by each verse of the Holy Word, it becomes a star in the firmament of the soul. When the mind is well stored with the sacred knowledge of Divine things, it is like the heavens in the night-time, when the sky is radiant and robed with brilliancy. When the soul has no longer the bright manifest presence of the Sun of Righteousness, and shade and darkness come on, it is a blessed thing to have one and then another small but holy light breaking in upon us like star after star, which shows its lovely ray in the evening, until the whole gorgeous canopy is lighted up. The twelve stars represent all the knowledge of Divine things. The number twelve in the usage of the Divine Word represents all things both of goodness and truth: it is the compound of four and three multiplied together. The woman is said to have a diadem of twelve stars, to teach us that she loves and honours all the instructions that come from the Lord: all the knowledges of goodness and truth are to her as so many stars, and she makes them her glory and her crown. The head represents the highest intellectual faculty, and a diadem the wisdom which enriches and adorns that faculty in the Lords true servants. They do not esteem the knowledge of Him and His kingdom as things indifferent; they are the glories of their intellect: they do not wear them about their feet; they are their crown. And she, being with child, cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. The man child which she desired to bring forth represents the new system of doctrine and order and society, which she desired to initiate. Instead of the love of self which had so long desolated society, and made Gods earth a scene of turmoil, struggle, and distress, she desires to substitute the love of God, and love to one another. Instead of lifes business being regarded as a mere worldly pursuit, she would teach all men in all things to live the life of heaven. Such is the new system of doctrine and practice which the Lords new Church would fain engender. But ah! she cries, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. When society has been so long formed upon the two great sources of mischief, selfishness and mystery, as so-called Christendom has, we need not wonder that purer principles shored at first be received with difficulty. This difficulty arises from two causes, a contrary faith and a contrary life. Let it then be our first and chief aim to bring the rule of the man child fully into our daily conduct, and evincing an example in our lives of the blessedness of living for heaven and earth at the same time, we shall then be able to assist others in their life-work by encouragement and counsel, and that not only in private but in public matters. For surely the woman cries loudly that the earth is groaning from a thousand sorrows, which are but the results of ignorance, folly, and falsehood. (J. Bailey, Ph. D.)
The sun-clothed woman
1. We have the image of a woman. Woman was made out of Adam. Adam was the figure of Him that was to come. Christ is the second Adam. And the wife of the second Adam is the Church, made out of Him by the hand and Spirit of God from that deep sleep of His for the sins of the world.
2. This woman is in the way of motherhood. This is the characteristic of the Church in every period of its existence. The Church is meant for the work of begetting and bearing saints. It is not for show but for fruitfulness–for the bringing forth of a royal seed of God, to inherit His kingdom, and to rule and reign in the ages of eternity.
3. This woman is magnificently arrayed. Of course, no mere creature, or any number of creatures, can be literally dressed with the sun. It is only a pictorial representation, which is to be figuratively understood. The sun is the fairest and most brilliant thing our eyes have ever seen. It is the great orb of brightness. To be clothed with it, one would needs be clothed with light. And so it is with the Church and the people of God. Jesus says, they are the children of light (Luk 16:8). It is the office and end of all Gods merciful appointments to turn men from darkness to light (Act 26:18). The Church has ever been an illuminated body. Its children are not of darkness, but of the day. While others grope in darkness they are arrayed in light. The sun is at the same time the great lightgiver. It radiates brightness as well as possesses it. And to be clothed with the sun, one must necessarily be a glorious dispenser of illumination. And such is the Church. Its members and ministers have been the brightest lights of the ages. It is constituted and ordained for the teaching of the nations, and the bearing of the light of heaven to the benighted souls of men. The sun is likewise an orb of great excellence and purity. Nothing can diminish its glory, or taint its rays. To be clothed with it is to be clothed with unsullied excellency. And so it is with the Church. It may have shabby members, but they are not really of it. Light is the garment of God. It is the symbol of His own nature. And as all true people of His are partakers of the Divine nature, being begotten unto Him from above, they enter also into the same clothing. The Church is robed with the sun.
4. This woman is victorious in her position. She has the moon under her feet. As the sun is the king of day, so the moon is the empress of night, and is a fit picture of the kingdom of darkness. And as to be clothed with the sun is to be light in the Lord, so to tread the moon under foot is the image of victory over the powers of darkness, whether of nature, or aught else. And this is a blessed characteristic and honour of the Church. All her true members are conquerors. They have subdued their prejudices, and brought their bodies and passions under the sway of another and better dominion and discipline. The moon is under their feet. And the same is equally true of the Church as a body. She is the hero of battles and victories. Kings have combined to exterminate her, tyrants haw oppressed her, children have betrayed her, friends have deserted her, but still she has lived on. The moon is under her feet.
5. Still further: this woman is royal in rank and dignity. Regal gems glitter about her brow. There is on her head a crown –a crown of stars. Whatever the particular allusion may be, whether to patriarchs, or tribes, or apostles, or all of these, or to the totality of her teaching agency, there flashes forth from this the unmistakable idea of kinghood and authority; yea, of celestial royalty and dominion (1Pe 2:9). People look with contempt upon the Church. They think her mean among the majesties of this world. They esteem her manner of life a letting down of mans proper dignity and consequence. They scorn her modesty and humility as effeminacy. But the Church is a royal woman, crowned with the stars of heaven.
6. And she is ha travail to bring forth. She is persecuted; but these are not so much pains of persecution. Persecution has its spring in halls malignity; this agonising has its origin in the love, and faith, and hope of a pious maternity. (J. A. Seiss, D. D.)
Social Christhood and social fiendhood
I. Social Christhood.
1. It is glorious. Encircled with the solar beams of Divine truth. Treads down all worldliness in its spirit and aims.
2. It is multiplying.
(1) Its offspring is brought forth in pain. Who knows the anguish of those earnestly engaged in endeavouring to form Christ in men, and to bring Him forth?
(2) It is brought forth to govern. Every Christly convert is a king, as well as a priest unto God.
(3) It is destined for a Divine fellowship. Sublime destiny.
II. Social fiendhood. The great red dragon, the old serpent, the prince of the power of the air, works in the children of disobedience everywhere.
1. His possession of enormous power.
(1) Of intellect. Seven heads.
(2) Of execution. Seven horns.
(3) Of empire. Seven crowns.
(4) Of mischief (verse 4).
2. His determined antagonism to Christhood. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The Church a woman
1. Where John says, there appeared a great wonder in heaven, this shows us that Gods works for His Church, and against her enemies, are most part wonderful.
2. In the comparing the Church to a woman, we see that of herself she is but weak, but strong is He who owns her.
3. By her description, we see that all her decking and ornaments are heavenly and spiritual.
4. More particularly, she is clothed with the sun: herewith should we likewise be clothed, to make us glorious before God, and acceptable.
5. She has the moon under her feet, which teaches all her true members in like manner to tread upon the world in affection, and never to let it have place, either in heart or head.
6. It is first said that she was clothed with the sun, and then that she trod on the moon, to show us that we will never despise the world till we put on Christ, and know the excellence of Christ and of heavenly things. (Wm. Guild, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER XII.
The woman clothed with the sun, and in travail, 1, 2.
The great red dragon waiting to devour the child as soon as
born, 3, 4.
The woman is delivered of a son, who is caught up unto God;
and she flees to the wilderness, 5, 6.
The war in heaven between Michael and the dragon, 7, 8.
The dragon and his angels are overcome and cast down to the
earth; whereupon the whole heavenly host give glory to God,
9-11.
The dragon, full of wrath at his defeat, persecutes the woman,
12, 13.
She flees to the wilderness, whither he attempts to pursue her;
and he makes war with her seed, 14-17.
NOTES ON CHAP. XII.
Before I introduce the comment mentioned at the close of the preceding chapter, I think it necessary to state that the phraseology of the whole chapter is peculiarly rabbinical, and shall insert a few selections which may serve to illustrate some of the principal figures.
In Sohar Exod., fol. 47, col. 187, we find a mystical interpretation of Ex 21:22: If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart-he shall be surely punished, as the woman’s husband will lay upon him. “If men strive, i.e. Michael and Samael, and hurt a woman with child, i.e. the Israelitish Church, so that her fruit depart, hoc fit in exilio, he shall surely be punished, i.e., Samael. As the woman’s husband, that is, the holy and blessed God.”
NOTES ON CHAP. XII., BY J. E. C.
Verse 1. There appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun] That the woman here represents the true Church of Christ most commentators are agreed. In other parts of the Apocalypse, the pure Church of Christ is evidently portrayed by a woman. In Re 19:7, a great multitude are represented as saying, “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his WIFE hath made herself ready.” In Re 21:9, an angel talks with St. John, saying, “Come hither, I will show thee the BRIDE, the Lamb’s wife.” That the Christian Church is meant will appear also from her being clothed with the sun, a striking emblem of Jesus Christ, the Sun of righteousness, the light and glory of the Church; for the countenance of the Son of God is as the sun shineth in his strength. The woman has:-
The moon under her feet.] Bishop Newton understands this of the Jewish typical worship and indeed the Mosaic system of rites and ceremonies could not have been better represented, for it was the shadow of good things to come. The moon is the less light, ruling over the night, and deriving all its illumination from the sun; in like manner the Jewish dispensation was the bright moonlight night of the world, and possessed a portion of the glorious light of the Gospel. At the rising of the sun the night is ended, and the lunar light no longer necessary, as the sun which enlightens her shines full upon the earth; exactly in the same way has the whole Jewish system of types and shadows has been superseded by the birth, life, crucifixion, death, resurrection, ascension, and intercession of Jesus Christ. Upon the head of the woman is:-
A crown of twelve stars.] A very significant representation of the twelve apostles, who were the first founders of the Christian Church, and by whom the Gospel was preached in great part of the Roman empire with astonishing success. “They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness, as the STARS for ever and ever.” Da 12:3.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And there appeared a great wonder in heaven: I see no reason to doubt, but that John was all this while in heaven, whither he was taken up, Rev 4:2, where he saw in a vision a great wonder, or a most remarkable thing.
A woman clothed with the sun; I find all valuable interpreters agreeing, that this woman represented the church, well enough compared to a woman;
1. As she is the spouse of Christ (though here expressed as his mother).
2. As the woman is the weaker sex, and the church hath always been the weakest part of the world.
(I look upon the interpretation of it by popish authors, with reference to the virgin Mary, as very idle; for when did she flee into the wilderness? When was she with child, and pained to be delivered?) Interpreters also are as well agreed, that by the sun, with which she is said to be clothed, is meant Christ, called the Sun of righteousness, Mal 4:2, and he who giveth light, Eph 5:14; and believers (of whom the church consists) are said to have put on Christ, Rom 13:14; Gal 3:27.
And the moon under her feet: by the moon, most understand the world, by reason of its mutability and uncertainty, which the church of Christ despiseth, and hath under her feet, minding heaven and heavenly things. But Mr. Mede rather understands it of the Jewish worship, which, as to its times, was much directed by the moon; which hand-writing which was against us (the apostle tells us, Col 2:14) Christ took away, nailing it to his cross; so as the gospel church hath it under her feet. The apostle calls them carnal ordinances, Heb 9:10, and the rudiments of the world, Col 2:20, yea, beggarly elements, Gal 4:9.
And upon her head a crown of twelve stars; the ministry of the gospel, preaching and building upon the true foundation, the doctrine of the prophets, and twelve apostles, which is the honour of any church.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. This episode (Re12:1-15:8) describes in detail the persecution of Israeland the elect Church by the beast, which had been summarilynoticed, Re 11:7-10,and the triumph of the faithful, and torment of the unfaithful. Soalso the sixteenth through twentieth chapters are the description indetail of the judgment on the beast, c., summarily noticed in Rev 11:13Rev 11:18. The beast in Re12:3, c., is shown not to be alone, but to be the instrument inthe hand of a greater power of darkness, Satan. That this is so,appears from the time of the eleventh chapter being the period alsoin which the events of the twelfth and thirteenth chapters takeplace, namely, 1260 days (Rev 12:6Rev 12:14; Rev 13:5;compare Rev 11:2; Rev 11:3).
greatin size andsignificance.
wonderGreek,“sign”: significant of momentous truths.
in heavennot merelythe sky, but the heaven beyond just mentioned, Re11:19; compare Re12:7-9.
woman clothed with the sun .. . moon under her feetthe Church, Israel first, and then theGentile Church; clothed with Christ, “the Sun of righteousness.””Fair as the moon, clear as the sun.” Clothed with the Sun,the Church is the bearer of divine supernatural light in the world.So the seven churches (that is, the Church universal, the woman) arerepresented as light-bearing candlesticks (Rev 1:12;Rev 1:20). On the other hand, themoon, though standing above the sea and earth, is altogetherconnected with them and is an earthly light: sea, earth, andmoon represent the worldly element, in opposition to thekingdom of Godheaven, the sun. The moon cannot disperse thedarkness and change it into-day: thus she represents the worldreligion (heathenism) in relation to the supernatural world. TheChurch has the moon, therefore, under her feet; but the stars, asheavenly lights, on her head. The devil directs his efforts againstthe stars, the angels of the churches, about hereafter to shine forever. The twelve stars, the crown around her head, are the twelvetribes of Israel [AUBERLEN].The allusions to Israel before accord with this: compare Re11:19, “the temple of God”; “the ark of Histestament.” The ark lost at the Babylonian captivity, and neversince found, is seen in the “temple of God opened in heaven,”signifying that God now enters again into covenant with His ancientpeople. The woman cannot mean, literally, the virgin mother of Jesus,for she did not flee into the wilderness and stay there for 1260days, while the dragon persecuted the remnant of her seed (Re12:13-17) [DE BURGH].The sun, moon, and twelve stars, are emblematical ofJacob, Leah, or else Rachel, and the twelve patriarchs, that is, theJewish Church: secondarily, the Church universal, having under herfeet, in due subordination, the ever changing moon, which shineswith a borrowed light, emblem of the Jewish dispensation,which is now in a position of inferiority, though supporting thewoman, and also of the changeful things of this world, and having onher head the crown of twelve stars, the twelve apostles, who,however, are related closely to Israel’s twelve tribes. The Church,in passing over into the Gentile world, is (1) persecuted; (2) thenseduced, as heathenism begins to react on her. This is the key to themeaning of the symbolic woman, beast, harlot, and false prophet.Woman and beast form the same contrast as the Son ofman and the beasts in Daniel. As the Son of man comes fromheaven, so the woman is seen in heaven (Re12:1). The two beasts arise respectively out of the sea(compare Da 7:3) and theearth (Rev 13:1; Rev 13:11):their origin is not of heaven, but of earth earthy. Daniel beholdsthe heavenly Bridegroom coming visibly to reign. John sees the woman,the Bride, whose calling is heavenly, in the world, before the Lord’scoming again. The characteristic of woman, in contradistinction toman, is her being subject, the surrendering of herself, her beingreceptive. This similarly is man’s relation to God, to be subject to,and receive from, God. All autonomy of the human spirit reversesman’s relation to God. Woman-like receptivity towards God constitutesfaith. By it the individual becomes a child of God; thechildren collectively are viewed as “the woman.”Humanity, in so far as it belongs to God, is the woman.Christ, the Son of the woman, is in Re12:5 emphatically called “the MAN-child”(Greek, “huios arrheen,” “male-child”).Though born of a woman, and under the law for man’s sake, He is alsothe Son of God, and so the HUSBANDof the Church. As Son of the woman, He is “‘Son of man”; asmale-child, He is Son of God, and Husband of the Church. Allwho imagine to have life in themselves are severed from Him, theSource of life, and, standing in their own strength, sink to thelevel of senseless beasts. Thus, the woman designatesuniversally the kingdom of God; the beast, the kingdom of the world.The woman of whom Jesus was born represents the Old Testamentcongregation of God. The woman’s travail-pains (Re12:2) represent the Old Testament believers’ ardent longings forthe promised Redeemer. Compare the joy at His birth (Isa9:6). As new Jerusalem (called also “the woman,” or”wife,” Rev 21:2;Rev 21:9-12), with itstwelve gates, is the exalted and transfigured Church, so the womanwith the twelve stars is the Church militant.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And there appeared a great wonder in heaven,…. This vision begins a new account of things, and represents the church in the apostles’ times, and purer ages of Christianity, and under the Heathen and Arian persecutions; after which an account is given of the beast, mentioned in Re 11:7, of his rise, power, and reign, and then of the victories of the saints over him and of the vials of God’s wrath upon him, and of his utter ruin and destruction; when comes on the marriage of the Lamb, and after that the first resurrection, and the thousand years’ reign; and the whole is closed with a most beautiful description of the new Jerusalem state, which is the grand point and utmost period this prophetic book leads unto. This vision was seen “in heavens”, whither John was called up to, Re 4:1; and where the various scenes, in a visionary way, were acted, both before, and after this; and which was an emblem of the state of the church on earth: what was seen is called “a wonder” or “sign”, it being very amazing to behold, and very significative of persons and things; and a “great” one, because it respects great affairs, and wonderful events relating to the state of the church in future times, as well as present: and the first thing seen and observed was
a woman: by whom is meant, not the virgin Mary, as highly favoured of God, and big with her firstborn son Jesus; though there may be an allusion to her, and in some things there is a likeness, as is by some observed; as Mary brought forth Christ corporeally, and God in the fulness of time sent forth his Son, made of a woman, so this woman brings forth Christ spiritually, or the manly birth of his kingdom in the world, or one that should be the instrument of enlarging his kingdom; and as Herod sought to destroy Christ in his infancy, and as soon as born, so the dragon here stands watching to destroy the manly birth as soon as brought forth; and as Joseph, with Mary, and her son, by a divine direction, fled into Egypt, where they continued during the reign of Herod, so to this woman are given two wings of an eagle, to flee into the wilderness, where she abides, and is nourished, during the reign of antichrist; and as Herod, after the flight of Mary, killed all the infants of Bethlehem, of two years of age, and under, that he might destroy her son, so the dragon casts out a flood of water after the woman, to carry her away, and makes war with the remnant of her seed; and as the son of Mary, after he had done his work, was taken up to heaven, and made Lord and Christ, so the man child, this woman brings forth, is caught up to God, and his throne, to rule all nations with a rod of iron. But Mary, and the birth of Christ, can never be intended in this vision, that affair being past and over, and would never be represented to John in this manner, who was well acquainted with it: nor is the church of God, among the Jews of the former dispensation, designed; who were highly honoured of God, on whom he shone forth at the giving of the law to them; who had his word and ordinances, to be a light unto them, and had the priests and prophets of the Lord among them; and whose crown and glory it was to descend from the twelve patriarchs; and who were in great expectation of, and most earnestly desired, and longed for, and were, as it were, in pain for the coming of the Messiah; but to what purpose could such a representation of them be made to John now? much less is the church of the Jews, or the Jewish synagogue, as it was at the coming and birth of here designed, which was an evil, wicked, and adulterous generation, and so bad as not to be declared by the tongue and pen of man, and therefore far from answering the description here; but the pure apostolic church is meant, or the church of Christ, as it was in the times of the apostles, and the first ages of Christianity: the description answers to the first of the seven churches, the church at Ephesus, and to the opening of the first seal; and the church apostolical is here called “a woman”, because the church was not now in its infancy, in nonage, as under the former dispensation, but grown up, mature, and at full age; and because espoused and married to Christ her husband, to whom she now brought forth many children, in a spiritual sense, as she hereafter will bring forth many more; and, because of her beauty in the eyes of her Lord and husband, which is greatly desired, and highly commended by him; as also because of her weakness in herself her ministers and members, not being able to do anything without her husband, Christ, through whom she can do all things. And who is further described by her habit and attire,
clothed with the sun; which does not point at her future state in glory; see Mt 13:47; but to her then present state on earth; and is expressive of that clear light of Gospel doctrine, which shone out upon her, like the sun in its meridian glory, and of the heat of love to God, Christ, and his people, and zeal for his truths, ordinances, worship, and discipline, which appeared in her; and of that inward holiness of heart which made her all glorious within; and of the outward purity of life and conversation, which greatly adorned her; but, above all, of the righteousness of Christ, who is the sun of righteousness, and the Lord her righteousness; which righteousness, as it was doctrinally held forth by her in the clearest manner, was also as a garment on her, to cover, preserve, and beautify her; and is comparable to the sun for its glory and excellency, outshining that of angels and men; and for its spotless purity, being without any blemish or deficiency; and for its perpetuity, being an everlasting one, and even exceeding the sun in duration.
And the moon under her feet; the church is sometimes compared to the moon herself, because, as the moon receives its light from the sun, so she receives her light from Christ; and as the moon often changes, and has its various “phases” and appearances, so the church sometimes is in the exercise of grace, and sometimes not; sometimes under trials and persecutions, and at other times in rest and peace; one while retaining the doctrines and ordinances of the Gospel in their power and purity, and anon almost overrun with errors and superstition; but this cannot be the sense here. The common interpretation is, that it signifies the church’s contempt of, and trampling upon all worldly things, which are changeable, perishing, and passing away; and which very well suits with the primitive saints, who did set their affections on things in earth, but on things in heaven, who sold their worldly possessions, and laid them at the apostles’ feet. Brightman thinks, that, as the moon is a luminary, it may denote the light derived from the word of God, which was a lamp to her feet, and a lantern to her paths, by which her discipline and public worship were directed, and all the private actions of life were squared; which is no contemptible sense of the words: but I rather think the ceremonial law is intended, which is very fitly represented by the moon; it consisted much in the observation of new moons, and its solemn festivals were governed and regulated by them; see 2Ch 8:12. There was some light in it, and it gave light to the saints in the night of Jewish darkness; it pointed out Christ to them, and was their schoolmaster to teach and lead them to him; yet, like the moon, it was the lesser light, the light it gave was interior to that which the Gospel now gives; and as the moon has its shots had that its imperfections; had it been faultless, there had been no need of another, and a new dispensation, but that could make nothing perfect; and, as the moon, it was variable and changeable; it was but for a time, and is now done away; it is not only waxen old like the moon in the wane, but is entirely vanished away: and yet, though it was abolished by the death of Christ, it was kept up and maintained by many of the Jews, even of them that, believed: persons are naturally fond of ceremonies; and many had rather part with a doctrine of the Gospel than with an old custom, or an useless ceremony; and this was, in a great measure, the case of the Jews; see Ac 21:20; so that it was one of the greatest difficulties the Christian church had to grapple with, to get the ceremonial law under foot; for though it was under the feet of Christ, it was a long time ere it was under the feet of the church; and a wonder it was when it was accomplished. Mr. Daubuz has given a new interpretation of this clause; and by “the moon” he understands the Holy Ghost, the Governor of the church, next to Christ, his successor and Vicar, and the minister of him, the sun of righteousness; who is said to be “under [the] feet” of the church, to assist her in her labour, and in the bringing forth of her man child; and to support and sustain her followers and members; and to be a luminary to them, to guide them in their ways.
And upon her head a crown of twelve stars; by “stars” are meant the ministers of the Gospel, which Christ holds in his right hand, and the church here bears on her head, Re 1:20. And these “twelve” have respect to the twelve apostles of Christ; and the “crown”, which was composed of these stars, designs the doctrine which they preached; and this being on her “head”, shows that it was in the beginning of this church state that the pure apostolic doctrine was embraced, professed, and held forth; for in the latter part of it there was a great decline, and falling off from it; in the times of the Apostle Paul, the mystery of iniquity began to work; and in John’s time many antichrists were come into the world: and also this signifies, that the church openly owned the doctrine of the apostles, and was not ashamed of it before men, and publicly preached, and held it forth in her ministers, to all the world; and that this was her crown and glory, so long as she held it in its power, purity, and was both what she gloried in, and was a glory, an ornament to her: and this was also an emblem of her victory over her enemies, and of her future happiness, and pointed at the means of both; that it was by a faithful and steadfast adherence to the doctrine of the apostles that she overcame Satan, and all her spiritual enemies, and came to the possession of the crown of life and glory.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| The Woman and the Dragon. | A. D. 95. |
1 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: 2 And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. 3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. 4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. 5 And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. 6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. 7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, 8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. 10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. 11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
Here we see that early prophecy eminently fulfilled in which God said he would put enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, Gen. iii. 15. You will observe,
I. The attempts of Satan and his agents to prevent the increase of the church, by devouring her offspring as soon as it was born; of this we have a very lively description in the most proper images.
1. We see how the church is represented in this vision. (1.) As a woman, the weaker part of the world, but the spouse of Christ, and the mother of the saints. (2.) As clothed with the sun, the imputed righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Having put on Christ, who is the Sun of righteousness, she, by her relation to Christ, is invested with honourable rights and privileges, and shines in his rays. (3.) As having the moon under her feet (that is, the world); she stands upon it, but lives above it; her heart and hope are not set upon sublunary things, but on the things that are in heaven, where her head is. (4.) As having on her head a crown of twelve stars, that is, the doctrine of the gospel preached by the twelve apostles, which is a crown of glory to all true believers. (5.) As in travail, crying out, and pained to be delivered. She was pregnant, and now in pain to bring forth a holy progeny to Christ, desirous that what was begun in the conviction of sinners might end in their conversion, that when the children were brought to the birth there might be strength to bring forth, and that she might see of the travail of her soul.
2. How the grand enemy of the church is represented. (1.) As a great red dragon–a dragon for strength and terror–a red dragon for fierceness and cruelty. (2.) As having seven heads, that is, placed on seven hills, as Rome was; and therefore it is probable that pagan Rome is here meant. (3.) As having ten horns, divided into ten provinces, as the Roman empire was by Augustus Csar. (4.) As having seven crowns upon his head, which is afterwards expounded to be seven kings, ch. xvii. 10. (5.) As drawing with his tail a third part of the stars in heaven, and casting them down to the earth, turning the ministers and professors of the Christian religion out of their places and privileges and making them as weak and useless as he could. (6.) As standing before the woman, to devour her child as soon as it should be born, very vigilant to crush the Christian religion in its birth and entirely to prevent the growth and continuance of it in the world.
II. The unsuccessfulness of these attempts against the church; for, 1. She was safely delivered of a man-child (v. 5), by which some understand Christ, others Constantine, but others, with greater propriety, a race of true believers, strong and united, resembling Christ, and designed, under him, to rule the nations with a rod of iron; that is, to judge the world by their doctrine and lives now, and as assessors with Christ at the great day. 2. Care was taken of this child: it was caught up to God, and to his throne; that is, taken into his special, powerful, and immediate protection. The Christian religion has been from its infancy the special care of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. 3. Care was taken of the mother as well as of the child, v. 6. She fled into the wilderness, a place prepared both for her safety and her sustenance. The church was in an obscure state, dispersed; and this proved her security, through the care of divine Providence. This her obscure and private state was for a limited time, not to continue always.
III. The attempts of the dragon not only proved unsuccessful against the church, but fatal to his own interests; for, upon his endeavour to devour the man-child, he engaged all the powers of heaven against him (v. 7): There was war in heaven. Heaven will espouse the quarrel of the church. Here observe,
1. The seat of this war–in heaven, in the church, which is the kingdom of heaven on earth, under the care of heaven and in the same interest.
2. The parties–Michael and his angels on one side, and the dragon and his angels on the other: Christ, the great Angel of the covenant, and his faithful followers; and Satan and all his instruments. This latter party would be much superior in number and outward strength to the other; but the strength of the church lies in having the Lord Jesus for the captain of their salvation.
3. The success of the battle: The dragon and his angels fought and prevailed not; there was a great struggle on both sides, but the victory fell to Christ and his church, and the dragon and his angels were not only conquered, but cast out; the pagan idolatry, which was a worshipping of devils, was extirpated out of the empire in the time of Constantine.
4. The triumphant song that was composed and used on this occasion, Rev 12:10; Rev 12:11. Here observe, (1.) How the conqueror is adored: Now have come salvation, strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ. Now God has shown himself to be a mighty God; now Christ has shown himself to be a strong and mighty Saviour; his own arm has brought salvation, and now his kingdom will be greatly enlarged and established. The salvation and strength of the church are all to be ascribed to the king and head of the church. (2.) How the conquered enemy is described. [1.] By his malice; he was the accuser of the brethren, and accused them before their God night and day; he appeared before God as an adversary to the church, continually bringing in indictments and accusations against them, whether true or false; thus he accused Job, and thus he accused Joshua the high priest, Zech. iii. 1. Though he hates the presence of God, yet he is willing to appear there to accuse the people of God. Let us therefore take heed that we give him no cause of accusation against us; and that, when we have sinned, we presently go in before the Lord, and accuse and condemn ourselves, and commit our cause to Christ as our Advocate. [2.] By his disappointment and defeat: he and all his accusations are cast out, the indictments quashed, and the accuser turned out of the court with just indignation. (3.) How the victory was gained. The servants of God overcame Satan, [1.] By the blood of the Lamb, as the meritorious cause. Christ by dying destroyed him that hath the power of death, that is, the devil. [2.] By the word of their testimony, as the great instrument of war, the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,–by a resolute powerful preaching of the everlasting gospel, which is mighty, through God, to pull down strongholds,–and by their courage and patience in sufferings; they loved not their lives unto the death, when the love of life stood in competition with their loyalty to Christ; they loved not their lives so well but they could give them up to death, could lay them down in Christ’s cause; their love to their own lives was overcome by stronger affections of another nature; and this their courage and zeal helped to confound their enemies, to convince many of the spectators, to confirm the souls of the faithful, and so contributed greatly to this victory.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
A great sign ( ). The first of the visions to be so described (Rev 13:3; Rev 15:1), and it is introduced by as in Rev 11:19; Rev 12:3, not by or by or by as heretofore. This “sign” is really a (wonder), as it is so by association in Matt 24:24; John 4:48; Acts 2:22; Acts 5:12. The element of wonder is not in the word as in , but often in the thing itself as in Luke 21:11; John 9:16; Rev 13:13; Rev 15:1; Rev 16:14; Rev 19:20.
A woman (). Nominative case in apposition with . “The first ‘sign in heaven’ is a Woman–the earliest appearance of a female figure in the Apocalyptic vision” (Swete).
Arrayed with the sun ( ). Perfect passive participle of , with the accusative retained as so often (9 times) in the Apocalypse. Both Charles and Moffatt see mythological ideas and sources behind the bold imagery here that leave us all at sea. Swete understands the Woman to be “the church of the Old Testament” as “the Mother of whom Christ came after the flesh. But here, as everywhere in the Book, no sharp dividing line is drawn between the Church of the Old Testament and the Christian Society.” Certainly she is not the Virgin Mary, as verse 17 makes clear. Beckwith takes her to be “the heavenly representative of the people of God, the ideal Zion, which, so far as it is embodied in concrete realities, is represented alike by the people of the Old and the New Covenants.” John may have in mind Isa 7:14 (Matt 1:23; Luke 1:31) as well as Mic 4:10; Isa 26:17; Isa 66:7 without a definite picture of Mary. The metaphor of childbirth is common enough (John 16:21; Gal 4:19). The figure is a bold one with the moon “under her feet” ( ) and “a crown of twelve stars” ( ), a possible allusion to the twelve tribes (Jas 1:1; Rev 21:12) or to the twelve apostles (Re 21:14).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Wonder [] . Better, as Rev., sign. See on Mt 24:24. Clothed [] . Rev., better, arrayed. See on ch. Rev 3:5. The moon under her feet. See Son 6:10. The symbol is usually taken to represent the Church.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
SEVEN PERSONAGES IN REVIEW Rev 12:1 to Rev 13:18.
A) (The Woman Israel – and the Man-Child) v. 1-17
Note: see also Introduction Revelation
1) “And there appeared a great wonder in heaven,” (kai semeion mega ophthe an to ourano) “and a great sign was seen (beheld) in the heaven,” where the throne of God is. This introduces three great wonders or signs from heaven; 1) Israel, God’s wife; 2) the Great red Dragon, the Devil, and 3) the Great Whore, mother of false religions of Christiandom, Rev 12:1; Rev 12:3; Rev 15:1.
2) “A woman clothed with the sun,” (gune peribeblemene ton helion) “a woman having been clothed, robed, or dressed around with the sun,” adorned with the chief light of the universe, object of God’s divine love through whom the true light was to come.
3) “And the moon under her feet,” (kai he selene hupokato ton podon autes) “and the moon was underneath her feet,” Israel in divine service and obedience to God, like the moon, was a reflection of the light of God, the Messiah, the Light of the World.
4) “And upon her head,” (kai epi tes kephales) “and upon the head of her (there was),” authority of rulership and queenly administration of Israel rested here.
5) “A crown of twelve stars,” (stephanos asteron dodeka) “a twelve star crown,” a crown made of twelve stars, representing the twelve tribes of Israel, Rev 7:4-8.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
THE MOTHER AND MAN CHILD
Rev 12:1-17
THIS twelfth chapter is one of the most remarkable of all the twenty-two that go to make the Revelation. If correct in our interpretation of its verses, it furnishes a birds-eye view of the mightiest conflict the earth has ever known, or upon which even heaven has ever looked. We wish, therefore, as best we may be able, to lead you into the light of some of its most evident truths; and, by suggestions, elucidate some of its more obscure passages.
First of all,
THE WOMANFIGURE OF ISRAEL
And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars (Rev 12:1).
A natural question is, Who is this woman, and what is the significance of these symbols?
One thing profoundly impresses one in the study of the Book of Revelation. Wherever God speaks in symbols, He takes pains to call attention to that fact; and when He would have us understand Him literally, He leaves His statements without any other suggestion than that they are to be received as voiced. He tells us that this woman is a wonder or (sign), and if we ask, of what? there is a babel of replies. But we do not propose to confuse your minds by quoting the different interpretations given to this verse. To do that might be to impress the ignorant with wide research, but since ours is the better purpose of teaching, we pass over these opinions of men, and make appeal to the Word.
This woman is a symbol of Israel. When John was lifted up into Heaven, God privileged him, from that point, to see this wonderful vision which he expresses under the figure of a woman.
In the Old Testament Gods people are called the Daughter of Zion; in the New, Paul speaks of Israel of whom, as according to the flesh, Christ came (Rom 9:5).
Clothed with the sun. This symbol of Israels honor further evidences our claim. There was never any question that the Prophet Isaiah was speaking to Israel when he cried, Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the peoples: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee (Isa 60:1-2, R.V.). The figure is that of the Sun of the morning, clothing, with his beams of beauty, hill and valley; so the Sun of Righteousness pours the flood of His own brightness upon IsraelHis own, the object of His love.
And the moon under her feet. As the sun is the king of the day, so the moon is the queen of the night, the queen of the period of darkness. The figure, therefore, is, that all that is of the earth and earthy is to be put under the feet of the New Israel of God. This glorious woman is to stand above it, and in supremacy over it. It is well known that other-worldliness is a characteristic of the true believer, and ever a trait of the true servant of God.
When this same John was penning his First Epistle to the New Testament believers he said, Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. But he refers not to that retirement to cloisters, which has ever characterized the Roman conception, but rather to that high spiritual living which has ever conquered over the flesh, and its ten thousand temptations. Charles V. of Spain surrendered his position, his scepter, even his throne, and despite the protests of the people, retired to the monastery of Yuste. He would have been doing the will of God far better had he gone on so administering the affairs of Spain and Austria and Naples, as to advance the interests of Christ and give glory to His Name, and he would have honored the teaching of Christ to His disciples, Father * * I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
And upon her head a crown of twelve stars. For some reason that has approved itself to the Father of infinite wisdom, He has always been pleased to furnish His people with twelve luminaries. The Israel of God, in the old day, had its twelve patriarchs; and when that Church was evolved into the one of the New Testament, twelve Apostles were appointed.
So fundamental to her life and labors, was this number, that when Judas dropped out, proving himself deceived and a deceiver, the Holy Ghost made choice of his successor in the person of Saul, better known to us as Paul the Apostle.
Glorious woman she is, clothed with the sun glorious with the light which He pours upon her;
The moon under her feettriumphing over the whole kingdom of darkness; and upon her head a crown of twelve stars, resplendent with luminaries whose lights have gone on shining through the ages, so that men have come to the Christ Himself, guided by what Paul, Peter, James, John, or some other Apostles did or said.
Let us pass to the second picture!
And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. * *
And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to His throne.
Here we need no interpreter; the language is so definite, the idea so perfectly expressed, that the wonder is that there could ever have been a multitude of interpretations touching these words.
ISRAELS SON IS JESUS OF NAZARETH
You go back to Genesis and you will find Him promised as the seed of the woman that shall bruise the serpents head.
He was the child of the woman. Just as He was Son of Man, in the larger sense, so in the lesser He was the son of Israel. As Mary had other children beside Jesus whose natural birth causes them almost to be forgotten, so the Israel of God had her sons and daughters by the hundreds, thousands, millions, and yet the definite article the applies only to this one Son, Jesus of Nazareth.
From the day when God made His promise in the Garden of Eden, up to that morning when Marys friends wrapped her babe in swaddling clothes, Israels form was big with the promise of this child to come. Many sons were born unto her whose births doubtless brought joy to Heaven; but when this Son was born, so wonderful was the event that all Heaven was stirred, and Heavens embassies voyaged to earth to celebrate with others, who knew what a wonderful child the world had at last received.
He was the born ruler of nations.
Who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. Interpreters from time immemorial have spoken of the second Psalm as Messianic, and in that Psalm the anointed One receives this promise,
Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten thee.
Ask of Me, and I shall give Thee the heathen for Thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession.
Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron.
That promise was never made to any other than the Son of Man, Christ the anointed of God. Paul in the Epistle to the Philippians, quoting from Isa 45:23 reminds us that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in Heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth. And indeed this Child of the Church is to be the ruler of the nations.
He was to be caught up to the throne of God.
And her Child was caught up unto God, and to His throne.
How perfectly this last touch proves our claim that this Child was none other than the Christ. He alone has gone to the throne of God. Mark tells us that after the Lord had spoken unto them, He was received up into Heaven, and sat on the right hand of God (Rev 16:19); and again, it is recorded in Act 1:9, While they beheld, He was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of their sight; and days after, when Stephen, having been stoned, was breathing his last, a wonderful vision was vouchsafed him and that mighty witness, the worthy martyr, said,
Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God.
When years had gone by and Paul was writing his Epistle to the Ephesians, he said that God raised Him (Christ) from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come.
Who, then, questions that this, the wonderful Child, is the Christ of God?
The third suggestion of this Scripture is,
THE DRAGONTHE OLD SERPENT, SATAN
He is definitely so denominated. Lest man might make mistake in understanding who this dragon was, the Holy Spirit moved John to repeat, And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. The great dragon, the old serpent, the Devil, and Satan, the deceiver, the fallen one!
Who can question the character here described, the personage here depicted? The fact that he is called the great red dragon, is an expression of his bloody and destructive nature. That seven heads are assigned to him expresses his perfect cunning, as the seven Spirits of God express perfect wisdom; and that he should have ten horns is merely the symbol of his destructive power, as if there were ten points at which he strikes the souls of men; and in truth is it not so?
What else is the meaning of the ten commandments? They voice Gods warning that we should watch against every point of Satanic assault. And that he should have seven diadems upon his seven heads, is wonderfully expressive of his perfect reign in the earth. The Scriptures call him the god of this world, because he hath so perfectly usurped its places of power.
His origin is also here suggested. He was once in Heaven.
That he was a spirit of might is naturally to be inferred from the fact that none other than the arch-angel Michael was required for his casting down; and, that he exercised wide influence in the celestial world is proven in that his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven after him. It seems to me the necessary interpretation to see in this the fall of Satan and his host from their first and blessed estate. Milton, speaking of this, says of this arch-fiend who influenced so many of the heavenly spirits thereby making them confederates,
By their aid, aspiringTo set himself in glory, above his peers, He trusted to have equalled the Most High, And, with ambitious aimAgainst the throne and monarchy of God, Raised impious war in Heaven and battle proud.
********
He the Almighty PowerHurled headlong, flaming from the ethereal sky, With hideous ruin and combustion down.
But we are not left in this matter to the poets fancy, for the Scriptures themselves furnish the basis for Miltons verse.
Isa 14:12, seems to be speaking of this very event when he says, How art thou fallen from Heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!
And you will remember that Jude in the sixth verse talks of the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, He hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
Peter, in his Second Epistle, second chapter and fourth verse, tells us, God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and committed them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; Milton had good occasion to write again,
Hail, Son of the Most High, heir of both worlds, Queller of Satan, on Thy glorious reignNow enter, hasting complete redemption!Thou didst defeat and down from Heaven castThe false attempter of Thy Fathers throne, And frustrated the conquest fraudulent;He never more will dare to set his footIn Paradise to tempt: his snares are broke;A fairer Paradise is founded nowFor Adam and his chosen sons, whom Thou, A Saviour, comest down to re-instal, Where they shall dwell secure, from sorrow free, Of tempter and temptation without fear!
And yet, we must not forget that when Jesus Christ ascended up to the Fathers throne, that day, Satan had to descend from it. Redemption being finished, he was unable longer to accuse the brethren in the Heaven.
He was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
Therein is the explanation of our earthly woes.
The heavens are called upon to rejoice, and all that dwell in them, when Satan is cast out therefrom; but instantly the Apostle writes, Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.
The age in which we live is as certainly the age of Satans operations in the earth as it is that of the Spirits supremacy in the Church. And just because this age is a limited one; just because Satan himself knows that it will come to an end, and that it will bring him his doom, he is filled with great wrath against the Man Child.
One of the strangest things that has ever come into this world is that so-called theology that denies the existence of this great Evil Spirit. With all due respect to some beautiful people who propagate that theory, it is the doctrine of the devil himself, who finds the more effectual cover under which to fight, if only he can bring men to believe that he has no existence.
A hundred times he is spoken of in the Word, and more; his names are given; his character is accurately described; his frightful conduct pictured, even in detail; and no one has spoken so much of him as the Son of Man. And yet, even among the professed followers of the Christ, there are those who make it their business to teach that this Evil Spirit is not: those Who deny that he is back of the carnage and misery of the world; those who acquit him from being the author of every murder, the sanguinary instigator of every war, the fell-enemy by whose stroke death is accomplished, the evil genius whose black heart has bethought the blight of human happiness, whose putrid nature has planned the destruction of human peace, whose malignance has conceived every sorrow of the human heart, whose fierce temptations have stimulated the fiery passions and perverted every aspiring power; who is himself the son of perdition, whose highest happiness is found in the fall of man to the lowest depths of iniquity and the most terrible experiences of torment.
A few years since, a little boy in Boston, beaten almost to death, by a brutal, drunken mother, his little form gashed deeply with bits of glass, against which he struggled in his endeavor to keep that mother from forcing him through a window, to the pavement fifty feet below, was found out by the humane societys officers. They plied him with questions; they did their utmost to get him to confess the cruel mothers fault, but with an unerring mind, and a heart out of which the filial affection had not gone as yet, he steadfastly insisted, It was not mother! I tell you, drink done it! But who was back of the drink? Who tempted to the drink? who fastened the fiendish habit? Christian Scientists and all their confederates, who deny the existence of Satan will forever find Alfred Houghs poem filled with troublesome questions for them.
Men dont believe in a devil now, as their fathers used to do;Theyve forced the door of the broadest creed to let his majesty through.There isnt a print of his cloven foot, or a fiery dart from his bow, To be found in earth or air to-day; for the world has voted it so.
But who is mixing the fatal draught that palsies heart and brain, And loads the bier of each passing year with ten hundred thousand slain?Who blights the bloom of the land to-day with the fiery breath of hell?If the devil isnt, and never was, wont somebody rise and tell?
Who dogs the step of the toiling saint, and digs the pits for his feet?Who sows the tares on the fields of time wherever God sows His wheat?The devil is voted not to be, and of course the thing is true;But who is doing the kind of work that the devil alone should do?
We are told that he does not go about as a roaring lion now;But whom shall we hold responsible for the everlasting rowTo be heard in home, in church and state to the earths remotest bound, If the devil, by a unanimous vote, is nowhere to be found?
Wont somebody step to the front forthwith, and make his bow and showHow the frauds and crimes of a single day spring up? We want to know, The devil was fairly voted out, and of course the devils gone;But simple people would like to know who carries his business on.
ISRAEL SUFFERS BUT CONQUERS
She is compelled to flee into the wilderness.
And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent,
Sacred history reveals a great deal of wilderness experience. Pharaohs oppression sent Israel there; the martrydom of the early days, together with all the indignities and insults and threats that were heaped against the Church, gave occasion to Pauls statement concerning believers who
had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:
They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;
(Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth (Heb 11:36-38).
We know that this was only the prophecy of things to be endured. Already, this woman, Israel of God, has filled up a part of this picture by a bitter experience in persecution. Her sufferings are scarce surpassed by that of the Church. The Armenian Christians are still being put to the knife; and when a few years since, a great many of them were slaughtered by the unspeakable Turk, the whole world was roused; and when the heathen Chinese began the slaughter of the Christian peoples of that land in the Boxer movement, the civilized powers of the world combined their demands that the slaughter cease; and yet, ere they could compel it, scenes were enacted, the very report of which, sickened every sympathetic heart. Today Russia appalls the world with persecutions.
But after all, the persecutions of our day are small compared with those of other days. Dr. Lorimer in his Argument for Christianity says, Beginning with Nero, it is usual to enumerate ten persecutions directed against the Church, though Pressense takes account of only eightthe last one being that of the Diocletian reign, 303 A. D. We believe with Pressense, but they were fierce enough, and there was little to choose on the score of cruelty between them, whether ordered by a Nero, a Trojan, a Marcus Aurelius, a Severus, a Maximin, a Decius, a Valerian, or a Diocletian, or now the 9th, by Soviet Rulers. They were all monstrous, horrible, devilish ! I employ strong terms, because a disposition has been shown of late to underrate the fury of the tempest that beat upon the early Church, and that swallowed among other thousands, Paul, James, Peter, Ignatius, Polycarp, Justin, Blandina, and Felicitas. Concerning one of these terrific and destructive outbreaksthe Decian persecution, 249 A. D.Lecky writes as follows:
It would be difficult to find language too strong to paint its horrors. The ferocious instincts of the populace, that were long repressed, burst out anew, and they were not only permitted, but encouraged by the rulers. Far worse than the deaths which menaced those who shrank from the idolatrous sacrifices, were the hideous and prolonged tortures by which the magistrates often sought to subdue the constancy of the martyr; the nameless outrages that were sometimes inflicted on the Christian virgin.Hist, of Morals V I, P 478.
Tearing the flesh with the sharp teeth of the iron ungula, exposing helpless women to the brutalities of gaolers and soldiers, with other and indescribable tortures, formed modes of punishment, and prolonged the victims exquisite agonies. In view of these excessive measures it is surely unnecessary to bandy words with those who, for the sake of bolstering their own unbelief, seek to exonerate heathenism and paganism from the charge of infamous and unpitying bloodthirstiness. Whatever skeptics may say and however they may sneer, the sufferings of the martyrs were such as to lead Napoleon to declare that everywhere these poor people were destroyed and everywhere they triumphed.
And even yet, the end is not. The 10th persecution is to come, for did not the Master Himself, with an eye upon the last day, say, Then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time; no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elecfs sake those days shall be shortened (Mat 24:21-22). We now approach that hour.
The Church will be caught up out of the tribulation ; but Israel will pass into it, and would perish but for the promised defence and deliverance.
Her eventual victory is assured. The same power that cast Satan out of Heaven, is to defeat him in the earth. If in Heaven, he was overcome by the Blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony, so in the earth, he shall be equally discomfited.
This twelfth chapter concludes with the dragon making war with the rest of the womans seed, but the twentieth chapter of this Book of Revelation, opens with this,
And I saw an angel come down from Heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
And he laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more.
Even here God gives the promise of that final conquest, for when the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a river, that he might cause Israel to be carried away, we read, The earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
Usually the figure of the river refers to coming armies, and in that way, possibly, the Lord means to overcome and cast down this deceiver of the nations, and bring his kingdom to an end. But if any insist upon taking the language literally and let the earth open her mouth and swallow up all the powers which Satan may take, it would be difficult to dispute the possible occurrence. Do you recall, how, when we were studying the Pentateuch, we saw Korah, Dathan and Abiram and their followers, swallowed by ground cleaving asunder, so that we read,
The earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods.
They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them: and they perished from among the congregation (Num 16:32-33).
We would not dispute with men touching interpretation. The one thing that is clear is, that however filled with wrath Satan may be, the Father has it in the power of His hand to whelm him and all his followers. Whether He will whelm him by armies from Heaven or armies from earth, it matters little; the promise stands and Satan shall be overthrown. Oh, what a time of triumph it will be; what paeans will open the lips of the sealed; what shouts of victory will break forth from the hearts of Israelat last redeemed!
They tell us that at the close of the war of 1866, the triumphant Prussian army marched back to Berlin for a reception. As they approached the Thiergarten, they were halted by a choir, which demanded by what right they were entering the city?
The regiment replied in a song, reciting the battles it had fought and the victories it had won.
Then came a welcome from the choir, and so each regiment marched up reciting its deeds, and was welcomed. They marched up the Linden between rows of captured cannon with the banners they had borne and the banners they had taken; they went saluting the statue of grand old Frederick, Prussias first emperor.
And so beloved, when this fierce conflict which is to wax more and more toward the end, is over, the Church of God, saved, Israel included, with all her regiments and phalanxes, shall go up to the eternal city with songs of victory, and in the midst of their praises they will not forget to give all honor to Him by whom they conquered, to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever.
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
THE MISSION OF CHRISTS CHURCH AND ITS GREAT HINDERER
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES
IN the set of visions now before us, the Apocalypse unveils the spiritual aspects of the conflict, that we may know that the issue is not between Christianity and un-Christianity alone, but between Christianity and anti-Christianity. Hitherto we have seen the more outward aspects of the great war. Now we are to see its secret, hidden, spiritualyes, supernaturalaspects, that we may understand what immeasurably divergent and antagonistic principles are in conflict under various and specious aspects in the history of the world (Bishop Boyd Carpenter).
Rev. 12:1. Woman.Symbol of the kingdom of heaven. The Church conceived under the figure of the Virgin Mary, as mother of Messiah. Clothed with the sun, etc.Compare Son. 6:10. (Simcox thinks the Jewish Church, the ideal Israel, is meant.) Mystically treated, the work of the Church is to bring forth Christ to men, and never to be satisfied until Christ is formed in them. Exactly this its work is ever in the resistance of the devil, but in the assistance of God through His angels.
Rev. 12:3. Red dragon.A half mythical kind of serpent, combining strength, subtlety, and power to inspire terror, in doing malicious and evil work. As the woman is an ideal, so is the dragon; he is the personification of the subtle evils that afflict the Church, and hinder her from carrying through her mission. Seven heads and ten horns.Implying that all kinds of unsanctified power are embodied in him, and represented by him.
Rev. 12:4. Drew.Draweth. Stars.Represent leaders of men, men of prominent influence. These are led away by the subtleties of the evil power. Stood before the woman.Figuring the intense keenness with which evil ever watches its opportunity. Some of the ideas here are evidently taken from the jealous schemes of Herod the Great, in connection with the infant Messiah.
Rev. 12:5. Brought forth a man-child.Refer tins both to Christ, and to the Spirit of Christ in the Church. Caught up unto God.This seems to refer to the historical Christ.
Rev. 12:6. Place prepared of God.Compare flight of Virgin Mary to Egypt, which may be the suggestion of this.
Rev. 12:7, War in heaven.Nothing to do with Miltons fall of the angels. It is something happening since the Incarnation, and consequent upon it. Michael.Dan. 10:13; Dan. 10:21; Dan. 12:1. The special patron, or guardian angel, of the people of Israel. What we have here is a pictorial representation of the spiritual war actually being waged upon the earth. It is pictured in heaven in its completeness, and so we are cheered by the assurance that Michael is going to conquer. Compare the mission of pictorial prophetic anticipations in the Old Testament.
Rev. 12:9. Old serpent.Perhaps with allusion to Gen. 3:1. Devil.Adversary. Satan.Deceiver. The two words suggest the power and subtlety of evil. Satan is thrown down from the position which he is still holding, and cast upon the earth; and he it is who, in order to avenge himself, calls forth from the depths of the seasthat is, from the midst of the nationsAntichristhis instrument for waging a final conflict against Christ.
Rev. 12:12. Woe to the inhabiters of the earthSimcox suggests that the idea may be this: The Incarnation, as it broke the otherwise invincible power of sin, so made sin more deadly, if it remains in spite of Christs coming. It certainly refers to the intenser features of the conflict of the Church with evil, when evil failed to destroy the power of the Son of God, even when it secured His death. The present fight with evil is altogether more subtle and more perilous than Christ knew, or waged, while He was actually on earth.
Rev. 12:13. Persecuted the woman.Which we have seen is the symbol of the Church in the world.
Rev. 12:15-16. These figures have not been satisfactorily explained. Bishop Boyd Carpenter, treating the verses mystically, says: By the flood, or river, we understand all great popular movements against Christianity: the earth swallows up all these; they diffuse themselves for a time but mother earth absorbs them all. The eternal laws of truth and right are ultimately found stronger than all the half-truths, whole falsehoods, and selfishness, which give force to such movements.
Rev. 12:17. Remnant of her seed.From attacking the Church as a whole, the power of evil turns more hopefully to deal with sections and individuals. Antichristianism has had its power on sects, parties, and persons, but it has failed in every attempt to ruin the one, universal, spiritual Church of Christ.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Rev. 12:1-17
Victory over the Dragon.To understand this text (Rev. 12:11), we must gain some general idea of the chapter to which it belongs. Bishop Boyd Carpenter is our best guide in the endeavour to find the spiritual meanings and suggestions of the book of Revelation. He points out that the book is not a continuous history, but a review of the great struggle between evil and good, made over and over again, from different points of view. The visions are in series. One set is connected with the seals, another with the trumpets. In this chapter a distinct set of visions is commenced. It deals with the spiritual conditions of the great war between evil and good; it disrobes the false appearances which deceive men; it makes manifest the thoughts of mens hearts; it shows that the great war is not merely a war between evil and good, but between an evil spirit and the spirit of God, and that, therefore, the question is not only one between right and wrong conduct, but between true and false spiritual dispositions. Men look at the world, and they acknowledge a kind of conflict between evil and good; their sympathies are vaguely on the side of good; they admire much in Christianity; they are willing to think the martyred witnesses of the Church heroes; they think the reformers of past ages worthy of honour; they would not be averse to a Christianity without Christ, or a Christianity without spirituality. They do not realise that the war which is raging round them is not a war between men morally good and men morally bad, but between spiritual powers, and that what the gospel asks is not merely a moral life, but a life lived by faith in the Son of God, a life in which the spiritual dispositions are Godward and Christward. The Apocalypse, in this set of visions, unveils the spiritual aspect of the conflict, that we may know that the issue is not between Christianity and un-Christianity, but between Christianity and anti-Christianity. The chapter opens with the vision of a woman clothed with the sun. It is the symbol of the bride, the Church of Christ. She is represented as suffering in child-birth. It is the symbol of the continual work of Christs Church. That work is to bring forth Christ to men, and never to be satisfied till Christ is formed in them, until the Spirit of Christ, and the teaching of Christ, and the example of Christ, are received, loved, and obeyed, and men transformed into the same image, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. But the work of the Church would not be unhindered. There would be constant opposition. The spiritual enemy would be ever on the watch, by subtle or by violent means destroying the likeness of Christ wherever it was seen. There appeared a dragon. The dragon is that fabulous monster of whom ancient poets told, as large in size, coiled like a snake, blood red in colour, unsatiable in voracity, and ever athirst for human blood. It is the emblem of the evil spirit, the devil, the perpetual antagonist of good, the persecutor of the Church in all ages. His many heads and horns and crowns suggest the manifold forms and phases of his malicious influence. This dragon is watching, and whenever the woman, the Church of Christ, brings forth any good, the dragon is as keen in his efforts to destroy it as Pharaoh was to kill the Hebrew male children, or Herod to slaughter the babes of Bethlehem. The vision of the man-child caught up to God reminds us that the Divine defence of all good is even more sure than the active enmity of evil. The flight of the woman brings before us the persecutions which the Church undergoes, because of her active effort to bring forth good. Then the vision changes, and we have pictured the great fight between Christ and the dragon, under the figure of Michael and his angels. This is to explain how it is the spirit of evil is so resolutely attacking the Church. He has attacked in vain the Churchs Head and Lord. He has been conquered. He has been driven out. The Prince of the world came to Christ, and had nothing in Him. So, turning aside from Christ, the dragon attacks Christs Church. But there is every hope for the Church. That victory of Christs means this: Now is come salvation and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ. The dragon may try to devour all the good brought forth by Christs earth-bride, the Church. He will fail. The Church will overcome him, even as Christ has overcome him. The Church will overcome the dragon of each age, and of all ages, by the blood of the Lamb, or because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of the testimony. Who is he that condemneth, when Christ hath died? What power can the accusations of the adversary have when the Lamb of God hath taken away the sin of the world? and when we have boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus? And their victory is, on their side, due to the firmness with which they stood to the word of their testimony, witnessing ever for Christ and truth, and not counting their lives dear unto themselves. Christs martyrs are many more than those who die in prison, at stake, or on scaffold, for Him. He may bid us die for Him; He does bid us live for Him. If we do not the onethe lesswe may be quite sure that we shall never rise to the otherthe higher and the more glorious. I would impress on you, therefore, that the conflict with evil is really a spiritual conflict, carried on within us. It is represented and illustrated by the conflict with outward evils which we see being waged in the large world-spheres. If we are Christs, then the Christlike is being formed in us. We are bringing forth things which bear Christs stamp. Good and right and gracious things are like our children. And just as there are perils surrounding infant life, foes and diseases watching to destroy this life, so the dragon watches every birth of goodness. We must accept the fact, but we will in no way be daunted by the fact, for we shall overcome because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of our testimony. The secrets of overcoming are our Inner Life, and our Open Confession.
I. Our inner life.Because of the blood of the Lamb. Christ, who is our life. It is important that we notice how the child-figure is sustained. The Lamb is represented as being the Brides husband, the Churchs husband, and we are to think of His life as being in the Churchs child. And it is this thought which gains expression in the figures of the text. It is quite a favourite figure with St. John, recurring again and again in his writings. That very striking sentence uttered by John the Baptist to his disciples, as he pointed to the young man, Jesus of NazarethBehold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world!entered into the apostles very soul, and gave him his best thoughts concerning Christ, especially when he learned how to get at the deeper, mystical meanings of the sentence. We may accept the figure of the Lamb as suggestive of the gentle, submissive, and loving character of Christ: but we cannot be satisfied with that only; neither John the Baptist, nor John the Apostle, nor any other Jew, could keep from the figure its associations of sacrifice. A lamb to take away sin must have meant, to them, a lamb offered as a sacrifice for the removal of sin. But there are still other ideas suggested when prominence is given to the blood of the lamb. For the blood is the life. Blood shed stands for life yielded. This the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews states for us in a very impressive manner. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling them that have been defiled, sanctify unto the cleanness of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish unto God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. By the expression the eternal Spirit we are to understand the sovereign freeness of His own will; the voluntariness of His full self-surrender. We have, then, two supreme truths to receive. Christs life is given to us: that is another truth, and the one we want for our text. Christ in you. Christ formed in you. This will at once suggest to us the meaning of this passage. We shall overcome that dragon who is ever ready to devour all the goodness we can bring forth by the virtue of the blood of the Lamb, the Christ-lite that is in us. But have we entered into this higher apprehension of Christ, who is our life? The apostle Paul could say, I live, yet not I; Christ liveth in me. That is the assurance of victory over all the forms, and all the powers, of evil.
II. Our open confession.The word of their testimony. Life only keeps healthy when it finds expression and exercise. The first suggestion of these words may be of martyrs, such as Polycarp, who, when importuned to blaspheme the name of Christ, answered, Fourscore years have I served Him, and shall I now blaspheme my King and my Saviour? At Eastbourne, near the pier, they show three iron stakes fixed firmly in the sand, now very old and rusty, and the one farthest out to sea very nearly rusted off. Round those stakes gathers a martyr-story. A father and mother and their little daughter, because of their religion, were tied to those stakes when the tide was out, and were told that, if they did not renounce their faith, they would be drowned by the rising tide. But they remained firm. The father, being the farthest out, was drowned first; then the mother; and then the priests gathered round the little girl, who was chained to the stake nearest the high-water mark, and told her, as the waves were dashing up around her, that if she would renounce her religion she would be saved. Sue said, No, no, I will not deny my Saviour; I will die for Jesus; He died for me. That was the word of her testimony, whereby she conquered the dragon. But much of our earth-struggle stops short of martyrdom. In firm standing by the right, in all earnest expressions of Christian energy and activity, we find our power to overcome. The word of our testimony may be said to include
(1) our firm resolve daily renewed, and
(2) our personal experience, which gives to our word the force that was in the words of the once blind man, when he said concerning his Healer, Whether He be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see. Look, then, once again at the points which have come out to view. Christs Church is ever bringing forth goodness, as it were Child-Christs. The dragon of evil is ever on the watch to devour every Child Christ of goodness. If we save the child it can only be by the power of the Christ-life that is in us, and by the power of the testimony for Christ that we persistently make as the natural and proper expression of the Christ-life. That life of Christ in us is the assurance of our final triumph over all evil, and in anticipation of that full victory which is certainly coming, for which we wait and for which we pray, we sing in our souls, comfort one another, and say, Now is come the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ; for the accuser of our brethren is cast down. And I saw, says St. John, an angel coming down out of leaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand; and he laid hold of the dragon, the old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and cast him into the abyss, and shut it, and sealed it over him, that he should deceive the nations no more.
SUGGESTIVE NOTES AND SERMON SKETCHES
Nature Serving Christianity.The earth helped the woman, who is regarded as the symbol of the Church of Christ. Nature helps Christianity in various ways. By
I. Its grand revelations.It reveals that there is
(1) God;
(2) law;
(3) mediation;
(4) responsibility;
(5) mystery.
II. Its moral impressions
1. Sense of dependence.
2. Reverence.
3. Contrition.
4. Worship.
III. Its multiplied inventions.Men, by studying nature, have attained to the arts. There is
(1) merchandise;
(2) the Press;
(3) painting;
(4) music;
(5) government.Dr. Thomas.
The War in Heaven.The appearance of Antichrist is preceded by a combat waged in heaven (perhaps in the heavenlies or the spiritual spheres) between Michael, the champion of God, the representative of monotheismthat is the meaning of his name, who is like unto Godand Satan, the seducer of men, who entices them into idolatry, into that worship of imaginary beings which is, at bottom, only the adoration of Satan himself, and of his angels. This combat represents the final conflict between monotheism and Paganism. Satan loses his place in the celestial spheres, from whence he had been ruling over mens hearts, and making himself worshipped as God. He is cast down to earth; that is to say, his reign in the sphere of religion comes to an end. The diabolical superstitions of Paganism disappear from human society. But a certain degree of power is still left to this enemy in the terrestrial sphere. Only he cannot exert it directly; and, just as evil spirits require the body of those who are possessed as a medium for their action, so Satan needs a man wholly given up to him, to enable him to realise the plans of vengeance which he is revolving in his heart. And the coming of the Antichrist is the means which he employs for realising this threat.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Strauss Comments
SECTION 35
Text Rev. 12:1-6
And a great sign was seen in heaven: a woman arrayed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars; 2 and she was with child; and she crieth out, travailing in birth, and in pain to be delivered. 3 And there was seen another sign of heaven: and behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his heads seven diadems. 4 And his tail draweth the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon standeth before the woman that is about to be delivered, that when she is delivered he may devour her child. 5 And she was delivered of a son, a man child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and unto his throne. 6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that there they may nourish her a thousand two hundred and threescore days.
Initial Questions Rev. 12:1-6
1.
What was the great sign (semeion one of the N.T. words for miracle) Rev. 12:1?
2.
What does the symbolism of Rev. 12:2 imply?
3.
Does the sign of Rev. 12:3 imply supernatural power for the great red dragon?
4.
Who could possibly fulfill the imagery of Rev. 12:5?
5.
Discuss the fact that the two witnesses of chp. 11 prophesied 42 months (or 1260 days) and the fact that the woman was hid away for 1260 days Rev. 12:6?
The Woman with Child, and the Great Blood Red Dragon
Beginning of Part Two Chapters 1222
Rev. 12:1
The first eleven chapters make up the first half of the book of Revelation. Beginning with this chapter (12) we are entering the second half of the book (chp. 1222). The trials and triumphs of the Church of Christ are the central theme of this section of The Revelation. Dr. McDowell states the basic issue briefly, simply, and succinctly in these words
Gods sovereignty over the world in Jesus Christ has been proclaimed. By the series of visions under the breaking of the seals of the scroll, John has shown how that sovereignty stands as an established fact over against the problems of history which seem to deny it. But now it remains to portray the manner in which this rule of God has been projected into history and how its projection precipitates the inevitable conflict with the Caesars. The story of Revelation from this point on is the story of the conflict between the sovereignty of God in Jesus Christ and the pretended sovereignty of Satan expressed through the rulers of Rome. (Edward A. McDowell, The Meaning and Message of The Book of Revelation, Broadman Press, Nashville, 1951, p. 129.
It is generally true that in the first eleven chapters the vantage point was the earth. The events of chapter 12 (and following) are seen from the viewpoint of heaven.
In verse one, the first woman to appear in The Revelation is a vital part of the vision. In the Old Testament the Theocratic Kingdom is pictured as a woman in travail (see Isa. 26:17; Isa. 66:7; Mic. 4:10 read R. H. Charles on this verse). The metaphor of childbirth is common in the New Testament Joh. 16:21; Gal. 4:19.
The great sign (first in a series of signs) was a woman having been clothed (with not in text) the sun with a crown of twelve stars. The imagery as a whole is clear enough, but the details are impossible to identify with certainty. This much is certain that Christ is the masculine child who will conquer Satan (see Gen. 3:15). (See note on Virgin Birth immediately following chapter 12.)
Rev. 12:2
This verse contains a paraphrase of Mic. 4:10, where the daughter of Zion, the earthly Jerusalem that foreshadows the heavenly Jerusalem, is in travial before the Lord.
Rev. 12:3
The second in this series of signs is observed in heaven. The second sign was a great red dragon who was the adversary of God. The dragon is identified as Satan in Rev. 12:9 (see Dan. 7:7; Dan. 8:10).
Rev. 12:4
Satan tries to destroy the child (the Christ). Satans attempts to destroy our Lord from Herods slaying of the infants, the Temptation, to the Cross, etc. are most certainly involved in this symbolism. John declares that Satan stood before the woman being about to bear, in order that (hina clause purpose clause) he might devour her child whenever she bears (or delivers).
Rev. 12:5
She bore a masculine son (following Alexander Campbells Translation) (hion arsen literally says a male son, but this is redundant. Campbell reasons that the emphasis was on the masculinity or strength of the son.) The great Shepherd of the sheep was seized (hrpasth 1st aor, passive was seized by someone (God) in a single act) to God and to His throne. This imagery depicts the Ascension of Christ.
Rev. 12:6
The woman fled to a place having been prepared from (apo God was the source of the preparation) God, in order that there they might nourish her 1260 days. This is the same amount of time God gave His two witnesses to prophecy (see Rev. 11:3).
Review Questions Chapter 12
See Rev. 12:13-17.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
Tomlinsons Comments
PART III
THE TWO SIGNS IN HEAVEN
CHAPTER XII
Text (Rev. 11:19; Rev. 12:1-17)
19 And there was opened the temple of God that is in heaven; and there was seen in his temple the ark of his covenant; and there followed lightnings, and voices, and thunders, and an earthquake, and great hail.
1 And a great sign was seen in heaven: a woman arrayed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars; 2 and she was with child; and she crieth out, travailing in birth, and in pain to be delivered. 3 And there was seen another sign in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his heads seven diadems. 4 And his tail draweth the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon standeth before the woman that is about to be delivered, that when she is delivered, he may devour her child. 5 And she was delivered of a son, a man child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and unto his throne. 6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that there they may nourish a thousand two hundred and threescore days.
7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels going forth to war with the dragon; and the dragon warred and his angels; 8 and they prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was cast down, the old serpent, he that is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world; he was cast down to the earth, and his angels were cast down with him. 10 And I heard a great voice in heaven, saying, Now is come the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, who accuseth them before our God day and night. 11 And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony; and they loved not their life even unto death. 12 Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe for the earth and for the sea: because the devil is gone down unto you, having great wrath, knowing that he hath but a short time.
13 And when the dragon saw that he was cast down to the earth, he persecuted the woman that brought forth the man child. 14 And there were given to the woman the two wings of the great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness unto her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. 15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth after the woman water as a river, that he might cause her to be carried away by the stream. 16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the river which the dragon cast out of his mouth. 17 And the dragon waxed wroth with the woman, and went away to make war with the rest of her seed, that keep the commandments of God, and hold the testimony of Jesus.
INTRODUCTION
We have considered two series of visions; namely, the Seven Churches, and the vision of the seven seals, with their accompanying seven trumpets.
In each of these series John is caught up out of the flesh. Before the unfolding of the first seriesthe Seven Churcheshe is in the Spirit on the Lords Day. Before the second visionthe Seven Seals and Seven Trumpets, he says immediately I was in the spirit. Obviously between the two visions he was again in the flesh, else he would not have been called by the voice, as of a trumpet calling him to come up higher, whereupon he was again immediately in the spirit.
We are about to begin the unfolding of a new series of visions, as evidenced by the language of Rev. 11:19, which, in passing we must say, should belong to the twelfth chapter. This division of the book into Chapters and verses, as well as the punctuation is a modern method introduced to facilitate easy reading and ready reference to the different passages. Early manuscripts of the Bible were written in continuous rows of capital letters, without spaces between the words and sentences. The early manuscripts had no stops at all. Rev. 12:1 would have appeared in this fashion:
WOMAN CLOTHED WITH THE SUN
The earliest example of separated words is found in a manuscript of the ninth century and it was not until about this time that punctuation marks came into existence. The same is true of the employment of verses and chapters. Therefore, the division between the eleventh and twelfth chapters here is purely artificial and does violence to the division of the visions of Revelation.
Properly the blowing of the seventh trumpet closes that vision. It naturally follows that Rev. 11:19 begins a new vision. The very language indicates a new starting point. Note its similarity in wording to that of the opening of the second series of visionsthe seals and trumpets. There it reads:
After this I looked and behold, a door was opened in heaven Rev. 4:1
Here it reads:
And the temple of God was opened in heaven and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.
While John seemed to have returned to the flesh between the first and second series, here there is no mention of that experience, rather indicating that he continued in the spirit, but the similarity of words with those of Rev. 4:1, indicates that a new vision is being presented.
The language also makes it clear by its likeness to the former vision, which we found to have its starting point at Pentecost, that the same starting point begins that new series of visions. As we study this chapter we shall find this to be true.
Since this is still the language of symbolism in a book of sign-i-fied visions, the symbol here is called heaven because it is a spiritual warfare about to start.
The ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies is brought to view. There are to be events uncovered which have to do with the temple of God. Since we are the temple of God, (1Co. 3:16), then, the trials and vicissitudes of the church are to be presented in the language of symbolism.
This refers not to the Jewish temple, which had been destroyed some twenty-five years earlier by Titus, but to the spiritual temple, the Church of Christ. Its door is opened and its history foretold. The vision following will uncover the fortunes, sorrows, trials, persecutions and triumphs of the church. Its history will be traced until it is glorified by Christ, the husband.
The Churchs heavenly destiny is symbolized by the fact that the Holy of Holies, the type of her final destiny is seen.
The thunders and lightnings and earthquakes symbolize and foreshadow the commotions, earth shaking events, revolutions and judgments which shall take place in the fulfillment of the symbols of this new vision.
Now we are ready to begin the study of the two wonders, or more properly, signs of chapter twelveI say more properly signs, for while the text reads wonders, in the margin the translation is sign.
These two signs are diametrically opposed to each other, both as to character and their war with each other. Shall we consider their interpretation as they appear in the verses. Rev. 12:1 And there appeared a great wonder (sign or symbol) in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.
In all Gods references to his chosen, redeemed people, he likens them to a woman, whether the language was typical, prophetic or that of fulfilment. A woman is employed many times in the scripture as a symbol of the church.
Say to the daughter of Zion, behold thy salvation cometh (Isa. 62:11). This is a prophecy of the church to come.
Ye are not the children of the bond woman, but of the free. (Gal. 4:31). The free woman here is the church.
God took the first pair to typify Christ and His church.
Paul said Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression, who is a figure of him that was to come. (Rom. 5:14)
Here he says Adam was a figure or type of Christ, so much so that in (1Co. 15:45) Christ is called the last Adam, for we read: And so it is written, the first Adam was made a living soul, the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
If Adam then was a type of Christ, Adams wife would be a type of the bride of Christthe church, for Christ is the bridegroom as Christ claimed for himself in (Mat. 9:15).
And Jesus said unto them, can the children of the bride-chamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast.
Paul, in (Eph. 5:21-31), likens the relationship between the husband and wife to that between Christ and his wife, and closes with these words: This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. (Eph. 5:32)
Adam was indeed a type of Christ, because:
1.
He was single awhile; so was Christ for he had no wife, the church, until he purchased her with his own blood. (Act. 20:28)
2.
He went down into a deep sleep; so did Christ in the sleep of death.
3.
His side was pierced in his deep sleep; so was Christs by the spear of the Roman soldier. (Joh. 19:34)
4.
Out of his side was taken his bride; so Christ purchased his wife by the blood that flowed from his side.
5.
Adam said, This is now bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh; and Paul said the same of Christs bride the church: For we are members of his flesh, and of his bones. (Eph. 5:30)
6.
Adam called her woman, because she was taken out of the Man, and the church here in Revelation is called a woman because she was taken out of the Man, as Pilate called Jesus, in being purchased by Christs death upon the cross.
7.
Adam and his wife wore the same name, for we read: Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created. (Gen. 5:2). And the church wears Christs name collectively in being called the Church of Christ. How wrong it is then to wear a denominational name which dishonors Christ! And individually his redeemed ones are called Christians, which means belonging to Christ. (Act. 11:25-26).
8.
Adam called his wife Eve, meaning the mother of all creation, and the church is the spiritual mother of the recreation. In (Gal. 4:26) Paul said: But Jerusalem, which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
So the woman here is a sign or symbol (and so called in the margin) of the church. We must get our symbolism right in order to progress truthfully and scripturally.
So we have amply identified the woman here as the church, and of her we read that she was clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.
Naturally, she should be clothed with the sun, because Christ, the Son of Righteousness gives her light. Jesus said: Ye are the light of the world. Said Paul: For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2Co. 4:6)
Take Christ out of the life of the church, then she, who is fair as the moon and clear as the sun, would walk in darkness.
But she stands on the moon! The Old Testament has been called the moonlight age-typically reflecting the glorious light of the New Testament fulfillment. So in a very definite sense she does stand on the moon, not as a foundation (for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Christ), but she stands in the sense of following in succession of fulfillment.
A diadem of twelve stars rests upon her brow, which undoubtedly refers to the twelve apostles, under whose teaching she dispenses light to the world. Christ filled the twelve apostles with the Holy Spirit to inspire the church to know His mind and will until the true church can say: We have the mind of Christ. Having identified the first sign, we will pass over the second verse for the time being to consider the second sign, for before we proceed farther we must understand the other sign, or wonder contained in this chapter.
Rev. 12:3 And there appeared another sign in heaven, and behold a great red dragon. The latter part of this verse will await a little while for clarification.
For the third time in this book of Revelation we find the book itself uncovering its own symbolism. The first and second instances were in the case of the stars and candlesticks in Rev. 1:20. In almost all of the symbolism we have had to turn elsewhere for interpretation. Not so here, however, for the ninth verse explains this second sign. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world, he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
Our understanding of him is made crystal clear. It would seem that God made a special effort here to so definitely identify the dragon that there would never be the least doubt. This is the same serpentthat old serpent which met the first woman, wife of the first Adam in the garden, and for a purpose typical of this appearing of him before the woman here, or the church.
In the garden he made his appearance to deceive the woman with subtility. Surely, he is as old as creation, for in the garden he began his age-long career as a deceiver of mankind.
Then began the age-old conflict inaugurated by the divine dictum: And I will put enmity between thee (the serpent) and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shall bruise his heel. (Gen. 3:15)
And just as he ever tried to destroy the seed line and finally the seed of the woman when the Son of God, become flesh, in the butcher of the infants of Bethlehem and the attempt to take his life during his ministry, so here we see a similar attempt to devour the seed of the woman as soon as he was born.
The purpose of the dictum was to put enmity between them, and the accomplishment of Gods purpose involved the overthrow of the devil, and the supreme purpose of the devil has ever been to devour the womans seed, as soon as she brings him forth to the world.
So we have interpreted both signs and are ready to begin our study of the chapter. We will go back to the verse we purposely skipped to complete the unfolding of the two signs. Rev. 12:2 : And she, being with child, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.
John here calls our attention to the condition of the woman. She is about to become a mother. Evidently great significance is attached to this, because of the attention called to her condition. Shall we interpret the symbol of childbirth. In Isa. 66:8, we read: As soon as Zion travaileth she brought forth children. The travail of Zion caused an increase.
Shall we turn now to the New Testament. Paul, speaking of the church said: Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that ye should bring forth fruit unto God. (Rom. 7:4)
The law that bound these Jewish brethren to God, to whom they were married (Jer. 3:14) had been nailed to the cross and now being baptized into Christ they were married to Christ. And this spiritual marriage relationship was for the purpose of bringing forth fruit into God.
With this shall we hear Peter: If these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2Pe. 1:8)
Just as husband and wife reproduce after their kind, so the church is to bring forth after her kind, or make other Christians. Here the church is pictured bringing forth Christ to the world in great travail of birth. From Pentecost forward she has, in travail of sorrow, affliction, persecution and opposition, brought Christ to the world. She is symbolized here as crying, travailing in birth and pained to be delivered.
That this manchild who was to rule the nations with a rod of iron which she brought forth, is the Christ is so obvious as to hardly need elaboration. There is no other way by which Christ can be brought forth to the world except by the church. Remember this is the language of spiritual symbolism.
But if any proof is needed, the fact that this manchild was to rule the nations with a rod of iron carries our minds back to the Messianic second psalm.
The Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shall break them with a rod of iron. (Psa. 2:7-9)
And if there were not enough proof, then hear Christ himself, for he takes this very prerogative to himself alone, And he shall rule them with a rod of iron. (Rev. 2:27). Also see Rev. 19:15.
And this conflict has a globe encircling aspect. Sun, moon and stars also are indicative of dominion. This is a stupendous conflict. The woman, the church and her manchild Christ are contending with the devil for stakes no less than the dominion of the world.
This is emphasized by Christs battle, while yet in the flesh with the devil in the wilderness. Matthew said: Again the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kindgoms of the world, and the glory of them. And saith unto Him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. (Mat. 4:8-9)
But before He shall rule the world with a rod of iron, before the kingdoms of this world become the Kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ, Childthe manchild has ascended into heaven to sit on the right hand of God until the last enemy is destroyed. This symbolism is not chronologically presented here in the order of his ascension and his being brought forth to the world by the church.
We have had to travel back and forth in this chapter, leaving out some symbolism, in order to establish the meaning of the two great wonders or signs, and the interpretation of this birth of the manchild.
Rev. 11:3 Now we must return to finish the uncovering of the symbol of the dragon as he is described in Rev. 11:3. We have been told by the Book itself that the dragon is that old serpent the devil, called Satan. Four titles are assigned to him. Four is the numerical symbol of the entire compass of the earth. We have already seen four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, and there are four points of the compass to cover all directions on the earth.
Remembering always the devil is contending with Christ and the church for the possession of all the world, it is altogether fitting that this symbolism should represent him as having seven heads, expressive of the fullness of his assumed royalty and the ten horns symbolizing the world wide character of his rule and dominion.
Since he works through a world power, and we know by subsequent history that he used a world power, Pagan Rome in his attempt to devour the manchild wherever the church travailed in birth to bring Him forth, the symbolism is perfect. We shall develop this move fully later in this book, but suffice to say here, that Pagan Rome, after her downfall divided into two kingdoms. A horn is a scriptural symbol of a kingdom as Daniel in the seventh chapter makes clear.
Here is portrayed the death struggle between the Kingdom of Christ and the kingdom of the world under the sway of the dragon. Rev. 12:4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven.
In agreement with the stars being angels later in this chapter (Rev. 11:7) we read of how the dragon fought and his angels. In our study of the Saracen scorpions we found that their sting was in their tails. In Isa. 9:15 we found that the prophet that speaketh lies, he is the tail.
Putting this Biblical interpretation with our present verse under consideration that his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and also recalling that the devil, or dragon is a liar and the father of itthe lie (Joh. 8:44) we arrive at the meaning of it all. It was through falsehood or lies that the devil drew these angels after him, even as by a lie he deceived the first woman, or Eve in the beginning of creation.
Shall we recall a startling statement, in this connection, made by Paul: And again, when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him. (Heb. 1:6)
Here there seems to be quite a group who refuse to worship him but became subject to the devil. This also recalls Pauls declaration For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (Eph. 6:12)
So the church, in bringing forth the non resurrected and ascended Christ, to the world faces the devil, his angels and world kingdoms. Surely she can only do this through Christ who keeps on pouring strength into her. Now we are ready to advance in the chapter.
Rev. 11:6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her a thousand and two-hundred and three score days.
For the true church the whole world is a wilderness, a place where there are no spiritual sources of nourishment. So God providently cared for her. But more when we come to Rev. 11:14, where her fleeing into the wilderness is again mentioned.
The War in Heaven
Rev. 11:7 And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels.
At first we would be tempted to fix the arena of this battle in the place usually indicated by the word heaven, but in as much as this is a book of symbolism, heaven as we usually understand that connotation to mean, cannot be the place of conflict.
Particularly is this so when we anticipate the weapons used, and the results which follow in this warfare as enumerated in verse eleven. The overcoming was accomplished by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto death.
Certainly there is no dying in heaven as we usually understand by that term, Heaven has no cemeteries. Death is an experience of this earth life only. But we will not say more on this verse until we come to it in its logical order. We have merely quoted it to show that this warfare was not in heaven itself. We have quoted it to establish the place of conflict.
Heaven, here, is a symbol of the arena of conflict. The church and the devil fight in the spiritual arena, which only the term heaven could properly represent. The devil fights here in this world. Peter said: Your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour (1Pe. 5:8). Notice the word devour. Peter uses the same word as John in Revelation.
This walking about of the devil mentioned by Peter reminds us of another instance recorded in the Book of Job:
Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them, And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. (Job. 1:6-7)
How perfectly in agreement are these passages with the Revelation description of the arena of warfare began at Pentecostthe point of beginning of this vision and has continued ever since. We have already quoted page after page of history in the first two series of visions how Satan fought with the saints with bloody persecutions from the very setting up of the church. This casting out of the devil took place beginning at Pentecost and he is still being cast out into the earth or from things heavenly. We have already, under the brief discussion of the seven heads and horns, referred to a similar prophecy of Daniel. In Daniel we find that Michael is the great prince that standeth up for the children of thy people. (Dan. 12:1). So it is completely in keeping that we should find this same Michael standing up for the saints in this vision of Revelation.
Another insight to all this is that neither is the instance recorded in Daniel, nor this one in Revelation the only times Michael and the devil met in combat. In Jud. 1:9 we read:
Yet Michael the archangel, when, contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, the Lord rebuke thee.
So this archangel must be of very great power because when the dead in Christ shall arise at the Lords descent from heaven, he is to come with the voice of the archangel. (1Th. 4:16). It is this mighty archangel which leads the angelic forces against the devil and his angels.
What encouragement this ought to give the saints to know how unseen forces fight on their side against the adversary of their souls.
A notable instance of unseen forces fighting for a servant of God, even Elisha, is found in 2Ki. 6:15-17 :
And his servant said unto him, Alas, my Master! how shall we do? And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them (the Syrians).
And Elisha prayed and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.
We now come to the result of this great conflict.
vs. Rev. 12:8-9 And (that is the devil and his angels) prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
This symbolism makes clear that the devil was defeated in his attempt. He was not only vanquished and defeated, but humiliated, or cast down. That this was to be accomplished by preaching is declared by Christ himself, as he commended his disciples upon their return from preaching. And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. (Luk. 10:18)
Christ said, anticipating his death upon the cross, which death would overcome sin and its wages, Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the prince of this world be cast out. (Joh. 12:31) This was a crushing defeat because not only is the devil cast out, but his power to kill by death was ended in Christs victory.
For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself partook of the same; that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is the devil. (Heb. 2:14)
Then comes the song of triumph:
Rev. 11:10 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the Kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
These declarations of this poem of praise again give us added information on the time of the beginning of this series. This victory came about when salvation came, and when strength from heaven came (ye shall receive power), and the Kingdom of our God, which we know Peter proclaimed at Pentecost when he preached the first gospel sermon, using the Keys to open the door of entrance into the Kingdom. This he did by the power of Christ who sent the energizerthe Holy Spirit on that day. It was a power which Christ said had been given him in heaven and earth. (Mat. 28:18).
The words of this song are a fulfillment, almost item by item, of the promise Christ gave his apostles just ten days before Pentecost. He had been with them forty days, speaking of things pertaining to the Kingdom of God. (Act. 1:3) He further said: But ye shall receive power (the power of our Christ) after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. (Act. 1:8). Now we behold the weapons of their warfare, which Paul said are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.
(2Co. 10:4) Shall we read the list:
Rev. 11:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb.
That was by preaching the atonement and teaching all men to be baptized unto the death of Christ that the blood might be applied for in His death he shed His blood for the remission of sins. (Rom. 6:3-6)
And by the word of their testimony. This was done on this earth the arena of the spiritual conflict, because John, the author of this very book was in the isle of Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. (Rev. 1:9)
And they loved not their lives unto death.
There is no death in the heaven above. This action transpired here because men died as martyrs by untold thousands in the death struggle with the devil and his angels.
Surley, this one verse removes all question as to the time and arena of these events. Pagan Rome, the political power through which the dragon or the devil worked, was vanquished and Christianity triumphed.
Rev. 11:12 Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.
This verse is a call for those who as overcomers dwell in the heavenlies, spoken of here as ye heavens and ye that dwell in them. This is not addressed to the angels, neither to the martyred dead, nor to the heaven, as usually understood by that term, because this call is like a door swinging on a hinge. Therefore in this case is the hinge, the door-post is the eleventh verse. Those of the eleventh verse are those who overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony.
According to the New Testament conception of things, the people of God, living here, are viewed as now dwelling in heaven, since their citizenship is there. The Christian is taught to consider himself a stranger and a pilgrim in the earth. Paul said:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. (Eph. 1:3). Again
And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. (Eph. 2:6) Yet again:
To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God. (Eph. 3:10)
Paul also says that here and now we have already come to Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. (Heb. 12:22)
So near to heaven is the church that Paul adds these words in that same verse, and to the innumerable company of angels. Why shouldnt this be so when we remember that he said of the angels are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? (Heb. 1:14)
Thus we see that the saints are spoken of as they that dwell in the heavens in contrast to those who are spoken of as the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea, upon whom a woe is pronounced because the devil is come down to them, having great wrath because he knoweth he hath but a short time.
Defeated, humiliated, cast out by overcoming Christians he heaps the spleen of his anger upon the inhabiters of the earth, who are of the earth earthly.
The Persecution of the Church by the Devil
We see how the first great struggle between the woman and the dragon ended in ignominious defeat for the devil and a glorious triumph for the church. But the struggle is renewed. He now tries persecution. This is the exact order of the devils work and the experience of the church as depicted in the first series of visions. After the Ephesian period came the Smyrian period of the martyrs. So here we read:
Rev. 11:13 And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.
This completely agrees with what history tells us of the work of the devil during the second and third centuries of the church.
From Nero in A.D. 70 to Diocletian in A.D. 303 to 313 the church went through ten major persecutions. Of course Pagan Rome was the instrument of persecution, but the guiding genius was the devil himself.
The object of this malignant and venomous persecution was the woman which brought forth the man child, or the church bringing Christ to the pagan world. So Gods people are the object of hatred of the devil and they ever bear the reproach of Christ.
Persecution, as a portion of the Saints dates from the last part of the Ephesian period and reaches its height in the days of Diocletian who inaugurated the longest and severest, as well as the last pagan persecution against the church. The devil learned that persecutions did not accomplish his purpose to blot out the name Christian from the earth, but rather the reverse. As far as he was concerned, he wisely changed his tactics, but as the churchs welfare was involved, the change of attack proved her downfall. Compromise was substituted for crucifixion. But more anon of this change of method.
Rev. 11:14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times and half a time from the face of the serpent.
Between Rev. 11:6 and Rev. 11:14, we have as it were a parenthesis thrown in, in order to reveal the contestants, the method and weapons of warfare, and the triumph of the saints. The events described embrace both sides of the veil, some of which are heavenly and others on the earthly side of things.
Now Rev. 11:14 takes up where the narrative of unfolding was abruptly cut off or interrupted at Rev. 11:6.
There is given in Rev. 11:6 a description of how the woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared of God where she was to dwell 1260 days, or years. Here she goes to her place, and was to continue there a time, or a year, times, two years and half a time, one half year, or in other words three and one half years, or 1260 days, which in prophetic history is 1260 years. Therefore the periods are of the same length and both refer to the same segment of time.
But here is added a new symbol. The woman, or church is given two wings of a great eagle to facilitate her flight into hiding. This signifies divine aid given the saints to assist them in their escape from Satan while they still dwell in this world-the enemy territory. (Joh. 14:30). The meaning and significance of eagles wings becomes manifest by turning to a couple of Old Testament passages, The first is in Exo. 19:4 where God said to Moses:
Ye have seen what I did into the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles wings, and brought you unto myself.
These people of the Old Covenant were a type of the saints of the New Covenant and their deliverance foreshadowed the escape of the people of God of the New Testament.
Here the deliverance of the latter is described by the same symbol eagles wings as the former.
The second passage is found in Deu. 32:10-12 :
And found him (Jacob) in a desert land, and in the waste in the howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept his as the apple of his eye.
As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, heareth them on her wings; so the Lord alone did lead him and there was no strange God with him.
Eagles wings then are a symbol of divine strength supplied and applied with energy and swiftness.
We said earlier that there was indicated a change in tactics on the part of the wily serpent, the dragon or the devil. The next verse enlarges on this change.
Rev. 11:15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.
So when the devil failed to accomplish his design to destroy the saints and their witness, through violent persecution, he resorted to a new method of attack.
Here we meet with a new symbol, that of a flood. The symbol of a flood is employed in the Word of God to represent some overpowering and overwhelming agency of destruction.
Let not the waterflood overflow me. (Psa. 69:15)
Thou carriest them away as with a flood. (Psa. 90:5)
The enemy shall come in like a flood. (Isa. 59:19)
And the end thereof shall be with a flood. (Dan. 9:26)
Behold waters rise up out of the north, and shall be an overflowing flood. (Jer. 47:2)
This symbol is a most suitable one. None other could be employed which would so well picture the stupendous effort put forth by the devil to carry the church away and drown her testimony by the means of a flood of half truth, comprising alliances, false doctrines, pagan philosophies and practices, blended with the gospel.
Since the true teaching comes from the mouth of the witnesses so here the flood pours from the mouth of the devil. This indicates false doctrines proceeding from the dragons mouth. And this is just what happened! After persecuting Diocletian came Constantine, who though a pagan embraced Christianity because he had won the battle of Milvian Bridge and he proceeded to corrupt the church with a flood of blended pagan philosophy and Christian doctrine. Thus we see the Smyrnan period of persecution fading out of the symbolic picture and the Pergamos period of compromise coming on the stage of church history.
To save the church God carries her into hiding. And how long was she there? How long was she to be in the wilderness? 1260 years. We found in the second series of visions, consisting of the seven seals and the seven trumpets that this period began with the elevation of a man as Rector Ecclesiae, Lord of the church and ran until 1793, when the two witnesses were slain in the streets of that great citythe papal empire of Romethe apostate city in contradiction to the holy city. Much of this time corresponds to the Thyatira period or the Catholic church period.
Rev. 11:16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
To exactly what providential deliverance from this flood the incident refers, it is most difficult to say, but a suggestion or two might help.
Many of the heretical teachings of the early centuries disappeared, although it must be honestly admitted that others arose to take their places. But they were swallowed up, as if buried in the earth.
Again: and this seems more likely, while apostate and pagan doctrines were flooding the religio-politico empire church with spiritual and doctrinal corruption, the truth of God was kept by a comparatively faithful few. These being unable to contend with the almost universal defection, contented themselves to dwell in obscurity or hiding.
The Roman Church, which, was most certainly of the earth, swallowed up the flood of false teaching that poured out of the devils mouth.
Rev. 11:17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
God has always preserved to himself a remnant. In the days of Old Testament Israels worst defection God told Elijah:
Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him. (1Ki. 19:18)
That has been the case through all dispensations. It was true during the Thyatira, or Catholic period of church history. The Albigerses, the following of Huss, the Hugenots and others are but a few of the larger groups that bear out this truth, to say nothing of the countless little groups of faithful saints who kept the torch of truth aflame.
Though not visible to the eye of the historians during this period of the dark ages, intellectually, doctrinally and spiritually, yet the true church fed and nourished by God, survived in the hearts of hidden saints.
Then followed the age of awakening, when the Bible was translated into the common vernacular, and the Sardis, or reformation period appeared on the stage of action. This in turn was followed by the Philadelphia, or Restoration period in which the church of the First Century reappeared, speaking where the Bible speaks, and keeping silence where the Bible is silent.
Summary
In this chapter we have presented to us a very rapid survey of the progress of the divine decree I will put enmity between thee, (the devil) and the woman, but magnified in the enmity between the devil and the church, symbolized as a woman in Revelation.
The design of the vision of the twelfth chapter of Revelation is to carry us forward with the rapidity of bold, symbolic strokes to portray the early and middle stages of this great conflict; until we arrive at the last stage as uncovered under the vision of the two wild beasts of Chapter thirteen. For whereas the events of the twelfth chapter are described with extreme brevity, with long periods of time compressed into a few words, in the thirteenth chapter the uncovering becomes more detailed and definite.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(1) And there appeared . . .Better, And a great sign was seen in the heaven. The word sign is preferable to wonder, both in this verse and in Rev. 12:3. It is the same word which is rendered sign in Rev. 15:1. It is a sign which is seen: not a mere wonder, but something which has a meaning; it is not a surprise ending with itself, but a signal to arrest attention, and possessing significance; there is an idea concealed behind it. (Comp. Note on Joh. 2:11.)
A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.All the lights of heaven are brought together here for a description which cannot fail to remind us of the picture of the Shulamite in the Canticles (Son. 6:10): Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners (or, the heavenly host)? It is the picture of the bride, the Church. The beams of the divine glory clothe her; she has caughtlike Mosesthe radiance of her Lord, whose countenance was as the sun (Rev. 1:16); the moon is beneath her feet; she rises superior to all change, and lays all lesser lights of knowledge under tribute; she is crowned with a crown of twelve stars: the illustrious members of the Church (twelve being the representative number in Old Testament as well as New Testament times) form her crown of rejoicing in the day of Christ.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Chapter 12
THE WOMAN AND THE BEAST ( Rev 12:1-17 ) It is necessary to read this chapter as a whole before we examine it in detail.
12:1-17 A great sign appeared in the sky–a woman clothed with the sun, and with the moon beneath her feet, and with a crown of twelve stars on her head; and she was with child, and she cried aloud in her labour and in her agony to bear the child.
And another sign appeared in heaven–lo! a great flame-coloured dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and with seven royal diadems upon its heads. Its tail swept a third part of the stars from the sky and cast them on to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to bear the child so that it might devour the child as soon as she bore him.
She bore a man child who is destined to rule the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was snatched away to God, even to his throne.
The woman fled to the desert where she had a place prepared for her by God, that they might care for her there for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.
There was war in heaven, in which Michael and his angels fought with the dragon and the dragon and his angels fought with them. The dragon was powerless to prevail and there was no longer any place for him in heaven. The great dragon, the ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of all mankind, was thrown down to earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a great voice in heaven saying:
“Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Anointed One, because there has been cast down the accuser of our brothers, who night and day accuses them before God. They have overcome him through the blood of the Lamb and through the word of their witness, and they did not love their soul to death. Rejoice, therefore, you heavens and you who dwell in them. Alas for the earth and the sea! because the Devil has come down to you with great wrath and well aware that he has only a little time left.”
When the Devil saw that he was cast down into the earth, he pursued the woman who bore the man-child. The two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, that she might fly to the desert to her place, where she is cared for for a time and times and half a time away from the serpent. And after the woman the serpent hurled water from his mouth like a river, that he might cause her to be carried away by the river of water; but the earth helped the woman and opened its mouth and swallowed the river which the dragon hurled from his mouth.
The dragon was enraged because of the woman and went away to make war with the rest of her family, those who keep the commandments of God and who bear their witness to Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea.
John saw an amazing vision, like a tableau in the sky, whose details he draws from many sources. The woman is clothed with the sun; the moon is her footstool; and she has a crown of twelve stars. The Psalmist says of God that he covers himself with light as with a garment ( Psa 104:2). In the Song of Solomon the poet describes his loved one as being fair as the moon and clear as the sun (SS 6:10). So John got part of his picture from the Old Testament. But he added something which the pagans of Asia Minor would well recognize as part of the old Babylonian picture of the divine. They frequently depicted their goddesses as crowned with the twelve signs of the zodiac and this also is in John’s mind. It is as if he took all the signs of divinity and beauty which he could find and added them together.
This woman is in labour to bear a child who is undoubtedly the Messiah, Christ, compare Rev 12:5 where he is said to be destined to rule the nations with a rod of iron. That is a quotation from Psa 2:9 and was an accepted description of the Messiah. The woman, then, is the mother of the Messiah.
(i) If the woman is the “mother” of the Messiah, an obvious suggestion is that she should be identified with Mary; but she is so clearly a superhuman figure that she can hardly be identified with any single human being.
(ii) The persecution of the woman by the dragon suggests that she might be identified with the Christian Church. The objection is that the Christian Church could hardly be called the mother of the Messiah.
(iii) In the Old Testament the chosen people, the ideal Israel, the community of the people of God, is often called the Bride of God. “Your Maker is your husband” ( Isa 54:5). It is Jeremiah’s sad complaint that Israel has played the harlot in disloyalty to God ( Jer 3:6-10). Hosea hears God say: “I will betroth you to me for ever” ( Hos 2:19-20). In the Revelation itself we hear of the marriage feast of the Lamb and the Bride of the Lamb ( Rev 19:7; Rev 21:9). “I betrothed you to Christ,” writes Paul to the Corinthian Church, “to present you as a pure bride to her one husband” ( 2Co 11:2).
This will give us a line of approach. It was from the chosen people that Jesus Christ sprang in his human lineage. It is for the ideal community of the chosen ones of God that the woman stands. Out of that community Christ came and it was that community which underwent such terrible suffering at the hands of the hostile world. We may indeed call this the Church, if we remember that the Church is the community of God’s people in every age.
From this picture we learn three great things about this community of God. First, it was out of it that Christ came; and out of it Christ has still to come for those who have never known him. Second, there are forces of evil, spiritual and human, which are set on the destruction of the community of God. Third, however strong the opposition against it and however sore its sufferings, the community of God is under the protection of God and, therefore, it can never be ultimately destroyed.
The Hatred Of The Dragon ( Rev 12:3-4)
Here we have the picture of the great, flame-coloured dragon. In our study of the antecedents of Antichrist we saw that the eastern peoples regarded creation in the light of the struggle between the dragon of chaos and the creating God of order. In the Temple of Marduk, the creating god, in Babylon there was a great image of a “red-gleaming serpent” who stood for the defeated dragon of chaos. There can be little doubt that that is where John got his picture. This dragon appears in many forms in the Old Testament.
It appears as Rahab. “Was it not thou that didst cut Rahab in pieces, that didst pierce the dragon?” ( Isa 51:9). It appears as leviathan. “Thou didst break the heads of the dragons in the waters. Thou didst crush the heads of leviathan” ( Psa 74:12-14). In the day of the Lord, God with his sore and great and strong sword will punish leviathan ( Isa 27:1). It appears in the dramatic picture of behemoth ( H930) in Job 40:15-24. The dragon which is the arch-enemy of God is a common and terrible figure in the thought of the east. It is the connection of the dragon and the sea which explains the rivers of water which the dragon emits to overcome the woman ( Rev 12:15).
The dragon has seven heads and ten horns. This signifies its mighty power. It has seven royal diadems. This signifies its complete power over the kingdoms of this world as opposed to the kingdom of God. The picture of the dragon sweeping the stars from the sky with its tail comes from the picture in Daniel of the little horn who cast the stars to the ground and trampled on them ( Dan 8:10). The picture of the dragon waiting to devour the child comes from Jeremiah, in which it is said of Nebuchadnezzar that “he has swallowed me like a monster” ( Jer 51:34).
H. B. Swete finds in this picture the symbolism of an eternal truth about the human situation. In the human situation, as Christian history sees it, there are two figures who occupy the centre of the scene. There is man, fallen, always under the attack of the powers of evil but always struggling towards the birth of a higher life. And there is the power of evil, ever watching for its opportunity to frustrate the upward reach of man. That struggle had its culmination on the Cross.
The Snatching Away Of The Child ( Rev 12:5)
The child which the woman bore was destined to rule the nations with a rod of iron. As we have seen, this quotation from Psa 2:9 indicates that the child was the Messiah.
When the child was born, he was rescued from the dragon by being snatched up to heaven, even to the throne of God. The word used here for the child being snatched up is the same as is used in 1Th 4:17 to describe the Christian being caught up to meet the Lord in the air (compare 2Co 12:2 where Paul uses it to tell of himself being caught up into the third heaven).
In a sense this is a puzzling passage. As we have seen, the reference is to Jesus Christ as Messiah, and, as John tells it, the story goes straight from his Birth to his Ascension; the snatching up must refer to the Ascension. As the Acts has it: “He was lifted up” ( Act 1:9). The strange thing is the total omission of the earthly life of Jesus. This is due to two things.
It is due to the fact that John is not at the moment interested in anything other than the fact that Jesus Christ was delivered by the direct action of God from the hostile powers which continually attacked him.
It is due also to the fact that all through the Revelation John’s interest is not in the human Jesus but in the exalted Christ, who is able to rescue his people in the time of their distresses.
The Flight To The Desert ( Rev 12:6)
Here we read of the woman escaping into the desert from the attack of the dragon. By the help of God she escaped into a place where she was nourished and which had been prepared for her.
There is no doubt that there are many pictures in John’s mind. There is the picture of the escape of Elijah to the brook Cherith, where he was nourished by the ravens ( 1Ki 17:1-7); and of his flight into the desert, when he was nourished by the angelic messenger ( 1Ki 19:1-8). There is the picture of the flight of Mary and Joseph with the baby Jesus into Egypt to escape the murderous intent of Herod ( Mat 2:13). But two incidents are specially in John’s mind.
(i) In the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, when it was death to keep the law and to worship the true God, many “who sought after justice and judgment went down to the wilderness to dwell there” ( 1Ma_2:29 ).
(ii) Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 70. The years immediately before that were terrible years of bloodshed and of revolution in which anyone with eyes to see and a mind to understand could forecast what was about to happen. Eusebius, the Christian historian, tells us that, before the final disaster came, the Christians in Jerusalem had been warned by a revelation given to approved men to leave Jerusalem and to cross the Jordan into Perea and to dwell there in a town called Pella (Eusebius: The Ecclesiastical History 3: 5). This is actually referred to in the account of Jesus’ words to the disciples about the last times. When they saw the last terrors coming they were to flee to the mountains ( Mar 13:14); this is exactly what they did.
H. B. Swete again sees something symbolic here. The Church had to flee into the wilderness and the wilderness is lonely. For the early Christians life was lonely; they were isolated in a pagan world. There are times when Christian witness is bound to be a lonely thing–but even in human loneliness there is divine companionship.
The one thousand two hundred and sixty days are once again the standard period of distress.
Satan, The Enemy Of God ( Rev 12:7-9)
Here we have the picture of war in heaven between the Dragon, the Ancient Serpent, the Devil, Satan–all these names describe the one evil being–and Michael and all his angels. The idea seems to be that, such was his hatred, the dragon pursued the Messiah even to heaven, where he was met by Michael with his heavenly legions and finally cast out. It will be convenient to gather together here what Scripture has to say about Satan; it presents a complicated picture.
(i) There is the echo of the ancient story of a primaeval war in heaven. Satan was an angel who conceived “the impossible thought” of placing his throne higher than that of God (2Enoch 29:4, 5) and was cast out of heaven. The Babylonians had a similar story of Ishtar, the god of the morning star. He, too, rebelled against God and was cast down from heaven. There is one definite reference to this old story in the Old Testament. In Isaiah we read: “How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn!” ( Isa 14:12). The sin which caused the fall from heaven was pride. There may be a reference to this in 1Ti 3:6, where it is urged that the Christian preacher must be kept from pride lest he fall into the same condemnation as the devil did. When Satan was cast out of heaven, his dwelling-place became the air in which he had to wander; that is why he is sometimes called The Prince of the Air ( Eph 2:2).
(ii) There is a strong line of thought in the Old Testament in which Satan is still an angel under God’s command and with access to his presence. In Job we find Satan numbered amongst the sons of God and possessing access to his presence ( Job 1:6-9; Job 2:1-6); and in Zechariah we also find Satan in the presence of God ( Zec 3:1-2).
To understand this conception of Satan we must first understand what the word Satan means. Satan originally meant simply an adversary. Even the angel of the Lord who stood in the path of Balaam to stop him from his sinful intentions can be called a satan against him ( Num 22:22). The Philistines feared that David would be their satan ( 1Sa 29:4). When Solomon entered upon his kingdom, he was so blessed by God that he had no satan left ( 1Ki 5:4). But later the foreign kings, Hadad and Rezon, were both to become his satans ( 1Ki 11:14; 1Ki 11:23).
In the Old Testament Satan was the angel who was the counsel for the prosecution against men in the presence of God, their Adversary. Thus he is the counsel for the prosecution against Job, cynically suggesting that Job serves God for what he can get out of it and that, if he is involved in disaster, his loyalty will soon cease ( Job 1:11-12), and he is given permission by God to use every weapon short of death to test Job ( Job 2:1-6). So in Zechariah Satan is the accuser of Joshua the High Priest ( Zec 3:1-2). In Psa 109:6 the King James Version actually uses the word Satan in this sense: “Let Satan stand at the right hand of the wicked.” The Revised Standard Version rightly alters the translation to: “Let an accuser bring him to trial.”
So, in the Old Testament Satan was the angel who is the counsel for the prosecution when a man was on trial before God; while Michael was the counsel for the defence. Between the Testaments there seems to have been a belief that there was more than one Satan engaged in the task of bringing accusations against men and we read of the archangel whose duty it was to fend off the Satans (I Enoch 40:6).
For the most part in the Old Testament Satan was very much under the jurisdiction of God.
(iii) In the Old Testament we never read of the Devil, although sometimes we come across devils; but in the New Testament Satan becomes the Devil. The Greek is Diabolos ( G1228) , literally a slanderer. There is not a very great dividing line between being a prosecuting counsel who brings charges against men and inventing such charges and tempting men into actions where such charges will be forthcoming. So, then, in the New Testament Satan becomes the seducer of men. We find that in the story of the temptations of Jesus the three names are indiscriminately used. This power of evil is Satan ( Mat 4:10; Mar 1:13); the Devil ( Mat 4:1; Mat 4:5; Mat 4:8; Mat 4:11; Luk 4:2-3; Luk 4:5; Luk 4:13); and the Tempter ( Mat 4:3).
Since this is so, we find Satan engaged in certain nefarious purposes in the New Testament story. He seeks to seduce Jesus in his temptations. He puts the terrible scheme of betrayal into Judas’ mind ( Joh 13:2; Joh 13:27; Luk 22:3). He is out to make Peter fall ( Luk 22:31). He persuades Ananias to keep back part of the price of the possession he had sold ( Act 5:3). He uses every wile ( Eph 6:11) and every device ( 2Co 2:11) to achieve his seducing purposes. He is the cause of illness and pain ( Luk 13:16; Act 10:38; 2Co 12:7). He hinders the work of the gospel by sowing the tares which choke the good seed ( Mat 13:39), and by snatching away the seed of the word from the human heart before it can gain an entry ( Mar 4:15; Luk 8:12).
Thus Satan becomes the enemy of God and man, the Evil One par excellence, for we should probably translate in the Lord’s Prayer: “Deliver us from the Evil One” ( Mat 6:13).
He can be called the Ruler of this World ( Joh 12:31; Joh 14:30; Joh 16:11), for, having been cast out of heaven, he has to exert his evil influence among men. He comes to be identified with the serpent because of the story of the Fall in Gen 3:1-24.
(iv) The strange thing is that the history of Satan is a tragedy, whatever version of the story we use. In one version, Satan is the angel of light, once the greatest of the angels, whose pride caused him to seek to be higher than God and who was cast out of heaven. In the other version, Satan was a real servant of God and perverted his service into an opportunity for sinning. Satan is the supreme example of that tragedy in which the best becomes the worst.
The Song Of The Martyrs In Glory ( Rev 12:10-12)
In these verses we have the song of the glorified martyrs when Satan is cast out of heaven.
(i) Satan appears as the Accuser par excellence; Satan, as H. B. Swete put it, is “the cynical libeller of all that God has made.” According to Renan he is “the malevolent critic of creation.” Satan stands for the sleepless vigilance of evil against good.
The historical background of the age in which the Revelation was written lends sharpness to this picture of Satan. This was the great age of the informer, the delator. People were constantly being arrested, tortured, killed because someone had informed against them. Tacitus, writing some years before, had said: “He who had no foe was betrayed by his friend.” That ancient world knew only too well what malevolent, cynical, venal accusers were like.
(ii) This picture, then, shows us what we might call the cleansing of heaven. Satan, the malevolent Accuser, is cast out for ever. It is for this reason that the martyrs in glory sing their song of triumph.
The martyrs are those who have overcome Satan.
(a) Martyrdom is itself a conquest of Satan. The martyr has proved superior to every seduction and to every threat and even to the violence of Satan. Here is a dramatic truth for life every time we choose to suffer rather than to be disloyal is the defeat of Satan.
(b) The victory of the martyrs is won through the blood of the Lamb. There are two meanings here. First, on his Cross and through his Resurrection Jesus overcame forever the worst that evil could do to him; and those who have entrusted their lives to him share in that victory. Second, through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross sin is forgiven; when a man accepts in faith what Christ has done for him, his sins are wiped out. And when he is forgiven, there is nothing for which he can possibly be accused. As Charles Wesley put it:
No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in him is mine!
Alive in him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach the eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.
(c) The martyrs are victorious, because they lived the great principle of the gospel. They did not consider life more important than loyalty. “He who loves his life loses it; and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life” ( Joh 12:25). This principle runs all through the gospel ( Mat 10:39; Mat 16:25; Mar 8:35; Luk 9:24; Luk 17:33). For us this is not necessarily a matter of dying for the faith but of setting loyalty to Jesus Christ before the comfortable way.
(iii) This passage finishes with the idea that Satan is cast out of heaven and has come down to earth. His power in heaven is broken, but he has still power on earth; and he rages ferociously because he knows that all that he has left is a short time upon this earth before he is finally destroyed.
The Attack Of The Dragon ( Rev 12:13-17)
The dragon, that is the Devil, on being cast out of heaven and descending to earth, attacked the woman who was the mother of the man child. We have seen that the woman stands for the Church in its widest sense of God’s Chosen People from the midst of whom God’s Anointed One came.
Here, then, is a certain symbolism. The dragon can injure the child by injuring the mother; that is to say, to injure the Church is to injure Jesus Christ. The words of the Risen Christ to Paul on the Damascus road were: “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” ( Act 9:4). Paul’s persecution had been directed against the Church; but the Risen Christ makes it clear that persecution of his Church is persecution of himself. When we despoil the Church of the help we might have given it, we despoil Jesus of the help we might have given him; and when we serve the Church, we serve Jesus himself.
We have already seen ( Rev 12:6) that the escape of the woman to the desert place comes from the escape of the Church to Pella on the other side of Jordan before the final destruction of Jerusalem. But in the escape of the woman and in the attack of the dragon John uses two pictures very familiar to those who knew the Old Testament.
The woman escaped on the two wings of the great eagle. Again and again in the Old Testament the eagle’s wings are the symbol of the upbearing arms of God. “You have seen,” God said to Israel, “what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to myself” ( Exo 19:4). “Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that flutters over its young, spreading out its wings, catching them, bearing them on its pinions, the Lord alone did lead him (the people of Israel)” ( Deu 32:11-12). As the Scots paraphrase has it of Isa 40:31:
On eagles’ wings they mount, they soar,
their wings are faith and love,
Till, past the cloudy regions here,
they rise to heav’n above.
We may note that, when men came to allegorize Scripture, Hippolytus saw in the eagles’ wings the symbol of “the two holy arms of Christ outstretched upon the Cross.”
The second picture is of the floods of water cast out by the serpent. We have seen how the old dragon of chaos was a sea dragon and, therefore, to connect the floods with him is quite natural. But again here we have an Old Testament picture. Again and again in the Old Testament tribulation and persecution are likened to an overwhelming flood. “All thy waves and thy billows have gone over me” ( Psa 42:7). It is God’s promise to the Psalmist that “the rush of great waters” shall not come near him ( Psa 32:6). If the Lord had not helped him, the waters would have overwhelmed him and the streams would have gone over his soul ( Psa 124:4). When he passes through the waters, God will be with him ( Isa 43:2).
The chapter finishes with two further pictures.
When the dragon ejected the floods of waters, the earth swallowed them up and so the woman was saved. It is not difficult to see where John got this picture. It quite often happened in Asia Minor that rivers were swallowed up in the sand only to reappear after travelling a distance underground. There was, for instance, a case of this near Colossae, an area which John must have known well.
But it is not so easy to see what the picture means. The symbolism is very likely this. Nature itself is on the side of the man who is faithful to Jesus Christ. As Froude the historian pointed out, in the world there is a moral order and in the long run it is well with the good and ill with the wicked.
Finally John has the picture of the dragon going to war with the rest of the family of the woman, with the rest of the Church. This tells of the coming spread of persecution all over the Church.
As John saw it, Satan cast down to earth is in his last terrible convulsion and that convulsion is going to involve the whole family of the Church in the agony of persecution.
-Barclay’s Daily Study Bible (NT)
Fuente: Barclay Daily Study Bible
PERSONALITIES OF THE ANTICHRISTIC WAR, Rev 12:1 to Rev 13:18.
Satanic dragon and man child Christ, Rev 12:1-6.
1. And In the opening of this chapter three representative beings appear on the scene. The man child, Christ; the mother; and the dragon, ready to devour the child. The grouping at once suggests the source whence the symbolism is drawn. We at once think of the virgin mother, the infant Jesus, and the murderous Herod. Yet the subsequent wilderness history of the woman shows that the virgin is here introduced as a symbol of the Church; that as Herod is not actually named, the dragon is truly the literal Satan, and that the man child is truly Christ. Yet the habiliments of the dragon show that he is Satan as representative of pagan Roman antichrist, and the man child is Christ as representative leader in the battle against antichrist. As the woman is symbol, and the Herod is symbol, so the man child is here symbol. Alford is right in insisting that “the man child is the Lord Jesus Christ and none other,” (not Constantine, nor any other Roman emperor;) but he is wrong in ignoring the plain fact, that both Christ and the dragon are here representatives of Christianity and paganism in the Roman world; that the battle here is truly between the two great causes, and that the overthrow of the dragon is the downfall of paganism.
As the beast of Rev 13:1, is the specific antichrist of the New Testament, according to the apocalypse, so Gebhardt holds the dragon to be rather anti-god. This may in due degree be admitted. The paganism of the Old Testament, and even as it laps over into the New, is opposed not so much to Christ as to God. It supplies a rival, and denies the true divine existence. Yet, by another view, as Christ is the Jehovah of the Old Dispensation, so the anti-god is, through all ages, the lineal antichrist. See introductory note to 2 Thessalonians, chap. 2. We might, then, (and some of our readers may prefer the view,) reckon the contest with the dragon as part of the coming anti-christic war, and so reckon four rather than three “overthrows of antichrist.” Yet as the man child and the dragon are here presented as the two powers which, after this antecedent contest, are reserved in the background as the source, inspiration, and controllers of the manifest war, we prefer to consider this contest as preludial, introduced to show the genesis of the main war and to authenticate the personalities introduced in the next chapter as the combatants; thereby leaving but three main “overthrows.”
There appeared From the symbolic heaven, where the panorama was in action, the seer looks upward to a higher ethereal region, the atmospheric heaven, where the woman, and subsequently the dragon, appear; yet higher still, the third heaven, is the throne whither the child was caught up. Note Rev 4:11.
Wonder Rather, sign, token, symbol, a phenomenon significant of some idea. So 1Co 14:22; Mat 12:39; Mat 24:3.
Sun In the gorgeous imagery investing the woman is truly to be seen a recognition of the unparalleled honour of the blessed virgin in becoming the mother of the Incarnate. Sad as is the error of the Romanistic adoration of her person, no reaction of thought should prevent our recognising the due honour which Scripture pays her. And one honour is, that she is clearly here the basis of the symbol of the Church in its struggle with paganism. Note on Mat 1:18.
There is an apparent incongruity in the Church’s being here the mother of Christ and also, hereafter, the bride of Christ. But the two are to be separated in thought as different symbols. The maternal symbol of the Church is a specialty, terminating at a particular historic point. The bridal symbol comes from another region of thought, and extends into the final glorification.
Clothed with the sun ”Invested,” Newton well says, “with the rays of the sun of righteousness.”
The moon The symbol of sublunary change, over and upon which the ideal Church stands exalted.
Crown of twelve stars The twelve apostles, under whom she stands as the apostolic Church. The three orders of heavenly luminaries combine to do her homage. Robed with the sun, and crowned with the stars, she stands on the moon her silver pedestal. While each of these investments may have its symbolic import, the clustering of the whole is to render glorious the personified Church. The dragon, on the contrary, in a different hemisphere of the firmament, is clothed in no such glory, but equipped with symbols of power and fierceness.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
IV. THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, Rev 7:1 to Rev 20:10.
Of the trumpets, the first four are mundane, or earthly; each of the four blasts draws down a judgment upon some creational point, as earth, sea, fountains and rivers; firmamental luminaries. It is the sins of men that draw down these bolts of wrath, rendering every point of creation hostile to our peace. “Cursed is the ground for thy sake,” (Gen 3:17,) is the key-note. This sad status of humanity has existed through all past ages; but it is here represented to form a base from which the history of the renovation commences.
The first four the earthly trumpets are each brief as well as terrible; the spiritual, the fifth and sixth, expand into wider dimensions and rise to more spiritual interests; while the seventh trumpet rolls forth its series of events, through all the future scenes of retribution and redemption to the judgment.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Fourth Vision. The Woman Clothed with the Sun and the Beasts.
The Woman Clothed With the Sun and the Great Red Monster ( Rev 12:1
‘And a great sign was seen in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.’
Now we are to have unveiled before us even more details of what has previously been described, going back in history and going forward to the end. These few verses are setting the scene for the battle between good and evil.
‘A great sign’. This is a symbol in a book of symbols, but the use of ‘great’ shows how important it is. In those days people were used to interpreting signs in the heavens. Thus it is seen as having great significance. It is one of three signs to be revealed in heaven, the second is the sign of the monster (Rev 12:3) and the third, the sign of the seven angels with the seven plagues (Rev 15:1). These cover all aspects of history, the history of salvation, the history of rebellion against God, and the history of the judgments of God.
‘A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet and on her head a crown of twelve stars.’ The only place in Scripture where we find this combination of sun, moon and stars applied to man is in Gen 37:9, where it represents Jacob (Israel) the founding father of Israel, his wife, and his twelve children, the patriarchs of the twelve tribes of Israel. The sun represents Jacob, the moon his wife and the twelve stars the sons of Jacob. John thus sees the woman as representative of the chosen people of God, the children of the promise, the true, the righteous Israel.
Her being ‘clothed’ with the sun also reveals her righteousness and glory in God’s eyes, ‘then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father’ (Mat 13:43). We may see also the expectancy of the coming of Christ, ‘the sun of righteousness with healing in his wings’ (Mal 4:2).
The moon under her feet symbolises the fact that time itself will be put under her feet (Psa 8:3 with 6). She is everlasting. The moon was seen as controller of times and seasons (Psa 104:19). It determined the length of the month (Isa 66:23), signalled the commencement of the new year (Num 28:11), and the new moon was set apart as a holy day (1Sa 18:5; 1Sa 18:20 ; 1Sa 18:24; 2Ki 4:23; 1Ch 23:31 ; 2Ch 2:4; Psa 81:4; Isa 1:14 and often). It is a symbol of time itself (Psa 72:7; Psa 89:37).
The crown demonstrates that she is destined to rule. The twelve stars on the crown are in apposition to the seven heads and ten horns of the monster (Rev 12:3) and represent the twelve patriarchs and thus the twelve tribes of Israel, and also possibly, but secondarily, the twelve Apostles as successors, continuing their oversight of God’s people. They are God’s reply to the power and aims of the enemy.
The vision reminds us of the words of the psalmist, ‘When I consider the heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have ordained, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you visit him? You made him a little lower than the angels, and crown him with glory and honour, you made him to have dominion over the works of your hands, you have put all things under his feet’ (Psa 8:3-6). So humble man (and in Revelation 12 the humble church), who is so insignificant compared with the heavens, is to be exalted, glorious like the heavens, crowned with glory and honour, with all things in submission to him. The psalm is quoted in Heb 2:6-8 where it is seen as fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the seed of the woman.
In Isa 54:5 Israel is clearly depicted as a woman, and as God’s wife, a wife who is restored to full wifehood (v. 6) so that she may receive great mercies. All her children will be taught of the Lord (v. 11). But it is only as faithful Israel that she can be restored.
Hosea says the same thing when he describes God as alluring Israel, bringing her into the wilderness and speaking to her comfortable things, so that she will call Him ‘my husband’, and He will betroth her to Him for ever in righteousness and in justice, and in loving kindness and in mercies, and in faithfulness (Rev 2:14; Rev 2:16; Rev 2:19-20). And He will then say to them ‘you are My people’ (v. 23). So the fruitful wife of the Lord is an Israel made faithful to Him. Eze 16:12-13 confirms that Israel was seen as crowned, and of royal estate.
It is important to recognise that in the end God’s calling was not of the whole of Israel, but of faithful Israel, ‘the remnant’ (Rom 9:6). When God chose Abraham only one of his sons, Isaac, was the child of promise, and of Isaac’s children only Jacob was the child of promise (Rom 9:13). In the same way not all Jacob’s (Israel’s) descendants are the children of promise. It is only the elect who respond in faith who enjoy the promise (Rom 11:7).
In Elijah’s time this was the seven thousand who had not bowed the knee to Baal (Rom 9:4). This doctrine of the holy remnant is accepted by the prophets (Isa 6:13 – where he speaks of ‘the holy seed’; see also Isa 1:9; Isa 10:20-22; Isa 49:3 with 6; Eze 14:22; 2Ki 19:30-31), and Paul describes them as a remnant in accordance with God’s gracious choosing (Rom 9:5).
The so-called ‘children of Israel’ were in fact made up of people from many nations, commencing with the servants of the Patriarchs, continuing with ‘the mixed multitude’ (Exo 12:38) and including others who were adopted into the tribes such as Uriah the Hittite (see 2 Samuel 11), and many others. While they called themselves ‘children of Israel’ the only real claim of the majority of them to the promises was by entering into and being faithful to the covenant. Indeed only those who were truly faithful to the covenant could be the true Israel
Thus the woman is clearly the holy remnant of Israel (Isa 6:13). That this woman can only be the truly faithful in Israel comes out in that she is clothed with the sun. As we have shown this includes reference to the idea behind our Lord’s words about the righteous shining forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Righteousness is equated with the shining forth as the sun. Being clothed with the sun is a similar idea to being clothed in white robes. It only applies to the truly faithful.
So while in the world of the nations the sun, moon and stars were to be worshipped (Jer 8:2; Deu 4:19 ; 2Ki 21:3; 2Ki 23:5), in the history of salvation they represent His faithful people to whom the nations will come in final submission (Isa 60:14).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Israel’s Role in the Tribulation Period – There are three characters described through symbolism in Rev 12:1-6: the woman, the man child, and the dragon. We know from Rev 12:9; Rev 20:2 that the dragon is Satan. However, much debate has come forth as to the identity of the woman and the man child.
Rev 12:9, “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”
Rev 20:2, “And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,”
We read in Psa 74:13-14 about the “heads of leviathan,” which represented Israel’s ancient enemy Egypt, whom God drowned in the Red Sea.
Psa 74:13-14, “Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters. Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.”
We read again in Eze 29:1 to Eze 32:32 how God will judge Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who is called “the great dragon.”
Hilton Sutton believes that the woman represents the nation of Israel, and the man child symbolizes Jesus, who was born from the nation of Israel. [87] The analogy of the sun, moon and stars can be found in Gen 37:9-10 where Joseph dreamed that these images represented his parents and brothers. The fact that these images are associated with the woman (Rev 12:1) suggests that she represents Israel.
[87] Hilton Sutton, Revelation: God’s Grand Finale (Tulsa, Oklahoma, c1984), 138.
Regarding the man child, the fact that he is born to rule all nations, and that he is caught up to God and to His throne (Rev 12:5) can fit no other human being except the Lord Jesus Christ. We read how the dragon waited for the birth of this child in order to devour him (Rev 12:4) describes how Satan waited for thousands of years for the birth of the Messiah in order to destroy Him in his battle to rule this earth.
The season of 1,260 days indicated in Rev 12:6 and Rev 12:14 refers to a time period within the seven-year Tribulation Period. Perhaps during the beginning of this seven years God will divine protect His people Israel (Rev 12:6; Rev 12:14), since the Church will be raptured at the beginning of the Tribulation, and there is no longer a believer upon the earth to stand in the gap and intercede for Israel. Thus, God Himself will make a special provision to protect her. In Num 33:1-56 we read a list of the many places that the children of Israel encamped, forty-two locations are listed to be exact. Michael Wilcox draws an analogy between the forty-two months that God hides the woman in the wilderness (Rev 12:1-17) and the forty-two encampments of Israel in the wilderness (Wilcox, Revelation, The Bible Speaks Today, 118).
It seems that at this time a great battle takes place in heaven, in which Michael and his angels win a spiritual battle and cast Satan down to earth, and out of the heavenly realm in which he has had access since the beginning of creation (Rev 12:7-9). There will be great rejoicing in Heaven at this time of Satan’s defeat (Rev 12:10-12). But this is not good news for the inhabitants of the earth; for now Satan is furious and determined to destroy any remnant of God’s people off of the face of the earth (Rev 12:13-17). There will be a remnant of Jews who do embrace the Messiah and serve Him faithfully during this period of time (Rev 12:17).
Rev 12:1 “and upon her head a crown of twelve stars” – Comments – The best explanation of what a crown represents that I have heard comes from Marietta Davis’ book Caught Up Into Heaven, which says, “Their crowns represented the starry heavens, being miniature expressions of the wreathed universes that encircle the throne of the Infinite One. [88]
[88] Marietta Davis, Caught Up Into Heaven (New Kensington, Pennsylvania: Whitaker House, 1982), 126.
Rev 12:2 Comments – We find a mention of the sun, moon and eleven stars in Gen 37:9-10.
Gen 37:9-10, “And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me. And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?”
If the woman symbolizes the nation of Israel, then it makes sense to understand the sun and moon as a representation of the patriarch and matriarch who gave birth to the nation of Israel, and the twelve stars represent the twelve sons and the twelve tribes who came forth from these twelve sons.
One of the more intriguing theories in recent years as to the origin of the star of Bethlehem and the interpretation of Rev 12:1-5 comes from a lawyer named Frederick A. Larson. His research using computer generated astronomy software provides an accurate map of the alignment of the stars during the time of Christ, reveals strong evidence as to the identification of this famous star. He extracts nine characteristics of the star from the biblical text, then eliminates the possibilities of the star being a meteor, comet, or nova based upon this evidence. [89] He explains how the kingly planet Jupiter fulfilled all of these conditions in 3 and 2 B.C. In September of 3 B.C. Jupiter made a close “conjunction” to the star “Regulus,” so that they appeared as one shining object, an event that happens every twelve years. Jupiter then dropped back from Regulus in a phenomenon called “retrograde motion.” The conjuction and retrograde of Jupiter and Regulus took place three times, so that Jupiter appeared to “crown” the star Regulus thrice. In addition, this rare event took place within the constellation Leo the Lion, signifying the tribe of Judah. At this was taking place, the constellation Virgo, which follows Leo, would rise with the sun with the moon following. Larson believes this combination of events fits the vision of Rev 12:1-5 in which the sign in heaven was a woman clothed with the sun. The constellation of the dragon would follow Virgo in the sky. The time of the full moon could be described as being at her feet. In nine months, June of 2 B.C., the planet Jupiter would travel through the starry sky and cross paths with Venus to form a very bright light. If the Magi had made their way to Jerusalem, then turned south to make the five-mile trip to Bethlehem, they would have seen this conjunction of planets as a bright light over this Messianic city in the early hours of the morning. Such astronomical activity may have gone unnoticed by King Herod until it was pointed out to him. Had the star of Bethlehem been a comet or supernova, everyone would have been familiar with these lights in the sky; thus, Herod had to ask the Magi about this star. Regarding the description of the star stopping over Bethlehem, Larson explains that Jupiter would enter another retrograde motion on 25 December of 2 B.C., so that it appears to have stopped in the eyes of the Magi. Such a combination of astronomical events would meet the descriptions of the Star of Bethlehem. [90]
[89] The nine characteristics are “(1) It signified birth. (2) It signified kingship. (3) It had a connection with the Jewish nation. (4) It rose in the east, like other stars. (5) It appeared at a precise time. (6) Herod didn’t know when it appeared. (7) It endured over time. (8) It was ahead of the Magi as they went south from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. (9) It stopped over Bethlehem.” See Frederick A. Larson, “The Star of Bethlehem,” [on-line]; accessed 6 January 2010; available from http://www.bethlehemstar.net; Internet.
[90] Frederick A. Larson, “The Star of Bethlehem,” [on-line]; accessed 6 January 2010; available from http://www.bethlehemstar.net; Internet.
devour her child as soon as it was born.
Rev 12:4
Rev 12:5 Comments – There is little doubt that the man child is Jesus Christ. For no other human has ever been caught up to be seated at God’s throne.
Rev 12:9 Comments – Note that this war in heaven (Rev 12:7) was fought after earth was created in the book of Genesis.
Rev 12:10 “for the accuser of our brethren is cast down” – Comments – Rev 12:10 tells us that Satan, the accuser of the brethren, spends day and night accusing Christians of their faults. We find in Rom 8:33-34 a description of how Jesus Christ stands at the right hand of the Father to intercede for those whom Satan has accused.
Rom 8:33-34, “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.”
Paul also warned Timothy about the adversary’s opportunities to speak reproachfully against those with sin in the lives.
1Ti 5:14, “I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.”
This tells us that when we sin, we must be quick to confess our sins so that Jesus Christ is given the authority to intercede in our behalf to the Father. We also have the story in Job 1-2 of how Satan stood before God and accused Job of being unrighteous in his heart. The Lord said, “and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause.” (Job 2:3) Thus, we see that Satan’s accusations have the potential to move God against us. Job cried out for a redeemer to plead for his innocence, but there was none (Job 9:33).
Job 9:33, “Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both.”
Rev 12:10 Comments – We read in Rev 12:10 how the Heavens rejoice because Satan, the accuser of the brethren, referring to the Church, has been cast out of Heaven. We know that during the Church age Satan is in heaven accusing the brethren. Thus, it makes sense to understand that Satan will be cast out of Heaven at the time of the Rapture of the Church, or during the middle of the seven-year Tribulation Period.
Rev 12:11 “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb” – Word Study on “overcame” The Greek word “overcome” ( ) (G3528) is used seventeen times in the book of Revelation. Seven of those occurrences are found in John’s epistles to the seven churches of Asia Minor in which the Lord Jesus Christ exhorts these believers to overcome.
Word Study on “by” In Rev 12:11 the Greek preposition is used with the accusative, and is translated “because of” ( NASB), and “by” ( NIV, RSV, KJV).
Jesus said God purchased His Church with His own blood:
Act 20:28, “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood .”
Rom 3:25, “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood , to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;”
Heb 2:17, “Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people .”
Scripture References – Note:
Rom 5:9, “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.”
Eph 1:7, “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;”
Eph 2:13, “But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.”
Col 1:14, “In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:”
Col 1:20, “And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.”
Heb 9:12, “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.”
Heb 9:22, “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.”
Heb 13:12, “Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.”
Heb 13:20, “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,”
1Pe 1:2, “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.”
1Pe 1:19, “But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:”
1Jn 1:7, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
Rev 1:5, “And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,”
Rev 5:9, “And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;”
Rev 12:11 “and they loved not their lives unto the death” BDAG says that the Greek preposition is used in Rev 12:11 with the genitive of manner, “faithful unto death” (see 1c). A person chooses to be faithful unto Jesus to the point of dying for Him.
NIV, “so much as to shrink from death.”
RSV, “even unto death.”
NASB, “even when faced with death.”
Scripture References – Note:
Luk 14:26, “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.”
2Co 1:8-9, “For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life : But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:”
Rev 12:11 Comments We see in Rev 12:11 the means by which believers are to be overcomers, which is by the blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony and by not loving their lives even if it cost them their death. John the apostle will use this Greek word again in 1Jn 5:4 by emphasizing that it is our faith in Christ Jesus that enables us to be overcomers.
1Jn 5:4, “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.”
Scripture References – Note similar verses:
Rom 8:32, “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?”
Rom 8:37, “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.”
2Ti 2:12, “If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:”
Rev 12:14 “And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle” Comments – We find a reference to eagle’s wings in Dan 7:4.
Dan 7:4, “The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man’s heart was given to it.”
In this Old Testament passage of Daniel some scholars suggest that the lion represents Great Britain and the plucked eagle’s wings represent the United States of America. If this is the case, it becomes logical to suggest that these wings of the eagle in Rev 12:14 also represent the United States. We see in these last days how this is the only nation on earth that is standing by Israel’s side to rescue it from many anti-Semitic nations. Hilton Sutton accepts this interpretation of the eagle’s wings. [91]
[91] Hilton Sutton, Revelation: God’s Grand Finale (Tulsa, Oklahoma, c1984), 148.
Rev 12:17 Comments – This rage that will be poured out upon the children of God in the last days will be created by Satan himself. The church has been given a way to overcome, as just stated in Rev 12:11.
Rev 12:11, “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Battle of Michael with the Dragon.
The woman clothed with the sun:
v. 1. And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars;
v. 2. and she, being with child, cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.
v. 3. And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and, behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
v. 4. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven and did cast them to the earth; and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered for to devour her child as soon as it was born.
v. 5. And she brought forth a man-child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up unto God and to His throne.
v. 6. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. In spite of the awe which this picture and the entire vision arouses in our hearts, it contains a message of great comfort and cheer: And a great sign was seen in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon beneath her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; and being pregnant, she cried in the pains of birth and was in torment to give birth. This woman symbolizes the Daughter of Zion, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, Isa 54:5-6. She is clothed with the sun; for to her the Sun of Righteousness has appeared, thus giving to her the brightness of the true day in Christ Jesus. The moon, the queen of night, is under her feet, for she has overcome all change and conquered all darkness. She has a crown of twelve stars, for the doctrine of the apostles and prophets is her greatest ornament, her precious jewels. It is the function of the Church always, till the end of time, to bring forth spiritual children, Isa 54:1-17; Pa. 45:17; Gal 4:26-27; Psa 110:3. These children are indeed brought forth with travail; to bring them to faith and to keep them in faith is a work which God alone can perform through the Gospel, and the operations of His Spirit conflict with all the natural desires of man.
In glaring contrast with this picture is that of the dragon: And there was seen another sign in heaven; and, behold, a huge red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems, and his tail dragged the third part of the stars of heaven, and threw them to the earth; and the dragon stood before the woman that was about to give birth, that, when she had born, he might devour the child. The dragon, as often in Scriptures, represents Satan, the old evil serpent, Eze 29:3; Isa 27:1; Isa 51:9, here with particular reference to the work which he does through his chief tool and instrument, the Church of Anti-Christ. There he shows all his craft and power, and his seven heads and ten horns, kings and rulers and heretical teachers in the Church, stand him in good stead, aid him in his design to destroy Christ and all His Christians utterly. For with every new believer Christ is born, Gal 4:19, and therefore the devil intends to devour, to annihilate, Christ in His Church by turning the Christians away from Him, by corrupting the Church.
The dragon’s fierceness is now indicated: And she gave birth to a man-child, who was intended to rule all the nations with an iron rod; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne; and the woman fled into the wilderness, where a place has been prepared for her by God, that they should nourish her there twelve hundred and sixty days. The believers, born in Christ and with Christ, through the Word, through Baptism, would indeed be in great danger from Satan and his henchmen, were it not for the fact that, with Christ and in Christ, their souls are even now safe at the throne of God, in the hands of the Lord. The devil may indeed destroy our body and take our life, but he cannot rob us of our eternal salvation. The desert, or wilderness, into which the Church was obliged to flee is practically identical with this whole earth; for it has happened time and again that the confessors of Christ were forced to conceal themselves in the most secret and unlikely places in order that the enemies of the Gospel might not find them. But in spite of all such tribulation, which was especially great during the rule of Anti-Christ, the Church was nourished. Even as the Lord reserved for Himself, at the time of Elijah, seven thousand that had not bowed their knees to Baal, so He protects His Church, the poor small crew, in the midst of the most trying vicissitudes of temptation and persecution. That is glorious comfort for all Christians.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
This chapter commences another series of revelations. Again St. John returns to the beginning, and traces the spiritual history of the Church and the Christian in their warfare with Satan. But the visions which now follow are somewhat different in character from those already related, inasmuch as the conflict is now described rather as between the powers of heaven and hell than between the individual Christian and his oppressors. As with the other visions, so here, the recital seems calculated to support the suffering Christian in his trials, since the overthrow of the powers of darkness is foretold; and the whole series culminates in an account of the final abasement of the devil, and the exaltation of the Church and the bliss of heaven.
The following analysis will help to make clear the relation of the several parts of the vision.
I. THE ORIGIN OF THE ENMITY BETWEEN CHRIST AND THE WORLD. (Rev 12:7-13.)
II. THE PROGRESS OF THE WARFARE.
1. The assaults of the devil.
(1) The dragon’s direct attacks on Christ (Rev 12:1-7 and Rev 12:13-17).
(2) On the Church by means of the wild beast (Rev 13:1-10).
(3) On the Church by means of the two-horned beast (Rev 13:11-18).
2. The overthrow and punishment of the devil. (Rev 20:1-10.)
(1) The fate of the dragon (Rev 14:7).
(2) The fate of the wild beast (Babylon) (Rev 14:8; Rev 17:1-18.; 18.; Rev 19:19, et seq.).
(3) The fate of the two-horned beast (Rev 14:9; Rev 19:19, et seq.).
3. The victory of the faithful. (Rev 14:13; Rev 19:1-10; Rev 21:1-27.; 22.)
Rev 12:1
And there appeared a great wonder; and a great sign was seen (Revised Version). This sign consists of the whole of the appearances, the account of which is contained in this verse and the following one. The vision is thus plainly declared to be figurative (cf. the use of the corresponding verb in Rev 1:1). In heaven. Though the scene of the vision opens in heaven, it is immediately afterwards transferred to the earth. It is doubtful whether any particular signification is to be attached to the expression, though Wordsworth notes concerning the Church, “For her origin is from above; hers is the kingdom of heaven.” And Bengel, “The woman, the Church, though on earth, is nevertheless, by virtue of her union with Christ, in heaven.” A woman. The woman is undoubtedly the Church of God; not necessarily limited to the Christian Church, but the whole company of all who acknowledge God, including the heavenly beings in existence before the creation, as well as creation itself. The figure is found both in the Old Testament and in the New. Thus Isa 54:5, Isa 54:6, “For thy Maker is thine Husband … For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved” (cf. also Joh 3:29; 2Co 11:2; Eph 5:25-32). Clothed with the sun. The whole description is intended to portray the glory and beauty of the Church. Most of the ancient commentators give particular interpretations of the symbols employed. Thus the sun is believed to represent Christ, the Sun of Righteousness. Primasius quotes Gal 3:27, “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” And the moon under her feet. This is interpreted as showing the permanent nature of the Church; she treads underfoot the moon, the symbol of changing times and seasons. It is thought that a reference is thus intended to the futility of the endeavours made to subvert the Church (cf. Son 6:10). Others variously interpret the moon of
(1) the Mosaic Law;
(2) the irreligion of the world;
(3) the Mohammedan power.
But the figure is probably intended simply to enhance the beauty of the vision, and to portray the exceeding glory of the Church. We may also imagine the symbol to denote stability of existence in the midst of change of outward appearance, as the moon is ever existent and ever reappearing, though obscured for a time. And upon her head a crown of twelve stars. This image immediately suggests a reference to the twelve apostles of the Christian Church, and the twelve tribes of the Jewish Church. Wordsworth observes, “Twelve is the apostolic number, and stars are emblems of Christian teachers.” In like manner the Jews were accustomed to speak of the minor prophets as “the twelve.” The crown is the crown of victorythe idea of which is prominent throughout the vision.
Rev 12:2
And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. The present, “crieth,” , is found in , A, P, Coptic, Andreas in a et bav., etc.; the imperfect, , is read in C, Vulgate, 7, 8, 31, etc., Andreas in c et p, Primasius; the aorist, , in B, twelve cursives (cf. the words of our Lord in Joh 16:21, Joh 16:22). A similar image occurs in Isa 26:17; Isa 66:7, Isa 66:8; Mic 4:10. The trouble which afflicted the Jewish Church, and the longing of the patriarchs for the advent of the Saviour, are here depicted. So also St. Paul, encouraging the Romans to bear patiently their sufferings, says, “The whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now” (Rom 8:22).
Rev 12:3
And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and there was seen another sign in heaven (Revised Version). (See on Rev 12:1.) The appearance seen is not a representation of the devil as he actually is, but the signthe dragonis figurative and descriptive of the particular characteristics now about to be exhibited. In heavenmost likely merely in the space above, where he could be easily seen. Wordsworth, however, says, “Because the power here represented assails the Church, the kingdom of heaven.” And behold a great red dragon. His identity is established by Rev 12:9, where he is called “the great dragon, the old serpent, the devil, Satan, the deceiver.” Red; no doubt to enhance his terrible appearance; suggestive of his murderous, destructive character. “Dragon” (,) in the New Testament occurs only in this book. In the Old Testament the word is of frequent occurrence. In the LXX. is used seventeen times to express the Hebrew tannin (a sea or land monster, especially a crocodile or serpent); five times it stands for leviathan; twice it represents kephir (young lion); twice nachash (serpent); once attud (he-goat); and once pethen (python). Tannin (singular) is always rendered by except in Gen 1:21, where we find ; but twice it is corrupted into tannim (viz. Eze 29:3; Eze 32:2). The latter word, tannim, is the plural of tan (a jackal), and is found only in the plural; but once it is found corrupted into tannin (Lam 4:3). There is no doubt as to the signification of the appearance. The dragon, is, in the Old Testament, invariably a symbol of what is harmful, tyrannous, murderous. It is a hideous, sanguinary monster, sometimes inhabiting the sea, sometimes the desolate places of the earth, always “seeking whom it may devour.” In some passages it refers to Pharaoh (Psa 74:13; cf. Eze 29:3; Eze 32:2); in others it is a type of what is noxious or desolate (Job 7:12; Isa 13:22; Isa 34:13; Psa 44:19; Jer 9:11, etc.). In Isa 27:1 we have the combination, “leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; the dragon that is in the sea.” Having seven heads and ten horns. The description of the beasts in Revelation 12-17, is evidently derived from the vision of Daniel (7.), although the details differ. It seems reasonable to conclude, therefore, that the interpretation generally should follow the same lines as that applied to the Old Testament symbols, with which the writer was so familiar. The appearances described in Daniel are universally considered to typify various worldly powers which oppressed the Church and nation of the Jews. Similarly here the symbolism seems intended to portray the opposition of the devil to the Church of God, working through the power of the world. The heads and horns are both declared in Rev 17:10, Rev 17:12 to typify kingdomsin what way we shall presently see (Rev 17:10). The numbers seven and ten are both symbolical of completeness (see Rev 1:4; Rev 5:1; Rev 13:1; Rev 17:3). We have, therefore, in this picture of the dragon, the idea of the full and complete power of the world arrayed on earth against God and his Church. This power, connected with and derived from the devil, the prince of this world (Joh 12:31), is often alluded to by St. John as being opposed to, or in contrast with, the godly (see Joh 7:7; Joh 14:17; Joh 15:1-27.; 16.; 17.; 1Jn 2:15; 1Jn 3:13; 1Jn 5:4, etc.). And seven crowns upon his heads; seven diadems (Revised Version). That is, the kingly crown, the symbol of sovereignty, worn by the dragon to denote his power as “prince of this world.” The word is found in the New Testament only here and Rev 13:1 and Rev 19:12. It is not the , the crown of victory worn by the saints (see Rev 2:10; Rev 3:11; Rev 6:2, etc.). No account is given of the disposition and arrangement of the heads, horns, and diadems; nor is it necessary. The seven crowned heads signify universal sovereignty; the ten horns, absolute power. Probably those to whom St. John wrote understood the symbol as referring specially to the power of heathen Rome, which was at that time oppressing the Church; but the meaning extends to the power of the world in all ages (see on Rev 13:1).
Rev 12:4
And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth; draweth (Revised Version). Not the stars with which the woman is crowned (see Rev 12:1), but other stars. In describing the vast power of the devil, St. John seems to allude to the tremendous result of his rebellious conduct in heaven, in effecting the fall of other angels with himself (Jud Joh 1:6). The seer does not here interrupt his narrative to explain the point, but returns to it after verse 6, and there describes briefly the origin and cause of the enmity of the devil towards God. The third part (as in Rev 8:7, et seq.) signifies a considerable number, but not the larger part. And the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born; which was about to be delivered, that when she was delivered, he might devour her child (Revised Version). A graphic picture of what is true of Christ himself of the Church, both Jewish and Christian, and of every individual member of the Church. This is another example of the personal history of Christ being repeated in the history of his Church. The devil, in the person of Herod, attempts to prevent the salvation of the world; through Pharaoh he endeavours to crush the chosen people of God, through whom the Messiah was to bless all the earth; by means of the power of Rome he labours to exterminate the infant Church of Christ.
Rev 12:5
And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron; a son, a malethe Greek , , renders it emphaticwho is to rule, as in the Revised Version; to rule, or to govern as a shepherd (cf. the verb in Mat 2:6). This reference and Psa 2:9 leave no doubt as to the identification of the man child. It is Christ who is intended. The same expression is used of him in Rev 19:1-21., where he is definitely called the “Word of God.” And her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. The sentence seems plainly to refer to the ascension of Christ and his subsequent abiding in heaven, from whence he rules all nations. The seer, perhaps, wishes to indicate at once the absolute immunity of Christ from any harm proceeding from the power of the devil, whose efforts are henceforth directly aimed only at the Church of Christ. Satan still hopes to injure Christ through his members. As remarked above (see on Rev 19:4), what is true of the personal history of Christ is often true of his Church and of his true members. And thus some have seen in this passage a picture of the woman, the Church, bringing forth members, to devour whom is Satan’s constant purpose, but who in God’s good time are taken to his throne to be near himself.
Rev 12:6
And the woman fled into the wilderness. As with Christ, so with his Church. His great trial took place in the wilderness; so the trial of the Church occurs in the wilderness, by which figure the world is typified. It is generally pointed out that this verse is here inserted in anticipation of Rev 12:14. We prefer rather to look upon it as occurring in its natural place, the narrative being interrupted by Rev 12:7-13 in order to account for the implacable hostility of the devil. Where she hath a place prepared of God. , A, B, P, and others insert as well as , “where she there hath,” etc.a redundancy which is an ordinary Hebraism. Though the Church is “in the world,” she is not “of the world” (Joh 17:14, Joh 17:15); though the woman is in the “wilderness,” her place is “prepared of God.” The harlot’s abode (Rev 17:1-18.) is in the wilderness, and it is also of the wilderness; it is not in a place specially prepared of God. That they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and three score days. The sense is the same as in Rev 12:14, “that she should be sustained there.” The interpretation of the 1260 days, or 3.5 years, coincides here with that adopted in Rev 11:2. It describes the period of this world’s existence, during the whole of which the devil persecutes the Church of God. As Auberlen points out, this is, in Rev 13:5, declared to be “the period of the power of the beast, that is, the world power.” (For a discussion of the whole subject of this period, see on Rev 11:2.)
Rev 12:7, Rev 12:8
And there was war in heaven. The passage Rev 12:7-13 is an interruption of the narrative of the persecution of the woman by Satan. It is caused, apparently, by a desire to account in some degree for the relentless hostility of the devil towards God and his Church. Two explanations of the passage may be referred to.
(1) Rev 12:7-13 relate to the period anterior to the Creation, concerning which we have a slight hint in Jud 1:6. This, on the whole, seems to agree best with the general sense of the chapter, and to present fewest difficulties. Thus:
(a) It accounts for the insertion of the passage (see above).
(b) The war is directly between the devil and Michael, not between the devil and Christ, as at the Incarnation and Resurrection.
(c) Jud 1:8 and Jud 1:9 seem to require a more literal interpretation than that which makes them refer to the effects of Christ’s resurrection.
(d) It was not at the period of the Incarnation that the scene of Satan’s opposition was transferred to the earth, as described in Jud 1:12.
(e) The song of the heavenly voice may be intended to end with the word Christ (Jud 1:10), and the following passages may be the words of the writer of the Apocalypse, and may refer to the earthly martyrs (see on Jud 1:10).
(f) This attempt of the devil in heaven may be alluded to in Joh 1:5, “The darkness overcame it not” (see also Joh 12:35).
(2) The passage may refer to the incarnation and resurrection of Christ, and the victory then won over the devil. This interpretation renders the whole passage much more figurative.
(a) Michael is the type of mankind, which in the Person of Jesus Christ vanquishes the devil.
(b) Subsequent to the Resurrection Satan is no more allowed to accuse men before God in heaven, as he has done previously (see Job 1:1-22.; 2; Zec 3:1; 1Ki 22:19-22); he is thus the accuser cast down (Joh 1:10), and his place is no more found in heaven (Joh 1:8).
(c) The earth and sea represent the worldly and tumultuous nations. Perhaps the strongest argument in favour of the second view is found in Luk 10:18 and Joh 12:31. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; Michael and his angels [going forth] to war with the dragon (Revised Version). Alford explains the infinitive phrase as compounded of the genitive and depending upon . Michael () signifies, “Who is like to God?” We may compare this with the cry of the worldly in Rev 13:4, “Who is like unto the beast?” In Daniel, Michael is the prince who stands up for the people of Israel (Dan 12:1-13. l; Dan 10:13, Dan 10:21). Michael, “the archangel,” is alluded to in Jud Dan 1:9 as the great opposer of Satan. St. John, perhaps borrowing the name from Daniel, puts forward Michael as the chief of those who remained faithful to the cause of God in the rebellion of Satan and his angels. The angels of the dragon are the stars of verse 4, which he drew with him to the earth, and possibly the reference to this event in verse 4 gives rise to the account in verses 7-13. Some commentators interpret the war here described as that between the Church and the world. Michael is thus made to be symbolical of Christ, and some have no difficulty in indicating a particular man (such as Licinius) as the antitype of the dragon. And the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. The Greek is stronger, not even their place, etc. is read in , A, B, C, Andreas, Arethas; is found in P, 1, 17, and others. So complete was the defeat of Satan that he was no longer permitted to remain in heaven in any capacity.
Rev 12:9
And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world; cast down (Revised Version); the whole inhabited earth. “The dragon:” so called, because he is the destroyer (see on Rev 12:3). “The ancient serpent,” as he was revealed in Gen 3:1-24. So in Joh 8:44 he is “the destroyer from the beginning.” “The devil” () is the Greek rendering of the Hebrew Satan, , “the accuser, the adversary;” reference is made in Joh 8:10 to the signification of the name, “The Deceiver.” Wordsworth says, “The deceits by which Satan cheated the world in oracles, sorcery, soothsaying, magic, and other frauds, are here specially noticed. These were put to flight by the power of Christ and of the Holy Ghost, in the preaching of the gospel by the apostles and others in the first ages of Christianity. Our Lord himself, speaking of the consequence of the preaching of the seventy disciples, reveals the spiritual struggle and the victory: ‘I was beholding Satan as lightning fall from heaven’ (Luk 10:17, Luk 10:18).” He was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him; cast down to the earth, etc. (Revised Version). “To the earth” in a twofold sense:
(1) the phrase is a description of the loss of dignity and power on the part of Satan, in being cast to earth as opposed to heaven;
(2) earth is the scene of his future operations, where he may still in some degree sustain the struggle against God.
Rev 12:10
And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven. The “great voice” is characteristic of all the heavenly utterances (cf. Rev 5:2; Rev 6:1, Rev 6:10; Rev 16:17, etc.). The personality of the speaker is not indicated. From the following chorus the voice would seem to proceed from many inhabitants of heaven. Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ; the salvation and the power, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ (Revised Version). The Revised Version marginal reading may also be noticed, Now is the salvation become our God’s, and the authority [is become] his Christ’s. The heavenly inhabitants celebrate the triumphant confirmation of God’s supremacy, which has been vindicated by the defeat and expulsion of the rebellious hosts. “The salvation of God” () is that which proceeds from him; “that salvation which belongs to God as its Author” (Alford); cf. Rev 7:10; Rev 19:1. “The authority of his Christ” is first manifested in heaven; Satan is cast down to the earth, and here again at a subsequent epoch the authority of Christ is displayed, and another victory won over the devil. This seems to be the conclusion of the heavenly song. As before stated (see on Rev 19:7), the three and a half verses now concluded seem to relate to a period previous to the creation of the world. It seems equally probable that the following two and a half verses refer to those earthly martyrs and suffering Christians for whom this book is specially written. These two views can be reconciled by supposing the song of the heavenly voice to cease at the word “Christ” (Rev 19:10); and then the writer adds words of his own, as if he would say, “The cause of the victorious song which I have just recited was the fact that the devil was cast down, the same who is constantly accusing ( ) our brethren. But they (our brethren) overcame him, and valued not their lives, etc. Well may ye heavens rejoice over your happy lot, though it means woe to the earth for a short time.” For the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. The one accusing them ( ); not the past tense. Satan does not cease to accuse, though he may not do so with effect, since he may be overcome by the “blood of the Lamb.” The heavenly beings are henceforth beyond his reach. He can yet accuse menour brethrensays St. John; but even here his power is limited by the victory of the death and resurrection of Christ referred to in verse 5. “Accuser” () is found in , B, C, P, Andreas, Arethas. The form , found in A, is rather the Targumic and rabbinic corruption of the word , than the Greek word itself. “Of our brethren,” the saints and martyrs (see above); “is cast down” (or, “was cast down”) from heaven.
Rev 12:11
And they overcame him (cf. the frequent references to those who overcome, and the promises made to them, Rev 2:1-29.; 3.; Rev 21:7, etc.). The reference “they” is to “our brethren,” the accused ones of Rev 12:10. By the blood of the Lamb; because of the blood, etc. (Revised Version). That is, “the blood of the Lamb” is the ground or reason of their victory, not the instrument. So in Rev 1:9, “1 John was in the island called Patmos, because of the Word of God ( )” (cf. Rev 6:9). Winer agrees with this view of the present passage, against Ewald and De Wette. “The Lamb,” who was seen “as it had been slain” (Rev 5:6)Christ. And by the word of their testimony; and on account of the word, etc. The one phrase is the natural complement of the other. “The blood of the Lamb” would have been shed in vain without the testimony, the outcome of the faith of his followers; that testimony would have been impossible without the shedding of the blood. And they loved not their lives unto the death; their life even unto death. That is, they valued not their life in this world, even to the extent of meeting death for the sake of giving their testimony. There is no article in the Greek, merely ; so also in the same phrase in Act 22:4. The article of the Authorized Version in Act 22:4 is probably derived from Wickliffe’s Bible; that in the present passage, from Tyndale’s.
Rev 12:12
Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them; O heavens (Revised Version). , “that dwell,” is read in , 26, 29, 30, 31, 98, Andreas, Vulgate, Primasius, Memphitie, Armenian. The Revisers have followed the common reading of , “tabernacled,” which is found in the majority of manuscripts. Alford observes, “There is no sense of transitoriness in St. John’s use of , rather one of repose and tranquillity (cf. Rev 7:15).” is found in C. So in Rev 13:6 the abiding place of God is called his tabernacle. These are the words of the writer (see on Rev 13:10). The cause for this rejoicing has been given in Rev 13:9; the devil having been cast out, those in heaven enjoy absolute immunity from all harm which he can work. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! Woe for the earth and for the sea! (Revised Version). A few cursives give , “to the dwellers.” The influence of the devil works woe to the whole worldto the human inhabitants, to the animal and vegetable life of the earth which was cursed for man’s sake (cf. Gen 3:17). For the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time; or, came down (aorist). “A short season” () in which to exist in the world. His wrath, kindled by his ejectment from heaven, is the greater because of the comparative shortness of his reign on earth. This “short season” is the period of the world’s existence from the advent of Satan till the final judgment. It is short in comparison with eternity, and it is frequently thus described in the New Testament (Rom 9:28; 1Co 7:29; Rev 3:11, etc.). It is the “little time” of Rev 6:11; the “little season” of Rev 20:3, during which Satan must be loosed. Here ends the digression descriptive of the struggle in heaven before the creation of the world, and the following verses take up and continue the narrative which was interrupted after Rev 20:6.
Rev 12:13
And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. (For an explanation of the characters here alluded to, see on the previous verses.) The devil, defeated in his attempts against God in heaven, and foiled in his attack upon the man childChrist Jesus (see Rev 12:5), now directs his efforts against the womanthe Church. The interpretation must not be confined to one peculiar form of evil which assails the Church, but must include allthe bodily persecutions with which those to whom St. John wrote were afflicted, the heresies which arose in the Church, the lukewarnmess of her members (Rev 3:16), and all others.
Rev 12:14
And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle. “The two wings of the great eagle” is found in most authorities, though omits both the articles. The symbol of the eagle is a common one in the Old Testament, and this may account for the presence of the article. The escape of the Jewish Church from the power of Pharaoh, and her preservation in the wilderness, are referred to under a like figure (see Exo 19:4; Deu 32:11, “Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself”). The natural enmity between the eagle and the serpent is alluded to by Wordsworth (Wordsworth, in loc., where see a full exposition of the symbolism here employed). “The two wings” may typify the Old and New Testaments, by the authority of which the Church convicts her adversaries, and by which she is supported during her period of conflict with the devil. That she might fly into the wilderness, into her place. The reference to the flight of Israel from Egypt is still carried on. “Her place” is the “place prepared of God” (Rev 12:6). The Church, though in the world, is not of the world (see on Rev 12:6). Where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. Still the history of Israel is borne in mind. As the chosen people were nourished in the wilderness, so the Church of God is sustained in her pilgrimage on earth. The redundant , “where there,” follows the analogy of the Hebrew (see on Rev 12:6). “The time, times, and half a time,” is the period elsewhere described as 42 months, 1260 days, 3.5 years. It denotes the period of the existence of this world (see on Rev 11:2). The expression is taken from Dan 7:25; Dan 12:7. By this verse and Dan 12:6 is established the identity of the two expressions1260 days, and the time, times, and half a time (i.e. one year + two years + half a year). The plural is used for “two times,” as no dual occurs in the Greek of the New Testament. The construction, “nourished from the face” ( ), is built upon the analogy of the Hebrew. The “serpent” is the “dragon” of Dan 12:13 (cf. Dan 12:9, “the great dragon, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan”). The two words are used as convertible terms (cf. verse 17, where he is again called “the dragon”).
Rev 12:15
And the serpent cast out of his month water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood; cast out of his mouth after the woman water as a river carried away by the river. A flood, in the Old Testament, has several significations. It frequently expresses overwhelming misfortune. Thus Psa 69:15, “Let not the waterflood overflow me;” Psa 90:5, “Thou carriest them away as with a flood” (cf. also Dan 9:26; Dan 11:22; Isa 59:19; Jer 46:7; Amo 9:5, etc.). The flood is typical of every form of destruction with which the devil seeks to overwhelm the Church of God. At the period of the writing of the Apocalypse, it plainly symbolized the bitter persecutions to which Christians were subjected; but its meaning need not be limited to this one form of destruction. Thus all those writers are correct, so far as they go, who interpret the flood of the Mohammedan power, of heresy, of the Gothic invasion, etc.
Rev 12:16
And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth; swallowed up the river (Revised Version). “The earth” frequently, but not invariably, in the Revelation signifies “the wicked.” It is doubtful, therefore, how far the figure here employed should be pressed. What is certain is that the writer intends to express the idea that the Church is preserved in a wonderful and even miraculous way from the efforts of the devil. Further than this we cannot proceed safely. Possibly we may see in the passage an allusion to the world embracing Christianity, by which the instrument of Satan’s ill will became a defence to the Church; though an earlier period and earlier deliverances seem more likely to be intended (such as the conversion of St. Paul); for after endeavouring to destroy the woman at one stroke, the dragon proceeds to war with her seed. The words recall another incident in the history of the Israelitish flight from Egypt and sojourn in the wilderness, viz. that of the destruction of Korah and his company; though, of course, the nature of the incidents is not the same in both cases.
Rev 12:17
And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed; waxed wroth went away to make, etc. (Revised Version). Having failed to prevent the mission of’ the man childChrist Jesusand having been foiled in his attempts to overwhelm the Church of God, Satan proceeds to attack the individual members of the Churchthe seed of the woman. The method by which he endeavours to do this is related in the following chapters. Wordsworth points out an analogy between the means which Satan employs to destroy the Church as described here, and those described in the seals. The “rest of her seed” (Revised Version) signifies all the children of the woman, excluding the man child of Rev 12:5. All members of the Church of God are thus referred to, those who are brethren of Christ (cf. Heb 2:11, “For which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren”). Which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ (nearly all manuscripts omit “Christ”); hold the testimony (Revised Version). This plainly points out who are the “rest of the seed”they are those who are God’s faithful servants. We may see in the description a reference to the Church of God, both Jewish and Christian. The members of the Jewish Church were they to whom “the commandments of God” were specially revealed, and Christians are they who specially “hold the testimony of Jesus.” (For an explanation of the latter phrase, see on Rev 1:2.)
We have now reached another stage in the history of the warfare carried on by the devil against God. Rev 12:7-12 of this chapter describe the origin of the hostility of Satan towards God; Rev 12:4 and Rev 12:5 relate the attempts of the devil to destroy Christ and to thwart his mission; Rev 12:13-16 refer to the attacks of Satan upon the Church of God, by which he hoped to destroy it as a whole, before there was time for the “seed” to spring up. Having failed in every attempt, the dragon now sends other agents by whom he hopes to destroy the individual members of the Churchthe other seed of the womanthe brethren of Christ.
HOMILETICS
Rev 12:1-17
The foes of God and of his Church.
“That old serpent.” In previous chapters of this book there have been hints of sundry evil forces which would at divers times harass the Church of God. Who they would be, or what, or how they would work, has not yet been shown to us. This is done, however, in chapters which we have yet to consider. Of them there are several. Of each one we have a representation in the form of allegory or parable. In this chapter the first of them is shown us. We can be in no doubt as to who it is that is intended; nor is there any very great difficulty about the main features of the sketch, however obscure some of the minor details may be. The enemy is the devil. The object of his rage is the faithful Church, represented under the symbol of “a woman, clothed with the sun,” etc. When we find, too, that this woman brought forth a man child, who is sought to be devoured as soon as born; who is, in spite of all, caught up to God and to his throne, from which seat of power he is to rule the nations as with a rod of iron;we have very distinctive marks pointing unmistakably to our Lord. The enemy, failing to devour him, persecutes the woman, and lulling in his designs against her, he goes on to war with the remnant of her seed. But, as the chapter shows, in every instance the evil one rushes on only to his own defeat. So that this chapter contains a parable of glorious meaning, as it sets forth the working of Satan against the Church of God. His present work is to make war against those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. Why should he select these as the objects of his attack? Why? Because others are doing his work for him! He disturbs himself only about his disturbers. He has little need to look after others. Let us, then, try, in the light of this chapter, to look our foe full in the face, and to find out what he is, what he can do, and what he cannot. Our subject, then, isour foe, as sketched by a Divine hand.
I. OUR FOE IS A PERSONAL ONE. (Rev 12:9.) It would be of little avail to say that the personality of the evil one cannot be decided from such a chapter as this; for the allusions to Satan elsewhere are so numerous and so varied that they shut us up to the conviction of his personality; i.e. that he is a distinct being, with a will, plan, and pro-pose of his own, moving in “the heavenly places,” i.e. in the realm of spirit. We often find the personal pronouns used concerning him (Joh 8:44). The names and epithets applied to him indicate the same. The name “the devil” means “the slanderer.” He is represented in Scripture as slandering God before men, and as slandering men before God. The apostle speaks of him as “going about seeking whom he may devour.” Nor can there be a doubt that we are taught by our Lord and his apostles that to Satan’s pernicious agency much of the evil in the world must be traced. Let us remember our Lord’s conflict with him.
II. HE IS AN OLD ONE. “The devil sinneth from the beginning” (1Jn 3:8; Joh 8:44). He first sinned in heaven, and was cast out from thence ere he came to deceive the whole world. Then he tempted Adam in Eden. He came into conflict with our Lord. He hindered apostles in their work (1Th 2:18). He has been counterplotting the sowings of the Son of man for eighteen hundred years (Mat 13:39). And he is at work still. We well know, indeed, that there is one difficulty which often presses upon thoughtful minds. It is this: Can it be that God should let one being have such tremendous power for evil? Now, although the devil’s power is not so great as stone people seem to think it to be, we confess that it would be a very great relief to us if we felt warranted in saying, No. But there are three remarks which have to be set over against this question.
1. Whatever evil is in the world is here, whether there be a devil or no. And if evil is only a spontaneous product of man himself, then human nature is much worse than the Bible declares it to be.
2. But if we grant that some of it comes from outside, it is then merely a question whether the outside evil is led on by one single force, or by an indefinite number of agents, organized or unorganized.
3. If we accept the doctrine of the unity of leadership in the forces of ill outside earth, the difficulty is merely one of degree, not of kind; e.g. if one pope can by his will move his organized forces at any part of the world, why may not a like power be, for aught we know, outside the limits of this globe?
III. HE IS A DARING ONE. The flashes of light which we get on this point in Scripture are many. Michael and his angels. Our Lord. Peter. Judas. In heaven. In Eden. In the desert. At the last Supper. In Gethsemane. He carefully selects those on whom he will try his temptations. The greater the object, the fiercer the onset. If a man stands up for Jesus, Satan will desire to have him, that he may sift him as wheat. It is a far greater thing to bring an eagle to the ground than a sparrow. It is a vaster achievement to batter a fortress than a hut. And the greater our influence, and the higher our standing in the Church, the more fiercely will the evil one assail us.
IV. HIS ATTEMPTS ARE OFTEN FAILURES. (Rev 12:8, “The dragon warred and his angels, and they prevailed not.”) It is a relief to find that it is so; and that the evil one’s most daring attempts have been the signal for most humiliating failures. The supreme illustration of this is his onset upon our Lord in the desert (Mat 4:1-11). From heaven he was cast out, and even on this earth he is an outcast still (Rev 12:9-11). His power in far off realms is at an end. His pride was his condemnation. He was overpowered by a Greater, when Jesus died. “Now is the prince of this world cast out” (Joh 12:31). And already, in prospect of his complete, utter, and final defeat, is the heavenly song begun, “Now is come the salvation,” etc. (Rev 12:10, Rev 12:11). It is no wonder that we go on to read that
V. HE IS AN ANGRY FOE. (Rev 12:12, “He has great wrath, knowing that he hath but a short time.”) In what way this has been revealed to the evil one, we do not know; but we shall do both ourselves and Scripture a wrong if we refuse to let this thought bring us its appropriate inspiration and comfort. Truly it is good to know that the end of his power is foreseen.
VI. HE IS A MALICIOUS ONE. (Rev 12:13.) If defeated in one scheme, he tries another. It cast out of heaven, he will plague the earth. “He worries whom he can’t devour.” And as he prevailed not against the Lord of the Church, he persecutes the Church of the Lord. He has long been engaged in plotting schemes against the people of God, desiring to have them, that he may sift them as wheat.
VII. HE IS A WATCHFUL AND CRAFTY ONE (Rev 12:4, Rev 12:13, Rev 12:15), varying his methods according to the case in hand. “We are not ignorant of his devices” (2Co 2:11). We have to contend against “the wiles of the devil” (Eph 6:11). He is active, too, in executing his plans. The whole of this chapter is one lengthened sketch, in symbol, of the manifold forms of his activity. And perhaps we are hardly prepared to see how varied are his methods of work, until we collect the several hints scattered throughout the Word of God. In the world at large he counterplots the sowing of the Son of man (Mat 13:38,. 39); he deceives by powers, and signs, and lying wonders (2Th 2:9, 2Th 2:10); in a city like Pergamos he sets up his throne (Rev 2:12, Rev 2:13); he collects his followers in a synagogue of his own (Rev 2:9); he preys on the body, inflicting dumbness on one (Mar 9:17), and binding another for eighteen years (Luk 13:16); he casts some of the saints into prison (Rev 2:10), and hinders apostles in their work (1Th 2:18); he inflicts on Paul a thorn in the flesh (2Co 12:7, 2Co 12:8), and goes about in search of prey (1Pe 5:8), in a constant state of unrest (Mat 12:43); he lays snares for the ungodly (2Ti 2:26); causes many to turn aside after him (1Ti 5:15); he puts it into the heart of Judas to betray his Master (Joh 13:2), and leads Ananias and Sapphira to lie to the Holy Ghost (Act 5:3); if men are just coming to Jesus, he throws them down and tears them (Luk 9:42); and while the Word is being heard, he stealthily takes it out of the heart, lest they should believe and be saved (Luk 8:12). So terrible is the tale of his deceit that we are ready to give up heart, till we note
VIII. HE IS A CIRCUMSCRIBED FOE. This chapter tells us of three limits put to him and to his power.
1. One, of space. He is cast down to earth. He is “the god of this world” (2Co 4:4).
2. A second, of time. “A time, and times, and half a time.” The same mysterious period of twelve hundred and sixty days, during which the witness bearing is to go on, and the beast (Rev 13:1-18.) is to continue.
3. There is yet a third limit, that of force (Rev 12:16, “The earth helped the woman,” etc.). Nothing can be plainer than that in this chapter we are shown the cheering fact that the evil one cannot have it all his own way. If his work counterplots the good, none the less surely does the good counteract him. He is mighty; but there is a Stronger than he. We are taught in Scripture that there are five ways by which his power is restricted and his intention foiled.
(1) There is providential dispensation (Rev 12:6, Rev 12:14, Rev 12:16; 1Co 10:13).
(2) There is angelic ministry (Rev 12:7).
(3) There is the direct exertion of Christ’s commanding word (Mat 17:18).
(4) There is the counteracting power of Divine grace (2Co 12:9).
(5) There is the intercession of our Redeemer (Luk 22:31, Luk 22:32).
IX. HE IS A FOE WITH WHOSE DEVICES WE HAVE TO RECKON IN FIGHTING THE BATTLE OF LIFE. (Rev 12:17.) Note:
1. He is one at whom we cannot afford to laugh, and whose existence we cannot afford to deny. Nothing gives the enemy such leverage as the denial of his existence. It is the very lie he loves to put into our mouths. The only “father,” surely, who loves his children to disown his existence.
2. He is a foe before whom we need not quail. While we may not laugh in careless indifference, we need not cower in fear. Life is not so easy as if there were no devil to fight; it is not so hard but that we may ensure his defeat.
3. He is a foe to whom not an inch of room should be given (Eph 4:27). Let us ever be wary lest he get advantage over us; and let us swear eternal enmity to him and all his works.
4. He is a foe for whose onsets we should prepare, by a survey and appropriation of heavenly forces. We stand between two opposing agenciesthe Spirit of God on one side, and the devil on the other. Let us not grieve the Spirit by toying with the devil.
5. He is a foe on whose ultimate defeat and complete discomfiture we may surely and confidently reckon if we look to Jesus. “Greater is he that is for us,” etc. Our Lord hath overcome him for us, and in his strength we shall overcome too. And we shall be better and stronger Christians for having had such a foe to fight. Not only is it the battle that tries the soldier, but that makes him. We have, however, not just one skirmish, and then peace. Oh no! “Patient continuance in well doing.” Daily fighting, daily praying, daily victory, till the end.
“The land of triumph lies on high;
There are no foes t’ encounter there!”
HOMILIES BY S. CONWAY
Rev 12:6
The Church in the wilderness.
This Rev 12:6 is repeated in Rev 12:14, as if calling special attention to the facts which it declares. But it cannot be understood, nor its lessons learnt, until sundry questions are asked and answered.
1. Who is the woman told of? She is the same as we read of in Rev 12:1, where she appears, not in distress, humiliation, and fear, fleeing with all speed from her dreaded foe, as is the case in this Rev 12:6; but in all august splendour, with radiant vestments and starry crown, with the moon as her footstool, and the glory of the sun shining upon her. But who is she? “The blessed Virgin Mary,” answers the whole Catholic world without a moment’s hesitation; and in innumerable paintings and sculptures, sermons and songs, they have so set her forth as she is represented here. And that there is no reference to the nativity and incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ in this chapter, he would be a bold man who would affirm; but that the mother of our Lord is mainly, and, much more, exclusively meant, we cannot think. What is further said concerning her is impossible as applied to the virgin mother. But, without question, Mary, “the handmaid of the Lord,” was a true and beautiful type of that queenly woman who is portrayed in the opening verses of this chapter. And that woman is none other than the Church of God, she of whom it was so often said, “Thy Maker is thy Husband;” “Behold, I am married unto thee.” And in this very book how often we read of” the Bride, the Lamb’s wife”! Of that faithful Church of God under the ancient dispensation, Christ, according to the flesh, came. “Born of a woman, made under the Law.”
2. What is meant by the “travail” of the woman at the hour of her child’s birth? The sweet story of Christmas is indeed pointed at here; but much more than that. Are we not reminded of those words of Isaiah, “As soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth children;” and of St. Paul’s words to the Galatians, “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you”? And so did the ancient Church, with much spiritual travail, in earnest trust and fervent prayer, in patient hope, “waiting for the consolation of Israel,” give birth to the Christian Church, of which Christ himself was the Head and Type and Lord. And then:
3. Who is, or what is, the great red dragonthat portentous monster whose hideous portrait and purpose are here revealed? Who is that who is as Pharaoh, watching for the birth of Israel’s babes, in the far off evil days of their bondage in Egypt, that he might destroy them; or as Herod, inquiring diligently concerning the birth of the holy Child Jesus, that he might murderously rid himself of the possible rival “King of the Jews,”who is meant here? And surely not Herod, nor, exclusively, Nero or Rome, but the prince of this world, Satan, the old serpent, the devilhe and none otheris the “great red dragon.” “Red, as the colour of fire and as the colour of blood. Red, as the emblem of the waster and destroyer, as the emblem of him who ‘was a murderer from the beginning.'” The dragon is that fabulous monster of whom ancient poets told as “huge in size, coiled like a snake, blood red in colour, or shot with changing tints,” insatiable in voracity and ever athirst for human blood. In Psa 91:1-16. it is linked with “the lion and adder, and the young lion”all which, together with the dragon, God’s servant should “trample underfoot.” Fit emblem, therefore, for that cruel, bloodthirsty, and persecuting power with which Christ’s Church has so often had to contend. Its variety of assault is told of by the “seven heads;” its huge strength, by the “ten horns;” its exalted authority amidst men, by the “seven diadems;” and its arrogant and audacious dominance, by “the tail which drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and cast them down to the earth.” Such is the Church’s adversary, the devil, who, in St. John’s day, assumed a form which justified this horrid portraiture, but who, in whatever form he may assume, from whichever of his “seven heads” his attack may spring, is ever, in spirit, purpose, and aim, one and the same, always and everywhere. We need not linger on the next question:
4. Who is the child that was born? That the Lord Jesus Christ is meant is, we think, incontestable; but as it is not of his life and ministry that this vision mainly tells, but of that Church in which and for which he was born, his sojourn and sufferings here are passed over. Only his entrance into and departure from this world are spoken of, and we are bidden contemplate him not here, but at the right hand of God, whither he ascended after his work on earth was done. But “the woman,” and not her child, lingers here, exposed to the cruel assaults of her dread foe until the twelve hundred and sixty days, the period of time which we find so perpetually mentioned in this book, and which equals the three years and a half, the half of the complete number seven, and therefore type of a period not complete, but brief and broken,until this time be done, the womanthe Churchmust remain in the wilderness to which she has fled, or, rather, has been borne of God (verse 14), and where she is sheltered from the power of her dread foe, and nourished by the ministers of God. It now only remains to ask:
5. What is this wilderness which is spoken of here? And the reply is that it is a type of the condition of the Church until the twelve hundred and sixty days, the time allotted for the Church’s trial, be accomplished. And concerning that condition we would now speakof its privations and perils, but, most of all, of its privileges.
I. ITS PRIVATIONS. No doubt there are these; the very name of “wilderness” indicates that there would be. We cannot have the good things of the world”the flesh pots of Egypt”and the good things of Christ too. We have to make choice between them. Making the best of both worlds is generally, if not always, a very doubtful procedure, though not a few professed Christians are forever attempting it. “How hardly shall they that have riches”the specially good thing of this world”enter into the kingdom of heaven!” So said our Saviour, and all experience confirms his word. For such things are but hindrances and impedimenta, that do but render our way through the wilderness yet more difficult, where it was difficult enough before. It is told of a great cardinal how, when in his last illness, he had himself wheeled into his sumptuous picture gallery, and as he wistfully looked at one art treasure after another, he said to a friend who was with him, “Ah, these are the things that make it hard to die!” No doubt it is so; and hence we are bidden go by the way of the wilderness, so that we may escape the besetments that would otherwise delay our progress. Nor may we look for rest here. The pilgrim may never here say to his soul, “Soul, take thine ease.” Here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come. There were Elims and other “quiet resting places” where, once and again, Israel was permitted to relieve the stress and strain of their long pilgrimage; but the common characteristics of their life was that of pilgrims, and their forty years’ sojourn in the wilderness are spoken of, not as rest, but as their “wanderings.” And, indeed, the providence of God is ever busy to prevent his people from settling down here as if it were their rest. Hence the disquiet and trouble, the “black care” which enters every abodethe palatial as well as the poorest; the loss and bereavement, all that which the Bible calls the “stirring up the nest,”all is for the purpose of reminding us that this is not our rest, and to induce usso slow, generally, to be inducedto seek the better country, even the heavenly one. Oh that men would remember this, and reckon on all these things as the necessary, indispensable, and salutary, if severe, conditions of our present lot! They would then be far less hard to bear, and would more readily fulfil their mission, and serve as a spur to urge us forward in the heavenly road. And there are also
II. PERILS BELONGING TO THIS PILGRIMAGE. One we have now glanced atthe persistent temptation to make the wilderness a home; to so bring the world into the Church, as that the Church itself should become a world; so to mingle the worldly with the religious life, that the latter should partake more of the former than the former of the latter. This is no imaginary peril, but one actual and visible, and yielded to in cases not a few. And another is the failure of faith. Ah, what trouble came to Israel of old from this one fatal fountain! Their miserable record of sinning and repenting, which went on almost from the day they left Egypt till the day they entered Canaan, caused that all that time should be branded with the reproachful name of “the day of provocation in the wilderness.” And it was all owing to their persistent unbelief. And the like peril exists still. Without doubt the difficulties of unbelief are greater than those of faith; but these latter are so great and pressing, oftentimes, that faith well nigh suffers shipwreck. It is easy, comparatively, for the comfortable and well to do, in whose even tenor of life little occurs to raffle or disturb, much less distressit is easy for such to say fine things about faith, and to censure and condemn those for not believing whose whole life is one long trial of faith; but let those who thus condemn be themselves likewise tried, and then it is probable that their condemnations will gradually change into comprehension, and that into sympathy with, and that into actual sharing of their brothers’ unbelief. Yes, this is a real peril of our wilderness condition, and it is one which, if we do not conquer, it will conquer us. It is this which gives force to another perilthe temptation to go back to Egypt, to return to the world which we have avowedly forsaken. Israel was on the point of doing this, and often looked longingly back to the lives they had left. And some yield to it. How many are there who apostatizeleave the Church of Christ, and become, to all intents and purposes, what they were before they entered it, if not worse! Such are some of the perils of the wilderness, from all which may God in his great mercy deliver us! But
III. THE PRIVILEGES and blessings of the wilderness condition are far more than either its privations or perils. Look back to that ancient record which tells of God’s favour to Israel when they were in the wilderness, for the types of the like favour which he shows towards his people now.
1. Think of their security. The free air of the wilderness played upon them instead of the stifling heat of the valley of the Nile. They were on the high mountain plateau of Sinai, wandering over its grassy Alps, on which their flocks and herds freely fed, and over which the mountain breezes played. And they had seen their enemies dead on the seashore; they had no longer any fear of them. Their bondage was over, and they were free. And if we be the Lord’s redeemed people, and have trusted in Christ our Passover, who was sacrificed for us, if we be of that blood besprinkled band, then we, too, are free. The guilt of sin, the tyranny and torture of sin, torment us no more. Ours is “the glorious liberty of the children of God,” and we stand fast in “that liberty wherewith Christ has made his people free.”
2. Unfailing sustenance, too, was theirs, and is ours. He fed them with angels’ food; he gave them bread from heaven to eat. The manna fell morning by morning, and they all drank of the water from the smitten rock, which, for its perpetual, flee, full flowing streams, was so fit a type of Christ, that St. Paul says of it, “which rock was Christ.” The antitype of all this in the spiritual sustenancethe bread of life, the water of life, the communion of his body and blood, and the manifold means of graceare manifest, and his people know them, and rejoice in them day by day.
3. Guidance, too, was theirs. The pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night,”so it was always.” And he guides us by his counsel. His Word is “a lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our path.” By the promptings of his Holy Spirit, by the indication of his providence, he causes us to “know the way wherein we should walk,” and makes “plain our path before our feet.” None who seek that miss it; for those who “commit” their “way unto the Lord,” he does “bring it to pass.”
4. Instruction, moreover, was given Israel. God gave them his holy Law. To them were committed “the oracles of God.” And so likewise to us, in his Word, the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make us “wise unto salvation.”
5. Nor must we forget that great privilegethe presence of God with them. God “tabernacled amongst them.” In that sacred tent, hovering over the ark of the covenant, rested the cloud of glory, the visible sign of him who “dwelt between the cherubim.” St. John teaches us that this was the type of the yet more blessed fact, the incarnation of him who was “made flesh and tabernacled amongst us,” and who now, by his Spirit, is with us evermore. In our hallowed moments of communion do we not know that he is with us? Cannot we see his face, hear his voice, feel the touch of his hand, behold the radiance of his countenance? It is so, and we know it.
6. Finally, they had a bright, sure, and ever-nearing hope of the rest God had promised them. Every day brought them “a day’s march nearer home.” More surely is this true of us than it was of Israel. For they were made, for their unbelief, to turn back and go over the way again, which can hardly be said of us. And ours is no earthly Canaan, but the heavenly rest, the “inheritance of the saints in light.”
CONCLUSION. Shall, then, the privations or perils of the wilderness make us think lightly of these wondrous privileges; much less shall they make us abandon them? Ah no! Gladly will we bear all that now may pain or distress, comfortedas surely we ought to beby the presence, the promise, and the power of God.S. C.
Rev 12:11
The holy war.
“They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb,” etc. Without attempting to identify “Michael and his angels,” or “the dragon and his angels,” or the “heaven” where no longer “place” was “found any more” for them; nor attempting to explain exactly what is meant by the dragon being “cast out into the earth,” or how he “accused” the “brethren… before our God day and night” — what all this means none know; but we may take the text as telling of that holy war which all Christians have to wage, and of the weapons whereby they overcome. Note
I. THE PEOPLE WHO OVERCAME. Those spoken of:
1. Stand for the whole Church of God, the whole company of the redeemed. “There is no discharge in this war.” Not one will be in glory by and by who has not waged, who has not won, this holy war. We, as they, must take our part. And:
2. They did as we must. We paint fancy pictures of the saints in glory, as if they were beings different from ourselves, and had never known the strain and stress of life as we know them. But they did know it all. Christ, our Lord, was “in all things made like unto his brethren,” and therefore all of them have the common characteristics of this warfare upon them. Only:
3. The lot of those specially referred to here was harder than ours. Had St. John lived in our days of quiet ease, when persecution, much less death, for Christ’s sake is a thing unknown or most rare, he would hardly have used imagery of so tremendous a kind as he has here. But it was because the trial was so terrible for all those “who would live godly in Christ Jesus,” the foe so fierce and cruel and strong in those dreadful days during which St. John wrote, that imagery so vivid, startling, and terrific is made use of. But it would be affectation if we were to say our lot today is as theirs was in St. John’s day. How much more, then, may God require from us than from them! Will he obtain it?
4. In this holy war they all fought. It was not merely appointed for all, but accepted by all of them. They did not refuse or retreat from it. That was not their way. Like as the brave little drummer-boy, when captured by the French army, was bidden sound the “retreat,” he replied that he did not know how to, for the British army never retreated; so may it be said of every true soldier of Christ’s armythey never retreat.
5. And they overcame. “Oh, remember the slaves of sin are not the children of God. If Satan has dominion over you, you are not in Christ Jesus. Where the ark of the Lord is, Dagon must fall upon his face and be broken. ‘That which is born of God overcometh the world.’ Are we, then, resisting? are we conquering? Do not let us deceive ourselves. If sin is our master, we perish. Grace must reign in us, or we are wretched indeed. Holiness is not a luxury for the few, it is a necessity for all.”
II. THE POWER IN VIRTUE OF WHICH THEY OVERCAME. It is said that this was:
1. By the blood of the Lamb, i.e. in virtue of, on account of, on the ground of, that blood. Now this is so because the blood of the Lamb is:
(1) The basis of our peace. There must be steady standing ground if a man is to fight. The engineer is very careful to have firm foundation for his work. And if we are to contend in this warfare, our souls must be at peace in regard to our acceptance with God. The torture of doubt and the torment of fear will be fatal to our accomplishing aught worthy of the name. We must have peace with God; and we have this only in virtue of Christ’s atoning sacrifice.
(2) The antidote of our sin. Many think the doctrine of full, free forgiveness through the blood of Christ a doctrine that encourages men in sin. They argue that what is so freely forgiven will be freely incurred. The elder son in the parable thought it was scandalous that his young ne’er do well of a brother should be so freely forgiven by his father, and so “he was angry, and would not go in.” And there have ever been people who have thought this. But we appeal to the records of the Church. Who have been the most faithful, the most pure, the most Christ like? Has it not been they who have clung, like Paul did, to this blessed truth with all their hearts? And we appeal to experience. Is it not the memory of our crucified Lord that is mighty to the purification of the heart? Can the recollection of his love and the love of sin abide together? It is impossible. So does the blood of Christ cleanse us from all sin.
(3) Worketh in us patience. How this is needed, in such a warfare as that which the much tried believer has to wage, is evident. Blessed is he that endureth. But what an aid to such patient enduring is found in the example of our Lord! We think of him in all his holy meekness; how “as a sheep before her shearers is dumb,” etc. And as we contemplate that perfect pattern of patient enduring of wrong, how our own trials and sorrows become little, and less and less in comparison with his!
(4) The inspiration of our love. “Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and myself,” said Napoleon, “founded great empires; but upon what did the creations of our genius depend? Upon force. Jesus alone founded his empire upon love, and to this very day millions would die for him.” Thus does the blood of the Lamb become to us a power indeed, in virtue of which we overcome.
2. The word of their testimony. This is joined on to that which we have but now spoken of. For the blood of the Lamb, unseen, unbelieved, unaccepted, will do no one any good, will aid no one to overcome; but it is when that blood is seen, believed, accepted, and confessed by the word of their testimony, the open avowal, the good confessionthen, in virtue of this, the Father confesses them. In response to the word of their testimony goes forth the word of his power, and they become mighty through God. Committing ourselves to any course, breaking down the bridges, burning the ships that would help us to retreatsuch conduct greatly strengthens purpose and resolve. And so, when by spoken word of testimony for Christ we have committed ourselves to follow and serve him, the very fact that we have done this strengthens us and gives us fresh force for his service. Both by way of Divine reward, and by way of natural consequence such word of testimony Would help to overcome.
III. THE PROOF OF THE OVERCOMING. “They loved not their lives unto the death.” They went on resisting, when not only it involved much suffering and distress, but even when it involved death itself. That is the meaning. And what proof of overcoming is there comparable to this? As at Waterloo, when the English forces endured, all that long summer Sunday, the fierce and incessant cannonading of the French, together with their repeated charges, led as they were by the most famous of the marshals of France, what did such endurance show but that they were not to be conquered? And so the resistance told of in Christ’s holy warthe loving “not our lives unto,” etc.this shows that we are not to be conquered, but will conquer, will overcome. If we see a man swerve, and edge back, and shift his ground, and retreat, that is not a proof of victory, but vanquishment. But he who is steadfast, immovable, even though death threaten, neither sin nor Satan will ever conquer him. Are we giving this proof of our really belonging to the number of the overcoming ones? When the adversary assails us, as we know he does, do we or does he gain the victorywhich? Let us not think that there is any other proof of our being victors at last beside this one of our being, in the main, victors now. It will not do to rely on anything else, however specious, however plausible, however popular. It is in the overcoming now that we have the evidence that we shall be victors at the end. And that we may now overcome, let us draw near unto our crucified Lord, and come under the influence of his unspeakable love. And confess him. So shall our text then become true of us, as God grant it may be of us all!S. C.
Rev 12:12
Satan’s rage so great because his time so short.
“The devil is come down unto you, having great wrath,” etc. The text
I. ASSUMES THE EXISTENCE OF SATAN. Many question the reality of any such being, but:
1. We may askWhy should it not be?
(1) We ascribe all effects to given causes. Instinctively we do this. A child hears a noise, and at once looks round to find out the cause.
(2) And we see many evil effects, sad, dreadful ones, and we are therefore led to look for their cause.
(3) The same argument that tells against the existence of the evil one tells equally against the existence of One who is the All good, that is, God. If there be no prince of evil, there is no “Author and Giver of all good.” If it be said our own nature is sufficient to account for all the evil we find, then it may be said our own nature is sufficient to account for all the good we find.
(4) It is not sufficient to say that evil is the mere absence of gooda negative, not a positive quality. That only pushes the question further back, and leads us to askWhy should the absence of one quality cause such wretchedness in those surroundings which it has left? If the earth had not been made incapable of light apart from the sun, there would be no darkness. Darkness, therefore, and evil also, require a cause, are a distinct creation.
2. The Bible affirms such existence. Take but one instance out of the many affirmations of this truth. Our Lord taught us to pray, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” He had just come away from fearful conflict with that evil one, and therefore bids us thus pray. If our Lord’s words, and those of his apostles, do not teach the personality and real existence of Satan, then no language could be devised that would teach it
3. And it is good newsa gospel. For evil being summed up in a person, in one head, destroy that, as it shall be destroyed, and evil ceases to be (cf. story of the Roman emperor, who wished that all Rome had but one neck, that he might destroy it at a blow; in a very real sense it is thus with the kingdom of evil). Satan broke as a wolf into the foldhe has no rightful inherent place thereinand he can be driven forth, or destroyed by the good Shepherd, and will be.
II. TEACHES US THAT THE POWER OF SATAN IS LIMITED. It would be dreadful to think otherwise. In dark moments men are tempted so to think. Pessimism so thinks. And it may be askedWhy should not evil be eternal as well as good? The whole doctrine of evolution is against it. We see perpetually the lower forms of life giving place to the higher, the less good to the better. It is thus in all departments of life. The fittest survives. The unfit disappears. Therefore we believe in the limit taught by the text. The whole Bible asserts it. To teach it is almost the Bible’s raison, d’etre. And whilst on the most reasonable hypothesisthat our life here is but a school, an educationwe can explain, at least to a large extent, the presence of evil in its varied forms, notwithstanding, and even because, infinite wisdom and power and goodness are at the head of all things; but if the devil be head of all, then there is no accounting for the much and manifold good that we know exists and increases day by day. Believing, therefore, that beneficence reigns, evil must have an end.
III. EXPLAINS THE VIRULENCE OF EVIL EXISTENT AMONGST MEN. It says it is because Satan is in “great wrath, knowing that,” etc. Such representation is in keeping with the malignant character which the Bible ever attributes to, and which must belong to Satan. See in the Gospel narratives, when commanded to go forth from those he had taken possession of, with what violence he maltreats them, throwing them down, tearing them, casting them into convulsions, etc. It is that which Satan would and does do. And in Christian experience there is the counterpart of this (cf. Bunyan’s ‘Pilgrim’s Progress ‘).
IV. LEADS US TO ASKWHEREFORE ARE WE TOLD ALL THIS? It was and is:
1. To prevent dismay, bewilderment, and despair. One can understand how not a few would be, for many yet are, fastened upon by these foes of faith.
2. To inspire hope and courage, patience and trust. How calculated to render us this high service these teachings are!
3. That we may tell them to others. Many yet are sitting in the land of darkness and the shadow of death, not knowing that he hath come who shall destroy “death, and him that hath the power of death, that is, the devil.” “Go, preach my gospel, saith the Lord.”
4. To set us on our guard, and to make us more heedful of the commands of Christ, the Captain of our salvation, in whom abiding, neither death nor hell can work us harm.S.C.
HOMILIES BY R. GREEN
Rev 12:1-6
Signs.
It has been wisely said, “The Revelation of St. John gives no regularly progressive disclosure of the future, advancing in unbroken series from beginning to end; but it falls into a number of groups, which, indeed, supplement each other, every successive vision giving some other aspect of the future, but which are still formally complete in themselves, each proceeding from a beginning to an end.” We have but just heard the accents of the shout of final triumph. Now we are thrown back again to scenes of strife, and conflictthe prevailing condition until the end cometh. This section is preparative. The agents in the great strife are set before us in symbolical form”signs.” The things signified it behoves us to seek to know.
I. THE FIRST IS THE SIGN OF “A WOMAN ARRAYED WITH THE SUN, AND THE MOON UNDER HER FEET, AND UPON HER HEAD A CROWN OF TWELVE STARS.” In this we are to see a symbolical representation of the Zion of Godthe Church; not the Christian in contradiction to the Jewish; but the true Israel of Godunder the Old and perpetuated in New Testament times. Not an unfamiliar figure of both Old and New Testaments to represent the Church as a woman, whether a bride or a mother (Isa 54:5, Isa 54:6; Rev 21:2, Rev 21:9). Is the sun that glory of God which now lightens the holy city; and the moon the previous, the lesser light which ruled the comparative night before the morning star appeared? The crown of the Church is ever the twelve tribes supplanted by the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
II. THE SECOND SIGN IS THE MAN CHILD BORN OF THE WOMAN. Christ in his human nature, born of that Church which for so long before his coming endured the pangs of travail. From the bosom of the people of God, Christ according to the flesh came. This is he of whom it is declared, “Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron.”
III. THE THIRD SYMBOL OR SIGN IS “A GREAT RED DRAGON, HAVING SEVEN HEADS AND TEN HORNS, AND ON HIS HEADS SEVEN DIADEMS.” The interpretation of this is given explicitly in verse 9. The seven heads may fitly represent the multiplied worldly powers which the evil one brings against Christ and his Church, and in the ten horns may be hidden a reference to that great world power which, in the days of St. John, sought, as the agent of Satan, to destroy the Church of Christ. The whole scene is expressive of the great powers which from the beginning wage war with the Lamb.
IV. A FOURTH SIGN IS FOUND IN THE ATTITUDE OF THE RED DRAGON BEFORE THIS WOMAN, SEEKING TO DESTROY HER CHILD, But the Divine care defends him, and the woman flees into the wilderness”a place prepared,” and that “they may nourish her.”
Let the whole for our instruction resolve itself into a teaching concerning:
1. The habitual antagonism of the great powers of evil to him who is the Church’s Lord and Son. The whole book portrays the strife between the great antagonistic powerslight and darkness, sin and holiness, Christ and Satan”the proper factors of history.” This vision is, for us, one of warning and admonition. We learn the conditions on which we hold life. Our hearts are the battleground, and for dominion over them the two forces contend. Our duty is plain.
2. The Divine care for the Church. The “wilderness” is not a place of danger, but of safety. The city, with its corruption, is the deadly place. True, the wilderness affords not luxury; but luxury is danger. In the wilderness the Church is fed and nourished. God has prepared the conditions of safety for his Church during the times of the great strife which is afterwards to be detailed. Then let the lowly disciple have both faith and hope. The Lord will defend him in the day of battle, and will nourish him unto eternal life.R. G.
Rev 12:7-12
War and triumph.
The heavenly things (“in heaven”) are again represented by a battlea war. There is ever contention on the earth between those forces that are evil and those that are Divine. The history of the human race is the history of an undying strugglea struggle between the heavenly and the earthly elements; the good and the bad; the flesh and the spirit. Here the whole contending forces are leagued under two great captains, “Michael” and “the dragon.” “Michael and his angels going forth to war with the dragon;” and “the dragon warred and his angels.” There is no difficulty in deciphering their names. “Michael” is the angel of the Lord”Who is like God.” It is he who enters “the strong man’s house, and spoils his goods;” he that “brings to nought him that hath the power of death, that is, the devil;” he who “was manifested for this purpose, that he might destroy the works of the devil.” Yea, it is he, the “King of kings and Lord of lords.” And the dragon is expressly affirmed (Rev 12:9) to be “the old serpent, he that is called the Devil and Satan.” This scene is the central scene of the entire book, and represents the ceaseless strife. The issue is not doubtful. For the comfort of the Church, in all ages of her strife, “the great voice in heaven” proclaims “the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ.” The struggle is elsewhere depicted. Here is the simple word of triumph.
1. “They [the dragon and his angels] prevailed not.”
2. They were cast out: “Neither was their place found any more in heaven.”
3. They were utterly routed: “The great dragon was cast down,” “and his angels were cast down with him.”
4. The triumphant reign of the Redeemer follows: “Now is come the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ.” The words of the great chorus rise to our lips, “And he shall reign forever and ever.”
5. The accuser is silenced: “Who is he that condemeth?”
6. The triumph is traced to its true source.
(1) “They overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and
(2) because of the word of their testimony;” and
(3) because of their entire self devotion: “And they loved not their life even unto death.”
7. The consequent heavenly jubilation: “Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and ye that dwell in them.” Truly he is blessed who reads and understands these words. Herein the final triumph of the heavenly over the earthly, the sensual, the devilish, is distinctly depicted and undeniably affirmed.R.G.
Rev 12:13-17
Safety in Satanic persecution.
The anticipated defeata defeat already effected in the Divine counselsexcites the wrath of the dragon, who reads assuredly his own condemnation and subjugation in that “blood of the Lamb” which the hands of his own “cruel and wicked” ones shed. The time of his power is limited; it is “a short time.” Satan will rage his hour, and persecute the woman. Thus we are brought back to the earlier part of the vision, and we behold
I. THE SATANIC PERSECUTION OF THE CHURCH OF GOD. John is speaking out of the depths to the Church in all ages, during which the same virulent spirit shall vent itself. How often has the little flock had to look upon these words, when the ravenous wolf has scattered and devoured and torn! It must needs be that persecutions come. The heavenly spirit meets with so great an opposition in the earthly, that there can be no concord. The great promise made to the demand, “What shall we have therefore?” closes with the dread announcement”with persecutions.” It is ever so; but not only so.
II. THE DIVINE. PROTECTION OF THE PERSECUTED CHURCH. The Lord provides for his own: “Not a hair of your head shall perish.” The safety of the Church is represented by her dwelling and nourishment in the wilderness. The persecuted Church flies unto her place. God has prepared for her a place of safety. She flies with wings he too has given. Ah! he “bears on eagles’ wings” as of old. He has provided a placerather a condition, or stateon earth, for his own. It is one of endurance. It could not be one of luxurious self-indulgence, which the city life would represent. “They loved not their lives.” It is a condition of suffering, of denial, and privation. They take up the cross. The words are so interwoven with our common speech, that the figure is become familiar to us all. But God “nourishes” his people in their wilderness life. He feeds them with mannabread from heaven. He leaves not, neither does he forsake them. The old words come to our thoughts: “They shall dwell safely in the wilderness;” “I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her;” “Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her Beloved?” It is the place of discipline and training and hardship, of testing and putting to the proof. But it is the place of blessing. Through it he leadeth his people like a flock. He goeth before them, and is their Rearwardtheir Defence and Salvation. He will safely and gently lead them even to the land of promise. The wilderness days shall end. There is a limit. It is but for “a time, and times, and half a time.”R.G.
HOMILIES BY D. THOMAS
Rev 12:1-6
Social Christhood and social fiendhood.
“And there appeared a great wonder in heaven,” etc. What strange objects the human imagination can create, or in a passive state receive! What a remarkable dream or vision this is of the apostolic hermit on Patmos! “A woman arrayed with the sun, with the moon beneath her feet, and a crown of twelve stars around her head, brings forth a man child. A huge scarlet dragon with ten horns and seven diademed heads, whose tail sweeps after it the third part of the stars to the earth, stands before her to devour the child the moment it is born, since the child is to rule the nations with a rod of iron. But the child is snatched up to the throne of God, and the woman flies into the wilderness, where she is nourished for twelve hundred and sixty days.” I shall take this strange creature of the imagination as I have taken the other visionsnot to represent things of which we know nothing, but to illustrate some important realities with which we are more or less acquainted. There are two subjects here
(1) social Christhood, and
(2) social fiendhood.
I. SOCIAL CHRISTHOOD. By “social Christhood” I mean the existence of Christ in a human society, or in a community of men. I use this language in preference to the term “Church,” for that term now, alas! seldom represents Christhood, but often the reverse. The expressions in the Episcopal community, “our Church,” and, in the Nonconformist domain, “our Churches,” are, alas! far enough from representing Christ, either in his doctrines, ethics, or spirit. Self-sacrificing love is the essence of Christhood; but where do we find that, either in “our Church” or “our Churches”? Christhood is peace, eternal antipathy to all anger, resentment, ambition, war. But “our Church” gives war a sanction, a licence, a blessing. The word “Church,” therefore, in its conventional sense, I repudiate as a calumny on Christ. Using this vision, therefore, to illustrate social Christhood, two remarks are suggested concerning the society or community in which Christ lives and works.
1. It is glorious. “A woman clothed [arrayed] with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars” (Rev 12:1). It is encircled with the solar beams of Divine truth. Beneath the feet is the world. It treads down all worldliness in its spirit and aims. Around its brow, as a peerless diadem, are twelve stars. The true Church as a community of Christly menChristly in idea, spirit, and pursuitis the most glorious object under the grand heavens. It reveals more of God than all the globes that roll through immensity. It is a glorious Church. The conventional Church is a crawling sycophant; the true Church is a crowned sovereign.
2. It is multiplying. “She being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered” (Rev 12:2). The true Church is not sterile or barren, but otherwise; it is fecundant and multiplying. Three remarks are suggested concerning its offspring:
(1) It is brought forth in pain. “In pain to be delivered.” “All life,” it has been said, “dawns in anguish, according to the fiat (Gen 3:16).” There is an anguish of the Church which Christ laid upon her; it is the law of her life that she must bring forth Christ to the world, but she cannot work deliverance without knowing suffering. Paul speaks of himself as “travailing in birth.” Who knows the anguish of those earnestly engaged in endeavouring to form Christ in men, and to bring him forth? What is genuine, personal religion but Christ in men, working within them to “will and to do his own good pleasure”?
(2) It is brought forth to govern. “And she brought forth a man child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron” (Rev 12:5). Every Christly convert is a ruleris born to rule. Servility and flunkeyism in all its forms are foreign to its instincts and spirit. His instincts and bearing are imperial. All the offspring of the true Church are kings as well as “priests unto God.”
(3) It is destined for Divine fellowship. “And her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne” (Rev 12:5). Whatever might be the trials of the truly Christly, here is the end. Sublime destiny this. “God hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Though the mother had in her trials and persecutions to flee unto the “wilderness,” even there she was secure. “She had a place prepared of God.”
II. SOCIAL FIENDHOOD. Not only is there a society on earth in which Christ is, but there is a society in which the devil is. “And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads,” etc. There is as truly a social fiendhood as there is a social Christhood. The “great red dragon,” the old serpent, the “prince of the power of the air,” works in the children of disobedience everywhere. Two facts are suggested by the highly symbolic and probably uninterpretable description here given of this fiend in human society.
1. His possession of enormous power.
(1) Enormous power of intellect. “Seven heads.” The devil has a larger amount of human intellect at his command than Christ; sevenfold, peradventure, more.
(2) Enormous power of execution. “Ten horns.” Horns are the emblems of force. How mighty is the devil amongst men! He works in all the navies and armies of the world.
(3) Enormous power of empire. “Seven crowns [diadems] upon his heads.” The human world abounds with chiefs and princelets, and kings and queens; but in how many is there Christhood? The “great red dragon” seems to master most, if not all; the “kingdom of Satan” is all but worldwide.
(4) Enormous power of mischief. “And his tail drew [draweth] the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth.” There are stars in the moral firmament of the human soul, stars of social love, of reverent piety, of moral intuition, of spiritual insight, of infinite worship. These stars Satan sweeps away, and leaves us to grope our way in nocturnal gloom. Where are these stars seen in the political management of England today? Truly we are walking in darkness and have no light.
2. His determined antagonism to Christhood. It is said, “The dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.” It is against Christ in his true Church, Christ in his few but multiplying progeny, that this “great red dragon” stood.
CONCLUSION This determined and active antagonism between social Christhood and social fiendhood is a commentary on the old text, “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed.” It explains, moreover, all domestic conflicts, all political battlings, and national wars. Evil and good are at war on this earth. This is the grand campaign, inspiring and explaining all other feuds.D. T.
Rev 12:7-11
The great campaign.
“And there was war in heaven,” etc. There is undoubtedly “war in heaven”in the heaven of our being. War in the soul individually, war in the soul collectively, war within and war without. We “wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers of this world; against wickedness in high places.” The vision brings to our notice the contending armies and the contending issues.
I. THE ARMIES IN THE CONTEST. Who are the armies? “Michael and his angels fought [going forth to war] against the dragon; and the dragon fought [warred] and his angels” (Rev 12:7). Many expositors will tell us all about Michael and the dragon and their angels, but I cannot. I take them as the ever acting representatives of good and evil. Both have their leaders, their Michaels, and their dragons with their respective followers or angels. Christ and his disciples represent the one. He is the “Captain of salvation;” all iris disciples are enlisted as his soldiers, they are inspired with his purpose and fight under his banner. The “dragon,” called the devil and Satan, and his votaries, represent the other. There is not a man who breathes who is not actively engaged in one or other of those armies. The grand question to determine is, “Who is on the Lord’s side?”the side of moral reality, right, and benevolence. “He that is not with me is against me.”
II. THE ISSUES OF THE CONTEST.
1. The one army was utterly discomfited. What became of them? “And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven” (Rev 12:8). The prince of this world is cast out. A Stronger than he has entered the palace, and he is overcome, and “hath taken from him all his armor wherein he trusted, and divided his spoils.”
“Him, the Almighty power
Hurl’d headlong flaming from the ethereal sky,
With hideous ruin and combustion, down
To bottomless perdition; there to dwell
In adamantine chains and penal fire
Who durst defy the Omnipotent to arms.”
(Milton.)
2. The other army was sublimely triumphant. Observe:
(1) The triumphant song. “And I heard a loud [great] voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength [power], and the kingdom of our God” (Rev 12:10). The celestial paean proclaims the deliverance of man, the reign of God, and the adoration of Christ, and portrays in graphic delineation the miserable victim as the “accuser of our brethren before God day and night” (Rev 12:10).
(2) The triumphant weapons. How was the victory won?
(a) By the life of Christ. “The blood of the Lamb.” What meaneth this?
(b) By the Word of truth. “By the word of their testimony” (Rev 12:11). The Divine Word is the all-conquering sword.
(c) By self sacrificing love. “They loved not their lives unto the death” (Rev 12:11). Self sacrificing love is the inspiring spirit in this warfare. “The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly” (Rom 16:20).
CONCLUSION. Evil on this earth, though it is strong, has the multitude and the empire on its side. Although it has lived long, won victories, and is active and vigorous to this hour, it will not live forever. Its doom is sealed, its head is bruised, its limbs are withering, and its death approaches. What Christ himself saw will one day be witnessed by an adoring universe. “I saw Satan fall like lightning,” etc.D.T.
Rev 12:11
Moral conquest won through Christ.
“They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb.” It is trite, but ever solemnly true, to say that life is a combat. Moral antagonists of the soul meet us everywhere in all departments of life, circles of society, spheres of action. Nay, they rise up within us. These can be only overcome by the “blood of the Lamb,” that is, by the self-sacrificing life of Christ.
I. IT IS THROUGH HIS BLOOD (OR LIFE) THAT WE GET OUR ANTAGONISM TO MORAL EVIL ROUSED. Where do we learn the turpitude, the enormity, the ruinousness of sin, as we learn it in the cross? There, indeed, “sin appears exceeding sinful,” When we are enabled to look upon it in the light of that cross, the whole soul rises in determined opposition to it.
II. IT IS THROUGH HIS BLOOD (OR LIFE) THAT WE GET OUR WEAPONS SUPPLIED. What are the weapons with which evil is to be restored?
1. A clear knowledge of the right. It is by right alone that wrong can be put down. His life was the intelligible embodiment, and the all-convincing demonstration of moral right.
2. An inflexible love for the right. Right as an idea is no weapon. But right as a love becomes a triumphant implement in this warfare.
III. IT IS THROUGH HIS BLOOD (OR LIFE) THAT WE GET OUR COURAGE INSPIRED. In this warfare we require a courage unflagging and invinciblea courage impelling us to fight, even to the death. Whence cometh this? Only from Christ. His self-sacrificing spirit is the soul of all true courage.D.T.
Rev 12:12-17
The defeatability of the devil.
“Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea!” etc. This portion of John’s vision illustrates four facts of great importance and of vital interest to all men.
I. THAT MIGHTY AS IS THE MASTER FIEND OF EVIL, HE IS NOT PROOF AGAINST DEFEATS. “Therefore rejoice, ye [O] heavens, and ye that dwell in them” (verse 12).
1. Here is a defeat implied. The efforts of this matchless fiend, however wisely directed and mightily wrought, are evermore exposed to failure. There is nothing permanent in error, there is no stability in wrong. All systems untrue to fact and unrighteous in principle are but houses on the sand of time. The laws of the universe flow in ever-increasing volume against wrong. The devil is truly a defeatable agent; he has no power over those who are prepossessed with goodness. “The prince of this world cometh, and findeth nothing in me.” The command is, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” As light extends and virtue grows, all schemes of wrong, political, social, and religious, crack to pieces and tumble to ruin.
2. Here is a defeat righteously exultable. “Rejoice, ye heavens.” In whatever heaven this defeat is witnessed, whether in the individual soul or in the social circle, it is a reason for rejoicing. In every error corrected, in every prejudice crushed, in every unholy purpose broken, in every impure impulse conquered, there comes to the soul the command, “Rejoice, ye heavens.” It is the joy of the prisoner quitting his cell, of the patient returning to health.
II. THAT GREAT AS HIS DEFEATS MAY BE, THEY DO NOT QUENCH HIS ANIMOSITY. “Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.” Hunted from one arena, he enters another, flaming with indignation, and the more so as he feels that his time for work is shortening. “He hath but a short time.” “When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and finding none.” He is “a roaring lion, going about seeking whom he may devour.” As every defeat enfeebles his power, contracts his reign, and decreases his opportunities, his malign nature becomes more intense in hatred. Like the ravenous beast of the desert, his failure to fasten his tusks in one victim whets his appetite for another. Evil is insatiable.
III. THAT HIS ANIMOSITY IS ESPECIALLY DIRECTED AGAINST THE TRUE CHURCH. “And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child” (verse 13). Let the woman stand as an emblem of the true Church, or Christly men collectively, and we have before us a picture of the mighty fiend tormenting it and its progeny. We read that “the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood [river] after the woman” (verse 15). And again, “The dragon was [waxed] wroth with the woman, and went [away] to make war with the remnant [rest] of her seed” (verse 17). What on this earth doth he hate most and yearn to crush? Not politics, learning, commerce, science, literature, art. None of these as such, but the Christly in men. Wherever the Spirit of Christ is, the spirit of tenderness, humility, self-sacrificing love, this he hates and seeks to destroy. On such he “pours out water as a flood,” that he may “cause them to be carried away of the flood [stream].” Who shall say what he pours forth from his mouth? False accusations, pernicious errors, social persecutions, etc.
IV. THAT THE TRUE CHURCH, EVEN IN TRYING CIRCUMSTANCES, IS UNDER THE SPECIAL PROTECTION OF HEAVEN. “And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent” (verse 14). Notice:
1. The Church is in the wilderness. “That she might fly into the wilderness.” The home of Christly men on this earth has always been more of a wilderness than a Canaanintricate, dangerous, gloomy.
2. Though in the wilderness, it has enormous privileges.
(1) It is endowed with heaven-soaring power. “To the woman were given two wings of a great eagle.” It is endowed with soaring instincts and faculties. Like the eagle, the Church has the power to rise from the earth, penetrate the clouds, and bask in azure. “It can mount up on wings as eagles.”
(2) It has the whole earth to serve it. “And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth,” etc. (verse 16).D.T.
Rev 12:16
Nature serving Christliness.
“The earth helped the woman.” By common consent “the woman” here means redeemed humanity, or the children of God collectively, or, in other words, what is called the Church.
1. Her appearance is wonderful. “Clothed with the sun.”
2. Her progeny is wonderful. “She brought forth a man child.”
3. Her antagonist is wonderful. The devil is the great enemy of redeemed humanity, and the description given of him indicates that he is a being of stupendous force and malice.
4. Her influence is wonderful. Supernatural beings engage in fierce conflict on her account. There was war in heaven. The subject here is Nature serving Christliness. The earthnature”helped the woman”embodied Christianity. Nature helps Christliness in various ways.
I. BY ITS GRAND REVELATIONS. Nature reveals all the grand subjects that constitute the very foundation of Bible discoveries.
1. There is God. All nature proclaims, not only his existence, hut his personality, unity, spirituality, wisdom, goodness, power.
2. There is law. Every part is under the rigorous reign of law. Any infraction of nature’s laws carries penalties.
3. There is mediation. The principle of mediation runs through all nature. One element, one agent, one being, everywhere serving another.
4. There is responsibility. In the human world men are everywhere recognized as responsible, men everywhere feel their responsibility.
5. There is mystery. There is a haze over all nature. Every part has arenas which no intellect can penetrate. The whole universe seems to float on the dark sea of mystery. Now, all these subjects which we find in nature we find also in the Bible. Hence nature comes, also, to illustrate the meaning of the Bible and confirm its truth. It is a grand parable. Hence “the earth helps the woman.”
II. BY ITS MORAL IMPRESSIONS. Nature is suited to make impressions upon the earth corresponding exactly with those which Christianity essays to produce.
1. The sense of dependence. How infinitesimally little man feels beside the great hills, confronting the ocean billow, and under the awful stars! Amidst the majesty of Nature’s appearances he feels himself to be nothing, and tess than nothing. He feels borne along as a straw upon the resistless flood of destiny.
2. Reverence. How great does God appear in nature, in the minute as well as the vast! “An undevout astronomer is mad.” There is a spirit in nature that seems to say to every thoughtful soul, “Take thy shoes from off thy feet,” etc.
3. Contrition. The streams of Divine goodness seem to well up from every blade, flow down on every ray, beat in every wave of air, and are vocal with reproof to guilty man for his ingratitude and disobedience towards his Maker.
4. Worship. In reason’s ear a thousand voices speak to man. “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, sing forth the honour of his Name.” Now, these are just the impressions that the gospel aims to produce; and thus nature serves Christianity by endeavouring to produce the same spiritual results; and in this way, again, “the earth helps the woman.”
III. BY ITS MULTIPLIED INVENTIONS. Men, by studying nature and employing its laws, elements, and forces for their intellectual and temporal uses, have attained those arts which are highly conducive to the advancement of Christianity.
1. There is merchandise. Trade brings the remotest nations together in a common interest. The means for exporting commodities are available for exporting the Word of God.
2. There is the press. The press is an invention of nature, and an invention which is admirably suited to advance Christianity. It has already borne the gospel to the most distant part of the earth.
3. There is painting. The art by which man transfers the forms of nature, and embodies his own conception of beauty on the canvas. By this noble art the scenes and characters of the Bible, and even our blessed Lord himself, are brought with a vivid reality under the notice of men.
4. There is music. The magic art which catches the floating sounds of nature and weaves them into strains of melody that stir the deepest feelings. Never does truth come with such strange majesty to the heart as when it comes floating on the wave of melody.
5. There is government. Government is of the earth, earthy; but it helps Christianity. The Roman government, in the first ages, did it good service, and all civil governments that keep to their true province serve it now.D.T.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Rev 12:1. We come now to a second representation of the same third period of prophesy; that is, a state of the church and world, in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, or while the woman, who fled into her place in the wilderness, was nourished there for a time, and times, and half a time. See Rev 12:6; Rev 12:14. As the former representation, Revelation 11 in which the witnesses were to prophesy, shewed that true religion should be preserved among a few faithful confessors, though in a constant state of severe persecution; so this represents the state of the church, under the figure of a woman persecuted so as to fly into desart places to hide herself, yet preserved and fed there, notwithstanding all the endeavours of a furious serpent, ready to destroy her. This plainly describes an afflicted and persecuted state of the church in general, during this period; in which false and idolatrous worship will greatly prevail, and the faithful profession of the true religion will expose men to great danger. That, however, still the true worshippers of God should be preserved, though in an obscure state, and be enabled, notwithstanding all opposition, to keep and maintain the truth unto the end. Bishop Newton observes, that most of the best commentators divide this book of Revelation into two parts;the book sealed with seven seals, and the little book. But it happens unluckily, that, according to their division, the lesser book is made to contain as much, or more than the larger; whereas, in truth, the little book is nothing more than a part of the sealed book, and is added as a codicil, or appendix to it. We would also (continues the Bishop,) divide the Revelation into two parts, or rather the book so divides itself: for the former part proceeds, as we have seen, in a regular and successive series, from the apostle’s days to the consummation of all things. Nothing can be added, butit must fall somewhere or other within the compass of this period: it must, in some measure, be a resumption of the same subjects; and this latter part may most properly be considered as an enlargement and illustration of the former. Several things which were only touched upon, and delivered in dark hints before, require to be more copiously handled, and placed in a stronger light. It was said, that the beast should make war against the witnesses, and overcome them: who, or what the beast is, we may reasonably conjecture indeed, but the apostle himself will more surely explain. The transactions of the seventh trumpet are all summed up and comprised in a few verses; but we shall see the particulars branched out, and enlarged into as many chapters. In short, this latter part is designed as a supplement to the former; to complete what was deficient, to explain what was dubious, to illustrate what was obscure: and as the former describes more particularly the destinies of the Roman empire, so this latter describes more especially those of the Christian church.
A woman, clothed with the sun, It was a well known custom, at the time of this prophesy, to represent the several virtues, and public societies, by the figure of a woman in some peculiar dress; many of which are to be seen on the Roman coins. In particular, salus, the emblem of security and protection, is represented as a woman, standing upon a globe,to represent the safety and security of the world under the emperor’s care. The consecration of the Roman emperors is expressed on their coins by a moon and stars; to signify, a degree of glory superior to any on earth. Never was any image more expressive of honour and dignity than this in the vision before us. To stand in the midst of a glory, made by the beams of the sun, and upon the moon, as above the low condition of this sublunary world,and to wear a crown set with the stars of heaven, as jewels; is something infinitely more sublime than any thing whereby antiquity has represented its societies, its virtues, or deities. The reader may further observe in this representation, if he please, with Mr. Mede, the church shining round about, by the faith of Christ the Sun of righteousness; treading under foot the rudiments of the world, whether Jewish shadows, or Gentile superstitions; and glorious, with the ensigns of the apostolical offspring. Or, he may consider, with Mr. Waple, that the apostolical doctrine is the chief ornament, crown, and glory of the church. But, however he shall choose one or other of these more particular allusions, this will remain a sure general meaning, That the blessings of true religion, in the revelation of Jesus Christ, as taught by his apostles, that is, of the true Christian faith, deserve the highest esteem and honour, however they may be despised by the world. See on Rev 12:6.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Rev 12:1 sq. . An appearance whereby something is described, and thus revealed to the seer, . [3014] In the most general sense, any appearance beheld by John might be called a ( ); but although such visions as Rev 6:3 sqq., Rev 8:7 to Rev 9:21 , are, therefore, in no way of an allegorical nature, because in themselves they describe things just as the prophet regards them as real (real shedding of blood, Rev 6:3 ; real famine, Rev 6:5 sqq.; real quaking of the earth, and falling of heavenly bodies, and other real plagues), the in this passage (cf. Rev 12:3 ; Rev 15:1 ) has in it something allegorical, since the context in itself manifests this, and marks it by the particular expression , inasmuch as, by the form of the woman that is beheld, it is not the person of an actual woman which is to be represented.
, “great,” i.e., of large appearance, and, accordingly, of important significance. [3015]
. Cf. Rev 11:19 .
. Heaven is the locality where [3016] signs bringing a revelation manifest themselves to the seer. [3017] So, correctly, De Wette and Hengstenb., only that the former [3018] ascribes to John a repeated inconsistency in reference to the standpoint, which is regarded as being, from Rev 11:15 , again in heaven, but afterwards (Rev 11:18 ) is imperceptibly transferred to the earth, while Hengstenb. repeats the error: [3019] “To be in the Spirit, and to be in heaven, is the same,” with which the explanation, “What the seer sees belongs not to sensuous, but supersensuous, spheres,” by no means properly harmonizes. The latter remark is allied to the false interpretation of the , attempted in a twofold way, according to which the . . is understood with reference to the , [3020] or the , Rev 12:3 [3021]
. Whether and in what way the Church is to be understood by the woman, cannot be inferred until the close of the entire vision, [3022] since the particular points of the text condition the meaning of the whole. The emblematic description (
) represents the woman who is just about bearing, Rev 12:2 , in a heavenly brilliancy reminding us of the manifestation of Christ [3023] and of God. [3024]
. Clothed with the sun . The idea resembles that of Psa 104:2 , [3025] only that in this passage the description is more concrete, since it is not light in general, but the more definite and perceptible sun, the heavenly body radiating all light, that appears as the dress of the woman, not “as breastplate, and, accordingly, as an integrant part of the clothing.” [3026] The . . allows a definite allegorical interpretation as little as the two other features of the description, and , only that the definite number twelve of the stars is conditioned [3027] in a similar way by the number of the tribes of Israel; [3028] as in Rev 1:16 ; Rev 1:20 , the number seven of stars by the number of particular churches. The reference to the twelve apostles [3029] is incorrect, because the woman appears at all events as mother of Christ, Rev 12:5 , and accordingly cannot admit of emblems whose meaning presupposes not only the birth, but also the entire life and work, of the church. For the same reason, the allegorical interpretations of the , as referring to Christ himself as “the sun of righteousness,” [3030] and the as referring to “the teachers who borrow their light from Christ,” [3031] or to “the light of the law and prophets far inferior to the light of Christ,” [3032] are to be rejected. Hengstenb. regards the sun and moon as emblems of the uncreated and the created light, which has in itself as little foundation as it stands in harmony with the (correct) reference of the twelve stars to the tribes of Israel; this applies against Beng., who understands by the sun the Christian empire and government, and by the moon the Mohammedan power whose insignia is the crescent. The allegorical interpretation also of the moon, which is “under the feet of the woman,” attempted with various modification, [3033] show their arbitrariness already by the fact that, in one way or another, they disturb the symmetrical relation to the other features of the description, which, as a whole, has only the intention of displaying the holy and glorious nature of the woman from her heavenly form, whereby the individual features of the poetic description are as eminently beautiful as they are naturally striking. For the form of the woman itself appears clothed with the sun , and in the clearest radiancy; she stands also on a body of light, the moon; while a crown of stars and that twelve encircle her head also with a peculiar brilliancy.
The woman is with child ( ), and, besides, as the further description immediately afterwards says more explicitly, just about to be delivered (cf. Rev 12:4 sq.): “She cried travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered” ( , . . .). [3034] [See Note LXVIII., p. 357.]
[3014] Cf. Rev 1:1 .
[3015] Cf. Rev 15:1 ; Rev 15:3 ; Mat 24:24 ; Act 6:8 ; Act 8:13 ; Joh 1:51 ; Joh 5:20 ; Joh 14:12 .
[3016] Cf. Rev 4:1 .
[3017] Cf. Rev 5:1 sqq., Rev 6:1 sqq., Rev 8:1 sqq., Rev 9:1 sqq., Rev 10:1 , Rev 11:15 sqq.
[3018] Cf. Rev 10:1 .
[3019] Cf. Rev 4:1 sqq.
[3020] Calov.: “What is signified by the things which John saw in heavenly majesty is fulfilled in the ecclesiastical heaven.” Cf. Vitr., Beng., Auberlen, p. 282.
[3021] Eichh.: “In the air, or, as commonly said, the extreme region of the air; for that same place is to be assigned by the poet to the woman, as was believed to be that of the demons, good and bad, whom he wanted to produce upon the scene.” Cf. Grot.: “In the centre, between heaven and earth. In the matter signified, this means that heavenly and earthly causes mutually concur.”
[3022] See on Rev 12:17 .
[3023] Rev 1:13-16 . Cf. especially Rev 12:16 : . , . . .
[3024] Rev 4:3 .
[3025] .
[3026] Ebrard.
[3027] De Wette, Ebrard, Hengstenb., etc.
[3028] Cf. Rev 7:4 sqq.
[3029] Beda, C. a Lap., Stern, Aret., Vitr., etc.
[3030] Andr., Beda, N. de Lyra, C. a Lap., Stern, Aret., Grot., Calov., etc.
[3031] Calov.
[3032] Grot.
[3033] Beda: “The Church of Christ, girdled with light, treads under foot temporal glory.” Vitr.: “Because, mutable things in religion being abolished, an immovable kingdom has followed.” Cf. C. a Lap., Herd., etc. Ebrard: “The moon is the night vanquished by her; the stars are the lights enkindled by her in the night, which vanquish it.”
[3034] Concerning the loose connection of the inf. with , cf. Winer, p. 306 sqq.
NOTES BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR
LXVIII. ( a. ) Rev 12:1 sq. , . . .
See the full discussion by Dsterdieck at the close of the chapter, who restricts the to the O. T. Church. So Luthardt. Alford marks a transition to another view there stated: “The whole symbolism points to the Church, the bride of God; and of course, from the circumstances afterwards related, the O. T. Church, at least at the beginning of the vision .” Lange very tersely puts the argument for the O. and N. T. Church in undivided unity: “The fact that the woman cannot be referred to the New Testament Church alone, results clearly from Rev 12:5 : the Christian Church did not bear Christ. Holding fast the identity of her in the heaven and her in the wilderness , neither can the woman be significant of the O. T. Church by itself, since the same woman lives on in the wilderness throughout the N. T. period of the cross. The unity of the O. and N. T. Church of God lay, doubtless, much nearer to the contemplation of John than to that of an exegesis whose view is, in many respects, too exclusively fixed upon externalities. Though it is impossible that John could have apprehended the woman as Mary herself, yet the fact was most closely present to his consciousness that this Mary, whose bodily offspring Christ was, was the final concentration of the O. T. theocracy.” Gebhardt: “The Church of God is represented by the figure of a woman in the O. T. (Isa 54:1 ; Isa 54:13 ; Isa 66:8 ; Mic 5:1-3 ). The question now arises, whether we are here to understand the Church of the O. T. or of the N. T. From the first verse of the chapter to the last, the woman, without doubt, represents the same personality, and the seer cannot have understood, by the woman, the N. T. Church, in distinction from that of the O. T.: the general statements of Rev 12:1-6 are against it, nor is this interpretation helped by limiting the meaning of the Jewish Christian Church. On the other hand, it is utterly impossible to understand by the woman, the O. T. Church in distinction from that of the New; for then not only Rev 12:13-17 , but even Rev 12:6 , would be without meaning. What, then, are we to understand by the woman? Simply, the Church of God which already existed in the prophetic fact of the old covenant, and which now exists in the time of its fulfilment in Christendom, and will exist in its eternal completion in the new heaven and the new earth.” Beck: “The woman clothed with the sun designates the heavenly kingdom of God, as it unites in itself as the true Church the O. and the N. T. Church of God as a divine Church-kingdom, in contrast with the adulterous church of the flesh. Already in the O. T. covenant of promise and its believers, this divine Church-kingdom had found its external type and external preparation; but in the N. T. spiritual institution, with its spiritual gifts and spiritual men, it had found its inner type and inner preparation: finally, in the future new Church of the new earth, it has both its external and inner completion.” On the particular features, Gerhard ( L. T. , xi. 34): “Clothed with the sun” = the righteousness assumed by faith, Mal 4:2 , and the heavenly glory in which it shall shine hereafter, Mat 13:43 . “The moon under her feet” = treading upon all the mutations of earth, and especially heresies which, like the moon, are ever changing. “Crown of twelve stars” = brilliancy of prophetic and apostolic doctrine. “Being in travail” = pains of spiritual birth (Gal 4:19 , etc.). Beck regards the sun, as signifying not only the benign influence of the Church in diffusing light and life, but also the glory of the new Jerusalem; while in treading upon the moon, which derives its light from the sun, and is the earthly measure of time and the variable light of the earthly night, he finds portrayed the superiority of the Church above all earthly times and changes, and its eternal lustre uninterrupted by night (Rev 22:5 ; Isa 60:20 ). So Luthardt: “She triumphs over night, which for her has passed away.” On “in travail,” see Victorinus: “The ancient Church of the fathers and prophets and saints and apostles, which had the groans of its torments and longings, until it saw that Christ had taken flesh.” Luther, in 1535, expressed the conception of this passage as referring to the Church in its entire chronological compass, in his hymn, Sie ist mir lieb, der werthe Magd . The two last stanzas have been thus rendered by Massie:
“She wears a crown of purest gold,
Twelve shining stars attend her;
Her raiment, glorious to behold,
Surpasses far in splendor
The sun at noon;
Upon the moon
She stands, the Bride
Of Him who died:
Sore travall is upon her;
She bringeth forth a noble Son,
Whom all the world doth honor;
She bows before His throne.
“Thereat the dragon raged, and stood
With open mouth before her;
But vain was his attempt, for God
His buckler broad threw o’er her.
Up to his throne
He caught his Son,
But left the foe
To rage below.
The mother, sore afflicted,
Alone into the desert fled;
There by her God protected,
By her true Father fed.”
[See also below, Note LXIX.]
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
Rev 12:1-12
b. The Theocracy. Christ. The Churches of the Wilderness, or Church of the Cross
1And there appeared [om. there appeared] a great wonder [sign ()ins. was seen] in [ins. the] heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: 2And she being with child cried [crieth]1, travailing in birth [om. in birth], and pained [tormented] to be delivered 3[bring forth]. And there appeared [was seen] another wonder [sign] in [ins. the] heaven; and [,] behold [,] a great red [] dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and [ins. upon his heads] seven crowns [diadems] upon his heads [om. upon his heads]. 4And his tail drew [draggeth2] the third part of the stars of [ins. the] heaven, and did [om. did] cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which [who] was ready to be delivered [about to bring forth], for to devour her child as soon as it was born [that, when she should bring forth, he might devour her child]. 5And she brought forth a man child [male son ( 3)] who was [is ()] to rule [shepherdize] all [ins. the] nations with a rod of iron [an iron rod]: and her child was caught up [away ()] unto [to] God, and to [to] his throne. 6And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath [ins. there]4 a place prepared of [by ()5] God, that [ins. there] they should feed [may nourish]6 her there [om. there] a thousand two hundred and threescore [sixty] days.
c. Establishment of the Church Triumphant in the Heaven of the inner Spirit-life on Earth. Freedom of the Invisible Church
7And there was [] war in [ins. the] heaven: [,] Michael and his angels fought against [warring with]7 the dragon; and the dragon fought [warred] and his angels, 8and [ins. they] prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in [ins. the] heaven. 9And the great dragon was cast out [thrown down ()], that [the] old [ancient] serpent, [ins. that is] called the [om. the] Devil, and [ins. the] Satan [or adversary], which deceiveth [that seduceth or misleadeth ( )] the whole world [inhabited world ()]: he was cast out [thrown down] into [unto] the earth, and his angels were cast out [thrown down] with him. 10And I heard a loud [great] voice saying in [ins. the] heaven, Now is come [ins. the] salvation, and strength [the power], and the kingdom of our God, and the power [authority] of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast [thrown] down, which accused [that accuseth] them8 before our God [ins. by] day and [ins. by] night. 11And they overcame [conquered] him by [on account of] the blood of the Lamb, and by [on account of] the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives [life ()] unto the [om. the] 12death. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabited of [om. the inhabiters of]9 the earth and of [om. of] the sea! for [because] the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath [anger], because he knoweth that he hath but a [om. but a] short [little] time.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
SYNOPTICAL VIEW
Here, manifestly, the beginning of the End commences, and, consequently, the second division of the Apocalypse. It begins with the heavenly pre-celebration of the victory over the DragonSatanand over his representative on earththe Beast, i. e., Antichrist. This precelebration is linked to the blast of the seventh Trumpet. A striking turn in the description is found in the fact, that the Spirit of prophecy does not make the seven-headed Beast appear immediately upon the blast of the seventh Trumpet, as the seven Trumpet-Angels emerged from the seventh Seal. In like manner, the vision of the seven Seals might not directly follow the picture of the seventh Church; nor, furthermore, can the seven Vials of wrath be immediately linked to the seven heads of Antichrist, and this irrespective of the fact, that these [the heads] constitute, in the first place, a unitous phenomenon. If it had been designed that the seven Thunders should be particularly set forth, they would have followed upon the seventh Trumpet, whilst the seventh Thunder would have been succeeded by the announcement of the Antichristian time. The sealing of the seven Thunders, however, necessitated a modification of the outward consequence of the septenaries; nor could the new Divine manifestations issue from the preceding bad human conditions, but could only follow them as judgments.
From the seventh Trumpet great or powerful voices proceed. Not one voice, but a chorus of voicesand those, mighty, voicesconcordantly proclaim the great victory
This is, manifestly, an expression of the strongest assurance of victory, developed in the very face of the emergence of Satan and his Antichrist.
This assurance of victory in Heaven is also an assurance of victory in the spirit-realm of the Kingdom of God in this world, i. e., in the invisible Church. It is a fundamental feature of the Kingdom of God, that this assurance of victory has been in process of more and more glorious development from the Protevangel down to the consummation of the New Testament (1Jn 5:4). And, indeed, with the death and resurrection of Christ the victory is, in principle, decided, so that there is no longer question save as to the full development of the principle into the visible appearance.
But in what manner do the voices proclaim the victory? The kingdom of the world is become our Lords and His Christs, and He shall reign to the ons of the ons. The position of Christ toward God the Lord is economically modified here, because the kingdom relationship is involved (see 1Co 15:25-27). Since we must distinguish between a Kingdom of power, possessed by God from the beginning, and a Kingdom of His Spirits sovereignty in spirits, founded by His grace in Christ, to which, however, the kingdom of darkness stands opposedan anarchy of spirits, under the lying power of Satanthe point in question here can be nought but the synthesis, already accomplished in principle, of the Kingdom of power and the Kingdom of grace. It is a Kingdom of God over the world, which is at the same time a Kingdom over hearts; or a Kingdom over hearts which, from the invisible Church, goes forth, in dynamic operation, through all the world, finally spreading through the worlds of space, as through the ons of time.
At the close appearing of this Kingdom, the kingdom of darkness is destroyed. With the mere announcement of this absolute Kingdom is conjoined the absolute thanksgiving of pious humanity in the evening of the world; pious humanity as, represented by the twenty-four Elders, the Presbytery of the Theocracy and the Presbytery of the New Testament Kingdom of God, both of which institutions have had so much to suffer from the oppressions of the kingdom of darkness. [See foot-note, p.152.E.R.C.]
They, lying upon their faces, rightly return thanks to God as the All-Ruler, Who now has taken to Himselfi. e., brought into full operationHis great power. In these words a grand theological revelation is contained. From the beginning of the worlds history, but, above all, in the humiliation of Christ, in His cross, and His cross-bearing Church, God has so greatly restrained His power, in the maintenance of the liberty, thereunto opposed, of moral agents, and in the service of love, as to make it seem as if He had laid that power aside. Now, however, that the seed of liberty has gradually matured, having sprouted up partly on the right hand side, partly on the left hand side, He can unchain His full majestic power, and He has begun His absolute royal rule.
The first mark of this turn in the current of affairs is peculiar; it has almost the aspect of a contradiction. The heathen [nations] have become wroth, it is declared; the power of darkness seems just now to be more than ever at liberty. But as, in the second Psalm, the strongly emphasized today marks the very date of the general rebellion against Jehovah and His Anointed as the date of the anointing and institution of His Sonas the date of the crucifixion of Christ became the date of His exaltation likewiseso it shall be at the time of the last great apostasy; even above the wrath of the heathen and simultaneously: with it, the revelation of the wrath of God appears. The wrath of God is destination to death (Exo 4:14; comp. Eze 12:24; Psalms 90). The suicidal death-choice of the old world, in its apostasy from the living God, brings the judgment of the Divine destination to death directly upon this old world. The living have become a prey to death; the dead, on the other hand, revive. The time of the dead, when it is their turn to have justice done them, has come; the retributive judgment must be held, in which God gives to His servants their reward, i. e., the final perfect and solemn restoration, which forms the antithesis to all the ignominy and sorrow of their historic life.
And here the Old Testament Prophets and the New Testament saints are beautifully linked together; and with them, all the God-fearing, who have kept the name of Godtheir knowledge of Godsacred; all, both small and great, in the whole sphere of Gods Kingdom. For they all had to suffer from the destroyers of the earthof Divine order on Earth, as well as of Nature and Earth in the literal sense.
But the time of compensatory retribution is likewise the time of punitory retribution: the destroyers of the Earth must themselves be destroyed.
The judgment is consummated amid the complete revelation of that idea of justice by which it is put in execution. Hence the Temple of God in the Heaven is opened, i. e., the radiant archetype of the Kingdom of God on Earth is revealed in its ideal and dynamical authority for mankind. The Ark of the Covenant in this Temple becomes visible; the heavenly rule [Norm] of the condemning law, as well as of the real redemption, is made known to all the world.
Nor is the radiant appearance all; it produces, as a vital phenomenon, in the richest manifestations of its powers, lightnings, or revelations of the Spirit; voices, or Divine words and thoughts; thunders, or lively stirrings of soul; earthquake, or convulsions of the old world; and a great hail, as a symbol of the conflict betwixt Heaven and Earth: fire and cold issue from the disclosure of the heavenly spirit-world at the end of the world.
And now the history of Antichristianity on Earth is prefigured by the history of it in Heaven. Here Heaven is manifestly the pure celestial sphere of spirit and of spirits, the background of all occurrences in that general history of the world which is visible to all. A great sign appears in this Heaven. A Woman, the Kingdom of God, modified by the feminine receptivity of the human mind, is seen. She makes her appearance in the unity of the Old Testament Theocracy and the New Testament Kingdom of Heaven; she is adorned with the sun of revelation; with the moon, as a symbol of nature, in its subserviency to the Kingdom of God (and also as symbolizing the change of times), under her feet; and a crown of twelve stars upon her headthe adornment of a plenary number of elect spirits appertaining to her. The Seer has deeply felt the conflict of the transition from the Old Covenant to the New, as is proved by the words: And she, being with child, crieth, etc.; the Lords people, together with Himself, have experienced these throes of the Messiah (see Joh 16:21). This sign is accompanied by another: Behold, a great fiery-red Dragon. In Heaven! how is this possible? Heaven is that realm of spirit and of spirits in which Christ overcame Judas (see the authors Leben Jesu, Book ii., p. 1328), without the observation of mere historical men, in their external world; hence, it is the spiritual back-ground of worldly history. In this Heaven, the great red Dragon appears; the winged primeval serpent, at once serpent and swine; signalized as a monster, not only by the fiery hue of the murderer, but also by the seven heads, and especially by the disproportion between the seven heads, or the caricature symbol of holy intelligencenot to say of a Holy Spiritand the ten horns or the symbols of worldly power; the heads only are adorned with diadems, thus making the worldly power appear as unauthorized might, obtained by artifice. Farther on, the Dragon, the ancient serpent (Genesis 3), is expressly called the Devil and Satan (Rev 12:9; Rev 20:2). These seven heads of the Dragon are not to be identified with the seven heads of the Beast, nor are they to be referred to historical shapes; they are seven spiritual deformities which ape the seven Spirits, or ground-forms of the Spirit.
It is declared concerning his first exertion of violence: His tail draggeth the third part of the stars of the Heaven, and cast them upon the Earth. This cannot be regarded as significant of the apostasy of a portion of the angels, since the angels of the Dragon are spoken of, further on, as still in Heaven.
The passage should rather be interpreted in accordance with Revelation 8, particularly Rev 12:10.
The third part of the spirits designed as light-bearers in the human Heaven are, by the violent oscillations of the demonic tailoverpowered, that is, by the impressions of apparently irresistible vivacity and mightswept from the Heaven of spiritual purity, and cast upon the Earth; made subservient to worldly-mindedness, in order to the more thorough transformation of Gods Earth (Psalms 93) into an Earth estranged from God. The preliminaries to the crucifixion of Christ were, in particular, the fruit of this act of the Dragon. Fallen stars constituted the government of Palestine and the majority of the Sanhedrin; even the Messianic hopes of the Jews were satanically empoisoned. In the face of Christs appearance, however, the machinations of the Dragon concentrate themselves; for Christ is the glorification of the personal God, of love in the love-kingdom of personal life, by means of an absolutely worthy personal conduct; Satan, on the other hand, is the seducer and accuser of men, who tends to sink the whole world in worldlinessto plunge the personal kingdom into the service of impersonal things, by means of the lying perversion of his own true creaturely essence into the semblance of a false divinity.
Shamelessly, therefore, the Dragon takes his stand before the Woman who is about to be delivered, that he may devour her child. Thus was the power of evil concentrated in Israel at the very moment when Christ, in respect of His historical descent from the eternal congregation of God, extending through the Theocracy and the Church, was about to be born.
But the new-born Child is a manthe Man, simply (Isaiah 9)destined, in the words of the Old Testament (Psalms 2), to rule [shepherdize] the nations with a rod of iron; ordained to the government of the world in redemptive and judicial righteousnessfor Satan, therefore, unattainable in His essence (Joh 14:30). His own name for Himself is the Son of Man, in the highest sense. Pilate calls Him the Man [ =Mensch, human being]. The vision calls Him the Man [Mann ( )], in the highest sense of the term. And here, in accordance with the spiritual, onic aspect of the history, there is no special reference to the sufferings of Christ; His death itself forms a part of His elevation above every assault of Satan; hence it is declared: her Child was caught away to God and to His Throne. This exaltation (Php 2:6 sqq.) is at the same time the foundation of the Church Triumphant in Heaven and on Earth.
Of the Woman it is said, that she fled into the wilderness. She is the same who bore Christhence, the Old and New Testament Church in undivided unity. The wilderness, prepared for her by God as a place of shelter,10 exhibits a transformation similar to that presented by the cross. As the cross, from the tree of the curse, has become the symbol of salvation, so this wilderness, from being the abode of demons (Lev 16:22; Matthew 4; Mat 12:43), was changed into a refuge from the Arch-demon. This wilderness is the perfect New Testament renunciation of the world, which makes the Church on Earth, in respect of its invisible kernel, like unto the Church in Heaven. The entrance thereto is baptism into the death of Christ (Romans 6); its external form is asceticism; its security is courage for the cross; its verdant oases are the triumphs of the martyrs. The time of residence in this wilderness is modified after the measure of the New Testament trial-time; not in the form of the change of times (Rev 11:2), but in that of uninterrupted days workstwelve hundred and sixty days (Rev 11:3). In regard to the Woman herself, the notation of time is more obscure, less definite, and gloomier: a time, two times, a half time (Rev 12:14; Dan 12:7)running, we may say, into apparently endless helplessness or destitution (Luk 18:1).
The succeeding scene is most wonderful. The theatre of this war in Heavena conflict marvellous when considered merely in the abstractis, we believe, the spiritual and spirit world of the Church Invisiblenot, however, the Heaven of Christs glory.
The nature of the conflict is equally remarkable: Michael and his angels (as the attacking party) war with the Dragon; but the Dragon also wars, and his angels (as the resisting party). We have shown elsewhere that the Archangel Michael is an image of Christ victoriously combatant. Christ is an Archangel in His quality of Judge; and He appears as Judge, not only at the end of the world, but also in the preservation of the purity of His Church (Act 5:1 sqq.; 1Co 5:1 sqq.). That Christ has His angels alsothose that war with Himnot merely in the evening of the world, but from the beginning, is a fact which John has previously intimated in his Gospel (Joh 1:51); they are the principles and spirits which are with Him absolutely. And so the Dragon also has his angels, his assistants. Since the foundation of Christs Church, Christian and Antichristian principles have been warring with each otherprimarily, in spiritual, intellectual and ethical forms (John 14 [John 15?]).
These battles are not simply central general combats, but a sum of great single conflicts. Michael wars; the angels war; the Dragon wars, and his angels. But, with them, he is defeated.
Why is it so concisely declared: they prevailed not? Be it observed, in the first place, that the principial victory of Christ has already taken place, and that the final historic victory cannot yet be intended. But Satan is totally defeated, in so far as respects the fact, that the New Testament Heaven, in its central essence, is thoroughly purged from him and his angels; in Heaven their place is no more found. That is, as the Church Triumphant is now established in Heaven, so, in correspondence with it, the Church on Earth has also a place that is purified from all Satanic essencethe sphere of pure Christian spiritual life, the communion of saints. Out of this Heaven, therefore, is cast the great Dragon, the ancient Serpent (the demonic seducer of Adam); the Devil and Satan, as the slanderer and enemy of mankind (Job 2), who has continually changed the conception: man is sinful and wickedinto the calumniatory sentence: he is fundamentally bad; and this, on account of his success in approving himself the seducer of the whole world.
When it is declared, that the whole Satanic troop is cast upon the Earth, in company with its leader, it cannot be necessary to apprehend the declaration in an astronomical or local sense. Expelled from the inner Church, Satan now directs his whole assault against the outer Church. The wheat of Christs field remains pure; but the field, as such, becomes impure: the enemy sows his tares amongst the wheat.
The foundation of the holy Church, the communion of saints, is an infinitely glorious achievement. A great voice pronounces the hymn of victory; it is a single, common triumphant consciousness of all the heavenly throng. Now there is founded, with Christ and through Him, a pure, eternal Heaven, which descends from Heaven to Earth. And with the pure Church, the New Testament Kingdom of Heaven is established, in which God reigns with three attributes: He has taken upon Himself the salvationthe perfect and final redemption from all evil; He has, further, taken to Himself the power over redeemed souls, and has called in the current of worldly affairs as co-operative in redemption (Romans 8); and, consequently, He has finally assumed the real Kingdom of His Spirit as a sovereignty over all good spirits. The attribute of Christ is, henceforth, the authority, the executive power (). Such is the constitution of the Kingdom (Rev 11:15).
How all this has come to pass, is intimated in the following words. The negative term runs thus: the accuser of our brethren is cast down, who accuseth them before our God by day and by night. The temptations to despair, which Satan brought to bear upon the consciences of men, subsequent to his seduction of them into sin, are annihilated, throughout the whole realm of faith, by the sure and perfect peace of reconciliation (comp. 1Jn 3:20; Heb 2:15).
And they conquered him by [on account of] the blood of the Lamb, is the reason assigned for their victory; for it is upon the triumph of Christ that the triumphs of Christians are grounded. Their heart-victories, however, have become intellectual victories likewise, through the word of their testimony; and victories of their entire life, because they loved not their life unto death, when martyrdom was the price of adherence to the truth (Mat 16:24-25).
Therefore rejoice, ye Heavens, and ye that dwell (take up your abode)in themsuch is the festal conclusion. Heaven spreads out into a plenitude of Heavens (Joh 14:2), and these Heavens become peopled with blessed conquerors.
A terrible contrast to the above is presented by the last words: Woe unto the inhabiters11 of the earth and of the sea. The danger is heightened for the world-church of external order and authority, as well as for the surging popular life and the fluctuations of society. For the Devil, as the poisoner of the truly historical powers, has made their common destruction his aim. He has great anger; the principle of demonic worldly-mindedness is excitedthe more, as it is a final paroxysm, or because he knoweth that he hath little time.
The fact that the Heaven-picture continues to this passage, is proved, among other things, by the concluding hymn (Rev 12:10-12).
[ABSTRACT OF VIEWS, ETC.]
By the American Editor
I. Rev 12:15-17
[Elliott regards Rev 12:14 as setting forth the cessation of the Turkish woethe period of cessation beginning with the battle of Lepanto, A. D. 1571, and extending to the peace (humiliating to Turkey) in 1791, between Turkey on the one side and Russia and Austria on the other. He connects this second half of the Turkish woe with the visions of Rev 10:1 to Rev 11:13, as follows: It was just after the slaying of the third part of men (Rev 9:18), i. e., the fall of Constantinopleand the ineffectiveness of the catastrophe to induce repentance (see p. 210, foot-note), that the Covenant Angel descended (Rev 10:1)betokening the Reformation (see p. 218); and also it was just after the fall of the tenth part of the City and the seven Chiliads (Rev 11:13), i. e., the political earthquake following the Reformation (see p. 228), that the announcement of Rev 12:14 was made. (The beginning of this earthquake he places about A. D., 1569; the battle of Lepanto was fought A. D. 1571.) Rev 12:15-17 he interprets as a general Heaven-picture of the last time (including the establishment of Christs Millennial Kingdom), the development of the great events of this vision being deferred until after the parenthetic Visions in chs. 1214.
Barnes regards the description of the events of the seventh Trumpet as closing with Rev 12:18 (Rev 13:1); the period extending to the establishment of the Millennial Kingdom, and the vision closing the series of visions beginning at Rev 5:1. He regards Rev 12:19 (Rev 13:2) as commencing a new series of visions, intended, also, but in a different line, to extend down to the consummation of all things.
Stuart: One powerful and bitter enemy of Christianity is now, or is speedily to be, put down. The judgments of Heaven, which had been so gradually proceeding, and seemingly so slow, are immediately to be consummated. The triumph of Christianity over opposing and embittered Judaism is to be completed. Their place and nation are now to be taken away. The progress of the Gospel can no longer be stayed by them.
Wordsworth agrees with Barnes in regarding this section as closing the first series of visions, and with commentators generally, in regarding it as referring to the last time.
Alford: (Rev 12:14). TransitionalThe episodical visions of Rev 10:1-11; Rev 11:1-13 are finished; and the prophecy refers to the plagues of the sixth Trumpet, Rev 9:13-21. These formed the second woe, and upon these the third is to follow (Rev 12:15-17). But in actual relation and detail it does not immediately follow. Instead of it, we have voices of thanksgiving in Heaven, for that the hour of Gods Kingdom and vengeance is come. The Seer is not yet prepared to set forth the nature of this taking of the Kingdom, this reward to Gods servants, this destruction of the destroyers of the earth. Before he does so, another series of prophetic visions must be given regarding not merely the dwellers on the earth, but the Church herself, her glory and her shame, her faithfulness and her apostasy. When this series has been given, then shall be declared in its fullness the manner and the process of the time of the end.Notice (1), that the seventh Seal, the seventh Trumpet, and the seventh Vial, are all differently accompanied from any of the preceding series in each case; (2) at each seventh member of the series (a) we hear what is done, not on earth, but in Heaven (chs. Rev 8:1; Rev 11:15; Rev 16:17); (b) we have it related in the form of a solemn conclusion (with slight variations), …, chs. Rev 8:5; Rev 11:19; Rev 16:18 sqq.; (c) we have plain indication in the imagery or by direst expression, that the end is come, or close at hand, by () the imagery of the sixth Seal, and the two episodes preceding the seventh Seal, () the declaration, here , () the sounding from the Temple and the Throne on the pouring out of the seventh Vial; (3) all this forms strong ground for inference, that the three series of visions are not continuous, but resumptive; not indeed going over the same ground with one another, either of time or of occurrence, but each evolving something which was not in the former, and putting the course of Gods providence in a different light. It is true that the Seals involve the Trumpets, the Trumpets the Vials; but it is not mere temporal succession, the involution and inclusion are far deeper, etc.
Lord: The seventh Trumpet is to be followed by 1. The assumption by the Redeemer of the dominion of the earth in a new and peculiar relation as its King, and the commencement of a visible and eternal reign. 2. The resurrection, and public adoption as heirs of the Kingdom, of all saints who have suffered the penalty of death; and the acceptance and reward of all living saints. 3. The destruction of the apostate powers, the Wild-beast, False Prophet, etc. This Trumpet is cotemporaneous with the seventh Vial (comp. Rev 12:19 with Rev 16:18 sqq.); the lightnings, voices, etc., denoting excitements, commotions, and revolutions among the nations, and the descent on them of judgments. The opening of the inner Temple and the exhibition of the Ark (Rev 12:19)(Rev 13:2), denote, probably, that the mysteries of the former administration are finished, and that thenceforth the reasons of the Divine procedure are to be understood.
Glasgow regards the prophecy of the period of the seventh Trumpet as contemplated in only Rev 12:15. This period he holds to begin with the Reformation and to extend through all the period of the Vials. The Trumpet declares the Kingdom to be Christs, and goes on to announce the events by which all rebels are to be brought to submission or extinction. The voices he interprets as The voice of Jesus through the instrumentality of ecclesiastical voices. They are the voices of Luther, Zwingliall the Reforming preachers. He explains the expression: His Christs, as relating to the Church (see Expl. in Detail). Rev 12:16-17 describe a Heaven scene (at the opening of or throughout the period?); Rev 12:18 (Rev 13:1), an Earth scene at the beginning of the Reformation. Rev 12:19 (Rev 13:2), he refers to the day of Pentecost, when Peter and the other apostles, by preaching, opened the door of faith instrumentally! (See Expl. in Detail.)
II. Rev 12:1-12
[Elliott: With this section this author regards Part IV. of the Apocalypse as beginning, including chs. 12, 13, 14. This Part presents a supplemental and explanatory history of the Rise, Character, and Establishment of the Beast from the Abyss, or Popedom; with its chief Adjuncts; and the contrasted Impersonation of Christs faithful Church. The vision of this section be holds to be retrogressive. By the Travailing Woman he understands Christs true visible Church, in the heaven of political elevation (invested with Christ as the Sun of Righteousness; the moon, representing the civil authority, under her feet; the stars, ecclesiastical ministers, recognized as dignified authorities before the world); bringing forth with pain (the Diocletian persecution) a son who is to rule, etc., i. e., producing children who, united and multiplied into a nation, are to be raised to dominant political power; (this elevation being first accomplished under Constantine, to whom, according to Ambrose, was given the title Son of the Church). The Dragon he interprets as the Roman Empire as a persecuting power hostile to Christianity. He presents the following indications as to the time of the birth and effort to destroy: (1) not until after the close of the Second century, as it was then that the dragon was first used as a Roman ensign; (2) not until the time of Diocletian, as it was then that the diadem was first assumed as one of the imperial insignia; (3) the drawing by the Dragon of a third part of the stars of Heaven indicates that though he was still in the political heaven, his power was diminished to a third part of the Imperial power, and this occurred about A. D. 313, when in two divisions of the Roman Empire, Europe and Africa (under Constantine and Licinius), Christianity was in the ascendancy, but in the third, Asia (under Maximin), Christians were still exposed to persecution; (4) this was the period of the termination of forty weeks (280 prophetic days from Pentecost) of the Churchs gestation. The attempt to destroy he explains by (1) the persecution of Maxi min (see Gibbon II. 489); (2) the apostasy of Licinius, A. D. 323, and the following persecutions. The catching up of the child to God and His throne he regards as the elevation of Constantine, as an avowed Christian, to the undivided throne of the Roman Empire, and the consequent establishment of Christianity, after the defeat of Licinius at the battle of Adrianople, A. D. 323 (see Gibbon and historians generally). (For the explanation of the flight of the Woman, see the following abstract, p. 258.) The war in Heaven he regards as indicating the struggle of Paganism for re-elevation to political power under Licinius and Julian the Apostate, and the throwing down of the Dragon (or Satan, who inspired them) as the final downfall of Paganism, primarily in the defeat of Licinius, and finally in the death of Julian in the Persian War, A. D. 363. Rev 12:10-12 (1st clause) he interprets as the Churchs song of victory in the symbolic Heaven of political elevation and power. The last clause of Rev 12:12 he regards as a detached and solemn notification by the dictating prophetic Spirit of some woe on the Roman Empire soon about to follow, reference being had primarily, to heretical persecutors within the Church and Empire; and, secondarily, to the Gothic scourge.
Barnes agrees, in the main, with Elliott. His most important variations are as to1. The adornment of the Woman: by the moon under her feet he understands the ancient (Jewish) and comparatively obscure dispensation now made subordinate and humble; and by the twelve stars, the usual well-known division of the people of God into twelve parts. 2. The war in Heaven: he writes, Another vision appears. It is that of a contest between Michael, the protecting Angel of the people of God, and the great foe, in which victory declares in favor of the former, and Satan suffers a discomfiture, as if he were cast from Heaven to Earth.
Stuart interprets (1) the Woman as the Church (not simply as Jewish, but in a more generic and theocratic sense, the people of God) at the period of Christs birth; (2) the child as Christ Himself; (3) the dragon as Satan inspiring Herod, Judas and other persecutors; (4) the attempt to destroy as the massacre at Bethlehem and the other assaults on our Lord; (5) the catching up to Heaven as the Ascension; (6) the War in Heaven (the lower heaven, the air) as a struggle between good and bad spirits, according to the usual popular modes of conception;12 (7) the words of the voice in Heaven (Rev 12:10 sqq.) are to be regarded mainly as anticipative of victory in respect to the future, grounded on a reminiscence of victory with regard to the past.
Wordsworth regards Revelation 12 as a Prophetic View of the History of the Church relatively to Rome (Rev 12:1-12, relatively to heathen Rome). The Woman in this vision is the Christian Church; she appeared in Heaven, for her origin is from above; she is clothed with the Sun, for Christ is the Sun of righteousness; she has the moon under her feet, because she will survive the changes of this world; she has on her head a crown of victory (); the crown of twelve stars indicates the Twelve Apostles. The Dragon is the Old Serpent, who is called in this Book the Dragon, see Rev 12:9; Rev 12:15-16, where the names Satan, Devil, Dragon and Serpent are interchanged; the Dragon is also described here as having Seven Heads, etc.; diadems are symbols of royally; horns are emblems of power (Luk 1:69); the number seven represents completeness, and combined with the number ten (ten horns), it connects this manifestation of the Dragon with the display of his power, as wielded by the fourth great Monarchy, that of Rome. He refers the Male Son primarily to Christ, secondarily to the people of Christ; the rod of iron is Christs word, the Holy Scriptures, and by it the male children, the masculine spirits of Christs Church, are endued with power from Him to rule the nations and overcome the world. (On the flight of the Woman see the Abstract on p. 261.) Concerning the war in Heaven, he writes: St. John now reverts to an earlier period, in order to recite the antecedent history of the Dragon, and to explain the circumstances under which he was led to persecute the Woman, and he traces that history till it is brought down, in Rev 12:14, to the same point as in Rev 12:6, namely, to the escape of the Woman in the Wilderness; Satan is displayed as he was before his fail from Heaven.
Alford regards the vision of this chapter as introductory to the whole imagery of the latter part of the Apocalypse, and holds that the principal details of the present section (chapter) are rather descriptive than strictly prophetical. By the Woman he understands the Church, the Bride of God, and, of course, from the circumstances afterwards related, the Old Testament Church, at least at this beginning of the vision; by the Dragon, the Devil (he is , perhaps for the combined reasons of the wasting properties of fire, and the redness of blood; the seven crowned heads represent universality of earthly dominion; the magnitude and fury of the Dragon are graphically given by the fact of its tail sweeping down the stars of heaven); by the child, the Lord Jesus, and none other (the exigencies of this passage require that the birth should be understood literally and historically, of that Birth of which all Christians know; (see also Expl. in Detail, Rev 12:5). Concerning the war, he writes: The war here spoken of appears in some of its features in the Book of Daniel, Dan 10:13; Dan 10:21; Dan 12:1 (also Judges 9) Satans being cast out of Heaven to the Earth is the result not of the contest with the Lord Himself, of which it is only an incident leading to a new phase, but of an appointed conflict with his faithful fellow angels led on by the Archangel Michael. (See also Expl in Detail.) In conclusion he writes: I own that I have been led to think whether after all the Woman may represent, not the invisible Church of Gods true people, which under all conditions of the world must be known only to Him, but the true visible Church: that Church which in its divinely prescribed form as existing at Jerusalem was the mother of our Lord according to the flesh, and which continued as established by our Lord and His Apostles, in unbroken unity during the first centuries, but which, as time went on, was broken up by evil men and evil doctrines, and has remained, unseen, unrealized, her unity an article of faith, not of sight, but still multiplying her seed, those who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus, in various sects and different countries, waiting the day for her comely order and oneness again to be manifestedthe day when she shall come up out of the wilderness, leaning on her Beloved; when our Lords prayer for the unity of His people being accomplished, the world shall believe that the Father has sent Him. If we are disposed to carry out this idea, we might see the great realization of the flight into the wilderness in the final severance of the Eastern and Western churches in the seventh century, and the flood cast after the Woman by the Dragon in the irruption of the Mohammedan armies. But this, though not less satisfactory than the other interpretations, is as unsatisfactory. The latter part of the vision yet awaits its clearing up.
Lord. The Woman is the representative of the true people of God; her sunbeam robe, her station above the moon, and her crown of stars, bespeak her greatness, conspicuousness, and majesty; her cry and labor to bear, denote the importunate desire and endeavor of those whom she symbolizes to present to the empire one who should, as their son, rise to supreme power, and rule the nations with an iron sceptre, etc. The great red Dragon symbolizes the rulers of the Roman Empire; the seven heads denoting the seven species of the chiefs of its ancient government; the ten horns the chiefs into which its western half was divided on its conquest by the Goths; its sweeping its tail through the sky, dragging one-third of the stars, and casting them to the earth, represents its violent dejection of one-third of the Christian teachers from their stations by imprisonment, etc. By the child he understands Constantine; and his being caught up to God and His throne he takes as denoting both (1) that he was rescued in an extraordinary manner from the attempts of the Pagan Emperor to destroy him, and exalted to supreme power in the Empire; and (2) that he became in that station a usurper of the rights of God, and an object of idolatrous homage to his subjects. That the Woman fled into the desert, signifies that the people of God, wholly disappointed in their expectation of a more favorable rule from monarchs professing to be Christian and exposed to greater evils than they had suffered from their pagan persecutors, were compelled, in order to safety, to retire from the nationalized Church into seclusion. (See also Abstract on p. 262). Concerning the war, he writes: Michael and his angels are symbols of believers in Christ, who gain a victory by faith in His blood, by proclaiming His word, and by submitting to martyrdom rather than swerve from fidelity to Him. Satan13 and his angels, on the other hand, symbolize antagonists of believers, who endeavor by contradiction to countervail, or by persecution to prevent, their testimony and to maintain the supremacy of idolatry. The period of this war was the period of the persecutions by Diocletian, Galerius, Maxentius, Maximin, and Licinius; and the victory, that change of feeling that rendered persecution and paganism itself unpopular, prompted Constantine to espouse the cause of the Christians, and finally led to the rejection of paganism as the religion of the State. The chant (Rev 12:10) was uttered by the victors, and indicates that the Church was to regard (the victory) as insuring the speedy Advent of Christ, and commencement of His millennial reign. The heavens summoned to rejoice are the new heavens, the symbol of the risen and glorified saints; they who dwell in those heavens are the sanctified nations who are to live under their sway; the land and the sea denote the nations at rest and in agitation anterior to the establishment of that millennial kingdom. That the dejection of Satan and his angels was to be a woe to the earth, indicates that the decline of the pagan party into a minority was to exasperate its priests and rulers, and lead them to more violent measures, to overwhelm their antagonists, and reinstate themselves in authority.
Glasgow regards the Woman as denoting the invisible Church; the Child, all the regenerated children of God, the assumption of the Child, the elevation of the members of the Church invisible to a heavenly status; the Dragon (the seven headed monster, with his sixth head now fully developed ),14 the heathen empire; the attempt to devour, the persecution of the Church begun, in a public and national sense, in A. D. 51, under Claudius, but in an indirect sense in Herods massacre of the babes; the flight (Rev 12:6, distinguished from that of Rev 12:14), the banishment of Christians in the first persecution, A. D. 51. The war he interprets as the intellectual and polemical warfare waged between Jesus (Michael) and His ministers (Quadratus, Aristides, Justin, etc.), and Satan and his ministers (Celsus, Porphyry, Diocletian, etc.), resulting in the dejection, i, e., the destruction of Pagan supremacy under Constantine. The hymn (Rev 12:10) he regards as that of Christians raised to the Heaven of ecclesiastical superiority; the woe (Rev 12:12) as implying that Satan instigated the pagan priesthood to resist Christianity to the utmost, and also that after Constantine, Arianism prevailed.
Auberlen.15 Woman and Beast form manifestly the same contrast as in Daniel the Son of Man and the Beasts. In both cases it is the human which is opposed to the bestial, only with Daniel in male, with John in female shape. Daniel beholds the Man, the Bridegroom, the Messiah; because he looks into the time when Christ shall reappear visibly and establish His Kingdom upon earth. John, on the other hand, within whose horizon lies, to speak at present only in a general way, the time before the second advent, beholds the Woman, the Bride, the Congregation of God in the world. He beholds her in the figure of a Woman, and this symbolism is not confined to the Apocalypses, but is a consummation of the whole usus loquendi of the Old and New Testaments. It begins in the Pentateuch (for example Exo 34:15; Lev 17:7; Lev 20:5-6; Num 14:33; Num 15:39; Deu 31:16; Deu 32:16; Deu 32:21). We find a further development of this view in the writings of the Prophets (Isa 1:21; Isa 1:1; Isa 54:1; Jer 2:2; Jer 2:20; Jer 2:23-25; Jer 3:1; Eze 14:23; Hosea 1, etc.). In the New Testament the same expression is used by John the Baptist (Joh 3:2-9 ). Thus from the very outset Christ is introduced in the place of Jehovah: in the time of fulfillment Jehovah became Jesus Christ, as His name manifests, , the Lord. He Himself calls Himself the Bridegroom (Mat 9:15). We meet the same view in the Apostolic Epistles (Eph 5:23-32, comp. with Genesis 2.) All this the Apocalypse sums up in one word, Woman (Rev 12:1). The characteristic of woman, in contradistinction to that of man, is her being subject (Eph 5:22-24), the surrendering of herself, her being receptive. And this is in like manner the characteristic of man in his relation to God, and receiving from Him. Humanity, in so far as it belongs to God, is the Woman; therefore it is said of Christ, the Son of the woman (Rev 12:5), that He is a Male-Son. True, He is born of a woman; but at the same time, He is the Son of God, and as such His relation to the Church is that of Husband to Wife. This is the simple meaning of the addition of male to son, apparently pleonastic. Beside Him no man dare deny his receptive, woman-like position; for they who imagine to have life in themselves, who separate themselves from God, rise against Him, and, trusting to stand in their own strength, sink to the level of irrational beasts. The proud nature-strength of man is not of a manly, but of a beastly kind; it is nothing but the brute force of the beast. The choice of symbols is (not) accidental or arbitrary, but based on the essential characteristics of Woman and of the beast. Woman and Beast designate the Kingdom [Church] of God, and the kingdom of the world, not only in this or that period of their development in time; but also in general universality. By the male-son, this commentator understands (as above) Christ; by the Woman, at the period of Christs advent, the congregation of God in its Old Testament shape; by her adornmentsthe sun, the supernatural Divine light borne by her; the moon under her feet, heathenism vanquished and conquered by her; the crown of stars, the twelve-fold division of Israel (continued in the twelve-fold New Testament shape, Rev 21:12). The wilderness he regards as indicating the heathen world whither the Church fled from Canaan; the flight of the Woman into the wilderness is nothing else but the passing away of the Kingdom, [Church] of God from the Jews, and its introduction among the Gentiles: Mat 8:11-12; Mat 22:43; Act 13:46-47; Act 28:25-28. (The Acts of the Apostles gives us a grand comment upon this in the description it contains of the Churchs migration from Jerusalem to Rome. The Churchs life is nourished by the kind ministrations from on high; she lives in the wilderness, even as Israel on manna from Heaven; but though she finds no nourishment, yet she finds a refuge and an asylum in the Gentile world, even up to this day.) Concerning the war in Heaven (Rev 12:7-12) he writes: We cannot possibly find anything else but a description of the fact, known to us from other parts of Scripture that the Prince of this world is judged by the completion of Christs work of reconciliation There are three stages of the conflict of Christ and Satan. The first is the temptation of Christ in the wilderness; (the second, the assault upon) those who were near Christ, in order to oppose the Saviours work; the third, in which the victory is consummated, is the sufferings and death, the resurrection and ascension of Jesus. (What Paul expresses in Col 2:15, in a didactic form, John saw in a prophetic vision. The devil is now cast out of Heaven after the Son is raised to the throne of God, Rev 12:5. The Archangel Michael is appointed the executor of the judgment. For according to Dan 10:13; Dan 10:21; Dan 12:1, he, among the high angelic Princes, is the Angel to whom is entrusted the defence of Gods Church against the opposing powers in the invisible world of spirits.) Rev 12:12 sqq. he regards as setting forth the second period16 in the history of Satan during which, having lost his power and place in Heaven, and chiefly for this reason, because () he can no longer accuse men before God, he concentrates all his strength (by temptation and persecution) to ruin as many souls as possible. (See also in loco.)E. R. C.]
EXPLANATIONS IN DETAIL17
Rev 11:15. Great voices.Voices simple are prophecies. In view of the hasty movement of the Kingdom of Darkness toward the revelation of Antichristianity, Heaven is filled with the triumphant and prophetic presentiment that now the judgment upon the dark kingdom and, consequently, the appearance of Christs Kingdom, are near. The questionto whom did these voices belong?need neither be asked nor answered (Dsterdieck). For various insignificant hypotheses on this subject, see Dsterdieck. This commentator also rightly discards the limitations of the circuit of the seventh Trumpet (Hengstenberg: it embraces Rev 12:15-17; Ebrard: Rev 12:15-17), and, in connection with others, maintains the proleptical import of the voices. On the other hand, the interpretation of the words:
In the Heaven, as indicative that John is still in Heaven, reposes upon a comprehensive misapprehension of the structure of the Book.
The kingdom of the world.Simultaneously with the Satanic and Antichristian uprising, the imminent emergence of the Kingdom of Christ is decided (Mat 26:64; comp. Psalms 2.)as beginning, however, with dynamical operations which are in constant process of development, and do not become perfectly apparent until the end, at the Parousia.
Is become our Lords.Rapturous feeling of the Christian consciousness, in face of the apparent rule of the Beast who is about to come forth.
He shall reign.See Dan 7:14.
Our Lords and His Christs.Careful observation of the economical relation.
Rev 12:16-17, 18. The twenty-four Elders.These, therefore, are distinguished from the voices; doubtless, however, as forming the concentrated acme of them. The prophecy concerning the Kingdom of God likewise assumes a stronger expression. First, in the circumstance that the Elders fell upon their faces (see Rev 4:10; Rev 5:8; Rev 5:14; Rev 7:11; Rev 19:4). The contemplation of the sublime, thrills us with a sense of our own littleness and nothingness; the adoring and admiring consideration of the sublime, triumphant Divine rule, in its moments of grandeur, casts angels and men upon their knees. In the twenty-four Elders we see, as ever, the elect representatives of the human race. [See foot-note, p. 152.E. R. C.]
The second element in which the prophecy of the Kingdom presents a stronger tinge, is the form of their adoration: they give thanks, in the loftiest assurance of spirit; they regard what is to come as already decided. They give thanks, not because they regard themselves as participants in the great power and government of God (Hengstenberg), a conception which is as remote from the subject here as in Rev 12:15 (Dsterdieck). As remote, in the sense of hierarchical superiority, and as near, in the sense of humble co-heirship with Christ. Furthermore, the feeling that God is the All-Ruler assumes additional prominence, and the future of His consummate sovereignty has become presenthence the omission of .
Because Thou hast taken, etc.In the economy of grace, God had suffered human spirits to pursue their own way in liberty, emptying Himself, as it were, of His power, even to the semblance of impotency (Christ on the cross), that He might then make conquest of souls in this their liberty, and educate them to salvation. Now, however, this economy of salvation is ended, and God brings His whole authoritative sway into active and visible operation again.
Thirdly, there is a particular grandeur in the sign by which the Elders recognize the turning-point of the times. This sign consists in the fact that
The nations [Lange: heathen] were wroth.In the very wrath of the revolt, the apostasy of the heathenand also of the Christian peoples, which have, by apostasy, become heathen again,the Seeras, approximately, the singer of Psalms 2 (particularly in the to-day that exegetes have misunderstood)perceives that the wrath of God is on the point of executing its judgment. Not only has He arisen against the wrath of His enemies, but in the very wrath of His enemies, the judgment of His wrath is revealed. Undoubtedly, however, the wrath of God first issues forth, in full revelation, in the Vials of wrath [or anger]18 which follow upon the wrath of the heathen under the domination of the Antichristian Beasts.
The time of the dead.We understand this, not as significant of the judgment upon the awakened dead, Rev 20:12, with Dsterd., but as indicative of the satisfaction imparted to the pious dead by the judgment upon living transgressors (see Rev 6:10-11). This judgment is two-sided: first, it gives reward to all the servants of God, and that in all proportionate degrees: to Prophets, saints, even to simple God-fearing menand not only the great, but also the small. This reward does not necessarily begin with the heavenly glory; the most affecting reward is satisfaction, vindication of honor, justification. Hence the second side of the judgment, the antithesis:
To destroy those who destroy the earth.The latter expression recurs in Rev 19:2. It is in every respect highly significant, whether by earth we understand the theocratic Divine institution, or the basis thereof, the cosmos, which, in all points of its ideal destinations, is laid waste by the enemies of the Lord, even in the direction of an ungodly civilization.
Dsterdieck refers to the Prophets only, apprehending as a summary expression for the entire mass of the godly. The distinction of Bengel, adopted by Hengstenberg, accords better, however, with New Testament usage; namely, the servants of God and the God-fearingby servants understanding the saints together with the Prophets. Nor must the antithesis, the small and the great, be confounded with the same antithesis in Rev 13:16; Rev 19:18interior relations being contemplated here.
Rev 12:19 (Rev 13:2). And the Temple of God which was in the Heaven was opened.Herewith begins the heavenly fulfillment of the preceding festal prophecies.
The Heavenly Temple is the archetype of the earthly Temple (see Exo 25:9; Exo 25:40); it is, therefore, the ideal Kingdom of God. The Church Invisible, then, begins to become visible; even the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies is seen. The meaning of this is, we believe: the ideal import of the holiness of the law and the truth of the redemption becomes a matter of Christian knowledge manifest to all the world. Hence, also, there proceed from this great ideal appearance lightnings, and voices, and thunders, and earthquake, and a great hailall kinds of awakening and vitalizing convulsions of the spiritual world. They commence with lightnings, with grand radiations of new illumination, and close with a great hail, in which the grand conflict of hostile winds with the heavenly spring-wind in the spiritual atmosphere seems to be set forth. So far as the idea of the heavenly Temple, the heavenly Ark of the Covenant, etc., is concerned, we may remark that the Jewish axiom cited by Dsterdieck [see p. 150 and foot-note.E. R. C.]: quodcunque in terra est, id etiam in clo est, does not stand on the same footing with the Jewish tradition to the effect that the lost Ark of the Covenant had been transported to Heaven. On the confusions of construction attaching to Rev 12:18-19 (Rev 13:1-2), see Dsterdieck, p. 388.
The different expositions of the present section follow the lead of the various conceptions of the whole Book. According to the Church-historical view, reference is had to the conquest of the Goths and other Arians by Narses (Lyra). According to the synchrono-historical view, we have an announcement of the truth, that access to the heavenly Sanctuary is open to all through Christ (Herder), or a reference to the destruction of Jerusalem (Eichhorn), or to Barcocheba (Grotius). According to Hofmann, the law has now received its due through the medium of the judgment; therefore, the Ark of the Covenant, which contains the law, can now appear. According to Hengstenberg, the Ark of the Covenant appears, because the Covenant now meets with its visible realization. Similarly Dsterdieck. Sander better explains: The testament [covenant] which the Lord made with His Church and, particularly, with Israel, becomes manifest in all its glory; to many, profound glimpses into the mysteries of the covenant are vouchsafed, etc.
Rev 12:1. If that judgment upon Antichristianity, which the Lord comes to execute, is to be represented in exact completeness and reasonableness [Begrndung=state of being based upon just and sufficient reasons.Tr.], not only must the deepest Satanic foundations of Antichristianity as a whole be laid bare but, likewise, the most essential shapes in which this radically Satanic Antichristianity appears in the world, must be depicted (Dsterdieck).
A great sign was seen in the Heaven.According to Ebrard, this means simply a symbol. Hengstenb. is of the same opinion. Dsterd. strives to distinguish this symbol from other figures, which, he declares, are in no whit allegorical in their nature; he, however, cites, in illustration, no figures that are not allegorical; for dearth, for instance, in Revelation 6., is assuredly presented in an allegorical figure. Hengstenberg, on the other hand, superfluously suggests that John is continually seeing only signs.
Be it observed, in the first place, that the Seer here speaks of a great sign; and, furthermore, that the Woman cannot be intended as a symbol of the Church or the Theocracy simply in and for herself; but that her condition forms an important element in the symbolism. The great sign in Heaven presents, in a highly striking picture, which is no mere symbol, but a historical life-picture or parabolical phenomenon (an entire composition of single symbols), the whole spiritual conflict betwixt the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satana conflict which is at the same time a presage of the imminent emergence of Antichristianity, to do battle against Christianity in this present visible world.
A woman.In reality, only three explanations are possible here:
1. The Woman (as the Bride of the Lord, in accordance with a standing Biblical view, based upon deep and essential spiritual relations, the contrast of spiritual receptivity and spiritual creative power) is the Christian Church (Bede et al. to Bengel et al.), or, particularly, the Christian Church of the last time ( Lapide, Stern, Christiani). The attempt has been made to remove the contradiction which makes the Christian Church the mother of Christ, by saying that by the birth of the Messiah we are to understand the birth of Christ in believers; or even by declaring that His birth is His return to judgment (Kliefoth).
2. The Woman can be only the Old Testament Church of God, the true Israel (Herder et al. to Dsterdieck). Ebrard even apprehends by the Woman, the natural people of Israel qua possessor of the promises.
3. The Woman is the Old and New Testament Church of God in undivided unity (Victorinus to De Wette, Hengstenberg, Auberlen). The fact that the Woman cannot be referred to the New Testament Church alone, results clearly from Rev 12:5; the Christian Church did not bear Christ. Holding fast the identity of her in the Heaven and her in the wilderness, neither can the Woman be significant of the Old Testament Church by itself, since the same Woman lives on in the wilderness throughout the New Testament period of the cross. The unity of the Old and the New Testament Church of God lay, doubtless, much nearer to the contemplation of John than to that of an exegesis whose view is, in many respects, too exclusively fixed upon externalities. Though it is impossible that John could have apprehended the Woman as Mary herself, yet the fact was most closely present to his consciousness that this Mary, whose bodily offspring Christ was, was the final concentration of the Old Testament Theocracythe Theocracy which, in respect of its inner essence, spiritually gave birth to the Messiah, and which, in respect of this inner essence again, continued, as the Kingdom of God, in a new and New Testament shape.
But who then are the of Rev 12:17? queries Dsterdieck. This we shall touch upon later.
Clothed with the sun.It is an obvious fact that the sun is a symbol of the Divine revelation of salvation; comp. Mal 4:2; also Psalms 19, where the sun is spoken of in connection with the law, i. e., revelation. The distinct reference of the sun to the historic Christ, which many have sought to establish (Bede, etc.), is not pertinent here, because Christ is the Son of the Woman. According to Hengstenberg, the sun is the glory of the Lord; but with the glory of the Lord, the Lord Himself is clothed (Psa 104:1-2).
So far as the moon is concerned, Diana of the Ephesians was well known to the Apostle as a symbol of nature, and to readers of Asia Minor there was something peculiarly striking in the circumstance that the Seer represents the moon as appearing under the feet of the Woman whose clothing was the sun. The symbol of Isis also denotes nature. Thus Constantine saw the cross over the sun, because in his time the latter was adored, as a symbol of the nature-divinity, by a sublimated heathenism, and particularly in his own family.
The figure of the moon has likewise been variously interpretedas significant of: Worldly glory (Bede); the light of the Old Testament (Grotius); the light of Church teachers, in so far as that is derived from Christ (Calov.); the light of the Turkish crescent (Bengel; to make this true, however, half of the moon must be invisible. The same commentator regards the sun as the Christian Empire!); created light (Hengstenberg; the same looks upon the sun as significant of uncreated light); pale night with her half (?) moon-light (Ebrard). Poetic description (Dsterdieck).
A crown of twelve stars.Twelve is the number of completeness; the crown, as a wreath or garland [prize], is an ornament which has been obtained by a struggle; the stars are the elect spirits of the Kingdom of God (Dan 12:3). The number twelve has been taken literally, and, in accordance with the whole interpretation, referred either to the twelve Apostles (Vitringa, et al.), or to the twelve Tribes of Israel (De Wette, et al.).
Rev 12:2. And she, being With child, crieth.Several grand contrasts successively appear here. First, the Woman in her heavenly garb of light; then the same, crying out in the pains of a hard travail and menaced by the hellish Dragon. Again, the Woman in her simply beautiful and sublime raiment of light, over against the Dragon in the startling forms and glaring colors of demonico-bestial unnaturalness. Furthermore, the third part of the stars of Heaven; swept away and cast down by the tail of the Dragon. Next, the Son lifted up to the Throne of God, and the mother sheltered in the retirement of the wilderness. The crying Woman represents the sufferings of the true Israel at the time of Christs crucifixionsufferings of which John had the deepest experience.
Rev 12:3. Another sign.The sign is not only the symbolical form of the Devil, as the prince of darkness, the adversary of the Kingdom of God, the murderer of man and mortal enemy of Christ, but also a presage of the imminent outburst of the Antichristian power. The allegorical figure of the serpent, originally significant of Satan, was blended, even upon Israelitish ground, with the figure of the crocodile or leviathan; in Jewish tradition, together with the features of the dragon of story, it received the name thereof, especially through the mediation of the Septuagint (= and ). Though the dragon, in the narrower sense, has, in accordance with passages in the Psalms, been represented as king of the sea and of marine animals (like the Midgard serpent in Scandinavian mythology), he also occupies the position of a hostile ruling power toward the Earth; and the present figure in the Apocalypse symbolically indicates that which in the Gospel of John is denoted by the prince of this world (Joh 12:31; Joh 14:30; Joh 16:11). Greek mythology elevated the dragon, subsequent to its killing by Hercules, into a constellation, situated near the polar star, and embracing several stars in its folds. Jewish tradition elaborated the original figure of a serpent into a dragon with seven heads (see De Wette, p. 127).Even in Christian story, the dragon-slayer, under different names (Michael, St. George), Occupies an important place.
A great red [Lange: fiery red] dragon., the designation of the color, is looked upon by many as blood-color, in accordance with Rev 6:4, and considered as referring to him who, from the beginning, has been the murderer of man (John 8 and 44), and who now seeks to kill, in particular, the Son of the Woman also. Ebrard combats this interpretation, maintaining that blood-red and fire-red are two different things, and that fire is a symbol of destruction and ruin. The fire-hue certainly is susceptible of several shades, from pale to brownish red. In Rev 6:4, blood-color is unmistakably indicated. In the Neronic persecution, John had, moreover, become acquainted with the prelude to those stakes at which, since then, the hues of blood and fire have so often mingled.
Seven heads and ten horns.The picture is not to be conceived of (with De Wette) as so utterly without taste, as if on four of the heads there were one horn and on the remaining three, two horns, but (with Bengel, et al.) as having ten horns on one of the heads. This is said to be proved by Rev 17:5; Rev 17:9; Rev 17:12; but the horns of Satan must not be identified with the horns of the Beast. Neither is it possible for us to see how one head with ten horns could, beside these, carry a crown likewise. A correct appreciation of the symbolism, however, will leave the disposition of the ten horns amongst the seven heads to exegetical controversy. The appearance is designed to be monstrous, however. By many, a wrong leap is taken from the figure of the heads and horns of the Dragon to the heads and horns of the Beast (see Dsterdieck, p. 395; Ebrard, p. 355; Hengstenberg, p. 603), although the Seer himself has taken sufficient pains for their distinction. The seven heads of Satan are not, in the abstract, to be divided into historical phases, any more than are the seven archangelic forms, or the seven Spirits, that, from the Throne of God, go forth into all lands, to be thus distributed. In the case of the seven heads, the septenary bears the import of the whole Satanic week, so to speakin its continuance, as a plenary number of lying works, from the beginning of the Satanic labor in Paradise: this week, with its demonic days works, gives promise of a new Paradise, an absolute witches Sabbath19which, however, shall be celebrated in the lake of fire.
The same emphasis must be laid upon the symbolical element in the case of the ten horns; i. e., neither are they to be identified with the ten kings who appear as ten horns of the Beast. Ten is the complete course of the world; ten horns are the complete world-power, here, indeed, appearing as lying powers. This circumstance [of their falsity] is manifest in the fact that Satan has three more horns than crowns. In more ancient times Vitringa, at least, pointed out the difference of equipment between the Dragon and the Beast; the same has been done in modern times by De Wette. Ancient exegetes have, moreover, taken the difference for granted, by referring the seven heads of the Dragon to seven bad spirits, or the whole number of bad spirits; to seven capital vices, or the seven deadly sins: or by apprehending, by the ten horns, the ten sins against the ten commandments; or worldly power; or the multitude and might of the demons.
According to Hofmann, the seven heads symbolize the non-unitous power of Satan; according to De Wette, they are a symbol of wisdomthat is to say, of consummate cunning. In the Indian mythology, the members of the divine forms are multiplied, for the purpose of portraying the superhuman greatness of the qualities indicated.
Erroneous historical interpretations see cited by Dsterdieck: Diocletian, the one head with ten horns. Dsterdieck himself: the Roman empire [imperium], etc. Dsterdieck, p. 390; De Wette, p. 127.
The Heaven, in which the Dragon makes his appearance, can be neither the antemundane Heaven of the angel-worldsince the fallen angels did not immediately fall to earthnor the Heaven in which the glorified Christ is enthroned. That which is intended, therefore, is the Heaven that Christ has instituted on earththe invisible Church, the Communion of saintsinto which Satan, as a Dragon, has found entrance, just as, long ago, he pressed into Paradise.
Rev 12:4. And his tail, etc.De Wette: The strength of dragons is resident in their tails, Solin., Rev 30 in Wetstein. Three is the number of spirit. A third is a fraction in reference to spiritual things. The significance of the third has already been set forth in Revelation 8. From the one star of embitterment, of merely germinant apostasy, an apostasy of the third part of the stars, i. e., the spiritual Church-heaven, has resulted. These stars are, by the lashings of the Satanic tail, by the magic of an apparently prodigious vital power, cast from Heaven to earth, i. e., from being stars of the invisible Church, they become demonic organs of the external Church and of Christian political order.
The reference of the stars to angels (Vitringa, et al., Ebrard) is most erroneous: further on, the Dragon himself, together with his angels, is found still in Heaven. The division of the stars into two classes, based upon their reference to churchly teachers (Grotius, et al.), and to believers or saints (Alcasar, et al.), is inadmissible. According to Ewald, the action of the Dragons tail constitutes merely a poetic traitbeing indicative of eagerness for combat. Dsterdieck also reduces the description, in essence, to a poetic picture. Other interpretations see quoted by the last named commentator, p. 398.
And the Dragon stood [trat=steppedtook his stand].According to Pliny viii. 3, dragons move in an upright posture. Comp. Wetstein, De Wette.
Rev 12:5. A male son.Jer 20:15. The strong expression of the manfulness of the Child by the neuter , is not merely explanatory of His destination, in accordance with Psa 2:9, to shepherdize (in accordance with the Sept.) all the nations-with a rod of iron (Dsterd.); it also contains a slight intimation of the fact that Christ has, by His resurrection, frustrated the attempt of Satan to devour Him. De Wette totally denies the emphasis in the apposition; Dsterdieck, unnecessarily, discovers an announcement of the shepherdizing of Antichristian nations in judgment.
Manifestly the Messiah is here denoted in the literal sense of the termnot in any metaphorical sense whatsoever. This truth, however, does not invalidate the typicalness of the facts set forth: the people of Christ, in whom He is born on earth, are, like Him, themselves caught away into Heaven, through the medium of suffering and death, from Satans plots for their destruction.
Manifold interpretations of the words, as referring to the Christ born of the Church, from Bede onward, see in Dsterdieck, p. 400, De Wette, p. 128 (Christians; Constantine the Great: the Nicene confession; the Roman Church; Christianity, etc.).
[These words (who is to shepherdize all the nations, etc.), cited verbatim from the LXX. of the Messianic Psalms 2, and preceded by the of personal identification, leave no possibility of doubt who was here intended. The man-child is the Lord Jesus Christ, and none other. Alford. See also the abstract of Auberlen, p. 243, and the Add. Notr. p. 250sq.E. R. C.]
And her child was caught away.Sub specie terni, the sufferings of Christ, as instigated by Satan, down to His very death upon the cross, are a baffled machination, resulting in the consummationopposite to that desiredof His exaltation to the Throne of God. De Wette pertinently cites the words of Jesus (Joh 14:30): The prince of this world hath nothing in Me. Mark also his comment on the absurd interpretation of Grotius concerning the translation of Christ, on the hypothesis that the Roman Church is meant. On the same hypothesis of a mystical birth of Christ, Lyra spoke of the liberation of the Church, and Eichhorn of its growth. The fact that the actual history of the humiliation and exaltation of Jesus (hence also the fact of the Ascension) underlies the Apocalyptic description, is vainly denied by Dsterdieck; he himself subsequently admits it, in a certain degree, by saying that the historical actuality serves merely as a firm, concrete substratum for the idea.
Rev 12:6. And [Lange: But] the woman fled into the wilderness.On the repetition of this passage, see above. The wilderness becomes a place in the heavenly region itself by its perfect symbolico-ideal import: heroic abnegation of the world. On the term designating the period of retirement in the wilderness, see Symbolism of Numbers in the Introduction. Also De Wette, p. 121. In commenting on the wilderness, exegetes have referred to the wandering of Israel through the wilderness; the sojourn of Elijah in the wilderness; the flight of the parents of Jesus to Egypt; withdrawal from the world and renunciation of it; the flight of the Christians into the wilderness; the flight of the Christians to Pella, etc. Even waste-lying Palestine is mentioned (by Hofmann) as the wilderness in which the Woman, who is still fleeing, will one day arrive (!).
De Wette calls the interpretation of the flight as the flight of the Christians into the wilderness, pettily literala comment which is ungrounded, since in that flight, the external fact originally coincided with its inner significanceas was the case in regard to Christs sojourn in the wilderness.
[Auberlen supports his view that by the wilderness is meant the heathen world (see p. 243), by considerations such as the following: It is by flight that the Woman comes into the wilderness. If we remark whence she flies, we shall also find whither. It is before the persecutions of the Devil, through Herod, and in general through the Jews. But whither does she fly?. . Undoubtedly from the Jews to the heathens. Therefore it is that, in this passage, the attribute given to Christ elsewhere, that He will rule the heathen with an iron sceptre (Rev 2:27; Rev 19:5; Psa 2:9), is expressly mentioned. From the time of His ascension, the heathen are given to Him as His field; thither His Church, persecuted by the Jews, takes her refuge (from Acts 8. onwards). There God has prepared a place for her to be sheltered and nourished This significationis corroborated by the prophetic usus loquendi. We know that Canaan, as the seat of all temporal and spiritual blessings of God, is called the land of glory, of pleasantness, etc. (Jer 3:19; Eze 20:6; Eze 20:15; Dan 11:16; Dan 11:41; Dan 8:9). The land of the heathen, on the contrary, is a wilderness, because forsaken by the fullness of Divine life and strength. As God dwells and reveals Himself in the land of glory, the demons dwell in the wilderness (Mat 12:43; Mar 1:13; Lev 16:21-22; Isa 34:14); they are the rulers and princes of the heathen world (1Co 10:20; Rev 9:20). Hence, when Israel is exiled to Babylon, it is said to be in the wilderness (Isa 40:3; Isa 41:17-19; Isa 42:10-12; Isa 43:19-20, etc.E. R. C.]
Rev 12:7-12. Expulsion of Satan from the Heaven of the spiritual Church, the communion of saints.
The assumption that the Dragon pursued the Child even to the Throne of God, and that this was the cause of the conflict that arose in Heaven (Eichhorn, Herder, De Wette, Stern), is not only utterly without foundation in the context, but is also incompatible with what is stated in Rev 12:5 (Dsterdieck). The commentator from whom we have just quoted, will, however, listen to no conjectures as to the signification of this Heaven, and calls even Bedes explanation (which is also that of Primasius and others), in ecclesia, allegorical interpretation.
Rev 12:7. War in the Heaven.Treatises on the difficult reading which we meet with here, see in De Wette (p. 131; Dsterd., p. 404). [Sea Text. and Gram.E. R. C.]
Michael.We read this as in apposition to the war in Heaven. The war in Heaven is the eternal, holy, and warlike opposition against the Satanic Kingdom; an opposition represented by Michael, the warlike form of Christ, a form which also manifests itself in His Church as the spirit of discipline.
The view of Vitringa, of which Hengstenberg is an earnest advocate, that Michael is not an Angel (according to Dan 10:13; Dan 12:1, the guardian Angel of the Old Testament people of God; according to Judges 9, an Archangel), but Christ Himself, or, as Hengstenberg prefers to say, the Logossuffers shipwreck at the very outsetirrespective of the passage Judges 9, where the express title , according to Hengstenberg, no more contains a proof against the divinity of Michael than the utterance of our Lord, Joh 14:28, bears testimony against the homousia of the Sonin the impossibility of regarding the Michael of Rev 12:7 and the Child of Rev 12:5 as one and the same person (Dsterd.). Within the range of sensuous apperception this is, undoubtedly, impossible; in Christology, however, Christ can, at the same time, be a child, in Bethlehem, and the Son of God, in universal relations and manifestations. We take it that Michael, in accordance with the difficult reading, is, from the outset, Christ in warlike array against Satan, and that hence it is that the angels of Michael are appointed to be angels of war against the Kingdom of Darkness. The very designation of Michael in Jewish Theology as the , or advocate of the pious, in opposition to the , is expressive of the assumption that Michael is no mere angel. [See foot-note, p. 241.E. R. C.]
Rev 12:8. Hofmann, Ebrard and Auberlen preposterously dogmatize on this verse, maintaining that it presents the idea that until then (until the Ascension of Christ, Rev 12:5, Auberlen [see pp. 243 sq.]; during the whole world-period, from the Ascension, Ebrard) Satan and his angels have really had their place in Heaven. In the presentation of this view, reference is had to the appearance of Satan before the Lord, Job 1, in the sense of an historical fact, and from Zechariah 3 it is shown that Satans occupation in Heaven is that of accusing (Dsterd). Ebrard even assumes that during the whole world-period of the 1260 days, Satan has a right to appear before God as the accuser of the people of Israel, etc., p. 365.
We have already called attention to the conciseness of the expression: they prevailed not; neither was their place (as a permanent position) found any more in the Heaven.
Rev 12:9. And the great Dragon was thrown down [Lange: cast out], etc.A solemn and comprehensive expression, declaratory of the expulsion of Satan, hence also of his lying arts and motives, from the Church of God, the kernel of humanity. First, the symbolical term: the ancient serpent. The great Dragon, as the mortal enemy of Christ, long ago began his murderous sport as the ancient serpent. The serpent of Paradise has become the great Hell-dragon. And, similarly, in accordance with his true essence, the fiend has, from being the Devil, or slanderer and accuser of mankind, become its unmasked foe, Satan. Although known in, and cast out from, Heaven under these titles, he resumes his old courses in the world as the seducer of the whole world. In antithesis to the holy kernel of the Church of God, he now becomes, more truly than ever, the seducer of the world.
He was thrown down unto the earth.That is, not out of the cloud-heaven upon the terrestrial globe, but out of the inner Church upon the external Church and the ecclesiastico-political institution. It is a truth supported by historical data, that the antithesis of the external Church to the inner spiritual Church of faith has, in many impure, egotistical organs of the former, been the cause of the more perfect development of the hypocritical world-spirit in hierarchical and sectarian forms. The second clause of the sentence, therefore:
And his angels were thrown down with him, must not be regarded as relating purely to demonic powers of the other world. The declaration concerning the angel of Satan, Who buffeted the apostle Paul [2Co 12:7], is suggestive of the hatred of Jewish or Judaizing fanaticism; and such fanaticism was also at work in the rise of the synagogues of Satan, of which the Apocalyptist speaks.
Rev 12:10-12. The song of triumph over the liberation of the invisible Church, the communion of saints, from the deceptive arts of Satan and his angels.This song is expressive of the great contrast betwixt the inner and the external Churcha contrast as great as that between Heaven and earth, nay, between wheat and tares, though, notwithstanding it, the Church in its totality continues to be a unitous organic phenomenon until the end of the world. Hail to the one! Woe to the other!
Rev 12:10. Now is come () the salvation and the power and the Kingdom of [Lange: with] our God.These words, difficult in an exegetical point of view, are explained by the assumption of a traditional antithesis. In this holy region, which is purged from all Satanic works, but one salvation is known, which, as principial and final , is with God alone. Here, therefore, there is no condition of the forgiveness of sins, or of the going home to the Father through human mediation. Here the mighty rule of God alone prevails, and the Church is purely and alone His Kingdom, in which the authority of no other ruler is of any account. The rule of the Divine authority, however, is mediated singly and only by the pure and infallible mighty rule of Christ.
For the accuser () of our brethren is thrown down.Satan is, on the one hand, the seducer, of the natural life to levity by the sophism, that sin is nothing, and on the other hand, the accuser of the spiritual life, and the deluder into melancholy, by the sophism, that sin is unpardonable; in both aspects, he is the calumniator of man before God, in the declaration that man is worthless to the very core. As seducer, he endeavors to rule in the world; as accuser, he seeks dominion in the Church. So long as mens consciences are unperfected (Heb 9:9; Heb 9:14), so long are they in fear of death (Heb 2:14-15); and just so long are they not free from the power of the accuser, as exercised through hierarchs and sectarian heads of parties. If, however, the accuser be but decidedly cast out of the sanctuary by means of the perfect peace of the reconciliation, then is salvation found here alone with God, and all the might of hypocrites influenced by Satan is here broken. But how has this Divine freedom in the peace of God been brought about?
Rev 12:11. They conquered him on account of [Lange: by virtue of] the blood of the Lamb.The appropriation of the reconciliation in the death of Christ was, at the same time, a being baptized, with Him, into His death, resulting in their joyful confession of Him. [Alford: They conquered by virtue of that blood having been shed; not as in E. V., by the blood, as if had been with the genitive. The meaning is far more significant; their victory over Satan was grounded in, was a consequence of, His having shed His precious blood; without that, the adversarys charges against them would have been unanswerable. It is remarkable, that the rabbinical books give a tradition that Satan accuses men all days of the year, except on the day of Atonement. Vajikra Rabba, 21, fol. 164. 3, in Schttgen.E. R. C.]
The word of their testimony. In the consistent bearing of this testimony, they loved not their life unto death; they were, in respect of the posture of their hearts, ideal martyrs, even though real martyrdom should not have been required of them. That the Heaven on earth is here intended throughout, is evident from the fact that the great voice in Heaven says: The accuser of our brethren is thrown down. Thus do the blessed in the Heaven beyond, speak of the sealed in this present world.
Interpretations of the heavenly brethren: As the Angels; the twenty-four Elders; the perfected saints in the other world. According to Ebrard, the voice proceeds from the whole number of individual Israelites who are converted throughout the period of the 1260 days; by the brethren in this world, he understands Israel as converted at the end of the world-period.
Rev 12:12. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens.Significant plural. The dwellers in the Heaven beyond this life, as well as the dwellers in the Heaven in this life. Dsterdieck combats the declaration of Hengstenberg, that the saints on earth are included in this apostrophe (in accordance with Php 3:20; Eph 2:6). The former commentator regards the inhabitants of Heaven as proleptically celebrating the victory, yet future, of their brethren. This explanation is foreign to the context, and does not hold fast the antithesis.
Woe to the earth and the sea.Even here Bengel looks upon earth and sea as significant of Asia and Europe. Dsterdieck utterly rejects every allegorical interpretation, and thus the two unreconciled propositions stand contrasted: woe to the earth (with the Accusative)Satan is made a conquered foe even for believers on earth [Dsterdiecks comment on Rev 12:11.Tr.]20 If the terrestrial orb were meant, in its merely literal sense, the mention of the sea would be superfluous. Hengstenberg rightly refers the sea to the sea of nations, and thus, here also, a contrast to it is formed by the earth as the theocratic institution and order, as ecclesiastical and, relatively, ecclesiastico-political authority.
The devil is come down unto you.Even within the sphere of the earth there is an above and a below. The devil, after being cast down, makes pretence of a voluntary descent, as a sort of Mentor, to the pastors of the earth and the agitators of the sea.
Having great anger.The animosity of the kingdom of darkness and its prince is heightened by the presentiment of its imminent judgmenta presentiment conditioned by the sense of its vileness.
Little time.We cannot identify with , as if the whole time from the Dragons expulsion from Heaven to the coming of the judgment were intended, as the time of Anti-christ, or, according to Bengel, the period from the year 947 to 1836. The of Satan do not run through the whole Chronos of the Church of the cross; they emerge from time to time only, as particular moments of apparent triumph for the kingdom of darkness, even though Satanic temptations pervade all times; see Luk 22:53. Here, therefore, the kingdom of darkness, in its deepest demonic foundation, as represented by Satan himself and his angels, appears first as an ultramundane spiritual kingdomwhich, however, in its onslaughts against the Kingdom of God and His Anointed, begins, in the centre of the Theocracy in this world, as, subsequently, in the periphery of the Church, to belong to this world. Satan already has his instruments in this world, as prefigured by his organs in the specific Antichristian sphere, the Beast out of the sea and the Beast from the earth. The attributes of this hellish triad are attributes of falsehood and hypocrisy. The Dragon has seven heads, the sea-Beast has seven heads; and whilst the plurality of heads announces the monster, the septenary, as holy, seems to cover this drawback; it is the number of holy days works, promissory of an entrance upon the eternal Sabbath, the new Paradise. In still more hypocritical guise, the Beast from the earth appears; he has two horns like the lamb. This is the pseudo-Christian figure which comes to the aid of the Antichristian shape, by means of which the latter succeeds in obtaining perfect apparent victory. The consummate hypocrisy of this second Beast forms a contrast to the insolent boldness of the Beast out of the sea. The ten horns of Satan are themselves indicative of complete earthly world-power, as well as the ten horns of the first Beast; but the former wears the crowns, a sacred seven, with the semblance of legitimacy, upon his heads, whilst the Beast has ten crowns, which he boldly sets upon his horns, as manifest signs of his usurped revolutionary power. This hellish triad agree, however, in blasphemous speech; even the Lamb speaks as a Dragon.21
[ADDITIONAL NOTE ON THE SECTION]
By the American Editor
[In the judgment of the writer, this Section is divisible into two parts. The first, Rev 11:15-18, presents the doxology of the heavenly host22 in view of the events of the seventh and last Trumpet, which events are immediately in order to the establishment of the Millennial Kingdom, and issue in that establishment. At the first blast of the Trumpet this doxology is begun. The second part, Rev 11:19 to Rev 12:12, forms the introduction to the development of the events of the Trumpet. Rev 11:19, like the preceding doxology, may indicate purely a Heaven-scene in which, under circumstances of inexpressible grandeur, the Divine purposes in fulfillment of the promises of the Covenant will be unveiled to the inhabitants of Heaven; or it may betoken a fearful convulsion, shaking Heaven and Earth, which will inaugurate, and perhaps be continued throughout, the period of this Trumpet.
The Woman and the Dragon
The writer adopts the view, that the Woman symbolizes the True Church; and the Dragon, Satan, or more probably the host of evil spirits under the leadership of Satan (possibly one-third of the original number of blessed spirits, Rev 12:4). He regards them as Classical Symbols (see p. 146), as also the male Son of Rev 12:5, representing the (see below). He cannot adopt the conclusion that the vision is retrogressive. This seems to be forbidden by the phraseology of the Apocalyptist. There is here no strong disjunctive ( ) as in the beginning of the account of the intercalated vision of Revelation 7, not even the secondary disjunctive (see Add. Note, p. 193; and footnotes, pp. 150, 190); the whole narrative flows on as though the Seer were describing one continuous scene. And not only so, but there is nothing to require an unannounced and unprecedented break in the description at this point, and still further, as will appear, the idea that the actions ascribed to these symbols occurred after the blowing of the seventh Trumpet gives a unity to the whole description unattainable on any other hypothesis.
As to the adornment of the Woman, the writer adopts the general view set forth by Lange (pp. 237, 246), understanding, however, by the crown of twelve stars the dignified position and completeness of her ministers. (On the number twelve, see p. 15; and for an inspired exposition of the stars, Rev 1:20.) He has formed no decided opinion as to what is symbolized by the seven crowned heads and the ten horns of the Dragon. He would suggest, however, that this symbolization may have been employed because of the relation of Satan to the seven-headed and ten-horned Wild Beast (the World-power, developing in seven Empires, the last being divided into ten kingdoms, see p. 272), which he inspires, which is his earthly representative and instrument. On this hypothesis, the Dragon appropriately wears the crowns on all his heads, as the one inspirer and ruler of all; but the Wild-beast is introduced as wearing the crowns upon his horns (Rev 13:1) as indicative of the time of his appearance on the Apocalyptic platform.
By the male Son, the writer understands the , who, with Christ, their Elder Brother and Head, are to rule all nations with an iron sceptre (comp. Rev 2:26-27; Rev 3:21; Rev 20:4; Rev 20:6; Mat 19:28; Luk 22:29-30; 1Co 6:3; see also Add. Note, p. 193). In one point of view (exclusive of Christ), this body constitutes the Bride of the Lamb, and is so symbolized, Rev 21:2; Rev 21:9; but in another (as forming one body with Christa body of which He is the Head, the Root, the King, the Elder Brother, the Husband) it may appropriately be styled the male Son. The travail of the Woman commenced with the Advent of Jesus, and from that time until the present the Dragon has continually stood before her striving to destroy her offspring, which continually has been caught away from his grasp to the Throne of God. She is brought into the field of Apocalyptic vision in the last time, when her long labor is near its end. John beheld the completion of the birth, the last assault of the Dragon, and the completed deliverance of the male Son from his attacks. Then the completed body, the , the 144,000, delivered from Satan and the woe that is to come upon them that dwell upon the Earth, stand in safety, with their Head, on Mount Zion (comp. Rev 12:5; Rev 12:12; Luk 21:35-36; Rev 3:10; Rev 7:4; Rev 7:14; Rev 14:1-5; see also Note on the Great Tribulation, pp. 191 sq., and Add. Note, p. 193).23
The War in Heaven the writer also refers to the period of the seventh Trumpet. It may, indeed, have begun on, or before, the Ascension of Jesus; but for reasons already given, we must conclude, that it comes into the view of the Seer as waged to its completion under this Trumpet. As additional reasons for this opinion may be urged the following: 1. The declaration concerning the Dragon following his dejection, he knoweth that he hath little time, Rev 12:12; the time accorded could not have been characterized as little if the dejection occurred at either the Ascension of our Lord or the establishment of Christianity under Constantine. 2. The declaration that the woe following the dejection should be visited upon the Earth. This seems to point to the period of the great tribulation (see above; and also 2Th 2:8-13, comp. with Mat 24:21-24, in which the last and most violent outburst of Satanic malice is directly connected with the great tribulation). The writer adopts in the main the views of Auberlen as to the nature and place of demons; holding, however, that the dejection is still future; that when it takes place, the hosts of evil spirits being concentrated on Earth, the fulfillment of the last quoted prophecies, which lie parallel with the remaining portions of this vision, will begin.
By the flight of the Woman into the Wilderness, the writer thinks it probable, is intended the removal of the vital Church to some earthly retreat of seclusion and safety. By the victory of Rev 12:11 he understands not that of Michael, but the victory of the Saints whom the Dragon persecuted and accused.E. R. C.]
Footnotes:
[1]Rev 12:2. The reading is probably an alteration of the original reading. [Alf., Treg. and Tisch. read with . A. P.; Tisch. (8th Ed.), Lach. (maj.), prefix with . C.; Tisch. (1859), Lach. (min.), Treg, omit with A. B*. P.; Alf. brackets; Lach. reads with C.; B*. gives .E. R. C.]
[2]Rev 12:4. The imperfect is probably an alteration. [The reading is unquestioned.E. R. C.]
[3]Rev 12:5. Codd. A. C. give the reading instead of . [So Crit. Eds. generally. . and B*. give (B*. ).E. R. C.]
[4]Rev 12:6. . [Alf. and Tisch. give with . A. B*. P., etc.; Rec. Lach. and Treg., omit with C. 1, etc.E. R. C]
[5]Rev 12:6. [Crit. Eds. give with . A. C P.; B*. reads .E. R. C.]
[6]Rev 12:6. [Lach. and Alf. give with A. P.; Gb. and Tisch. (1859), with B*.; Treg. and Tisch. (8th Ed.), with . C. For the . T. use of with the Ind. Pres, see Winer, 4, par. 3.E. R. C.]
[7]Rev 12:7. [We follow the best authenticated, although difficult and venturesome reading . [Crit. Eds. give with . A. B*. C. P., Gb, Sz, Lach, Tisch. (1859), Treg. prefix with A. C P.; Tisch. (8th Ed.), omits with . B*.; Alf. brackets. Winer ( 44, 4) confesses his inability to explain the construction, and thinks it probable that there is a corruption of the text. Alford comments: The construction is remarkable, but may easily be explained as one compounded of () M. . (in which case the depends on the as in Act 10:25) and M. . . In the next clause it passes into this latter Lillie, assuming the correctness of the text ( ) prefers to construe M. . as absolute nominatives, with the participle of the substantive verb understood. This gives a construction equivalent to the one adopted above. For other explanations see Winer and Lillie.E. R. C.]
[8]Rev 12:10. There is an unimportant difference between and . [Alf. and Tisch. read the latter with A. P.; Treg, the former with . B* C.E. R. C.]
[9]Rev 12:12. The reading is a gloss. [It is supported only by 1.E. R. C.]
[10]The Seer seems to repeat himself in Rev 12:14, the flight into the wilderness being again depicted there. But in this very fact, the architectonics of the Book may be seen. Here, in Rev 12:9, we have the Heaven-picture; in Rev 12:14, the Earth-picture.
[11]In the Text (see Rev 12:12 and note 17) our author properly omits these words.E. R. C.
[12] [Scriptural Angelology]
[Stuart gives, in the Appendix of his Commentary on the Apocalypse, an elaborate Excursus on this subject, of which the following is an abstract.
I. Good Angels
1. They are very numerous, Dan 7:10; Psa 68:17; 2Ki 6:16-17; Heb 12:22; Mat 26:53; Judges 14; Rev 5:11.
2. They accompany the Divine Majesty and the Saviour, and take part in all the peculiarly glorious displays which they make, either in the way of mercy or of judgment. (1). At the giving of the Law, Deu 33:2; Psa 68:17; Heb 2:2; Act 7:53; Gal 3:19. (2). At the destruction of Jerusalem, Mat 24:30-31. (3). At the final judgment, Mat 13:39-41; Mat 25:31; 1Th 4:16; 2Th 1:7-9.
3. They are guardians(1). Of the Lord Jesus, Luk 1:11-20; Luk 1:26-38 : Mat 1:20-21; Mat 2:13; Mat 2:19-20; Mat 4:11; Joh 1:51; Luk 22:43; Mat 28:2-7; Mar 16:5-7; Act 1:10-11. (2). Of individuals, Mat 18:10; Gen 32:1; 2Ki 6:17; Psa 34:7; Act 12:7-15; Heb 1:14. (3). Of nations and kingdoms, Exo 14:19; Exo 23:20; Exo 33:2; Num 20:16; Num 22:22-35; Jos 5:13; Isa 63:9; Dan 10:5-13; Dan 10:20-21; Dan 11:1; Zec 1:8-14; Zec 3:1-2; Zec 12:1; Judges 9. From all this it is apparent that not only the Jews but other nationsthat not only Jesus and the saints, but little children have their guardian angels.
4. They are employed as special ministers for executing Divine justice. See many of the preceding passages; also Gen 19:1-23. comp. with Rev 18:1-2; Exo 12:23; Jos 5:13-14; 2Sa 24:16-17; 2Ki 19:35; Act 12:23; Revelation 7-11; Revelation 16.
5. They seem to watch over and govern the different elements, Rev 7:1-2; Rev 14:18; Rev 16:5, (prob. 7); Rev 19:17; (also probably Psa 104:4; Heb 1:7).
6. They were regarded as intercessors, Job 33:23; Zec 1:12-13. In Rev 8:3 an Angel takes his station by the altar in Heaven, and presents much incense . with the prayers of all saints. (He endeavors to show, by copious extracts from Jewish and contemporary Christian writings, that John is not singular in his alleged meaning in Rev 8:3. This view, be it observed, does not involve the utterly unscriptural idea that Angels may themselves be invoked.)
II. Evil Angels
1. These are numerous, Mat 25:41; Mat 12:26; Mar 5:9.
2. They were originally good, but fell from their first estate, 2Pe 2:4; Judges 6.
3. One is more distinctly marked and made very prominent. He is called (1). Satan (), the adversary, Job 1:6-12; Job 2:1-7; 1Ch 21:1; Zec 3:1-2; Mat 12:26; Mar 4:15; Luk 22:3; Act 5:3; Rom 16:20, etc. (2). The Tempter, Mat 4:1-11; Mat 13:19; Luk 22:3; Luk 22:53; Act 5:3; 1Co 7:5; 1Th 3:5; 2Co 11:3; Rev 12:9; Rev 20:2; Rev 20:8; Rev 20:10. (3). The Destroyer (), Rev 9:11. (4). The Devil ( ), the accuser, calumniator. This designation is too frequent to need references.
4. The extent of Satans power, together with that of other evil spirits (demons), is very great, 2Co 4:4; Joh 12:31; Joh 14:30; Eph 6:12; Col 1:13; Rev 12:17; Rev 20:8. (This extensive influence is the result of corruption in men, rather than of any irresistible power in Satan, Jam 4:7; 1Pe 5:8-9; Eph 4:27.)
5. Place of evil spirits before the general judgment. (1). The Abyss. This word means without bottom, unfathomable. The idea of the Hebrews respecting it was that of a deep, dark pit or chasm, which was, or might be, closed up, and where darkness perpetually reigned; hence Judges 6, angels kept in perpetual chains under darkness, i. e., in the deep and dark abyss. See also 2Pe 2:4; Luk 8:31; Rev 9:1; Rev 9:11; Rev 17:8; Rev 20:1-3 (this, Rev 12:9, is styled ). (2). Deserts, Isa 13:21; Isa 34:14; Rev 18:2; Mat 12:43. (3). The air, Eph 2:2; Eph 6:12.
6. They are sometimes employed as executioners of Divine justice or chastisement, Job 1:2; 1Ki 22:21-23; 1Co 5:5; 1Ti 1:20.
The Excursus concludes with the following: Is angelic interposition unworthy of the Godhead? What then are the laws of nature, and all the intermediate agencies by which the Maker of Heaven and earth carries on His designs and accomplishes His purposes? On the other hand, I can conceive of no more magnificent and ennobling view of the Creator and Lord of all things, than that which regards Him as delighting to multiply, even to an almost boundles extent, beings made in His own image, and therefore rational, and moral, and immortal, like Himself. How different from representing Him as the Master of a magnificent puppet-show, all of which He manages by merely pulling the wires with His own hands! To make Him the only real agent in the universe, and all else as mere passive recipients of His influence, is to take from Him the glory that results from the creation of numberless beings in His own imagebeings which reflect the brightness of their great Original. It is this intelligent and rational creation in which John lives, moves, thinks, and speaks. The universe, as viewed by him, is filled with ministers swift to do Jehovahs will. They stand before His throne; they preside over nations; they guide the sun in his shining course; the moon and stars send forth radiance at their bidding; the very elements are watched over by them; even infants are committed to the guidance of presence-angels; and the Angel of the Lord encampeth round about all that fear Him. Such is the Universe, which the God Who is, and was, and is to come has created and governs; and amid the contemplation of productions and arrangements such as these, John wrote the glowing pages of the Apocalypse.E. R. C.]
[13]Lord distinguishes between the great Dragon of Rev 12:9, and the great red Dragon of Rev 12:6, identifying the former with Satan.E. R. C.
[14][Glasgow: The pagan empire occupied the place and character of all the heads developed and gone. Various enumerations of them (the heads) have been propounded. That which bears most verisimilitude is: 1. Egypt2. Palestine or Arabia (Amalek, Idumea, etc.) 3. Assyria 4. Babylon 5. Persia 6. Yavan, or Hellas, dating from Alexanders conquest of Persia, B. C. 331, and comprehending Greece and Rome, until Paganism fell, and which, when it became complete, assumed the nature and received the name of Dragon. 7. Rome, which began first with Constantine, who adopted Byzantium as his capitol, B. C. 329, and thus led the way to the rise of that new or second Roman empire, called , the monster with seven heads (the first six represented by the last) and ten horns. (See footnote, p. 272.)E. R. C.
[15]Although this distinguished author cannot be classed with English and American commentators, it is deemed proper here to present an abstract of his views.E. R. C.
[16]Auberlen holds that the history of Satan and evil spirits consists of an ever deeper downfall, in four gradations or periods. The first extends to the first coming of Christ (Rev 12:8 () presupposes that hitherto, up to the ascension of Christ, the demons were in Heaven like the other angels, and that like them, they influenced Earth from their abodes in Heaven, in which there are many mansions. See Job 1:6; Job 2:1; 1Ki 22:19-22; Zec 3:1-2). The second period is from Christ to the commencement of the Millennium; then Satan is cast out of Heaven to earth, where he exercises yet free power The third period embraces the millennium. The enemy is bound; and as he was cast out of Heaven to Earth, he is now cast into the bottomless pit [pit of the Abyss] and rendered harmless, Rev 20:1-3. After having been let loose for a little while, he is, fourthly, judged and cast for ever and ever into the lake of fire (Rev 20:7-10; Mat 25:41; 1Co 6:3). Thus the whole history which the Apocalypse gives of Satan, is a continual succession of his being cast out, hurled down (, Rev 12:9; Rev 20:3-10).E. R. C.]
[17]Special comments are reserved for the Add. Note, p. 250 sq.E. R. C.]
[18]See note 29, p. 275; and foot-note on p. 276.E.R.C.]
[19]Witchs Sabbath (Hexensabbath): the festive conventicle of witches and spirits. for the indulgence of wild uproar and dissolute mirth. Sanders Wrterbuch.Tr.]
[20][The precise position of Dsterdieck is, that Rev 12:11 contains a proleptical celebration of the future victory of earthly believers, whilst Rev 12:12 rather reverts to the actual condition of affairs, proclaiming joy to the Heavens and the dwellers therein, on account of the victory over the Dragon; but woe to the earth and all its inhabitantseven to believers, since it is theirs now to make good the triumph proleptically rejoiced over, and to fight the raging Dragon, even to the death.The contrast between the two propositions, therefore, is not quite so irreconcilable as would appear from Dr. Langes statement of the case.Tr.]
[21]The hypothesis earlier advanced by Bleek, to the effect that the Book originally closed with Rev 40, has since been declared by himself to be untenable (Apok., p. 120; Beitrge, p. 81). This dispatches the note in Hengstenberg I., p. 589.
[22]For the writers views concerning the Elders see foot-note to p. 152,E. R. C.]
[23][An objection to the interpretation given above may arise in the minds of some from the fact, that after the dejection of the Dragon to Earth, he is represented as making war with the remnant of the Womans seed, Rev 12:17. The writer will here only remark, that in his mind there is a growing conviction that the does not include all true Christians, but that it consists of a select portion of themthe specially faithful. He regards Rev 12:17 ( ) as strongly confirmative of this view. See Add. Notes, pp. 193 and 291.E. R. C.]
[24]The notation of Lange and of Critical Editors of the Greek Testament is here adopted. That which is here styled Rev 12:18 is the first clause of Rev 13:1 of the English Version. See Note 7 above.E. R. C.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
This Chapter opens with the History of the Church, from the Beginning. Here is represented by Figure, that Church, brought forth, and immediately persecuted. A Dragon stands ready to devour. She is preserved in the Wilderness. To these follow an Account of War in Heaven, with the Consequences.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
(1) And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: (2) And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. (3) And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. (4) And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. (5) And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. (6) And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.
We cannot hesitate a moment, under divine teaching, to apprehend what was intended from this figurative representation. The prophecy all along relates to the Church. When the Son of God first appeared to John, to give him the revelation contained in this, book, it was not to tell him of things past; but to show to his servant, things which should be hereafter. Rev 1:1 . Hence, therefore, the birth of this man child could not be, as some have thought, to represent the birth of Christ, for that had long before taken place; but of the Church. The Lord is here beginning again the same subject as before; only now, the Lord will make a new representation of the same truths, under a different form. He opens, therefore, with representing Zion bringing forth the Church, which is called a great wonder in heaven. And a wonder indeed, which angels desire to look into. Here is a woman represented, as clothed with the sun. Zion clothed with Christ her Husband, the Sun of Righteousness. Having put, on Christ, made comely in his comeliness, and shining in his robes of salvation. The moon, which represented the earth, under her feet, to intimate, that now clothed with Christ, she had risen above all the dying, perishing things here below; and became wholly engaged with the glories of her Lord. And, to show her coronation with Christ her husband, she hath a coronet of twelve stars upon her head. Perhaps an allusion also to the adorning of the head and heart with the bright light of the teaching of the twelve Apostles.
The fruitfulness of the Church is blessedly set forth, under this figure, of her being with child; for, it is said of Zion, that as soon as she travailed she brought forth; before her pains came, she was delivered of a man child! Isa 66:7 . Reader! what a sweet thought ariseth from hence. The travailing pains of the soul, are sure tokens of soul-deliverance. The womb of grace, like the womb of nature is sure to bring forth souls unto God. For thus graciously speaks the Lord. Shall I bring to the birth and not cause to bring forth? Shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb, saith thy God? Isa 66:9 . And Reader! what saith the Lord concerning the register of Zion’s children? Yea, what saith the Lord, concerning Zion’s King, as well as his brethren? The Lord shall count, when he writeth up the people, that this man (this God-Man) was born there! Psa 87:5-6 .
This other wonder, of a great red dragon in heaven, (that is, in the Church, see Rev 21:1-3 ) meaning the devil, and is so called in verse 9. The seven heads, and ten horns, with seven crowns, of this dragon, defines the place, and authority of this beast, And, that we might not err in application, to whom it belongs, we read in the opening of the next Chapter, that the dragon gave his power and his seat to the beast, which arose out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. Now, as all this is figurative of kingdoms, so the description can suit none but Rome. For that empire is notoriously known to stand upon seven mountains. The differences of the crowns, in one instance being seven, and in the other ten, perhaps may be, from three other kingdoms being since added to the empire, Rev 13:1-2 .
The tail of this dragon drawing the third part of the stars after him, implies, (what stars always, when figuratively used in scripture mean, principalities and powers,) that this beast had such influence with certain great ones of the earth, to draw them after him to his devilish policy. So that he got into alliance with him the sovereigns of the earth. And this was eminently manifested, when the Roman empire was heathen. And in the after periods, when professing christianity under the emperor Constantine, still the influence of the dragon continued. The devil, by turning Christian, found that policy more profitable than even heathenism; for he never more artfully carries on his persecutions against true believers, than when he transforms himself into an angel of light. Oh! what multitudes hath his tail drawn after him, from that hour to the present, in persuading men to profess the knowledge and faith of Christ, while denying his eternal power and Godhead?
I beg the Reader to notice what is said of the Church bringing forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. Let not the Reader suppose, that this meant Christ; for Christ himself is here showing his servant John, by this figure, the bringing forth of the Church, after his return to glory, and during the period of the Roman government while heathen. The ruling all nations, implied the universal dominion of Christ’s Church, by virtue of her union with her Lord, as set forth: Psa 2 . So Christ promised his Church in his Epistle by John, to the Church at Thyatira. He that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron. Rev 2:26-27 . And such we know will be the event, when the seventh Angel shall sound the seventh trumpet; for then the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. Rev 11:15 . And we, saith the Church, shall reign on the earth. Rev 5:10 .
Some have thought, that this man child represented the emperor Constantine, and that the devil the dragon, stood to devour him as soon as born. I venture to believe not so. I humbly conceive, that the representation means the Church in general, yea, the whole body of Christ’s mystical members, whom the devil, in every individual instance, alike hates. The empire, by turning Christian under Constantine, did not a single atom promote the Lord’s glory, the Church’s interest. Yea, from the awful heresies, which soon after began to arise, the devil found occasion to carry on his diabolical purposes with greater advantage: Besides, the representation here made of the Church, clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and crowned with twelve stars, represents a more glorious state of the Church, than ever was, except in the first ages of the Gospel, when after Christ’s return to glory, and God the Holy Ghost had visibly come down, the whole body of Christ’s Church, were of one heart, and of one soul. This was the blessed age of the Church, when living upon Christ, professing to be saved wholly in his Person, blood, and righteousness, she might be truly said to be clothed with the sun; and from despising the earthly accommodations, and going about with their lives in their hands, the moon, which represented earthly things, might be said to be under their feet; and the words of the Apostles, and doctrines, as stars, crowning their whole lives and conversation. The Lord, therefore, in beginning the subject again, takes it up from this part, and is describing the history of his Church from John’s time downward, the better perhaps to prepare the Apostle’s mind for the events which were hereafter to follow.
The child being caught up, as soon as it was born, unto God, and to his throne, cannot be supposed to mean, taking the Church to heaven immediately on the birth; but rather, it is a beautiful confirmation of that blessed doctrine of grace, that at the new-birth of every child of God, the Lord’s people are made partakers of the divine nature, and have all things given them that pertain to life and godliness. God undertakes for them. And the God of all grace, who hath called them unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after they have suffered awhile, will perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle them. 2Pe 1:4-5 ; 1Pe 5:10 .
The wilderness, into which the woman, immediately on delivery, is said to have fled, is a further proof of the observation just made. The wilderness is this world, where, under wilderness dispensation, the Church is placed, during her time-state, from grace to glory. And hence the Church, in the Songs is represented, as coming up out of the wilderness leaning upon Christ her beloved. For no sooner is the Lord Jesus Christ known by the child of God, at the new birth, or regeneration, than everything here, becomes a wilderness, out of Christ. The Lord’s appointing the Church’s feeding in the wilderness, hath a reference to that sweet, but secret mercy, by which, even in times of famine, the Lord gives his chosen ones the bread of life, and the hidden manna, which none knoweth, saving him that receiveth. Say, ye hidden ones of my God, is it not so now? And will it not be so forever, till the Lord, who now feeds, in secret, will come to make known his people openly, Let the Reader observe what is said here, of the thousand two hundred and threescore days. Though no man hath ever yet been able to count those days, neither hath any man been as yet informed of God, when the date of them commenced, nor when they shall end; yet the Church, as is here said, is to be fed the whole time; while the Lord’s servants, his two witnesses, are to prophecy in sackcloth; and as long as the persecution of the Eastern, and Western, and all other heresies, shall remain. Reader! think what a sweet assurance this is! Look at this sixth verse again. In this wilderness, God himself hath prepared a table for his Church. And observe, it is said, that they should feed her there the whole period of years. Who are they that are to feed her? Surely God himself in his threefold character of Persons, will feed his people. His servants, the faithful ministers of his word and ordinances, shall feed her: yea, rather than his Church shall want bread, God will feed her from his very enemies table. Our God saith now, as He said of old, when his Israel was in a strait: Moab! saith God, let mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab; and he thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler, Isa 16:4 . As if the Lord had said, Moab! thou art a bitter foe to my Israel, and thou wouldest gladly sweep them off from the face of the earth: But I will overrule thee, as I did Balaam, to bless my people, when he would, at thy instance, have cursed them, Num 22:6 . Feed my out-casts; for though they are outcasts, they are my outcasts: house them, therefore, and take care of them, till I take them home, from all their wilderness straits and difficulties. Reader! do you know anything of this in your own history? Oh! it is sweet, it is precious, so to do. A child of God finds even straits and difficulties blessed, when thereby it affords opportunity for the Lord’s play of grace. These things make the wilderness; and the solitary place, and the desert, to rejoice and blossom, as the rose, Isa 35:1 .
I said just now, that concerning the period of those twelve hundred and sixty days, no man hath ever yet been able to count them, neither hath any man as yet been informed of God, when the date of them commenced, or when they shall end. And I beg very humbly of the Reader, to be on his guard against all the proud presumptuous publications of unenlightened carnal men on the subject, who have attempted and do attempt it. If, from the time of Daniel’s prophecy concerning those days, (see Dan 12:11 ) to the present hour, our God hath not thought proper to inform one of his redeemed servants, can it be supposed that the secret will be made known to men, who, though professing Christianity, know nothing more of it than in the name? There is somewhat very awful in my view, in the publications of such characters. But while I shudder at their presumption I am much more astonished that any of God’s dear children should be led away by them, to place any confidence in their calculations, untaught of God, as they most evidently are. The Word of God saith, that the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him. But we never read that the Lord unfolds, what for wise and gracious purposes, he for a time withholds from his people, to make known to his enemies. Very sure I am, that in the general, the Lord doth not lay open his prophecies further, than to deliver his predictions, and it is the province of his redeemed, to be found in humble waitings their accomplishments. And when any of his own would say as the Prophet did, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? the answer can hardly be expected more gracious, than was given to the man greatly beloved. Go thy way Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Dan 12:8-9 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
St. Michael and All Angels
Rev 12:7
Tradition says that the Feast of St. Michael and all Angels was first celebrated in the fourth century; but history states that its general observance did not occur until the eighth century, when it became an annual festival. Since then the Eastern Church has observed it on 8th November; the Anglican Church on 29th September.
The belief in angelic creatures has been a favourite article in the universal creed, but the most unequivocal and direct evidence of their existence and ministry is to be found in the Bible. Fifteen, at least, of the inspired writers have described them.
I. Of the vast number of the holy angels there is very little doubt. The Jewish Rabbis state that ‘nothing exists without an attendant angel, not even a blade of grass’. The great Aquinas asserts that ‘there are more angels than all substances together, celestial and terrestrial, animate and inanimate’. St Gregory calculates that ‘there are so many angels as there are elect’. Charles Kingsley maintains that ‘in every breeze there are living spirits, and God’s angels guide the thunder-clouds’. But what saith the Scripture? On its pages their number is variously stated. As Jacob was on his way back to his native land ‘the angels of God met him’. In his last benediction Moses speaks of ‘ten thousand’. When Elisha prayed that his servant’s eyes might be opened, he saw, and behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about’. In his vision of the Ancient of Days, Daniel beheld ‘thousand thousands ministering unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand standing before Him’. St. John did but echo this language in one of his gorgeous descriptions of Heaven when he described the angels as a vast assembly ‘which no man could number’. At the advent of Jesus there appeared ‘a multitude of the heavenly host,’ and one dark eventide, near Gethsemane, He declared to Peter that if He prayed to His Father He would give Him ‘more than twelve legions of angels’.
II. But all the angels are not of the same rank. Michael, for example, is represented in Scripture as being the next in rank to the Angel-Jehovah. In the Book of Daniel he is spoken of as ‘one of the chief princes’ in the celestial hierarchy, and in the Book of St. John as ‘the archangel’.
III. A word may now be added about the ministry of angels. They were ever the servants of Jesus during His incarnate life, as they are now in His glorified life; and sometimes God has employed them to punish the wicked. The Collect for this Festival speaks of the succour and defence which they may render to us, and it is well to remember that they are God’s ministers, and ‘do His pleasure’. ‘Babes,’ says Manton, ‘have their guardian angels’; and Bengel asserts that ‘the angels take care of the little ones; and so much the more the less they are able to protect themselves’; while Keble ascribes the ‘first soft smile’ of sleeping infancy to their presence, and, in his own poetic and beautiful manner, represents their smile as ‘a gleam from heaven’s deep sea of love’. And a Greater than these has said that the angels of the little ones do always behold the Face of their Father in Heaven.
It may be true that holy angels render service to unholy men; but, according to the Bible, they are specially ‘sent forth to do service for the sake of them that shall inherit salvation’. Nor do they forget the body which enshrined the soul. They guard its sleeping-place, as they did the sepulchre of Jesus, until the early dawn of the resurrection, when they will give up their trust.
References. XII. 7. R. E. Hutton, The Crown of Christ, p. 281. H. S. Holland, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlviii. p. 209. XII. 8. W. H. Barlow, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlix. p. 372.
Rev 12:10
The character in which he [Blake] abhors and renounces Satan is that of ‘the accuser of sins’. The monarch of hell might be the antagonist of many things accounted sacred, and might exercise wild volcanic forces in many inconvenient directions, and yet incur small blame from Blake; but it is a different matter when the same personage accuses others of sins…. There lies the fatal flaw in Satan. ‘Every religion that preaches vengeance for sin is the religion of the enemy and avenger, and not of the forgiver of sin; and their God is Satan named by the Divine name.’
W. M. Rossetti, upon Blake.
References. XII. 10. Expositor (4th Series), vol. v. p. 291; ibid. (6th Series), vol. viii. p. 327.
Rev 12:11
Bishop Daniel Wilson preached from this text at St Bride’s Church in 1846, on behalf of the Church
Missionary Society. He only paid one visit to England during his quarter of a century’s episcopate in India and his sermon was the chief event of his furlough. His heads were (1) the mighty foe, (2) the means of resisting him, (3) the issue of the conflict. At the close he used this expression: ‘Then may we humbly hope that being washed, covered, plunged, hidden in the blood of the Lamb, we shall pass as one of our commentators [Dr. Gill] sublimely speaks, “under the purple covering triumphantly to glory”.’
References. XII. 11. Spurgeon, vol. xxi. No. 1237; vol. xxxiv. No. 2043. XII. 12. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxv. No. 1502.
Rev 12:16
I like to see the earth helping the woman. I do not plead very earnestly for any particular church, but I would have a well-formed machinery fixed in every country ducts of irrigation through which the predominant religion, whatever it is, may diffuse its streams of Christian instruction.
Chalmers, in 1830.
Reference. XII. 16. Bishop Boyd-Carpenter, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lv. p. 337.
Rev 12:17
In his Holy War, Bunyan describes the various Captains of the Devil’s army against Mansoul, one of whom is ‘Captain Pope; his standard-bearer bare the red colours, and his scutcheon was the stake, the flame, and the good man in it’.
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
XI
PROPHETIC FORECASTS OF CHURCH HISTORY
Rev 12
This is by far the longest section in the book, extending from Rev 12:1-19:10 . Its interpretation will call for several chapters. It will be, or at least has proved to be, exceedingly difficult of interpretation, and before attempting the detailed exposition we must first consider the general purpose of the whole section. The entire section gives a prophetic forecast of the history of two opposing religious institutions. Each institution is symbolized by a woman who glides into a city; that is, the symbol changes from a woman to a city. The idea, as elsewhere throughout the book, comes from the Old Testament imagery, the general convocation of ancient Israel as represented by the prophets is a woman betrothed to Jehovah. Marital infidelity, or harlotry, on the part of this woman is defined to be a turning away from Jehovah to worship idols. That is, spiritual fornication means idolatry. Paul, in a measure, adopts this imagery in his letter to the Galatians (Gal 4:21-31 ), where in the form of an allegory he makes Hagar and Sarah represent the two covenants: Hagar, the bond woman, answering to the earthly Jerusalem, and Sarah, the true wife, answering to the heavenly Jerusalem.
We need not be surprised, therefore, to find in this symbolical, apocalyptic prophecy two women representing two opposing institutions, nor to find each woman, by a change of figure, becoming a city. Nor need we to stumble in the exposition if, bearing in mind the law of interpreting symbols, we be careful not to construe a symbol literally. A symbolic woman is not a real woman. As there was a real Hagar and a real Sarah, so there is some historical background which will be the analogue of every symbol in this book. For example, there was the historic Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, who led Israel to worship idols, else there would be no force in calling the temptress Jezebel who led the church at Thyatira astray in idolatry.
Let us, therefore, look at the two women in this section. The first is thus described: “And a great sign was seen in heaven, a woman arrayed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head was a crown of twelve stars” heaven here must not be understood as the final abode of the blest, but is the scene of the vision. The word “sign” (Greek ” semeion “) is further proof that the woman is not real. “Woman” symbolizes the church as an institution. “Arrayed with the sun” means that Christ is her light. The “moon under her feet” means that the Christ light is not direct but reflected, as the moon shines when the sun is absent. Note that her crown is not a symbol of sovereignty. It is a garland given as a reward to victors Greek ” stephanos ,” not ” diadema ,” a diadem worn by sovereigns. The twelve stars probably allude to the twelve apostles, in a teaching sense the foundation, as the twelve foundations of the Holy City (Rev 21:14 ), which itself helps to prove that the woman is the church she radiating with Christ’s light and the light of the apostles. In the second chapter of Ephesians we have the thought somewhat expressed (Eph 2:20 ) : “Being built upon the foundation of the apostles, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom each several building, fitly framed together, groweth into a holy temple in the Lord.” This woman, then, stands before us as pre-eminently a light-bearer of the light of Christ, of the light of the Apostles, and of the New Testament prophets. The fact that she has a garland on her head rather than a crown shows that when she appears she has won a victory. The picture reminds us of the description of the woman in Solomon’s Sons (Song of Son 6:10 ): “Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, terrible as an army with banners?” That is the woman.
The second woman is thus described (Rev 17:1-6 ): “And there came one of the seven angels that had the seven bowls, and spake with me, saying, Come hither, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot that sitteth upon many waters; with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and they that dwell in the earth were made drunken with the wine of her fornication; and he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet-coloured beast, full of the names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations, even the unclean things of her fornication, and upon her forehead a name written: Mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and the abominations of the earth. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus, and when I saw her I wondered with a great wonder.” The explanation of the terms here will be given when we reach the seventeenth chapter.
Did you ever see two pictures standing over against each other more in contrast than these two? Now, the question is: who are these women? Is either one of them a real woman, and when the second one glides into a city called Babylon is it the real Babylon which in ancient times led Israel into captivity? When the first one, now only betrothed to Christ, becomes the wife of the Lamb at the close of this section (Rev 19:7-8 ), can we, with the Romanists, interpret this wife of the Lamb to be his mother, the Virgin Mary, and worship her as the Queen of Heaven? And when later this wife, by a change of figure, becomes a city, Jerusalem (Rev 21:9-12 ), shall we call it the earthly Jerusalem?
We are safe, therefore, in a general interpretation that the first woman represents the true church of Christ as an institution, and that the second woman represents the apostate church as an institution, originated by Satan to counterfeit the true. In our chapter on Mat 16 and Mat 18 , where Christ says: “On this rock I will build my church” we have already learned that the term church may be used abstractly if considered as an institution, or concretely when applied to a particular congregation, or prospectively when it is applied to the future church in glory. In Rev 12 , under the symbol of a radiant woman, the church is represented as an institution. I read the second verse: “And she was with child, and she crieth out travailing in birth and in pain to be delivered.” This spiritual travail is a familiar figure of speech in both Testaments. For example, Isaiah, foreseeing the regeneration or new birth of the Jewish nation in one day, says: “Who hath heard of such a thing who hath ever seen such a thing? Shall a land be born in one day? Shall a nation be brought forth at once? For as soon as Zion travailed she brought forth her children.” Now, the church is represented as being in travail to bring forth children; as when in a revival meeting we say: This church, this Zion, must travail in order that new converts may be born unto God.
Continuing the quotation (Rev 12:3 ) : “And there was seen another sign in heaven, and behold! a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his heads seven diadems” not ” stephanos ,” a garland but diadems, the symbols of authority. What is the meaning of this great red dragon? A horrible thing as seen in that vision. What does it mean? Rev 12:9 tells you exactly: “The old serpent, he that is called the devil, Satan, the deceiver of the world.” That is what that sign represents. What is meant by “having seven heads”? That refers us to his diverse sources of vitality, and his persistence in life after it seems you have killed him seven being the symbolic number of perfection or fulness. You have heard that a cat has nine lives; well, the symbolic seven means more than nine means any number of heads, any number of seats of intelligences, diverse forms of intelligence, diverse forms of vitality, diverse capacity of biting and striking. Just here those of you who have studied the classics will recall the famous battle between Hercules and Hydra. Hydra was the many-headed snake. You have little trouble in killing a snake with one head; with stick or stone you crush that one head. But suppose that when you strike at one head, the one you see, the other six in ambush strike at you.
The devil struck with three heads of temptation at Christ in the wilderness and each in succession was crushed. But the record says the devil left him for a little while; he came back again he had another way to try him; he came back at him in another form. He will the same way approach you. You need not think, because you have overcome the evil one in one form, that you have won a final victory. He takes as many shapes as Proteus, he has as many heads as Hydra, as many hands as Briareus, as many eyes as Argus, and he always falls on his feet.
What is meant by diadem? It means that it is unlike that woman’s garland who had no sovereignty. The woman is not sovereign, for Christ is the Sovereign. But the devil is a real king; he is the king of the pit; he was the king of that swarm of locusts we talked about; he is the king of all the fallen angels; he is the prince of the world. As Paul says, “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers”; he is the prince of this world.
What is meant by his ten horns? Always in this book a horn is a symbol of power, and ten is one of the prophetic numbers to represent any number of powers. The unicorn mentioned in the Bible, which I suppose is the one-horned rhinoceros, has only one horn, and if you can get away from that one horn, you are all right for awhile; if a wild bull comes after you he can gore you with only two horns; but the devil can hook you in any direction. The ten horns represent the diversity and multitude of his powers.
We will read again (Rev 12:4 ): “And his tail draweth a third part of the stars of heaven and did cast them to the earth.” The tail here is but carrying out the idea of a dragon. Every serpent has a tail, and many of the crocodile class have their greatest power in their tails. If you are walking along a Louisiana bayou, thinking you are passing an old rotten log, which is an alligator, he will knock you into the water with his tail and then go in after you and devour you. Now, while the tail is an essential part of a reptile, it symbolizes here the pagan power he will use against the church. The stars drawn by the tail represent the pastors he leads astray by fear of persecution, by immorality, or by heresy. Note the tense “draweth,” not “has drawn,” which by anticipation shows how in the conflict with the woman he will try to destroy her by corrupting her ministry. The “third part” signifies that in this particular conflict he will only partially succeed in corrupting the ministry. The majority will remain faithful. It is an outrage on interpretation to make the stars here refer to the fallen angels who were seduced by Satan before Adam was created. That is indeed the historic background which furnishes the imagery of this future event see Jud 1:6 and 2Pe 2:4 .
I therefore repeat the question: Who are the stars? In this book they are preachers, and it means that in the coming persecution a relatively large number of preachers will fall. Walking carelessly along the bayou of sin they have been knocked by the tail of this alligator into its mouth. Henceforward they become preachers of the devil rather than of Jesus Christ. I once saw a preacher as drunk as a fool; a bystander said: “He is so drunk he could not hit the ground with his hat.” A friend also standing by me, who was a student of this book, said: “The alligator’s tail has drawn down that star he has that preacher.” What an awful thing when one commissioned of heaven to outshine the real stars shall fall from his high estate and become a servant of the devil rather than a leader of the hosts of the true God. Whenever a preacher tells lies, whenever he is two-faced and double-tongued, whenever he is a strife-maker and not a peacemaker, the devil’s tail has hit him.
We continue to read: “And the dragon sitteth before the woman that is about to be delivered, that when she is delivered he may devour her child. And she was delivered of a son, a man-child, who is to rule the nations with a rod of iron, and the child was caught up to God unto his throne.” The devil got that child’s body; when you see the woman a little later the child is not with her. But the devil did not get the soul that was caught up to heaven. But he did destroy the body of that child and thought he was winning & great fight. Now, the question is: Who is that man-child? In the verse I have just read it states that he is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, and here the child was caught up unto his throne. On that statement Alford and nearly all commentators say that the child was Jesus Christ, and that it could not possibly apply to anybody else. If that be true, I would like to ask Mr. Alford who then is this woman, the mother of the child. Some commentators try to get out of that difficulty by saying that the woman is indeed the church, but that the church here is an Old Testament church, continued in the New Testament, and about equivalent to the kingdom. I fail to see how the kingdom gives birth to its founder, and totally dissent from such a mixed interpretation of the word “church.” When Jesus said, “I will build my church . . .” He had before him the Old Testament Jewish church, the convocation of national Israel, and he had before him the Greek church, the civil body governing in every city, yet in contradistinction to both of them he says, “I will build my church,” and if this woman represents the church, she represents the New Testament church, not a mixed Old Testament and New Testament church. Moreover, this whole vision is a part of the things “that shall come to pass hereafter,” and we are now in that section of Revelation. We have seen the things that John “saw,” we have seen the things “that are” in the seven churches on earth and the things “that are” in heaven, but ever since that we have been in the things that shall take place hereafter. Whoever this man-child is, he was not born before or in John’s time, and the fact that he is to be caught up to the throne of God and rule the nations with a rod of iron cannot necessarily prove that it was Jesus Christ, for in this very book, and in the parts we have gone over, Christ said: “To him that overcometh will I give to sit down on my throne, and I will give him authority over nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron.” Therefore, it is not at all necessary to violate the symbolism by making this child to mean Jesus Christ, born away back yonder in the past from John’s time, nor to make this woman represent something that existed away back yonder in the Old Testament. In John’s time the church as an institution seems beaten by her adversaries. John is cheered by a vision of this apparently beaten institution, crowned with a garland of victory and radiant with light. When John writes he is under the persecution of Domitian, a very discouraging time, and the church as an institution does not seem to be in a prosperous condition. But he sees in the future ahead of him this glorious church about to be marvelously prosperous. She wears the garland of victory. The church goes on conquering and to conquer up to the time of the Emperor Decius, A.D. 248, when, according to Gibbon, the greatest persecution ever known to history, or that paganism ever waged against the church, was in his administration. The church, from John’s time, wears the garland wreath of victory on her brow up to the time of the Decian persecution. The dragon in that persecution devours her converts and drives her into the wilderness. It is true that the history in Mat 2:13-16 , when the devil through Herod seeks the life of the child Jesus, is the historic background suggesting the imagery of this vision of a future event. And it is true that after his crucifixion our Lord ascended to a heavenly throne.
Who, then, is the man-child? My answer is that one is taken to represent a class, that is, the man-child represents the martyrs that are to be put to death in this coming persecution. They are converts just as you are.
Rev 12:17 says: “And the dragon waxed wroth with the woman, and went away to make war with the rest of her seed that keep the commandments of God and hold the testimony of Jesus Christ.” He did not succeed with that first seed, but purposes to assail the rest of them and by a new kind of power he will use different means, as we will see in the next lesson. The head he is using right now in devouring the converts is the pagan persecution of Decius.
Now, as a further proof that I am right in saying this manchild represents a whole class, later on in the chapter (Rev 12:11 ), he is spoken of as plural: “And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto death.” Now all of Rev 12:7-11 , are parenthetical and epexegetical of the killing of the man-child. It is a parenthesis. For instance, in Joh 3 we have: “Except a man be born from above he cannot see the kingdom of God,” and further down in the chapter we have: “Except a man be born of water and Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.” That second statement is epexegetical of the first one. That is, it elaborates by giving the constituent elements of the new birth cleansing by application of Christ’s blood and renewing of mind by the Holy Spirit.
I want you to reflect most solemnly upon my position, taken by no commentary in the world, and on the correctness of which I will risk my reputation; that from Rev 12:7-11 the whole paragraph is parenthetical, and is simply explanatory of the devouring of the man-child. As soon as that parenthesis is interposed, you go right on about the woman in the wilder ness; you resume the story that was interrupted by the parenthesis.
How, then, does the devil propose to destroy the converts of the church? In this verse you see a class represented by a man-child the class of the martyrs that you saw in the fifth seal of the preceding lecture how does he propose to devour that man-child? By using a pagan government to kill them in various ways: cut their heads off, burn them at the stake, destroy them root and branch. He lost the fight, though he thought he had won it. He lost the fight because the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. Wickliffe’s ashes were cast into the river Severn after his body was burned. They cast his ashes into the river, but the river carried them to the sea, and the sea carried them around the shores of the world, and so Wickliffe’s soul goes marching on. You will see in the next chapter how the devil will employ a more formidable means of persecution. You cannot understand the next lesson unless you note this change: his first means to destroy the churches was to put their members to death by persecution of pagan Rome. His next expedient will be papal Rome.
Let us now expound that parenthesis. I have told you that Rev 12:7-11 is a parenthesis explanatory of the devouring of that child. There was war in heaven (whenever the devil seeks to destroy the saints, that always means war). Michael and his angels go forth to war with the dragon and his angels, and they prevail not. The man-child was killed, but Satan prevailed not the martyr testimony makes other seed. The old serpent was cast down to the earth, and his angels were cast down with him.
“And I heard a great voice in heaven saying: Now is come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of God, and the authority of his Christ; for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, who accuses them before God day and night, and they [see the plural of that man-child] overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony, and they loved not their life even unto death.” John Milton takes “the heaven” here to mean the home of God and not the scene of this symbolic vision, and, forgetting that this imagery foretells a thing to occur in the future, made this war in heaven take place before the world was created a real fight between the good and the bad angels. The finest part of his Paradise Lost is his description of the war between the angels. Just what means were employed in expelling the fallen angels originally I do not know, but Michael here is our Lord Jesus Christ himself; his angels are the angels we saw in Revelation 4 ten thousand times ten thousand of thousands, and they are helping the church here on earth. The devil is trying to destroy the church, and he has the power to kill their bodies, but not their souls, and God’s angels from heaven help the saints in their fight to stand firm and shout and sing and pray as they die, so that their martyr testimony will be more powerful in making new converts to God than if they had not been martyred. Now, as I said, the devil got the bodies of the martyrs, but not their souls, and he lost the fight.
Let us see what becomes of the woman. Rev 12:6 says that the woman fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared of God, where she remained a thousand two hundred and threescore days, each day a year. That is the same as forty-two symbolic months. Note again particularly that Rev 12:13-17 are epexegetical of Rev 12:6 . It says that she was given the two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness. The great eagle here is one of the Cherubim. We know that every Cherub had one eagle face. This statement recalls two Old Testament passages: God says to Moses: “Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself.” And again we have these glorious words: “Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard? The everlasting God, Jehovah, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not; neither is weary; there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to him that hath no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fail; but they that wait for Jehovah shall renew their strength; they mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint” (Isa 40:28-31 ). Cherubim, eagle-faced, bore the woman into the wilderness, where she was nourished for twelve hundred and sixty years.
Rev 12:15 : “And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a river, that he might cause her to be carried away with the stream.” That is a familiar Old Testament image, where great wrath is compared to a flushed river, an overflowing torrent. The record says the earth helped the woman by swallowing up the water. Imagine what would become of a river turned loose in a desert. It would soon vanish. But what it means by the earth helping the woman is that secular governments sometimes intervene to protect the rights of the saints and of the churches. For instance, in the Catholic part of Germany it was easy to destroy a martyr, but they could not get to him over in the Protestant part of Germany. The earth over there helped the woman. The Savoy king would say: “You cannot persecute here.” Like the grim old Black Douglas, when he started to the borders of England and Scotland to defend the frontier, and the Catholic Church was just starting a persecution, said: “I go, but the smell of one burning fagot on the way will bring me back from the borders.” That is the earth helping the woman. “And the dragon waxed wroth with the woman, and he went away to make war with the rest of her seed, those that keep the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus.”
QUESTIONS
1. What is the extent of this section?
2. What part of it is our present lesson?
3. What is the general purpose of the whole section?
4. Whence is the imagery?
5. Cite Paul’s use of similar imagery.
6. What is the first law of interpreting symbols? Illustrate.
7. What is the description of the first woman?
8. Explain separately the words: “sign,” “heaven,” “woman,” “arrayed with the sun,” “the moon under her feet,” “crown,” “twelve stars.”
9. What Old Testament passage does this vision recall?
10. Where and what is the description of the second woman?
11. What does she represent, who established, and why?
12. What uses of the word “church” were given in the lecture on Mat 16:18 ?
13. Explain Rev 12:2 “the woman in travail,” and cite illustration from Isaiah.
14.Rev 12:3 : (a) Who is the dragon; (b) meaning of seven heads, and cite classic allusion; (c) meaning of “diadem” Greek “diadema” and distinguish between it and the woman’s crown ” stephanos ,” and prove his real sovereignty; (d) meaning of ten horns?
15.Rev 12:4 : (a) Meaning of tail; (b) illustrate the power and use of the tail of a certain class of reptiles; (c) the symbolic meaning of tail in this connection; (d) meaning of stars here; (e) prove that the drawing down of these stars is not a past event.
16. Rev 12:5 : (a) What is the historic analogue which suggests the imagery of this future event; (b) what part of the verse led Alford and most other commentators to make this man-child our Lord himself; (c) what preceding passages in this book disprove the necessity of confining the application to our Lord; (d) what is the difficulty of referring the passage to our Lord; (e) how do some commentators seek to evade this difficulty, and your reply to them; (f) who is the man-child and the proof?
17. What great poet misinterpreted the war of Rev 12:7 ?
18. What was this war? And wherein does Satan fail?
19. What verses of the chapter are epexegetical of Rev 12:6 ?
20. What is the Old Testament analogue of the church in wilderness?
21. Who bore the woman in the wilderness, and what two Old Testament passages are recalled?
22. To what are the outgoings of Satan’s wrath against the woman compared?
23. Literally, what becomes of a river in the desert?
24. Symbolically, what is meant by “the earth helped the woman,” and illustrate?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
XII
PROPHETIC FORECASTS OF CHURCH HISTORY (CONTINUED)
In the preceding chapter, commencing the exposition of this section, we considered only Rev 12 . A brief review of the leading lines of thought on that chapter will help us now to see clearly its connection with our present study, Rev 13 .
We found the radiant woman of Rev 12:1 , to be the true church established by our Lord, in the sense of an institution, appointed to enlighten the world. We found the adversary of this institution to be the devil, de facto (not de jure) king of this world and prince of all powers of darkness. We found that the war he waged against the church consisted of three distinct campaigns:
1. An assault on the pastors, in which “his tail draweth down a third part of the stars” i.e., a great proportion of the pastors were led astray into either heresy or a corrupt life, Satan counting that as are the pastors so will be the churches. In this campaign, Satan is defeated because he could not corrupt all the preachers; the majority remained faithful to the Lord.
2. An assault by persecution unto death on the progeny of the church, i.e., her true spiritual children (Rev 12:5 ), the manchild meaning not a particular person, but standing for the martyr class in that greatest of all Pagan persecutions in the first half of the third century; a class and not a single person being evident from the more elaborate statement in Rev 12:11 , “And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony, and they loved not their life, even unto death.” In this terrible conflict the heavenly powers, Christ and his holy angels, assisted the martyrs against Satan and his demons assisted the persecutor pagan Rome (Rev 12:7 ). In this campaign Satan was defeated, for he could kill the body only but not the soul (latter clause of Rev 12:5 ), and because “the blood of the martyrs became the seed of the church.”
3. His attempt to destroy the church is an institution worldwide prescriptive legislation, making its assembling a capital penal offense notably by the Roman Emperor Decius and his successor in first half of third century. In this campaign he was also defeated because, although the church was driven into the obscurity of the wilderness, even there she was divinely kept alive and nourished (Rev 12:6 ; Rev 12:13-14 ), and children of faith were born unto her there. Even some secular powers defended the persecuted institutions against the swollen river of his wrath, “the earth helped the woman” (Rev 12:15-16 ), and so always when the enemy comes in like a flood the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him. (See Isa 59:19 .)
Failing to destroy the church by a partial corruption of the ministry, failing to destroy it by martyring its children of faith, since the martyrs’ dying testimony made other believers, failing to destroy the church as an institution by making its assemblies a penal offense under imperial pagan law, the wrath of Satan was exceedingly great and his purpose confirmed to wage war against her other seed, i.e., wilderness seed, but by employing a different expedient, just what, this lesson, Rev 13 will disclose.
To further clarify this brief review of Rev 12 these additional observations are submitted, though but repetitions:
1. While conceding and even insisting that there was a fall of the angels, led by Satan, before man was created (Jud 1:6 ; 2Pe 2:4 ), this interpretation of “things to come to pass hereafter,” i.e., after John’s time, A.D. 96, has no other allusion to that ancient event than this, that all of his visions of the future are clothed in the imagery of past historical events. Hence these “stars” drawn down by the dragon’s tail (Rev 12:4 ) mean not the fallen angels seduced by him before Adam was created, but mean fallen pastors seduced by him in this conflict with the church, following our interpretation of the first chapter of this book. And so the war in Rev 12:7 , was not, as Milton interpreted it in his Paradise Lost, the war which resulted in casting down Satan and his demons before Adam’s creation, as v. II of that context shows. But as there is a historical background which furnishes the drapery of every vision of the future, poetic license may extenuate, if not justify, Milton’s misinterpretation. Just so, when the seventy returned with joy, saying “Lord, even the demons are subject unto us through thy name,” and the Lord replies, “I beheld Satan fallen as lightning from heaven” (Luk 10:17-18 ). He does not refer to Satan’s original fall, but to his fall through the testimony of the seventy. So here he falls from his usurped place-by the testimony of the martyrs (Rev 12:11 ). You have only to compare the great lesson in Mat 12:28-29 , where our Lord casts out Satan and spoils him of his goods, referring not to Satan’s original overthrow, but to his overthrow from his place of usurpation.
2. Similarly we have not followed Alford and most commentators in making the man-child (Rev 12:5 ) mean our Lord himself. We can see how Romanists would enjoy this, since it would make the radiant woman of Rev 12:1 , to be the virgin Mary and queen of heaven. The way Satan sought to destroy our Lord when a child, through Herod’s massacre at Bethlehem, is indeed the historic analogue which suggests the imagery of this vision of a future event. The authority given to the “manchild” in latter clause of Rev 12:5 , need not stagger us when we consider the promises already expounded at Rev 2:26-27 ; Rev 3:21 , and many later passages in this book. Nor have we accepted the weak evasions of other commentators, who, to avoid a difficulty, make the woman of Rev 12:1 , mean the church, but a blended Old and New Testament church, so as to permit our Lord to be born of the church. There is no such church. And our Lord is the founder and head of the church, not its son.
3. Our interpretation makes Rev 12:7-12 epexegetical of the war on the man-child, latter clause of Rev 12:4 and Rev 12:5 ; and Rev 12:13-17 epexegetical of Rev 12:6 .
4. Our interpretation makes the numbers “forty-two months” in Rev 11:2 , and Rev 13:5 , and the 1,260 days of Rev 11:3 ; Rev 12:6 , and the “time, times and half-time” of Rev 12:14 , all mean the same thing i.e., 1,260 years, which delimits the wilderness period of the church, commencing about A.D. 250, and extending to A.D. 1510.
With this clarifying view of Rev 12 , we are now prepared to undertake the exposition of Rev 13 , and particularly to see the connection between them. Rev 12 left the church in the wilderness, A.D. 250, to remain there 1,260 years bearing “other seed,” and left Satan exceedingly angry at his failure to destroy it by the persecution of pagan Rome, and devising in his wrath some other method of continuing the war. This chapter, our present lesson, gives his new device, which, in a few words, is the establishment of a counterfeit church. This counterfeit church, while changing the names of its objects of worship, will have more of them than heathen polytheism ever assembled on Mount Olympus, and whose images are more numerous than all ever placed in a heathen pantheon. It will have more persecuting powers than pagan Rome, and the power this time will extend beyond the grave. Out of the ruins of the pagan Roman Empire it will construct a more formidable “Holy Roman Empire,” whose boundaries will be pushed far beyond the limits of pagan Roman territory. While the Caesar head of pagan Rome was wounded unto death, the wound will be healed by a papal head. There were only twelve Caesars there will be a multitude of Popes, among them a Pope and his son Caesar Borgia worse than Nero. By using pagan Rome as his tail the great red dragon was able to draw down to earth only a third of the stars, i.e., to corrupt only one-third of the ministry, but with papal Rome as his tail this scriptural crocodile will sweep down into his Nile for devouring the overwhelming majority of the ministry.
This device of Satan, in its ultimate proportions, will not be a mushroom product, nor an Aladdin palace springing up in a night, but a steady development of the centuries, a ceaseless evolution by accretion of the ages. All the seven wonders of the classic world will pale into insignificance before this prodigy Satan’s great masterpiece. The statue of its Pope will cast a longer shadow than Jupiter’s on Mount Olympus; its temple will surpass Diana’s at Ephesus. This colossus will outstraddle the bronze pigmy at Rhodes. Its pyramid will exceed that of Cheops on the Nile, and its Sphinx will not be dumb; the lighthouse at Pharos, near Alexandria, revealed a port of entry to storm-tossed little Mediterranean ships but this in the name of a lighthouse, will diffuse darkness on a thousand rock-bound ocean shores, that mighty liners may grind their keels and ribs of steel into the fine powder of total shipwreck. In the days of Pericles classic art embellished the Acropolis at Athens, but this acropolis will exhaust for centuries the skill of subservient architects, painters, and sculptors. The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus held the dust of only one honored king; this mausoleum will hold the dust of many dishonored kings and statesmen.
But, let us turn from rhetoric to detailed exposition:
Rev 13:1 the Common Version reads: “And I stood upon the sand of the sea.” Our revision corrects the misleading pronoun: “And he stood upon the sands of the sea” he, the dragon of the preceding verse, mad at his failure in employing pagan persecution. Why stood he at the sea? “Sea” in this book means the peoples, or confluent materials of nations (Rev 17:15 ). Satan is contemplating the heterogeneous national material disintegrated by the fall of pagan Rome, and calculating a reconstruction more efficient for his purpose than pagan Rome. He is the usurping de facto king of the nations. He recalls a temptation once offered to our Lord: “All the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, will I give thee if thou wilt fall dawn and worship me.” (Mat 4:8-10 .) Our Lord rejected it. Satan knew also that the radiant woman of Rev 12:1 , the true church, would reject it, even to escape the wilderness. But he argues: Why not I establish a counterfeit church that will accept it on my conditions? And so John the seer is enabled to witness the method of his work.
“And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea.” “Beast” in this book, as in Dan 7:1-8 (which see), means a king or government. And follows a description of this sea beast, which wars against the saints and has authority for 1,260 years all the wilderness period of the church, i.e., up to the Reformation, when its power wanes until reanimated by the earth beast (Rev 13:11-12 ). We may not attempt to interpret this vision except in the light of Dan 7:19-25 , and Rev 17:7-18 . The whole passage seems to teach the transition from a pagan Roman Empire to a so-called “Holy Roman Empire.” That is, commencing with the Emperor Constantine, there came about first a union of church and state, with the state at first on top, followed later by the church on top. Constantine might claim that he was the head of the church, but gradually the Pope became the head of both state and church. In the order of history the spotted beast church and state would precede the earth beast, looking like a lamb, but having the voice of a dragon, representing the papacy. The idea of the Pope’s universal supremacy would be a gradual development, which in all its fulness was not attained until the Vatican Council in 1870. A universal visible church, united with the state and dominant over the state, naturally receives its consummation in an earthly, visible, and infallible head. So the leopard sea beast would represent a politicalreligious world empire, and the earth beast of v. II would represent the papal head of this empire, galvanizing it into at least a semblance of life after its political life was broken, by his infallible ipse dixit.
In a union of church and state two results always follow: A. quarrel concerning ultimate authority: shall the state dominate the church, or the church dominate the state? No matter which dominates, there is sure to be persecution of those who claim liberty to worship God according to the dictates of the individual. Where a church claims to be universal, with ultimate jurisdiction over all states, there will certainly be a revolt of states against the church.
Rev 13 ; first clause of Rev 13:1 : “And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns ten diadems, and upon his heads names of blasphemy.” If you turn to the description of the dragon in your last lesson, you will see both a likeness and an unlikeness: “I saw a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his heads seven diadems.” Here the diadems on this beast are on his horns. The likeness arises from the fact that the government created by the dragon will resemble the dragon; and the unlikeness will arise from the fact that the horns, signifying power, will be different because the first was wholly spiritual, and the second will be secular.
What do the seven heads mean? “I saw a beast come up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads” suppose you turn with me to Rev 17:9 , it will give us God’s explanation. Rev 17:9 : “The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sitteth” that looks like it means the seven hills on which Rome was built, to which there may be a remote allusion; but let us go on and read a little further: “And they are [that is, they represent] seven kings [or better, seven kingdoms], five are fallen, one is, and the other is yet to come, and when he cometh he must continue a little while.” Now, when we take Daniel and Revelation together, we understand these seven world empires the kingdoms that oppose the kingdom of God in every age. First, the Egyptians; they wanted to destroy Israel or keep it in bondage. The second was Assyria, with its capital at Nineveh, that destroyed the ten tribes. These two had passed away before Daniel wrote, and hence he does not discuss them. When John comes to write five are fallen, so we must add three more to the two that had fallen when Daniel wrote. These three were Babylon, which captured Judah; Persia, which, at Haman’s suggestion, was about to destroy the Jewish exiles; and Greece, which, particularly under Antiochus Epiphanes, sought to destroy utterly the religion of the Jews. Daniel saw four: Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome. Now, when John wrote, five of these world empires had passed away, and the sixth, the Roman Empire, is the one which will destroy Jerusalem and is now persecuting under Domitian. When John wrote it was still in great power. The seventh would be this spotted beast that this lesson is discussing the Holy Roman Empire, and hence we can understand how the eighth (Rev 13:11 ) is not a nation, but is of the seventh. The eighth is the papacy, not a nation, but is of the seventh and has the power of the seventh. Now, do you get that point clear? That there is a likeness in every great world empire that wars against the kingdom of God persecuting likeness and a blaspheming likeness. Every one of these assumed divine as well as human power, from Egypt to Rome. The emperor claimed to be Pontifex Maximus that is, high priest of the religion of the nation, and also claimed to be God, demanding to be worshiped. The image of Caesar was put up on their standards, and when the legions would wake up in the morning the first thing to do would be to bow down and worship the image of Caesar on the standard.
Now, this last beast is represented as having seven heads. That is, it blends all the evils of the six preceding world powers, and itself will be the seventh. What are the ten horns? “And the ten horns that thou seest are the ten kings that have received no kingdoms yet” (Rev 17:12 ). That is, the ten kingdoms that were to be built up out of pagan Rome were not yet established; he is looking into the future and sees them, but they are not yet. I ask you particularly to notice these ten horns and the ten kingdoms. They support the woman in purple and scarlet (Rev 17:13 ) and these ten kingdoms give their power and authority unto the beast every one of the ten kingdoms that were established out of the ruins of the pagan Roman Empire and constitute the Holy Roman Empire championed the Roman Catholic religion.
But look at Rev 17:16 : “And the ten horns which thou seest on the beast, these shall hate the harlot and make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire.” That means that in later history these ten governments in succession would become the oppressors of the Roman Catholic Church, as France threw off its allegiance, and as did Germany, and later Holland, Switzerland, all Scandinavia i.e., Denmark, Norway, Sweden and England, Scotland, and Wales, and turned their powers against this great whore that represents the Roman Catholic Church, and finally Italy itself, when Victor Emmanuel led his army into Rome and destroyed the temporal power of the Pope, and carried an open Bible at the head of his entrance column. You thus see what the ten kings, or ten horns, mean.
We now come to the description of this beast (Rev 13:2 ): “And the beast that I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth was as the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority.” If you turn back to that seventh chapter of Daniel, you will notice that this beast combines the elements of the four beasts of his vision. The predominating quality here is the leopard; i.e., the beast had the leopard’s form. Which means it was a spotted government, a mixed government, it was a politico-religious government. That is the reason the leopard predominates it is a spotted beast. Rev 13:3 : “And I saw one of his heads as though it had been smitten unto death” that is, the pagan Roman head, yet further when John writes “and I saw that one head was smitten to death and his death stroke was healed.” In other words, succeeding pagan Rome came papal Rome. The center of authority is still in the city of Rome, the governing power still goes out from that center, but the Caesar head dies in the destruction of pagan Rome, and the Pope head comes in the place of it.
Last of Rev 13:3 : “And the whole earth wondered after the beast” well, it was a prodigy; there had never been anything just like it. It was not like pagan Rome in this, that there were ten kingdoms united on their religion, but divided in their civil authority, until the Pope usurped the civil as well as the religious authority. So it was the strangest beast ever seen. “And they worshipped the dragon because he gave his authority unto the beast, and they worshipped the beast, saying: Who is like unto the beast, who is able to war with him?” For many centuries of the 1,260 years no nation in Europe was able to war with the power represented by the Pope.
“And there was given to him a mouth, speaking great things and blasphemies, and there was given to him authority to continue forty-two months” (rather, to do his work; the Greek word shows not so much the idea of continuance as ability to do his work. He continued after the 1,260 years, but without ability to do as before). He still claims the same authority, but he cannot do his work like he did up to that time. “And he opened his mouth for blasphemies against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle [that is, his church], even they that dwell in heaven [that is, the true saints], and it was given to him to make war with the saints to overcome them. And it was given him authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation [he was permitted to make such claim], and all that dwell on the earth shall worship him [not the exception], every one whose name hath not been written on the Lamb’s book of life.” These, the true people of God, did not worship him all over Europe there were people who refused to submit, even unto death. They were true candlesticks, but shining in the wilderness. Human history does not take much notice of them. There were true preachers, though by using this new kind of tail the dragon swept down the most of the stars.
Rev 13:10 , last clause: “Here is the patience and faith of the saints.” In Rev 14:12 , we have this language repeated in another sense: “Here is the patience of the saints,” Here it means the patience of the saints in enduring the trials by faith. The next time it means the fruition of patience: I will call your attention to it again in a subsequent chapter.
We now come to a description which shows that the papacy does not come out of the sea that is, it is not a nation: “And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and it had two horns like a lamb but spoke as a dragon.” It claimed to be a lamb but it was a dragon. Now, when you turn to Dan 7 , he says: “I saw a little horn come up that destroyed three of the other horns” so the Pope usurped the civil jurisdiction of several of the states) and claimed them as papal states and was king over them. That little horn in Daniel’s fourth beast and this two-horned beast here that has the voice of the dragon and that claimed to be a lamb, and the false prophet in Rev 19 as being cast into the abyss with the beast, all mean the same thing; the little horn, the lamb-dragon beast, and the false prophet all mean the papacy: Pope comes from “papa,” or father, hence papacy. It is not a nation and hence is represented as coming up out of the earth, and yet he is the eighth government, rising out of the seven governments, or beasts. We see that he is the one that heals the death stroke of the sixth head; when the Caesar head dies, the Pope head succeeds. There is attributed to him, in the rest of this lesson, great miracle-working power. John does not affirm that these were real miracles he reports as he sees; he saw a vision of the Pope giving the beast the power of miracles of different kinds. It is characteristic of Roman Catholicism that from the beginning of its history down to the present time it is brimful of so-called miracles; its images are made to speak, or weep, or bleed.
Rev 13:16 : “And he causeth all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, the free and the bond, that they be given a mark on their right hand, and upon their forehead.” Many have tried to explain what is the mark of the beast given by this Pope. One old Baptist preacher insists that it was infant baptism, followed by a sign of the cross made on the forehead. Your lesson tells you (Rev 13:17 ) that “the mark is the name of the beast or the number of his name.” And adds: “Here is wisdom. He that hath understanding let him count the number of the beast; for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.” Whoever can interpret this knows what is “the mark.” No better explanation of this passage has been given than that of Irenaeus. The first Roman ruler was Latinus. His name spelled in Greek is Lateinos . Greek letters are numerals, each letter standing for a certain number. Thus: L-a-t-e-i-n-o-s. I give you English letters corresponding to the Greek because some of you do not know Greek.
L (Greek, Lamda) == 30
a (Greek, Alpha) == 1
t (Greek, Tau) == 300
e (Greek, Epsilon) == 5
i (Greek, lota) = 10
n (Greek, Nu) == 50
o (Greek, Omikron) = 70
s (Greek, Sigma) == 200
Total……….. ……666
These Greek letters when used as numerals are equal to the numbers opposite and their added total is 666. Here, then, is the number of the beast and it is the number of a man, and it is 666.
The mark of the beast then is the word “Latin.” On which Alford observes: “The Latin Empire, the Latin church, Latin Christianity, have ever been its commonly current appellations; its language, civil and ecclesiastical, has ever been Latin; its public services, in defiance of the most obvious requisite for public worship, have ever been throughout the world conducted in Latin; there is no other one word which could so completely describe its character, and at the same time unite the ancient and modern attributes of the two beasts.” [Alford might have added: No version of the scriptures considered authoritative except the Latin Version and that only as interpreted by the Latin Church. Irenaeus had in mind the pagan Latin Empire, Alford more wisely its transition into the papal Latin Empire. Editor]
QUESTIONS
1. State the three distinct assaults of Satan in trying to destroy the church as an institution, and wherein he failed in each case.
2. Was there a real fall of Satan and his angels before the fall of Adam? If so, prove it scripturally and then show the relation of that ancient history to the imagery of the future events in Rev 12 .
3. Show the relation of Satan’s assaults on the infant Jesus to the imagery of the man-child in Rev 12 .
4. Show what verses of Rev 12 are epexegetical of other verses.
5. What symbolical numbers of 11, 12, 13 are equal to each other?
6. About what date did the church enter the wilderness, on account of what persecution, and about what date did it emerge?
QUESTIONS ON CHAPTER XIII
7. Rev 13:1 : meaning “He stood on the sand and the sea”?
8. In a few words, tell what the new device of Satan as an instrument of war against the church.
9. Show how this new device will have more idolatry than pagan Rome, more persecuting power, a more formidable head than the Caesar of Rome, and corrupt more preachers.
10. Show how it will be more wonderful than each of the seven wonders of the classical world.
11. What passage of Scripture enables us to interpret the leopard of Rev 13:1 ; the lamb dragon beast of Rev 13:11 , and the harlot woman of Rev 17:1-6 ?
12. In the light of these scriptures what the leopard beast? And the nature of it?
13. What is the lamb dragon beast?
14. What is the harlot?
15. What is the expression in Dan 7 , and what other expression in chapter 19 of this book, mean the same thing as the lamb, dragon, beast?
16. What two results always follow a union of church and state?
17. Explain in Rev 13:2 the wounding of one head unto death, and healing of the wound.
18. What is the real meaning of the Greek word rendered “continue” in Rev 13:5 ?
19. (a) What is the difference between Common Version and the Revised Version rendering of Rev 13:8 ? (b) if Common Version is right, What is the meaning? (c) if Revised Version is right? Which do you prefer?
20. What is the meaning of Rev 13:17 ?
21. What is “the mark of the beast,” Rev 13:16 , as explained in Rev 13:18 , and the exposition thereof by Irenaeus and Alford?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
1 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:
Ver. 1. And there appeared ] This and the two next following chapters are an exposition of the former vision.
A great wonder ] As shadowing out and showing great wonders.
In heaven ] That is, in the Church, or (according to some) in the visible heaven, where sun, moon, and stars are.
A woman ] Alma mater Ecclesia. The Church is called a woman, for her, 1. Weakness; 2. Fruitfulness; 3. Lovingness, 2Sa 1:26 .
Clothed with the sun ] With Christ’s own comeliness, Eze 16:14 . She is also conspicuous, Mat 5:14 , and scorched with persecution, Son 1:6 . All which notwithstanding she is comely. Uxor fulget radiis mariti, saith the Civilian.
And the moon under her feet ] She treads upon the world’s trash, bears patiently all changes and chances; and though the curs of the world bark at her, she shines still:
” En peragit cursus surda Diana suas. “
A crown of twelve stars ] A crown in token of victory.
Twelve stars ] Those white horses, Rev 6:2 , the twelve apostles and their successors, in and by whom mystical Christ goeth forth conquering and to conquer.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
1 17 .] THE VISION OF THE WOMAN AND THE GREAT RED DRAGON. On the nature of this vision, as introductory of the whole imagery of the latter part of the Apocalypse, I have already remarked at ch. 11. It is only needful now to add, that the principal details of the present section are rather descriptive than strictly prophetical: relating, just as in the prophets the descriptions of Israel and Judah, to things passed and passing, and serving for the purpose of full identification and of giving completeness to the whole vision. And a great (important in its meaning, as well as vast in its appearance) sign ( , one of those appearances by which God to John the revelations of this book, ch. Rev 1:1 ) was seen in heaven (heaven here is manifestly not only the show-place of the visions as seen by the Seer, but has a substantial place in the vision: for below, Rev 12:7 ff., we have the heaven contrasted with the earth, and the dragon cast out of heaven into the earth. See more there), a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon ( = ) beneath her feet (see Son 6:10 , which seems to be borne in mind), and on her head a crown of twelve stars (the whole symbolism points to the Church, the bride of God: and of course, from the circumstances afterwards related, the O. T. church, at least at this beginning of the vision. That the blessed Virgin cannot be intended, is plain from the subsequent details, and was recognized by the early expositors. The crown of twelve stars represents the Patriarchs. Victorinus’s comment is worth quoting: “Mulier. antiqua Ecclesia est patrum et prophetarum et sanctorum apostolorum qu gemitus et tormenta habuit desiderii sui usque quo fructum ex plebe sua secundum carnem olim promissum sibi videret Christum ex ipsa gente corpus sumpsisse. Corona stellarum duodecim chorum patrum significat secundum carnem nativitatis, ex quibus erat Christus carnem sumpturus”), and [ she is ] (or, being) with child [ and ] crieth out in pangs and tormented to bring forth (the inf. , of that which would be the result of the , has a parallel in Act 7:19 , . , and in other places, see Winer, edn. 6, 44. 4, but not without the art.). And another sign was seen in heaven; and behold, a great red dragon (interpreted below, Rev 12:9 , to be the devil, the ancient serpent: see also Rev 12:13 ; Rev 12:15 . He is perhaps for the combined reasons, of the wasting properties of fire, and the redness of blood: “rufus, ut homicida,” as the gloss, interl.: see Joh 8:44 ), having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his heads seven diadems (the Dragon being the devil, these symbolic features must be interpreted of the assuming by him of some of those details in the form of the beast in ch. Rev 13:1 ff., to whom afterwards he gives his power and his throne: in other words, as indicating that he lays wait for the woman’s offspring in the form of that antichristian power which is afterwards represented by the beast. At the same time, the seven crowned heads may possess an appropriateness of their own, belonging as they do to the dragon alone (the beast has the crowns on his horns , ch. Rev 13:1 ). They may represent, as he is Prince of this world, universality of earthly dominion. The ten horns belong to the fourth beast of Dan 7:7 ; Dan 7:20 ). And his tail draggeth down the third part of the stars of the heaven, and cast them to the earth (so the little horn in Dan 8:10 , “cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them.” The allusion here may be as Areth [110] in Catena, , , . The magnitude and fury of the dragon are graphically given by the fact of its tail, in its lashing backwards and forwards in fury, sweeping down the stars of heaven). And the dragon stands (not “ stood .” The Commentators cite from Pliny H. N. viii. 3 of the dragon, “Nec flexu multiplici ut reliqu serpentes corpus impellit, sed celsus et erectus in medio incedens”) before the woman which is about to bear, that when she has borne he may devour her child (this was what the devil instigated Herod the Great to do, who was the dependant of the Roman Empire. But doubtless the reference is wider than this: even to the whole course of hostility against the Lord during His humiliation: see below). And she bore a male (if is neuter, and not to be written , the expression is a solcism, or rather a combination of genders, going back from the masculine individual to the neuter of the genus) son, who shall rule (lit. shepherd, i. e. order and guide) all the nations with ( of investiture, very nearly expressed by our instrumental “ with ,” which in its primitive meaning does but signify accompaniment) a rod of iron (these words, cited verbatim from the LXX of the Messianic Psa 2 , and preceded by the of personal identification, leave no possibility of doubt, who is here intended. The man-child is the Lord Jesus Christ, and none other . And this result is a most important one for the fixity of reference of the whole prophecy. It forms one of those landmarks by which the legitimacy of various interpretations may be tested; and of which we may say, notwithstanding the contradiction sure to be given to the saying, that every interpretation which oversteps their measure is thereby convicted of error. Again, the exigencies of this passage require that the birth should be understood literally and historically, of that Birth of which all Christians know. And be it observed, that this rule of interpretation is no confident assertion of mine, as has been represented, but a result from the identifying use of words of the prophetic Scripture, spoken of Him, who will not suffer His honour to be given to another): and her child was caught up to God and to His throne (i. e. after a conflict with the Prince of this world, who came and tried Him but found nothing in Him, the Son of the woman was taken up to heaven and sat on the right hand of God. Words can hardly be plainer than these. It surely is but needful to set against them, thus understood, the interpretation which would regard them as fulfilled by the “mighty issue of the consummated birth of a son of the church, a baptized emperor, to political supremacy in the Roman empire,” “united with the solemn public profession of the divinity of the Son of man.” Elliott, iii. 24). And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath there a place prepared from (the source of the preparation being His command: see reff., and Winer, edn. 6, 47, b) God, that they (the subject to the verb is left indefinite. In Rev 12:14 below, it is simply passive, ) may nourish her there for a thousand two hundred and sixty days (the whole of this verse is anticipatory: the same incident being repeated with its details and in its own place in the order of the narrative below, Rev 12:13 ff. See there the comment and interpretation. The fact of its being here inserted by anticipation is very instructive as to that which now next follows, as not being consecutive in time after the flight of the woman, but occurring before it, and in fact referred to now in the prophecy as leading to that pursuit of the woman by the dragon, which, as matter of sequence, led to it ).
[110] Arethas, Bp. of Csarea in Cappadocia, Cent y . X. 2
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Rev 12:1-2 . . . almost = “in the sky” ( cf. Rev 12:4 .). A Greek touch: cf. Hom. Iliad , ii. 308, ( i.e. fiery-red). Here as elsewhere mythological traits of the original source are left as impressive and decorative details. The nearest analogy is the Babylonian Damkina, mother of the young god Marduk and “queen of the heavenly tiara” ( i.e. , the stars, cf. Schrader, pp. 360, 361). For Hebrew applications of the symbolism cf. Gen 37:9-10 and Test. Naph. v. ( ). The Egyptian Osiris was also wrapt in a flame-coloured robe the sun being the “body” of deity (Plut. de Iside. 51). The original figure was that of Israel personified as a pregnant goddess-mother, but it probably represented to the prophet the true Israel or Zion of God (Wernle, 276 288) in which his Christ had been born ( cf. Joh 16:21 , with Joh 14:30 , also En. xc. 37). The idealisation was favoured by the current conceptions of Zion as pre-existent in heaven ( cf. Rev 19:8 , Rev 21:8 , and Apoc. Bar. iv. = widow) and as a mother (4 Esd. 9:38 10:59). The prophet views the national history of Israel as a long preparation for the anguish and woe out of which the messiah was to come. “Tantae molis erat Christianam condere gentem” (Grotius). The idea is echoed in Ep. Lugd., where the church is “the virgin mother”. The virgin-birth falls into the background here as in the Fourth Gospel, though for different reasons. The messiah of Rev 12 is not the son of Mary but simply born in the messianic community, and the description is no more than a transcendental version of what Paul notes in Rom 9:4-5 . The editor’s interest lies not in the birth of messiah so much as in the consequences of it in heaven and earth. At the same time the analogies discovered between Cerinthus and this passage (by Vlter and others) are wholly imaginary (Kohlhofer, 53 f.).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Revelation Chapter 12
Signs are beheld above: the sources, principles, and agents in the coming crisis are seen on high. “There appeared a great sign in the heaven.” The being seen in heaven shows that it is not a mere history of what takes place on earth, but a view given of God’s purpose. Though seen above, the woman represented is to be Israel on the earth. The symbol is of the chosen people as a whole, for a future state of things which God means to establish here below. Utterly weak in herself, she was “clothed with the sun.” Israel shall be invested with supreme authority on earth, long as she has been desolate and down-trodden by the Gentiles. “And the moon under her feet” intimates that the condition of legal ordinances (or, as some would regard it, derivative rule), instead of governing her as of old, shall be under her feet. How aptly the moon sets forth the reflected light of the Mosaic system to any thoughtful mind! What are feasts, new moons, or sabbaths to the Christian? In the millennium this will not be out of sight, as now under Christianity, but reappear: only when Jehovah is truly honoured as her husband, there will be manifest subordination, as may be seen in Ezekiel’s prophecy.
More than this appears. “And on her head a crown of twelve stars.” There will be the fullest administrative authority in man, not only for use but to adorn her. In short, whether it be supreme, derivative, or subordinate authority, all is now assured to her. Israel is therefore to be the manifest vessel of God’s mighty purposes for the earth; and God here so looks at her and presents her to the prophet’s eye. But this is not all. Another glory is here, greater than all; for “unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.” What could Israel do without Jehovah’s Anointed, the Messiah? “She was with child, and crieth, travailing in birth, in pain to be delivered.” It is not yet the day for joyous and triumphant accomplishment of the divine purpose, when before Zion travails she is to bring forth, and before her pain come, she is to be delivered of a man-child; as Isaiah proclaims to Israel in his last chapter. There is weakness and suffering yet, but all is secured, and the end pledged on high. Compare Mic 5:2 , Mic 5:3 , where, as here, the birth of Messiah (for the woman is the mother, not the bride) is connected with the future day of Israel’s deliverance. Only in the Revelation is the man-child caught up meanwhile to God and to His throne, of which we have more to say in its place.
“And there appeared another sign in the heaven, and, behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems upon his heads.” It is Satan, but here invested with the form of the most determined and successful enemy that Israel ever had. For crushing as was the overthrow under Nebuchadnezzar, the Roman power trod down Jerusalem with a more tremendous and permanent tyranny. Besides, as the Roman Beast collided with Christ once, so must it be destroyed at His appearing. This therefore makes the unfolding of the double sign so much the more striking. Not that the deliverance is yet come; but Israel and the enemy are confronted before the prophet according to God’s mind. What a mighty encouragement before Israel passes through the worst trouble!
The dragon has seven heads, as it is here said, or the completeness of ruling authority; and ten horns, not twelve, but at any rate an approach to it, in the instruments of the power wielded in the west. Man is never truly complete. God gave the woman twelve stars. The dragon has but ten horns. And this appears to look on to the last days; for the empire, whilst it possessed imperial unity, never had ten co-ordinate and subordinate kings, as the Beast will surely have before its judgment (Rev 17:12 , Rev 17:17 ). It is the dragon too we may say in purpose. But God would not allow that completeness of administrative power even in form which belonged to the woman. All will be in due order when the Lord Jesus takes the government of the earth into His hands in the age to come. “Verily I say to you, That ye who have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” The twelve apostles of the Lamb are destined to a special place of honourable trust.
“And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth.” Does not this imply that the third part is the distinctively Roman side of the empire? It was “the third part” we saw in the Trumpets, both in the four earlier ones and also in the sixth. This seems to set forth the western empire, or what was properly Roman. The Romans actually possessed, because they conquered, a great deal that belonged to Greece for instance, and Medo-Persia and Babylon. This last was far east; but the properly Roman part was western Europe. There the dragon’s malignant influence was to be particularly felt, at least in those that filled the place of rulers. It “drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and cast them unto the earth; and the dragon standeth before the woman that was about to bring forth, that he might devour her child as soon as she should bring forth.” It is Christ above all that he dreads. The old serpent is the constant foe of Christ in the war of all time. “And she brought forth a man-child, who is about to rule [or, tend] all the nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and unto his throne.”
Some things call for explanation here. First, a notion prevails that the woman is the church. Many Christians have so conceived. A few words are sufficient to dispel the illusion, and do. How could the church be the mother of Christ? Viewed figuratively as a woman, the church is the bride of Christ (as we see in Rev 19:21 , 22); whereas the Jewish body is truly represented as His mother. Christ, as man, came of the Jews after the flesh. And He plainly is the One here described as the Man-child. The same truth is evident in the scriptures, whether we take the Psalms or the Prophets. “Unto us,” says Isaiah, “a child is born, a son is given.” Again, in the second Psalm, we find that He who is honoured by God Himself as the Son is to rule the nations with a rod of iron. The Lord Jesus is the destined Ruler here prominent, as the woman is Israel in full corporate character for dominion on the earth. To the daughter of Zion shall come the first dominion, the kingdom to the daughter of Jerusalem, as Micah predicts.
It may be no small difficulty how to bring herein the birth of Christ. Observe then that here the Spirit of God is not proceeding with the course of the prophecy. For the seventh Trumpet brought in the end in a general way. It has been already explained that here we have supplemental matter of the highest moment. Another thing should be taken into account, that in this portion no date serves to fix the time when the birth of the Man-child takes place. But if emphatically timeless, why should the birth of the Man-child be introduced here, seeing that the Lord had been born, had lived, had died and gone to heaven long before? While introducing Israel according to His purpose, God in this striking manner rehearses it mystically, and combines it with His and our translation to heaven after the style of O.T. prophecy. The disclosure of God’s covenant dealings with Israel in order to their eventual restoration furnishes the occasion. All are, as in this prophetic perspective, introduced here together, Christ being both the Bridegroom of the church, and the King of Israel and of all the nations, though only the last of these relationships suits this place save mystically.
God is not at all disposing the purposes before us as a question of time, but of connection with Christ their centre. The prophet is about to enter into the final scenes of the world; but before this is done, God’s counsel is shown as to Israel. This brings forward the devil in his evil antagonism to that counsel; for it was assuredly what the adversary most of all dreaded. Scripture lets us see Satan invariably opposing Christ with greater tenacity of purpose and hatred and pride than any other. Recognising in Him the fatal bruiser of himself and the great deliverer of man and creation to God’s glory, a constant and direct enmity on Satan’s part to the Son of God is familiar throughout the Bible. But there is more than this: Satan sets himself against His connection with the now poor and despised people of Israel. Hence before God espouses the part of Israel, the fact is shown that Christ is caught up to Him and to His throne. Not a word drops about His life; not a word here about His death or His resurrection. This proves to us how mystical the statement is. Had it been an historical summary, we must have had those stupendous events on which depends all reconciliation with God for man and the universe. But all this is entirely passed over. Like the woman, the Man-child is viewed in God’s purpose. The reason seems just this, that here is intimated, as in O.T. prophecy, how the Lord and His people are wrapped up in the same symbol. Just so, in a yet more intimate way, what is said about Christ applies to the Christian. Compare Isa 1:8 , Isa 1:9 , and Rom 8:33-35 .
On this mystical principle then the rapture of the Man child to God and His throne involves the rapture of the saints in itself. The explanation why it could be thus introduced here depends on the truth that Christ and the church are one, and have the common destiny of ruling the nations with a rod of iron. Inasmuch as He went up to heaven, so also the church is to be caught up. “So also is Christ,” says the apostle Paul in 1Co 12:12 , when speaking of the church; for we must naturally suppose the allusion is to the body rather than to the Head. Yet he does not say, so also is the church, but “so also is Christ.” In a similar spirit this prophecy shows us the Male of might taken to heaven, entirely above the reach of Satan’s malice. If this be so, it has a remarkable bearing on what has been already asserted as to the book. We here begin over again, with divine purposes and their unseen action and aims as the object of the Holy Ghost in this latter portion. It is a supplemental volume, revealing secret springs and the great agents, with mercies too, of the closing scenes.
This is strictly in order. The heavenly saints are above. It is now a question of preparing the earthly people, Israel, for their place here below. Put for heavenly and for earthly people all turns on Christ. Hence Christ being born of Israel, there is and ought to be first set forth that connection of His. Next is the devil’s opposition to the counsels of God, and hindrance for the time being; which gives occasion to the Lord Himself taking His place in heaven, the church following Him into heaven, without a date to either, like a binary star. In short, the first portion of the chapter is a mystical representation of the Lord’s relationship with Israel and of Satan’s deadly antagonism; then the Lord’s removal out of the scene to heaven, which gives room for God’s binding up, as it were, with Christ’s disappearance to heaven the saints’ translation there. In this way the rapture of the Man-child is not brought in here historically, but in mystic connection; and the great agents are all in their place according to God’s mind.
If this be borne in mind, the whole subject is considerably cleared. “She brought forth a man-child to rule all the nations with a rod of iron.” There is no difficulty in applying this to the Man-child, viewed not personally and alone but mystically; and the less, because this very promise is made to the church in Thyatira, or rather to the faithful there. It will be remembered that at the end of Revelation ii. it was expressly said that the Lord would give to the overcomer power over the nations, and he should rule them with iron rod, broken to pieces like vessels of pottery, just as He Himself received of His Father. But where for the present is Israel? Hidden in the wilderness, yet preserved till God’s public kingdom appears. “And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should nourish her there a thousand two hundred [and] sixty days.” The days are numbered for the tried; as elsewhere in the shortest form compressed for like purpose as to the Beast’s reign.
In verse 7 is a new scene; and here from counsel we come much more to facts, though unseen by men on the earth. It is not God’s counsels or principles viewed in His mind, but positive events; first of all from above, as later on we shall find consequent changes on the earth. The mystery of God awaits its term. Its completion will surely come. But even before His world-kingdom come, what a vast and striking change! Saints will no longer have to wrestle with the spirituals of wickedness in the heavenlies! Satan can never again play the part of accuser on high.
“And there came war in the heaven: Michael and his angels to war with the dragon; and the dragon warred and his angels, and prevailed not; nor was their place found any more in the heaven. And the great dragon was cast down, the ancient serpent that is called Devil and Satan, that deceiveth the whole habitable world, was cast unto the earth; and his angels were cast with him. And I heard a great voice in the heaven, saying, Now is come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ; because the accuser of our brethren is cast down, that accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony, and loved not their life unto death. For this be glad, O heavens, and ye that tabernacle in them.” It is evident that at this time persons are spoken of as being above who sympathise deeply with their suffering brethren on earth. Such is the incontestable fact. Who are they but those one with Christ, the Male of might? Compare Rev 13:6 . They anticipate from Satan’s catastrophe the entire establishment of the kingdom, though three and a half times have yet to pass in fact. Satan has lost that access to the presence of God in the quality of accuser of the brethren which he had previously possessed; nor will he ever regain the highest seat of his power then lost, the pledge of ruin ever more and more irretrievable. He is no longer able to fill heaven with his bitter taunts and accusations of the saints of God. What a blessed change for them! What a relief to those on high!
“Woe,” it is added, “to the earth and to the sea! because the devil hath gone down to you, having great fury, knowing that he hath a short season.” This clearly connects the dispossession of Satan from his heavenly seat with the crisis of Jews and Gentiles at the end of the present age. We find here the hidden reason. Why should there be then such an unwonted storm of persecution? why such tremendous doings of Satan here below for a short time, the three years and a half before the close? Here it is explained. Satan cannot longer accuse above; accordingly he does while he can his worst below. He is cast down to earth, never to regain the heavens: a fact of deep import and of pregnant consequence. Again, he will be banished from the earth, as we shall find, into the bottomless pit by-and-by; and though he be let loose thence for a short time, it is only for his irremediable destruction; for he is cast then (not merely into the pit or abyss, but) into the lake of fire, whence none ever comes back.
Such is the revealed course of the dealings of God with the great enemy of men from first to last. How strange to fancy that such amazing events took place ages ago without the saints of God knowing it! From Rev 4 there is a throne of judgment, not of grace; from Rev 12 Satan has no longer access to heaven; and there is therefore no more room for wrestling against spiritual powers of wickedness in heavenly places. Our struggle against them is so characteristic of the Christian, that any interpretation of the Revelation is convicted of error, which assumes that it ceases while the church is on earth. The Epistle to the Ephesians must thereby be no longer applicable: a consequence necessarily flowing from the error, and as certainly false and impossible.
From verse 13 the history is pursued not from the heavens, but on the earth. “And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the male. And to the woman were given two wings of the great eagle, that she might flee into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished shore a time and times and half a time from the serpent’s face.” Thus power is given to escape, rapid means of flight from Satan’s persecution; not power to withstand Satan, and fight the battle out with him, but ample facility to hide from his violence. This is conveyed by the two wings of the great eagle – a figure of vigorous means to escape. The most energetic image of flight in nature is vividly applied to the case in hand
“And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a river after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the river.” The endeavour to stir up impetuous action, excited by his craft to overwhelm the Jews, is vain; for “the earth,” or what was then under settled government, “helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed up the river which the dragon cast out of his mouth. And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed that keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus.” By these are meant such of the Jews as then are known for subjection to God and a certain witness of Jesus. If the woman represents a more general state of Israel, the remnant of her seed are the witnessing portion. The mass, or “the many” of the future as Daniel calls them, will be quite apostate. The Jews of that day will thus vary much. Even among the godly then some will be much more energetic and intelligent than others, as we see in Dan 12 . Satan hastens therefore, and sets himself to put down those chosen vessels in the testimony of Jesus, a testimony not so much of communion for the Christian, but distinctly in the spirit of prophecy.
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Rev 12:1-6
1A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; 2and she was with child; and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth. 3Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems. 4And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child. 5And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne. 6Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.
Rev 12:1 “A great sign appeared in heaven” This may be the beginning of “the seven signs” of the Revelation. This is a special theological term (smeion) used often in John’s Gospel (cf. Joh 2:11; Joh 2:23; Joh 3:2; Joh 4:54; Joh 6:2; Joh 6:14; Joh 6:30; Joh 7:31; Joh 9:16; Joh 10:41; Joh 11:47; Joh 12:18; Joh 12:37; Joh 20:30). It now appears seven times between Rev 12:1; Rev 19:20three times of signs in heaven (cf. Rev 12:1; Rev 12:3; Rev 15:1) and four times of signs on the earth (cf. Rev 13:13-14; Rev 16:14; Rev 19:20).
“in heaven” This probably means “in the sky” and not in heaven itself. The term heaven(s) in the OT can refer to the atmosphere above the earth (cf. Gen 1:1; Gen 1:8-9; Gen 1:17; Gen 1:20; Psa 104:2-3) or the place where God dwells (cf. Psa 11:4; Psa 103:19; Isa 66:1; 2 Corinthians 12). This ambiguity is what caused the rabbis to speculate on the number of heavensthree or seven.
See SPECIAL TOPIC: THE HEAVENS AND THE THIRD HEAVEN at Rev 4:1.
“a woman clothed with” This woman is beautifully described, in antithesis to the great whore of Rev 17:4 who symbolizes anti-God world empires such as Babylon, Rome, and the end-time anti-Christ world system. There have been two theories about the source of John’s imagery:
1. Genesis 3, where there is a woman, a serpent and a man-child
2. other strong allusions to “birthing” in the OT (cf. Isa 26:17-18 in the Septuagint and Isa 66:7-13)
Israel is described as a woman giving birth (cf. Mic 4:10), therefore, this woman represents the true people of God (cf. Rev 12:1-6), but in Rev 12:13-17 she will be the NT people of God fleeing from the wrath of the dragon. For other theories see Alan Johnson’s Revelation, pp. 117-119.
In Answers to Questions F. F. Bruce said, “The woman I should think of as the messianic community or ‘Israel of God’ especially as manifested locally in the Palestinian church, the mother-church par excellence; . . . The ‘remnant of her seed’ will be Christians in other parts of the world, the target of attack in Rev 13:7” (p. 140).
In New Bible Commentary George R. Beasley-Murray said, “Religious people of the ancient world would have seen in the travailing woman a goddess crowned with the twelve stars of the zodiac; a Jew would have understood her as Mother Zion (see Isa 26:16; Isa 27:1; Isa 49:14-25; Isa 54:1-8; Isa 66:7-9), but for John she represented the ‘Mother’ of the Messianic community, the believing people of God of old and new covenants” (p. 1441).
“twelve stars” Here again our presuppositions drive the interpretation.
1. if it is OT then it refers to the twelve Jewish tribes
2. if it is intertestamental apocalyptic literature it refers to the signs of the zodiac
3. if it is NT then it refers to the twelve Apostles
Twelve is the regular biblical symbolic number of organization. See Special Topic: the Number Twelve at Rev 7:4.
However, the meaning of chapter 12 is not conditioned on a proper identification of John’s symbolism, but the central truth of the context. This principle must be maintained. We must not
1. push the details
2. choose some things literally and some things symbolically
3. force our interpretations into our historical setting
Rev 12:2 Birth pains were used as a symbol for
1. expected, but sudden events
2. the pain or problems associated with an expected event
3. the beginning of something new with great potential
The Jews believed that the coming of the “new age” would involve persecution and problems (cf. Isa 13:8; Isa 21:3; Isa 26:17; Isa 66:7-13; Mat 24:8; Mar 13:8; 1Th 5:3). John uses this concept to describe the conflict between Satan and his followers and God and His followers (cf. Isa 66:7-24).
World events are going to get worse and worse, but God is in control of history (this is the view of premillennialism and amillennialsim, while postmillennialism is much more optimistic about world history). His followers are protected amidst persecution and victorious amidst temporary defeat, even physical death (cf. Joh 16:20-21). The question is, “How will God protect His followers?” His seal on their foreheads protects them from “the wrath of God,” but not from the persecutions of unbelievers (tribulation). God is for them, with them, and loves them, but many will still die!
Rev 12:3 “a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems” This is a description of evil and great power (cf. Rev 13:1 and Rev 17:3). The horns and heads symbolize perfect power (cf. Daniel 7) and the diadems represent the evil one’s attempted usurpation of Christ’s royal place.
The term “dragon” may go back to the OT
1. the serpent of Genesis 3
2. the two evil monsters of chaos
a. Rahab (cf. Psa 89:10; Isa 51:9-10; Job 26:12-13)
b. Leviathan (cf. Psa 74:13-14; Psa 104:26; Job 3:8; Job 7:12; Job 41:1; Isa 27:1; Amo 9:3)
There are numerous titles for the evil one found in the NT
1. “Satan,” used 33 times
2. the “Devil,” used 32 times
3. the “Tempter,” (cf. Mat 4:3; 1Th 3:5)
4. the “evil one,” (cf. Mat 6:13; Mat 13:19; 1Jn 5:18)
5. the “Enemy,” (cf. Mat 13:39)
6. the “Prince of Demons,” (cf. Mat 9:34; Mat 12:24)
7. “the Ruler of this world,” (cf. Joh 12:31; Joh 14:30; Joh 16:11)
8. “the Prince of the Power of the air,” (cf. Eph 2:2)
9. “The god of this world,” (cf. 2Co 4:4)
10. “Belial,” (cf. 2Co 6:15)
11. “Beelzebul,” (cf. Mar 3:22; Luk 11:15; Luk 11:18-19)
12. “the Dragon,” (cf. Rev 12:3-4; Rev 12:7; Rev 12:9; Rev 20:2)
13. “the Serpent,” (cf. Rev 12:9; Rev 12:15; Rev 20:2)
14. “the Accuser,” (cf. Rev 12:10; Rev 12:15)
15. “the Adversary,” (cf. 1Pe 5:8)
16. “a roaring lion,” (cf. 1Pe 5:8)
SPECIAL TOPIC: SATAN
Rev 12:4 “his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth” Because the term “the stars of heaven” is used quite often in the OT to refer to the saints of God (cf. Gen 15:5; Jer 33:22; Dan 12:3), some have assumed that this refers to saints, but the context could refer to angels (cf. Dan 8:10; 2Pe 2:4; Jud 1:6). Falling angels (i.e., falling stars) are a common motif in apocalyptic literature (i.e., I Enoch).
Satan is depicted with the angels in heaven before God in Job 1-2 and Zechariah 3. He was possibly a “covering cherub” (cf. Eze 28:12-18). This description, using metaphors from the Garden of Eden, does not fit the King of Tyre, but the king’s pride and arrogance mimicked Satan’s (I am becoming more and more uncomfortable with this approach because in Ezekiel 31 the king of Egypt is described as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Ezekiel regularly uses Eden terms to describe kings). In the OT Satan is not an enemy of God, but of mankind (cf. Rev 12:10). Satan was not created evil but developed into an arch enemy of all things good and holy (cf. A. B. Davidson’s An Old Testament Theology, pp. 300-306). Several times he is said to have been cast out of heaven (cf. Isa 14:12; Eze 28:16; Luk 10:18; Joh 12:31; and Rev 12:9; Rev 12:12). The problem is when. Is it:
1. during the OT period
a. before the creation of man
b. some time after Job but before Ezekiel 28
c. during the post-exilic period, but after Zechariah
2. during the NT period
a. after Jesus’ temptation (cf. Matthew 4)
b. during the mission trip of the seventy (cf. Luk 10:18)
c. at an end-time moment of rebellion (cf. Rev 12:9). See Special Topic at Rev 12:7.
One wonders whether the third of the stars refers to angels who rebelled against God and chose to follow Satan. If so, this may be the only Scriptural basis for the demonic of the NT related to fallen angels (cf. Rev 12:9; Rev 12:12). The number, one-third, may be related to the limit of the destruction during the trumpet judgments (cf. Rev 8:7-12; Rev 9:15; Rev 9:18) and not a specific number. Or, it may represent Satan’s defeat of part of the angels in battle. It is also possible it simply reflects the ancient myth of Babylon. See Contextual Insights, B. 1.
At this point it may be helpful to remember that although this issue is interesting, it probably was not the author’s intent in this context to discuss (1) the origin of the demonic; (2) the fall of Satan; or (3) an angelic rebellion in heaven. In apocalyptic literature the central theme of the vision is crucial, but the literalness of the presentation, the details and the images are dramatic, symbolic, fictional. It is our curiosity and respect for the Bible that motivates our detailed, logical, doctrinal formulations. Be careful of pushing the details; apocalyptic literature is often true theology presented in an imaginative frame-work. It is true, but symbolically presented!
“he might devour her child” This child refers to the promised Messiah (cf. Rev 12:5). Satan wants to thwart God’s plans at every level, both the universal plan for redemption (unconditional covenants) and the individual plan of redemption (conditional covenants, cf. Mat 13:19; 2Co 4:4).
Rev 12:5 “she gave birth to a son, a male child” This may be an allusion to Isa 66:7-8. Notice how John moves from the incarnation of Jesus to the eschatological reign. All the things in between are dealt with in John’s Gospel, but not in the Revelation.
“who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron” This is an allusion to Psa 2:9 and is, therefore, Messianic. In Rev 19:15 this phrase is used of the Messiah, while in Rev 2:26-27 it is used of the saints. There is a fluidity between the Messiah (individual) and the believing community (corporate) here, as there is in the servant songs of Isaiah (i.e., national Israel, cf. Isa 42:1-9; Isa 42:19; Isa 49:1-7; Isa 50:4-11; Isa 52:13 to Isa 53:12). As the evil one now rules the nations, a new leader has come and will ond day completely reign.
“and her child was caught up to God and to His throne” Some see this as the ascension of Christ, but we miss the point of this literary unit if we make it too strong an allusion to the historical life of Christ. John, in the book of Revelation, does not discuss Jesus’ earthly life or death. He moves theologically from the incarnation to the exaltation. The focus of Revelation is the glorified, exalted Christ (cf. Rev 1:4-20). John’s presentation of the gospel in Revelation focuses on repentance and giving glory to God. This is meant not to depreciate Jesus’ central role (cf. Rev 5:9; Rev 5:12; Rev 7:14; Rev 12:11), but to focus on His role of bringing the eternal kingdom (cf. 1Co 15:25-28); the kingdom of both the Father and the Son!
Rev 12:6 “the woman fled into the wilderness” Many see here an allusion to the Exodus, which is found throughout this context. The time of wilderness wanderings was seen by the rabbis as a betrothal period between YHWH and Israel. During this time, He provided all of their needs and was intimately present with them.
“a place prepared by God” Although the general context reflects the Wilderness Wandering Period, this phrase carries other historical allusions.
1. Elijah by the brook Cherith (cf. 1Ki 17:1-7)
2. Elijah’s flight into the Sinai peninsula (cf. 1Ki 19:1-14)
3. the seven thousand faithful (cf. 1Ki 19:18)
4. those who fled the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 (cf. Mat 24:15-20; Mar 13:12-18)
“for one thousand two hundred and sixty days” Again, this seems to be an undetermined, but limited, period of persecution. This same period of time is referred to in several different ways which equal about three and one half years.
1. “time, times and a half time” (cf. Dan 7:25; Dan 12:7; Rev 12:14)
2. “2,300 evenings and mornings” (cf. Dan 8:14)
3. “forty-two months” (cf. Rev 11:2; Rev 13:5); “1,260 days” (cf. Rev 11:3; Rev 12:6); “1,290 days” (cf. Dan 12:11); and “1,335 days” (cf. Dan 12:12).
Seven is the perfect number in Hebrew numerology (cf. Gen 1:1 to Gen 2:3). One less than seven speaks of human imperfection and 666 (cf. Rev 13:17-18) is the ultimate imperfect human, the Antichrist (cf. 2 Thessalonians 2). In the same vein, three and one-half is symbolic of a limited, but indefinite, period of persecution. See SPECIAL TOPIC: FORTY-TWO MONTHS at Rev 11:2.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
And . . . heaven = And a great sign was seen in heaven.
appeared = was seen. App-133.
wonder. App-176. What follows is a sign.
heaven. See Rev 3:12.
woman. i.e. Israel. See Joh 16:21.
twelve stars. Probably the zodiacal signs, representing the Israel nation in embryo. See App-12.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
1-17.] THE VISION OF THE WOMAN AND THE GREAT RED DRAGON. On the nature of this vision, as introductory of the whole imagery of the latter part of the Apocalypse, I have already remarked at ch. 11. It is only needful now to add, that the principal details of the present section are rather descriptive than strictly prophetical: relating, just as in the prophets the descriptions of Israel and Judah, to things passed and passing, and serving for the purpose of full identification and of giving completeness to the whole vision. And a great (important in its meaning, as well as vast in its appearance) sign (, one of those appearances by which God to John the revelations of this book, ch. Rev 1:1) was seen in heaven (heaven here is manifestly not only the show-place of the visions as seen by the Seer, but has a substantial place in the vision: for below, Rev 12:7 ff., we have the heaven contrasted with the earth, and the dragon cast out of heaven into the earth. See more there), a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon ( = ) beneath her feet (see Son 6:10, which seems to be borne in mind), and on her head a crown of twelve stars (the whole symbolism points to the Church, the bride of God: and of course, from the circumstances afterwards related, the O. T. church, at least at this beginning of the vision. That the blessed Virgin cannot be intended, is plain from the subsequent details, and was recognized by the early expositors. The crown of twelve stars represents the Patriarchs. Victorinuss comment is worth quoting: Mulier. antiqua Ecclesia est patrum et prophetarum et sanctorum apostolorum qu gemitus et tormenta habuit desiderii sui usque quo fructum ex plebe sua secundum carnem olim promissum sibi videret Christum ex ipsa gente corpus sumpsisse. Corona stellarum duodecim chorum patrum significat secundum carnem nativitatis, ex quibus erat Christus carnem sumpturus), and [she is] (or, being) with child [and] crieth out in pangs and tormented to bring forth (the inf. , of that which would be the result of the , has a parallel in Act 7:19, . , and in other places, see Winer, edn. 6, 44. 4, but not without the art.). And another sign was seen in heaven; and behold, a great red dragon (interpreted below, Rev 12:9, to be the devil, the ancient serpent: see also Rev 12:13; Rev 12:15. He is perhaps for the combined reasons, of the wasting properties of fire, and the redness of blood: rufus, ut homicida, as the gloss, interl.: see Joh 8:44), having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his heads seven diadems (the Dragon being the devil, these symbolic features must be interpreted of the assuming by him of some of those details in the form of the beast in ch. Rev 13:1 ff., to whom afterwards he gives his power and his throne: in other words, as indicating that he lays wait for the womans offspring in the form of that antichristian power which is afterwards represented by the beast. At the same time, the seven crowned heads may possess an appropriateness of their own, belonging as they do to the dragon alone (the beast has the crowns on his horns, ch. Rev 13:1). They may represent, as he is Prince of this world, universality of earthly dominion. The ten horns belong to the fourth beast of Dan 7:7; Dan 7:20). And his tail draggeth down the third part of the stars of the heaven, and cast them to the earth (so the little horn in Dan 8:10, cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them. The allusion here may be as Areth[110] in Catena, , , . The magnitude and fury of the dragon are graphically given by the fact of its tail, in its lashing backwards and forwards in fury, sweeping down the stars of heaven). And the dragon stands (not stood. The Commentators cite from Pliny H. N. viii. 3 of the dragon, Nec flexu multiplici ut reliqu serpentes corpus impellit, sed celsus et erectus in medio incedens) before the woman which is about to bear, that when she has borne he may devour her child (this was what the devil instigated Herod the Great to do, who was the dependant of the Roman Empire. But doubtless the reference is wider than this: even to the whole course of hostility against the Lord during His humiliation: see below). And she bore a male (if is neuter, and not to be written , the expression is a solcism, or rather a combination of genders, going back from the masculine individual to the neuter of the genus) son, who shall rule (lit. shepherd, i. e. order and guide) all the nations with ( of investiture, very nearly expressed by our instrumental with, which in its primitive meaning does but signify accompaniment) a rod of iron (these words, cited verbatim from the LXX of the Messianic Psalms 2, and preceded by the of personal identification, leave no possibility of doubt, who is here intended. The man-child is the Lord Jesus Christ, and none other. And this result is a most important one for the fixity of reference of the whole prophecy. It forms one of those landmarks by which the legitimacy of various interpretations may be tested; and of which we may say, notwithstanding the contradiction sure to be given to the saying, that every interpretation which oversteps their measure is thereby convicted of error. Again, the exigencies of this passage require that the birth should be understood literally and historically, of that Birth of which all Christians know. And be it observed, that this rule of interpretation is no confident assertion of mine, as has been represented, but a result from the identifying use of words of the prophetic Scripture, spoken of Him, who will not suffer His honour to be given to another): and her child was caught up to God and to His throne (i. e. after a conflict with the Prince of this world, who came and tried Him but found nothing in Him, the Son of the woman was taken up to heaven and sat on the right hand of God. Words can hardly be plainer than these. It surely is but needful to set against them, thus understood, the interpretation which would regard them as fulfilled by the mighty issue of the consummated birth of a son of the church, a baptized emperor, to political supremacy in the Roman empire, united with the solemn public profession of the divinity of the Son of man. Elliott, iii. 24). And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath there a place prepared from (the source of the preparation being His command: see reff., and Winer, edn. 6, 47, b) God, that they (the subject to the verb is left indefinite. In Rev 12:14 below, it is simply passive, ) may nourish her there for a thousand two hundred and sixty days (the whole of this verse is anticipatory: the same incident being repeated with its details and in its own place in the order of the narrative below, Rev 12:13 ff. See there the comment and interpretation. The fact of its being here inserted by anticipation is very instructive as to that which now next follows, as not being consecutive in time after the flight of the woman, but occurring before it, and in fact referred to now in the prophecy as leading to that pursuit of the woman by the dragon, which, as matter of sequence, led to it).
[110] Arethas, Bp. of Csarea in Cappadocia, Centy. X.2
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Chapter 12
And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head [the sun and the moon under her feet, and on her head] a crown of twelve stars ( Rev 12:1 ):
The identity of the woman is found in Genesis as we read of the dream of Joseph, how the sun and the moon and the eleven stars bowed down to him and so the same figure here. We have the identity of the woman as the nation of Israel, those twelve tribes that came out of Jacob.
And she being great with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered ( Rev 12:2 ).
So she was ready to give birth to the child.
You see the purposes of God for the nation of Israel was that they were to bring the Messiah into the world. He was to be of the seed of Abraham and of the seed of David. And so God was working with this nation preparing them as the instrument, the nation, by which His Son would come into the world. God had to choose some nation, so He chose the nation of Israel. And that is why they are the chosen people. Chosen for what? Chosen to be the instrument, the people, through which God would bring His Son into the world.
Now, the tragic thing is that when God used them for this purpose, then they rejected His Son that He sent. But they had rejected the prophets before they had rejected His Son. In fact, Jesus got them quite angry one time with a parable that he gave of a certain man who went away to a far country and left his fields in the charge of his servants. And he sent back a servant that he might collect the fruit from the field, but they beat the servant, mistreated him. So he sent other servants. They beat them and mistreated them. He said, “I will send my own son. Surely they will respect him.” And when they saw his son coming, they said, “Here is the heir. Let’s kill him.” He said, “What will the master do when he comes?” They said, “He will utterly wipe them out.” The Lord said, “That is right.” But it was a parable really against the Jews who had persecuted the prophets. “Which of the prophets have you not slain? Have you not persecuted?” Stephen said ( Act 7:52 ).
And so God chose this nation to bring forth the Messiah.
And [the nation] being with child, travailing in birth, and paining to be delivered. And there appeared [a second wonder in heaven] another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon [Satan], having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, to devour her child as soon as it was born ( Rev 12:2-4 ).
So, the two wonders, the woman Israel ready to bring forth the Messiah, the Christ, and Satan ready to destroy it as soon as it was born.
You remember Herod, when the wisemen came to him and inquired where the king was to be born. Herod inquired of the Bible teachers. They said “Bethlehem”. So Herod directed them to Bethlehem, but he said, “When you have found the child, come back and tell me about it, so I can come and worship him also.” Herod was paranoid. He was fearful that someone was going to take his throne. He killed his wife. He killed his sons. In fact, they used to say it was safer to be Herod’s pig than it is to be his son. He’s paranoid. He felt people were plotting, trying to take his throne.
So when he heard that the king had been born, he was threatened. So he asked the wisemen to come back and tell me, but he intended to go and kill the child. And when the wisemen didn’t come back, he then ordered that all the baby boys in Bethlehem area be killed that were two years and under. The dragon was ready to devour the child as soon as it was born.
Now, here an interesting thing with Satan. The stars of heaven, angels are often referred to as stars and this would indicate that when Satan rebelled, a third of the angels rebelled with him. That is why that I believe that there were probably three angels created in the highest order of angelic being, called the archangel. They were of the cherubim class of angels, but three special, and that was Gabriel, Lucifer and Michael. And that they each probably had under their authority a third of the angelic host. And those that were under Lucifer’s authority, when he rebelled against God, joined in his rebellion. With his tail he drew a third part of the stars of heaven.
Now when this happened, we don’t know. Where in prehistory this took place, we don’t know. Before the world existed, no doubt, this rebellion took place of these angels. Prior to his rebellion, Satan was a perfect model. Ezekiel says he was perfect in wisdom, perfect in beauty, perfect in all of his ways, until the day that iniquity was found in him ( Eze 28:17 ).
Isaiah fourteen tells us that pride filled his heart. He said, “I will exalt my throne above the stars of heaven. I will sit in the congregation of the sides of the north. I will ascend above the clouds. I will be like the most High. I will be like God. And yet, art thou cast down”( Isa 14:14 ). There will come a time that you will see Satan one day, and you will be amazed. You’ll say, “Is that the critter that caused us so much trouble?” Isaiah fourteen tells us that.
So, there appeared this other wonder in heaven, this red dragon with seven heads, ten horns and seven crowns upon his head. We are reminded of the description of the antichrist who is the embodiment of Satan. His tail drawing a third part of the stars.
And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron ( Rev 12:5 ):
When Jesus comes to establish His reign and kingdom, He will rule the world with a rod of iron.
and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne ( Rev 12:5 ).
And that is where He is right now. Jesus has been caught up into heaven. He ascended into heaven. Luke records it in his gospel, as do other gospels. And He is there now sitting on His throne waiting for the Father to put all things in subjection unto Him. So the woman brought forth the child, he was caught up to God and to His throne.
So we move into the future.
And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and [sixty days] ( Rev 12:6 ).
They asked Jesus what will be the sign of His coming, the end of the world. And Jesus began to give them the signs of His coming and of the end of the world. And He said, “Now when you see the abomination that was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, the abomination of desolation, then flee to the wilderness. If you are on your housetop, don’t even bother to get your coat going through. Get out of there as quick as you can. If you’re out in the field, don’t even go home. Split. Get down to the wilderness”( Mat 24:15 ).
The abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet; what is it? When the temple is rebuilt and the worship reestablished, after three and a half years, or three and a half years into the seven-year cycle, or in the midst of the seven-year cycle. Not three and a half years after the temple has been built and worship reestablished. That will happen. It may be just a very short time after worship is established. It could take them three years to rebuild it. The antichrist will come to Jerusalem and he will go into the Holy of Holies of this rebuilt temple and there he will proclaim that he is god and he will demand that they worship him as god. This is the abomination of desolation that Daniel speaks about.
Now Jesus said, “When you see this abomination of Desolation spoken about by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place, let him who reads understand.” That is what it is all about. The antichrist coming to the temple, stopping the worship, standing in the Holy of Holies proclaiming himself to be god, at that point Jesus said to flee and don’t stop for anything. Get out of there.
So, the woman flees to the wilderness that she should be taken care of, the place prepared of God, that they should feed her for a thousand, two hundred and sixty days or through the last three and a half years of the seven-year cycle.
Now this wilderness place is probably the Rock City of Petra, south and east of Dead Sea. For Isaiah in the sixteenth chapter, God says to Moab, which is present day Jordan, “Open up your borders and receive My people. Shelter them in Petra until the tribulation is complete.” So, until the indignation be over passed; “indignation” is the Old Testament word for the Great Tribulation. So they will flee to the Rock City of Petra where God will take care of them for three and a half years.
Now, how could God take care of them there? Well, He took care of them for forty years in the wilderness before. He fed them manna. He could feed them manna again. God has no problem feeding people. He fed Elijah with ravens. Ravens brought his food. So, God will take care of them for three and a half years.
Now there was then war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels ( Rev 12:7 ),
So, you see the dragon also has angels. The third part, so he has a great force of angels.
And they prevailed not [the dragon and his angels]; neither was their place found any more in heaven ( Rev 12:8 ).
Now at the present time, Satan does have access to heaven. And he goes up there just to harass us before God. “Look at that fellow down there. He is supposed to be your servant. Did you see what he did last week?” No good. Accusing you before God. What a rascal.
We have a picture of it in the book of Job. The sons of God were presenting themselves to God and Satan also came with them and God said to Satan, “Where have you been?”
“I have been going up and down throughout the earth, to and fro through it.”
“Hey, have you seen my servant Job? Have you considered my servant Job? He is a good man. He loves Me and hates evil.”
“I seen that character. And I have also seen how you have blessed him. You have given that guy everything anybody could want. Who wouldn’t serve you when you are blessed like that, you’d be a fool not to serve You. Let me take away those things that you have given him and he will curse You to Your face.”
He accused Job of being a mercenary, serving God for the profit.
God said, “All right, go ahead, but don’t touch him. Strip him if you want.”
So, Satan began to strip Job until he wiped him out completely. Financially he was totally wiped out. And Job fell on his face and worshiped God and said, “I came into the world naked, looks like I am going out that way. The Lord has given, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” In all these things Job did not curse God or charge God foolishly.
So, the sons of God again were presenting themselves to God, and Satan came with them and God said, “Where have you been?” And he said, “Going around the earth, up and down, to and fro through it”.
“Hey, have you considered My servant Job? He is a good man. In spite of all that you did, he maintained his integrity.”
“Oh yeah, but You wouldn’t let me touch him. Let me touch him? Skin for skin, all a man has will he give for his life.”
God said, “All right you can afflict him, but don’t kill him.”
The limitation that God placed upon him. Job was afflicted with boils. He was covered and had to lie in the ashes. His wife saw his miserable condition and said, “Honey, why don’t you just curse God and die?” Horrible. His friends came and they couldn’t understand his plight. They began to accuse him falsely of all kinds of secret sins.
But Satan was accusing the brethren. That is what he is doing up there. He does have access into heaven, but here shortly he is going to get kicked out. Michael and his angels are going to fight against him and going to prevail against him and he is going to be cast out.
that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceives the whole world ( Rev 12:9 ):
And what a deceiver he is.
Now because man does not want the truth, God allows man to be deceived. God allows deception. You don’t want to believe the truth, then don’t. God will allow you to believe some crazy hair brain tale if you want too. If you don’t want to believe that God created the earth. You don’t want to believe that God created you. You don’t want to believe that God designed your eyes in such a glorious way, the optic nerves and the whole system of sight. You don’t want to believe that that is creation. Then all right, believe in wild yarn. That a worm coming out of the ooze got burned on the forehead with the sun-wasn’t really the forehead then, just the upper part of the anatomy-and it formed a freckle, mutations, and over the process of millions of years this freckle formed into an eye with all the intricate aspects of an eye. The nerves transmitting the message of the vibrations into the brain able to interpret it, the movement and so forth. Marvelous. Yarn story that deluded men, called scientists believe. You tell that to your kids they won’t believe it. So, if a person doesn’t believe the truth, God let’s them believe a lie as preposterous as the lie may be.
“Because they served the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever more, God gave them over to reprobate minds” ( Rom 1:25 , Rom 1:28 ). They believe the lie rather than the truth. You don’t want to retain God in your mind; God will give you over to a reprobate mind. You don’t want to believe the truth; God will let you believe a lie. We read that the antichrist is going to bring a strong delusion on the people that those who did not want to believe the truth, and they will believe the great lie of the antichrist.
Jesus said, “I came in My Father’s name and you didn’t receive Me. Another is going to come in his own name, him you will receive”( Joh 5:43 ). You don’t want to receive the truth, then you will receive the lie of the deceiver who has deceived the world. Make sure you haven’t been deceived by Satan. Make sure that Satan hasn’t deceived you in turning you away from God and the truth and the love of God that He has for you in Christ.
he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him [and heaven now being rid of this creature]. I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night ( Rev 12:9-10 ).
He is continually accusing us.
And they overcame him [the brethren being accused] by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death ( Rev 12:11 ).
So, we have victory over Satan through the blood of Jesus Christ. The fact that we have been redeemed, purchased. “I am a debtor,” Paul said, “not to live any longer after the flesh, not to the flesh to live after it, but to the Spirit.” “Know ye not that you are a temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you. You have been bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and Spirit which are His. You are not your own. You have been bought with a price” ( 1Co 6:19 ). The old nature, the old life was worthless. It is dead. We count it dead. We reckon it to be dead that we might live this new life after Christ in the Spirit. Our testimony is that of redemption through the blood of Jesus, the new life, the new nature that we have in Him. So, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, the testimony of that redemption, we overcome Satan.
Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. [Satan has been cast out.] Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea. for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knows he has but a short time ( Rev 12:12 ).
In just about three and a half years he is going to get chained and placed in the abusso, so he is angry and upset. He has been defeated and he is going to take it out upon those that live upon the earth at that time.
Now, when the dragon saw that he was cast onto the earth, he persecuted the woman or Israel. So, Israel again is going to be facing a time of persecution. These people who have gone through historically such tremendous persecution, the inquisition in Spain, the slaughter by Hitler and now the persecution in Russia, these people have had such a tremendous share of persecution. There are people who hate them that don’t even know why they hate them. Anti-Semitism is an evil, wicked thing, but it is so prevalent. The tragedy is that they have yet more persecution to go through. Satan is going to seek to persecute the woman which brought forth the man child.
And to the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time ( Rev 12:13-14 ),
Time is a year. Times-two years, and half a time would be, of course, a half-year, so three and a half years; one thousand, two hundred and sixty-two days from the face of the serpent.
And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood (that is an army) after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth ( Rev 12:15-16 ).
So the army that pursues after Israel will be destroyed as the earth opens up.
During the time of Moses when Korah came and said that you have taken too much on yourself making your brother the one who offers sacrifices, we are Levites and have just as much right as does Aaron, and Moses took the rods and set them before the Lord. And then the next day after Aaron’s rod had budded said; “Okay, Korah, you and your buddies stand out there. If God is in this thing let the earth open up and swallow you guys whole right down into the pit.” And the earth opened up and Korah and his buddies went on down. So, here again the earth will open up.
Actually this great rift of which they call the Jordan Valley, of which the Dead Sea is a part, and of course the city of Petra on the other side, this great rift they believe was caused by a tremendous earthquake, seismic movement and all, and of course it is the greatest rift in the world. The Dead Sea is thirteen hundred feet below sea level and it is called the Great African Rift. It goes from Syria down into Africa. So, it is a place of historic, cataclysmic earthquakes and fire and brimstone that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. So again, even as Mount St. Helen’s laid dormant for one hundred and thirty-seven years and then suddenly popped, this area is just going to open up and close up again, and the army that is pursuing Israel will be swallowed.
And the dragon was angry with the woman, and he went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ ( Rev 12:17 ).
So, chapter twelve deals with these interesting little vignettes into aspects of the past and future.
As we get into chapter thirteen next week, we get into the antichrist and we will get some historic background on him, as we take a look at this man, who I believe to be alive in the world today. And I believe that he is about ready to take over, but the only thing that is keeping him from taking over is the presence of the church. But I believe the earth is ready for him and ready to receive him and that he is ready to establish his kingdom, his reign over the earth. And that he probably is already involved in world politics. I don’t know who he is. I am not even going to guess who he is. But I do believe that we are at that time, that he does exist and probably is actively involved in world politics and will be taking over as soon as the church is gone.
We’ll be dealing with that next week as we get into chapter thirteen.
May the Lord be with you and give you a beautiful week. May you enjoy His presence and His fellowship as you walk with Him. May the Spirit of God give you strength and power in your inner man. May He help you to begin to comprehend how much God does love you, how much God cares for each one of you. May you come to a new rich love relationship with Jesus Christ where your heart burns with passion for Him and for the things of the spirit. May you be enriched in His fullness. May the Lord watch over and keep you in Jesus’ name. “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Rev 12:1. And there appeared a great wonder in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:
This is that woman of whom the promise runs, The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpents head. John saw this in a vision in the heavenly places; he saw the Church of God, enthroned, made glorious, clothed with the sun, having the brightness of divine light about her, with all that is variable, changeable as the moon under her feet, and upon her head the crown that her Lord had given, her twelve patriarchs, twelve prophets, twelve apostles, a complete number of glorious lights kindled from heaven.
Rev 12:2. And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.
That child that is born of her, that seed of the woman, that shall bruise the serpents head is: first, Christ, and then all the first-born, of whom he is the great representative.
Rev 12:3-4. And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.
The spirit of evil in the heavenlies fighting with the power of light and goodness and grace, a mysterious being with great power, high intelligence, seven heads, ten horns, and having mighty influence over multitudes of men, so that there were seven crowns upon his seven heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth. The crocodile, which, I suppose, was the earthly figure from which Johns dream sprang, has great force in its tail; and Satan doubtless of old drew from heaven a number of its stars -other angels fell with him. And there are times in the heavens of the church when the ministers fall; they seem to go in companies. Those who should be lights for God, are into darkness, and become teachers of heresy He did cast them down to the earth. They lost their brightness, they betrayed their earthly origin. And the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to he delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. Remember how he sought to slay Jesus; and the like is the case of all the man-children born unto God, who will be of service in the kingdom of God. The main attack of the dragon was against the child: the main attack of the power of evil is against Christ and everything Christly. If he could destroy the gospel, he would not care about the church one whit: the woman might go if the man-child could be destroyed.
Rev 12:5. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up ,unto God, and to his throne.
That is the brief history of the birth of Christ, and of his going from us. He was caught up unto GOD, and to his throne. God will take care of the great principle of truth. If it cannot have a refuge on earth, he will find it a refuge in heaven.
Rev 12:6. And the woman fled into the wilderness where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.
The church of GOD was long in obscurity. You can hardly find it among the Albigenses and Waldenses. It was hidden away among the mounts. The Wycliffites, and the Lollards, and others, held fast the truth; but history scarcely records their names. The woman was in the wilderness, hidden away for many a day. And there was war in heaven. You are not to think of heaven as a place, but among the heavenlies. John, in a vision, saw the great contending powers of evil. He was like the prophet when he saw a mountain full of horses of fire and chariots of fire.
Rev 12:7-8. And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels. And prevailed not: neither was their place found any more in heaven.
You remember how our Lord, who is the true Michael, the only great archangel, said at the beginning of the preaching of the gospel, I beheld Satan as lightning falling from heaven. His power among the heavenlies is gone; he was cast out of the place called heaven; so is he now, by the preaching of the gospel, and by the death of Christ, cast down from among the heavenly influences.
Rev 12:9. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
This was done in the olden time as a matter of fact. It is done continually, spiritually, as Christ is lifted up, and his gospel gets the victory.
Rev 12:10. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren its cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
Always at it! this prince of evil pretending to goodness, and daring to bring accusations against the Holy One of God. But he is not permitted now to stand in the court; he is hurled from his high place. He used his place with a desperate pertinacity of malice, accusing the brethren day and night.
Rev 12:11-12. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.
Therefore rejoice ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Let great joy be in the hearts of all spiritual beings, whether angels or men, for Satan is cast down from. among them. But the battle is not over; the scene of it is only transferred from the heavenlies to the earthly. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you having great wrath because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. We may expect him to rage more and more as the time of his destruction comes nearer and nearer. He is like a bad tenant; he will damage the house out of which he is to be ejected. But he is to be ejected, and let God be glorified for it.
Rev 12:13. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.
He had changed his place, but he did not change his nature; and so he still perseveres in his attack upon God.
Rev 12:14-15. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and halt a time, from the face of the serpent. And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.
Read history and see what fierce and brutal persecutions were used like floods against the gospel of Christ.
Rev 12:16. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and wallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
It is poor help that the earth can give, and yet God has over-ruled to make it useful. The kings and the powers of this world have for their own reasons sometimes protected the church. It was so in Luthers day. The jealousy that was felt of the influence of the Court of Rome politically tended to the preservation of Luther and those round about him, so that the gospel was not destroyed. The earth helped the woman, and we may expect that even those political disasters, which we often dread, will all end that way. How often has priestly arrogance been put to the blush even for political reasons! We have nothing to do with that, but still we can see how God can over-rule. It is always amiss when a woman begins to help the earth: she has nothing to do with that: let the Church leave the State alone. But sometimes it happens that in the political providence of God the earth helps the woman.
Rev 12:17. And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have testimony of Jesus Christ.
And the dragon was wroth with the woman. If ever you meet with a church of God which the devil likes, it is good for nothing; but if it is a true church of God, if it holds the truth, and if it walks in holiness, it will always be true. And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed. He had destroyed many already with that flood of persecution, and he kept on a battle with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Into the deep mysteries of this passage I have not attempted to go, but have simply skimmed the surface God bless the reading to us.
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
Rev 12:1-6
2. THE WOMAN AND DRAGON DESCRIBED
Rev 12:1-6
1 And a great sign was seen in heaven: a woman arrayed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars; –A “sign” is something to represent or signify something else. This very word shows that the vision John saw in heaven was a symbol of something. Sign is often used to indicate future events as Mat 16:3 clearly shows. The very language of this paragraph proves that its meaning here applies to the future.
The commentators generally agree that the woman in the vision represents the church. The relationship of a wife to her husband symbolically refers to the relationship of the saved to God or Christ. Of national Israel Isaiah said: “For thy Maker is thy husband; Jehovah of hosts is his name.” (Isa 54:5.) Concerning Christ’s relationship to the church Paul said: “For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church.” (Eph 5:23.) In verse 32 he declares plainly that in using the illustration of husband and wife he spoke of Christ and the church. Changing the figure slightly, Paul refers to Sarah and Hagar as being the two covenants–one from Mount Sinai, the other from Jerusalem–and says that Christians are children of the free woman. (Gal 4:23-24; Gal 4:31.) There is no room for doubt here that the woman represents the church. Paul told the Corinthians that he had espoused them unto one husband. (2Co 11:2.)
The description of the woman shows that she represents the true apostolic church, as it was originally established, not the corrupt church that was developed later. Sun, moon, and stars constitute the sum of material light; so through the word of God is given to the church all the spiritual light there is. Hence, indirectly Christ’s disciples are the “light of the world.” (Mat 5:14.) Since Christ is the “sun of righteousness” (Mal 4:2), and the source of all our spiritual light, “arrayed with the sun” probably means the church clothed with Christ. As those in Christ have put him on, arrayed with Christ is a most natural meaning for the expression. The suggestion made by some commentators that the moon represents the Jewish covenant or law seems the most probable explanation for this expression. The moon is an inferior light-shining body–reflects its light; such were the Jewish scriptures. Seeing the moon under her feet would imply their inferiority. Crowned with twelve stars most likely represents the apostles, who next to Christ occupied the most honorable position in the church as leaders. Twelve indicates perfection, and the apostles were the perfect mediums through which the church received her light. The word “crown” here–Greek stephanos–means a crown of victory, not a ruling crown. The apostles victoriously revealed the truth.
2 and she was with child; and she crieth out, travailing in birth, and in pain to be delivered.–The peculiar condition of the woman indicates a time when the church was to increase its membership, and implies that this vision takes us back to an early day in her history, if not to the very beginning. The success of the church in the first century is found in the New Testament. From that time on, of course, we are dependent on secular history.
3 And there was seen another sign in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his heads seven diadems.–There is no need to worry about the seeming incongruity of a dragon being “in heaven,” or just what is meant by heaven, as some interpreters do; for what John saw is only a picture to indicate certain facts or events. This should be kept constantly in mind as the symbols are studied. The word “sign,” as in verse 1, shows that something in the future is indicated. The word “dragon” is used thirteen times in the New Testament and all are in this book. In verse 9 he is called “the old serpent” and “the Devil and Satan.” Literally, it seems to denote some fabulous, serpent-form creature. Since the dragon is represented here as the deadly enemy of the woman and her offspring, the language appears as an allusion to Eve and the serpent in the Eden tragedy. (Gen 3:1-6.) But the description here indicates that Satan figures in the events only as an instigator of fight on the church, the dragon being some earthly agency or medium through which the actual opposition was to be made. Plainly stated, the spirit of the dragon is the devil he inspires the dragon’s acts.
The dragon is described as being great and red in color. This implies that his fight against the true church would be terrific and characterized with bloodshed. It is not unusual for fabulous creatures in mythology to be given some unnatural appearance, but there must have been significant reasons for picturing an enemy of the church in such hideous form. Seven symbolically represents completeness and heads indicate power or authority, but there is probably some additional reason why that number is used in this emblem. The full significance of this symbol will be seen only when compared with similar ones in Rev 13:1 and Rev 17:3. The word “horn” is an emblem of power and the number “ten” indicates its general or universal exercise. Some expositors explain “heads” to be symbolic of wisdom and the “horns” to indicate power. That, of course, is true in fact as applied to the dragon, and the numbers show the complete and extensive use of such powers. The diadems upon the seven heads show that the dragon was some kind of ruling institution.
It is a matter of common knowledge that the church was established within the Roman Empire, and was therefore politically subject to Roman law. That the church passed through many persecutions and suffered much from the Roman rulers is also a known fact. The natural conclusion, then, is that the first great power against the church was pagan Rome. Elliott’s commentary (Vol. III, p. 15) gives documentary evidence that the dragon became a Roman ensign near the close of the second century. If so, it is another indication pointing to the Roman Empire as the church’s first enemy–in the texts using the word dragon. Another proof that pagan Rome was that first enemy is that John later saw a beast to which the dragon gave his authority (Rev 13:1; Rev 13:4), and this beast had seven heads. Diadems upon the heads would indicate at least that ruling authority was claimed. In Rev 17:12 the ten horns of the beast are said to be “ten kings.” Horns, therefore, signify the power to rule. “Ten” may only mean the universal rule of the Roman Empire or different divisions of the empire that supplied this power. The leading facts are sufficient to identify the dragon as pagan Rome. John saw a monster in the picture, and there is no more necessity for every detail to represent some specific thing than for every item in a parable to indicate something definite in the application.
4 And his tail draweth the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth:–In the vision John apparently sees the dragon passing through the heaven sweeping down one-third of the stars with his tail. Perhaps all that was intended by this part of the symbol was to indicate what a terrific and powerful enemy the church would have to meet in the Roman Empire. This feature of the symbol harmonizes with the idea that the dragon is represented as a serpent. Since this work of the dragon seems to have occurred before the exaltation of the “man child” (verse 5), it may indicate different rulers that had been subjected to Rome when nations had been conquered by Roman arms, or it could refer to religious leaders who were killed or who apostatized. If this be the proper application, then the stars falling to earth indicated that rulers would lose their places of authority or deny the faith. The third part means not all, but a great number.
and the dragon standeth before the woman that is about to be delivered, that when she is delivered he may devour her child.–As the woman represents the church, the birth of a child indicates increase in the church by the addition of members. Of course, there had been a growth of the church since its establishment at Pentecost. The emblem here then must mean some time when there was about to be a great increase of the church, or when the increase became so influential that Rome felt the necessity of its destruction. The persecution under Diocletian, the emperor, began in A.D. 303. The evident purpose was the destruction of Christianity. Gibbon says it was perhaps represented to Diocletian that “the glorious work of the deliverance of the empire was left imperfect, as long as an independent people was permitted to subsist and multiply in the heart of the provinces.” (Decline and Fall, Vol. II, p. 62.) The twenty-third of February was the day appointed “to set bounds to the progress of Christianity,” doors of church houses were broken open and volumes of the holy scriptures committed to the flames. (Ibid., p. 63.) Gibbon further says that Diocletian was at length transported beyond bounds of moderation and declared “his intention of abolishing the name Christian.” (Ibid., p. 69.) In A.D. 311 Maximin, the Eastern Roman emperor, spoke of the “obstinate impiety of Christians” and readily consented to their banishment. (Ibid., p. 78.) The dragon really stood ready to prevent the increase of the church.
5 And she was delivered of a son, a man child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron:–In the symbol John now sees not only the woman, but also the son that was born. For reasons already presented the woman represents the church. Who or what is meant by the man-child has occasioned much disagreement among noted expositors. Some apply the words to Christ largely because the man-child was said to be caught up to God and to rule the nations with a rod of iron. The following reasons satisfactorily show that the words do not refer to Christ: (1) After Christ’s ascension to heaven there was no occasion for his being rescued from the dragon. (2) The theory would make the church produce Christ, whereas the Bible makes him the founder of the church. (3) In verse 17 of this chapter the dragon is said to “make war with the rest of her seed, that keep the commandments of God.” This language can only refer to members of the church. Then the man-child symbolically represents the increase of the church–those who through the church’s activities became Christians. If there is an apparent lack of harmony in the man-child representing members of the church and the woman the church, it is not a serious objection. Mother and child are of the same nature, and increase in the church leaves it the same institution. However, to use Paul’s allegory (Gal 4:24-31), the woman may be said to represent the covenant and members the children of the covenant.
The expression “rule them with a rod of iron” in Rev 19:15 clearly refers to Christ, but the same expression in Rev 2:27 just as clearly refers to saints that keep Christ’s commandments. This text, Rev 12:5, is unquestionably synonymous with Rev 2:27 and not with Rev 19:15. The word “rule” in all these texts (Greek poimaino) means to “shepherd,” not the word (Greek basileuo) which means “reign.” The thought is that those who keep Christ’s commands will be able to shepherd or lead with God’s word. A “rod. of iron” would indicate that their dominion would be strong and dependable. Such is the nature of God’s word.
and her child was caught up unto God, and unto his throne. –Since this cannot refer to Christ’s ascension, it must mean some kind of glorious exaltation for Christians who had safely come through the persecutions. That this exaltation came soon after the decrees of Diocletian and Maximin that Christianity should be abolished is carat the facts indicate as necessary to fulfill the symbol. In the vision the child appeared to John as ascending to the very throne of God to escape the wrath of the dragon. This means that the church with its increase in membership was to be exalted to a position where it would be protected instead of persecuted.
Gibbon says that “the defeat and death of Maximin soon delivered the church from the last and most implacable of her enemies.” (Decline and Fall, Vol. II, p. 78.) He means the last of the enemy rulers in that age, for the beast to which the dragon was to give its authority was yet to arise. (Rev 13:1; Rev 13:4.) The sorrows as of a woman in travail had ceased. In A.D. 310 Galerius, the Eastern Emperor, issued hisEdict of Toleration by which Christians were granted the right to worship God and conduct their own religious services. In A.D. 308 the Roman Empire was divided among six contending emperors. In A.D. 313 two of them, Constantine and Licinius, issued the celebrated Edict of Milan in which Christians were given complete liberty. By a victory over Licinius in A.D. 323 Constantine became the sole ruler of the Roman Empire. By laws and edicts which he issued that were favorable to Christianity, and the calling of the church council at Nice in A.D. 325, he accepted Christianity as the true religion. It is even claimed he became a member of the church. Gibbon says the church considered Constantine as a “generous patron, who seated Christianity on the throne of the Roman world.” (Vol. II, p. 273.) Surely the exaltation of the man-child symbol finds its appropriate fulfillment in this acknowledgment of Christianity.
6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that there they may nourish her a thousand two hundred and threescore days.–John here, by anticipation, briefly refers to what he describes in verses 14-17. See those verses for comments.
Commentary on Rev 12:1-6 by Foy E. Wallace
BOOK OF REVELATION
SECTION FOUR
THE APOCALYPSE OF THE VICTORIOUS CHURCH
(CHAPTERS TWELVE TO TWENTY-TWO– VERSE FIVE)
(THE SECOND SERIES OF SYMBOLS)
PREFATORY NOTE
The first series of symbols ended with the last verse of chapter eleven. The first verse of chapter twelve is the beginning of the second series of symbols. The visions of this section were a recapitulation of the events of the first series, beginning from the first again, but with a new set of symbols. They cover the same period, a repetition of the same imagery in the delineation of the same occurrences.
The reason for the two series is stated in the headings by which the purposes of the two series are indicated. In the first series, the symbols surrounded the Lamb, the Rider of the white horse–the conquering Christ–with the descriptive emphasis placed on activities of the beast of the land, representing the Palestinian persecutors. The second series of symbols surrounded the victory of the church–the conquerors Bride—over all the forces of persecution, in a set of symbols which placed the emphasis more fully on the activities of the Roman Emperor, who was represented as the beast of the sea, from whom the beast of the land derived authority to act. It was, therefore, said that the beast of the land worshiped, or obeyed, the beast of the sea–meaning that the Palestinian authorities could do nothing without the consent of the Roman Emperor.
The pattern of the Old Testament apocalypses are again recognized in the similarity existing between them and the visions of Revelation. A striking example is found in the dream visions of Joseph, and of Pharaoh in Genesis (Gen 37:5-11; Gen 41:18-32), and of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel (chapters 2 and 7). In the visional dreams of Joseph concerning himself and his brothers the symbols of the sun, moon and stars of the second dream represented the same things as the vision of the sheaves in the first dream. The same thing is true of the visions of the cattle and the ears of corn in Pharaohs dreams–the successive dreams were visional reenactments of the same events. In the same manner the four beasts of Daniel in chapter seven were symbolic repetitions of the four kingdoms of the colossal image dream of chapter two.
By the same process the first series of visions in Revelation, embracing chapters four to eleven, portrayed Jesus Christ, the prevailing Lamb of God, in multiple symbols of conquering all enemies of his church and avenging the martyred saints, defeating all the minions of Satan. All of the events in this set of symbols were envisioned from the throne in heaven, as introduced in chapter four, setting forth the sending of armies by the King of heaven to destroy the murderers of his prophets and apostles and saints, burning their city and bringing an end to their persecuting power. These visions surrounded, as previously set forth, the siege of Jerusalem, the demolition of the temple, the destruction of the city, the downfall of Judaism and the end of the Jewish theocratic state.
The unbelieving Jews were the instigators of the persecutions. Rome was only a collateral power to the unfolding scenes. Apostate Jerusalem, Judaism and the Jewish state were the objects of the apocalyptic portrayal. With the downfall of Judaism the greatest enemy of Christianity was removed from the path of the church, opening the door for the universal expansion of the gospel. The second series of visions, now ready for consideration, are retrospective–as they reveal the church in conflict with the diabolical powers of Rome, surviving all forces of persecution, and appearing at the close of the vision as the triumphant Bride of Christ, the church, after Babylon the Harlot had fallen in defeat. The victory of the church over these Jewish and Roman persecuting powers was set forth in the imagery of the new Jerusalem in contrast with the apostate Jerusalem. Pronouncing the same judgment on old Jerusalem, the prophet Isaiah exclaimed: How is the faithful city become harlot! It was full of judgment: righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers. (Isa 1:21) And again, Babylon the great (11:8), a holy city, turned unrighteous and filthy.
In contrast the new Jerusalem, the church, as the Bride of Christ, was robed in habilaments of victory as the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven–after which divine judgment was pronounced upon the persecuting nations; and the tabernacle of God would be with men, signifying his dwelling place among his people in the new spiritual city rather than the evil persecutors of the old apostate city. All tears of persecution were to be wiped away. The sorrows attending the period of their persecutions would cease, and the church again would set out on its divine mission of making known the Spirits message to all men–the gospel invitation.
The twelfth chapter retrospectively begins with the portrayal of the church in conflict with the existing powers under the symbol of the woman and the dragon.
THE WOMAN WITH CHILD (Rev 12:1-2)
It is generally agreed that the woman was a symbol of the church. In the Old Testament Israel was repeatedly haracterized as a woman, as in Jer 2:32. In the New Testament the church of Christ is presented in the figure of a pure woman, as in 1Co 11:1-34; 1Co 10:1-33; 1Co 9:1-27; 1Co 8:1-13; 1Co 7:1-40; 1Co 6:1-20; 1Co 5:1-13; 1Co 4:1-21; 1Co 3:1-23, Gal 4:26 and II John
1. There can be no more fitting description of the church in holy relation to Christ, the Head, than that of the pure woman. True to this figure the vision describes in glowing symbols the character and attributes of the woman, as symbols of the apostolic church.
In Revelation the word heaven was employed to denote governments and authorities. The Lord Himself so used the word in his own description of the destruction of Jerusalem in referring to great signs in the heavens, and stars falling from heaven- a symbolic reference to the casting down of the Jewish and Roman rulers and authorities. In Luk 10:18, Jesus said: I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. In this language the Lord was forecasting Satans complete downfall from his place and power of dominion, which would come as swiftly as lightning, as the result of Christs victory over the hadean world by his death and resurrection.
The sign in heaven meant the heaven of exalted dominion and rule–the heaven of the political dominion of the whole world. The great sign seen in the realm of authorities and dominions referred to the symbolic attributes of splendor and grandeur which followed, in which the woman was adorned before the whole political world.
The sign in heaven-Rev 12:1
1. And there appeared a great wonder in heaven. The word wonder here meant a sign–a sign was seen in heaven. There are numerous uses of the word heaven in the scriptures. Among the Hebrews it was used chiefly in three senses. First, the aerial heavens where the winds blow and the rains form and the birds fly; second, the firmament where the stars as pendant jewels adorn the sky, and where all the constellations and planets are in orbit; third, the highest heaven, the third heaven, the residence of God and Christ, the dwelling of angels and mansions of the blessed. There are scriptures that use the word heaven in all of these senses.
2. A woman clothed with the sun. The sun is the great luminary that God created and placed in the heavens to preside over the day. The sun being obscured and ceasing to shine were symbols of calamity and darkness settling over nations. In the same way the shining of the sun was used as a similitude of the glory of God. When the Spirit in John, the seer, needed a figure to adequately set forth the glory of the church represented by the woman, he selected the flaming orb of the day–the woman, the church, was arrayed with the sun, the very glory of God.
3. And the moon under her feet. Standing with the moon under her feet was symbol of the exaltation of the church–an extended description of the glorious and exalted position of the church among and in the midst of all the creations, institutions, and governments of man. The symbol picture was most espeoially significant in the Roman world where this glory and exaltation would in succeeding events become visibly manifest to all the authorities of Caesars empire. Isaiah the prophet pictured the church (chapter 2:2) on top of the mountains, exalted above the hills. The vision of the woman standing with the moon under her feet was the same imagery of exaltation.
4. And upon her head a crown of twelve stars. The stars are the glory of all the luminaries which adorn the heavens. No part of the visible creation exhibits the supreme glory of God so illustriously as the starry firmament. The crown of stars was the diadem of highest glory on the head of the woman-the glorious church. In royalty it was the ornament of queens. Ahasuerus loved Esther above all the women . . . so he set the royal crown upon her head. (Est 2:17) The stars were used in scripture to designate all luminaries of heaven, except the sun and moon.
The twelve stars on the head of the woman is representative of totality, of completeness, of perfection. There were twelve tribes of Israel, representing the whole Old Testament church. There were twelve apostles for the New Testament church. The twelve stars in the diadem on the womans head were a complete symbol of the whole church as typified in the Old Testament and fulfilled in the New Testament.
The womans pain-Rev 12:2
1. And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered-Rev 12:2. A similar figure was used by the prophet Isaiah (Isa 66:7-8) of Israel in exile. Israel in the Old Testament was said to bring forth children. The church, in Rom 7:4, was said to be in spiritual conjugal relation with Christ resulting in bearing fruit unto God. John mentions her children (2Jn 1:1) in symbolizing the church as the elect lady. The woman here symbolized was the church in trial and persecution.
2. Travailing in birth. In this period of tribulation, the church would produce children in sorrow for martyrdom.
3. And pained to be delivered. During the period of greatest tribulation the church did not cease to bear her fruit; she continued to bring forth children, but in pain and persecution and martyrdom.
The following verses will develop further the application of these verses to the part of the womans seed that was martyred–the child that was caught up unto God–and the part of her seed, called the remnant, or rest of her seed, that remained on the earth to suffer, but not to die.
(3) The summary of the symbols.
The context of chapter twelve yields three major points which must be classified and discriminated in order:
First, the woman was a symbol of the Jerusalem church –represented as the new Jerusalem, in Rev 21:2 at the close of the Revelation, and stands for the whole church.
Second, the man child referred to the martyred souls as the firstfruits unto God and the Lamb. (Rev 6:10-11; Rev 14:4; Rev 20:4) The womans seed caught up unto God and to his throne, who thereby entered into a state of victory over the dragon and his wrath in a distinctive sense. (Rev 12:5)
Third, the remnant or rest of the womans seed were distinguished from the man child, as being that part of the womans seed who suffered the trials of the great tribulation but were not slain or beheaded as were the martyrs. (Rev 6:9-11 and Rev 20:4)
The woman of this chapter, therefore, must be considered as the organic body of the church–the totality of its members; distinguished from her seed, or children–the constituent members of it, in the two classes mentioned. The text and context will sustain this analysis, and these viewpoints can be maintained.
THE GREAT RED DRAGON (Rev 12:3-6)
Trustworthy authorities cite the fact that the original word here rendered dragon appears in the New Testament only in Revelation. In the Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament) the same word is rendered serpent, in Exo 7:9; and leviathan in Job 41:1; and dragon in Jer 51:34. In Isa 27:1 the prophet referred to leviathan as that crooked serpent, which apparently connects with the serpent of Gen 3:1 in Eden. In the Septuagint text serpent in Isa 27:1, is rendered dragon, and in both Hebrew and Greek texts it is made the symbol of Babylon, the power hostile to the people of God. In Eze 29:3 dragon in the Septuagint was made the emblem of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, the bitter enemy of Gods people Israel.
In this chapter of Revelation the names Satan, Devil, Serpent and Dragon were used interchangeably, and evidently personified the persecuting powers hostile to the church; that is, Nero and his successors, in whom the persecutions and the persecutors were personified.
(1) The dragon with multiple heads and horns-Rev 12:3-4.
1. And there appeared another wonder in heaven. This wonder was referred to as another sign. The other wonder, of verse 1, was the sign of the glory of the church in the symbolic ornaments of splendor with which the woman was adorned before the imperial world.
In this reference, of Rev 12:3, the sign was in the same heaven mentioned by Christ in Luk 10:18 : I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. It meant his dominion of diabolical influence. The church is called the kingdom of heaven because it is the reign of heaven in the hearts of men, and which designates its divine realm. Jesus said to Pilate, Now is my kingdom not from hence. The word hence means here–his kingdom is here but not from here; it is from heaven. The word heaven referred to its heavenly origin and character. The word now referred to its immediate establishment in the world. But the heaven of Satan, from which he fell (Luk 10:18), meant the realm of his diabolical influence, and referred to the political authorities, governments and powers of the whole Roman world. It was the sign of an appalling persecution of unprecedented fury, beginning with the siege and destruction of Jerusalem, which was soon to burst upon the church; and the sign of this chapter was comparable to the signs of the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew, thirteenth chapter of Mark, and twenty-first chapter of Luke, all of which contain the Lords description of the events of the same period.
2. A great red dragon-Rev 12:3. The dragon referred to Satan, the antagonist of the church, personified in the active persecutor–Nero and his successors–as representative of all that was opposed to Christ and the church. The flame-coloured description of the red dragon was the type of the destruction of war and the bloodshed of martyrdom. As in chapter six the colors of the horses corresponded with the mission of the riders. The horses were symbols of war and the red horse signified bloodshed. So it was here–the red dragon signified the murderous character of these minions of Satan–the Roman and heathen persecuting powers.
3. Having seven heads and ten horns-Rev 12:3. As in Rev 5:6, the seven eyes of the Lamb represented the perfection of wisdom, so the seven heads of this verse indicated the perfection or completeness of the universal rule and government of Rome, the seven-hilled city of the Caesars, to which the number seven in this reference may have been an allusion. But it was an evident symbol of the complete power of the ruling Roman emperor. The ten horns represented the unified universal power of the Roman emperor through the ten tributaries of the Roman government–all of which were in complete subjugation to the Caesars of Romes seven hills on the throne of which at this time sat Nero Caesar, the ruling emperor. The ten horns, therefore, denoted the ten kingdoms over which the emperor ruled.
4. And seven crowns upon his heads-Rev 12:3. The seven diadems upon his heads show the regal glory of this dragon. It should be noted that the diadems were not the crown of stars which was upon the womans head, indicating the divine glory of the church; but here they were crowns of diabolical power and assumed glory. It is not an exaggeration that the great antagonist of Christ and the church in that era of greatest crisis should appear in symbols of pomp and power.
5. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven -Rev 12:4. The tail of the dragon was in the imagery of the sweeping power of the antagonist of the church and the destruction behind him in the wake of persecution, described in the symbol of pulling the stars from their orbits with the angry lash of his enormous tail. It was the vision of the presumptive power of the persecutors of the church.
6. And did cast them to the earth-Rev 12:4. The reference to casting down to the earth a third of the stars of heaven appears to have had application to the part of the political world that was subject to these destructions–Jerusalem, Judaism and the Jewish state. The application to geographical or political divisions could have had no meaning.
The same expression in chapter eight referred to the three woes of destruction, one part each, as noted in the comments on that section. Here the imagery was that of a symbolic portion of the luminaries of heaven being dragged down by the dragons tail. It signified his potent weapon in the power to harm in the pending events of the destruction of the Jewish world, represented by the destruction of Jerusalem, the downfall of Judaism and the end of the Jewish state.
(2) The object of the dragons rage-Rev 12:4-5.
1. And the dragon stood before the woman . . . for to devour her child-Rev 12:4. This statement indicated that the object of the dragons deadly rage was the woman, which symbolized the church; and her child, which meant the martyred saints to which the woman would give birth in the pain of persecution and martyrdom. The womans child was here employed not in a singular sense but in the collective use of the word.
2. To devour her child. The dragon was represented as standing before the woman in childbirth ready to destroy her child as soon as it was born–like Pharaoh in Egypt (Exo 1:16-22), watching to destroy every male Israelite; and Herod (Mat 2:13), ordering the slaying of every Jewish male. This dragon-persecutor was waiting for the opportunity to send the Christians to their martyrdom.
3. And she brought forth a man child-Rev 12:5. The use of the word man child here is in neuter gender. And it is not singular number any more than the use of the word mother when used in a collective sense; and that is the sense in which man child was used here–collectively, denoting that portion of the church, or the womans seed, which was to be caught up to God in the martyrdom which followed. That the man child did not refer to Christ becomes evident in the following verses. The expression caught up to God from the face of the dragon would hardly be a fitting description of the ascension of Christ, but it was an appropriate symbol of the triumph of the martyrs who overcame . . . by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. It further harmonizes with the scene of victory for the souls of the beheaded in Rev 20:4.
The man child was not a single person but a collective body. It was that part of the womans seed which was put in contrast with the remnant, or the rest of her seed, in verse 17. The womans seed compares with the firstborn ones of Heb 12:23 which are written in heaven; and the firstfruits unto God (Rev 14:4); and the kind of firstfruits of his creatures (Jas 1:18).
The man child that was caught up unto God plainwas that part of the womans seed, or children, who were martyrs– the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, under the altar, in the suffering of death in Rev 6:9-11; and on thrones in the state of victory in Rev 20:4. The remnant, or rest of the womans seed, or children, remained on the earth to suffer persecution but not martyrdom. It compares also with the account of the two witnesses who ascended up to heaven in Rev 11:12, and the effect on the enemies who beheld them. (See comments on Rev 11:12)
It is not unusual in the symbolic imagery of scripture description to characterize members of the church as its children. Examples of this use are found in Rom 7:1-4; Gal 4:26; Heb 12:23; Heb 12:28; 2Jn 1:1; 2Jn 1:4; 2Jn 1:13.
4. Who was to rule all nations-Rev 12:5. The reason apparently for the interpretation that the man child refers to Christ is the statement of Rev 12:5, that he was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. But this same phrase was used in the language of Christ to the members of the Thyatira church in Rev 2:26-27 : He that overcometh . . . to him will I give power over the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron. The rod of iron was the symbol of the impact of the gospel on the pagan world through the victory of the church, resulting from their persecutions. It signified the inexorable character of the law of the gospel in retribution and reward. It was by teaching and practice that those who should overcome all oppression would rule with Christ, and thereby execute his unfailing law as with a rod of iron. (See comments on Rev 2:26-27 and in GODS PROPHETIC WORD, p. 192.)
(3) The womans flight into the wilderness-Rev 12:6.
1. And the woman fled into the wilderness. The context of these visions surrounded the events prior to and including the siege and destruction of Jerusalem, and the scattering of the church in Judea by onslaught of persecution. Jesus foretold such a flight in his description of the destruction of Jerusalem in the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew. This cannot be considered an application too light or limited or unimportant for this vision. The portent was tremendous. It was of extremely ominous and terrible proportions. In the Lords warnings and in his own forebodings he exhorted them to pray that the flight might not come at a time when hindrances to the flight could not be overcome, and the difficulties of escape would be insurmountable i.e. to the woman with child, who could be greatly handicapped in flight; in the winter when the cold weather would add to suffering and misery; on the sabbath day, when due to the Jewish observance of the sabbath the exits of the city would be closed, its gates locked, barring an expeditious flight, and they would find themselves entrapped. (See GODS PROPHETIC WORD, p. 336-337) The period of escape from Jerusalem after the city was alerted would be so short that the Lord warned the one on the housetop not to come down to enter his house for even clothing or food; and the laborer in the field not to return to his house for such purpose, for the same reason.
Describing the horrors of the siege Jesus called it the tribulation of those days; and quoted the prophecy of Dan 12:11 on the abomination of desolation (Mat 24:15) as being fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem. During the siege one million one hundred thousand people perished.
All the houses and underground chambers were filled with perishing bodies; famishing people ate the putrified flesh of human corpses; mothers ate the flesh of their own babies. Outside the besieged city the expatriated race of Jews throughout the empire were slaughtered. In his chronicles on the destruction of Jerusalem Josephus, the eye-witness historian, verifies the declaration of our Lord in Mat 24:21 : For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. Since the Lord Himself declares that no event of the future could exceed the tribulation, there can be no reason to search for events in later history, or to engage in speculation on events of future history to fulfill the identical symbolic descriptions of Revelation. The signs and symbols of Revelation were but the extensions of the twenty- fourth chapter of Matthew, spoken by the Lord Himself in Matthews record and extended by his servant John in the visions of Revelation.
In this chapter 12, verse 6 of Revelation, John stated that the woman (the church) fled into the wilderness This was precisely what Jesus commanded his disciples to do. When the signs which he had set forth should appear Christians in Jerusalem and Judea were to make hasty their flight. In Mat 24:33 Jesus said to them: When ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. In the parallel record of Luk 21:20, He said, When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh–and they did know it. In Mat 24:16 the Lord said, Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains. In Luk 21:21, the parallel adds, And let them which are in the midst of it (Jerusalem) depart out”–and they did, they departed and fled.
As generally known, Josephus was an eyewitness to the siege of Jerusalem and the events preceding it. In Wars, Book III, Section 3, page 3, he relates that after the armies of Cestius Gallius, Roman general, had besieged Jerusalem, they withdrew–and in this interval the disciples fled, according to the Lords admonition. The historian Josephus was an unbeliever and admitted his inability to account for the cessation, but declared it was nevertheless a fact. All who believe the statements of the Lord in Matthew twentyfour, Mark thirteen and Luke twenty-one, know and understand the why-it was the Lords doing.
Another later historian, Eusebius, whose history bears date of 324 A. D., states in Book III, Section 3, page 3, that the church in Jerusalem, by divine revelation, fled to the mountain country of Pella, beyond the Jordan, which according to Josephus was largely a desert, mountain region. The Lord of the descriptions and signs of Matthews record of the destruction of Jerusalem is the Lord of the portrayals and symbols of Revelation. There is no difference in the command for all the Christians in Jerusalem and Judea to flee to the desert region of Pella, in the record of Matthew and Luke, and the statement in Revelation, chapter 12:6, that she fled into the wilderness.
2. To a place prepared of God. The disciples flight was to a place where Jesus had directed them: Let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains. But Revelation states that the woman fled to a place prepared of God. The place where Jesus commanded is the place that God prepared. The descriptions are parallel.
Furthermore, Jesus said in Mat 24:34 : This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. All of the signs of Mat 24:1-51 are above verse 34. Jesus said they were all fulfilled in the generation of people who heard his words. (For further discussion on the destruction of Jerusalem, see GODS PROPHETIC WORD, pp. 246-260.) It is so with the symbols of Revelation. Jesus said to the disciples in Luk 21:31-32 : when “ye see and know ye; and I say unto you.” His emphasis was on the fulfillment of the signs in events of their own lives. The parallel in Revelation is verse 3 of chapter 1: Blessed is he that readeth (the one who read it to the churches); and they that hear (heed) the words; and they that keep (remember and observe); for the time is at hand. If the time of these things was so remote as to be yet future, there was no point in this exhortation for them, and no application to them. As the signs of Mat 24:1-51 were fulfilled in that generation of living people, so the symbols of Revelation were fulfilled in the experiences of the existing churches.
3. That they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. Here is an instance of a literal period of time, a specific date, introduced into a figurative and symbolic context. There is another identical example of a specific date connected with the context of prophetic language. In the seventh chapter of Isaiah it was prophesied that the ten tribes would cease. Ephraim was forming an alliance against Judah. The prophet said it would not stand, that Ephraim would be broken, cease to be a separate people, and become extinct as a nation. In fulfillment of it they went into captivity and never came out one people again.
Now, read the prophecy of specific time period and historical dates from Isa 7:1-25. Notice verses 5 to 8: Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have taken evil counsel against thee, saying, Let us go up against Judah, and vex it, and let us make a breach therein for us, and set a king in the midst of it, even the son of Tabeal: Thus saith the Lord God, It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass. For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin; and within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people.
The prophet stated that in threescore and five years (sixty-five years) shall Ephraim be broken that it be not a people. The date of this prophecy is 733 B. C., according to such authorities as Wordsworth, Adam Clarke and Pulpit Commentary. The event prophesied was fulfilled in 669 B. C.–exactly sixty-five years later. The date of Ephraims decease was linked with the prophecy that the invasion of Judah by Samaria would fail. That invasion did fail. The prophet said Ephraim would cease to be a people. Ephraim did cease to be a people. It all occurred within the “threescore and five years, between 733 B.C. and 669 B.C.–the specific time period and date. (For further discussion of Isa 7:5-8 see GODS PROPHETIC WORD, p. 409.)
The context yields the same exact computation of a thousand two hundred and threescore days of the womans flight into the wilderness. It was the same period of the forty and two months of the preceding chapter eleven– the same mathematical time period in which Jerusalem, the holy city was trodden under foot forty and two months. In the record of Luk 21:24, this period of the treading under foot of Jerusalem was limited by the phrase until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. It was the same period as the forty and two months of Rev 11:3, and the thousand two hundred and threescore days of chapter 12:6. The specific mathematical period designated, historically verified, follows this order:
Emperor Nero delivered the mandate for the siege of Jerusalem to Vespasian, his imperial officer, in the month of February A. D. 67 when the war against Judea was declared. This was the beginning of the period which ended in August A. D. 70, when the city of Jerusalem was razed, ravished and destroyed; the temple was desecrated and demolished, bringing an end to Judaism and the Jewish state.
This exact computation is attested, as mentioned previously, in the authoritative works of Jewish Testimonies, Volume VIII, by Lardner, and Wars of Jews, Volume VII, by Josephus. No further evidence is necessary. As in Isaiahs prophecy, the end of the twelve tribes was a specific mathematical period of sixty five years-so the time period covering the flight of the woman into the wilderness was chronological–the forty-two months or twelve hundred and sixty days in which Jerusalem was besieged. There is no need to look farther away for the fulfillment of these apocalypses. Every effort to bring them down through medieval history and the dark ages has been anachronistic and impossible. But assigning Revelation to the same period as all the other epistles of the New Testament, all of which were written before the impending trial and tribulation and distress, lends coherency and harmony to its apocalyptic delineations.
Commentary on Rev 12:1-6 by Walter Scott
EVENTS AS GOD VIEWS THEM.
THE WOMAN AND THE MAN CHILD.
Rev 12:1-2. – And a great sign was seen in the Heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars; and being with child she cried (being) in travail, and in pain to bring forth. We have already remarked that chapters 12, 13, and 14 form one connected prophecy. We regard this section as one of preeminent interest to prophetic students. An intelligent understanding of it will enable anyone of devout mind to grasp in the main the prophetic situation. What a sweep! From the birth of Christ (Rom 12:5) till He treads the winepress of Gods wrath (Rev 14:20) – a sweep of two thousand years more or less! From the weakness of the infant to the manifestation of His almighty power in judgment. And this marvellous history is comprised in symbol and word within the compass of fifty-five verses.
Rev 12:1 – A great sign was seen in the Heaven, not wonder, as in the Authorised Version. A wonder is a surprise. A sign has a meaning, and points to a definite subject or object (Rev 15:1). The adjective great is used six times in the chapter, which is one of great subjects. The first of these in order, but not in greatness, is a woman. The Man-Child is the pre-eminent subject of the chapter. The woman is not in Heaven actually, but on earth. The sign only is there. Why in the Heaven, for her greatness and sorrow are on earth? It is that Gods thoughts and purposes about her in His dwelling-place, the Heaven, might be known. It is history read and known in Heaven, in the light of Gods presence.
Rev 12:1 – A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. There are four representative women in the Apocalypse, each of whom is the expression of a corporate body of persons or a system. (1) Jezebel (Rev 2:20), or the papal system. (2) The woman invested with the fulness of governmental authority (Rev 12:1), or Israel. (3) The great harlot (Rev 17:1), or the future, corrupt and apostate professing Church. (4) The Bride, the Lambs wife (Rev 19:7), the Church glorified in Heaven. The celestial luminaries sun, moon, and stars are seen in their assembled glory. A complete system of government is thus presented. All authority supreme as the sun, derived and subordinate as the moon, and lesser lights and rulers as the stars, center in the woman. She has, too, royal dignity, as the crown on her head signifies. But why twelve stars? The undoubted reference is to Josephs dream (Gen 37:9), in which the future glory of Israel, of the twelve tribes, is symbolized. (It is not a safe principle to apply the symbology of the ancients to the interpretation of prophetic imagery. Owing to their numerous and dissimilar religious systems, in all of which hieroglyphic and symbol were largely employed, frequently in the expression of exactly opposite ideas, there can be no certainty in applying their symbology in the interpretation of that in the Bible. Scripture interprets itself. Every symbol in the Apocalypse may be intelligently understood by reference to other portions of the divine Word. The Bible does not need the borrowed light of the pagan world. It gives, but never borrows. On the numerals of Scripture the late Mr. W. F. Grant, of America, has ably written; Dr. Bullinger of this country, and the late Mr. E. C. Pressland, and others have contributed a good deal that is truly valuable in this department of Biblical knowledge. But the subject is by no means a new one, nor one confined in its elucidation to modern times. In all ages the science of numbers has engaged earnest minds in its study. Apocalyptic numerals have largely employed the thought and pen of theologians in all ages. The sacred number seven is without question the ruling number of the Apocalypse, occurring about fifty-three times. Its signification points to what is perfect or complete. This number is frequently broken up into three and four, the former directing attention to what is divine, the latter with what is connected with man at large, or generally that of universality. The numeral twelve, as employed in our text, and frequently elsewhere, denotes administrative rule in the hands of men, thus a civil or ecclesiastical polity, or the two combined, as in the true union of Church and State exhibited in Rev 21:1-27. Twelve is of very frequent occurrence in the Apocalypse. Amongst heathen nations this number was largely employed in administrative action. The history of China, Egypt, Persia, Greece, Rome, etc., supplies abundant evidence in confirmation of our statement.) The woman is invested with the splendour and fulness of governmental authority on earth, for although the sign is in Heaven the reality is to be witnessed here.
Rev 12:2. – Being with child she cried (being) in travail, and in pain to bring forth. The woman has been before us as a queen, now we witness her as a mother. Her glory and majesty in the former relation, her suffering and pain under the latter designation (Jer 4:31). Who is the woman? and who is the child? The woman is ISRAEL. The child is CHRIST. The larger number of expositors apply the vision of the woman to the Church. Now both Israel and the Church stand closely related to Christ – Israel as the mother, the Church as the wife. If it is only seen that Rev 12:5 applies to Christ, and in fact must and only refer to Him personally, all controversy is at an end. Israel, and not the Church, was the mother of the Messiah (Isa 9:8; Mic 5:2; Rom 9:5; Mat 1:1-25, etc.).
It may be difficult to reconcile the maternal anguish as applicable to Israel with the facts of the case when Christ was born. But however put together these things are in the wisdom of God, and seemingly contradictory (for when was the crying, the travail, and pain when the Messiah came into the world?), yet there is no real difficulty. The solution of the matter is contained in Isa 66:1-24 : Before she travailed she brought forth; before her pain came she was delivered of a man-child (v. 7). The travailing and pain refer to Israels coming hour of trial, the Great Tribulation. But before that great event the Messiah, the Man-Child, is born. The prophet Micah confirms this in a clear and unmistakable passage. After referring to the birth of the Messiah (Mic 5:2), he adds, Therefore will He give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth; then the remnant shall return unto the children of Israel (Mic 5:3). The travail of the woman is at least two thousand years subsequent to the birth of the Messiah, and refers to her sorrow in the coming Tribulation. Before she travailed she brought forth; before her pain came she was delivered of a Man-Child. It only remains to inquire: Why then is the travail of the woman put in juxtaposition to the birth of the Messiah? First, notice that the present lengthened period of Israels rejection, coming in as it does between the birth and the travail, is passed over in silence in the chapter before us; it is a parenthesis, the history of which is not given in prophecy, but found elsewhere of course. Second, it shows the deep interest which the Messiah takes in His people. He thought of the Tribulation, and made certain conditional provisions so as to lighten it many centuries ago (Mat 24:15-28). Third, at the time in which our chapter has its place the nation is about to pass into its awful sorrow, and the object of going back in the history to the birth of Christ is to connect Him with them in it.
THE DRAGON AND THE WOMAN.
Rev 12:3-5. – And another sign was seen in the Heaven: and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems; and his tail draws the third part of the stars of the Heaven, and he cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bring forth, in order that when she brought forth he might devour her child. And she brought forth a male son, who shall shepherd all the nations with an iron rod; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne. The next remarkable sign is that of a great red dragon. Satan is here before us in his worst character confronting the woman. See Rev 12:9, also Rev 20:2, in which the identity of the dragon with Satan is established without a doubt. Why is the dragon used as a symbol of Satan? Pharaoh, king of Egypt, in his cruelty to Gods people, and in proud and haughty independence of God, is termed the great dragon (Eze 29:3-4). Nebuchadnezzar is similarly spoken of in respect to his violence and cruelty (Jer 51:34). Gathering up the numerous Scripture references in the Book of Psalms, and in the first three of the greater prophets, to the crocodile, the sovereign of the seas, who is identified with the dragon, insatiable cruelty seems the main feature. The Egyptians regarded the crocodile, or dragon, according to their hieroglyphics, as the source and author of all evil, worshipped under the name of Typho. The colour of the dragon, red, denotes his murderous, bloodthirsty character. This is the first time in Scripture that Satan is directly spoken of as a dragon. The heathen monarchs, Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar, enslaved and oppressed the people of God, and, thus far acting in satanic power, merited the appellation of dragon. But at the time treated of in our chapter Satan is the prince of the world, its virtual ruler. The Roman power is the instrument through which he acts. Hence the title great red dragon can now for the first time be used of him.
Rev 12:3 – Having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems, not crowns, as in the Authorized Version. What is said of the dragon here is also predicated of the Beast (Rev 13:1-18. l), only here the heads are encircled with the golden fillet, or diadem, the emblem in the East of arbitrary, despotic power; whereas the ten horns of the Beast are crowned. The heads in the one case; the horns in the other. The seven heads on the dragon must not be interpreted as the seven-hilled city of Rome. The dragon and the Beast are distinct, however closely related. The former is a spiritual power, the latter the historical world power. The seven crowned heads of the dragon refer to the concentration of earthly power and wisdom in cruel and despotic exercise. His ten uncrowned horns point to the future limits of the empire as distributed into ten kingdoms, the government of which he administers. If his heads are crowned there is no need for the horns to be. When we come to the actual history the ten horns or kings are crowned (Rev 13:1). The simple thought is that the heads of the dragon are crowned, while his ten horns signify that his power is exercised administratively through the empire in its ten-kingdom form. The dragon represents the unseen force behind the empire; hence the diadems are on his heads, not on his horns. His heads are encircled with the golden fillet, or badge of royalty, as expressing his complete power and wisdom on earth, centered, however, in the Beast, the royal power then dominant on earth. He is the virtual ruler of the worldwide Gentile monarchy. He administers its government through its personal head the little horn (Dan 7:1-28), who is but an instrument in his hands. The despotism and cruelty of the empire are due to the fact that Satan is behind it, governing it in the fulness of his power, and imparting his own character to it, one of undying hatred to God and to those who are His.
Rev 12:4. – His tail draws the third part of the stars of the Heaven, and he casts them to the earth. We have had the deliberative power and wisdom of the dragon, seven heads; here we have in his tail the emblem of his soul-destroying influence; in other words, his lies (Isa 9:15). Satan is said to be a murderer and a liar. He murders the bodies, and ruins the souls of men. His power is in his head; his malignant influence in false and damnable teachings in his tail. The western part of the Roman earth, the scene above all others of Gospel light and privilege, seems intended in the expression, the third Part, so commonly met with in the Trumpets. Stars of the Heaven mean individual rulers set in outward relationship with God in positions and places of authority. These Christian rulers and teachers are caught in Satans snare, and believe the devils lies. He cast them to the earth. (The somewhat similar expression in Dan 8:10 refers to eminent Jewish persons, and is the work of the king of the north in Palestine. What is before us here is the malignant work of Satan in Europe amongst eminent Christian persons.) Their moral ruin is complete. Note the use of the present tense, his tail draws, not drew, as in the Authorised Version. His work is viewed as present.
Then we have the impressive spectacle of the dragon confronting the woman to devour her child. What a lurid light this throws on the history and circumstances connected with the birth of the Lord as detailed in Mat 2:1-23. It was not the woman nor Israel that was the special object of Satans hatred. It was not her, but her Seed which he wanted to destroy. In the early days of Gen 3:15 the undying hostility of Satan to the womans Seed was first prophetically announced. In Mat 2:1-23 that hatred is shown. But there only the human agents are seen. Now in the light of Rev 12:4 we learn that the real instigator of the attempt to destroy the womans Seed was Satan, the seven-headed, ten-horned dragon. Herod, the vicegerent of the Caesar in Palestine, the representative of the Roman empire, was really Satans minister in his subtle attempt to compass the death of the Lord. Here the curtain is rolled aside, and Satan, not Herod, stands fully disclosed as the real murderous enemy of Christ. Herod was a true child of his father the devil (Joh 8:41; Joh 8:44). When his plans were frustrated he turned his cruel rage against the innocent male children in the fond hope that the infant Jesus might be sacrificed amongst the number.
Rev 12:5 – She brought forth a male son. This somewhat singular expression does not mean mere distinction of sex. A worthier purpose is intended. The moment that Christ is born, unlike every other male child, universal dominion is conferred upon Him, He steps, so to speak, at once into the rights and glories of Messiah and the yet wider range of sovereignty as Son of Man (see Psa 2:1-12 for the former; Psa 8:1-9 for the latter).
Rev 12:5 – Who shall shepherd (The kings of Israel are termed shepherds (Eze 34:1-31). David, Christ, and the Antichrist are so spoken of.) all the nations with an iron rod. There is more than an allusion in these words to Psa 2:9. The ancient prediction is here reasserted, and that, moreover, on the very threshold of its accomplishment. The iron rod in the hand of the Shepherd of the nations is first laid on the guilty kings and peoples of the west (Rev 19:1-21), then on those of the north and east (Isa 10:1-34; Zec 12:1-14; Zec 14:1-21). He breaks up the consolidated powers of earth, whether gathered against Himself or His people. He breaks the iron will of the nations. His hands grasp the reins of universal government, crushing to atoms every opposing power, shivering sceptres, and crashing crowns and kingdoms till kings and peoples bow before Him and own His sovereign sway. In that day of irresistible might and power, the overcomers, forming a body distinct by themselves, as it seems to us, shall be with Him (Rev 2:26-27), associated with Him in His rule over the nations. What an exalted dignity! What an ennobling prospect! (see also 1Co 6:2-3).
Rev 12:5 – Next follows the rapture of the Child: Caught up to God and to His throne. This, of course, refers to the ascension, forty days after the resurrection. The fact is briefly stated by Mark (Mar 16:19), but is more fully and circumstantially related by Luke, the beloved physician (Luk 24:50-51; Act 1:9-11). The nearest and highest place is His. It is sometimes said The Church is included in the rapture of the Man-Child. We think not. The ascension of Christ and our translation are always treated of as distinct events. His ascension is a mark of personal glory, one in which we cannot share. In truth the word ascension is never used of saints. We cannot find Scripture to warrant the assumption that the Church is embraced in the rapture of the Man-Child.
There are three statements in Rev 12:5 : (1) The birth of the Man-Child; (2) His destiny; (3) His rapture. Now there is nothing said here about His life and death. His birth and rapture are put together as if no period of thirty-three years separated the two events. Why is this? The reason is that in this chapter we have not history. The historical course of events must be sought for outside this portion of Scripture, which deals with things from Gods standpoint. The moral purpose and aim, as seen and interpreted in Heaven, is what we have in our chapter. The signs are in Heaven; the reality and history on earth. The object here is a twofold one. First, to connect the Messiah with Israel, at least with Judah about to enter her appointed hour of sorrow, Jacobs trouble (Jer 30:7); second, to connect the Child with His marvellous destiny, the rule of all nations. Now both these are dependent on His birth, not on His life here, which is omitted, only the necessary links being given, viz.. His birth and ascension. To connect the Messiah with Israel and the nations His life is not needed, and thus it is passed over. It only remains to add that Christ is caught up to God and to His throne, where His claim as the Heir of all is allowed, if denied on earth. God and the throne shall make good that claim, and from thence Christ will pass on to the destined Inheritance in Gods time and way.
FLIGHT OF THE WOMAN.
Rev 12:6. – And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has there a place prepared of God, that they should nourish her there a thousand two hundred (and) sixty days. What happened to the Man-Child, and what to the mother, might be supposed to be contiguous events. But it is not so, for just as we have a parenthesis of thirty-three years between the birth and rapture of the Child, so an interval of nigh two thousand years comes in between the rapture and the flight. In fact the whole history of Christianity bridges the time from the ascension of Christ till the woman flies into the wilderness. To make the present dispersion of Judah unto the four corners of the earth (Isa 11:12) to signify the flight of the woman into the wilderness is too absurd to need refutation. Some have, strangely enough, supposed a double flight, as verse 14, in which it is repeated comes after the war in Heaven. Now it is true that there is a break between the statement of the flight in verse 6 and its repetition in verse 14. But the object is to show why the woman had to fly. The dragon cast out of Heaven persecutes the woman, who is then providentially assisted in her flight from the face of her great enemy. The interrupted statement in verse 6 is resumed in verse 14. Between these verses we have the episode of the war in Heaven and the rejoicing consequent on its success. The first six verses, as another has said, give us the complete picture. Satans expulsion from Heaven is antecedent to the flight, and indeed is the immediate cause of her rapid journey. So that had to be explained in order to account for the flight into the wilderness. The force of the term wilderness, as also in Rev 17:3, signifies a condition destitute of natural resources, a place of isolation. The afflicted and sorrowing circumstances of Judah in the Tribulation may well be termed wilderness. It is the great day of Jacobs trouble (Jer 30:7), when all faces are turned into paleness (Jer 30:6); the awful time sketched in detail by our Lord in His great prophetic discourse on the mount of Olives (Mat 24:15-28; Mar 13:14-22; see also Rev 13:1-18, Rev 17:1-18).
Rev 12:6 – There a place prepared of God. Nourished there a thousand two hundred (and) sixty days. The repetition of the adverb is not a mere Hebraistic pleonasm, as one has said, but is purposely intended to mark the definiteness of the place prepared for her, and where she is nourished or cared for. God provides for the woman both place and nourishment for 1260 days. The same period is expressed in briefer terms as months of thirty days each (Rev 11:2; Rev 13:5). But here the careful numbering of the days intimates the Lords tender interest in His sorrowing saints. He counts them up one by one, so to speak. These periods all refer to the last half week of prophetic sorrow, the closing period of Daniels years, 490 in all. The suffering Jews in Jerusalem (Rev 11:1-19), and those outside (Mat 24:16), form one body of Jewish witnesses. We gather, however, that those who witness in Jerusalem itself are probably all martyred, whereas those who escaped to the mountains from the various towns of Judah on the outburst of the persecution survive it. The martyred company of Judah are the harpers and singers on the sea of glass (Rev 15:1-8). The preserved company of Judah, the brethren and companions of the slain, are those on Mount Zion with the Lamb (The martyred company is not numbered; those preserved are spoken of as 144,000, Rev 14:3. The 144,000 of Rev 7:1-17 are a distinct company. The former is of Judah only, the latter of all Israel.) (Rev 14:1).
Commentary on Rev 12:1-6 by E.M. Zerr
Rev 12:1. As an aid in identifying this woman we will learn that she is the one who lived through the 1260 years of the apostasy (verse 6). That was not true in any sense of Mary the mother of Jesus. Besides, Mary was a literal woman and we are studying in a book of symbols. We should also remember that the apostate church as opposed to the Lord’s institution is the outstanding subject of this book, and of course that of necessity is the church of Christ. Clothed with the sun symbolizes the light of divine truth with which the church has been entrusted (Eph 3:10; 1Ti 3:15). As the moon is a lesser light than the sun, so there are those in the church who are light bearers under the jurisdiction of the church. Crown of twelve stars evidently refers to the apostles. A crown indicates a position of rulership or judgeship. Accordingly we read of Jesus saying to his apostles, “Ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Mat 19:28).
Rev 12:2. This verse describes the mother, but the literal facts are symbols of something that is not literal.
Rev 12:3. When a birth is expected in a family the members thereof are generally hovering near, impatiently waiting for the happy event. But in the case of this woman there is a being waiting near who is not friendly toward the event. This being is called a great red dragon. He is called Satan in other places and that is because he works through agencies that belong to this world. The dragon of our verse, then, is Rome. Some commentators designate that it means Pagan Rome but I do not believe it is to be restricted to that. However, since both Pagan and Papal Rome had their headquarters in the city of Rome, it will not make any difference as far as this verse is concerned, which angle of the subject we take. The description of the dragon in this verse agrees with the government of Rome with the leading European kingdoms that were connected with it and formed a part of the institution as a whole. The seven heads are so numbered because the city of Rome literally has seven hills on which it is situated. But those seven hills are not important except as symbols of something else not literal or at least not material. They represent the sevenfold power of that mighty institution in opposing the works of God. The ten horns are the same that Daniel saw (Dan 7:7), and they correspond to the ten toes of the giant image in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.
Rev 12:4. Third part of the stars means the men in positions of importance. The reason why only a portion of them was drawn is the same as other similar passages, namely, God has never suffered the enemy to annihilate completely that which he attacks. This dragon is standing by expecting to destroy the child as soon as it is born.
Rev 12:5. When the child was born it was a man child. In preceding chapters we have seen that the outstanding feature of Rome, as well as of other despotic governments, is the hatred of people who wish to have a voice in their own government. As long as the people can be kept in ignorance of their personal rights, they will meekly submit and be ruled over. But the Bible in its clear method of showing people their personal responsibility in determining their manner of conduct, has taught them the truth about it and led them to notify Rome to keep hands off. But the Bible is not a self-propagating document, hence the church was the Lord’s instrument for bringing that great truth into the world. In symbolizing that revolutionary event the Lord gave the vision to John of a woman nearing the time of delivery of a child so near in fact that the pains of the event had started. The child may conveniently and truly be called “self-determination” in the light of what has been just shown on the subject of personal responsibility and the right to discharge it without the interference of a dictatorial monarchy. The church as Christ and the apostles set it up, taught men not to call any man “father” upon earth (Mat 23:9). It taught that all men were to consult the word of God for their guidance (Jas 1:25). That the Lord’s servants are to speak as the oracles of God (1Pe 4:11), and that means that every man will be able to read and “interpret” the word for himself and not have to take dictation from some supreme authority independent of his own responsibility. When men learned these truths they rebelled at the idea of world monarchies. That is the reason Daniel predicted that the stone cut out of the mountain–the kingdom set up by the God of heaven–was to put an end to world power. Dan 2:44.) It is no wonder, then, that the dragon wanted to kill this man child. Rule with a rod of iron. This may sound severe but iron is not necessarily harsh or cruel, it means It is strong and durable. Child was caught up is another symbol. If a babe was born that was at once surrounded with dangerous conditions so that the mother would have to flee to some place for safety, some kind hearted friends would take care of the infant. Accordingly, when the church was driven into the wilderness, her child “self-determination,” was watched over by the kind Father in heaven to see that it would live through all those years of the apostasy.
Rev 12:6. This wilderness was the period of the Dark Ages where the length of it is given in words and which is the same 1260 that the other computations give. All through that period the true church was alive but was in comparative obscurity because of the oppressive domination of the institution of Rome with its union of church and state But her child–the spirit of self-determination–was alive and tenderly watched over by an infinite Guardian, and was destined some day to “make his mark in the world” upon the return of his mother from the wilderness.
Commentary on Rev 12:1-6 by Burton Coffman
Rev 12:1
Here begins the second and final great division of Revelation. “In it we traverse the same ground once more.”[1] Beginning with the Incarnation, we have the efforts of Satan to destroy Christ while he is on earth, and failing in this, to destroy the church, and failing in this, to wage war against the saints. The outline of the chapter is:
The drama of the woman and the dragon (Rev 12:1-6).
A retrospective parenthesis to explain Satan’s hatred of the woman and her seed (Rev 12:7-9).
A heavenly proleptic doxology, but also including retrospective mention of past events (Rev 12:10-12).
The war against the church by Satan (Rev 12:13-17).
The vision which begins in this chapter has several parts, but, “It does not end until the judgment day has arrived (Rev 14:14 f).”[2] McDowell entitled this entire second division of Revelation as, “The Conflict of Sovereignties and the Victory of God.”[3] We also agree with Ladd that Revelation 12-22 are: “A representation of the struggle in the spiritual world that lies behind history.”[4] Although some of the visions are undoubtedly applicable as accurate predictions of events future from John’s time, it does not appear that this was the primary purpose of the prophecy.
Regarding the apostle’s alleged “sources” of the visions here revealed, we reject the nonsense of dragging up from the ash can of history all of the pagan mythology of Greece, Rome, Persian, Babylon, Egypt, etc., and “finding” any origin there of this New Testament Apocalypse. The truth is that the essential features of Revelation are found nowhere but here! The apostle gave his source in Rev 1:1. It is amazing that some of the same scholars who speak of the “ignorance” of the apostles have attributed to John with reference to this prophecy an almost exhaustive knowledge of the entire field of ancient mythology! There is not the slightest proof that John had ever even heard of any of it. Where is the “scientific objectivity” of those bizarre theories regarding the “source” of these visions? Their source, the source of such critics, will be found in Rev 12:15. A Christian commentary on Revelation should not read like an anthology of ancient pagan mythology.
And a great sign was seen in heaven: a woman arrayed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars; (Rev 12:1)
A woman arrayed with the sun … It simply is not true that there is anything very difficult about this chapter, despite there being several diverse views of what it means. Rist thought that these first six verses are “probably one of the most puzzling episodes in Revelation”;[5] and no doubt for him it was, because he made the woman here to be the celestial mother who gave birth to the Messiah before creation began![6] Such interpretations come from reading too much mythology.
The woman, of course, is a symbol of the “whole family of God” (Eph 3:15 KJV), including especially the true Israel of both the Old Testament and the New Testament. It includes Christians, because later in the chapter, they are indicated as children of the woman; and it includes the Old Testament Israel, because through them the Messiah was born. This view, with modifications of it, is widely accepted:
She is the one church, the Una Sancta[7]
She is the church in both dispensations.[8]
She is the whole family of Israel.[9]
She is the messianic community, the ideal Israel.[10]
She is the body of the redeemed people of God.[11]
She is the people of God of both the old covenant and the new covenant.[12]
She is the Old Testament Israel and the New Testament church.[13]
The figure of God’s people as a woman is extensive throughout the Bible, and no Christian of John’s day could have had the slightest doubt of who is meant by this glorious woman. Only a very few writers have ever erred on this. Some have made her out to be Eve;[14] and as might have been expected, Roman Catholic scholars have identified her with the Virgin Mary.[15] This latter interpretation, however, is refuted by the fact that the New Testament nowhere refers to Christians as the children of Mary.
Mounce believed this figure was chosen deliberately as “an obvious contrast to the scarlet whore of Revelation 17.”[16]
Arrayed with the sun, and the moon under her feet … There is no reason to seek specific realities typified by such symbols, because it is the radiant glory of God’s church, from the heavenly viewpoint, that is meant. On the earth, her state is one of lowliness, persecution, and hatred on the part of man; but her true beauty and splendor are represented here.
And upon her head a crown of twelve stars … These suggest both the twelve patriarchs of Israel and the twelve apostles, supporting the identification of the woman as both Israels.
[1] R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. John’s Revelation (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Augsburg Publishing House, 1943), p. 361.
[2] William Hendriksen, More Than Conquerors (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1956), p. 162.
[3] Edward A. McDowell, The Meaning and Message of Revelation (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1951), p. 127.
[4] George Eldon Ladd. A Commentary on the Revelation of John (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1972), p. 166.
[5] Martin Rist, The Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. XII (New York and Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1957), p. 452.
[6] Ibid., p. 453.
[7] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 363.
[8] William Hendriksen, op. cit., p. 164.
[9] Michael Wilcock, I Saw Heaven Opened (Downers Grove, Illinois: Inter-Varsity Press, 1975), p. 119.
[10] Robert H. Mounce, Commentary on the New Testament Revelation (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1977), p. 236.
[11] Albertus Pieters, Studies in the Revelation of St. John (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1954), p. 154.
[12] Isbon T. Beckwith, The Apocalypse of John (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1919), p. 621.
[13] Vernard Eller, The Most Revealing Book in the Bible (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1974), p. 126.
[14] G. B. Caird, The Revelation of St. John the Divine (New York: Harper and Row, 1966), p. 160.
[15] George Eldon Ladd, op. cit., p. 167.
[16] Robert H. Mounce, op. cit., p. 236.
Rev 12:2
and she was with child; and she crieth out, travailing in birth, and in pain to be delivered.
And she was with child … This verse is not merely incidental. The hatred and opposition from Satan to both the woman and her child already existed before the child was born. Therefore, the satanic hatred could not have been the result of the Christ (the child) at some later date winning a victory over Satan. This is important to understanding later verses in the chapter.
Travailing in birth … This is a fitting metaphor for the long endurance, patience, and suffering of God’s ancient people (the true spiritual seed of Abraham) who were a despised minority of the proud, secular Israel during the long period of waiting for the birth of the Messiah. At times, there must have been many, like Elijah, who felt that they were utterly alone, and like the prophets must have prayed for God to “take away” their lives (1Ki 18:22; 1Ki 19:4). This was a time of “waiting for the consolation of Israel” (Luk 2:25).
This dramatic verse brings us near the time of the fulfillment of Gen 3:15, for the child about to be born was the Seed of Woman, the Incarnate Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Rev 12:3
And there was seen another sign in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his heads seven diadems.
Behold, a great red dragon … There is no doubt of who is symbolized by this. It is Satan (Rev 12:9). The word “dragon” is in the dictionaries of every nation under the sun; and none can question the choice of such a word to symbolize the devil. In this vision, the dragon was presented in a form and appearance absolutely unlike any mythological creature ever imagined. The critics, however, by a process of combination, elimination, and invention vainly try to make out some connection here with a dozen ancient myths, but to no avail. This account is unique. If they could find this in any myth, it would be embossed in gold and trotted out as “John’s source”! Satan is the one indicated here; the symbol is not the principal thing.
There are a number of references to “dragons” in the Old Testament; but even there they are all symbolical. Thus, this portrayal of Satan by such a figure is Biblical and absolutely unrelated to mythology. Such things as the color, number of heads, number of horns, etc., do not relate to anything in the myths of antiquity; but they were designed by the Holy Spirit to present definite and specific meanings, as is apparent later. The similar use of such symbols in Daniel makes it relatively easy to ascertain the meanings here. The heads are indications of great vitality, and also of “seven mountains,” as in the case of Rome. The multiple horns are symbols of great power, and also of kings and their successors, as revealed later.
Seven diadems … These do not symbolize lawful power but usurped authority. “These are not like the crowns of victory worn by the saints (Rev 2:10; Rev 3:11; Rev 6:2, etc.).”[17] A different word is used in the Greek. Morris thought that the color red, so prominent in the description of the dragon, was to identify Satan with the beast ridden by the great scarlet whore of Rev 17:3.[18] Red also symbolizes bloodshed, warfare, and ruthlessness; or, as Roberson said, “He is red because of the ferocity with which he destroys men.”[19] Beasley-Murray’s comment on these diadems is that, “They stand for blasphemous claims to sovereignty, in imitation of the divine royalty of Christ.”[20] Lenski said of the ten horns and the crowns that they are symbols of “power arrogated by Satan in his usurped dominion over men. This dragon, the devil, would be God, so that all men might bow before him.”[21]
This verse is extremely important to all the remainder of this prophecy. “The first great enemy of Christ’s church, the cause of all the hostility against her, is Satan.”[22] This is the character who appears here as the dragon. He has several names (Rev 12:9), and will appear and reappear in several guises throughout Revelation, before he is finally overwhelmed in the lake of fire. Practically all of the hatred and opposition to the holy religion of Jesus Christ finds its fountain head in this inconceivable dragon.
[17] A. Plummer, The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 22, Revelation (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1950), p. 311.
[18] Leon Morris, Tyndale Commentaries on the New Testament, Vol. 20, the Revelation of St. John (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1969), p. 158.
[19] Charles H. Roberson, Studies in Revelation (Tyler, Texas: P. D. Wilmeth, P.O. Box 3305,1957), p. 83.
[20] G. R. Beasley-Murray, The Book of Revelation (Greenwood, South Carolina: The Attic Press, 1974), p. 199.
[21] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 365.
[22] J. R. Dummelow, Commentary on the Holy Bible (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1937), p. 1082.
Rev 12:4
And his tail draweth the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon standeth before the woman that is about to be delivered, that when she is delivered he may devour her child.
And his tail draweth the third part of the stars of heaven … Pieters and many other present-day commentators decline to find any meaning here except that of emphasizing the dragon’s size;[23] but, “ancient interpreters took the passage as referring to the fall of Satan, who took with him one third of the angels of heaven (cf. Milton’s Paradise Lost).”[24] This ancient understanding of it is attractive to this writer. It is true that we do not have much revealed on this subject; but all that is revealed fits the interpretation perfectly. We know that Satan has some angels (Mat 25:41), and that these are almost certainly the same as the angels of 2Pe 2:4. No less a scholar than Bruce agrees that, “The reference is probably to the angels who were involved in Satan’s fall.”[25]; Rev 12:9 also mentions these same wicked angels.
Standeth before the woman that … he may devour her child … The enmity of Satan was of long standing. Through Pharaoh, he endeavored to destroy Israel; and, at a later time, Haman was Satan’s instrument in the passing of a law “to kill, destroy, and cause to perish all Jews, young and old, little children and women, in one day, and to take the spoil of them for a prey” (Est 3:13). Herod’s murder of the innocents (Mat 2:16) is another example of the same malicious hatred on the part of Satan. Having failed to destroy the mother (Israel), Satan was alert to destroy her child (the Christ); and failing also in that, his continuing hatred is vented against Christ’s servants throughout the ages. “This is another example of the personal history of Christ being repeated in the history of the church.”[26] It is said that Diocletian decided to exterminate Christianity; and Gibbon said of that emperor that, “He declared his intention of abolishing the name Christian.”[27] Herod Agrippa I also attempted to do the same thing (Acts 12).
Hendriksen is correct in seeing this single verse as, “The entire history of the Old Testament, the story of the conflict between the Seed of Woman and the dragon, between Christ and Satan.”[28]
[23] Albertus Pieters, op. cit., p. 158.
[24] Ralph Earle, Beacon Bible Commentary, Vol. 10 (Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press, 1967), p. 569.
[25] F. F. Bruce, A New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1969), p. 651.
[26] A. Plummer, op. cit., p. 311.
[27] Edward Gibbon, Esq., The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire in Five Volumes (Philadelphia: Henry T. Coates and Company n.d.), Vol. II, p. 69.
[28] William Hendriksen, op. cit., p. 165.
Rev 12:5
And she was delivered of a son, a man child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and unto his throne.
And she was delivered of a son … and her child was caught up to God, and unto his throne … These two clauses open and close this verse; and the whole biography of the earthy life, ministry, death, burial, and resurrection of the Son of God is here compressed into nineteen words! The critics have really had a fit about this. Some have even denied that the birth of Christ is mentioned here. Roberts, following Caird, wrote:
John does not mean precisely the birth of Jesus (passing over the earthly life of Jesus and going directly to his ascension), but rather his death, resurrection and ascension.[29]
Despite such views, the pregnant woman, the travailing in birth, and the delivery of a man child in this passage can mean nothing else except the birth of Christ; and the compression of Jesus’ whole biography into such a short space is perfectly in harmony with what the author did by presenting the entire Old Testament history in a single verse (Rev 12:4). To suppose that the birth is not included here would make the passage mean that the woman brought forth his death and resurrection; because the emphatic statements of her pregnancy and her being delivered clearly makes her the achiever of whatever happened in Rev 12:5. This therefore has to be a reference to Jesus’ physical birth in Bethlehem.
The consternation of the critical community that John should have produced so short a biography of Jesus is a mystery to this writer; because it is in perfect harmony with all of John’s writings. He left out of his gospel all of the miracles but seven and omitted the actual birth of Jesus altogether. He did many other things that some would have accounted unbelievable. Paul also did exactly the same thing which John does here. In his letter to Timothy, “He passes straight from the birth of Christ (“He was manifested in the flesh”) to his resurrection (“He was vindicated in the Spirit”); and the whole passage contains no mention of the life and death of Christ.”[30] Thus, this thumb-nail biography of Jesus is in the very best New Testament tradition; and there is no need to make out that Jesus’ birth here actually means his death! What was the reason for the brevity? The movement of the narrative demanded it. How false then must be the conclusion that John “is not interested in the human Jesus.”[31]
We have belabored this point a bit, due to the false allegations of some that the apostle John did not write this but “took over a pagan myth.”[32] Morris expertly refuted such notions by pointing out that John “described heaven in Revelation 4 with no mention of Christ; but when he came to Revelation 5, he emphasized the central place of the Lamb.”[33] That example shows that John is quite capable of concentrating on one thing at a time.
She was delivered of a son, a man child … Of special note is the double emphasis of masculinity here. Alexander Campbell translated this, “She bore a masculine son.”[34] Pieters rendered it, “A son, a he-man, a fierce assertion of the virility of Christ.”[35]
Regarding the identity of the Son, our own view that he is unmistakably the Christ of the ages is already clear enough. This is the usually accepted meaning. “A long array of commentators regards this as a reference to the birth of Christ, and we must join them.”[36] “The man child is certainly symbolical of Christ.”[37] Just who else, in the whole history of the world, ever qualified for this identity as certified in the next clause?
Who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron … “These words are quoted from the second Psalm, and they identify beyond question who the child is (See Rev 2:27).”[38] Both that second Psalm and the book of Revelation deal with the victory of Christ over his adversaries.
As Summers said, “Some scholars of the continuous-historical school deny this, viewing the woman as the church, and the man child as the sons and daughters born of the church’s travail.”[39] Among those of that view was the late eminent preacher and scholar, L. S. White, with whom this writer began his ministry of the gospel. He wrote: “The child is a symbol of faithful Christians, and the woman is the church of the living God.”[40] It appears to be impossible, however, to harmonize such interpretations with the fact of the sex of this man child being so vigorously stressed here. Such interpretations are not actually derived from the text, but from prior interpretations leading up to it. Since the previous chapters have already taken them up to the times of Constantine the Great, or later, “They must find something after the fourth and fifth centuries to which this may be applied.”[41]
And her child was caught up unto God, and unto his throne … This clearly denotes the resurrection and ascension of Christ.
How Ellicott and the historical school can regard this as a reference to the elevation of Constantine to the throne of the Roman Empire, and quote Gibbon that “Christianity was seated on the throne of the Roman world,” we fail to comprehend … As for the futurists, they would leave the “iron rod” (of this verse) idle in the hands of the exalted Christ until the Second Advent.[42]
It should be noted that according to this verse, it was God’s throne in heaven to which this man child was elevated.
[29] J. W. Roberts, The Revelation of John (Austin, Texas: The R. B. Sweet Company, 1974), p. 100.
[30] G. R. Beasley-Murray, op. cit., p. 200.
[31] William Barclay, The Revelation of John (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1976), p. 78.
[32] Leon Morris, op. cit., p. 159.
[33] Ibid.
[34] Alexander Campbell, as quoted by James D. Strauss, The Seer, the Saviour, and the Saved (Joplin, Missouri: College Press, 1972), p. 162.
[35] Albertus Pieters, op. cit., p. 159.
[36] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 367.
[37] Ray Summers, Worthy is the Lamb (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1961), p. 171.
[38] Charles H. Roberson, op. cit., p. 84.
[39] Ray Summers, op. cit., p. 171.
[40] L. S. White, Sermons on Revelation (Cincinnati, Ohio: F. L. Rowe, Publisher, 1917), p. 185.
[41] Albertus Pieters, op. cit., p. 160.
[42] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 369.
Rev 12:6
And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that there they may nourish her a thousand two hundred and threescore days.
And the woman fled into the wilderness … Like the old Israel that wandered in the wilderness, the new Israel, the church, must dwell in her own wilderness. The old Israel is a type of the new, as elaborated in my Commentary on 1Corinthians, pp. 149,150. “So long as the Lord is personally absent, the church is in the wilderness.”[43] Just as the place of the wilderness wanderings was a place of Jewish safety from Pharaoh (the devil), just so the wilderness of the church represents her place of safety from the mighty red dragon (Satan). There are also many other analogies. The old Israel was fed by God in the wilderness and nourished and sustained providentially. So it is with the church. Also, as their wilderness was a time of trials, testing, and temptations, so it is in the period of the church’s probation. Many fell, but a remnant entered Canaan; and the same truth is projected with reference to the church.
There she hath a place prepared of God … The great harlot (Rev 17:3) was also “in the wilderness”; but her place was not there prepared of God. There is a sacred providence that ever watches over the redeemed of earth (Mat 18:18-20).
That they may nourish her … God will take care of the church. “The gates of hell shall not prevail against her; and Christ is with them always, even unto the end of the world” (Mat 16:18; Mat 28:18-20).
A thousand two hundred and threescore days … What can this mean? Is there a certain time-period only when Christ will be with his church? No indeed! This time-period represents every minute of the whole Christian dispensation. This is given in exactly the same form as in Rev 11:3; and there it was understood as all of the time between the two Advents of Christ, and so it must be understood here. “It describes the period of this world’s existence during the whole of which the devil persecutes the church.”[44] It is also called forty-two months; and someone has suggested that this was the number of the forty-two stations of the Israelites in the wilderness. Hendriksen called this time-period “the millennium of Revelation 20”;[45] and we believe this understanding of it to be correct, despite the description of it there by use of a different figure. The saints of Christ are reigning with him now in his kingdom; and Christ already has the authority in heaven and upon earth (Mat 28:18-20). His rule is not accepted by many, due to the freedom of the will of man; but that does not contradict the higher truth that Christ is truly reigning today in the hearts of those who love and serve him.
[43] Charles H. Roberson, op. cit., p. 85.
[44] A. Plummer, op. cit., p. 311.
[45] William Hendriksen, op. cit., p. 172.
Commentary on Rev 12:1-6 by Manly Luscombe
Introduction. As Ray Summers observes, Many times it appears that the enemy has the upper hand and will win, but all the time we know that victory is ours because we have seen the headline announcing victory. John used this method many times in Revelation – always very effectively. (2, 167) Chapter 12 begins the second part of the book. Some have thought this begins a second vision. I do not believe there is a second vision. The seals lead to the trumpets. The trumpets end with the little book that tells about judgment of men. John is told that there are many things that he will need to prophesy after eating the book. With chapter 12 begins the message that John was to deliver. In the second half of Revelation, the characters are the same. The war between Satan and the church is the same. The outcome will be the same. The action will intensify in speed. The actions will be more dramatic. And the book will end with the complete victory for the church and complete defeat for Satan.
1 Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. John begins now to describe what he saw after he had eaten the little book. A woman – John sees a radiant woman, clothed with the sun. She has 12 stars on her head. There are a couple of theories about whom this woman represents. 1. Mary – It is thought by some that this is a description of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Mostly Roman Catholic commentators, seeking to elevate the worship and veneration of Mary, hold this view. 2. Jewish System – Woodruff believes that the woman represents the Jewish system of religion. Christ was brought to the world through the Jewish lineage. God intended the Law of Moses to bring us to Christ. Woodruff argues that the 12 stars symbolize the 12 tribes of Israel. 3. Church – The church is, in the rest of the New Testament, seen as the bride of Christ. In Rom 7:4, the church is married to Christ. In 21:9 the church is referred to as the bride of Christ. Christ is the bridegroom and the church is the bride. This view holds that the 12 stars symbolize the 12 apostles. Rather than thinking in the past to Mary literally bringing Jesus into the world, or the Jewish system supplying the bloodline for Christ; we need to think of the church as the woman who, through evangelism and preaching, is presenting Jesus to the world. The church is pictured as a bright and radiant woman in contrast to the great harlot of immorality in chapter 17. The woman represents the true church, and those who are faithful to Christ.
2 Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. She, the woman, gave birth to a child. Most commentators agree that the child is Jesus. Satan will do whatever he can to stop Christ from being preached in the world. Bringing Christ to the world can be painful. It can result in imprisonment, suffering and even death. The gospel is being spread today, not in comfort, but in pain and anguish.
3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. John next sees the fiery red dragon. This dragon is also called the devil, and Satan, in verse 9. There is no dispute about this. John clearly calls this dragon, Satan. You will soon meet his allies – the beast from the sea, the beast from the earth, the great harlot, and the false prophet. All of these are subject to the dragon. He is clearly in charge.
4 His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. The great dragon is seen as having a long tail. The dragon knocked a third of the stars out of heaven and threw them to the earth. These stars must represent the people who are now loyal to Satan. Remember the third part is not a literal number. It represents the spiritual part of man. Satan has the ability to destroy the spiritual part of man.
5 She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne. Satan knew that Christ was coming. He tried to stop His birth. Think about the times when the lineage of Christ was hanging by a thread. Haman almost carried out a plot to kill all Jews in the time of Esther. At the time of Athalia, the queen who killed all her family, EXCEPT a six-month old baby named Joash. Just as Jesus was to be born, Mary and Joseph had to make a difficult trip to Bethlehem. Jesus had to be born in a stable. By creating insurrection, Jesus was arrested and executed at Calvary. At each of these times, the coming of Christ was threatened. Satan tried to prevent the church from bringing Christ to the world. When Christ was raised from the dead, and ascended to heaven, Satan turned his attention to the woman (the church) that was preaching Christ. This helps us understand why the church was being persecuted. The attack on the church was Satans way to get back at Christ.
6 Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days. The woman (the church) flees into the wilderness. This seems to correspond to the killing of the two witnesses in Rev 11:7-11. God will always protect His family. There is a parallel with the children of Israel leaving the persecution of Egypt and going into the wilderness before reaching the Promised Land. So must Christians, as we come out of great tribulation (sin) and head for heaven, we must go through the wilderness. The scene described here is the church in the wilderness. The church is in the world, but not of the world. The 1,260 days is equal to the 42 months, and 3 times. God will feed, protect and care for the church, even under persecution. The period of time represents the church age or the entire Christian era. I do not believe that this is a literal period of years.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
In this and two subsequent chapters we have an interpolation in the account of the actual procedure. Two signs are described, a woman and a dragon, between whom is antagonism. Symbolically, it covers the story of the ages. The ultimate conflict between the dragon and the woman and the final defeat of the dragon will be shown presently. A description is given of a conflict between principalities and powers, fallen and unfallen. Perfect victory is gained through the blood of the Lamb and His word of testimony.
The heavens rejoice, and all inhabiting them at the exclusion of the foe. He is cast down to the earth, and there is a manifestation of his malice and power on the earth level for the short time remaining to him. This power, however, will be definitely restricted. In this whole description there is a vivid unveiling of the nature and malice of the devil contending in the heavens to the last in terrible mental conflict with all the hosts of light; then, when finally cast out from the heavenly places, turning with renewed fury and force on those who have been associated with Christ. Amid these terrible scenes we are never allowed to lose sight of the might and majesty of God, who checks all the underworld of evil.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
He Shall Reign For Ever and Ever
Rev 11:14-19; Rev 12:1-6
The kingdom is even now Christs, but it is hidden, even as He is. One day it will be manifested. For a long time David was the anointed king of Israel, but Saul sat on the throne until the predestined hour came when the tribes of Israel made David their chosen monarch. This surely is a type of that which will one day become apparent to the whole creation. The kingdom of the world will wholly and permanently become Christs. Suffering and sorrow will then flee away, as birds of ill omen at dawn. War will cease to the end of the world. The glad populations of mankind will walk in the light of life, and the long night and travail of nature will be ended. It may be that each great era of human history ends with a scene of judgment; or that these series of visions are concurrent, viewing the earth-order from different standpoints.
What comfort is derived from this vision of the Ark of Gods Covenant, which abides in the inner sanctuary! He is true to us. His word cannot alter, neither will He recede from His pledge to overthrow our enemies, to undo the devastation they have caused, and to realize His original purpose in mans creation.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Chapter Twelve The Woman And The Man-Child
With this chapter we begin our study of a very distinct part of the book of Revelation embracing chapters 12,13, and 14, which form a connected outline of events. Chapters 12-13, as noted on the chart, bring before us the great actors for good and evil in the last days (Walter Scott). Chapter 14 gives us the consummation-the Lamb on mount Zion, returned to bless the remnant of Israel, and through them the world, and the final judgments relating to the preparation for the actual setting up of the kingdom.
I think I may say without exaggeration that I have read or carefully examined several hundred books purporting to expound the Revelation. I have learned to view this twelfth chapter as the crucial test in regard to the correct prophetic outline. If the interpreters are wrong as to the woman and the man-child, it necessarily follows that they will be wrong as to many things connected with them. Therefore I ask your particular attention as we endeavor to see what light Scripture itself throws on this remarkable vision.
As indicated in the previous chapter we should begin to read from verse 19 of chapter eleven, as this is the commencement of the third great division of the book of Revelation.
It may be well here to draw attention to the several openings in their order. In chapter 4:1, we read, A door was opened in heaven, which introduces the second division of the book. This division reveals the saints in Heaven around the throne of God and the judgments that follow the taking of the seven-sealed book.
In chapter 11:19 we read, The temple of God was opened in heaven, and in the temple was seen the ark of the covenant, which at once calls to mind Gods covenant with His earthly people Israel. The lightnings, voices, thunderings, earthquake, and great hail that followed the opening of the temple illustrate fearful judgments to be poured out on the prophetic earth. Yet the ark shows that God will remember His covenant with Israel and preserve the remnant safely through it all.
In chapter 15:5 this thought is intensified in connection with the coming forth of the seven angels that have the seven last plagues. There we read, After that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened, and from that temple the seven angels went forth. The fact that the testimony is thus mentioned, again emphasizes Gods protecting care of His earthly people.
The fourth opening is in chapter 19:11. And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. The chapter goes on to describe, in highly symbolic form, the Lords appearing in open judgment. These four openings are of deep significance and lead to a greater understanding of the Book. The first we have already considered. The second will occupy this as well as the following two chapters. The third introduces the seven last plagues, in which is filled up the wrath of God. And the fourth ushers in the glorious millennial kingdom.
The Woman and the Dragon (Rev 12:1-6)
In the first six verses we are shown a divinely given picture, in which God is throwing His own white light on events that otherwise would be incomprehensible to His creatures. A woman appears, arrayed with the sun, the moon beneath her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She cries out in pain of childbirth until she delivers a man-child. And this man-child is distinctly said to be the one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. The woman has a terrible, vindictive adversary-a great red dragon, who is described as having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. Notice that the word rendered crown in the King James version is not the word we have already had before us in this book-the crowns on the heads of the elders in Heaven (4:4). Theirs was a victors wreath, but the dragon wears the imperial diadem. His is a reigning crown, for he is the prince of this world, acting, as we will see shortly, through the Roman empire. His tail, we are told, drew a third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them down to the earth.
In the vision John saw him standing before the woman, waiting for her deliverance so that he might devour her child immediately upon its birth. But he was thwarted in his malignant intentions, for the child was caught up to God and to His throne. The woman, the mother, then fled into the wilderness, where God Himself had prepared a place for her, that she might be kept in security and nourished for 1,260 days.
First of all, who or what are we to understand this woman to represent? Many tell us she is the church. Others insist that she represents some system of teaching. Roman Catholic expositors have seen in her the virgin Mary and suppose the whole scene to depict her assumption into Heaven and her glory as its queen.
There have been individuals down through the centuries who have arrogated the vision to themselves. For instance, Johanna Southcott (1750-1814) gave herself out as the bride of Christ and deceived many. Or Mrs. Mary Baker Patterson Glover Eddy, who very modestly conceived and gave forth the thought that the woman was a highly symbolic picture of herself and the man-child represented that which she brought forth-Christian Science; whereas, the dragon was mortal mind endeavoring to destroy her new religion! We need not waste our time with such theories.
The first view I mentioned-that the woman represents the church-is one that needs careful examination. In doing this, let us first inquire who or what does the man-child symbolize? If we allow Scripture itself to answer, we find there is a person and a company of people answering to this description. In Psalm 2 Jehovah says to Messiah, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the [nations] for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potters vessel (7-9). This, clearly enough, is our Lord Jesus Christ, who is soon to reign over all the earth. Undoubtedly He is primarily the man-child who is to rule the nations with a rod of iron and the special object of Satans malignity. But we have already seen, in Rev 2:26-28, that when He reigns He will not reign alone for His promise to the faithful overcomers in the church period is: And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. And I will give him the morning star. Is there then any incongruity in understanding the man-child to represent both Christ Jesus our Lord and His church? Surely not, for He is the Head of the body, the church, which is the fullness, or completion, of Himself. So the title The Christ is applied to both Head and body viewed as one in 1Co 12:12 where we read, For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ; literally it reads, the Christ. We may then, on the authority of Scripture itself, safely affirm that the man-child represents the one new Man who is to rule the nations with a rod of iron-Christ, the Head, and the church, His body. If this be so, then it is impossible that the woman should symbolize the church.
But there are those who tell us that only the strong spiritual members of the church are designated in Scripture as overcomers. The woman pictures the church as a whole, whereas the man-child symbolizes the overcoming part of the church. They say this part will be raptured prior to the great tribulation, while the rest of the church will be purified through that time of trouble. But Scripture definitely determines the untruthfulness of this contention, for we are told distinctly, This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? (1Jn 5:4-5) An overcomer is one who has personal faith in Christ, and every believer in this sense overcomes. Those who do not are proven not to have real faith and are simply professors, not possessors. This theory denies the unity of the body of Christ; it fails to recognize the intimate relation existing between the Head and all the members.
But who then is this star-crowned, sun-robed woman, who has the moon beneath her feet? First, let me ask, Is there any other place in Scripture where we have the sun, moon, and twelve stars brought together in a similar way? You will at once recall Josephs dream in which he saw the sun, moon, and eleven stars making obeisance to him. He himself was the twelfth star. His father rightly saw in this a picture of all Israel with its twelve tribes. And this was a hint worth considering. But, again, we are distinctly told concerning our Lord Jesus that it was of Israel as concerning the flesh Christ came (Rom 9:5). And it is of Israel that Isaiah was singing when he exclaimed, Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace (Isa 9:6). Israel is the mother of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came. The church did not give birth to Christ. He founded the church. He, as the last Adam, slept in death that the church might be taken from His wounded side. But He did come from Israel. Over and over again in the Old Testament that nation is depicted as being in the anguish of childbirth, waiting for His appearing. Look at Mic 5:2 and Isa 66:7-8. By a comparison of these Scriptures with the one before us we see that before [Israel] travailed, she brought forth. That is, Christ Himself personally was actually born before the time of her great period of anguish in the days of the coming tribulation. But during that time of trouble He will be born in the consciousness of the nation, and they will realize that He belongs to them-that He is Israels Son.
The twelve stars on her head may well speak of her twelve patriarchs and her twelve tribes. The moon beneath her feet symbolizes the reflected glory of the old covenant. While the sun, in which she is enwrapped, tells of the new covenant glory in which she appears before God. At Christs actual birth, Satan put into operation the power of the Roman empire through Herod, its puppet in Jerusalem, to seek His destruction. But He was preserved from Herods efforts when the young children of Bethlehem were destroyed. Though crucified by a Roman governor and by Roman authority, He was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father and caught up to God and to His throne.
We have seen that the man-child symbolizes both Head and body-the complete Christ. Therefore, as in other prophecies, the entire present dispensation is passed over in silence. The church is represented in its Head, caught up with Christ. For immediately after this, Satan, again acting through the Roman empire which is to be revived in the last days, turns on the woman Israel and seeks to vent his wrath and indignation against her. But God prepares a place for her, and she is hidden in the wilderness-possibly the wilderness of the peoples, as Eze 20:35 so graphically puts it. There she will be protected during the 1260 days, which, as we have already seen, appear to refer to the first half of the seventieth week-the beginning of sorrows.
The Great conflict (Rev 12:7-12)
Our attention is turned from earth to Heaven where we are shown a future great conflict to occur in the heavenly places. A third actor in these stirring scenes is now introduced; it is Michael, the leader of the heavenly hosts. But he is no stranger to the reverent student of the Word of God. We have already made his acquaintance in the book of Daniel. We know him as the great angelic prince, the archangel, who is particularly charged with the care of Daniels people (Dan 12:1). Daniels people, we have seen, are symbolized by the woman whom we have been considering. When our Lord Jesus Christ returns for His church, we are told that the voice of the archangel will be heard from Heaven, together with the shout of the Lord and the trump of God. Michaels voice will awaken, or call together, all those of Israel who have died in the past dispensation and who will have their part in the first resurrection. Together with the church and the saints of previous ages, they will enter into the Fathers house.
Their passage through the air and enthronement in glory would seem to be the signal for the driving out of Satan and his hosts from the upper air, where they have been permitted to maintain their hold during the past five thousand years. Satan is called the prince of the power of the air (Eph 2:2). Believers are told that their conflict is with wicked spirits in heavenly places (Eph 6:12). These evil hosts are continually endeavoring, by deception, to keep Christians from enjoying their present portion in Christ, but when the church is caught up, the evil forces will be ignominiously driven from what we might call the outer court of Heaven and cast down on the earth. The great dragon, the energizing spirit of the old Roman empire, and the one who is to be the energizing spirit of the same empire when revived, will be cast down. In verse 9, that there may be no possibility of mistake, he is distinctly designated as that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, [the deceiver of] the whole world.
When he and his accursed followers are hurled from the heavens, a voice of praise is heard above. This voice celebrates the full salvation of Gods redeemed and the establishment in power of the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ because the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. This is no new thought. Satan appeared as the accuser in the days of Job, accusing that righteous man before the Lord. Zechariah also, in vision, saw him accusing Joshua, the high priest. He has been permitted by God to act as the great prosecuting attorney, if I may so put it, at the high court of the universe. But no charge that he has ever been able to bring against those redeemed to God by the precious blood of Christ has ever stood because that infinite sacrifice has fully availed to meet them all. Well may we sing:
I hear the accuser roar
Of ills that I have done;
I know them all, and thousands more,
Jehovah findeth none.
Or, as a verse of another beautiful hymn puts it:
Though the restless foe accuses,
Sins recounting like a flood;
Every charge our God refuses-
Christ has answered with His blood.
Christ is our advocate, and it is Satans malicious accusations that call for His constant advocacy on our behalf. As a result of this, the Holy Spirit applies to the hearts of the saints on earth the truth of God in divine power, practically cleansing their ways. And so it is said, They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death (11).
Satans casting down will be the signal then for great rejoicing in Heaven, where the Old and New Testament saints will have been caught up. It will be the signal also of great sorrow on the earth, because the devil will have come down in great wrath, knowing that his time is short. He has always been the hater of all who belong to Christ so he will seek for any on earth who confess His name in that day to destroy them completely. This is what is brought before us in verses 13-17.
The Woman is Sustained (Rev 12:13-17)
The explanation of these verses is plain in view of what we have already discovered. The dragon will at once turn all his energies against Israel, but God has pledged Himself to preserve her through the great tribulation. And so, there were given to the woman two wings of a great eagle for a specific purpose: that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. A time indicates a year; times, two years; and half a time, six months. All this comprises the last three and a half years of the tribulation period and is the same time period as the forty-two months of the previous chapter. As to the expression two wings of a great eagle, God said in regard to Israel, I bare you on eagles wings, and brought you unto myself (Exo 19:4). God delivered Israel from Egypt and cared for them in the wilderness. In that coming day, He will deliver them from the wrath of the dragon and protect them in the wilderness of the peoples. Afterwards, they will come up from that wilderness in great numbers to dwell in their own land.
In vain the serpent casts water as of a great river out of his mouth, hoping that he might cause her to be carried away by the stream. He would seek to ruin her by that which emanates from his mouth- evil teachings, I take it, in contrast to the water of life given by our Lord Jesus Christ. We may get the idea of this if we recall the fact that many Jews have been carried away by that Satanic flood from the mouth of the dragon known as Christian Science. So in the days of the great tribulation, Satan will try to swamp and destroy Israel as a nation by the evil teachings he will spread through the world. But even the earth itself will help the woman, opening its mouth and swallowing up the river which the dragon casts out. That is, Israel will be driven out among all the nations, as I take it. Israel will be so shocked and horrified by the evil results of these Satanic teachings that they will themselves be preserved from them. Just as the captivity in Babylon, the fountain-head of idolatry, cured Judah of her own idolatrous tendencies for a period of time, so Israels experiences among the Gentiles in the last days will be used by God to preserve her from the evil river in which the dragon would drown her. Unable to destroy the nation as such, he makes a special effort to ruin the rest of her offspring, or the remnant that keep the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus. These, I take it, are those who remain in the land, as pictured by the two witnesses. There they maintain a testimony for God against all the persecutions of the antichrist. The next chapter will tell us how the devil will seek to destroy this remnant.
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
Rev 12:16
Science and the Church.
The “woman” mentioned here is a symbol of the New Testament Church. She is represented as pursued by the devil, who ejects from his mouth a river of water after her. Just then the earth opens; the deluge is swallowed up, so the woman is saved. Hence we can catch from so rapidly flitting a vision at least as much as this welcome proposition: nature is on the side of genuine religion; science is ready now to be helpful to the Church when it needs succour.
I. Note the somewhat ungenerous way in which the woman has been treating the earth in modern times. There is a violence of prejudice in the minds of many of God’s people which is almost inexplicable. God is not going to suffer the kingdom of grace to be overthrown by contradictions that men will discover in the kingdom of nature; He is King in both kingdoms, and Christ once said that even Beelzebub could not stand divided against himself.
II. Note a few of the forms of actual help which natural science of every sort has already furnished, thus exhibiting its real friendliness. We notice (1) its answer to what have been termed the unconscious prophecies of the Bible. (2) Science gives a constant rebuke to impertinent cavils which petulant objectors are in the habit of urging. (3) Science exemplifies its friendship for the Church in the illustration of difficult doctrines which it furnishes. (4) Science offers a reconciliation of the paradoxes of reason and faith in the Scriptures. (5) Science offers positive help in the interpretation of obscure passages in the word itself.
C. S. Robinson, Sermons on Neglected Texts, p. 35.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
Chapter 27
The incarnation of Christ
And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne
Rev 12:1-17
Revelation 12 gives a panoramic view of the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ and its results. These seventeen verses span the entire gospel age, from the first to the second advents of our Savior. The vision opens with a statement of astonishment – And there appeared a great wonder in heaven. That is exactly what the incarnation is. The man child described in this chapter is the incarnate God. God the eternal Son assumed a real human soul and body and came into the world through the womb of a virgin. Divinity took humanity into permanent union with itself in the Person of Jesus Christ (1Ti 3:16). In order to redeem his elect and save them by his grace, the Son of God became one of them (Isa 7:14; Isa 9:6-7; Mat 1:18-25); Joh 1:14).
The incarnation of Christ is the great wonder John beheld (Rev 12:1-4)
In these first four verses, John describes three things which were revealed to him in vivid, symbolic language. The woman in this chapter symbolizes and represents the church (Isa 50:1; Isa 54:1; Hos 2:1; Eph 5:32). The church, which is the body, bride, and kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, is made up and consists of all God’s elect in every age, the people loved, redeemed, and saved by Christ (Eph 5:25-27), all true believers, past, present, and future. The church of the Old Testament and the church of the New Testament is one church. To the people of this world, God’s church seems to be insignificant and worthy of ridicule and scorn. But in the eyes of God, she is glorious. All the beauty, glory, and splendor of heaven is lavished upon her (Rev 12:1). She is clothed with the sun because she is exalted and glorious in God’s eyes above all the nations and people of the earth (Isa 43:3-4). The moon (is) under her feet because she has dominion as the bride of Christ, she is a royal priesthood, a generation of priests and kings (1Pe 2:9; Rev 1:6). She wears a crown of twelve stars because she is always victorious (Rom 8:37; 2Co 2:14). She is described as a woman with child, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered (Rev 12:2) because she must bring forth the Christ, God’s Messiah (Rom 9:25). NOTE: As Christ was brought forth into the world physically through his chosen, so he must be brought forth into the world spiritually by the faithful witness of his church (Mat 28:18-20). The man child is the promised seed of woman, the Lord Jesus Christ who came to save his people from their sins (Rev 12:5; Gen 3:15; Gal 4:4-5; Mat 1:21; Heb 10:5-10). This is indeed the great wonder of heaven. God himself came into the world as a man to redeem and save fallen men! The dragon is Satan, Lucifer, the fallen son of the morning, whose constant aim is the destruction of Christ (Rev 12:3-4). Satan’s seven crowned heads represent his usurped dominion over the sin cursed earth (Eph 2:2; Eph 6:12). The stars that fall from heaven are all the rebelling, reprobate angels, who followed Satan in his rebellion (Isa 14:12-16; Job 38:7; 2Pe 2:4; Jud 1:6). The ten horns symbolizes the old dragon’s destructive power.
The Lord Jesus Christ ascended to Heaven after he had finished his work upon the earth (Rev 12:5-6)
Though Satan tried to destroy him as soon as he was born into the world, the old serpent was foiled. Herod slew multitudes of infants, but not the man child (Mat 2:13-20). He was foiled again in the wilderness of temptation (Mat 4:1-11), foiled again in Gethsemane (Mat 26:47-56), and foiled again at Calvary (Joh 12:31-32; Rev 20:1-3). Calvary was not Satans defeat of Christ, but Christ’s conquest of Satan! At last, when his earthly work was done, King Jesus was snatched up to heaven, out of the reach of the dragon’s hands, to rule as King over all things (Joh 17:2; Php 2:5-11). Once Christ was caught up to heaven, forever out of Satans reach, the dragon turned upon the woman in a rage of anger because of her relationship to the man child. (More about this when we get to Rev 12:12-17). As the result of our Savior’s obedience, death, resurrection, and ascension as our Substitute, the serpent’s head was crushed. His power was broken. His usurped dominion over the nations of the world was overthrown.
Therefore John describes the defeat of Satan next (Rev 12:7-9)
John Gill suggests that Michael the archangel is Christ himself. The name Michael signifies one who is God. Without question, the work described in these verses is the work of Christ himself (Joh 12:31-32; Rev 20:1-3). Notice the reproachful names given to our adversary in Rev 12:9. Because he is furious with rage, he is called the great dragon. Because he is the deceiver of the whole world (2Co 4:6), he is called that old serpent, the one who deceived Eve in the garden (Gen 3:1-6). Because he ever accuses God’s saints and seeks to turn God against us and us against our God, he is called the devil and Satan, who as a roaring lion goes about seeking whom he may devour (1Pe 5:8). But the accuser who was cast out of heaven has also been cast out of his power over the nations. He who held the Gentile world in bondage, idolatry, and ignorance throughout the Old Testament era was cast out by Christ, so that he could no longer deceive the nations. Thus, by his death on the cross, the Son of God opened the way for the gospel to be preached to the whole world, so that he might gather in his elect from the four corners of the earth (Joh 12:32; Rom 11:25-26).
The salvation of God’s elect by Christ is Announced (Rev 12:10-11)
Salvation is never presented in the Scriptures as a possibility, an opportunity, or an offer. Salvation is declared to be a thing already accomplished by our God (Rom 8:29-30; 2Ti 1:9-10). God’s servants are men who come preaching salvation finished (Isa 40:1-2; Isa 52:7). When the Lord Jesus Christ, the incarnate God, left this world and ascended back into heaven, he had finished the work of salvation for his elect and said so. He brought in everlasting righteousness by his active obedience to God as our Representative (Joh 17:4). And he made an end of sin by his sacrificial, sin-atoning death as our Substitute (Dan. 12:24; Joh 19:30). Christ’s ascension and exaltation is a declaration of his finished work of redemption (Rom 8:34-39; Heb 10:10-14). And the fact that Christ is seated upon the throne of God, exalted as Head and Lord over all things, guarantees that all whom he came to save shall be saved. All God’s elect, all redeemed sinners overcome Satan and his accusations by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony. The blood of Christ, the Lamb of God, by which sin has been put away and salvation has been accomplished, is the message of the gospel (the word of testimony) by which faith is given to God’s elect (Rom 10:13-17; 1Co 1:21-24). And every believer will persevere in faith because he is preserved and kept by grace. They loved not their lives unto the death. All true believers continue in the faith all their days (Joh 10:27-28). They live in faith and die in faith (Heb 11:13).
Satans persecution of the church is described (Rev 12:11-17)
Though he is defeated, his rage has not diminished. He can do no harm to God’s cause or his people. Therefore, there is cause for all heaven to rejoice. But, like a mad dog in a cage or a roaring lion on a chain, Satans hatred of Christ is demonstrated in his growlings and roarings against his church and people. He knows he has but a short time. Therefore he persecuted the woman (Rev 12:13). But God protects her (Rev 12:14). Satan spews out floods of heresy to destroy God’s church. But it does no harm (Rev 12:15; 1Co 11:19; Mat 16:18). The reprobate of the earth swallow up the floods of heresy (Rev 12:16). And God, by the wise arrangement of providence, sees to it that all things done in the earth help the woman (his church), and never do any harm (Rev 12:16; Hos 2:18; Rom 8:28).
The remnant of the woman’s seed, the saints of God are described as those who keep the commandments of and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. They have the gospel. They believe the gospel. They cannot be turned away from the gospel. Though the dragon makes war with them, he cannot harm them, for Christ makes intercession for them (Luk 22:31-32).
Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible
there: Rev 12:3, Rev 11:19, Rev 15:1, 2Ch 32:31, Mar 13:25, Act 2:19
wonder: or, sign, Mat 12:38, Mat 24:30, Luk 21:11, Luk 21:25
a woman: Isa 49:14-23, Isa 54:5-7, Isa 60:1-4, Hos 2:19, Hos 2:20, Joh 3:29, 2Co 11:2, Eph 5:25-27, Eph 5:32
clothed: Rev 21:23, Psa 84:11, Isa 60:19, Isa 60:20, Isa 61:10, Mal 4:2, Rom 3:22, Rom 13:14, Gal 3:27
and the: Gal 6:14, Tit 2:11, Tit 2:12
crown: Rev 1:20, Rev 21:14, Isa 62:3, Zec 9:16
Reciprocal: Job 41:34 – he is Son 6:10 – clear Isa 66:7 – General Eze 20:40 – there shall Mic 5:3 – she Mat 2:7 – General Mat 10:1 – called Mat 19:28 – the twelve Luk 2:6 – the days Luk 6:13 – twelve Gal 4:19 – of Rev 1:16 – he had Rev 2:1 – holdeth
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
IN VERSES Rev 12:1; Rev 12:3 of chapter 12 we should substitute sign for wonder. Two signs appeared in heaven, but that which they signified transpired on earth. The woman we judge to be Israel. She is invested with sun, moon and twelve stars, symbols of authority, for it is through Israel that the Divine authority will at last be made effective on earth. Clearly then we view Israel ideally, according to that which is in the purpose of God, and therefore in a light which up to the present has only been realized in that small part of the nation that we speak of as the godly remnant, and even there only imperfectly. Out of that godly remnant the Man-child sprang.
The second sign was that of the great red dragon. The woman had the symbols of heavenly authority: he had not that, but he was invested with heads and horns and crowns-really diadems, the symbols of royal estate-which indicated the wielding of immense power in the earth. Here, then, we have Satan, but clothing himself in the pomp and greatness of the fourth great world-empire of Dan 7:1-28; that is, the Roman. There is, however, the further feature that his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven; an allusion, it would appear, to Isa 9:15. We have the prophet that speaketh lies in the latter part of Rev 13:1-18, and he seduces and draws after him a third part of the lesser luminaries, who should shed light on the earth, and in result they apostatize from the position in which originally they were set.
Who shall occupy the throne? Judging as the world does, there would seem to be only one answer. What more helpless than a man-child newly born? What more vigorous and powerful than a great red dragon? Yet ultimately it is the Child who is to rule all nations with a rod of iron. The devil is set to frustrate if possible the purpose of God; and hence through the dragon he was prepared to devour the Child as soon as born.
The sign appeared in heaven before the gaze of John, but historically the thing signified took place at Bethlehem soon after our Lord was born. Divine action frustrated the dragons design. The action is described here as, her Child was caught up unto God, and to His throne. The life of our Lord, His death and resurrection are passed over in silence. There may also be here an allusion to Mic 5:3, where Israel travails and brings forth Christ in a mystical sense-Christ at last recognized and acknowledged in the hearts of the remnant-only one could hardly speak of that being followed by the catching up to God and His throne, but rather by Christ seating Himself on His own throne of glory. The design of Satan as the devourer of the Man-Child is defeated.
This being so, the dragon turns his attention to the woman, and in this the sign carried us on to things yet to come at the extreme end of the times of the Gentiles. The true Israel of God will not be called upon to resist the dragon but to flee to a place of no human resources where she will be under Divine protection and care for the stated period. Elijah, we may remember, fled into the wilderness to a place ordained of God, and later to Zarephath, and in both places was miraculously fed, and the time of trial for him lasted three and a half years. Now the 1,260 days of our verse is exactly 3 years, according to Jewish reckoning. This same period appears again as a time, and times, and half a time, in verse Rev 12:14, and we have had it already in chapter 11, as 42 months as well as 1,260 days. It is doubtless the fateful latter half of Daniels 70th week (see Dan 9:27).
We have had signs in heaven; now in verse Rev 12:7 we have war in heaven. To some it may be a strange thought that the heavens, in part at least, have been polluted by the presence and action of Satan, but the first chapter of Job should have prepared us for this. Then again, Dan 10:10-21, gives us a glimpse of angelic powers in the heavens acting both for and against saints of God on earth. In that passage we have mentioned, Michael, one of the chief princes, spoken of elsewhere as the Archangel, and in Dan 12:1 he is spoken of as the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people. Here again, where the Israel of God are in question, Michael appears with his angels, and Satan and his angels are cast out of heaven to the earth. Their place in heaven is finally lost, as verse Rev 12:8 indicates.
Verse Rev 12:9 is very striking. The great dragon, though externally bearing marks which identify him with the Roman Empire, yet personally is Satan. This terrible spirit of evil, like so many human criminals, has several aliases: he is the devil, and also the old serpent of the Garden of Eden. He is also the deceiver of mankind, either directly or through his agents-in this book he is spoken of in this character seven times, the first occurrence being in this verse. In deception he is a practised hand. He deceives the whole world, and Mat 27:63 shows how effectively he did it with some of the most religious men the world has ever seen. He deceived them into regarding the One who was the truth as that deceiver.
In Luk 10:18, the Lord Jesus used the past tense, I beheld, in announcing prophetically this great event, yet future; just as Daniel said, I beheld till… the Ancient of days did sit, and other prophets spoke similarly, using the past tense in describing things to come. It is an event of far-reaching import as verse Rev 12:10 indicates. Heaven sees in it the presage of the complete establishment of the kingdom and power of Christ, and the complete overthrow of the adversary. Moreover it will bring to an end an evil work in which he delights at the present moment; that of accusing the saints before God, as also is illustrated in the first chapter of Job. His work in this is incessant-day and night. Those whom he accused heaven acknowledge as our brethren. There is no need for saints to accuse each other before God. This is done most efficiently and incessantly by Satan.
But here certain brethren are specially in view. They overcame him and his accusations, firstly by the blood of the Lamb. In a judicial sense nothing but that could meet the accusations, as we all know right well. But secondly, on practical lines they overcame by adhering to the word of their testimony, even unto death. Like their Master, only in a lesser sense, their death was not their defeat but their victory.
The heavens rejoice at the ejection of the devil, but his fall means woe to the earth and the sea; that is, as we understand it, to men generally whether in nations of comparative stability or in restless, unsettled communities. The devil will realize that since he could not maintain his footing in heaven, he will not be able to maintain it upon earth. His time is short and this stirs him up to great wrath, which, as he cannot vent it directly upon God, he will upon all that represents Him on earth. The godly remnant symbolized by the woman, become the special object of his persecuting hatred.
Let us not fail to notice, and put together, the four characters in which the devil appears in this chapter-verses Rev 12:4, Rev 12:9, Rev 12:10, Rev 12:13. As regards Christ, he was the devourer: as regards the world, the deceiver: as regards the brethren, the accuser: as regards saints in testimony on earth, the persecutor. Before he is dealt with in unsparing judgment his malign character is fully revealed.
His persecution of the woman is going to fail. That the woman had a place of refuge, prepared of God, was mentioned in verse Rev 12:6 : we now find that by means of an extraordinary sort she will be enabled to flee, as verse Rev 12:14 indicates. The effort of the devil to hinder her is frustrated by more ordinary means, according to verse Rev 12:16. It would appear from verse Rev 12:17 that while the majority of the God-fearing will be thus miraculously protected, there will be others who do not flee and so are specially a target for his animosity. They are marked by obedience, and they have the testimony of Jesus. They are called to a special place of testimony, whilst the mass are to flee, as indeed the Lord Himself had indicated in Mat 24:15-21.
Fuente: F. B. Hole’s Old and New Testaments Commentary
The War in Heaven
Rev 12:1-17 and Rev 13:1-18
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
It almost seems folly to try to speak on two chapters in Revelation, at one time. We realize we cannot do either one justice. Our purpose, however, is to present merely the mountain peaks of truth as we move along.
1. We have before us a great wonder in Heaven, John saw this wonder of a woman clothed with the sun, and upon her head a crown filled with stars. That the woman is Israel, there can be little, if any doubt. She travailed in childbirth; and, there appeared another wonder in Heaven,-a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, seven crowns upon his head. This dragon had a tail, which drew a third part of the stars of Heaven, that cast them to the earth. John beheld, and lo, the dragon stood before the woman to devour her child as soon as it was born. A man child was born, “Who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to His throne.”
The above closes the first vision of chapter twelve. The first thought might be, that the man child was Christ and the great wonder fits that perfectly. However, we are sure that the Holy Spirit was telling us of things to come, and the man child primarily represents the saints who will be one with Christ, ruling the nations. The rapture of the saints was forecast in the rapture of our Lord. We too, are going up to be forever with Him.
2. We have before us the woman fleeing into the wilderness. This, of course, is still Israel, or, the remnant of Israel. The time is the tribulation period. in the wilderness God had prepared a place, “That they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.” This period is the same in length, and we believe is parallel in time with the same number of days, and the forty-two months of Rev 11:2-3.
It is all sure to happen. Israel will flee into the wilderness. God will have a place prepared for her. Some prophetic students think that the place is Petra, the deserted city, with wonderful homes hued out in stone, which have now been empty for centuries.
3. We have before us the third stage in John’s vision. It is found in verses seven to nine, This phase of the vision describes war in Heaven: “Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in Heaven.” Thus, the great dragon, Satan, the old serpent, called the devil, which deceiveth the whole world, will be cast, with all of his angels, into the earth.
4. We have before us the fourth step in the vision. As soon as the air, the heaven above us, was rid of Satan, and his angels; John heard a loud voice saying in Heaven,-“Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ.” The one who had accused the brethren during the centuries, and accused them before God day and night, was now cast down.
We are glad for this little touch the Holy Spirit puts in. He relates: “And they (the saints who were accused) overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto the death.” In the heavens there was great joy, and all who dwelt in them gave acclamation and praise unto God as Satan was cast down.
On earth the scene was entirely different. To the inhabiters of the earth, the words were spoken: “Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the seal for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.”
The first act of the dragon, after he was cast unto the earth, was to persecute the woman which brought forth the man child. Then it was, however, that God gave unto the woman two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, The woman will remain there, hid away for a time, and times, and half a time. That means our same three years and a half.
The devil, however, did cast out of his mouth, water as a flood, after the woman. He evidently sent his armies after her to overtake and crush her. However. “The earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.”
When the dragon saw that Israel, the woman, was protected, as we believe by certain nations; then, he began to make war with the remnant of her seed who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. This remnant would include the one hundred and forty-four thousand sealed Jews whom God has reserved to give testimony for Him, upon the earth during the years of tribulation.
I. THE BEAST OUT OF THE SEA (Rev 13:1)
1. The beast but of the sea, must be the antichrist. He came out of the sea, because the sea stands for nations, peoples, tongues, and tribes.
A great many people imagine that the pictorial scenes of Revelation cannot be definitely understood. To the contrary, it seems to us, that the Holy Spirit has made them plain and simple, to those who know the Scriptures as a whole. They may be, and are, hidden to the minds of the unregenerate, but the saints who are taught of God they are, indeed, what the name of the book suggests-a revelation, and by no means a hiding or a covering. We, at this moment, are intently watching the world nations, awaiting the moment when the antichrist may appear.
This beast out of the sea has seven heads. That is, he stands for the perfection of human lordship. He is the acme of intelligence. The whole world will wonder after him.
The beast out of the sea has ten horns. Horns stand for nations, and kingdoms of the earth. Upon his horns he has ten crowns. This means that the antichrist will rule as king over the ten nations, which give him their allegiance.
We all well know the meaning of the ten toes of the great colossus or image, of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. We also know the meaning of the ten horns which are seen in the other visions, recorded in Daniel. This message in verse one, stands side by side with that one.
2. The beast out of the sea, bears the name of blasphemy upon his head. He is the False Prophet. He comes to blaspheme God and all of the saints of God. Verse six tells us, “And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, and His tabernacle, and them that dwell in Heaven.”
It would not be difficult for the antichrist to be popular among men while he, at the same time, blasphemed God and the saints. At this very moment the earth is filled with blasphemers. It is nothing, even in places dedicated to God, to hear everything vital to the deity of our Lord blasphemed. His virgin birth; His vicarious suffering; the just for the unjust; His literal resurrection; His ascension, and present high priestly work with the Father; His coming in the clouds to reign upon the earth, all are blasphemed.
II. THE ANTICHRIST EMPOWERED BY THE DEVIL (Rev 13:2)
1. The vision of the beast. Verse two tells us that he is like unto a leopard, his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion. The studies of Daniel’s prophesies make these beasts, and the nations they represent, plain and positive. Take for instance, Dan 7:4-6. In verse four, we have the lion; in verse five, the bear; in verse six, we have the leopard. The nations, in our chapter are given in reverse order. In Daniel the Holy Spirit is looking forward, and he sees the nations as they arise in order, the one after the other. The lion was the first world empire, known as the Babylonian. The bear was the second world empire,-the Medo-Persian. The leopard was the third world empire,-the Grecian.
When the antichrist comes, the three world empires are at represented in the new world confederacy. In Dan 7:7 a fourth beast is mentioned. This is the Roman Empire, It has ten horns. The three beasts are mentioned in verse two because the antichrist, himself, is the fourth beast, for that empire will be once more established among men.
Indeed, this is the dream of the present Roman dictator, Mussolini. His highest ambition is to re-establish the Roman Empire upon the earth. Perhaps, the antichrist will not rise in our day, although it seems to us it must be very soon. When he does come, the Roman Empire will come into power, with a world sweep. It will bear the marks of the former world empires of Nebuchadnezzar, Darius, Alexander the Great, and of the Caesars.
2. The vision of the beast empowered by the dragon. We know that the dragon is Satan, and the beast out of the sea is certainly, as we have said, the antichrist. It is to this antichrist that the dragon, Satan, gives his power, and his seat and great authority. You all will remember how Satan, of yore, showed unto Christ the kingdoms of this world, and the glories of them, and said, “All these things will I give thee, if Thou wilt fall down and worship me.” When this other one comes, the devil will make the same proposition to him, and he will accept.
Satan, himself, will rule to be sure, but he will gladly rule behind the scene. He will give his power to the antichrist upon the condition, of course, that the antichrist will be his vassal.
Think not that Satan has no power to give. The people who call him the old scratch, the old nick, and the like had better think again before they call him thus. Even Michael the archangel, durst not bring against the devil a railing accusation. The Bible calls Satan the god of this world. It describes the world as lying in the wicked one. It only takes a casual glance around one, to realize that the world is under the dragon. God has His people, but so has Satan; and Satan at this time has the majority.
III. THE RULE OF THE ANTICHRIST (Rev 13:3-4)
1. A temporary setback to his rule. Verse three says, “I saw one of his heads, as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed.” As we see it, one of the nations, held under the antichrist’s sway, will revolt. It will not be long, however, until the breech in his authority, is overcome and the wound is healed, as this revolting nation comes back under his dominion, a remarkable statement is made. Let us consider it.
2. A world-wide admiration. When the wound, which was very serious, because it was as it were unto death, was healed, then all the world wondered after the beast. The news of his power and glory, of the might of his dominion, was carried by twentieth century telegraphs, cables, and radio transmissions to the whole world; and the world wondered after the beast. It was on everybody’s tongue. It was the conversation in the great cities, the hamlets, and the plains. The world was saying, “What does this mean?” They were asking questions as to whether the millennium had come at last. They were thinking that perhaps a Utopia in the governments of men had arrived. On the world horizon, in the sight of all, a man had stepped forth who seemed to be supreme, in every walk of life. He stood head and shoulders, in intellect, in wisdom, and in skill, above all other men. He was as a giant among pigmies.
3. A world-wide worship,
(1) They worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast. In other words, the world knew that the antichrist was Satan-enabled. Therefore, casting off all allegiance to God and to His Cross, they bowed the knee as they worshipped the devil. This, of course, will be very much to the likening of that archenemy of God, who has always sought to exalt himself above God, and all that is worshipped.
(2) They worshipped the beast who reigned under the authority of Satan. There have been many men, during the ages, who have desired to be enthroned as deities. Even at this moment the emperor of Japan is the recipient of a worshipful mien, on the part of his people. The antichrist, however, will be universally worshipped. This will be easily possible. Germany almost worships Hitler, Italy almost worships Mussolini, and Russia almost worships Stalin. As they worship the beast the world will cry out in admiration, “Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him?”
IV. A PERIOD OF BLASPHEMIES AGAINST GOB (Rev 13:5-6)
1. A mouth speaking great things. This is the description of verse five. We have thought, and still think, that modernism is the preparation for the coming of the antichrist. If we turn to the book of Jude, the Lord describes certain men who will creep in among the saints in the last days, These men will turn the grace of God into lasciviousness, denying the only God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. These men will make hard speeches against God. They will be mockers of the things divine. Now we come to a statement, in verse sixteen, where these certain men are described as speaking great swelling words.
Thus, when the antichrist comes, a mouth will be given unto him speaking great things.
2. A mouth speaking blasphemies. As he speaks great things for himself, and for the devil, he will also speak great things in blasphemy against God. He will not only blaspheme God, but will blaspheme His name, and His tabernacle, and the saints of God. We remember, of old, how Satan said to Eve. “Hath God said?” And, “God doth know.” In this Satan impugned God. Impugned Him in his words, and in his acts.
We, with our own ears, have heard men on the streets, blaspheming God, and saying that God was to blame for all of the depression which had come to the world in recent years. It will not be difficult for Satan and his antichrist to place against God the charge of having engulfed the world in all of its difficulties and sorrows. He will tell the world that they have, at last, found the way out, and they can now shout, “Eureka.”
The saints also will fall heir to Satan’s blasphemy. Are not the Jews at this moment being condemned for everything adverse, for everything that is happening on the earth? Let us be sure that the church will also be blamed. Yea, it is now being blamed by many. They call the church a group of aristocrats, and monied people, who are against the prolaterial.
V. A PERIOD OF PERSECUTIONS AGAINST THE SAINTS (Rev 13:7-10)
1. A victorious onslaught. In verse seven we read, “And it was given unto him to make, war with the saints, and to overcome them.” The word saints here, may have a twofold significance.
(1) First of all it refers to the Jews who are His special people. Against these the antichrist will set himself with unrelenting vigor and antipathy. We grant that some, in Israel, will make a league with the antichrist, and will become his chief supporter. The Jews, as a whole, however, will be unwilling to relinquish their faith in God; and they are utterly repugnant to worshipping a man. The fact that they are running away from God, does not mean that they have rejected altogether the faith of their fathers. Jonah, in the ship, was running away, but Jonah said, I am a Jew, and I worship one God.
When Nebuchadnezzar’s image of gold was erected on the plain of Dura, there were three Hebrew children who would not worship the image; and there will be plenty of Jews who will neither worship the antichrist nor his image.
(2) The expression, “saints” refers also to a great multitude that shall be saved out of every kindred tongue and tribe. Against these the antichrist will also make war. And, as we will discover later, the blood of the martyrs will flow once more upon the earth.
2. A worshipful and idolizing world. Verse eight says, “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb, slain from the foundations of the world.” This verse also suggests two things.
(1) It suggests the universality of the worship of the antichrist. Think of the sweep of his power. All that dwell upon the earth shall worship him.
(2) It suggests a minority who will not worship him. These are those, who are children of God, saved no doubt after the rapture. They are elect of God, whose names are in God’s book; they include those Jews who are saved and sealed, during the Tribulation, or who are marked in God’s election unto salvation. These, thank God, will refuse to bow and to bend the knee to the antichrist.
Thank God there will be many who will “dare to be a Daniel,” and, “dare to stand alone.” The Lord, even in those dark days which are to come, will have many in all lands, in all nations, kindreds and tongues, who will not bow to the antichrist.
3. As verse eight closes, God gives a special cry: “If any man have an ear, let him hear.” Then God says, “He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity, he that killeth with the sword, must be killed with the sword.” The Lord is saying unto His martyrs, “Be faithful unto death, and remember that those who have imprisoned, and killed you, shall receive from Heaven a like judgment. This, says God, is “The patience, and the faith of the saints.”
VI. THE SECOND BEAST COMING UP OUT OF THE EARTH (Rev 11:11-14)
1. The second beast described. He comes up out of the earth. We take this to mean that he will come from among the Jewish people. If we are correct in our suggestion, we need not be surprised, for there are plenty of outstanding Jews, today, who would count it a privilege to be linked with the antichrist.
This second beast has two horns like a lamb. Jesus Christ is, of course, God’s Lamb. Here is some one who comes professing to be religious, and lamb-like, and yet he speaks like a dragon. He is energized by all of the power of the first beast before him, and he exercises a like power.
It is he who causes the earth, and them that dwell therein, to worship the first beast. As a religionist, he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from Heaven on the earth, in the sight of men. Once more we can easily see Satan’s power, because Satan can work miracles, and he does work them. He cannot work ail of the miracles that God works, for God is greater than he, by far; however, he can work miracles, sufficient to make the world wonder.
2. The result of the second beast’s activities. Verse fourteen tells us, “And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast.” In Second Thessalonians, chapter two, in connection with the divine description of the antichrist, are these words: “For this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.”
Verse nine says that the antichrist’s coming will be after the power, and the working of Satan with all power, and signs, and lying wonders; and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish.
Returning to our chapter, in Revelation, we find the same thing, the same lying wonders, and signs, and miracles. The result is the deception of the people that dwell on the earth. This false prophet, as we call him, says to them that dwell upon the earth, that they should make an image unto the beast. This leads us to our seventh consideration.
VII. THE MARK AND NUMBER OF THE BEAST (Rev 13:15-18)
1. In verse fifteen the great image of the beast is raised. By some means the false prophet puts life into the image, so that the image of the beast, “Should both speak and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.” How this is done we do not know, but that it will be done, literally done, we believe.
The erection of an image unto the beast will be but a natural procedure. Nebuchadnezzar raised his image of gold; and we have read of the image which Mussolini has erected in Rome. Here, however, is an image that, either by trickery or by act, shall speak. And from it rays or something will go forth that will kill those who approach it and who refuse to bow down.
2. In verse sixteen the false prophet causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their forehead. We need not wonder at this.
Years ago when the N.R.A. sign was being displayed by order of our government, we received a letter asking us if this was the mark of the beast. We replied that it certainly was not, but that it showed the possibility that such a mark might be given under commandatory powers. Other nations beside ours have done these things. There are myriads of men and women, too, who are carrying marks upon their bodies at this moment. None of these are the marks, however, of the antichrist.
3. Verse seventeen gives the objective of the mark of the beast. It reads thus: “And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” Our NRA sign also had to do with commercialism, that is, with buying and selling, but in a limited way. This mark will be world wide in its reach, and far more drastic in its demand.
4. Verse eighteen gives God’s call to His people. The verse reads thus: “Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred, threescore and six.” A great many have tried to find out what the number 666 means. It means the number of a man. It is repeated three times, because of the devilish trinity. The divine trinity is represented in, “Holy, holy, holy.” The devilish trinity is represented by 666 in behalf of Satan, the antichrist and the false prophet. Those in that day will probably see the number, just as it is, six-sixty-six, and they will know if they have wisdom, that antichrist has come. And those who know and believe, will be the more ready to resist obedience to the law’s demand, because of being forewarned by God.
Fuente: Neighbour’s Wells of Living Water
Rev 12:1. As an aid in identifying this woman we will learn that she is the one who lived through the 1260 years of the apostasy (verse 6). That was not true in any sense of Mary the mother of Jesus. Besides, Mary was a literal woman and we are studying in a book of symbols. We should also remember that the apostate church as opposed to the Lord’s institution is the outstanding subject of this book, and of course that of necessity is the church of Christ. Clothed with the sun symbolizes the light of divine truth with which the church has been entrusted (Eph 3:10; 1Ti 3:15). As the moon is a lesser light than the sun, so there are those in the church who are light bearers under the jurisdiction of the church. Crown of twelve stars evidently refers to the apostles. A crown indicates a position of rulership or judgeship. Accordingly we read of Jesus saying to his apostles, “Ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Mat 19:28).
Comments by Foy E. Wallace
Verse 1.
THE WOMAN WITH CHILD (Revelation 12 :l-2)
It is generally agreed that the woman was a symbol of the church. In the Old Testament Israel was repeatedly characterized as a woman, as in Jer 2:32. In the New Testament the church of Christ is presented in the figure of a pure woman, as in 1Co 11:1-34; 1Co 10:1-33; 1Co 9:1-27; 1Co 8:1-13; 1Co 7:1-40; 1Co 6:1-20; 1Co 5:1-13; 1Co 4:1-21; 1Co 3:1-23, Gal 4:26 and 2Jn 1:1.
1. There can be no more fitting description of the church in holy relation to Christ, the Head, than that of the pure woman. True to this figure the vision describes in glowing symbols the character and attributes of the woman, as symbols of the apostolic church.
In Revelation the word heaven was employed to denote governments and authorities. The Lord Himself so used the word in his own description of the destruction of Jerusalem in referring to “great signs in the heavens,” and “stars falling from heaven”- a symbolic reference to the casting down of the Jewish and Roman rulers and authorities. In Luk 10:18, Jesus said: “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.” In this language the Lord was forecasting Satan’s complete downfall from his place and power of dominion, which would come as swiftly as lightning, as the result of Christ’s victory over the hadean world by his death and resurrection.
The sign in heaven meant the heaven of exalted dominion and rule–the heaven of the political dominion of the whole world. The “great sign” seen in the realm of authorities and dominions referred to the symbolic attributes of splendor and grandeur which followed, in which the woman was adorned before the whole political world.
The sign in heaven–Rev 12:1 .
1. And there appeared a great wonder in heaven. The word wonder here meant a sign–a sign was seen in heaven. There are numerous uses of the word heaven in the scriptures. Among the Hebrews it was used chiefly in three senses. First, the aerial heavens where the winds blow and the rains form and the birds fly; second, the firmament where the stars as pendant jewels adorn the sky, and where all the constellations and planets are in orbit; third, the highest heaven, the third heaven, the residence of God and Christ, the dwelling of angels and mansions of the blessed. There are scriptures that use the word heaven in all of these senses.
2. A woman clothed with the sun. The sun is the great luminary that God created and placed in the heavens to preside over the day. The sun being obscured and ceasing to shine were symbols of calamity and darkness settling over nations. In the same way the shining of the sun was used as a similitude of the glory of God. When the Spirit in John, the seer, needed a figure to adequately set forth the glory of the church represented by the woman, he selected the flaming orb of the day–the woman, the church, was arrayed with the sun, the very glory of God.
3. And the moon under her feet. Standing with the moon under her feet was symbol of the exaltation of the church–an extended description of the glorious and exalted position of the church among and in the midst of all the creations, institutions, and governments of man. The symbol picture was most espeoially significant in the Roman world where this glory and exaltation would in succeeding events become visibly manifest to all the authorities of Caesar’s empire. Isaiah the prophet pictured the church (Rev 2:2) “on top of the mountains, exalted above the hills.” The vision of the woman standing with the moon under her feet was the same imagery of exaltation.
4. And upon her head a crown of twelve stars. The stars are the glory of all the luminaries which adorn the heavens. No part of the visible creation exhibits the supreme glory of God so illustriously as the starry firmament. The crown of stars was the diadem of highest glory on the head of the woman-the glorious church. In royalty it was the ornament of queens. Ahasuerus “loved Esther above all the women . . . so he set the royal crown upon her head.” (Est 2:17) The stars were used in scripture to designate all luminaries of heaven, except the sun and moon.
The twelve stars on the head of the woman is representative of totality, of completeness, of perfection. There were twelve tribes of Israel, representing the whole Old Testament church. There were twelve apostles for the New Testament church. The twelve stars in the diadem on the woman’s head were a complete symbol of the whole church as typified in the Old Testament and fulfilled in the New Testament.
Verses 1-17.
BOOK OF REVELATION
SECTION FOUR
THE APOCALYPSE OF THE VICTORIOUS CHURCH
(CHAPTERS TWELVE TO TWENTY-TWO– VERSE FIVE)
(THE SECOND SERIES OF SYMBOLS)
PREFATORY NOTE
The first series of symbols ended with the last verse of chapter eleven. The first verse of chapter twelve is the beginning of the second series of symbols. The visions of this section were a recapitulation of the events of the first series, beginning from the first again, but with a new set of symbols. They cover the same period, a repetition of the same imagery in the delineation of the same occurrences.
The reason for the two series is stated in the headings by which the purposes of the two series are indicated. In the first series, the symbols surrounded the Lamb, the Rider of the white horse–the conquering Christ–with the descriptive emphasis placed on activities of “the beast of the land,” representing the Palestinian persecutors. The second series of symbols surrounded the victory of the church–the conqueror’s Bride—over all the forces of persecution, in a set of symbols which placed the emphasis more fully on the activities of the Roman Emperor, who was represented as the beast of the sea, from whom the beast of the land derived authority to act. It was, therefore, said that the beast of the land worshiped, or “obeyed,” the beast of the sea–meaning that the Palestinian authorities could do nothing without the consent of the Roman Emperor.
The pattern of the Old Testament apocalypses are again recognized in the similarity existing between them and the visions of Revelation. A striking example is found in the dream visions of Joseph, and of Pharaoh in Genesis (Gen 37:5-11 Gen 41:18-32), and of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel (chapters 2 and 7). In the visional dreams of Joseph concerning himself and his brothers the symbols of the sun, moon and stars of the second dream represented the same things as the vision of the sheaves in the first dream. The same thing is true of the visions of the cattle and the ears of corn in Pharaoh’s dreams–the successive dreams were visional reenactments of the same events. In the same manner the four beasts of Daniel in chapter seven were symbolic repetitions of the four kingdoms of the colossal image dream of chapter two.
By the same process the first series of visions in Revelation, embracing chapters four to eleven, portrayed Jesus Christ, the prevailing Lamb of God, in multiple symbols of conquering all enemies of his church and avenging the martyred saints, defeating all the minions of Satan. All of the events in this set of symbols were envisioned from the throne in heaven, as introduced in chapter four, setting forth the sending of armies by the King of heaven to destroy the murderers of his prophets and apostles and saints, burning their city and bringing an end to their persecuting power. These visions surrounded, as previously set forth, the siege of Jerusalem, the demolition of the temple, the destruction of the city, the downfall of Judaism and the end of the Jewish theocratic state.
The unbelieving Jews were the instigators of the persecutions. Rome was only a collateral power to the unfolding scenes. Apostate Jerusalem, Judaism and the Jewish state were the objects of the apocalyptic portrayal. With the downfall of Judaism the greatest enemy of Christianity was removed from the path of the church, opening the door for the universal expansion of the gospel. The second series of visions, now ready for consideration, are retrospective–as they reveal the church in conflict with the diabolical powers of Rome, surviving all forces of persecution, and appearing at the close of the vision as the triumphant Bride of Christ, the church, after Babylon the Harlot had fallen in defeat. The victory of the church over these Jewish and Roman persecuting powers was set forth in the imagery of the new Jerusalem in contrast with the apostate Jerusalem. Pronouncing the same judgment on old Jerusalem, the prophet Isaiah exclaimed: “How is the faithful city become harlot! It was full of judgment: righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.” (Isa 1:21) And again, “Babylon the great” (Rev 11:8), “a holy city, turned unrighteous and filthy.”
In contrast the new Jerusalem, the church, as the Bride of Christ, was robed in habilaments of victory “as the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven”–after which divine judgment was pronounced upon the persecuting nations; and the tabernacle of God would be with men, signifying his dwelling place among his people in the new spiritual city rather than the evil persecutors of the old apostate city. All tears of persecution were to be wiped away. The sorrows attending the period of their persecutions would cease, and the church again would set out on its divine mission of making known the Spirit’s message to all men–the gospel invitation.
The twelfth chapter retrospectively begins with the portrayal of the church in conflict with the existing powers under the symbol of the woman and the dragon.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rev 12:1. And there appeared a great sign in heaven. The sign consists of three particulars, and the first of these is again divided into three parts, mention of which occupies the remainder of this verse, a woman arrayed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. The immense body of light constituting the sun is her garment. The moon, the second of the light-giving bodies of heaven, is under her feet, yet certainly not in token of subjection,an idea entirely out of keeping with the position immediately afterwards assigned to the twelve stars. Nor does it seem possible to behold in the moon a representation of the Law, or of the legal Israel, as the foundation of the Christian Church. The Church is founded not on the Law but on Christ (1Co 3:11). In order to ascertain the meaning we must take sun, moon, and stars together; and, when we do so, the idea appears to be that the woman is completely enveloped in light. This is not secured by the simple mention of the sun as her garment, for that only wraps her body round from the shoulders to the feet. The other bodies of light which shine in heaven are therefore called into requisition. By means of them she has light around, beneath, and above her. The stars are not set as jewels in her crown. They are her crown, a crown of victory. The woman is a conqueror, and twelve is the number of the Church. (For the whole description comp. Son 6:10; Rev 1:16; Rev 21:12; Rev 21:14.)
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
THE SEVEN PERSONAGES
INTRODUCTION: THE WOMAN AND THE DRAGON (Revelation 12)
The seven personages of this division as identified by Erdman, include the woman, the child, the dragon, the archangel, the remnant (of Israel), the ten-horned beast, and the two-horned beast or false prophet, the first four being found in this chapter. The woman represents Israel it is believed, and the man-child to whom she gave birth, the Messiah. The dragon is Satan, whose ten horns represent the 10 kingdoms of the Roman Empire when in that day they shall be federated under the beast of the next chapter. The seven heads are not so easily interpreted, though it may be thought that they stand for seven systems: commercial, industrial, social, military, educational, political, and ecclesiastical, which will contribute to the unity or federation just named. The rule of the man-child refers to the millennial reign of Christ, and his being caught up, to His ascension including in the thought the translation of the church to be with Him as the body of which He is the Head. The wilderness is the Gentile nations among which the faithful remnant of Israel will be preserved during the tribulation, 1,260 days. Rev 12:7-12 call for little comment as the event of which they speak synchronizes with the period of the Tribulation, and indeed accounts for it.
Satans enmity against Israel is revealed in Rev 12:15, the aid she receives from some of the Gentile nations, Rev 12:14, and his futile attempts at her destruction, chapters 15-16. When Satan sought to frustrate God in His plan for Israel in Egypt he cast out of his mouth water as a flood, i.e., the Egyptian army, but the earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the flood, and shall we say that the closing verses of chapter 12 point to an event not dissimilar from that of the Red Sea?
PROGRESSION: TRIBULATION PERIOD (Revelation 13)
The sea represents the Gentile nations, and the first Beast, the last form of Gentile dominion in the earth. In the first three verses we have the ten- kingdom empire, but in Rev 13:4-10 the emperor himself is designated, who is emphatically the beast. The three animals, leopard, bear, and lion, recall Daniel 7 as symbols of the empires which preceded the Roman and all of whose characteristics entered into the qualities of that empire, and will be reproduced in the final form of Gentile rule. The wounded head which was healed, the same authority refers to one of the ancient forms of government of the Empire, that of absolutism, which for a period ceased to exist and will be revived again at the end. But consistency demands that if the seven heads be taken to represent seven influential systems contributing to the federation of the empire under the beast, then the wounding of one head must be the temporary destruction of one of those systems, and its healing the restoration of it again to its former place. We regard this as the ecclesiastical system, and as pointing to the time when all religious influences will be suddenly swept away, while Satan has another system ready to be substituted for it, whose great high priest is the second beast now to be described.
The second beast (Rev 13:17-18) is the last ecclesiastical head of the federated empire as the first beast is the last civil head. Many regard the second beast otherwise known as the False Prophet (Rev 16:13), as the Antichrist, rather than the first beast, and probably this is true. For purposes of persecution he is permitted to exercise the power of the first or emperor beast. 666 is mans number in distinction from seven, which is Gods number, and the reference to it is designed to comfort the remnant in that awful day, when they may take heart in the thought that powerful as he is, yet he is a man only and not God.
PARENTHESIS: THE FIRST FRUITS AND THREE ANGELS (Rev 14:1-13)
The 144,000 on Matthew Zion are another picture of the saved remnant of Israel (see chap. 7). The mission of the first angel with the everlasting gospel is interpreted to mean that gospel which will be proclaimed at the end of the Tribulation immediately preceding the judgment of the nations (Mat 25:31). As Scofield says, It is neither the gospel of the kingdom nor the gospel of grace. Its burden is judgment, not salvation, and yet it is good news to Israel and others who, during the Tribulation have been saved (Psa 96:2-13; Isa 35:4-10; Luk 21:28; Rev 7:9-14).
The mission of the second angel will be seen in fulfillment in chapter 18, and that of the third in chapter 19.
CONSUMMATION: THE HARVEST AND THE VINTAGE (Rev 14:14-20)
The harvest (Rev 14:14-16) is thought to refer to the judgment on the Gentile nations, while the vine of the earth is applied in the same way to Israel. For the first compare Mat 25:31-46, and the second, Mat 24:29-51.
QUESTIONS
1. Name the seven Personages of this lesson.
2. Give in your own words an interpretation of the imagery of chapter 12.
3. Do the same with chapter 13.
4. Do the same with chapter 14.
5. What two views are given of the symbolism of the seven heads?
Fuente: James Gray’s Concise Bible Commentary
Observe here, 1. That by the woman we are to understand the Christian church in her militant state, called a woman, in regard of her weakness and dependency; as also in regard of her fruitfulness, she bringing forth many children unto God, which are borne upon her knees.
Observe, 2. This woman, the church, is said to appear in heaven,having her original from heaven, her conversation in heaven, her tendency towards heaven, and her dependency upon heaven.
Observe, 3. The woman described by her rare perfections, which are three; l. Clothed with the sun, that is adorned with those graces which Christ the Sun of righteousness has put upon her, and environed with the pure light of the gospel shining about her.
2. Having the moon under her feet, that is, the legal worship, according to some; the Christian church outshining now the Jewish state of imperfection, casting off and trampling under the yoke of the Mosaic dispensation.
Others by the moon understand the world, which is like the moon, full of spots, defiling and polluting, full of changes and alterations, the fashion of this world passeth away. 1Co 7:31. It is never long in one garb; and her having the moon under her feet implies the church’s being enabled by Christ to overcome and trample upon all the enjoyments and satisfactions of the world, and to despise all the affronts and insults of the world.
3. Upon her head a crown of twelve stars, that is, holding fast the pure doctrine of the gospel, first preached by the twelve apostles, and after them by succeeding ministers, which is as crown on the church’s head.
Where note, That the apostles and all faithful ministers with them, are styled stars. As stars they shine before men, by the light of life and doctrine. As star they shine with a borrowed light, derived from the Sun of righteousness.
Again, as stars are in continual motion for the good of the universe, so are the ministers of the gospel for the good of the church; as stars, they shine in their own orb, attending the proper duty of their place and station: and as stars shine brightest in the cold winter nights, so do they in the times of affliction and persecution.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
This woman apparently stands for the faithful remnant of God’s people in Israel. ( Mic 4:10-13 ; Mic 5:1-3 ) Since she represents the faithful, it is appropriate that faithful Christians be viewed as her seed. (verse 17) She is clothed in beauty with a crown on her head with twelve stars, which may well represent the faithful angels of the twelve tribes. Of course, the remnant had to be preserved so the promised seed could be born.
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
Rev 12:1-5. And there appeared a woman clothed with the sun It was a well-known custom, says Lowman, at the time of this prophecy, to represent the several virtues, and public societies, by the figure of a woman in some peculiar dress, many of which are to be seen in the Roman coins; in particular, Salus, the emblem of security and protection, is represented as a woman standing upon a globe, to represent the safety and security of the world under the emperors care. The consecration of the Roman emperors is expressed in their coins by a moon and stars, as in two of Faustina, to express a degree of glory superior to any on earth. Never was any image more expressive of honour and dignity than this in the vision: to stand in the midst of a glory made by the beams of the sun; and upon the moon, as above the low condition of this sublunary world; to wear a crown set with the stars of heaven, as jewels, is something more sublime than any thing whereby antiquity has represented their societies, their virtues, or their deities. Bishop Newton explains this, and the five following verses, as follows: St. John resumes his subject from the beginning, and represents the church (Rev 12:1-2) as a woman, and a mother bearing children unto Christ. She is clothed with the sun, invested with the rays of Jesus Christ, the Sun of righteousness; having the moon The Jewish new moons and festivals, as well as all sublunary things; under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars An emblem of her being under the light and guidance of the twelve apostles. And she, being with child, cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered St. Paul hath made use of the same metaphor, and applied it to his preaching and propagating of the gospel, in the midst of tribulation and persecution, Gal 4:19. But the words of St. John are much stronger, and more emphatically express the pangs and struggles which the church endured from the first publication of the gospel to the time of Constantine the Great, when she was in some measure eased of her pains, and brought forth a deliverer. At the same time, there appeared a great red dragon Which is the well-known sign or symbol of the devil and Satan, and of his agents and instruments. We find the kings and people of Egypt, who were the great persecutors of the primitive church of Israel, distinguished by this title in Psa 74:13; Isa 51:9; Eze 29:3; and with as much reason and propriety may the people and emperors of Rome, who were the great persecutors of the primitive church of Christ, be called by the same name, as they were actuated by the same principle. For that the Roman empire was here figured, the characters and attributes of the dragon plainly evince. He is a great red dragon; and purple or scarlet was the distinguishing colour of the Roman emperors, consuls, and generals; as it hath been since of the popes and cardinals. His seven heads, as the angel afterward (Rev 17:9-10) explains the vision, allude to the seven mountains upon which Rome was built, and to the seven forms of government which successively prevailed there. His ten horns typify the ten kingdoms into which the Roman empire was divided; and the seven crowns upon his heads denote, that at this time the imperial power was in Rome, the high city, seated on seven hills, which presides over the whole world, as Propertius describes it, book 3. His tail also (Rev 12:4) drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth That is, he subjected the third part of the princes and potentates of the earth; and the Roman empire, as we have seen before, is represented as the third part of the world. He stood before the woman, which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born And the Roman emperors and magistrates kept a jealous, watchful eye, over the Christians from the beginning. As Pharaoh laid snares for the male children of the Hebrews, and Herod for the infant Christ, the son of Mary; so did the Roman dragon for the mystic Christ, the son of the church, that he might destroy him even in his infancy. But notwithstanding the jealousy of the Romans, the gospel was widely diffused and propagated, and the church brought many children unto Christ; and, in time, such as were promoted to the empire. She brought forth a man-child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, Rev 12:5 It was predicted that Christ should rule over the nations, Psa 2:9; but Christ, who is himself invisible in the heavens, ruleth visibly in Christian magistrates, princes, and emperors. It was therefore promised before, to Christians in general, (Rev 2:26-27,) He that overcometh, and keepeth my words unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations, &c. But it should seem that Constantine was here particularly intended, for whose life the dragon Galerius laid many snares, but he providentially escaped them all; and notwithstanding all opposition, was caught up unto the throne of God Was not only secured by the divine protection, but was advanced to the imperial throne, called the throne of God; for, (Rom 13:1,) there is no power but of God, &c. He too ruled all nations with a rod of iron; for he had not only the Romans, who before had persecuted the church, under his dominion, but also subdued the Scythians, Sarmatians, and other barbarous nations, who had never before been subject to the Roman empire; and, as Spanheim informs us, there are still extant medals and coins of his with these inscriptions: The subduer of the barbarous nations; the conqueror of all nations; everywhere a conqueror; and the like. What is added, Rev 12:6, of the womans fleeing into the wilderness for a thousand two hundred and threescore days, is said by way of prolepsis or anticipation. For the war in heaven between Michael and the dragon, and other subsequent events, were prior, in order of time, to the flight of the woman into the wilderness; but before the prophet passes on to a new subject, he gives a general account of what happened to the woman afterward, and enters more into the particulars in their proper place.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Revelation Chapter 12
Chapter 12 gives us a brief but all-important summary of the whole course of events, viewed, not in their instruments on earth or the judgment of these, but the divine view of all the principles at work, the state of things as revealed of God. The first symbolical person, subject of the prophecy and result of all Gods ways in it, is a woman clothed with the sun, having a crown of twelve stars, and the moon under her feet. It is Israel, or Jerusalem as its centre as in the purpose of God (compare Isa 9:6 and Psa 87:6). She is clothed with supreme authority, invested with the glory of perfect administration in man, and all the original reflected glory of this under the old covenant, under her feet. She was travailing in childbirth, distressed, and in pain to be delivered: on the other hand Satans power in the form of the Roman Empire, complete in forms of power, seven heads, but incomplete in administrative supremacy-ten, not twelve horns. But Satan, as the open infidel enemy of God and Gods power in Christ, sought to devour the child as soon as born, who was to have the rule of the earth from God. But the child, Christ, and the assembly with Christ, is caught away to God and His throne – does not receive the power yet, but is placed in the very source of it from which it flows. It is not the rapture as regards joy; for it goes back to Christ Himself, but the placing Him and the assembly in and with Him, in the seat from which power flows for the establishment of the kingdom. There is no time for this: Christ and the assembly are all one. But the woman-the Jews, after this fly into the wilderness, where God has prepared a place for them, for the half-week.
The assembly, or heavenly saints, (as Christ, note,) go up to heaven to be out of the way. The Jews, or earthly ones, are protected by providential care upon earth. This gives the whole state of things, and those in view in this scene, and their respective places. She that is to have glory and hold power in the earth is cast out. The child that is to have power, in and from heaven, is previously taken up there. This makes the position very clear.
The historical course of events is now pursued, the child being supposed to be already caught up. There is war in heaven; and the devil and his angels are cast out, and have no more place there. This brings out yet more clearly the distinction of the heavenly saints and the Jewish remnant. The heavenly ones had overcome the accuser by the blood of the Lamb, and the word of their testimony; the womans seed have the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, that is, the Spirit of prophecy. What they have of God in the word is according to the Old Testament.
But, to follow up the latter part of the chapter, a loud voice proclaims in heaven that the kingdom of our God and the power of His Christ is come-the testimony still of the second Psalm; only as yet it was only proclaimed from heaven, where the power of the kingdom was already made good by the casting down of Satan. Satans anti-priestly power was over forever. King and prophet he might yet put on; but his heavenly place was past. The saints of the heavenlies had overcome him by that which made their conscience and their title to heaven good-the blood of the Lamb, and the word of their mouth, Gods sword by the Spirit-and gave up their lives to the death. The heavens and the dwellers there could now rejoice; but it was woe to the inhabiters of earth and sea; for the devil had come down, knowing he had but a little time left. I think Rev 12:11 implies that there are saints killed after the rapture, who yet belong to heaven. If there were such killed because of their faithfulness, were they not taken up, they would lose earth and heaven, though more devoted than those who had earth. We see them moreover in chapter 20 in the first resurrection. The souls under the altar also had to wait for others-their brethren who had to be killed, as they were; and we are to note here that those celebrated as happy are the slain ones, none others. Yet it is before the last three years and a half.
So that we have these three parties in view: the voice of those in heaven; (our) their brethren who had overcome; and those who would be in the three years and a half of Satans rage, which had not yet begun. Now, if the man-child in heaven be, as we have considered it, Christ and the raptured saints, the voice would be that of those already there, [14] and all self evident: the raptured saints associated with Him celebrate the casting down of the accuser and the deliverance of those who belonged to heaven, calling them our brethren -the brethren whose conflict with the accuser was over, as he was now cast down, but who had had to resist him as a heavenly potentate, an anti-priest, all which part is mystery for John-and those who now would be in trial, when he would act with rage on earth, as king and prophet. For the dragon, cast to the earth and unable to accuse in heaven or oppose saints having a heavenly calling (and the priesthood refers to such, not to union), persecutes the Jews, and seeks to destroy their testimony; but God gave, not power of resistance-the Lord must come to deliver-but power to flee and escape and find refuge where she was nourished the whole half-week out of the serpents reach. He seeks to pursue; wings he has none: but he uses a river, the movements of people under the influence of special motive and guidance, to overwhelm the woman. But the earth, this organized system in which men live, swallowed the waters up. This influence was in vain -was not met by an army, a counter-power, but was nullified. There was such a disposition or course of the earth as neutralized the effort wholly. So God ordered in His providence; and the dragon turned to persecute individually the faithful remnant of the seed-the Jews who held fast by the word.
Footnotes for Revelation Chapter 12
14: I do not continue to put the voice as Christs. The application to Him is too questionable.
Fuente: John Darby’s Synopsis of the New Testament
WOMAN throughout the Bible symbolizes Church. In this verse the sun represents the New Dispensation of entire sanctification, with which the Church is clothed during the Gospel Age; while the moon emblematizes Mosaic justification, and the twelve stars are the apostles.
3. Christ was born of a woman i.e., the Church amid the terrible menaces of Satan, who sent wicked Herod to destroy Him in His infancy. The seven heads and seven diadems emblematize the seven governments of Rome, the mighty empire of Satan; i.e., the kings, consuls, dictators, triumvirs, tribunes, emperors, and popes, who ruled the world two thousand years. The ten horns are the ten great political powers into which the Roman world was disintegrated when the barbarians dethroned the Csars.
4. His tail draws the third part of heaven and casts them upon the earth. This is evidently a prophetical retrospection, in which John sees the fall of Lucifer and the angels who followed his influence. Isa 14:12 :
How thou art fallen, O Lucifer, the son of the morning!
This was the first origin of sin, and one-third of the angels seemed to have followed in the sad apostasy. In this unfortunate defection all the fallen angels became devils, were cast out of heaven, and have since populated earth and hell. Of course, the angels were on probation, as we are, or they would not have fallen. Presumptively the probation in these heavenly worlds has already expired, as ours will at the end of time. Therefore, there is no longer a probability of apostasy in heaven. As Satan in his Unfallen state was one of the brightest and most intellectual of all created intelligences, and doubtless had been present, and perhaps performed some important offices in the creation of this world, therefore, when cast out of heaven, he immediately set his heart on the earth, determined to possess it, and thus augment the narrow dominions of hell. After the conquest of Eden, he was constantly on the lookout for Immanuel, his old enemy, who had led the embattled host and ejected him from heaven.
5. Here is a retrospection of the incarnation and the terrible persecution against the Messiah, which began under Herod in His infancy, hounded Him to the bloody cross, and has pursued His Church, with diabolical malignity, ever since; and rest assured, he will never let up till the millennial angel binds him and casts him into hell.
7. In this graphic description of the war in heaven, Dr. Clarke (as in Dan 12:1) identifies Michael with Christ. The Angel of the Covenant, so frequently mentioned in the Old Testament, is believed be the excarnate Christ.
10. We learn here that Satan, from his apostasy, has been the accuser of the brethren, as he wickedly and falsely maligned the innocent angels before the Almighty, thus filling heaven with confusion till he was cast out. So he has indefatigably pursued that course on earth. Martin Luther says he appeared before him in an embodied form, held up for his inspection the long, dark catalogue of his sins, and assured Luther that they were too great to ever be forgiven; but when he approached the devil and wrote beneath that long, black catalogue, The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin, Satan cowardly fled away. In Nehemiah we have the scene of Joshua, the high priest, standing before God in polluted apparel, and Satan standing at his right hand, relentlessly accusing him, and pretentiously vindicating the divine glory with wonderful assiduity, persistently berating the impudent presumption of Joshua to think the aggravated and persistent idolatry of Israel could be forgiven consistently with the purity and glory of the divine sovereignty. In the midst of Satans accusations, a bright angel sweeps down from heaven, strips Joshua of his soiled garments, which symbolized Israels sins, and invests him with a shining robe, white as snow. At this moment, the devil takes his flight.
Satan upsets more Christians in this way than any other; i.e., by holding up the dark columns of their flagrant sins for their contemplation. Though these sins have already been forgiven, if Satan can get you to look at them in the absence of the cross, he will first inject discouragement, then doubt, and finally throw his black wing over you, dragging you into apostasy and damnation. Oh, how Satan, by this stratagem, tilts over the sanctified! Introspection is good and helpful, if you will always see your old, dark depravity under the blood. But Satan will try to get you to look at the old rattlesnake den of diabolical passions and lust in the absence of the blood. If you let him play that stratagem on you, he will down you every time.
11. They conquered him through the blood of the Lamb, and through the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto death. Amid all the devices of Satan, you should constantly keep your eye on the blood. If you ever persistently introspect your own heart in the absence of Jesus and the blood you will be in imminent danger of getting into darkness and trouble. Satan will do his utmost to absorb all your attention in the contemplation of your sins, so you will have none for Jesus and the blood. Besides, he will magnify your little innocent infirmities which are not removed in sanctification, but remain till you are glorified, when the soul leaves the body. This glorification not only sweeps away all your infirmities, but confers on you angelic perfection, in which you live in heaven forever. Satans fond caprice is to magnify these infirmities into mountains of sin, and get yon to look at them instead of keeping your eye on Jesus and the blood. Remember, as this verse says, you conquer all of your sins by the blood and defeat the devil by your testimony. If you permit your testimony to flicker, the devil will get the advantage of you discourage, weaken, and ruin you. Your heart is for Jesus; you give it to Him and keep it in His possession by faith. Hence, your consecration and faith are for God; but your testimony is for the devil. In this way you get the victory, and keep him off of you. Did the angels in heaven need the blood of Jesus to conquer the devil? Heb 9:23 :
It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
Here is a contrast between the sacrifices of the Levitical law and that of Christ. We see in this Scripture that all heaven needed the purgation which Jesus brought in by His expiatory death. At that time the inhabitants of the heavenly worlds were on probation (which has doubtless since expired). The irregularity of Lucifers insurrection was felt and recognized throughout the celestial empire. Christ was the Michael who then led the embattled host to victory in the ejectment of Satan and all of his followers out of the celestial worlds. But this would not suffice. The Divine government must be perfectly vindicated and order completely restored.
Hence, then and there the foundation of the redemption scheme was laid, Christ having volunteered to take the trouble into hand, prosecute the war against sin and Satan to the bitter end, exterminate the malady, completely expurgating all worlds by His precious blood, thus in the finale restoring perfect order and eternal loyalty throughout the universe.
Eph 1:10 : In the economy of the fullness of the times to reveal all things in Christ, both the things which are in the heavens and the things which are on the earth were even in Him. Col 1:20 corroborates the above, which you see is in harmony with Heb 9:23. The word heaven in your Bible is heavens in the Greek, confirmatory of the universally received astronomy revealing innumerable worlds, which constitute the celestial empire. There is a sense in which Satans revolt infected these heavenly worlds. As to this world, the devil actually cut its head off in the capture of its king and queen. Spiritual life is the head of the man. Satan cut it off. Hence the great work of Christ is the restoration of this world and the confirmation of all worlds in their eternal, unshaken, unshakable, and perfect loyalty to the Divine administration. Therefore, the victory over Satan in his ejectment out of heaven and his final defeat on earth, ultimate and eternal banishment from Gods illuminated universe into the darkness of nonentity, infinitely beyond the ultimathule, where the combined illumination of one hundred and seventeen millions of glowing suns have never shot one cheering ray, is all from his first revolt in heaven to his final and immutable doom through the blood of the incarnate Son.
12. No wonder all heaven rejoiced when Satan and his followers were cast out; and we do not wonder that a dismal woe is pronounced on land and sea, because the devil and his innumerable demons have come down, if possible, to ruin every human being, dragging men and women indiscriminately into hell. Satan is in a great rage, burning with the enthusiasm of hell-fire to utilize every possible opportunity, because his time is short. He has already had this world by the throat six thousand years, sweeping them into hell by millions. But this period is very short, when contrasted with the never-ending eternity. While Satan is utterly dead spiritually, and destitute of spiritual light, yet he has a great and powerful intellect. To what extent he understands the Scriptures and fathoms the prophecies, we know not; but it is certain his mighty intellectual perspicacity has a wonderful diagnosis of the divine plans. He is fully assured that embargoes rest on his prerogative in the near future. Doubtless the fearful apostasy of the Churches, and the awful increase of wickedness in the world, especially in the last fifty years, result from Satans unprecedented activity and adroitness in the prosecution of every conceivable stratagem for the seduction of souls and the population of hell. The solution of this alarming phenomenon is evidently in the fact that he has prophetic inklings that the Lords kingdom is nigh, and his time is very short. Comparatively with eternity it has always been short; but now it is almost gone. No wonder the hosts of hell are all under double duty to get the caverns of damnation filled up before his impending arrest and final imprisonment.
14. Here we see the woman, the persecuted Church, fly before the bloody dragon into the wilderness, where she is kept time, times, and a half-time from the venomous serpent. You see from the phraseology that mysterious period i.e., time, times, and a half-time, which Daniel also gives (12:7) is synonymous with one thousand two hundred and three score days (Rev 12:6). So you see, from former expositions, it is the well-known prophetic period, 1260 years.
15-17. In these verses we have a prophetical description of what was verified when the Goths, Huns, and Vandals destroyed the Roman Empire, A.D. 476. After the conversion of Constantine, the empire became the upholder of Christianity. When the heathen armies invaded and destroyed imperial Rome, and with her fall ancient civilization passed away, the Christian Church was in imminent peril. These barbarian armies were the floods which Satan poured out of his month to carry away the Church. How did the earth help the woman? When those ruthless barbarians, triumphant in the Roman world, and enriched in the spoils of war, saw the beautiful sunny Southern Europe contrasted with the bleak wilds of their Northern haunts, they desisted from the excitements of conquest, settled down, and became peaceful and enterprising cultivators of the soil. Then the Church preached to them the gospel, and converted them to Christianity. This signal defeat so enraged the devil that he blew up the fires of persecution hotter than ever.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Rev 12:1. There appeared a great wonder in heaven; that is, in the church or kingdom of heaven below; for the church has long been called a woman, and a fruitful mother, the bride, and the Lambs wife; a lovely metaphor to designate her graces, her glory and beauty.
Rev 12:2. And she being with child cried out through pain, and was labouring to be delivered.
Rev 12:3. Behold, a great red dragon. Dr. Peter Allix, a learned biblical writer, has some valuable thoughts on this subject. The ancients allow,
he says, as St. Jerome acknowledges, that this chapter speaks of the fall of the Roman pagan empire; that the great dragon who had fallen from heaven, casting out of his month as it were a flood to destroy the church, signifies the heresies which the devil taught Arius and his followers, after that Constantine, [or rather Christ, and the holy seed] the man-child born of the woman, had been raised to the empire of the world, whose elevation threw down the dragon from the heaven where he was adored before that time. Indeed the fathers counted the first heresy to be that of Arius, which had several branches, as those of the Eudoxians, the Aetians, the Eunomians, &c., and which was condemned in the person of its author by the council of Nice, in 325.
The second heresy was that of Macedonius, bishop of Constantinople, condemned by the second general council in 381. The third was that of Nestorius, another bishop of Constantinople, who in a great measure revived the heresy of Paulus Samosatenus, bishop of Antioch, who lived in the middle of the third century. This heresy was condemned at Ephesus in 431. The fourth was that of Eutyches, abbot of a monastery in Constantinople, who asserted that the Word did not clothe itself with flesh, or assume human nature in the womb of the virgin; but that the Divinity, being turned into flesh, passed through the virgin, and was afterwards crucified, died, and was buried, and raised again on the third day. This the council of Chalcedon condemned in 451. Those ancient writers also teach, as we see from Theodoret, lib. 4. de hret. fabulius, that the end of the world was to be expected as very near. This Theodoret asserts in another place in the same book, speaking of the forementioned person. It must be owned that Mr. Mede was much in the right in his notion of heresies, which were indeed the flood that was cast out of the mouth of the dragon. The interpretation is solid; and Rupertus, abbot of Duitz in the diocese of Colen, above six hundred years ago, took the first hint of it from St. Jerome. And Mr. Whiston did well to follow Mede. These heresies all arose in the eastern church: the west was also much concerned therein. So the devil left the east to come and bring desolation and confusion into the west, by corrupting the other part of the posterity of the woman in giving rise to antichristianism, which began upon the division of the western empire into ten kingdoms. The fathers, misled by a foolish tradition of the apocryphal writers, were of opinion that antichrist should not reign longer than three years and a half, and that the end of the world should immediately succeed his fall. We justly blame their credulity.
Rev 12:5. She brought forth a man child. Probably Constantine the great, whose life the rivals of his throne made the greatest exertions to destroy. Constantine however could only be a figure of Christ, to whom the Father had given the rod of iron, that he might rule all nations. Psa 2:7-12. The Greek comprises the double idea of ruling, as well as that of chastening with his rod.
Rev 12:6. The woman fled into the wilderness, as is repeated in Rev 12:14. This was remarkably the case during the sore persecution of the church. The christians fled to deserts, and lived on insects, herbs, and wild fruits. They began to love solitude, and on the return of peace, their brethren favoured those confessors, and suffered them to live alone. Hence arose the monastic habits which afterwards prevailed. The east, and then the west, were filled with solitaries. The reformed were called Hugonots, from John Hugon, of Swisserland, who first opened his house for worship. Those of France fled in all directions from the dreadful persecutions raised against them, and many of the refugees found protection in England.
Rev 12:7-9. There was war in heaven, on the first revolt of fallen angels, as in the sacred text, and in Milton. And the great dragon, the old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world, was cast out. He is the prince; the other fallen angels are called dmons in the gospel. Any fall from great splendour is called a fall from heaven, as in the apostrophe to the monarch of Babylon. How art thou fallen from heaven, oh Lucifer, son of the morning. Isa 14:12. In this war Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The phrase refers to Christ, who shall come in his glory, and all his holy angels with him. Mat 25:31. This is repeated from Zec 14:5. Jehovah, my God shall come, and all the saints with thee. The etymon of the word Michael, is given by Coccejus, qui est, ut Deus, who is, as God, and it must be understood of Christ, as Lord of angels and of men.
Rev 12:10. I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, now is come salvation. This song gladdened all heaven, to see the accuser cast down. Every act of grace calls for a new song, for unceasing songs of praise. Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men.
Rev 12:11. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. By this it was that all their sins were washed away, sins of which the enemy had accused them before God, as he had impeached Job. They also overcame by the word of their testimony, the word of truth, the shield of faith, which repels all the fiery darts of the wicked one. They vanquished his falsehoods by dying for Christ, being supported by that perfect love which casts out all fear. Believers, weigh and study these three grand points. The conquering armour, the triple shield, which covered them will cover you.
Rev 12:13-14. When the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he renewed his persecutions of the woman under the ten kings, as he had done under the Roman dragon, the firstborn son of the great dragon; and he continued those floods of persecution for 1260 years.
Rev 12:15-17. The serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood. The flood of Arianism, as Dr. Allix states; but after that age, many critics considered this flood to be the irruption of the northern nations, which coincides with all the trouble on the remnant of her seed.
The late Robert Carr Brackenbury, esquire, of Raithby Hall, Lincolnshire, sent me his ingenious essay on this chapter, which illustrates the periphrasis of time, times and half a time, from the first edict of Constantine in the year 313, to the advanced state of the reformation in 1573, which was diffused far and wide, and when the northern states of Europe, with multitudes in the south, embraced the doctrines of the reformation, the whole of which period makes exactly the 1260 years. The earth helped the woman. As Constantine helped the woman against the wars of Maxentius in Italy, and next against Licinius in Greece, so providence has raised up a Maurice in Saxony to defend Luther, and a Henry the eighth to defend the reformation in England. God can turn the hearts of kings as the rivers of the south.
That celebrated code, the French Constitution, was drawn by that great statesman, the ABBE SIEYES; and though it contain not a word of God, or of providence, yet the earth again helped the woman; the reformed were admitted into the national assembly; they were allowed to rebuild their churches, and their ministers received small salaries from the state.
REFLECTIONS.
This chapter is a sort of episode in the history, to show the constant war which the church has had with the devil. The woman is the church, the bride of Christ. She is a wonder in heaven, to see all her weakness contend with the dragon, and fly sooner than yield. She is clothed with the sun, with Christ in his virtues, wisdom, and righteousness. Her crown is irradiated with twelve stars, the holy apostles, surpassing all gems in lustre. The moon which wanes, a figure of all sublunary things, is under her feet. Yes, and she will forsake crowns and riches, and relatives sooner than forsake her chaste espousal to the Lord. She is a fruitful mother, ever travailing in birth to bring forth converts to righteousness.
The devil has an inveterate malice against this woman. He inspired the bloody red dragon of the pagan emperors and powers to destroy the church, as he sought to destroy Moses, and the Lord, at their birth. Constantine also, whose way to the throne was forced through many impediments, was born and crowned. And from our Lords crucifixion to the conversion of Constantine was just two hundred and eighty years, the number of days during pregnancy, reckoning still a day for a year.
When the seven-headed beast with ten horns gradually gave his power to the two horned beast, then Satan influenced him to make war with the woman for twelve hundred and sixty days or years. So the woman has nearly always been kept in obscurity; for the dragons tail drew the third part of the stars or kings of the earth, the two other parts being pagans and mahomedans. The ministry of Michael, and of all good angels, is employed to counteract the ministry of evil angels. Hence the servants of God overcame the pagan world, and now overcome the beast by the blood of the Lamb, which saves them from sin; and by the testimony of truth, which the wicked cannot stand. Therefore the heavens rejoice, and ascribe their salvation to God.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Revelation 12. The Vision of the Woman, the Child, and the Dragon.This chapter has always presented difficulties to the student of Revelation. Two questions present themselves: (a) What is the connexion of this chapter with the previous part of the book? (b) What interpretation did the writer intend his readers to put upon the vision? The first question has been answered in many ways. Some scholars regard this passage as a fresh interlude, and think that it is unconnected with the main movement of the drama. It is often explained as a fragment of a Jewish Apocalypse which the writer determined to utilise, though he failed altogether to weave it into the thread of the argument. The most probable explanation is as follows. The theme of the second part of the Apocalypse is the struggle against Antichrist, and this chapter forms the introduction. Antichrist is first introduced almost incidentally in Rev 11:7 and the allusion in that passage is here developed and carried a stage further on. The second question is equally difficult to answer. There are three characters in this scenethe woman, the child, the dragon. There is no difficulty about the identification of the dragon. It undoubtedly represents Antichrist, but the other two characters are not so easy to explain. The child is generally understood to represent the Messiah, but the details of the story do not correspond with the facts of the life of Jesus. Jesus was not caught up unto God immediately after birth, and the description in Rev 12:5 of a man child who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron does not seem an appropriate description of His mission. It is difficult, therefore, to suppose that this chapter was written with full knowledge of the life of the actual Messiah. It is, however, when we come to ask what is meant by the woman that the problem becomes acute. We may dismiss at once the theory that identifies her with the Virgin Mary. There is not a single detail of the narrative which suits such an hypothesis. Nor can we suppose that the woman was intended to denote the Christian Church if the child is to be regarded as the Messiah. It was not the Christian Church that produced the Messiah: it was the Messiah who created the Christian Church. The only reasonable explanation is that the woman personifies the people of Israel. The best interpretation of the chapter is, therefore, that we have here a pre-Christian Apocalypse representing Israel in travail with the Messiah and that this Apocalypse has been inserted by the author of the book without any attempt to reconcile it with the facts of the life of the actual Messiah. Gunkel thinks that the basis of the story was a Babylonian myth. [No story of the birth of Marduk has been discovered; Gunkel postulates the existence of a myth of his birth on the lines of the myth of the birth of Apollo. Dieterich derived our passage from the Greek myth of the birth of Apollo; Bousset has called attention to the Egyptian myth of the birth of Horus. The parallels with our passage are too close to be accidental. Probably there was a widespread myth, of which the Greek and Egyptian forms are variants, describing how the god of light was successfully born in spite of the attempt of the dragon of darkness and chaos to prevent his birth. See Peake, The Person of Christ in the Revelation of John, in Mansfield College Essays.A. S. P.]
Rev 12:1. a woman: the people of Israel in the early part of the chapter, and later on probably the Christian community.the sun: the imagery used here is probably suggested by a passage in the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, Judah was bright as the moon and under his feet were twelve rays (Test. Naph. 5).twelve stars: probably an allusion to the twelve tribes.
Rev 12:2. child: the Messiah.
Rev 12:3. dragon: Antichrist; in Rev 12:9 he is identified with the old serpent who is called the Devil and Satan.seven heads and ten horns: the frequent occurrence of similar terms in the Book of Daniel makes it clear that the writer uses them to cover a reference to kings or kingdoms. What the original writer of this little Apocalypse intended by these words cannot be discovered, but our author obviously meant them to refer to Roman Emperors.
Rev 12:4. draweth the third part: for the metaphor cf. Dan 8:10.
Rev 12:5. child was caught up unto God: this cannot refer to any event in the life of Christ, unless it be to the Ascension, but must be an imaginary picture of the Messiahs experience drawn by a pre-Christian writer.
Rev 12:6. A prediction of Israels fate after the Messiahs departure. 1260 days: (Rev 11:2*) suggested by the 3 years of Dan.
Rev 12:7. The war in heaven described in the following verses has its analogy in the wars of the Olympian gods described by Homer and Virgil (cf. Eph 6:12*).Michael: the guardian angel of Israel (cf. Dan 10:13; Dan 10:21; Dan 12:1).
Rev 12:8. This verse seems to imply that the final fall of Satan from heaven (cf. Luk 10:18) did not take place till this conflict, but perhaps the words should not be unduly pressed.
Rev 12:10. The victory of Michael is followed by a paean of triumph.
Rev 12:11. The victory in heaven is followed by a victory of the martyrs upon earth.
Rev 12:12. a short time: afterwards defined as 3 years (Rev 12:14).
Rev 12:14. two wings of the great eagle: we must not attempt to turn poetry into prose and find some definite fact beneath this phrase. All that it denotes is that in some mysterious way the woman was enabled to escape.a time, times, etc.: i.e. 3 years (Dan 7:25*, Rev 11:2*).
Rev 12:15. cast out . . . water: the tangible facts covered by this phrase cannot be deciphered. Some have interpreted it of the Roman armies [at the siege of Jerusalem, 6670]; others of the persecutors; others of the influx of heretical opinions. If these words were in the early Apocalypse, they are probably meant to be indefinite.
Rev 12:16. the earth opened: here again it is useless to look for an answering fact [e.g. the escape of the Jerusalem Christians to Pella, or the death of a persecuting emperor.A. J. G.]. The phrase simply means that help would come from unexpected quarters. [There are streams in Asia Minor, e.g. the Lycus and the Chrysorrhous, which flow for a distance underground.A. J. G.]
Rev 12:17. the rest of her seed: the followers of the Messiah, especially those outside Palestine, e.g. in Asia Minor.[and he stood: possibly we should read, and I stood (AV), and connect with next chapter.A. J. G.]
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
A Woman Clothed with the Sun: Israel
A great sign now appears in heaven. We thus are looking at things from heaven’s viewpoint, and the vision goes back in time to connect the past with the future so that we may have a clearer view of connected events. The woman (v. 1) is manifestly Israel of whom the Man-child (Christ) is born. “Clothed with the sun” intimates God’s counsels as to her when in the Millennium she is clothed with the glory of “The Sun of Righteousness,” the blessed Christ of God (Mal 4:2). The moon under her feet refers to Israel as she has been in all her previous history, which is seen as the night in contrast to the day of the coming kingdom. Her proper character was to reflect the sun, as does the moon, however poorly she has done it. The crown of twelve stars on her head symbolizes the twelve tribes, all intact in the day to come. Heaven recalls her as travailing before the birth of Christ. This may refer to the pain of Israel’s bondage under Roman rule at that time.
Another Sign-The Great Red Dragon
Then another sign appears in heaven (v. 3): this too is plainly a vision, not literal. The great red dragon is Satan in his intimidating character, but the seven heads and ten horns are the same as on the beast in Rev 13:1, though here the crowns are on the seven heads, while there they are on the ten horns. The sign depicts the Roman empire as energized by Satanic power, the crowns on its heads intimating its glory and authority in past history. Crowns on the horns speak of the revived condition of that empire in the tribulation period when ten European kings (or authorities) will receive power “one hour” with the Beast (Rev 17:12). The European Economic Community seems a clear step in the direction of this revival of the Roman Empire.
Therefore, Rev 12:1-17 indicates Satanic power operating in the Roman Empire at the time of the birth of Christ. Satan’s casting to the earth the third part of the stars of heaven (v. 4) is the strong materialistic doctrine that reduces spiritual hopes to the level of earthly-mindedness. This affected the third part, the Western nations. Satan moved that empire in opposition to Christ: He was determined to destroy the Man-child. The empire (which Pilate represented) did not realize that it was the tool of Satan for the purpose of Christ’s destruction, but in all of this we see heaven’s discernment of the entire matter. This vicious enmity culminated in the crucifixion of Christ, though neither His crucifixion nor His resurrection are mentioned here, but rather the fact of God’s defeating the power of Satan by His setting this blessed Man on His own throne, for He will eventually rule all nations with a rod of iron (v. 5).
Then all the present dispensation of grace is passed over, from the ascension of Christ until after the Rapture, and verse 6 refers to the last 3 1/2 years of Daniel’s seventieth week when Satan’s enmity against Christ and against Israel will flame to its greatest height. The woman is given a place in the wilderness prepared by God for her, and there nourished for the 1260 days of the Great Tribulation. This will be true for large numbers of Israel, for the Lord warns the Jews that when they see “the abomination of desolation” standing in the holy place, that is, the idolatrous image set up there at the beginning of the Great Tribulation, they should flee to the mountains (Mat 24:15-16). We know that some will remain and suffer greatly in the city, as we have seen in the case of the two witnesses (Rev 11:3-12), but the bulk of the godly Jews will flee for their lives.
War in Heaven: Satan Thrown Down to Earth
Dan 10:12-13; Dan 10:20-21 bears witness that conflict is taking place continually between God’s angels and Satan’s host, and that Satan has certain evil spirits delegated to influence certain nations. Satan has for centuries been allowed in heaven to accuse the brethren before God, whether they are Jewish or Gentile brethren. This is seen in Job 1:6-12. In the present dispensation of grace the Church is seen to have conflict in heavenly places because of satanic opposition (Eph 6:12). Satan is opposing every desire of believers to learn the truth of God and to obey it. We today are enabled to gain a present victory over Satan by having on the whole armor of God and by use of “the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God” (Eph 6:10-17).
But God has decreed that at the middle of the seven year Tribulation Period Michael and his angels will wage a decisive battle in heaven against Satan and his angels, and throw them down to earth (vv. 7-9). Michael is called “your (Israel’s) prince” (Dan 10:21): he has a special connection with Israel. Therefore, his fighting will be on behalf of Israel, though Israel will suffer all the more after this time. But God will use Satan’s enmity to drive Israel back to Himself through the sorrows of the Great Tribulation. Therefore, Satan’s presence on earth will result in Israel’s true blessing in the end. In verse 9 four designations of this arch-enemy of God are seen. He is called the dragon (the intimidator), that old serpent (the deceiver), the devil (the accuser) and Satan (the adversary). Yet all this infernal power is defeated by angels, though certainly by God’s direction.
Rejoicing in Heaven
Verses 10-12 show great rejoicing in heaven, yet it is still anticipative of the end of the Great Tribulation which only begins at this time. The fact of the dragon being cast down is the portent of the very near establishment of the King- dom of God and the authority of His Christ. Satan is said here to be “the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night.” He is persistent in his determination to put down the people of God. But after this he will no longer be able to practice his accusations before God: his activities will be confined to earth.
Verse 11 speaks of the brethren overcoming the devil by the blood of the Lamb, that which had fully cleansed away all their sins before God. This is the work of God done for them, in which they fully trust. When in a dream Satan accused Martin Luther of many past sins, he replied, “You might add many more to these, but write in red ink over the whole list, ‘The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin'” (l Joh 1:7). The brethren also overcome “by the word of their testimony: ” this is the response on their part to what God has done. They were not ashamed to witness their confidence in the living God and in His Word, in the face of satanic persecution in the world. These brethren are those who suffer in the seven years of the Tribulation Period, many of whom will be martyred.
In verse 12 those in heaven rejoice that Satan is banished from there, but woe is pronounced against the inhabitors of the land (Israel) and the sea (the nations), for the devil’s hateful animosity will rise to a frenzy of action because he knows his time is short. We may think that Satan’s attitude is unreasonable, but this is only to be expected where there is no true faith in God. It is reported that Hitler said that if he and his party had to go out (of power), they would slam the door so hard that all the world would hear it. Such is the foolish vanity of angels or people apart from God. Satan wants to do all the harm he can, but God is simply allowing this in perfect wisdom, for He uses the evil to teach people what is the end result of their choosing Satan’s authority rather than God’s. The culmination of Satan’s malice is the worst tribulation the world has ever seen. Yet behind all this is the stern wrath of God against the accumulated wickedness of both Jews and Gentiles, but God’s wrath is seen in the perfection of calm deliberation and in absolute righteousness.
The Dragon Persecuting: The Woman Preserved
The dragon then persecutes the woman (v. 13) who symbolizes the godly of Israel, of whom Christ had been born. In this persecution Satan will employ both Gentiles and apostate Jews who follow Antichrist. Antichrist at first will be friendly toward the godly Jews, but after using them as a stepping-stone to gain power and position in the nation, he will turn against them in cruel persecution (Psa 55:12-14; Psa 55:20-21).
The Lord will enable the woman to quickly escape to the wilderness. The wings of a great eagle (v. 14) speak both of this speed and of God’s protective care. She is sustained here for a time (one year), times (two years) and half a time (one half year) as indicated by the 1260 days of verse 6. There she is preserved from those who are Satan’s willing tools. However, we have before noticed that there will be those remaining in Jerusalem who will suffer greatly. The language of these sufferers is prophetically recorded in Psa 59:1-17.
The flood from the serpent’s mouth (v. 15) is evidently the whirlwind attack of the King of the North who will come as an overflowing flood (Dan 11:40-41), also called “the overflowing scourge” (Isa 28:15-18). The land opening her mouth to swallow up the flood indicates that the land of Israel will take the brunt of this attack, thus sparing the godly remnant whom God will preserve for millennial blessing, though some will be martyred and thus have a better destiny in heaven (Rev 20:4). This martyrdom may be indicated in verse 17, for Satan will do all he can to oppress and decimate Israel, but he can do no more than God allows. This remnant is said to keep the commandments of God in contrast to Antichrist and his followers who will reject even the Old Testament. The remnant has the testimony of Jesus Christ: their faith is steadfast in the true Messiah to whom they bear witness and suffer for it.
Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible
Revelation 12
On an examination of the predictions contained in the two or three succeeding chapters, which are those connected with the sounding of the seventh trumpet, it will be evident that they prefigure contests between the cause of Christ and the hostile influences to which it is exposed; the woman and the child representing the church, and the dragon her enemies. Some commentators consider these contests as the struggles of the early church against Jewish and pagan hostility; while others consider the dragon as the emblem of Popery, and of course they extend the period of this conflict down to much later times.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
(Rev 12:1; Rev 12:2) In accord with the vision of the temple and the ark, Israel at once comes before us under the figure of a woman clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet, and a crown of twelve stars upon her head. This vision is symbolic, not of the nation of Israel in its failure, as seen in history, but Israel according to the purpose of God, as seen by heaven. Thus, the woman is spoken of as a great wonder in heaven. It is heaven’s view of Israel. Being clothed with the sun would surely set forth the supremacy of Israel over the nations. The moon under her feet would imply that all other authority among the nations will be derived from, and subordinate to, Israel. The crown of twelve stars may speak of the administration of the twelve tribes.
(Vv. 3-5) There follows a view of Israel historically, as the nation from whom Christ came into the world, and the circumstances in which He came. The woman in travail with child would recall the sufferings the nation passed through before Christ was born. All had failed – people, priests, and kings – Israel had gone into captivity amid every circumstance of humiliation, suffering, and sorrow. A remnant had been restored, only to lapse into dead formality; and when at last the time had come for the birth of Christ there was only a sorrowing remnant, in the midst of a subject and downtrodden nation, who looked for redemption in Jerusalem. Amidst all these humiliations the cry at last goes forth, “To us a child is born.”
This great event at once brings to light the great enemy of Christ. If there was a godly remnant, anxiously looking for the coming of Christ and their redemption, there was also the great enemy awaiting His coming to seek His destruction. It is with this great enemy of Christ, and man, that the chapter is mainly occupied.
We are left in no doubt as to who the Dragon is. He is described in verse 9 as “that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan.” Thus, behind all the wickedness of man, which, in the days that precede the coming of Christ, will rise to its fearful height, we are permitted to see that Satan will be the prime mover. Wicked men will come before us, but they are the instruments of Satan who will be the instigator of their evil.
The dragon is seen in the vision as having seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns upon his heads. These are almost the identical terms used to describe the beast, or head of the Roman Empire, in Rev 13:1. The symbols thus present Satan as identified with the empire and seeking by means of its head to obtain universal power on earth. The seven heads suggest the idea of complete directing power, while the ten horns point to the instruments through which his power is exercised. The Roman Empire, we know, will be revived in a ten kingdom form (Rev 17:12). Here the crowns are on the heads; in Revelation 13 they are on the horns. If it is a question of the source of the royal authority of the empire, it is found in Satan; but, in the sight of men, the royal authority is seen in the ten kings; for this reason, it may be, the horns are crowned in Rev 13:1.
His tail that drew a third part of heaven, may be a symbolic allusion to the false prophet, or second beast of Revelation 13, even as the seven heads and ten horns point to the first beast. This we may gather from a striking passage in Isa 9:15, in which we read, “the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail.” We may thus learn that the tail represents the deadly spiritual influence that follows from authority falling into the devil’s power. If the influence of the first beast is to bring men into bondage to the tyranny of a devilish dictator, the influence of the second beast will end in separating men from all fear, or knowledge, of God.
The Man child is described as the One who is to rule all nations with a rod of iron. None can question that this language could only apply to Christ. At once we hear of the opposition of the devil who is exposed as the one who through the ages, from the day he appeared as the serpent in the Garden of Eden until he appears as the Dragon in Revelation, is in deadly opposition to the claims of Christ. He would fain usurp the power that belongs to Christ, and which Christ is destined to wield as the ruler of all nations. Aspiring to this universal authority, he sought, at the birth of Christ, to devour the child. The great contest that has marked the ages, and that has been behind all the conflicts of men, is, Who is to have universal sway on the earth; Christ or the Devil? The answer is never in doubt for a moment, though it may often look as if the devil is triumphant.
The life and death of the Lord Jesus are here passed over in silence, and we are told that the child was caught up to heaven. Here, the subject is not the righteous basis of the blessing for men which is found in the cross, but rather the covenant of God with Israel and His ways in bringing that covenant to pass.
(V. 6) At this point we pass from history to prophecy yet to be fulfilled. From the ascension of Christ to the glory we are carried in thought to the flight of the woman into the wilderness. There is no mention of the nineteen centuries that have intervened during which the church has been gathered out from the world. The number of days that are mentioned again point on to the last half week of Daniel’s seventy weeks. Here then we see the nation of Israel represented by a godly remnant that will flee into the wilderness during the three and a half years of the great tribulation. Their flight is immediately connected with the ascension of Christ, for all their sufferings will be owing to the absence of Christ, even as they will be ended by the appearing of Christ. The reign of the beast will, for this godly remnant, turn the world into a wilderness. They will find their refuge and blessing in taking a place outside and apart from the political and religious world of their day with its awful violence and corruption. To stand apart from the world system may indeed involve suffering, but it will secure spiritual blessing, for, in the outside place that God has prepared, this remnant will be nourished a thousand two hundred and threescore days, even as the Lord can say by the prophet Hosea, “I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness, and speak to her heart” (Hos 2:14 N. Tr.).
As in the day to come the blessing of the godly will be found outside of, and in separation from, the political and religious world, so in this day when all is heading up to apostasy and rebellion against God, the only true place of blessing for the believer is outside the camp gathered to Christ. This will indeed be a place of reproach, but will lead to rich spiritual blessing.
(Vv. 7-11) We are now permitted to look behind the scenes on earth to learn what will take place in heaven. It may seem remarkable that Satan has access to heaven, but that in some way it is so is evident from the Book of Job and other Old Testament scriptures. Further we learn that the time is coming when his power will be contested and overthrown in heaven; if in the highest place his power is broken, he knows that his time is short in the lower sphere on earth. In heaven, all through the ages, he has been the accuser of the brethren, but Christ has been their advocate. The sins of God’s people that call forth the devil’s accusations, bring into activity Christ’s advocacy. To all the devil’s accusations they have a perfect answer. They can own with sorrow and humiliation the truth of his accusations, but they plead the precious blood which cleanseth from all sin. Thus free in conscience by the blood they can maintain “the word of their testimony,” even unto death.
(V. 12) The heavens are called to rejoice that Satan is cast out, for in this event it is seen that God is about to intervene for the salvation of His earthly people and establish the kingdom of God under the mighty power of Christ. But if the casting out of Satan will bring joy to those who dwell in heaven, it will be woe to those who dwell on earth, for the devil, knowing that his time is short, will be filled with wrath.
(Vv. 13-17) The wrath of the devil will have its greatest expression against the nation of Israel. Against this terrible persecution, during the time of the great tribulation, the providence of God will open a way of escape for the godly. Their safety will be found in keeping themselves apart from the world, according to the Lord’s own words to His disciples, when, looking on to this time, He can say, “Let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains” (Mat 24:16-21).
The form of Satan’s persecution is symbolised by a flood of water from the mouth of the serpent, setting forth, probably, the nations in a fearful state of commotion seeking to sweep the Jews from the face of the earth, as it is said “that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.” “The earth helped the woman,” may set forth that, in the providential ways of God, there will be some mitigation of this ruthless persecution by the more ordered and civilised parts of the world. As ever, what stirs up the opposition of Satan will be that the remnant obey God and have the testimony of Jesus.
Fuente: Smith’s Writings on 24 Books of the Bible
12:1 And {1} there appeared a great wonder in heaven; {2} a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:
(1) Until now it has been the general prophecy, comprehended in two parts, as I showed in Rev 11:1-19 . Now will be declared the first part of this prophecy, in this and the next chapter and the latter part in the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth chapters. To the first part, which is about the conflicting or militant Church belong two things. The beginning and the progress of the same in conflicts and Christian combats. Of which two the beginning of the Church is described in this chapter, and the progress of it in the chapter following. The beginning of the Christian Church we define as the first moment of the conception of Christ, until the time in which this church was weaned and taken away from the breast or milk of her mother: which is the time when the Church of the Jews with their city and temple was overthrown by the judgment of God. So we have in this chapter the story of 69 years and upwards. There are three parts to this chapter. The first, is the history of the conception and pregnancy in Rev 12:1-4 . The second, a history of the birth from Rev 12:5-12 . The third is about the woman who gave birth, to the end of the chapter. These several parts each have their conflicts. Therefore in the first part are two verses: and another of the lying in wait of the dragon against the child about to be born, in the next two verses. In the first point are these things, the description of the mother Rev 12:1 and the pains of childbirth in Rev 12:2 all shown to John from heaven.
(2) A type of the true holy Church which was at that time in the Jewish nation. This Church (as is the state of the Catholic church) did in itself shine with glory given by God, immutable and unchangeable, and possessed the kingdom of heaven as the heir of it.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The dragon’s hostility toward the male child 12:1-6
This pericope furnishes the plot for the drama that unfolds in the rest of the chapter.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
John saw a "sign," something that signified or represented something else (cf. Rev 12:3; Rev 13:13-14; Rev 15:1; Rev 16:14; 19:29). Usually John used the Greek word semeion ("sign") to describe something miraculous that points to some deeper spiritual significance connected with an event or object (cf. Joh 2:11; Joh 2:18, et al.). He called this one a "great sign" (Gr. mega semeion).
"In this section [chs. 12-14] there is what might be called a Book of Signs [cf. John 2-12]. While no signs (semeia; . . .) appear in chapters 1 to 11, at least seven signs are mentioned in chapters 12 to 19 (cf. the seven signs in John 1-11). Three are in heaven (Rev 12:1; Rev 12:3; Rev 15:1); four on earth (Rev 13:13-14; Rev 16:14; Rev 19:20). Only one is a sign of good (Rev 12:1); the others are omens of evil or judgment from God. These signs explain and amplify previous material (e.g., the beast in Rev 11:7 is more fully described in ch. 13) and also advance the drama to its final acts. More specifically, chs. 12 to 14 contain seven further images though only two are directly identified as signs." [Note: Johnson, p. 510.]
This sign was "in heaven," not the sky but the heavenly scene John had been viewing in contrast with what he saw happening on earth. What this woman signifies puzzles interpreters. Some have felt that John was alluding to something that his original readers knew about, namely, the "mother of the gods" represented on Roman coins. [Note: See Tenney, p. 337; and Stauffer, pp. 151-52.] Others see her as standing for "the believing covenant-messianic community" including the church. [Note: E.g., Johnson, p. 514; Beale, p. 627; Swete, p. 148; Mounce, p. 237; and Ladd, p. 167.] Might this be a symbol of Mary, the mother of Jesus? [Note: Chilton, The Days . . ., pp. 298-99.] This seems unlikely since she will be the object of persecution during the Tribulation (Rev 12:13; cf. Rev 12:17). [Note: See Thomas, Revelation 8-22, pp. 117-19, for further discussion of the most popular views.]
In view of Old Testament imagery (cf. Isa 54:1-6; Jer 3:20; Eze 16:8-14; Hos 2:19-20) and the following reasons, the "woman" seems to symbolize the nation of Israel. [Note: Newell, pp. 170-71; Morris, p. 156.] She wears a crown (Gr. stephanos) with the sun, moon, and stars, as God pictured Israel in one of the nation’s early symbolic representations (Gen 37:9-11; cf. Isa 26:17-18; Isa 60:1-3; Isa 60:20). There are many figurative references to Israel as a travailing woman in the Old Testament (Isa 26:17-18; Isa 66:7-9; Jer 4:31; Jer 13:21; Mic 4:10; Mic 5:3). She eventually gave birth to Christ (Rev 12:5). In Gen 37:9-10, the sun corresponds to Jacob, the moon to Rachel, and the 12 stars to Israel’s 12 sons (cf. Rev 7:5-8; Rev 21:12).
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
CHAPTER IX.
THE FIRST GREAT ENEMY OF THE CHURCH.
Rev 12:1-17.
THE twelfth chapter of the Revelation of St John has been felt by every commentator to be one more than usually difficult to interpret, and that whether we look at it in relation to its special purpose, or to its position in the structure of the book. If we can satisfy ourselves as to the first of these two points, we shall be better able to form correct notions as to the second.
Turning then for a moment to chap. 13, we find it occupied with a description of two of the great enemies with which the Church has to contend. These are spoken of as “a beast” (Rev 13:1) and “another beast” (Rev 13:11), the latter being obviously the same as that described in Rev 19:20 as “the false prophet that wrought the signs” in the sight of the former. At the same time, it is evident that these two beasts are regarded as enemies of the Church in a sense peculiar to themselves, for the victorious Conqueror of chap. 19 makes war with them, and “they twain are cast into the lake of fire that burneth with brimstone.”* This fate next overtakes, in Rev 20:10, “the dragon, the old serpent, which is the devil, and Satan,” so that no doubt can rest upon the fact that to St. Johns view the great enemies of the Church are three in number. When, accordingly, we find two of them described in chap. 13, and chap. 12 occupied with the description of another, we are warranted in concluding that the main purpose of the chapter is to set before us a picture of this last. (* Rev 19:20)
Thus also we are led to understand the place of the chapter in the structure of the book. We have already seen that the seven Trumpets are occupied with judgments on the world. The seven Bowls, forming the next and highest series of judgments, are to be occupied with judgments on the degenerate members of the Church. It is a fitting thing, therefore, that we should be able to form a clear idea of the enemies by which these faithless disciples are subdued, and in resisting whom the steadfastness of the faithful remnant shall be proved. To describe them sooner was unnecessary. They are the friends, not the enemies, of the world. They are the enemies only of the Church. Hence the sudden transition made at the beginning of chap. 12. There is no chronological relation between it and the chapters which precede. The thoughts embodied in it refer only to what follows. The chapter is obviously divided into three parts, and the bearing of these parts upon one another will appear as we proceed.
“And a great sign was seen in heaven; a woman arrayed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: and she was with child; and she crieth out, travailing in birth, and in pain to be delivered. And there was seen another sign in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his heads seven diadems. And his tail draweth the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them into the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman that was about to be delivered, that when she was delivered he might devour her child. And she was delivered of a son, a man-child, who as a shepherd shall tend all the Rations with a scepter of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and unto His throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that there they may nourish her a thousand two hundred and threescore days (Rev 12:1-6).”
In the first chapter of the book of Genesis we read, “And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: He made the stars also.”1 Sun, and moon, and stars exhaust the Biblical notion of the heavenly bodies which give light upon the earth. They therefore, taken together, clothe this woman; and there is no need to search for any recondite meaning in the place which they severally occupy in her investiture. She is simply arrayed in light from head to foot. In other words, she is the perfect emblem of light in its brightness and purity. The use of the number twelve indeed suggests the thought of a bond of connection between this light and the Christian Church. The tribes of Israel, the type of Gods spiritual Israel, were in number twelve; our Lord chose to Himself twelve Apostles; the new Jerusalem has “twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel.”2 (1 Gen 1:16; 2 Rev 21:12)
But though the light is thus early connected with the thought of the Christian Church, and though the subsequent portion of the chapter confirms the connection, the woman is not yet to be regarded as, in the strictest sense, representative of that community or Body historically viewed. By-and-by she will be so. In the meantime a comparison of Rev 12:6 with Rev 12:14, where her fleeing into the wilderness and her nourishment in it for precisely the same period of time as in Rev 12:6 are again mentioned, together with what we have already seen to be a peculiarity of St. Johns mode of thought, forbids the supposition. The Apostle would not thus repeat himself. We are entitled therefore to infer that at the opening of the chapter he deals less with actual history than with the “pattern” of that history which had existed from all eternity in the mount. Hence also it would seem that the birth of the child, though undoubtedly referring to the birth of Jesus, is not the actual birth. It, too, is rather the eternal “pattern” of that event. Similar remarks apply to the dragon, who is not yet the historical Satan, and will only be so in the second paragraph, at Rev 12:9. The whole picture, in short, of these verses is one of the ideal which precedes the actual, and of which the actual is the counterpart and realization.
The resemblance, accordingly, borne by the first paragraph of this chapter (Rev 12:1-6) to the first paragraph of the fourth Gospel (Joh 1:1-5), is of the most striking kind. In neither is there any account of the actual birth of our Lord. In both (and we shall immediately see this still more fully brought out in the apocalyptic vision) we are introduced to Him at once, not as growing up to be the Light of the world, but as already grown up and as perfect light. In both we have the same light and the same darkness, and in both the same contrariety and struggle between the two. Nor does the comparison end here. We have also the same singular method of expressing the deliverance of the light from the enmity of the darkness. In Joh 1:5, correctly translated, we read “The light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness overcame it not,” the thought being rather negative than positive, rather that of preservation than of victory. In the Apocalypse we read, And her child was caught up unto God, and unto His throne, the idea being again that of preservation rather than of victory.
Such is the general conception of the first paragraph of this chapter. The individual expressions need not detain us long. The woman s raiment of light has been already spoken of. Passing therefore from that, it need occasion no surprise that He who is Himself the Giver of light should be represented as the Son of light. God “is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.”1 Jesus, as the Son of God, is thus also the Son of light. No doubt the conception is continued even after we behold the woman in her actual, not her ideal, state. Jesus is still her Son.2 Yet there is a true sense in which we may describe our Lord not only as the Foundation, but also as the Son, of the Church. He is “the First-born among many brethren,”3 the elder Brother in a common Fathers house. He is begotten by the power of the Holy Spirit4; and they that believe in His name are “born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”5 So close indeed in the teaching of St. John is the identification of Christ and His people, that whatever is said of Him may be said of them, and what is said of them may be said of Him. Human thought and language fail to do justice to a relation so profound and mysterious. But it is everywhere the teaching of the beloved disciple – in his Gospel, in his Epistles, in his Revelation although the Church may not fully understand it until she has lived herself more into it than she has done. Her “life” will then bring her “light.”6 (1 1Jn 1:5; 2Comp. Rev 12:17; 3 Rom 8:29; 4 Mat 1:20; 5 Joh 1:13; 6Comp. Joh 1:4)
The dragon of the passage is great and red: “great” because of the power which he possesses; “red,” the colour of blood, because of the ferocity with which he destroys men: “He was a murderer from the beginning;” “Cain was of the evil one, and slew his brother;” “And I saw the woman” (that is, the woman who rode upon the scarlet-coloured beast) “drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.”1 The dragon has further seven heads, – seven, the number of completeness, so that he possesses everything to enable him to execute his plans; and ten horns, the emblem at once of his strength and of his rule over all the kingdoms of the world. Upon the heads, too, are seven diadems, a word different from that which had been employed for the womans “crown” in the first verse of the chapter. Hers is a crown of victory; the diadems of the dragon are only marks of royalty, and may be worn, as they will be worn, in defeat. The dragons tail, again, like the tails of the locusts of the fifth Trumpet and of the horses of the sixth, is the instrument with which he destroys2; and the third part of the stars of heaven corresponds to “the third part” mentioned in each of the first four Trumpets. The figure of casting the stars into the earth is taken from the prophecy of Daniel, in which it is said of the “little horn” that “it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them.”3 (1 Joh 8:44; 1Jn 3:12; Rev 17:6; 2 Rev 9:10; Rev 9:19; 3 Dan 8:10)
The dragon next takes up his position before the woman which was about to be delivered, that when she was delivered he might devour her child; and the first historical circumstances to which the idea corresponds, and in which it is realized, may be found in the effort of Pharaoh to destroy the infant Moses. Pharaoh is indeed often compared in the Old Testament to a dragon: “Thou didst divide the sea by Thy strength: Thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters;” “Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself.”1 The power, and craft, and cruelty of the Egyptian king could hardly have been absent from the Seer s mind when he employed the figure of the text. But he was certainly not thinking of Pharaoh alone. He remembered also the plot of Herod to destroy the Child Jesus.2 Pharaoh and Herod men quailed before them; yet both were no more than instruments in the hands of God. Both worked out His “determinate counsel and foreknowledge.”3 (1 Psa 74:13; Eze 29:3; 2 Mat 2:16; 3 Act 2:23)
The child is born, and is described in language worthy of our notice. He is a son, a man-child; and the at first sight tautological information appears to hint at more than the mere sex of the child. He is already more than a child: he is a man. There is a similar emphasis in the words of our Lord when He said to His disciples in His last consolatory discourse, “A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but when she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for the joy that a man is born into the world.”* From the first the child is less a child than a man, strong, muscular, and vigorous, who as a shepherd shall tend all the nations with a scepter of iron. Strange that we should be invited to dwell on this ideal aspect of the Sons work rather than any other! No doubt the words are quoted from the second Psalm. This, however, only removes the difficulty a step further back. Why either there or here should the shepherd work of the Messiah be connected with an iron scepter rather than a peaceful crook? The explanation is not difficult. Both the Psalm and the Apocalypse are occupied mainly with the victory of Christ over His adversaries. His friends have already been secured in the possession of a complete salvation. It remains only that His foes shall be finally put down. Hence the “scepter of iron.” Strange also, it may be thought, that in this ideal picture we should find no “pattern” of the life of our Lord on earth, of His labors, or sufferings, or death; and that we should only be invited to behold Him in His incarnation and ascension into heaven I But again the explanation is not difficult Over against Satan stands, not a humbled merely, but a risen and glorified, Redeemer. The process by which He conquered it is unnecessary to dwell upon. Enough that we knew the fact. (* Joh 16:21)
The womans child being thus safe, the woman herself fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, and where she shall be nourished by heavenly sustenance. Thus Israel wandered forty years, fed with the manna that fell from heaven and the water that flowed from the smitten rock.1 Thus Elijah fled to the brook Cherith, and afterwards to the wilderness, where his wants were supplied in the one case by the ravens, m the other by an angel.2 And thus was our Lord upheld for forty days by the words that proceeded out of the mouth of God.3 This wilderness life of the Church, too, continues during the whole Christian era, during the whole period of witnessing.4 Always in the wilderness so long as her Lord is personally absent, she eats heavenly food and drinks living water. (1 1Co 10:3-4; 2 1Ki 17:6; 1Ki 19:5; 3 Mat 4:4; 4 Rev 11:3)
Such is the first scene of this chapter; and, glancing once more over it, it would seem as if its chief purpose were to present to us the two great opposing forces of light and darkness, of the Son and the dragon, considered in themselves.
The second scene follows: –
“And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels going forth to war with the dragon; and the dragon warred and his angels: and they prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast down, the old serpent, he that is called the devil, and Satan, the deceiver of the whole inhabited earth: he was cast down into the earth, and his angels were cast down with him. And I heard a great voice in heaven, saying, Now is come the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accuseth them before our God day and night And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony; and they loved not their life even unto death. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and ye that tabernacle in them. Woe for the earth and for the sea! because the devil is gone down unto you, having great wrath, knowing that he hath but a short season (Rev 12:7-12).”
If our conception of the first six verses of the chapter be correct, it will be evident that the idea often entertained, that the verses following them form a break in the narrative which is only resumed at Rev 12:13, is wrong. There is no break. The progress of the thought is continuous. The combatants have been set before us, and we have now the contest in which they are engaged. This consideration also helps us to understand the personality of Michael and the particular conflict in the Seers view.
For, as to the first of these two points, it is even in itself probable that the Leader of the hosts of light will be no other than the Captain of our salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. The dragon leads the hosts of darkness. The Son has been described as the opponent against whom the enmity of the dragon is especially directed. When the war begins, we have every reason to expect that as the one leader takes the command, so also will the other. There is much to confirm this conclusion. The name Michael leads to it, for that word signifies, “Who is like God?” and such a name is at least more appropriate to a Divine than to a created being. In the New Testament, too, we read of “Michael the archangel”1 – there seems to be only one, for we never read of archangels2 – and an archangel is again spoken of in circumstances that can hardly be associated with the thought of anyone but God: “The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God.”3 Above all, the prophecies of Daniel, in which the name Michael first occurs, may be said to decide the point. A person named Michael there appears on different occasions as the defender of the Church against her enemies,4 and once at least in a connection leading directly to the thought of our Lord Himself: “And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of Thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time Thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever.”5 These considerations justify the conclusion that the Michael now spoken of is the representative of Christ; and we have already seen, in examining the vision of the “strong angel” in chap. 10, that such a mode of speaking is in perfect harmony with the general method of St. John. (1 Jud 1:9; 2Brown, The Book of Revelation, p. 69; 3 1Th 4:16; 4 Dan 10:13; Dan 10:21; 5 Dan 12:1-3)
Light is thus thrown also upon the second point above mentioned: the particular conflict referred to in these verses. The statement that there was war in heaven, and that when the dragon was defeated he was cast down into the earth, might lead us to think of an earlier conflict between good and evil than any in which man has part: of that mentioned by St. Peter and St. Jude, when the former consoles the righteous by the thought that “God spared not angels when they sinned, but cast them down to hell, and committed them to pits of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment,”1 and when the latter warns sinners to remember that “angels which kept not their own principality, but left their proper habitation, He hath kept in everlasting bonds under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.”2 The circumstances, however, of the war, lead rather to the thought of a conflict in which the Son, incarnate and glorified, takes His part. For this “Son” is the opponent of the dragon introduced to us in the first paragraph of the chapter. “Heaven” is not so much a premundane or supramundane locality as the spiritual sphere within which believers dwell even during their earthly pilgrimage, when that pilgrimage is viewed upon its higher side. And the means by which the victory is gained – for the victors overcame by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony – distinctly indicate that the struggle referred to took place after the work of redemption had been completed, not before it was begun. (1 2Pe 2:4; 2 Jud 1:6)
Several other passages of the New Testament are in harmony with this supposition. Thus it was that when the seventy returned to our Lord with joy after their mission, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject unto us in Thy name,” He, beholding in this the pledge of His completed victory, exclaimed, “I beheld Satan fallen as lightning from heaven.”1 Thus it was that when charged with casting out demons by Beelzebub, the prince of the demons, our Lord pointed out to His accusers that His actions proved Him to be the Conqueror, and that the kingdom of God was come unto them: “When the strong man fully armed guardeth his own court, his goods are in peace: but when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him his whole armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils.”2 To the same effect are all those passages where our Lord or His Apostles speak, not of a partial, but of a complete, victory over Satan, so that for His people the great enemy of man is already judged, and overthrown, and bruised beneath their feet: “Now is a judgment of this world now shall the prince of this world be cast out;” “And when He” (the Advocate) “is come, He will convince the world of judgment, because the prince of this world hath been judged;” “Since then the children are sharers in flesh and blood, He also Himself in like manner partook of the same; that through death He might bring to nought him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and might deliver all them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage;” “Whatsoever is begotten of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith;” “We know that whosoever is begotten of God sinneth not; but He that was begotten of God keepeth him, and the evil one toucheth him not.”3 (1 Luk 10:17-18; 2 Luk 11:21-22; 3 Joh 13:31; Joh 16:11; Heb 2:14-15; 1Jn 5:4; 1Jn 5:18)
In passages such as these we have the same thought as that before us in this vision. Satan has been cast out of heaven; that is, in his warfare against the children of God he has been completely overthrown. Over their higher life, their life in a risen and glorified Redeemer, he has no power. They are forever escaped from his bondage, and are free. But he has been cast down into the earth, and his angels with him; that is, over the men of the world he still exerts his power, and they are led captive by him at his will. Hence, accordingly, the words of the great voice heard in heaven which occupy all the latter part of the vision, words which distinctly bring out the difference between the two aspects of Satan now adverted to, – (1) his impotence as regards the disciples of Jesus who are faithful unto death: Rejoice, O heavens, and ye that dwell in them; (2) his mastery over the ungodly: Woe for the earth and for the sea! for the devil is gone down unto you in great wrath, knowing that he hath but a short season. Although, therefore, the fall of the angels from their first estate may be remotely hinted at, the vision refers to the spiritual contest begun after the resurrection of Jesus; and we ask our readers only to pay particular regard to the double relation of Satan to mankind which is referred to in it: his subjection to the righteous and the subjection of the wicked to him. One phrase only may seem inconsistent with this view. In Rev 12:9 Satan is described as the deceiver of the whole inhabited earth, for that, and not “the whole world,” is the true rendering of the original.1 “The whole in habited earth” cannot be the same as “the earth.” The latter is simply the wicked; the former includes all men. But the words describe a characteristic of Satan in himself, and not what he actually effects. He is the deceiver of the whole inhabited earth. He lays his snares for all. He tempted Jesus Himself in the wilderness, and many a time thereafter during His labors and His sufferings. The vision gives no ground for the supposition that Gods children are not attacked by him. It assures us only that when the attack is made it is at the same instant foiled. There is a battle, but Christians advance to it as conquerors; before it begins victory is theirs.2 (1Comp. R.V. {margin}; 2Comp. 1Jn 5:4)
One other expression of these verses may be noted: the short season spoken of in Rev 12:12. This period of time is not to be looked at as if it were a brief special season at the close of the Christian age, when the wrath of Satan is aroused to a greater than ordinary degree because the last hour is about to strike. The great wrath with which he goes forth is that stirred in him by his defeat through the death, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord. It was roused in him when he was “cast into the earth,” and from that moment of defeat therefore the “short season” begins.
The third paragraph of the chapter follows: –
“And when the dragon saw that he was cast down into the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man-child. And there were given to the woman the two wings of the great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, unto her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. And the serpent cast out of his mouth after the woman water as a river, that he might cause her to be carried away by the stream. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the river which the dragon cast out of his mouth. And the dragon waxed wroth with the woman, and went away to make war with the rest of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and hold the testimony of Jesus; and he stood upon the sand of the sea (Rev 12:13-17, – Rev 13:1 a).”
We have already seen that the woman introduced to us in the first paragraph of this chapter is the embodiment and the bearer of light. She is there indeed set before us in her ideal aspect, in what she is in herself, rather than in her historical position. Now we meet her in actual history, or, in other words, she is the historical Church of God in the New Testament phase of her development. As such she has a mission to the world. She is “the sent” of Christ, as Christ was “the sent” of the Father.* In witnessing for Christ, she has to reveal to the children of men what Divine love is. But she has to do this in the midst of trouble. This world is not her rest; and she must bear the Saviours cross if she would afterwards wear His crown. (* Joh 20:21)
Persecuted, however, she is not forsaken. She had given her the two wings of the great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, unto her place – the place prepared of God for her protection. There can be little doubt as to the allusion. The “great eagle” is that of which God Himself spoke to Moses in the mount: ” Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles wings, and brought you unto Myself;”1 and that alluded to by Moses in the last song taught by him to the people: “As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: so the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him.”2 The same eagle was probably in view of David when he sang, “How excellent is Thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Thy wings;”3 while it was also that on the wings of which the members of the Church draw continually nearer God: ” They mount up with wings as eagles.”4 To the woman then there was given a “refuge from the storm,” a “covert from the heat,” of trial, that she might abide in it, nourished with her heavenly food, for a time, and times, and half a time. Of this period we have already spoken. It is the same as that of the three and a half years, the “forty-two months,” the “thousand two hundred and threescore days.” It is thus the whole period of the Churchs militant history upon earth. During all of it she is persecuted by Satan; during all of it she is preserved and nourished by the care of God. At first sight indeed it may seem as if this shelter in the wilderness were incompatible with the task of witnessing assigned to her. But it is one of the paradoxes of the position of the children of God in this present world that while they are above it they are yet in it; that while they are seated “in the heavenly places” they are exposed to the storms of earth; that while their life is hid with Christ in God they witness and war before the eyes of men. The persecution and the nourishment, the suffering and the glory, run parallel with each other. One other remark may be made. There is obviously an emphasis upon the word “two” prefixed to “wings.” Though founded upon the fact that the wings of the bird are two in number, a deeper meaning would seem to be intended; and that meaning is suggested by the fact that the witnesses of chap. 11 were also two. The protection extended corresponds exactly to the need for it. The “grace” of God is in all circumstances “sufficient” for His people.5 No temptation can assail them which He will not enable them to endure, or out of which He will not provide for them a way of escape.6 Therefore may they always take up the language of the Apostle and say, “Most gladly will I rather glory in my weaknesses, that the strength of Christ may spread a tabernacle over me. Wherefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christs sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.”7 (1 Exo 19:3-4; 2 Deu 32:11-12; 3 Psa 34:7; 4 Isa 40:31; 5 2Co 12:9; 6 1Co 10:13; 7 2Co 12:9-10)
The woman fled into the wilderness, but she not permitted to flee thither without a final effort of Satan to overwhelm her; and in the manner in which this effort is made we again recognize the language of the Old Testament There the assaults of the ungodly upon Israel are frequently compared to those floods of waters which, owing to the sudden risings of the streams, are in the East so common and so disastrous. Isaiah describes the enemy as coming in “like a flood.”1 Of the floods of the Euphrates and the destruction which they symbolized we have already spoken; and in hours of deliverance from trouble the Church has found the song of triumph most suit able to her condition in the words of the Psalmist, “If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us: then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us: then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul: then the proud waters had gone over our soul. Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth.”2 The main reference is, however, in all probability to the passage of Israel across the Red Sea, for then, says David, calling to mind that great deliverance in the history of his people, and finding in it the type of deliverances so often experienced by himself, “the sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. … In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God. … He sent from above, He took me, He drew me out of many waters.”3 (1 Isa 59:19; 2 Psa 124:2-6; 3 Psa 18:4-16)
The most remarkable point to be noticed here is, however, not the deliverance itself, but the method by which it is accomplished. To understand this, as well as the wrath of Satan immediately afterwards described, it is necessary to bear in mind that twofold element in the Church the existence of which is the key to sc many of the most intricate problems of the Apocalypse. The Church embraces both true and false members within her pale. She is the “vine” of our Lords last discourse to His disciples, some of the branches of which bear much fruit, while others are only fit to be cast into the fire and burned.”1 The thought of these latter members is in the mind of St. John when he tells us, in a manner so totally unexpected, that the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the river which the dragon cast out of his mouth. He is thinking of the nominal members of the Church, of the merely nominal Christianity which she has so often exhibited to the world. That Christianity the world loves. When the Churchs tone and life are lowered by her yielding to the influence of the things of time, then the world, “the earth,” is ready to hasten to her side. It offers her its friendship, courts alliance with her, praises her for the good order which she introduces, by arguments drawn from eternity, into the things of time, and swallows up the river which the dragon casts out of his mouth against her. When Christs disciples are of the world, the world loves its own.2 They are helping “the earth” to do its work. Why should the earth not recognize and welcome the assistance given it by foolish foes as well as friends? Therefore it helps the woman. (1 Joh 15:5-6; 2 Joh 15:19)
But side by side with this aspect of the Church which met the approbation of “the earth,” the dragon saw that she had another aspect of determined hostility to his claims; and he waxed wroth with her. She had within her not only degenerate but true members, not only worldly professors, but those who were one with her Divine and glorified Lord. These were the rest of her seed, which keep the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus. They were the “few names in Sardis which did not defile their garments,”l “the remnant according to the election of grace,”2 “the seed which the Lord hath blessed.”3 Such disciples of Jesus the dragon could not tolerate, and he went away to make war with them. Thus is the painful distinction still kept up which marks all the later part of the Apocalypse. The spectacle was one over which St. John had mourned as he beheld it in the Church of his own day: “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that not all are of us. Little children, it is the last hour.”4 It was a spectacle which he knew would be repeated so long as the Church of Christ was in contact with the world; and he notes it now. (1 Rev 3:4; 2 Rom 11:5; 3 Isa 61:9; 4 1Jn 2:18-19)
One other point ought to be noticed in connection with these verses. The helping of the woman by the earth seems to be the Scripture parallel to the difficult words of St. Paul when he says in writing to the Thessalonians, “And now ye know that which restraineth to the end that he may be revealed in his own season. For the mystery of lawlessness doth already work: only there is one that restraineth now, until he be taken out of the way.”* This “restraining” power, generally, and in all probability correctly, understood of the Roman State, is “the earth” of St. John helping the woman because it is helped by her. (* 2Th 2:6-7)
We have been introduced to the first great enemy of the Church of Christ. It remains only that he shall take up his position on the field. The next clause therefore which meets us, and which ought to be read, not as the first clause of chap. 13, but as the last of chap. 12, and in which the third person ought to be substituted for the first, describes him as doing so: And he stood upon the sand of the sea, upon the shore between the earth and the sea, where he could so command them both as to justify the “Woe” already uttered over both in the twelfth verse of the chapter. There we leave him for a time, only remarking that we are not to think of ocean lying before us in a calm, but of the restless and troubled sea, raised into huge waves by the storm-winds contending upon it for the mastery and dashing its waves upon the beach.