Bible Studies In The Word of God

Revelation 12:1-17

 

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 (37:5- 11; 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.

 

1. 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.”

 

2. 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.

 

3. The court which is without the temple--measure it not:

As the measured portion of the temple symbolized the true Israel, the court without, outside the measured part, signified unbelieving Israel. “The court without--leave out” --it was not to be measured for preservation. They were not the sealed servants of God--they were not included in the twelve times twelve thousand of the spiritual tribes. They were given unto the Gentiles, and along with the old temple and Jewish state they were destined for destruction. As unbelieving Israel they should be cut off (Rom_11:22). Paul said cut off; John said leave out. The whole symbol is that the measured portion was the preserved spiritual Israel, and the unmeasured part was the unbelieving fleshly Jewish nation “given to the Gentiles” to be destroyed by the Romans, which was done in the siege of Jerusalem, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the end of the Jewish world.

4. The holy city shall they tread under foot.

Jerusalem was the once holy city: but was no longer that. It was here called holy because of its past association with the covenanted and the sainted ancestors. “How is the faithful city become harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.” (Isa_1:21) “0 Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee . . . Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.” (Mat_23:37-38) By divine decree Jerusalem was to be desolated and “trodden down of the Gentiles.” (Luk_21:24) The judgment had already been passed, and John was commanded to leave Jerusalem out, and “measure it not,” as that which had been cast away.

5. A thousand two hundred and threescore days.

The mathematical calculation of this figure was twelve hundred and sixty days, the same period of time assigned for the flight of the woman into the wilderness. (Chapter 12:6) The interpretation of scriptural numerals in relation to days and months should not be made on the basis of the literal number unless an over-riding reason for the exact mathematical application exists. Such a reason does exist in this calculation of the forty and two months, or the twelve hundred and sixty days of Revelation, mentioned in 11:2-3, 12:6 and 13:5. From the imperial order and the beginning of the siege to its end and completion it was forty-two months, or a thousand two hundred and threescore days, or the oft-mentioned twelve hundred and sixty days--that was the exact period of time, as a matter of historical record, which covered the events of the siege and destruction of Jerusalem.

 

An example of such necessary mathematical application is in the prophecy of Isaiah concerning the end of the ten tribes, chapter 7:1-9. Because of the importance of this Isaiahan prophecy, and its bearing on the exact mathematical application of the forty-two months period of Revelation, the entire section of the Old Testament prophecy is here inserted:

 

“1. And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jothan, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it. 2. And it was told the house of David, saying, Syria is confederate with Ephraim. And his heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind. 3. Then said the Lord unto Isaiah, Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou, and Shearjashub thy son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller’s field; 4. And say unto him, Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither be fainthearted for the two tails of these smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and of the son of Remaliah. 5. Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have taken evil counsel against thee, saying, 6. 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: 7. Thus saith the Lord God, it shall not stand neither shall it come to pass. 8. 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. 9. And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah’s son. If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established.”

 

This prophecy of Isaiah was to the effect that the conspiracy against Judah could not be executed, and that in threescore and five years the ten tribes (Ephraim) would cease to be a people, and it is the history of it that in exactly sixty-five years, from the date of Isaiah’s prophecy, the ten tribes came to end--and that prophecy was literally fulfilled. And it was the history of it, in connection with the point of discussion, that it was exactly forty-two months (twelve hundred and sixty days, or a thousand two hundred and threescore days) from the imperial command to besiege and destroy Jerusalem to the accomplishment of the commission-- and this apocalypse was thus literally fulfilled also.

 

For the historical evidence, Vespasian received his commission from Nero, and declared war on Jerusalem February, A.D. 67. The siege ended with the fall of Jerusalem, the burning of the city and temple, in August, A.D. 70. This computation of dates yields the forty-two months for Jerusalem to be “trodden under foot” as in the vision of Rev_11:2. The historical authority for these dates is Lardner’s Jewish Testimonies, Vol. 8, and Josephus, in Wars Of The Jews, Vol. 7. The continuous historical theory of the dark ages period and to the end of time lacks historical evidence and factual support and must be rejected.

 

In chapter 13:5 the same exact number was used to designate the period of the beast’s authority, and for the two witnesses to testify, as mentioned in verse 3, here in chapter 11. It was the same period as the “times of the Gentiles” in Luk_21:24, and it meant the time of judgment on Jerusalem by the Romans--therefore, the city was trodden down until the times connected with these events were fulfilled; that is, the period in which the Gentiles were engaged in the treading down of Jerusalem was thus designated, and only that period was envisioned in the mathematical phrases of the forty and two months and the thousand two hundred and threescore days.

 

The period designated as “the times of the Gentiles” in the Lord’s discourse on Olivet, as recorded by Luke, (21:24) does not refer to the time of salvation for the Gentiles, but to the period for the infliction of judgment on Jerusalem which was accomplished by the Gentiles (the Romans). The preposition until connected with the phrase the times of the Gentiles carries no indication of anything after the times mentioned. In Gal_3:19 the apostle declared that the law was added until Christ should come-- and that was its point of termination. In Heb_10:9 the apostle further said that the Mosaic ordinances were imposed until the time of the new covenant--and there the old ordinances ended. So the declaration that Jerusalem was trodden down until the times of the Gentiles were fulfilled had reference to the siege and destruction of the city--that was the point of termination, and Jerusalem and all for which it had stood in the system of Judaism, theocratically and politically, according to all prophecies and apocalypses concerning it, came to its inglorious end.

 

The Testimony of the two witnesses.

The testimony of the two witnesses--11:3-14.
 

1. Power unto my two witnesses:

The statement I will give in reference to my two witnesses reveals that the speaker here is Christ, the angel of verse 1, the only One who could assume such rank and authority. The assurance I will give power is based on a promise of the Lord to the apostles in Mat_10:18-20, that when they should be arraigned “for testimony” they should “take no thought how or what” to speak; and as in Mar_13:11, “take no thought beforehand, neither do ye premeditate”; and as in Luk_12:12, “the Holy Spirit shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say.” This is the power here given to the witnesses.

 

The two witnesses are representative of the prophets and apostles whose testimony was “this gospel of the kingdom” which should be “preached in all the world for a witness” before the end should come-- Mat_24:14. The dual testimony is based on the requirement of the law in Deu_19:15 that “at the mouth of two witnesses shall the matter be established,” and repeated by Jesus in Joh_8:17, “it is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true”; the allusion to which is made also in Heb_10:28, “he that despised Moses’ law died . . . under two or three witnesses.”

 

These are the witnesses of Mat_23:31-37, of whom the Lord said: “Ye are the children of them which killed the prophets . . . behold I send unto you prophets . . . and some of them ye shall kill . . . crucify . . . scourge . . . and persecute . . . 0 Jerusalem . . . that killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent unto thee.” They are representative of those mentioned further by Stephen in Act_7:52, “which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted?’ By the prophets of the old dispensation and the apostles of the new covenant, the testimony, divine revelation, was completed and by “the two witnesses” thereby established.

 

2. Prophesy . . . clothed in sackcloth:

The word sackcloth was of Hebrew origin and was interfused into every language as a symbol of ill-fortune. It was the suit of mourning in death, the garb of humility and penitence under judgment, and the clothing of suffering in calamities and persecutions-as so mentioned in Job_16:15; Psa_30:11; Jer_4:8; Isa_29:2; and Zec_13:4.

 

The speaker in this vision told John that his two witnesses should prophesy clothed in sackcloth, as a sign of great affliction and as a token of the extreme suffering that their testimony should cause to come upon them, portraying retrospectively the altar scenes of chapter 6:9-11, and prospectively all of the tribulations yet to be unfolded, of which the two witnesses were representatives.

 

3. A thousand two hundred three-score:

The forty-two months equal twelve hundred sixty days, computed mathematically (42 x 30 ==1260), which is in the text declared to be "a thousand two hundred and three score days.” The reader is requested to turn back to the comments on verse 2 and compare again the parallel between Isa_7:1-25 : l-9 and the forty-two months of Revelation for an example of exact mathematical application.

 

It designated the period of time for the Gentiles to tread Jerusalem, the holy city, under foot, which was accomplished and fulfilled in the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans. It is also the appointed time for the two witnesses “clothed in sackcloth” to prophesy, in the appropriate garb of the prophets during the time of these woes. That is what the angel told John these representative witnesses should do, and it agrees with what the Lord also said should be done in the parallel passages previously cited in Mat_24:14; Mar_13:10; Luke 21:12-15-24. It is evident that the period of the treading down of Jerusalem was the time of the testimony of the witnesses also.

 

Revelation 12:4

The two olive trees and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth: Here the two witnesses are said to be two candlesticks and two olive trees. As already noted the number two stood for the established testimony of a complete revelation, being the number of witnesses required for testimony to be legally established.

 

The candlesticks signified light, the dispensing of light, which was its general significance always. The olive tree was then the source of the oil for the lamps, the light the two olive trees, standing in relation to two candlesticks, should dispense. Actually, our word candlestick is not exact, a sort of misnomer, since that light-dispenser held lamps only, supplied with the purest olive oil when used in the tabernacle or temple service of God. In chapters 1:20; 2:1 the candlestick was made an emblem of the church, which is not itself the light, but holds forth the light from Christ, who is Himself the light. The two witnesses were thus given an extended significance as representative of the prophets and the apostles, holding the lamp of light, burning the oil of the divine testimony of the two covenants, the Old and New Testaments. As Zerubbabel and Joshua in the same symbolism of Zec_4:1-14, were said to be “the two anointed ones, that stand before the Lord of the whole earth,” so were the two witnesses of this vision standing before the God of the earth as the representatives of the whole body of believers, the collective “witness of Jesus” and “the word of God” by “the testimony which they held.” (Chapter 2:9; 20:4)

Revelation 12:5-6

In verses 5-6 the two witnesses were set forth in this temple vision as both the light of the world and the protectors of the temple.

 

“If any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth . . . he must in this manner be killed.” No power would be able to prevail against the two witnesses until their work was done. “These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.”

 

The figurative phrase to shut heaven that it rain not signifies the restraining of the civil powers to prevent and destroy the work of the witnesses. The power of the witnesses over the waters to turn them to blood and to smite the earth with all plagues were figurative descriptions of the calamities that would follow the testimony of the witnesses to the ultimate destruction of their persecutors. The days of the prophesying of the two witnesses defined the same period as the days of the voice of the seventh angel. (Chapter 10:7) In one the mystery should be finished, in the other they finished their testimony. During this period no power could prevail over them. It was that interval in which the angel of chapter 7 gave command to “hurt not . . . till we have sealed the servants of God.” If any man willed to hurt them, initiated action against them, he must in this manner be killed--he would be destroyed in the manner that verse 5 describes, by the “fire” proceeding “out of their mouths” which “devoureth their enemies.” These were the symbols of divine judgment against the persecutors of witnesses and the opponents of their testimony (verse 7), and it followed the same figures of speech of the threatened judgments of Christ to the seven churches in chapters 2 and 3.

 

Revelation 12:7-8

In verses 7-8, when the two witnesses had “finished their testimony,” and the “days” of their prophesying were completed, the “beast” from abyss would “make war against them” and “overcome them” and “kill them.” This agrees with the description of the “end” after the “gospel of the kingdom” had been preached “in all the world for a witness unto all nations.”

 

1. Neither earthly nor hadean power could prevail against them until their testimony was finished, but when this was accomplished, the beast of the abyss would overcome them.

This introduces the beast which will be described in the following chapters, personified ‘in the persecuting emperor, or power, which though as yet had not appeared in the form of the beast, was symbolized in “the angel” of the abyss of chapter 9:11. The “king” leader of chapter 9:11 was “the angel of the bottomless pit,” and from that the bottomless pit this beast ascended also. He was the “Destroyer,” the persecutor, they were identical.

 

The beast should overcome and kill the two witnesses. He was where they were, and where they became representatives of the persecuted church, and the martyrs, described in the following chapters. The beast could have been no other than the Roman power, for even when the Jews by their own law demanded capital punishment, it was necessarily executed by Roman authority. The unbelieving Jews were themselves the instigators of these persecutions but the Roman emperor was the executing power, and was the beast which made war, overcame, and killed the witnesses-- the cause they represented. But it was for a time only, for the witnesses should rise up and live again.

 

2. “And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven”- - 12:8.

The almost universal belief that Satan originated in heaven with God and Christ, apostatized from his created angelic state, caused war among the sinless world of God’s own heaven, and because he could not be tolerated there, he was expelled to this mundane sphere to trouble and torment all humanity for all time-that is an inherited belief or notion completely out of harmony with the character of heaven. It is a great incongruity. Heaven, where God dwells, is the divine domain of light, where is no darkness, no evil, no apostasy. Hell is the diabolical realm of darkness, where there is no purity, no good, and where light cannot penetrate. The generally accepted view that Satan became a wicked angel in heaven where God dwells, and that he corrupted and recruited other angels for his revolution, puts apostasy in heaven and is incompatible with the nature of the angels of God in heaven.

 

If apostasy can befall the inhabitants of heaven, in consequence it would render insecure all who obtain that world, in that being subject to apostasy they, too, might be expelled. No sin, nothing evil, can enter or prevail in the abode of the pure and holy in the eternal mansions of God’s habitation.

The passage in Isa_14:12 was descriptive of the degeneration of the king: “How art thou fallen from heaven, 0 Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which did weaken the nations.” In his degeneracy this wicked king of ancient history, whose depravity weakened the nations, was cut down; he fell from his high place of dominion. The meaning of the heaven from which the Satanic dragon was cast is the same as the heaven from which fell Lucifer, the wicked Babylonian king.

 

When Jesus said to the disciples (Luk_10:18) that he “beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven,” he did not mean that with physical sight he had seen the devil as a physical object fall-it was rather the Lord’s forecast that he had foreseen Satan’s complete defeat and downfall from his throne of evil dominion. It was Satan’s own heaven or domain of rulership from which he would fall, and it would come soon and as swiftly as lightning--and it did.

 

When Peter mentioned (2Pe_2:4) the angels that sinned, and were cast down to hell, and delivered to chains of darkness, and reserved to judgment--it was undoubtedly in reference to the downfall of certain representatives of the human race in high estate, the era and details of which the apostle left unmentioned and therefore remains unrevealed.

 

It is more reasonable to theorize that Satan and his devils originated in this manner than to hypothesize that he inhabited and corrupted heaven, the abode of God.

 

Revelation 12:9
[See notes on 12:8 for discussion of the “fall” of Satan]

 

3. And the great dragon was cast out . . . which deceiveth the whole world . . . he was cast out into the earth-- 12:9.

The dragon and his evil agents “prevailed not” against Michael’s protection of the woman, which he accomplished by the diversion of the emperor’s diplomacy to employ his armies to quell the revolutions in many parts of the imperial world.

 

The context of this section was a diversion from the main scene due to the side effects of the involvement of the Roman rulers in the revolutions in their far-flung tributaries.

 

So the statement neither was their place found any more in heaven was a reference to the final outcome, and is not chronological, or in the order of sequence here. The dragon prevailed not--the cause of the woman (the church) which Michael represented triumphed, in the war with heathenism which the dragon represented, and he eventually “prevailed not” but lost his own place in heaven --that is, in the governments which had been used to persecute the church. And, he was cast down to the earth--that is, Satan was cast out of his sphere of influence through the government authorities against the church. He was cast down to the earth--the place of the inhabitants of the nations as distinguished from the children of the woman, the church. The woman had appeared in the same sphere with the dragon in the war in heaven, as antagonists and was represented by Michael against the dragon. In the final outcome of this struggle the dragon lost his place of power and influence--hence, cast down from his high position in which he had been able to deceive the world. Dethroned from his dominion he went in search of other prey, as mentioned in 1Pe_5:8 --"the devil as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.”

 

The dragon in the end was seen as having lost “the war in heaven” against the woman. Jesus anticipated this defeat of Satan in Joh_12:31 : “Now is the judgment of the world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.” This judgment was pronounced upon the dragon in the war against the woman. He lost his place of dominion, but continued to deceive the world, as declared by Paul in Eph_2:2 : “According to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.” The phrase “prince of the power of the air” denotes a sphere of influence only. Satan has no longer a dominion of power. He is only an influent being who exerts a deceptive influence, an infiltration insensibily affecting the mind and conscience --an inflow of evil.

 

In Revelation the term earth, as previously stated, designated the place of nations, distinguished from the realm of the church. And air refers to the sphere of life and influence.

 

Thus having lost his power of dominion, he is now prince of the power of the air--that is, having only an exercise of influence which only operates through “the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.”

 

Jesus Christ through the gospel destroyed Satan’s power --he holds no power of dominion over any one. He can operate only through the sphere of influence. The one who serves Satan is a willing servant “through the spirit of disobedience.” God has the power to destroy both soul and body of one who refuses to serve him (Mat_10:28), but Satan has no power over any one (Heb_2:14); if one does not choose to follow Satan, he can do nothing; he has no power to conscript, and no power to punish.

 

And the great dragon was cast out into the earth. Satan “prevailed not” against the woman, the church, and was “cast out into the earth,” the place of the nations, where he would again in a broader effort seek to deceive the whole world, as distinguished from the church.

 

And his angels were cast out with him. These Satanic angels included all of the combined forces of heathenism which he had employed against the church, and as “prince of the power of the air,” he continued to operate in the sphere of life and influence through the spirit of disobedience.

 

Revelation 12:10-17

(2) The victory of the woman--12:10-17.

 

It should be remembered that with the twelfth chapter there is the beginning of the recapitulation of all the events depicted in the first series of visions from chapter four to eleven. The first series of symbols surrounded Christ the conqueror; the second series encompassed the same events in a new set of symbols and surrounded the woman, the church in the midst of that period of trial. The verses now under consideration set forth the woman’s victory over the dragon and parallels the triumph of the Rider of the white horse of the sixth chapter who was the conquering Christ of the closing verses of chapter eleven.

 

1. And I heard a loud voice saying, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ--12:10.

This “loud voice” of victory reverted to the chorus of “great voices” in 11:15; and the exclamation “now is come salvation . . . and the kingdom of our God” was repetitive of the refrain of chapter 11:15, “the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ.” The meaning is that the kingdoms of the world became the kingdoms of the Lord by the conversion of its citizens. It was the anticipation of the world-wide expansion of Christianity through the gospel, after the destruction of Jerusalem, as forecast by the Lord in Mat_24:31 --and that is the meaning of the statement, “now is come salvation . . . and the kingdom of our God.”

The salvation here meant deliverance of the woman (the church) from the dragon; and strength referred to the source of endurance; and the power of his Christ referred to that authority higher than Rome’s emperor, that divine rod of iron by which the power of Satan, personified in the persecutor, had been broken and by which his diabolical character had been exposed.

 

2. For the accuser of our brethren is cast down--12:10.

In verse 9 it states that the dragon was cast out into the earth--the place of the nations, or the political society. This was not the positions of government authority included within the sphere of the phrase in heaven. In verse 10 the dragon (the persecutor) was called the accuser of our brethren. This referred to that part of the offspring of the woman who were not martyrs, but were like the seer of the apocalypse on Patmos: “I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ.” The emphasis put on the accuser of our brethren by the additional statement, which accused them before our God day and night, indicated the habitual character of the dragon-accuser, that the oppositions of the persecutor would be persistent and continuous.

 

Revelation 12:11

3. But they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto death--12:11. 

The victors here are not the same company as Michael and his hosts of verse 7. The dragon had lost that war and had been cast out of that sphere of conflict but continued his opposition to the brethren of those of whom Michael was defender and protector-- he extended his persecutions to the woman’s offspring, or the church beyond the region of Jerusalem and Judea. But as Michael and his hosts had prevailed against him in Judea so did the brethren elsewhere who became the objects of the dragon’s extended persecutions. And this verse commemorates by anticipations the victory which the saints had won on the ground or cause and by the means of the blood of the Lamb, the shed blood of Christ. The further reason for their victory was the word of their testimony-- because of the faithful testimony which they had borne in oral declarations. The high tribute in the praise that they loved not their lives unto death meant that these persecuted saints had disregarded their lives for the sake of their cause; in the willingness to join the martyrs they displayed the fidelity that brought them victory over their accuser and persecutor.
 

Revelation 12:12

4. Therefore, rejoice ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them--12:12.

The power of the persecutors broken, and the accuser of the brethren exposed, was here the cause for this rejoicing of the heavens--because it had been delivered from the evil spirit of the accuser. The heavens here meant that spiritual realm referred to in Eph_1:3 as the heavenly places. The phrase and ye that dwell in them meant that these heavens are the spiritual abode of every faithful soul. (Eph_2:6) It is that spiritual sphere of the church in which He dwells to lead and instruct his followers, and in which his power had kept them through their faith in Him and their fidelity to His cause. (Eph_3:17)

 

This benedictory is comparable to the prophet’s song of rejoicing for Israel in Isa_49:13 : “Sing 0 heavens; and be joyful 0 earth . . . ` for the Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted.” The Isaiah passage referred to Israel of the Old Testament in exile, and this Revelation text refers to the church of the New Testament in their period of persecution.

 

5. 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--12:12.

The persecutions which had been focused on one sphere of the dragon’s activity in the realm of governments against Jerusalem were not expanded to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea. The word earth here was used to denote the land of Palestine--as the reference to the beast of the land designated the Palestinian persecutor. The word sea indicated the regions of the empire beyond the land of Israel.

 

The dragon’s defeat in the first sphere of his war against the woman intensified the activities of his persecutions, and having great wrath he transferred his oppositions and expanded them to the earth and the sea--to all regions where the children of the woman, the objects of his wrath, could be found.

 

The statement because he knoweth that he hath but a short time was based on the fundamental principle pervading the apocalypse--“which things must shortly come to pass” (1:1); and “the time is at hand” (1:3). The binding of Satan, the dragon, and casting him into “the bottomless pit” were included in the things which in the first chapter of the Revelation the seer announced as at hand, and must shortly come to pass; which things in the last chapter he declared must shortly be done (22:6); and quickly to occur (22:7); and, once more, at hand (22:10). From the first chapter to the last the Revelation repeatedly emphasized the immediacy of the events, removing them from remote fulfillment. It forms a solid argument for the fulfillment of the symbols of Revelation in the experiences of the churches addressed.

 

The extension of the apocalypse to the medieval centuries, to the dark ages, to the present day, and to the end of time is the greatest anachronism in all history.

 

Revelation 12:13

6. He persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child--12:13.

Here the scenes narrated in verses four to nine were resumed. These descriptions repeated in different symbols the events of the first series which chapters four to eleven had envisioned.

 

In verses four to nine of this chapter the woman’s flight into the wilderness was related. Here in verses 13 and 14 the reason and manner of her flight were described. The reason was that under the guardianship of Michael and his hosts the dragon and his forces prevailed not in the “war in heaven”--in the high places of authority in governments-- against the woman’s seed. Being defeated it was said that neither was their place found any more in heaven--that is, in the sphere of previous activity against the church, in the realm of political authority and government. But Michael’s triumph and the dragon’s failure to destroy the woman’s seed did not prevent the further persecutions. Enraged at being thwarted in his plans to annihilate the church by the destruction of the man child in Jerusalem, where it was born, and which was caught up to God and to his throne, the dragon turns upon the woman and launched a general persecution against the whole church. It was at this point and for this reason that the woman fled into the wilderness (verse 6), the manner of the flight being described here in verse 13.

 

The “two wings of a great eagle” that were given to her was the same symbol of divine strength employed in the exodus of Israel from Egypt. In Exo_19:4 God said to Israel, “Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagle’s wings, and brought you unto myself.” The instinct of the eagle, when its young are ready to attempt flight, is to hover over the nest and flutter its wings to lead the young ones into the venture. In Deuteronomy_32:1-52 :1 l-12, in the Song of Moses, it is recorded that “as an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreacleth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: so the Lord alone did lead him (Israel), and there was no strange God with him.” In this same imagery, and doubtless in allusion to it, the seer of Revelation represents God’s hovering protection and imparted strength in the flight of the woman from besieged Jerusalem into the wilderness, as God did for Israel in the exodus from Egypt, to “a place prepared of God” (verse 6), or “into her place” (verse 14) --the same place.

 

As previously noted, the Lord foretold this flight in similar description of the tribulation of the siege and destruction of Jerusalem, “such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” According to this statement of the Lord there cannot ever be events of the future to fulfill these descriptions. It is evident that the context of Revelation is only an extension of the Lord’s predictions in Matthew twenty-four, and that the Revelation was received and recorded several years before the destruction of Jerusalem, the impending “present distress” of 1Co_7:26, which was so soon coming upon the church of the God. In the same Corinthian context the apostle said, “the time is short.” The darkest threatening cloud and the most frightening, horrifying portents hanging over the whole church, were the siege and destruction of Jerusalem and their attending tribulations.

Revelation 12:14

7. Where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent--12:14.

In this wilderness, or place prepared of God, where Jesus instructed the disciples who later formed the Jerusalem church to flee, the verse states concerning the woman that she was nourished for a time, times and a half time. This nourishment of the woman in “her place” compares with the manna by which Israel was fed in the wilderness, upon which event this description is based. In the Old Testament experience it was the result of the flight from Egypt of the church of Moses in the wilderness of Sinai; in the experience of Revelation it was the church of Christ in the flight from Jerusalem to her place in the wilderness of Pella --that place prepared of God, where she was nourished by providential protection. The numerical designation for a time, and times and half a time was equivalent to the forty and two months (of chapter 11:2), and the thousand two hundred and threescore days of chapters 11:3 and 12:6, and they were equal to the same thing. They all refer, as explained in the comments on their mention in the preceding verses, to the mathematically calculated period of twelve hundred and sixty days between Nero’s order to Vespasian in the declaration of war and the completion of the siege and destruction of Jerusalem which brought an end to the Jewish state and the system of Judaism.

 

The mystically phrased expression of time and times and half a time was related to the ebbing and flowing of the tide of the persecutions and was comparable to the reference in chapter 17:8 “the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.” The beast was when the persecutor was active; the beast was not when there was an interval of time between the persecutions; and the beast was seen as being reactivated in the last expression yet is. In a similar way the time and the times, of chapter twelve, referred to the period of the persecution in stages, and the expression half a time was the symbolic reference to the shortening of the period of tribulation as indicated in chapter 11:9 in the expression three days and a half, and as foretold by the Lord in Mat_24:22. It is consistent that the time and times and half a time shall be considered to mean the same shortened period as indicated in the expression three days and an half, in both of which the exact period from the commencement of the siege to the termination of it was certainly designated. (See comments on chapter 11:9)

 

It is said in verse 14 that the woman was nourished for this time from the face of the serpent (verse 14), in a place far from, and safe from, the scene of the siege and its accompanying trials, humiliations and horrors.

Revelation 12:15

8. 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--12:15.

The water as a flood from the mouth of the serpent was the symbol of an overwhelming tide of persecution, combining all of the Satanic forces of destruction at the command of the serpent. The psalmist David used the same imagery in Psa_18:4; Psa_18:16 : “The floods of ungodly men made me afraid . . . he drew me out of many waters.” In a poem of salvation Isaiah, the prophet, exclaimed: “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.” (Isa_59:19) The prophet Jeremiah foretold the destruction of Philistia with the same symbolic description as David and Isaiah: “Behold waters rise out of the north, and shall be an overflowing flood, and shall overflow the land and all that is therein: then the men shall cry and all the inhabitants of the land shall howl.” (Jer_47:2)

 

The most significant Old Testament use of the flood symbol is Daniel’s parallel prophecy on the destruction of Jerusalem, generally referred to as “the seventy weeks of Daniel.” (Dan_9:27) The mathematical computations bring the fulfillment of this prophecy from “the going forth” of the commandment to rebuild and restore the temple to the final destruction of Jerusalem--the whole period from the proclamation of Cyrus to the end of the Jewish commonwealth-- in the words of Daniel “the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.” (Dan_9:26) The dual phrases “the end thereof shall be with a flood” and “unto the end of the war desolations are determined“ referred to the flood of persecution and the end of the war terminating in the fall of Jerusalem and end of the Jewish state. Thus the prophecy of Daniel is identified and merged with the apocalypse of John on the siege with its overwhelming flood of persecution.

 

Such is the evident application of chapter 12, verse 15, of Revelation--“And the serpent cast out of his mouth as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.” The woman escaped this flood of the horrible onslaught of this war of the Romans against Jerusalem, declared by Nero, ordered by Vespasian and executed by Cestius Gallius and his general, Titus. These related events blend naturally and historically with the apocalypse, and they are not anachronistic.

Revelation 12:16

9. “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"--12:16.

The symbol of the earth in Revelation has been defined as the place of nations. That was its meaning here. The rebellions and uprisings and local wars which were occurring and increasing at this time, causing many conflicts among the subordinate kingdoms and nations of the empire, diverted the attention and action of Rome, and thus detracted Roman authorities from the persecutions. It had the effect of a diversionary strategy.

 

Here again the predictions of Jesus in Matthew twentyfour parallel the apocalypses of Revelation. Jesus said: “For nation shall rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.” This is exactly what occurred--and that is how the earth helped the woman and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. The leading thought is that divine providence overruled the transpiring events to protect and sustain and deliver the woman--his church--in the day of her persecution.
 

 

 

Revelation 12:17

10. 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--12:17.

Because his strategy to destroy the church within Jerusalem, by the woman’s flight and the help she received from the earth, the dragon’s wrath, mentioned in verse 12, was intensified in the persecution of the remnant of her seed--or as otherwise translated, the rest of her seed. By the phrases remnant, or rest of her seed was meant that part of the church which did not dwell in Jerusalem and Judea and was not of the martyred number.

 

The woman’s seed was composed of two classes--first, the man child, represented collectively as firstfruits, who were caught up unto God, symbolizing the martyrs; second, the remnant or rest of her children who were not martyrs, but remained on the earth to pass through the tribulation. The word man child is an aggregate term which could not have referred to a single person, anymore than the collective phrase rest of her seed could have had singular meaning.

 

The text will not yield to the view that the woman’s man child was Christ. There is no principle of exegesis which can represent the church as the mother of Christ. But there are numerous examples that represent both the nation of Israel in the Old Testament and the church in the New Testament collectively as composed of the same ones who are separately called the children, as a part of the whole. Hos_4:6 referred to Israel as a whole, and then mentioned them as “thy children.”

 

Isa_66:7-8 prophesied of the nation that brings forth children. Jer_31:15 had “Rachel (the nation of Israel) weeping for her children.” (Also Mat_2:18) Dan_12:1 made reference to Israel as a people, but as “thy children.” Mat_13:38 refers to the “children of the kingdom.” The kingdom is composed collectively of them all, as a whole, yet they were children of it. Gal_4:26 calls the spiritual Jerusalem “the mother of us all”--it is composed of us all collectively, but the mother of us all separately. Heb_12:23 refers to the general assembly and church of the first born. The word firstborn is in the plural number in the Greek text and means the firstborn ones. The general assembly and church are collective, but the firstborn are the children of it. So it is in Revelation with the woman--the church; and her seed, children composed of the two classes--the man child (martyrs) caught up unto God; and the rest of her seed, throughout the empire, against which the dragon “went to make war,” and who, with the plaudit of the seer, kept “the commandments of God” and had “the testimony of Jesus Christ.” The commandments mentioned here pertained to their fidelity in the tribulation; and the expression the testimony of Jesus Christ referred to the witness or testimony that He had borne to them concerning the outcome of the period of trial through which they were passing, as in chapter 3:20: “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation (trial) which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell in it.” The world referred to the Roman world, and them that dwell on the earth referred to Christians in every kingdom, nation or tributary, in every place or part of the empire.

(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 chapter 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.” (Chapters 6:10- 11; 14:4; 20:4) The woman’s 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. (Chapter 12:5)

Third, the remnant or rest of the woman’s seed were distinguished from the man child, as being that part of the woman’s seed who suffered the trials of the great tribulation but were not slain or beheaded as were the martyrs. (Chapters 6:9-11 and 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.