01.12. CHAPTER 12.
CHAPTER 12.
Revelation 12:1. “And there appeared a great wonder [or sign] in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown [victor’s crown] of twelve stars.”
There are various styles in which the Spirit of God has communicated the Divine mind to us in the sacred word, such as, plain statement, type, figurative language, parable, and emblem or symbol. Figurative language abounds in the Psalms and prophecies. In the Book of Revelation truth is made known by signs or symbols (Revelation 1:1), and these signs or symbols are interpreted in plain and simple language. The truth which is expressed in Isaiah 26:1-21 : in the figurative language of the prophecy is presented to us in emblematic form in Revelation 12:1-17 : When these two chapters are placed side by side, they mutually explain each other.
“A great wonder [or sign] in heaven.” The facts here presented are not looked at as if seen on earth, but as shown by the light of heaven.
“A woman clothed with the sun.” We have here an emblem of Israel under the new covenant. The figures representing Israel under the former covenant are Hagar the bondwoman, Sinai in Arabia, and Jerusalem as it now is (Galatians 4:24-26); the figures of Israel under the new covenant are Sarah, Mount Zion, and Jerusalem above.
Israel under the new covenant is here represented as clothed with the sun, for “this is the name wherewith she shall be called, ‘Jehovah-Tsidkeenu’”— “Jehovah our righteousness” (Jeremiah 33:16). Jehovah shall be unto her, her everlasting light, and her God her glory (Isaiah 40:19).
“The moon under her feet.” Just as the moon reflects the light of the sun, so the types and ordinances of the law reflect the glory of Christ; but Israel under the covenant of grace will be no longer subject to ordinances, or in bondage to the letter of the law, yet these ordinances, put in their proper place, will be employed for benefit and blessing.
“Upon her head a crown [victor’s crown] of twelve stars.” The twelve tribes of Israel, as overcomers by faith, will be associated with the Messiah in His Millennial reign as a royal nation, as well as a holy people.
Revelation 12:2. “And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.”
What is here presented in symbol is in Isaiah 26:1-21 : expressed in figurative language as the utterance of those godly ones in Israel who, during the first three years and a half of the reign of Antichrist, have passed through deep exercises of soul. These experiences are more fully developed in the Psalms, especially in the first book from Psa 1:-6 :, while the remnant are in the land. Their language, according to Isaiah 26:17, is “like as a woman with child, that draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs; so have we been in Thy sight, O Jehovah.”
Revelation 12:3. “And there appeared another wonder [or sign] in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.”
Here the empire of Antichrist—the wild beast of Revelation 13:1-18 and Daniel 7:1-28 :—is shown in the light of heaven, as seen at this crisis of the world’s history, when the old dragon—the Devil, or Satan, will impart his own character and energy to it.
“Having seven heads and ten horns.” The seven heads represent the combination of every form of governmental power, the result of the experience of former ages in the art of government, and the ten horns represent the empire in its last form when divided into ten kingdoms.
Revelation 12:4. “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.” The stars of heaven here symbolise the principalities and powers of wickedness in the heavenlies, under the control of Satan, and by him brought to operate on the affairs of men. The dragon or Satan will energise the kingdom of Antichrist in its last and fully developed form, with its tenfold confederacy of kingdoms aided by the wicked spirits in heavenly places. He here appears standing ready to crush the first open manifestation of resistance to his authority.
Revelation 12:5. “And she brought forth a man child [male son], who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron.” The believing portion of Israel during the times of Antichrist is here represented and elsewhere as divided into three companies. First, the man child—that is, the remnant slain at the beginning of Antichrist’s persecution, for their positive resistance to him. Second, the remnant of the woman’s seed (Revelation 12:17), who are afterwards slaughtered for their passive refusal to receive his mark. Third, those who are preserved through all the trials, and brought into the Millennial kingdom. The man child here spoken of is the representation in symbol of those who, as the result of deep exercises of soul (see Isaiah 26:1-21), will come forth in the full vigour of their zeal, and claim the kingdom for God, for Messiah, and for His people, and who at the very onset resist the assumptions of Antichrist.
Messiah according to Psalms 2:1-12 : is to rule all nations with a rod of iron; and in Revelation 2:26 the Lord Jesus promises the same privilege to the overcomer. And Jehovah speaks of Israel as His battle axe and weapons of war in Jeremiah 51:20-23, as the instrumentality by which He will bring all nations into subjection to Himself.
“And her child was caught up unto God, and to His throne.” The godly in Israel had for some time suspected the real character of Antichrist; their estimate of him is expressed in Isaiah 26:10 : “Let favour be showed to the wicked [the lawless one], yet will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of Jehovah.” They know also that, according to Daniel 7:27, “the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High.” When at length the lawless one throws off the mask, they resist him, but in vain. This is shown in vision in Daniel 7:21 : “I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them.” So also Psalms 79:1-3 :—
“O God, the heathen are come into Thine inheritance;
Thy holy temple have they defiled;
They have laid Jerusalem on heaps.
The dead bodies of Thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven,
The flesh of Thy saints unto the beasts of the earth.
Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem ;
And there was none to bury them.” This is also figuratively foretold in Isaiah 26:18 :—
“We have been with child,
We have been in pain,
We have as it were brought forth wind;
We have not wrought any deliverance in the earth;
Neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.” This is the first slain remnant, as shown in symbol under the fifth seal in Revelation 6:9 : “I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held.” These falling short, through their death, of taking their part in the Millennial reign of the Messiah on earth, will have, instead, their portion in the heavenly kingdom.
Moreover, they share in the first resurrection. Revelation 20:4 : “I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God. . and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.” So also Isaiah 26:19 :—
“Thy dead men shall live,
Together with my dead body shall they arise.
Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust:
For thy dew is as the dew of herbs,
And the earth shall east out the dead.”
Revelation 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 witnesses for God and Christ represented by the man child having been slain, the other godly ones of the nation represented by “the woman”—as many as are able—make their escape, thus obeying the command of the Lord Jesus in Matthew 24:15-16 : “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place (whoso readeth, let him understand), then let them which he in Judaea flee into the mountains,” See. They also accept the invitation of Jehovah in Isaiah 26:20 :—
“Come, My people, enter thou into thy chambers,
And shut thy doors about thee:
Hide thyself as it were for a little moment,
Until the indignation be overpast.”
God will preserve Israel nationally from the persecuting power of Antichrist during the time of his continuance, or actings, which lasts three years and a half. (See Revelation 13:5 : “And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue [to act] forty and two months.” Also Daniel 7:25 : “And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.’) This is the period of the great tribulation. The twelve hundred and sixty days of Revelation 12:6, forty and two months of Revelation 13:5, time and times and the dividing of time (Daniel 7:25, and Revelation 12:14), all relate to the same period of three and a half years, the last half week of Daniel’s seventy weeks of years.
Revelation 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.” This scene was presented in vision to the Apostle John as symbolic; of a future event, to take place at the great crisis of this world’s history. For long there has been a conflict going on in the heavenly places between the principalities and powers of light and the principalities and powers of darkness. The Book of Daniel has lifted the curtain and given us an insight into these transactions. Daniel 10:13 : “But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia.” Daniel 10:20-21 : “Then said he, ‘Knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee? and now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come. But I will show thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth: and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince.” At the beginning of Daniel’s supplication the angel was sent to him, but was hindered three whole weeks in his coming by these conflicts in the heavenlies. These princes of Persia and Grecia are not earthly potentates, but heavenly powers. In Ephesians 6:12 we read: “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high -places The Church’s conflict is not with the Canaanites on earth, but with these spirits of wickedness in heavenly places; but the time is coming when the great and decisive conflict will take place; this is the subject of this vision: there is war in heaven. In striking contrast, at the same crisis, there is war on earth. The beast, energised by the dragon, makes war against the saints of God, and apparently overcomes them; but though he sheds their blood and kills their bodies, in reality they overcome him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony, and exchange an earthly kingdom for a heavenly. They had stood up for God and His Christ, and on earth had wrought no deliverance. Michael the archangel, and the angels under him, stand up for God and Christ in heaven, and obtain the victory. Satan and his hosts lose for ever their authority in the heavens, and their power for a season is transferred to the earth. Thus the witnesses for God on earth, apparently overcome, but in reality victorious, exchange an earthly kingdom for a heavenly. On the other hand, the hosts of Satan, the enemies of God and man, are effectually defeated, and obliged to exchange a position of heavenly power and dominion for one of earthly defeat.
Revelation 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.” The titles given to the “great dragon” are significant. As the “old serpent” he deceives the whole world from Paradise to the commencement of the Millennial period, and then again at the close for a little season; as “the Devil”—that is, “Diabolus,” the false accuser— he accuses the saints before God day and night (Job 1:1-22, Job 2:1-13); and as “Satan”—that is, the adversary—he persecutes them. But from this time his influence in heaven is over; on earth he deludes, accuses, and persecutes with greater malignity than ever for a limited period. His angels share his overthrow.
Revelation 12:10-11. “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. And then overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.’” The redeemed in heavenly glory celebrate the triumph. The resistance of the martyred remnant symbolised by the man child gained the victory, in fact; for although slain they overcame by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony; and the result of this is, the accuser and his angels will be permitted no longer to carry on their opposition and their accusations in the heavenly places. Jehovah of hosts having called in the angels of light to decide the contest, thus establishing His kingdom in the heavens before He makes the foes of Messiah His footstool, and sets up His dominion on the earth. Thus “Jehovah’s sword is bathed in heaven” before it accomplishes its appointed work on earth. Isaiah 34:5. This outburst of triumph is similar to that in Revelation 11:15 on the sounding of the seventh trumpet. From this period, when Satan and his angels are expelled from the heavenlies, the kingdom of God and His Christ over this earth is dated, and from this time the accuser of the brethren is cast down.
Revelation 12:12. “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.’”
While there is joy in heaven, there is woe on earth, for though the citadel is taken the outposts have yet to be captured; from henceforth the battle-field is the world. This introduces the great tribulation of three years and a half, when the enemy, no longer opposing from a distance, comes down to wrestle hand to hand with the inhabiters of the earth.
Revelation 12:13. “And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.”
Though the man child has been destroyed—that is, the first faithful witnesses for God and Christ have been slain—persecution still continues. In like manner, when Herod had killed James the brother of John with the sword, he proceeded further to take Peter also (Acts 12:1-3).
James, Peter, and John are three striking representatives of the three remnants of Israel—James, a type of the first slain remnant; Peter, of those afterwards put to death, or persecuted, because they would not worship the beast and his image; John, of those preserved through all the scenes of trial for the Millennial kingdom. So the souls under the altar (Revelation 6:9-11) are told to wait “until their fellow-servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.” The same Herod who killed James and imprisoned Peter subsequently came under the retributive judgment of God for accepting, like Antichrist, Divine honours from man (Acts 12:21-23).
Revelation 12:14. “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.” The wings of the eagle are in Scripture symbolical of the uplifting and sustaining power of the Holy Ghost, as in Exodus 19:4 : “I bare you on eagle’s wings, and brought you unto Myself.” Again, Deuteronomy 32:11-12 :—
“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 (Jehovah) alone did lead him,
And there was no strange god with him.” And Isaiah 40:31 :—
“But they that wait upon the Lord (Jehovah) shall renew their strength ;
They shall mount up with wings as eagles.”
Thus spiritual strength will be imparted to the people of Israel under the new covenant, that they may be able to flee to some place of security and shelter from the storm of persecution, which will rage for three years and a half. (See Revelation 12:6; Isaiah 26:20.)
Revelation 12:15-17. “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. 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. 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.” The enemy, as the serpent in his subtilty, raises up the masses of the people in a flood of opposition; but God by means of some natural interposition frustrates his efforts thereupon as the dragon he persecutes. But “when the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of Jehovah shall lift up a standard against him” (Isaiah 59:19). Though the enemy may “cast out of his mouth”—that is, raise up at his commandment—a flood of persecution, God will not only give spiritual strength and sustainment, but He knows how to employ earthly agencies to frustrate the designs of the adversary.
These godly ones against whom the fury of Satan is directed combine the strictest observance of the commandments of God—for their delight is in the law of Jehovah—with the testimony for Jesus Christ; they will be, in a word, believing Israelites.