Revelation 12

Revelation 12:1-13

XII OF CHURCH HISTORY In the preceding chapter, commencing the exposition of this section, we considered only Revelation 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, Revelation 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 (Revelation 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 Revelation 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 (Revelation 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 (Revelation 12:6; Revelation 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” (Revelation 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 Isaiah 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, Revelation 13 will disclose.

To further clarify this brief review of Revelation 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 (Jude 1:6; 2 Peter 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 (Revelation 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 Revelation 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” (Luke 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 (Revelation 12:11). You have only to compare the great lesson in Matthew 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 (Revelation 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 Revelation 2:26-27; Revelation 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 Revelation 12:7-12 epexegetical of the war on the man-child, latter clause of Rev 12:4 and Revelation 12:5; and Revelation 12:13-17 epexegetical of Rev 12:6.

4. Our interpretation makes the numbers “forty-two months” in Revelation 11:2, and Revelation 13:5, and the 1,260 days of Rev 11:3; Revelation 12:6, and the “time, times and half-time” of Revelation 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 Revelation 12, we are now prepared to undertake the exposition of Revelation 13, and particularly to see the connection between them. Revelation 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:

Revelation 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 (Revelation 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.” (Matthew 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 Daniel 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 (Revelation 13:11-12). We may not attempt to interpret this vision except in the light of Dan 7:19-25, and Revelation 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.

Revelation 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 Revelation 17:9, it will give us God’s explanation. Revelation 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 (Revelation 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” (Revelation 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 (Revelation 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 Revelation 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 (Revelation 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. Revelation 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.

Revelation 13:10, last clause: “Here is the patience and faith of the saints.” In Revelation 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 Daniel 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 Revelation 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.

Revelation 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 (Revelation 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 Isaiah 666. Here, then, is the number of the beast and it is the number of a man, and it Isaiah 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]

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 Revelation 12.

3. Show the relation of Satan’s assaults on the infant Jesus to the imagery of the man-child in Revelation 12.

4. Show what verses of Revelation 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?

ON CHAPTER XIII 7. Revelation 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 Daniel 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 Revelation 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 Revelation 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,” Revelation 13:16, as explained in Revelation 13:18, and the exposition thereof by Irenaeus and Alford?