Revelation 12

Revelation 12:1-2

The book of Revelation divides itself into two parts. There are two series of visions, one giving the fate of the world and ending with chapter 11:18; the other beginning with the next verse and extending to the close of the book. The first series has brought us to the fall of the great city of sin, the triumph of Christ, and the general Judgment; the second begins with the infancy of the Church and traces its career and struggles until the New Jerusalem is revealed from heaven. While the object of the second series is to outline the history of the true Church, at the same time it necessarily reveals the history and fate of a false Church, a great apostasy, which shall be the mightiest enemy of the truth. It is unfortunate that the last verse of the eleventh chapter has not been attached to the next chapter where it properly belongs, as it is the beginning of… A NEW VISION. The reader will observe that the language with which the first series opens in Revelation 4:1, is quite similar to the opening words of the verse that begins the second series. “I saw a door opened in heaven” is the opening sentence of the prophecy, chap. 4:1, language which implies that the secrets of heaven are to be revealed. In chap. 11:19, it is said that “The temple of God was opened in heaven.” Even the Ark of the Testament in its most secret place is brought to view. There is to be a revelation of facts connected with the temple of God. We have already shown that the reference is, not to the Jewish temple which no longer existed, but to the spiritual temple, the Church of Jesus Christ. Its door is opened; its history is foretold; the visions now beheld, will relate to its fortunes, sorrows, trials, triumphs. “And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: and she being with child, cried, travailing in birth, and pained, to be delivered.”–12:1, 2. After the announcement that it is the door of the temple that is now opened, the vision sweeps onward and the facts of history are portrayed in the symbols beheld by the apostle through the opened portals. His attention is fixed upon a great wonder. There appears in heaven a beautiful woman, clothed with the sun, standing upon the moon, and crowned with twelve stars. Let us pause before we proceed further, to inquire what this may mean? A woman is used as a symbol many times in the Scriptures. “Say you to the daughter of Zion, behold thy salvation cometh.” (Isaiah 62:11.) Here the reference is to the Church. Again Paul, Galatians 4:31 says, “Ye are not the children of the bond woman, but of the free woman.” All are agreed that here the free woman represents the Church. Again, Revelation 21:2, John sees the New Jerusalem descending adorned as a bride to meet her husband. The bride, the Lamb’s wife, here and in the ninth verse, indeed in every place spoken of, is the Church. Once more; Paul speaks of Jerusalem, the mother of us all, alluding again to the Church. This symbol, then, is a, common one to represent the Church, and we are justified in declaring that to be its meaning in this passage. Indeed, in the verse preceding, we have the Church named under the designation of the temple of God. This woman is clothed with the sun, shines with sunlight, the light of the Sun of Righteousness, whence cometh all her glory. Let Christ, her light be taken away, and she who is as fair as the moon, as clear as the sun, is changed into darkness. The woman stands upon the moon. I suppose this refers to the Jewish, the shadowy dispensation, to Moses and his law. Their light is all reflected light. Unless flooded with the rays of the Sun of Righteousness the Old Testament would cease to shine. Upon this old dispensation, the Church following it in time and superior in excellence, stands not as upon a foundation, but as following in succession. Twelve stars were in the diadem that rested upon her brow. It is so evident that this refers to the twelve apostles, inspired by Christ to carry on his work, establish the Church and give it laws, that I need only to refer to the explanation. The Apostle not only notes the attire of the woman, but speaks of her peculiar condition. She is about to become a mother. We may be assured that this would not have been noted if it had no significance. Again we must let the Scripture explain its own meaning. “As soon as Zion travailed she brought forth children.” (Isaiah 66:8.) The travail of Zion causeth an increase. The condition asks our attention to a Church in sorrow a suffering Church, but out of whose suffering there cometh an increase of the saints. It is a period when the saints are multiplied in the midst of persecution. The symbolism points us to a period when the Church is pure. She shines brightly with the light of the Sun of Righteousness. There is no spot to dim the lustre of her garments. The twelve apostles are the only stars. She has no uninspired leaders whose light has dimmed that of Christ and his apostles. But, in this time of purity there is sorrow. The Church cries out with pain. Saints are imprisoned, tortured, martyrs die, but amid the pain and flames of death, exhibit such constancy, such devotion, such moral grandeur, that the blood of martyrs becomes the seed of the Church.

Revelation 12:3-4

“And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.”–12:3, 4. The Apostle also sees A RED DRAGON with seven heads and ten horns. Seven crowns are upon his heads. With his tail he draws one-third part of the stars of heaven. He is the woman’s enemy. He stands waiting, ready to devour her offspring. I shall more fully describe in a subsequent chapter the meaning of the various marks of the dragon. The dragon, the seven heads, the ten horns, are named several times in the book of Revelation, and are also described in the seventh chapter of Daniel. In all these places they describes the same baneful power. The proofs that they represent various features of the Romish sway, of Pagan Rome, followed by spiritual Rome, are complete, and will be laid before the reader ere we close this series. But there is another power behind these manifestations, a power that, assuming various forms, has animated both heathen and Papal Rome. That power is named in the ninth verse. The great dragon is the old serpent, called the devil and Satan. He is the source of all the opposition that has ever sprung up against the Church. He can transform himself into an angel of light. He can take the form of a church to compass his ends, or he can incite secular authority to the persecution of the true Church. At this time, the period already indicated in the history of the Church, he assumes the form of Rome, of imperial Rome, the seven-hilled city, for says the Apostle, Revelation 17:9, “the seven heads are seven mountains.” This, then, is the period when the Church is sweeping on with a mighty increase; when imperial Rome seeks to check that mighty growth; when Diocletian decrees the utter abolition of the Christian name; when Maxentius, the competitor of Constantine for the empire, vowed to Jupiter that if he would give him success, he would exterminate Christianity from the face of the earth. It is a period of mighty conflict, of a stern grapple between the moral resistance of the Church and the murderous legions of Rome. It is the period when the dragon, red, bloody, mighty, seeks to destroy the offspring of the woman, the saints, from the earth.

Revelation 12:5

THE MAN CHILD. “And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.”–12:5. If the reader will turn to the seventeenth verse he will learn that the remnant of the woman’s seed is “those who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” The offspring of the woman, the “woman’s seed,” then refers to the saints. It is they that the dragon seeks to destroy. But how shall they rule the nations with a rod of iron? It is usually supposed that this denotes the sternness of the dominion, but the use of the same expression elsewhere shows that it refers rather to the completeness, strength and universal prevalence of their sway. An iron rod, or sceptre, is one that can not be broken. In chap. 19:15, it is declared that the Word of God shall rule the nations with a rod of iron.

This is accomplished through the saints. They shall yet possess the earth. Every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess. The kingdoms of the earth shall become the kingdoms of the Lord and his Christ. The man child, the woman’s seed, the saints, shall have a complete, an undisputed, a resistless dominion. They shall rule with an iron sceptre.

But the man child is caught up to heaven. What means this? It means that the saints, protected by God, shall have a glorious exaltation. There was a signal fulfilment of this promise in the complete triumph of Christianity over Paganism. Before the end of the fourth century the long struggle of the dragon to devour the offspring of the woman was over. Paganism was utterly overthrown.

Christianity was the acknowledged religion of the civilized world. In this mighty change, the exaltation of a suffering, down-trodden, bleeding Church, to a sway over the civilized world, we witness the seed of woman lifted to the skies. When, in A. D. 325 Paganism had fallen, the old Pagan temples were converted into Christian churches, the Lordsday was observed by law throughout the Roman world and Christianity the recognized, protected and prevalent religion, this symbolism was fulfilled. We have this glorious conflict and triumph depicted by the symbolism of a conflict in heaven.

Revelation 12:6-9

WAR IN HEAVEN. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she bath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and three score days. 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. 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."–12:6-9. The flight of the woman into the wilderness I will consider in connection with verse 14 which refers to the same event. In the order of time this flight occurs after the events related in verses 7-14. These verses describe a conflict which John saw in heaven, the overthrow of the dragon and the song of victory sung in heaven. If we will remember that the dragon is a symbol of bloody Pagan Rome, and the woman of the Church, it will be easy to explain the passage. John had seen the woman in heaven and then the dragon appeared before her ready to devour her offspring. Then he beholds a champion of the woman appear who assails the dragon. This is Michael, the “Great Prince,” the Archangel, described in Daniel as the guardian of the people of God, supposed by many to be the Lord. The dragon is vanquished in the conflict and is cast down from heaven. This symbolism indicates the defeat of the dragon in his attempt. He is not only vanquished, but humiliated, “cast down.” The first mighty attempt of Satan to “abolish the Christian name from the earth,” signally fails. We have already written enough to show the reader that this represents the facts of history. Pagan Rome, the dragon, struck at the heart of the Church. Blood flowed in rivers, the blood of the saints, but the grandeur of their lives and the heroism of their deaths struck fear and conviction to the hearts of their enemies. Each martyr called forth an army who were ready to die for Christ. God exalted the man child, caught it to his bosom, protected it, and Pagan Rome went down. The dragon prevailed not. Baffled, he is cast to the earth. We have next the songs of triumph sung 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 God day and night.” Then the means by which this mighty triumph has been won is disclosed. “They overcame him by the blood of Christ, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.” They were ready to die for the Master. Did the dragon, under the form of Pagan Rome, assail the Church? Every reader knows that it made repeated, determined and bloody attempts to destroy the faith of Christ. Did it meet with defeat in this effort? The bleeding, mourning, suffering, crying Church grew stronger and stronger. The dragon prevailed not. Was the dragon cast down? At last, Pagan Rome, vanquished in the struggle, went down. Paganism fell to rise no more. Was this followed by a triumph of the Christian religion? The persecuted faith become the religion of the civilized world. What was the means by which this triumph was won? Not the might of arms, not the subtlety of human wisdom; “they overcame by the blood of Christ and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto death.” The first great struggle between the woman and the dragon ended with the triumph of Christianity. There is to be another. The first is seen in heaven. The next great conflict is to be

Revelation 12:13-14

THE ON EARTH. “And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. 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.”–12:13, 14. The dragon, cast down, continues the contest. It is transferred to earth. This indicates some great change in the nature of the struggle. We are told that he persecuted the woman that brought forth the child. And there was given her two wings as of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, to her place, and be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time. Let us seek what this language implies:

1. The Church shall be assailed, after its triumph over Pagan Rome in some way.
2. The true Church shall be persecuted, and the dragon (verse 15) shall seek to overwhelm her.
3. The true Church shall flee into the wilderness a place where men will not see her, into obscurity. This implies that she shall cease to be visible to men. She will yet exist, but in a form that men will not recognize her.
4. This period of obscurity shall continue through a time, times, and half a time. In Daniel the word time is used to denote a year. The period here is a time, or one year, times, or two years, and one-half a time, or one-half year. The whole is three and one-half years. This, reduced to days, Isaiah 1260 days. As a day is a symbol of a year, this period Isaiah 1260 years. In the fifth verse it is presented as 1260 days. What are the facts of history? Did Rome make an effort under a new form to destroy the Church? Did the true Church disappear from human view in a visible form?
5. I hardly need to reply that after Pagan Rome fell, gradually the Church of Rome adopted Pagan ideas and rites, and usurped universal dominion. We do have a new and long continued persecution of all who do not consent to receive the mark of the beast.
6. Did the true Church disappear? An Apostate Church is visible, but for a long time the true Church is hidden from view. It exists in the hearts of those who love the Lord. It is hidden among the rocks and in the caves, behind the family walls, in true hearts, but in public it is not seen upon the earth. It is vain to seek it. It is in the wilderness. Any church which is visible during this period can not be the true Church.
7. How long does it remain in the wilderness? The period has already been indicated as 1260 days, or years. In the last chapter I said that this period of time is named no less than five times. I also urged that it began during the persecuting reign of Justinian, in A. D. 533, when the Pope was styled the Lord of the Church. For 1260 years from that period the persecuted Church remains in the wilderness. The period ends about the beginning of the nineteenth century, and to this last epoch we may look for the re-appearance of the visible Church, or in other words, the Church will reappear about the beginning of the nineteenth century in a form that will prove its identity with the Church of the apostolic ages.
8. During this period of the true saints, the dragon, through the temporal power of Papal Rome, makes war upon the seed of the woman, the true worshipers. In the twelfth chapter there appears a monster with seven heads and ten horns. He is the deadly enemy of the woman and her offspring. The result of his first conflict is disaster to himself. The divine help given to the woman overcomes the dragon, and he prevails not, but is cast down to earth.

Revelation 12:15-17

John, in the same chapter, beholds another conflict. The defeated dragon changes the scene of combat. On earth he wages a war of “persecution” which results in the exile of the woman to the wilderness for a period of 1260 years, there in silence and obscurity to be nourished of God until the time appointed for her to come forth. We have pointed out the fulfilment of this portion of the vision in the establishment of the Papal power and in its persecution of the true worshipers; a persecution that results in the apparent disappearance of the true Church from the earth. Though not visible to the eye of the historian during this period, yet the true Church, fed of God, survives in the hearts of hidden and persecuted saints. The period of her exile began about 533, in the reign of Justinian, and ends about the beginning of the nineteenth century. Before the end of the period, the Divine measure, the reed of the apostles, was used to measure the temple, altar and worshipers, and, as the result, over three-fourths of a century ago, the true Church began to appear, as a visible body, once more in the world.