|And a war took place in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon;, and the dragon fought and his angels, and he prevailed not; nor was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, the old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, who deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.| -- Rev.12:7-9.
The churches, -- which on the persecution subsequent to the Pentecostal season were scattered abroad, and went everywhere preaching the word (Acts 8:4), -- afterwards had rest, and were multiplied, Ib. 9:31. They were thus enabled again to act a conspicuous part, as symbolized by the contest between Michael and the dragon.
The contest symbolized, is a religious one; for the dragon is overcome |by the word of their testimony,| v.11.
Michael and his angels, then, must symbolize the body of Christ, -- the apostles, and their successor, under the guidance of the Lord, -- who constituted an army of religious teachers. With the arrows of truth they assailed the idolatrous combinations of their opponents. Under the first seal, they are represented by a mounted warrior, with bow and crown, going forth conquering and to conquer, 6:2. See p.58.
The dragon, with the appendages of heads, horns, and diadems, was seen to be a symbol of the Roman government. Divested of those, it would simply represent the Pagan hierarchy with which the contest was waged. The heathen priests and their adherents, thus warred with the preachers of Christianity.
Its prevailing not, shows the relative success of the two parties. The struggle continued from the day of Pentecost till the accession of Constantine. The church waded through bloody scenes of bitter persecution, which, instead of diminishing, greatly added to her numbers -- |the blood of the martyrs| proving |the seed of the church.|
The heathen priests were not deficient in logic, philosophy, and artful sophistry, by which to defend their mythology. They exhausted these, and then resorted to persecution, torture, and death; yet they prevailed not. With the weapons of truth, the teachers of Christianity successfully assailed those antiquated forms of error, -- overcoming |by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony.| |They loved not their lives unto the death,| but freely gave themselves for Christ, till, in time, the current of popular favor ceased to flow in the direction of paganism. The accession of Constantine to the throne, put an end to the dragonic period of Rome; the Pagan service gave place to the worship of Jehovah. The rites of heathenism were no longer the religion of the state, and its ministers were displaced from the exalted position they had so long occupied. Their place was no longer in the symbolic heavens, but in a less conspicuous station.
The casting out of the dragon, would then be this expulsion of the pagan hierarchy from its national importance, and the dejection of the priesthood and their adherents to the earth, -- below their former high station, -- and to the sea, among the unsettled tribes and nations outside of Rome. This being a religious and not a political event, it does not immediately affect Rome's nationality. That it is not the overthrow of a kingdom, but of religious rites, is shown by the rejoicings which followed.
