REVELATION XII | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Oct 15, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 49.

REVELATION XII.

In the past articles we have considered quite at length the part which the church has had to act in the great apostasy down to the time of her last union with the powers of earth. Before carrying that side of the investigation farther, it will be necessary to study the other side, that represented by the empires of earth.

1. The Dragon.

In Revelation 12 are three symbols, about which there can be little question as to their application: (1) The woman, a symbol of the church of God; (2) the man child, a symbol of our Lord Jesus Christ; (3) the dragon, which is expressly declared to be the devil or Satan.

The chapter itself is a graphic symbolic outline of the great controversy of the universe between Christ and his angels on one side, and the devil and his angels on the other. The field of contention is this world, and the special object of the care of the one and the rage of the other is the church of the living God. This great controversy, waged on this earth, is the conflict of the universe, for if Christ loses here, there is no assurance that he will win elsewhere. In that case,

the promises of God would be of none effect.

Satan is represented in this scripture not only as a deceiver, but as the chief persecutor against the people of God. But persecution, in the sense it is generally understood, persecution by unholy laws and the execution of legal sentences, cannot be carried on by Satan and his army of demons personally. He can instigate persecution by working on the minds of those who are under his influence, but he cannot imprison, torture, or kill. He first induces men to accept religious error as truth, by combining it with truth. When man comes to believe a lie, the next step is to induce them to believe that that mixture of truth and error must be maintained or government will go down, and souls will be lost. The next step is tyrannical decrees and persecuting laws.

The governments through which Satan's wrath has been especially exercised are represented by the heads of the dragon. It is the head which plans to execute the desires of the heart. It is the mouth which speaks the heart's utterances. So it is fitting that these governments which have yielded to Satan's principles should be represented by the heads. As the head plans and speaks for the heart—the power behind it—so the wicked governments plan and utter their persecuting laws in obedience to the Satanic power controlling them.

Satan's Work before Christ.

Man's archenemy knows of the plan of salvation. He understood from the beginning that it was the will of God that the Seed of the woman should at last be the victor. And therefore none watched more carefully than he (1) to prevent the birth of that Seed, and (2) if defeated in that, to destroy the Seed when brought forth. It was promised Abraham that the Seed should come through him. Of his two sons, Isaac was the progenitor of the Seed. Jacob was chosen before Esau. Of Jacob's twelve sons, Judah was chosen, and unto the Shiloh which would spring from him was the gathering of the people to be. God promised to Levi the priesthood, and to Judah the rulership; and that the fulfillment of his promises might be demonstrated, the genealogy of both tribes was kept till the time of Christ.

During this period Satan endeavored in various ways to prevent the coming of the Seed as promised. He not only induced Israel to commit idolatry that he might tempt God to destroy them, but he moved upon the nations around them to blot them out of existence. He also endeavored by intermarriage with the heathen to frustrate the promise of God. Failing in all this, and knowing that the church was waiting, longing, travailing for the Deliverer, he waited for the child, for the coming of the Son of God in all the weakness of humanity, for the second Adam.

As Satan had brought the entire race under the dominion of death through the first Adam, so he knew that if he should succeed with the second Adam the race would be hopelessly lost. Defeated in preventing the coming of the Seed, he with the church waits for the coming of the Child, the church waiting for the deliverance, Satan for the destruction of church and Seed.

The power which Satan used for the purpose of destroying the Son of God was Pagan Rome, first through Herod and then through Pilate. But the Son of God triumphed. He won the victory through death, and there arose that mighty song 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 follows that which shows the glory of Christ's victory,—those who have faith in Christ overcome Satan by the blood of the Lamb, the symbol of all Christ's sufferings.

The fact that Satan used Pagan Rome as one of his agencies to execute his wrath suggests also the other heads. The suggestion carries us directly back to that time when the Israel of God went into captivity, subject to the powers of the world. During the days of Israel, down to the time of the Babylonian captivity, they were most of the time independent of all other nations. But under Zedekiah—B.C. 606—the subjugation and captivity of "the daughter of Zion" began. Babylon was the first great organized power which overthrew and persecuted the organized church of God. From thenceforth the church must be subject to the persecutions of earthly powers, developing faith and character amid trials which at times would be restrained, but only by the wisdom and power of God, when such restraint would conduce to his glory.

Before Christ was Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Grecia, all of which promulgated decrees against the people of God, all of which were antagonistic to the truth, all of which were governments wherein religious dogmas were enforced by statute law. We have Babylon's cruelty to the Jews at their capture, and her decree concerning the image on the plains of Dura. Under Medo-Persia, the second head of the dragonic persecution, Daniel was cast into the den of lions; and Haman's decree went forth for the utter destruction of the Jews. They were also persecuted under Grecia. Of the persecutions under Pagan Rome we need not speak.

It is true that the people of God received many favors under these three heads, notably under Persia, but the favors came from God, not from the idolatrous governments. They came because angels of God in their holy influence overcame the angels of evil. Yet these three heads were not used by Satan as were subsequent powers, because he was waiting for greater success in the overthrow of Christ. But these powers were each in turn used as his agents, and were, when not especially restrained of God, persecutors.

Pagan Rome, the fourth head, we have already considered. It was under Pagan Rome that the crisis of the world was reached, and righteousness and life triumphed over sin and death. Christ having triumphed in his own person, Satan turns all his rage against the people of God. This will show why persecution and temptation are much more fierce and frequent since the time of Christ. Says the prophet in speaking of Christ's triumph:—

"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."

He was ambitious of higher triumphs in conflict with the Lord of life, but failing there, he comes down to his followers. The record immediately declares that when the dragon saw that he was defeated, he persecuted the woman,—the church. This persecution is continued to the end,—till the remnant church, keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, is gathered home. But this is more fully told in other scriptures, and must be reserved for future issues.