THERE are two books of the Bible which hold a preëminent place in the prophetic field, especially in symbolic prophecy. These are the books of Daniel and the Revelation. By successive symbols, and in brief the wonderfully comprehensive discourse, is spanned the entire history of this world, including the rise and fall of empires, and their relations to the people of God.
In all these prophecies is shown God's overruling power, restraining evil to his glory (Ps. 76:10), teaching the world the evil and the end of sin and the glorious fruits of righteousness. God's sovereign majesty, omnipotent will, and omnipresent love exercised always for the good of those who honor him, are the lessons he sought to impress upon the actors in the scenes, that they might "know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men;" that they might know that his "dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation; and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?" (Dan. 4:17, 34, 35.) This is the lesson God would teach those who lived when the prophecy was given and began to be fulfilled. This is the lesson that he would teach us by the record of these things; "for whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope." (Rom. 15:4.)
The Book of Daniel.
The alphabet of all these symbolic prophecies is found in the second chapter of Daniel, under the symbol of a great metallic image. It begins with the history of the great world empires and reaches to the everlasting and universal reign of Christ. Other lines of prophecy in the book of Daniel, recorded in chapters 7 to 12, expand and fill out in detail what is not told in chapter 2, bringing out2many new and characteristic features. And yet the book of Daniel is not complete. In later times, this side the coming of the Messiah, whom Daniel predicted, God has given us a supplement to the prophecies of Daniel—rather a complement, filling up what was then left incomplete. The especial part of Revelation similar to the chapters of Daniel above referred to, includes chapters 12 to 22, but the symbols are largely found in chapters 12, 13, 17, and 18.
It will be the object of these articles to develop some of the wonderful truths found in the above symbolic prophecies, taking for our mount of observation and alphabet of study the twelfth chapter of the Revelation.
The Benefits and Scope of Prophecy.
Previous to entering upon this study, however, we wish to note a few things which may be of help to us.
1. God has given his word, prophetic, didactic, devotional, as a lamp to the feet and a light to the path (Ps. 119:105) of all those who are willing to be taught and guided by him; for "the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will show them his covenant;" for "the meek will he guide in judgment; and the meek will he teach his way" (Ps. 25:14, 9). He therefore who would understand God's word must come with a meek heart and humble spirit, in the fear of God, with a desire that he may know not man's way, but God's truth, in order that he may do the truth. To such it is that God will reveal his prophetic word, and verify what he has said through prophet and apostle:—
"Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets." Amos 3:7.
"We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts." 2 Peter 1:19.
"Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein, for the time is at hand." Rev. 1:3.
These are promises of God concerning those things which he has revealed through his prophets for the benefit of his people. May the reader ever come to the study of his word in such a spirit that he may indeed receive the blessing promised.
2. The prophetic word deals with those kingdoms which have had connection with God's people in the world and through which the molding influence upon the world came. For instance, China is a great country and the Chinese are a numerous people, and yet as a nation it has never had great connection with the people or cause of God, and never exerted a molding influence upon the world, and, hence, is rarely mentioned in prophecy, and but little in history, while Babylon and Rome are frequently referred to in the prophetic word, and history concerning them abounds.
3. In these prophecies, notably in the Revelation, we have three classes of powers symbolized and their working and spirit revealed: (a) The spiritual or supernatural forces, both good and evil, invisible to mortal eyes, but working through visible, tangible agencies; (b) ecclesiastical organizations, churches both pure and corrupt, through which the greater supernatural or spiritual forces work and influence for good or evil the minds and hearts of mankind; (c) the civil governments of earth, under limited control of Satan, but over which is the restraining hand of God. All this will be manifest as we proceed with our study.
Revelation XII.
In this chapter we have three important symbols: The woman, the dragon, and the man child. The opening verses read as follows:—
"And a great sign was seen in heaven; a woman arrayed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars; and she was with child; and she crieth out, travailing in birth, and in pain to be delivered." Verses 1, 2, R. V.
A pure woman in prophecy represents the true church or the body of God's people. Says the prophet, "I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman." (Jer. 6:2.) "I have espoused you to one husband," says an apostle to a church, "that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ." (2 Cor. 11:2.) The woman seen in heaven, upheld by the power of God, is, therefore, the symbol of the people or church of God.
The expression "in heaven" would naturally show that the things symbolized were above the earth and earthly things in nature and in importance. It is in the spiritual realms that these things take place, seen only in the light of God's word by the eye of faith.
The view-point of the prophet was the opening of what is called the Christian dispensation, at the time when the church, flooded by the clearer light that shone out from the Messiah and his forerunner as compared with the light of centuries previous, is fitly represented by a woman arrayed in the sun, and with the moon under her feet, as a cast-off garment.
Previous to our Lord's first coming, the light of truth shone more dimly, represented by the light of the moon. The shadows were deeper and darker. Truth was revealed in symbolic sacrifices, offerings, and ceremonies, which in themselves had no virtue, but whose virtue lay in the One typified, Jesus Christ, even as the moon shines by light which it receives from the sun. The increased spiritual light which came at Christ's first coming as compared with the dimmer light before existing, is clearly set forth in the scriptures following. Said Zacharias of John the Baptist:—
"And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest; for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; to give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace." Luke 1:76-79.
"The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up." Matt. 4:16.
"For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them." Matt. 13:16.
"How that by revelation was made known unto me the mystery [the Gospel]; . . . which in other generations was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; . . . unto me . . . was this grace given, to preach unto the gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; and to make all men see what is the stewardship of the mystery, which from all ages hath been hid in God, who created all things; to the intent that now unto the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places might be made known through the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the purpose of the ages which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord." Eph. 3:3-11, R. V., margin.
The same increase of light is shown in Rev. 5:1-9, where the opening of the book of the Gospel, the revealing of the saving truth of God, was accomplished by the overcoming and death of Christ.
There is another significance to the expression "arrayed with the sun." Jesus Christ is called "the Sun of righteousness." (Mal. 4:2.) When transfigured, "his raiment became shining, exceeding white." (Mark 9:2.) The church is espoused to him. (Rom. 7:4; 2 Cor. 11:2.) He clothes her in his own royal robes, invests her in his own apparel; bestows upon her his own name. (See Isa. 61:10; Rev. 19:8; Ps. 45:13.) The glorious dress of the church eighteen centuries ago was but the outshining of the glory—Christ's righteousness—within.
That the church had conquered in some great struggle is represented by the crown, the twelve stars representing both the twelve tribes and the twelve apostles, who in the glorious restitution will rule over the twelve tribes (Matt. 19:28), the names of whom are in the foundations of the eternal city.
The Travailing in Birth.
The second verse of the prophecy reads: "And she was with child; and she crieth out, travailing in birth, and in pain to be delivered." This represents a condition previous to her victory, to her crowning and being clothed with the sun. She was with child, and during this time she was in pain to be delivered. The figure is a forcible one and known to all. Some minds may be shocked with the simile which the prophet uses, but it will be only those wrongly educated or whose minds have become basely corrupt, who look upon marriage as a license to gratify lust, and the begetting and bringing forth of children as libidinous and shameful, instead of the important and blessed and holy thing which God designed it should be. "Unto the pure all things are pure; but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure;3but even their mind and conscience is defiled." In early times it was considered by holy women a disgrace to be without offspring,—offspring legitimate, begotten of their own lawful husbands, developing unselfishness in their own lives, strengthening love for each other, and enlarging the heart with almost infinitely tender and strong outreachings for blessing and power to bestow upon the lives of their lives. There are no longings so great as those in the heart of the true mother before her child is born. Her pain, her anguish at the time of its birth is not alone for herself, but for him in whom she is to be glorified.
So the church, with a hundredfold intensity, is represented as longing with pain and anguish for her Child. Not only is he to be her glory, but her Deliverer.
When Did It Begin?
The church of God as an organized body came into existence when God delivered his people out of Egypt and adopted them for his own, in order that they might serve him by revealing him to the world and so save others. For that purpose he bestowed upon them "the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants [old and new], and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises." But he did it all that his people might reveal his glory, his law, his covenants, his service, to others, that others also might receive his adoption. And so the Lord said: "I was an husband unto them."
As long as God's people were faithful to him they prospered; this prosperity reached its earthly climax under the reigns of David and Solomon, each of whom were types of Christ. From that time the glory began to decline. The ten-tribe kingdom was subverted; only the tribe of Judah, to whom the promise of the Shiloh was made, remaining independent, having her own king, and preserving the true worship of God. In her backsliding the Lord chastened her, and in returning to him he prospered her, till at last her wickedness grew so great that the Lord removed from her his protecting arm, and the daughter of Zion was carried to Babylon. (See 2 Chron. 36:14-21.)
In the Babylonian humiliation began the travailing of the church, the anguish, the crying, the longing for the Deliverer. Her condition in captivity is thus set forth:—
"By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?" Ps. 137:1-4.
In Jerusalem, obedient to God, she could sing his praise in the joy and prosperity of his presence. In captivity she mourned for the things she had lost, and longed for the Deliverer: "O that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion!" (Ps. 14:7.) She waited with anxiety for the coming of "the Desire of all nations."
The prophet Micah, contemporary with Isaiah, after referring to the wickedness in Judah among priest and prophet, as it existed in the time just preceding her captivity, as shown by Jeremiah, predicts the destruction of Jerusalem and the captivity of the people, as well as the restoration. Thus he speaks of the church as she was going into the captivity, and was surrounded by her foes:—
"Now why dost thou cry out aloud? is there no king in thee? is thy counsellor perished? for pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail. Be in pain, and labor to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail; for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon." Micah 4:9, 10.
A little farther along in his prophecy, after referring to the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), the prophet again refers to the time this anguish, pain, longing, and travailing are to continue, in these words:—
"Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth; then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel." Verse 3.
The anguish and travail began, therefore, at the time the people of God—the daughter of Zion—went into captivity, about six hundred years before Christ, and terminated when Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Then was manifest the Shiloh of the tribe of Judah, to whom the gathering of the nations should be, and not to a literal king at Jerusalem on earth.
We have learned thus far that the woman of Rev. 12:1, 2 symbolizes the church of God in her triumph after having passed through her anguish, pain, and longing of six centuries of captivity. In our next we will trace the other predictions of the prophecy.