Thoughts on the Revelation.
VERSES 1-6. 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. 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. 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. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. Definition of symbols. "A woman:" the true church. "The sun:" the light and glory of the gospel dispensation. "The moon:" the Mosaic dispensation. As the moon shines with a borrowed light derived from the sun, so the former dispensation, shone with a light borrowed from the present. There we had the type and shadow; here we have the antitype and substance. "A crown of twelve stars:" the twelve apostles. "A great red dragon:" Pagan Rome. "Heaven:" the space in which this representation was seen by the apostle. We do not understand that the events here represented to John took place in Heaven where God resides; for they are events which transpired on earth: but this scenic representation which passed before the eye of the prophet appeared in the region occupied by the sun, moon and stars, which we speak of as heaven. Verses 1 and 2 cover a period of time commencing just previous to the opening of the present dispensation when the church was earnestly longing for and expecting the advent of the Messiah, and extending to the time of the full establishment of the gospel church with its crown of twelve apostles. The dragon drew a third part of the stars from heaven. If the twelve stars with which the woman is crowned denote the twelve apostles, rulers in the Christian church, then the stars thrown down by the dragon before his attempt to destroy the man-child, or before the Christian era, may denote a portion of the rulers of the Jewish people. Judea became a Roman province before the birth of the Messiah. The Jews had three classes of rulers: Kings, priests, and the Sanhedrin. A third of these, the Kings, were taken away by the Roman power. The dragon stood before the woman to devour her child. Rome in the person of Herod attempted to destroy Jesus Christ, when he sent forth and destroyed all the children of Bethlehem from two years old and under. The child which was born to the expectant desires of a waiting and watching church, was our adorable Redeemer, who is soon to rule the nations with a rod of iron. Herod could not destroy him. The combined powers of earth and hell could not overcome him; and though held for a time under the dominion of the grave, he rent its cruel bands, opened a way of life for the race, and was caught up to God and his throne, or ascended up to heaven in the sight of his disciples, leaving to them by the words of the angels, this sweetest of all his promises that like as he was taken away from them, so he would come again. And the church fled into the wilderness, at the time the papacy was established, in 538, where it was nourished by the word of God and the ministration of angels, during the long dark and bloody rule, of that power, 1260 years. Verses 7-12. 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. And I heard a loud voice saying 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 they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Wo to the inhabitants 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. The first six verses of this chapter as has been seen, take us down to the end of the papal supremacy in 1798. In the seventh verse it is equally plain that we are carried back into ages past. How far? Answer. To the time first introduced in the chapter—the days of the first advent. "And there was war in heaven." The same heaven where the woman and the dragon were seen at first; but they were actors in scenes that took place here upon earth; hence we understand this war to be located in the same place. At what time? Ans. During the days of Christ's ministry here upon earth. That Michael is Christ see Jude 9; 1 Thess. iv, 16; John v, 28, 29; and that this was a special time of warfare between him and Satan, need not be argued. That the dragon here means Satan is plainly stated. The symbol is applied to Pagan Rome in verse 3, because that power was Satan's prime agent in the events there introduced. Satan had looked forward to Christ's mission to earth as his last chance of success to overthrow the plan of salvation. He came to him with specious temptations, in hope of overcoming him; he tried in various ways to destroy him during his ministry; and when he had succeeded in laying him in the tomb, he endeavored in malignant triumph to hold him there; but in every encounter, the Son of God came off triumphant. And he sends back this gracious promise to his faithful followers: "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne." This shows us that Jesus while on earth, waged a warfare, and obtained the victory. Satan saw his last effort fail, his last scheme miscarry. He had boasted that he would overcome the Son of God in his mission to earth, and thus render the plan of salvation an ignominious failure; and well he knew if he was foiled in this his last desperate effort to thwart the work of God, his last hope perished, and all was lost. See Spiritual Gifts, Vol. i, p. 67. But in the language of scripture, "He prevailed not," and well may the song be sung, "Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them." At this point some may be ready to say, "I am not yet willing to give up my life-long view that this war in Heaven was when Satan first rebelled, and that the casting out took place at that time." To this view there are some objections; and one is that just as soon as he saw that he was cast out, he turned his wrathful vengeance against the church which very soon fled into the wilderness. This war, and defeat of Satan could not therefore be his primeval fall from Heaven; for it took place not a great length of time before the woman went into the wilderness in 538. Again, there seems to be a number of times when Satan has been or will be defeated or cast down. One was his first rejection from Heaven, another when Christ overcame him at his first advent, and there will be another in the future when he is cast into the bottomless pit, and shut up for a thousand years. And there seems to be a regular gradation in the limitation of his power each time. The first time, as we may plainly infer from certain scriptures, the contest was between him and God the Father. See Jude. The second time between him and Christ the Son. While the third time an angel suffices to accomplish the work of his humiliation. The war mentioned by the scripture in hand is between the Devil and Michael, Christ. The great effort of the former against the latter personally was during his mission here on earth; and Christ's great victory over him personally was in that very contest. "Neither was their place found any more in heaven." Heaven, we have seen, does not mean, in this chapter, the place which is the abode of God and his celestial messengers. We think it here denotes a condition rather than a place, and understand the expression to signify that they were here humiliated, and never to regain their former position. They had suffered a terrible defeat, which Christ described by saying, "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven." His hope which he had all along cherished of overcoming the Son of man when he took upon him our nature, had forever perished. His power was limited. He could no more aspire to a personal encounter with the Son of God, a power which hitherto had given, in a comparative degree, dignity and prestige to his position. Henceforth the church (the woman) is the object of his malice, and he resorts to all those nefarious means against her that would naturally characterize a baffled and hopeless rage. See Spiritual Gifts, Vol. i, p. 79. But hereupon a song is sung in heaven, "Now is come salvation," &c. How is this, if these scenes are in the past? Had salvation and strength, and the Kingdom of God, and the power of his Christ then come? Ans. We understand this song to be sung in prospect. These things were made sure. The great victory had been won by Christ which put the question of their establishment forever at rest. Just as we read in other scriptures, "We have eternal life," "We have redemption through his blood," &c., as though we were actually now in possession of these blessings; whereas we only have them by faith, and the language is simply an assurance that they are forever sure to the final overcomers. The prophet then glances rapidly over the working of Satan from that time to the end, verses 11, 12, during which time the faithful "brethren" overcome him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony, while his wrath increases as his time grows short. Verses 13-17. 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 was 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. And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood, after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. But little comment is necessary on the verses last introduced. Suffice it to say that here we are again carried back to the time when Satan became fully aware that he had utterly failed in all his attempts against the Lord of glory in his earthly mission; and seeing this he turned with tenfold fury, as already noticed, upon the church which his antagonist had established. Then we have again brought to view the church in her wilderness state, a time, times and a half, 1260 years, verse 6, the flood of persecution which the Devil cast out after the church through the medium of the papacy, the help the church received from the Reformation, which being espoused by various princes and earthly powers, restrained the spirit and work of persecution, and finally the last assault of the dragon upon the commandment-keeping remnant, just in the future. It may be proper to notice that in this chapter three powers are made use of by the Devil to carry out his work, and hence are all spoken of as the dragon, he being the inspiring agent in them all. 1. Pagan Rome. 2. Papal Rome. 3. The two horned beast, Protestant America, which is the chief agent, as will hereafter appear, in making war upon those who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus. What the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus are, the readers of the Review, or, at least, all believers in the third message, already full well understand.