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A crown of
twelve stars was upon this woman's head. She was exalted and crowned
a queen. Her husband was the King of kings and Lord of lords
(Christ) and she is exalted to the position of queen, reigning by
His side through His power over all the powers of evil and Satan
right here in the earth.
In the Scriptures "star" is used to symbolize ministers or spiritual
rulers or luminaries. Let us look at Rev. 1:20, "The mystery of the
seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden
candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches."
Then in the 2nd chapter of Revelation, the messages to the seven
churches begin and we note in verses 1, 8, 12, and 18, and in
chapter 3, verses 1, 7, and 14 that the message to each individual
church is addressed to the angel of that church. That would mean the
minister or overseer there in that congregation. Perhaps the twelve
stars in the woman's crown refer to the twelve apostles of Christ
who were her first ministers and were co-workers with Christ Himself
in establishing her in truth in the earth.
The moon was under her feet. The moon has no light of its own, but
reflects the light of the sun. This is a proper symbolizing of the
law and prophet age above which the church had just risen to receive
the grace and truth which was brought by Christ Himself. The law
with its various rituals and sacrifices and mode of worship typified
Christ and the prophets prophesied of Him. In reality, all the light
that the law and prophet age had was that which was reflected upon
it by the Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, who was to come.
This woman (the church) was travailing in birth and pained to be
delivered of a child. This properly symbolized the earnestness and
zeal with which the early church labored and sacrificed all to win
souls for Christ. And she brought forth a man child. This man child
properly represents the multitude of souls who were brought to
Christ, born again, in the early church. There were about three
thousand in one day on the day of Pentecost, and soon afterward we
read of five thousand, etc.
Some may question how a man child could represent such a multitude,
but this is no mystery when we understand what the saving grace of
God does for people and that those who are saved are of "One heart
and one soul" (Acts 4:32), and that the whole church is the "Body of
Christ" (Eph. 1:22, 23, Col. 1:18), and there is "ONE BODY" (Eph.
4:6, 1 Cor. 12:13, Rom. 12:5). Further in Eph. 2:13-15 we find that
the entire multitude of saved people composed of both Jews and
Gentiles who have been brought together in Christ are referred to as
"ONE NEW MAN."
Now at this point when the woman was bringing forth this man child
(multitudes of believers) the dragon appears and goes into action.
He stood before the woman to devour her child as soon as it was
born. So now we will turn our attention to the dragon, the second
wonder mentioned in Rev. 12, and identify him in the Scriptures.
First, he is described as having seven heads and ten horns. Would we
expect to see such a literal, physical monster as that? Certainly
not! Then we know that he symbolizes something and the Scripture
will help us in finding out what.
In the Bible, a horn stands as a symbol of power and authority. They
stand for the same here in connection with the dragon. The head
would more properly symbolize the ruler or system through which this
power or authority was executed. The Scriptures make this perfectly
plain concerning this dragon of Rev. 12 and the beast of Rev. 13
which had the same identical marks as the dragon-seven heads and ten
horns.
Now, let us turn to Rev. 17:3, and we find here a scarlet-colored
beast having seven heads and ten horns-the same identical marks as
the dragon of Rev. 12 and the beast of Rev. 13. This time there is a
woman riding on the beast, but she is a very different woman from
the woman of Rev. 12 who was clothed with the sun, etc., and a pure
woman. But this woman of Rev. 17 is declared to be a vile harlot. If
the pure woman of Rev. 12 represented the true pure Church of God in
the earth, which the Scripture clearly proves that she did, then a
woman who was an impure, vile harlot, would properly represent a
false church or religion. But this woman was riding on the beast,
therefore we are certain that in some way this beast which is
identical with the beast of Rev. 13 together with the dragon which
gave the beast its power and seat and authority and which is
distinguished by the same marks-seven heads and ten horns-must be,
or is closely connected with a false, impure system of religion.
Rev. 17:7 says, "I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of
the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten
horns." Then, in verse 9, it says, "The seven heads are seven
mountains on which the woman sitteth." The city of Rome, which was
at that time the governmental and political head of all the
then-known world, is said to be situated on seven mountains. This is
a geographical note of history concerning the city. This verse,
then, helps to establish the location or place of the seat of
authority of the dragon and beast.
But the seven heads also had a further meaning besides just the
seven mountains on which the woman sat. Verse 10 says, "And there
are seven kings." During the reign of the Roman Empire as a
universal power there were seven different systems or forms of
government through which her universal power was executed. They
were: (1) The regal power, or kings. (2) Consuls or dictators. (3)
Decemvirate, a government by ten men. (4) Military Tribunes or
Consuls. (5) Triumvirate, a government by three men. (6) Imperial or
emperors (under the Caesars). (7) The Exarchate or Patriciate (Exarch
was the title of the ruler of this western kingdom under
Charlemagne).
Then in verse 12, attention is turned to the horns instead of the
heads, and it says, "And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten
kings, which have received no kingdom as yet." This refers to the
ten minor kingdoms which grew out of the Roman Empire during its
decline and fall. History records such to have been the case and
names these kingdoms as follows: Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Sueves,
Vandals, Franks, Burgundians, Heruli, Saxons, Huns, and Lombards.
At the time the Revelation was given to the Apostle John about 96 A.
D., the Roman Empire was in its unified form as a world power, and
the ten horns had not yet come into existence. The Scripture says
they are ten kings which have not yet received a kingdom. But at a
later date the Roman Empire disintegrated and fell apart and was
broken up into ten minor parts or kingdoms.
These are all merely identifying marks of the dragon and beast so
that we might know where to locate them and not be deceived into
thinking that this Scripture is teaching something which it is not,
such as the devil being in heaven and there being war in heaven,
etc.
Rome has been in her time the seat of two grossly false systems of
religion. Hence, it was necessary to symbolize her in two forms-a
dragon in one instance, and a beast in another-but the seven heads
and ten horns of each definitely identifies both of them with Rome.
The two false systems of religion of which Rome has been the seat
are Paganism (heathenism, idolatry) and Papalism. The dragon
symbolizes
Pagan Rome and the beast symbolizes Papal Rome.
Rome in its Pagan form with its heathenish and idolatrous worship
was prevailing over all the world when Christ came to earth to bring
salvation. This false system of religion with its worship and
sacrifices to its idol gods stood in direct opposition to the
worship of the true God as taught and practiced by Christ, His
apostles, and the early church in general. He stood before the woman
(true church) ready to devour her child as soon as it was born.
History proves this to have been a literal reality. The opposition
became so violent between them that it was finally declared to be a
capital crime punishable by death to profess Christianity. When
anyone would profess a faith in Christ he was subject to death as
soon as he was apprehended. History gives an account of more than
sixty millions who were put to death for the name of Christ and
their testimony of faith in Him as their Saviour during the combined
reign of both of these false systems of religion of which Rome was
the seat-Paganism and Papalism.
This is what is meant by the war in heaven-the ecclesiastical or
religious heaven. It is said that Michael (Christ) and His angels
(ministers) fought and the dragon (the false religious system of
Paganism which was dominated, permeated, and engineered by the
spirit of the devil himself) and his angels (the priests or
ministers or prophets of this false system of religion) fought.
A clear example that this was in the ecclesiastical heaven (the
violent opposition between true and false idolatrous religion) is
found in Acts 19:23 through the remainder of the chapter. On this
occasion Paul and some companions had gone into Asia preaching the
gospel of Christ. They came to Ephesus, which was much given to the
idolatrous worship of the goddess, Diana. As they taught them that
there were no gods which were made with hands, etc., a violent
opposition developed against them and they were mistreated and
man-handled, etc., and there was much confusion throughout the
entire city, and the people of that city cried with one voice for
about the space of two hours, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians."
Other examples can be found in the New Testament and many, many such
cases can be found in church history.
This is what is meant by the woman's child being caught up to God
and to His throne. When the converts were born or brought forth,
then they were put to death and their souls ascended to God. It also
explains the statement in verse 11 that they loved not their lives
unto death. They were willing to die for Jesus' sake. Paul, who was
a martyr for the cause of Christ, said, "Neither count I my life
dear unto me, that I might finish my course with joy." Acts 20:24.
The fact that this dragon is called Satan in the 9th verse merely
shows the nature of his activity. Satan was more or less a general
term applying to any individual or power that stood as an opposer.
Jesus called Peter "Satan" on one occasion when he stood before Him
and attempted to dissuade Him from going up to Jerusalem because he
knew He would suffer there. (Matt. 16:23). Therefore this false
system of religion was called "Satan" because it stood in opposition
to the true religion. This does not at all disannul the fact that
the term "Satan" is applied to the devil in many instances in the
Scriptures, but sufficient evidence has already been produced to
show this is not talking about the devil himself in this chapter,
but the agent or system through which he operated.
Verse 9 says the dragon and his angels were cast out. As the truth
of God with its enlightening and regenerating power continued to
spread through the earth through the efforts and work of Christ, His
apostles and then the great company of the early church, the
deceptions of the devil in this false system of idolatrous worship
were more and more uncovered and exposed until the people were able
to see the truth and the condition they were in, and as they did,
they threw down the false worship and that idolatrous worship,
through which the devil had been successful so long in deceiving
their darkened souls and causing them to hold it in high esteem in
their hearts, was exposed by the light of truth, and was then cast
out of the high esteem and allegiance of the people and cast down to
a low plane of ill-repute and was looked on with disdain and
contempt by the people as they discovered its errors and turned unto
the truth. Therefore it is said to have been cast out of heaven (the
high and exalted place it had in the hearts of the people).
Bear in mind that it is talking about the dragon all the time, and
we have already seen clearly by the Scriptures what the dragon
symbolized. |
