THE PAPAL WARFARE AGAINST THE

TRUTH.

THE 12th chapter of Revelation gives another aspect of substantially the same period of 1260 days. It first symbolises the Church of God in her faithfulness, and then the fall of the Papacy, with the resulting warfare :— "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" (Rev. xii. 1–6).

Heaven here is the symbolical heaven-i.e., the Church on earth. The true Church is indeed "a great wonder in heaven." Her clothing is Christ-her crown is the apostleship; she tramples under foot the powers of darkness. In the absence of the sun, the moon symbol

ises the Church, as reflecting His light. Here we must interpret the moon from Genesis i. 16, as the symbol of the rulers of darkness (Eph. vi. 17). "Under her feet ” is ὑποκάτω τῶν ποδῶν, a very different expression from vπOTÓSLOV Tâν Todŵv—a footstool, a place of honour. It is an image of being trampled under foot.

The crown of twelve stars being the apostleship, has misled expositors to limit this woman to the Christian Church, as distinguished from the Abrahamic olive-tree. This is a great mistake, as we have seen in expounding the beast with seven heads and ten horns as the Roman Empire. In the symbol of a continuous corporate body, all the features are not co-existent. Each one is remarkable in its own time and place. As Christians are Abraham's seed, so this woman is the true Church from Abraham to the close of the 1260 days and onwards. We have a parallel case in chap. xv. 3.

This woman was in pain to be delivered of Christ, who came into this world as a member of the Church on earth. Another great wonder, the devil, appeared in the same place—the symbolical heaven. On earth, where Jesus is, there the devil is also. In the supper-chamber Satan entered into Judas Iscariot. The devil is here symbolised as having seven heads, and ten horns, and seven diadems upon his heads. He is the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.

The founder of empire was Nimrod (the rebel). From his days to the Roman Empire, there were seven forms of universal monarchy:-1. The Babylon of Nimrod; 2.

The primitive Assyrian Empire; 3. The later Assyrian Empire; 4. The Babylon of Nebuchadnezzar; 5. Persia; 6. Greece; 7. Rome. The latter had its ten horns. All these have been animated by one spirit of self-will, and so have been wrought upon by Satan. This inward principle is here indicated by the dragon having seven heads and ten horns. It is the heads that are seen crowned (diademed), because the principal object here is the devil's continuous influence in human empire.

As standing in the presence of the woman, his tail is seen drawing down the third part of the stars of heaven and casting them to the earth. "The prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail." The lying teachings of Satan deprived the third part of the apostleship of the Church of its heavenly character, and made it earthlyminded. That earthliness of mind is connected with worldly politics, as suggested by the seven heads and ten horns.

The ecclesiastical world was divided into the East, the South, and the West. Of these three it was the West alone which acquired political dominion. Since then, the Roman Ecclesia has become the Roman Curia. Such is the symbolic description of the true Church, in her purity with her holy apostleship; of the devil in his political influence; and of the corruption of the Western hierarchy in becoming an earthly polity.

We now return to the history, and, first, respecting the birth and death of Christ :-" 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."

This is the birth and ascension of our Blessed Lord. We have then the wilderness condition of the Church:"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."

Although represented under the figure of a local flight, the thing intended is a moral change of condition. Moral change is often described as a local one. "And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be cast down to hell" (Matt. xi. 23). See also Lamentations ii. 1. For the wilderness condition of the Church, see Jeremiah xii. 7-11. In that wilderness condition of all around for 1260 years the Lord knew how to preserve His own: "A place prepared of God, where they should feed her 1260 days."

The struggle between Christ's faithful ones and the fallen third part of the apostolate is then described :"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" (ver. 7, 8).

Michael is here the symbolic Michael-i.e., the Lord Jesus Christ. The dragon's angels are the Romish priesthood. St Paul said of influential preachers in the Church in his day, "But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occa

sion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we. For such as are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works" (2 Cor. xi. 12-15).

The end of this 1260 years' struggle is victory to Christ's people, and the entire expulsion of Satan and false teachers: "Neither was their place found any more in heaven."

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There is, however, to be a period of great anarchy :— "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. 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" (Rev. xii. 9–12).

The blessed in paradise rejoice with the faithful on