Verses 1-5
Revelation 12:1-5. And there
appeared a woman clothed with
the sun — “It was a well-known
custom,” says Lowman, “at the
time of this prophecy, to
represent the several virtues,
and public societies, by the
figure of a woman in some
peculiar dress, many of which
are to be seen in the Roman
coins; in particular, Salus, the
emblem of security and
protection, is represented as a
woman standing upon a globe, to
represent the safety and
security of the world under the
emperor’s care. The consecration
of the Roman emperors is
expressed in their coins by a
moon and stars, as in two of
Faustina, to express a degree of
glory superior to any on earth.
Never was any image more
expressive of honour and dignity
than this in the vision: to
stand in the midst of a glory
made by the beams of the sun;
and upon the moon, as above the
low condition of this sublunary
world; to wear a crown set with
the stars of heaven, as jewels,
is something more sublime than
any thing whereby antiquity has
represented their societies,
their virtues, or their
deities.” Bishop Newton explains
this, and the five following
verses, as follows: “St. John
resumes his subject from the
beginning, and represents the
church (Revelation 12:1-2) as a
woman, and a mother bearing
children unto Christ. She is
clothed with the sun, invested
with the rays of Jesus Christ,
the Sun of righteousness; having
the moon — The Jewish new moons
and festivals, as well as all
sublunary things; under her
feet, and upon her head a crown
of twelve stars — An emblem of
her being under the light and
guidance of the twelve apostles.
And she, being with child,
cried, travailing in birth, and
pained to be delivered — St.
Paul hath made use of the same
metaphor, and applied it to his
preaching and propagating of the
gospel, in the midst of
tribulation and persecution,
Galatians 4:19. But the words of
St. John are much stronger, and
more emphatically express the
pangs and struggles which the
church endured from the first
publication of the gospel to the
time of Constantine the Great,
when she was in some measure
eased of her pains, and brought
forth a deliverer. At the same
time, there appeared a great red
dragon — Which is the well-known
sign or symbol of the devil and
Satan, and of his agents and
instruments. We find the kings
and people of Egypt, who were
the great persecutors of the
primitive church of Israel,
distinguished by this title in
Psalms 74:13; Isaiah 51:9;
Ezekiel 29:3; and with as much
reason and propriety may the
people and emperors of Rome, who
were the great persecutors of
the primitive church of Christ,
be called by the same name, as
they were actuated by the same
principle. For that the Roman
empire was here figured, the
characters and attributes of the
dragon plainly evince. He is a
great red dragon; and purple or
scarlet was the distinguishing
colour of the Roman emperors,
consuls, and generals; as it
hath been since of the popes and
cardinals. His seven heads, as
the angel afterward (Revelation
17:9-10) explains the vision,
allude to the seven mountains
upon which Rome was built, and
to the seven forms of government
which successively prevailed
there. His ten horns typify the
ten kingdoms into which the
Roman empire was divided; and
the seven crowns upon his heads
denote, that at this time the
imperial power was in Rome, the
‘high city, seated on seven
hills, which presides over the
whole world,’ as Propertius
describes it, book 3. His tail
also (Revelation 12:4) drew the
third part of the stars of
heaven, and did cast them to the
earth — That is, he subjected
the third part of the princes
and potentates of the earth; and
the Roman empire, as we have
seen before, is represented as
the third part of the world. He
stood before the woman, which
was ready to be delivered, for
to devour her child as soon as
it was born — And the Roman
emperors and magistrates kept a
jealous, watchful eye, over the
Christians from the beginning.
As Pharaoh laid snares for the
male children of the Hebrews,
and Herod for the infant Christ,
the son of Mary; so did the
Roman dragon for the mystic
Christ, the son of the church,
that he might destroy him even
in his infancy. But
notwithstanding the jealousy of
the Romans, the gospel was
widely diffused and propagated,
and the church brought many
children unto Christ; and, in
time, such as were promoted to
the empire. She brought forth a
man-child, who was to rule all
nations with a rod of iron,
Revelation 12:5 — It was
predicted that Christ should
rule over the nations, Psalms
2:9; but Christ, who is himself
invisible in the heavens, ruleth
visibly in Christian
magistrates, princes, and
emperors. It was therefore
promised before, to Christians
in general, (Revelation
2:26-27,) He that overcometh,
and keepeth my words unto the
end, to him will I give power
over the nations, &c. But it
should seem that Constantine was
here particularly intended, for
whose life the dragon Galerius
laid many snares, but he
providentially escaped them all;
and notwithstanding all
opposition, was caught up unto
the throne of God — Was not only
secured by the divine
protection, but was advanced to
the imperial throne, called the
throne of God; for, (Romans
13:1,) there is no power but of
God, &c. He too ruled all
nations with a rod of iron; for
he had not only the Romans, who
before had persecuted the
church, under his dominion, but
also subdued the Scythians,
Sarmatians, and other barbarous
nations, who had never before
been subject to the Roman
empire; and, as Spanheim informs
us, there are still extant
medals and coins of his with
these inscriptions: The subduer
of the barbarous nations; the
conqueror of all nations;
everywhere a conqueror; and the
like. What is added, Revelation
12:6, of the woman’s fleeing
into the wilderness for a
thousand two hundred and
threescore days, is said by way
of prolepsis or anticipation.
For the war in heaven between
Michael and the dragon, and
other subsequent events, were
prior, in order of time, to the
flight of the woman into the
wilderness; but before the
prophet passes on to a new
subject, he gives a general
account of what happened to the
woman afterward, and enters more
into the particulars in their
proper place.
Verses 7-12
Revelation 12:7-12. And there
was war in heaven, &c. — It
might reasonably be presumed
that all the powers of idolatry
would be strenuously exerted
against the establishment of
Christianity, and especially
against the establishment of a
Christian on the imperial
throne: and these struggles and
contentions between the heathen
and the Christian religions are
here represented by war in
heaven, between the angels of
darkness and angels of light.
Michael was (Daniel 10:21;
Daniel 12:1) the tutelar angel
and protector of the Jewish
Church. He performs here the
same office for the Christian
Church. He and the good angels,
who are sent forth (Hebrews
1:14) to minister to the heirs
of salvation, were the invisible
agents on one side, as the devil
and his evil agents were on the
other. The visible actors in the
cause of Christianity were the
believing emperors and ministers
of the word, the martyrs and
confessors; and in support of
idolatry, were the persecuting
emperors and heathen
magistrates, together with the
whole train of priests and
sophists. This contest lasted
several years, and the final
issue of it was, (Revelation
12:8-9,) that the Christian
prevailed over the heathen
religion; the heathen were
deposed from all rule and
authority, and the Christians
were advanced to dominion and
empire in their stead. Our
Saviour said unto his disciples
casting devils out of the bodies
of men, (Luke 10:18,) I beheld
Satan as lightning fall from
heaven. In the same figure Satan
fell from heaven: and was cast
out into the earth — When he was
thrust out of the imperial
throne; and his angels were cast
out with him — Not only all the
heathen priests and officers,
civil and military, were
cashiered, but their very gods
and demons, who before were
adored, became the subjects of
contempt and execration. It is
very remarkable that Constantine
himself, and the Christians of
his time, described his
conquests under the same image,
as if they had understood that
this prophecy had received its
accomplishment in him. Moreover,
a picture of Constantine was set
up over the palace gate, with
the cross over his head, and
under his feet the great enemy
of mankind, who persecuted the
church by the means of impious
tyrants, in the form of a
dragon, transfixed with a dart
through the midst of his body,
and falling headlong into the
depth of the sea: in allusion,
it is said expressly, to the
divine oracles in the books of
the prophets, where that evil
spirit is called the dragon, and
the crooked serpent. Upon this
victory of the church there is
introduced (Revelation 12:10) a
triumphant hymn of thanksgiving
for the depression of idolatry
and exaltation of true religion.
It was not by temporal means or
arms that the Christians
obtained this victory,
(Revelation 12:11,) but by
spiritual; by the merits and
death of their Redeemer, by
their constant profession of the
truth, and by their patient
suffering of all kinds of
tortures, even unto death: and
the blood of the martyrs hath
been often called the seed of
the church. This victory was
indeed matter of joy and triumph
to the blessed angels and
glorified saints in heaven,
(Revelation 12:12,) by whose
sufferings it was in great
measure obtained; but still new
woes are threatened to the
inhabiters of the earth; for,
though the dragon was deposed,
yet was he not destroyed; though
idolatry was depressed, yet was
it not wholly suppressed; there
were still many pagans
intermixed with the Christians,
and the devil would incite fresh
troubles and disturbances on
earth, because he knew that he
had but a short time — That is,
it would not be long before the
pagan religion should be totally
abolished, and the Christian
religion prevail in all the
Roman empire.
Verses 13-17
Revelation 12:13-17. And when
the dragon saw that he was cast
unto the earth: &c. — When the
dragon was thus deposed from the
imperial throne, and cast unto
the earth, (Revelation 12:13,)
he still continued to persecute
the church with equal malice,
though not with equal power. He
made several attempts to restore
the pagan idolatry in the reign
of Constantine, and afterward in
the reign of Julian; he traduced
and abused the Christian
religion by such writers as
Hierocles, Libanius, and others
of the same stamp and character;
he rent and troubled the church
with heresies and schisms; he
stirred up the favourers of the
Arians to persecute and destroy
the orthodox Christians. But the
church was still under the
protection of the empire,
(Revelation 12:14,) and to the
woman were given two wings of a
great eagle — As God said to the
children of Israel, (Exodus
19:4,) Ye have seen what I did
unto the Egyptians, and how I
bare you on eagles’ wings, &c.;
so the church was supported and
carried, as it were, on eagles’
wings: but the similitude is the
more proper in this case, an
eagle being the Roman ensign,
and the two wings alluding
probably to the division that
was then made of the eastern and
the western empire. In this
manner was the church protected,
and these wings were given, that
she might flee into the
wilderness, into a place of
retirement and security, from
the face of the serpent — Not
that she fled into the
wilderness at that time, but
several years afterward; and
there she is nourished for a
time, and times, and half a time
— That is, three prophetic years
and a half, which is the same
period with the twelve hundred
and sixty days, or years, before
mentioned. So long the church is
to remain in a desolate and
afflicted state, during the
reign of antichrist; as Elijah,
while idolatry and famine
prevailed in Israel, was
secretly fed and nourished three
years and six months in the
wilderness. But before the woman
fled into the wilderness, the
serpent cast out of his mouth
water as a flood, (Revelation
12:15,) with intent to wash her
away. Waters, in the style of
the Apocalypse, (Revelation
17:16,) signify peoples and
nations; so that here was a
great inundation of various
nations excited by the dragon,
or the friends and patrons of
the old idolatry, to oppress and
overwhelm the Christian
religion. Such appeared plainly
to have been the design of the
dragon, when Stilicho, prime
minister of the Emperor
Honorius, invited the barbarous
heathen nations, the Goths,
Alans, Sueves, and Vandals, to
invade the Roman empire, hoping
by their means to raise his son
Eucherius to the throne, who
from a boy was an enemy to the
Christians, and threatened to
signalize the beginning of his
reign with the restoration of
the pagan, and abolition of the
Christian religion. Nothing
indeed was more likely to
produce the ruin and utter
subversion of the Christian
Church, than the irruptions of
so many barbarous heathen
nations into the Roman empire.
But the event proved contrary to
human appearance and
expectation: the earth swallowed
up the flood, Revelation 12:16 —
The barbarians were rather
swallowed up by the Romans, than
the Romans by the barbarians;
the heathen conquerors, instead
of imposing their own, submitted
to the religion of the conquered
Christians; and they not only
embraced the religion, but
affected even the laws, the
manners, the customs, the
language, and the very name of
Romans. This course not
succeeding according to probable
expectation, the dragon did not
therefore desist from his
purpose, (Revelation 12:17,) but
only took another method of
persecuting the true sons of the
church, as we shall see in the
next chapter. It is said that he
went to make war with the
remnant of her seed, who kept
the commandments of God, and
have the testimony of Jesus —
Which implies that at this time
there was only a remnant; that
corruptions were greatly
increased, and the faithful were
diminished from among the
children of men. |