Revelation 12

PLUS

9. that old serpent--alluding to Genesis 3:1 Genesis 3:4 .
Devil--the Greek, for "accuser," or "slanderer."
Satan--the Hebrew for "adversary," especially in a court of justice. The twofold designation, Greek and Hebrew, marks the twofold objects of his accusations and temptations, the elect Gentiles and the elect Jews.
world--Greek, "habitable world."

10. Now--Now that Satan has been cast out of heaven. Primarily fulfilled in part at Jesus' resurrection and ascension, when He said ( Matthew 28:18 ), "All power [Greek, 'exousia,' 'authority,' as here; see below] is given unto Me in heaven and in earth"; connected with Revelation 12:5 , "Her child was caught up unto God and to His throne." In the ulterior sense, it refers to the eve of Christ's second coming, when Israel is about to be restored as mother-church of Christendom, Satan, who had resisted her restoration on the ground of her unworthiness, having been cast out by the instrumentality of Michael, Israel's angelic prince Thus this is parallel, and the necessary preliminary to the glorious event similarly expressed, Revelation 11:15 , "The kingdom of this world is become (the very word here, Greek, 'egeneto,' 'is come,' 'hath come to pass') our Lord's and His Christ's," the result of Israel's resuming her place.
salvation, &c.--Greek, "the salvation (namely, fully, finally, and victoriously accomplished, Hebrews 9:28 ; compare Luke 3:6 , yet future; hence, not till now do the blessed raise the fullest hallelujah for salvation to the Lamb, Revelation 7:10 , 19:1 ) the power (Greek, 'dunamis'), and the authority (Greek, 'exousia'; 'legitimate power'; see above) of His Christ."
accused them before our God day and night--Hence the need that the oppressed Church, God's own elect (like the widow, continually coming, so as even to weary the unjust judge), should cry day and night unto Him.

11. they--emphatic in the Greek. "They" in particular. They and they alone. They were the persons who overcame.
overcame--( Romans 8:33 Romans 8:34 Romans 8:37 , 16:20 ).
him--( 1 John 2:14 1 John 2:15 ). It is the same victory (a peculiarly Johannean phrase) over Satan and the world which the Gospel of John describes in the life of Jesus, his Epistle in the life of each believer, and his Apocalypse in the life of the Church.
by, &c.--Greek (dia to haima; accusative, not genitive case, as English Version would require, compare Hebrews 9:12 ), "on account of (on the ground of) the blood of the Lamb"; "because of"; on account of and by virtue of its having been shed. Had that blood not been shed, Satan's accusations would have been unanswerable; as it is, that blood meets every charge. SCHOTTGEN mentions the Rabbinical tradition that Satan accuses men all days of the year, except the day of atonement. TITTMANN takes the Greek "dia," as it often means, out of regard to the blood of the Lamb; this was the impelling cause which induced them to undertake the contest for the sake of it; but the view given above is good Greek, and more in accordance with the general sense of Scripture.
by the word of their testimony--Greek, "on account of the word of their testimony." On the ground of their faithful testimony, even unto death, they are constituted victors. Their testimony evinced their victory over him by virtue of the blood of the Lamb. Hereby they confess themselves worshippers of the slain Lamb and overcome the beast, Satan's representative; an anticipation of Revelation 15:2 , "them that had gotten the victory over the beast" (compare Revelation 13:15 Revelation 13:16 ).
unto--Greek, "achri," "even as far as." They carried their not-love of life as far as even unto death.

12. Therefore--because Satan is cast out of heaven ( Revelation 12:9 ).
dwell--literally, "tabernacle." Not only angels and the souls of the just with God, but also the faithful militant on earth, who already in spirit tabernacle in heaven, having their home and citizenship there, rejoice that Satan is cast out of their home. "Tabernacle" for dwell is used to mark that, though still on the earth, they in spirit are hidden "in the secret of God's tabernacle." They belong not to the world, and, therefore, exult in judgment having been passed on the prince of this world.
the inhabiters of--So ANDREAS reads. But A, B, and C omit. The words probably, were inserted from Revelation 8:13 .
is come down--rather as Greek, "catebee," "is gone down"; John regarding the heaven as his standing-point of view whence he looks down on the earth.
unto you--earth and sea, with their inhabitants; those who lean upon, and essentially belong to, the earth (contrast John 3:7 , Margin, with John 3:31 , 8:23 , Philippians 3:19 , end; 1 John 4:5 ) and its sea-like troubled politics. Furious at his expulsion from heaven, and knowing that his time on earth is short until he shall be cast down lower, when Christ shall come to set up His kingdom ( Revelation 20:1 Revelation 20:2 ), Satan concentrates all his power to destroy as many souls as he can. Though no longer able to accuse the elect in heaven, he can tempt and persecute on earth. The more light becomes victorious, the greater will be the struggles of the powers of darkness; whence, at the last crisis, Antichrist will manifest himself with an intensity of iniquity greater than ever before.
short time--Greek, "kairon," "season": opportunity for his assaults.

13. Resuming from Revelation 12:6 the thread of the discourse, which had been interrupted by the episode, Revelation 12:7-12 (giving in the invisible world the ground of the corresponding conflict between light and darkness in the visible world), this verse accounts for her flight into the wilderness ( Revelation 12:6 ).

14. were given--by God's determinate appointment, not by human chances ( Acts 9:11 ).
two--Greek, "the two wings of the great eagle." Alluding to Exodus 19:4 : proving that the Old Testament Church, as well as the New Testament Church, is included in "the woman." All believers are included ( Isaiah 40:30 Isaiah 40:31 ). The great eagle is the world power; in Ezekiel 17:3 Ezekiel 17:7 , Babylon and Egypt: in early Church history, Rome, whose standard was the eagle, turned by God's providence from being hostile into a protector of the Christian Church. As "wings" express remote parts of the earth, the two wings may here mean the east and west divisions of the Roman empire.
wilderness--the land of the heathen, the Gentiles: in contrast to Canaan, the pleasant and glorious land. God dwells in the glorious land; demons (the rulers of the heathen world, Revelation 9:20 , 1 Corinthians 10:20 ), in the wilderness. Hence Babylon is called the desert of the sea, Isaiah 21:1-10 (referred to also in Revelation 14:8 , 18:2 ). Heathendom, in its essential nature, being without God, is a desolate wilderness. Thus, the woman's flight into the wilderness is the passing of the kingdom of God from the Jews to be among the Gentiles (typified by Mary's flight with her child from Judea into Egypt). The eagle flight is from Egypt into the wilderness. The Egypt meant is virtually stated ( Revelation 11:8 ) to be Jerusalem, which has become spiritually so by crucifying our Lord. Out of her the New Testament Church flees, as the Old Testament Church out of the literal Egypt; and as the true Church subsequently is called to flee out of Babylon (the woman become an harlot, that is, the Church become apostate) [AUBERLEN].
her place--the chief seat of the then world empire, Rome. The Acts of the Apostles describe the passing of the Church from Jerusalem to Rome. The Roman protection was the eagle wing which often shielded Paul, the great instrument of this transmigration, and Christianity, from Jewish opponents who stirred up the heathen mobs. By degrees the Church had "her place" more and more secure, until, under Constantine, the empire became Christian. Still, all this Church-historical period is regarded as a wilderness time, wherein the Church is in part protected, in part oppressed, by the world power, until just before the end the enmity of the world power under Satan shall break out against the Church worse than ever. As Israel was in the wilderness forty years, and had forty-two stages in her journey, so the Church for forty-two months, three and a half years or times [literally, seasons, used for years in Hellenistic Greek (MOERIS, the Atticist), Greek, "kairous," Daniel 7:25 , 12:7 ], or 1260 days ( Revelation 12:6 ) between the overthrow of Jerusalem and the coming again of Christ, shall be a wilderness sojourner before she reaches her millennial rest (answering to Canaan of old). It is possible that, besides this Church-historical fulfilment, there may be also an ulterior and narrower fulfilment in the restoration of Israel to Palestine, Antichrist for seven times (short periods analogical to the longer ones) having power there, for the former three and a half times keeping covenant with the Jews, then breaking it in the midst of the week, and the mass of the nation fleeing by a second Exodus into the wilderness, while a remnant remains in the land exposed to a fearful persecution (the "144,000 sealed of Israel," Revelation 7:1-8 , 14:1 , standing with the Lamb, after the conflict is over, on Mount Zion: "the first-fruits" of a large company to be gathered to Him) [DE BURGH]. These details are very conjectural. In Daniel 7:25 , 12:7 , the subject, as perhaps here, is the time of Israel's calamity. That seven times do not necessarily mean seven years, in which each day is a year, that is, 2520 years, appears from Nebuchadnezzar's seven times ( Daniel 4:23 ), answering to Antichrist, the beast's duration.

15, 16. flood--Greek, "river" (compare Exodus 2:3 , Matthew 2:20 ; and especially Exodus 14:1-31 ). The flood, or river, is the stream of Germanic tribes which, pouring on Rome, threatened to destroy Christianity. But the earth helped the woman, by swallowing up the flood. The earth, as contradistinguished from water, is the world consolidated and civilized. The German masses were brought under the influence of Roman civilization and Christianity [AUBERLEN]. Perhaps it includes also, generally, the help given by earthly powers (those least likely, yet led by God's overruling providence to give help) to the Church against persecutions and also heresies, by which she has been at various times assailed.

17. wroth with--Greek, "at."
went--Greek, "went away."
the remnant of her seed--distinct in some sense from the woman herself. Satan's first effort was to root out the Christian Church, so that there should be no visible profession of Christianity. Foiled in this, he wars ( Revelation 11:7 , 13:7 ) against the invisible Church, namely, "those who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus" (A, B, and C omit "Christ"). These are "the remnant," or rest of her seed, as distinguished from her seed, "the man-child" ( Revelation 12:5 ), on one hand, and from mere professors on the other. The Church, in her beauty and unity (Israel at the head of Christendom, the whole forming one perfect Church), is now not manifested, but awaiting the manifestations of the sons of God at Christ's coming. Unable to destroy Christianity and the Church as a whole, Satan directs his enmity against true Christians, the elect remnant: the others he leaves unmolested.