pained to be delivered. 3 And there appeared another This is a further confirmation of the opinion expressed above, that the woman who travailed in birth represented the new covenant. For what is meant by Zion travailing? Zion certainly stands for the new covenant. We have shown already, that Paul regarded Sinai and Jerusalem from above as an allegory to represent "the two covenants;" Gal. iv. 24. Zion is but another name for the heavenly Jerusalem. Hence Paul says to the Hebrews, "Ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, * * * and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant," &c; Heb. xii. 22-24. Taking, then, the accustomed use of figures by the sacred writers as our guide, we are surely led to the conclusion that the woman may represent Zion in travail, as expressed in Isa. Ixvi. 8. Paul employs a like figure, when he says, My little children, of whom I travail in birth again, until Christ be formed in you;" Gal. iv. 19. A like figure occurs in the following passage: "But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be Ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel. And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth;" Micah v. 2-4. How agreeable both to prophetical and apostolical usage, for the revelator to represent Zion as "travailing in birth and pained to be delivered." wonder in heaven; and behold, a great red dragon, having seven metaphor or sign appeared, up in the heavenly field where the revelator saw the woman clothed with the sun. ¶ A great red dragon. — This sign, or metaphor, was "a great red dragon, with seven heads, and ten horns, and seven crowns on his heads." The dragon was a fabulous animal, perhaps supposed by the ancients to have had an actual existence. It is thought by some to have been like a winged serpent, and by others like the crocodile. Be this as it may, there is no question that the dragon before us, like the woman clothed with the sun, is altogether allegorical. No such real animal ever existed, as is de. scribed in the verse before us. Hav. ing settled, then, that the dragon is allegorical, we must proceed to inquire what he represents. And, first, did the prophets use the dragon as a metaphor? and if so, what did they intend it to represent? This is the first time the word is used in the Apocalypse. Let us look into the Old Testament. In speaking of the way in which God wrought destruction upon his enemies, David said: "Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength; thou breakest the heads of the dragons in the waters;" Psa. lxxiv. 13. By "dragons" here seem to be meant the Egyptian hosts who pursued the children of Israel. The prophet describes God's enemies under the figure of a dragon, Isa. xxvii. 1: "In that day the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea." See also Isa. li. 9: "Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, [Egypt,] and wounded the dragon?" Here the Egyptians, who pursued the Israelites to destroy them, are again represented under the metaphor of a dragon. Nebuchadnezzar was a 3. Another wonder in heaven. By dragon to the Jews. See Jer. li. 34: this is meant that another remarkable" Nebuchadnezzar the king of Baby 66 heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. - 4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and rulers. Turn now to Rev. xvii. 12, for the explanation: "The ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings." And so, concerning the beast which Daniel saw in his vision, we are told: " And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise;" Dan. vii. 24. This, then, is the explanation which the sacred writers themselves give of this matter. The dragon was that power in the Roman Empire which was the first to persecute the Christians. Observe, that he did not rise out of the sea, like the beast mentioned in chap. xiii., which we shall consider largely when we come to that place; but he appeared as a sign, or wonder, in heaven. Per haps John placed this scene in the firmament, and chose the figures principally from celestial objects, to denote that he was describing spiritual matters. If so, the dragon represented a spiritual power; and hence we infer it was Rome spiritual, or Rome in her religious character. It was this power of the empire which commenced the persecution of the Christians; and the dragon is the first emblem we find in the Apocalypse to represent Roman persecution. It is lon hath devoured me, he hath crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath swallowed me up like a dragon, he hath filled his belly with my delicates, he hath cast me out." The same figure is applied to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, in Ezek. xxix. 3: "Speak and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself." Thus have we shown, indisputably, that by the figure of the dragon, the Old Testament writers were accustomed to represent powerful, cruel, crushing enemies. Of this there is no doubt; and the same sense shall we apply to the dragon before us. But what enemy is represented? We must determine that by his heads and horns. Seven heads. In giving a description of mystery Babylon, the mother of harlots, [by which the city of Rome was doubtless meant,] the revelator says: "The seven heads [of the beast] are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth;" xvii. 9. This is so direct an allusion to Rome, that there seems no danger of mistake. Rome, the seat of the im-true the civil power was subsequently perial government, was "the sevenhilled city." Historians, geographers and poets, all speak of the city with seven hills; and passages might be quoted to this purpose without number and without end. But the seven heads of the dragon represented not merely the seven mountains on which the city stood, but also "seven kings;" xvii. 10; and hence it is said, that the dragon had "seven crowns upon his heads." It seems evident, then, that this great fire-colored (purros) dragon represented something appertaining to the Roman Empire. ¶ Ten horns. And he not only had seven neads, but ten horns. Horns are emblems of power; and in the case before us they represent earthly incited to the opposition; but Paganism was the inciting cause of the persecution. Hence the great firecolored dragon appears in the description before the beast, [the secular power,] mentioned in chap. xi. Christ came to overthrow Paganism; but he did not come to overthrow the government of the empire. Paganism, therefore, under the figure of the dragon, is first represented as seeking to crush Christ. But let us attend further to the description of the dragon. 4. His tail drew a third part of the stars. The object here is to set forth the extraordinary power of the dragon. In chap. ix. 17-19, we found a highly figurative description of the cavalry : did cast them to the earth and delivered, for to devour her the dragon stood before the child as soon as it was born. woman which was ready to be of the Roman army. The horses 5 And she brought forth a their high stations. So Isaiah says, - spee Who hath heard breathed fire and smoke and brimstone; and their tails were like serpents, having heads. The sole intent in that passage seems to have been to represent the horses to be as fearful as possible. So, to represent the dragon's power, it is said, "his tail drew a third part of the stars." The dragon, if he represented the spiritual power of Rome, or paganism, would, of course, have great influence among the rulers of the empire; they would be more or less under his guidance; 5. Brought forth a man-child. This and all who have learned of the is one of the most interesting verses immense power of heathen priests, in the whole chapter. The prophet know that they could almost make said, "A virgin shall conceive and and unmake rulers at their pleasure. bear a son, and thou shalt call his They had means of guiding public name Immanuel;” Isa. vii. 14. A sentiment and controlling the public "man-child" was born. Is not this will. Such a power in the dragon, the man-child brought forth by Zion, would be well described by his draw- and mentioned in Isa. lxvi? At any ing after him the stars of heaven. rate the figures are similar: "Before John had placed the scene in the she travailed, she brought forth; befirmament, among the stars. He fore her pain came, she was delivered showed the dragon's power, therefore, of a man-child. by representing him as drawing the such a thing? who hath seen such stars. The metaphor, perhaps, was things? shall the earth be made to suggested by the passage in Daniel: bring forth in one day? or shall a "And it waxed great, even to the nation be born at once? for as soon nost of heaven: and it cast down as Zion travailed, she brought forth some of the host and of the stars to her children;" verses 7, 8, of the the ground, and stamped upon them;" chapter mentioned. ¶ Rule all nations viii. 10. Daniel meant by stars Jew-with a rod of iron. This man-child ish rulers. The dragon was repre- was "to rule all nations with a rod sented as very powerful; he had of iron." Who is this but the Christ? immense influence. It would seem God says of his Son, whom he had to require great power to strike the begotten: "Ask of me, and I will stars out of their places. Star stands, give thee the heathen for thine inherin the metaphorical language of the itance, and the uttermost parts of the Bible, for a ruler, an eminent person, earth for thy possession. Thou shalt as we saw in treating of the angels break them with a rod of iron," &c.; of the churches; i. 20. This dragon Psa. ii. 8, 9; Rev. ii. 26, 27; xix. 15. had power to draw many of the rulers It seems difficult to avoid the thought after him. When men are drawn that the revelator had his mind on away by bad influences, they are com- this passage in the 2d Psalm, when pared to "wandering stars;" Jude he said that the man-child was to 13. To cast the stars down from rule all nations with a rod of iron." heaven to the earth is to degrade ¶ Unto God and his throne. - This men, to throw them down from may signify that God took Jesus 6 And the woman fled into man-child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and the wilderness, where she hath her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a 6. The woman fled into the wilderness. It is not necessary to suppose that the woman fled into the wilderness after her child was caught up to the throne of God; but after the birth. The sense may be as follows: And she brought forth a man-child, who was to rule all nations with a under his peculiar protection; and that he was safe from all that God did not design that he should suffer, as if he had been caught up to God and his throne; or it may signify that Jesus, at his death, was taken up to heaven to sit down at the right hand of God. Jesus and his religion was the continued object of persecu-rod of iron; and her child was [subtion, all over the Roman empire, sequently, viz., at his resurrection] wherever it was preached. His death caught up unto God and his throne. was no hindrance to the propagation But the woman, the mother, fled into of his religion, but rather a great help the wilderness, where she had a place to it. So signal a display of divine prepared of God. In this case it is power was it in God, to cause the possible the revelator referred to wrath of man to praise him, that even Mary, the earthly mother of Jesus, when the powers of earth succeeded who, as we have seen, fled with her to kill him, the hand of God was in son into Egypt. It is by no means it, and God was said to have "caught certain, however, that this is the true him up to his throne." We know interpretation. It may signify the that Herod, the Roman governor, retirement of the believers into obsought to slay the infant Jesus almost scure places, in consequence of the as soon as he was born; and his raging persecutions. The Hebrews mother was obliged to flee away with used the word which we translate him into Egypt, where she remained wilderness, to signify all places that until Herod died; Matt. ii. 12-20. were not cultivated, but which were But we have said God "caught him chiefly destined to the feeding of catup to his throne;" and there the rev- tle, and on which trees grew wild. elator saw him. "And I beheld, and So when wilderness is mentioned in lo, in the midst of the throne, and of Scripture, we are not always to imag. the four beasts, and in the midst of ine it to be a place forsaken, abanthe elders, stood a Lamb," &c.; v. 6. doned, void of cities, or inhabitants; Hence the throne is called from that as this word often represents the soiĺ time "the throne of God and the near a city, or village, which was Lamb." The Son, from the time appointed for a pasture, and where that the Father caught him up to his the plough never came. Thus, in throne, was safe in heaven. Perse- Scripture, there are few cities which cution could no more assail him, and had not their wilderness, i. e., unculaccordingly we read no more of his tivated places for woods or pastures. being persecuted. But persecutions We need not suppose, therefore, that still continued. "And the dragon the Christians all rushed to one and was wroth with the woman, and went the same place; but they resorted to to make war with the remnant of her obscure retreats, in the times of the seed, which keep the commandments greatest danger. They fled at times of God, and have the testimony of from one place to another, as their Jesus Christ;" verse 17. The mem- Master told them to do; Matt. x. 23. bers of the church on earth still suf- So Paul went from Amphipolis tc fered under the wrath of the dragon. Apollonia, thence to Thessalonica, housand two hundred and threescore days. thence to Berea, and thence to Athens. The Christians were not required to sacrifice their lives uselessly and rashly. They were to flee before persecution, and live and preach as long as they could, and as long as it was God's will. But they were never to hold life dearer than the cause of Christ, and were never to renounce the latter to save the former. A thousand two hundred and threescore days. The revelator merely touches upon the persecution of the woman in this place; and, intending to resume it again, he passes hastily to the subject mentioned in the next verse. The persecution of the woman is resumed, ver. 13. By the thousand two hundred and threescore days is meant the time of the church's depression, and the triumph of the persecuting power, as we have shown under xi. 2, 3. It is the same season that is referred to in ver. 14, as a time, times, and half a time. This is made certain by a comparison of ver. 6 with ver. 14. 7. There was war in heaven. - War is put for spiritual contests in the Scriptures. "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh; for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds," &c., &c.; 2 Cor. x. 3, 4. Paul charged Timothy "to war a good warfare;" 1 Tim. i. 28; again he tells him to "endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ ;" and that "no man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him that hath chosen him to be a soldier;" 2 Tim. ii. 3, 4 And he says, in the same epistle "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith;" iv. 7. There can be no doubt that war is often put in the Scriptures for spiritual contests. The Christian is a "soldier," and Christ 7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels is "the captain of our salvation." This war may be said to have been in heaven perhaps for two reasons. 1st. John had laid the scene of these transactions in the firmament, the field of the sun, moon and stars. The dragon was introduced first of all in that field. The war certainly was metaphorical. The whole account is of that nature. No such events actually took place among the stars. The scene was laid there in the revelator's imagination. War in heaven may also signify a spiritual contest. This is the only place in the Bible in which that expression occurs. It was the contest, says Sir Isaac Newton, between "the Christian and heathen religions;" and we quote the words as expressing the idea, which, in our view, the revelator intended to convey. ¶ Michael and his angels. - The inquiry will now arise, who was Michael? He was an imaginary leader of the Christian forces, as the dragon, that old serpent, who is the devil and Satan, (for these four terms all sig. nify the same thing,) was the imagi. nary leader of the opposition. Michael is mentioned in the books of Daniel, Jude and the Apocalypse. In Daniel the name seems to be applied to one of the chief princes of Persia, an amiable and excellent personage, who succored Daniel and the Jews, while they were in captivity, and rendered them very essential service; see chap. x. 13, 21. From this fact his name came to be used metonymically for the guardian of good men, who would protect the Christians in the time of their troubles, as he had protected the Jews in their captivity; Dan. xii. 1. In the figurative language of Jude, he is called an archangel, who had contended with the devil, (i. e., the opponents,) about the body of Moses, a figure to represent the Jewish church in c.ptivity, just as the body of Christ presents the |