Satan's Triple Defeat
Satan's Triple Defeat
SATAN'S TRIPLE DEFEAT BRINGS THE
"TIME OF TROUBLE SUCH AS
NEVER WAS"
Rev. 12:1-6 --
"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."
We all somewhat
agree, I know, that this woman of Revelation 12 is symbolical of the Church;
that the Dragon is symbolical of Satan; and that the child represents Christ.
But inasmuch as we may not agree as to whether the woman is symbolical of the
Old Testament church or of the New or of both, it is essential that we study to
see eye to eye.
Now, the questions
naturally arise, If Christ is the One Who brought forth the Christian church,
then how can she be His mother? And was not Christ born at least thirty years
before the Christian church came into being? Is not the egg laid before the
chicken is hatched? And finally, is it not true that if we blunder forth on an
erroneous premise that we shall find ourselves further and further from the
truth on the subject? -- Most assuredly. Let us, then, make certain of the
foundation upon which we build.
We all know that
Christ was born, not to the Christian church, but to the Jewish. This being so,
then how can we escape the truth that this twelve-star-crowned woman is
primarily the Jewish church who travailed and gave birth to the "world's
Redeemer" in the Old Testament period?
Moreover, before the
child was born, and before the Gospel of Christ came to the Church, she was
clothed with the sun, and the moon stood under her feet. There is therefore not
the slightest excuse for one to conclude that the woman represents the Church
clothed with the Gospel of Christ. And if her sun clothing does not represent
the Gospel of Christ, then what does it represent?
Since she was clothed
with the sun before Christ's birth, and before the Gospel came, then her
sun-clothing must be the Bible, the Word of God that clothed her in the period
of the prophets.
What is symbolized by
the moon under her feet? -- The fact that the moon of the heavens reflects the
light from the sun to earth, the symbolical moon therefore being under the
woman's feet, and the sun shining directly upon her, not by reflection through
the moon, denotes that her channel of light conveyance, the moon, was passing
away, was no longer needed, that the sun itself, the source of her light,
shining directly upon her, enveloped her with its bright rays. What could the
moon then symbolize but the period before the Bible came, the period before
Moses, in which the Word of God did not shine directly on the people as It does
to-day (for they had no Bible in those days), but was reflected on them by men
of God, the medium, that is, the prophets before Moses never wrote down the
messages of God but verbally passed them on.
Though this
twelve-star-crowned woman symbolizes something in the Old Testament time, as we
have already seen, she nevertheless is seen to symbolize something in the New
Testament time. This we see from the fact that after the child was born, and
after the Christian church came into being, the woman was given the wings of a
great eagle, and was thus enabled to fly into the wilderness, there to be
nourished "for a time, and times, and half a time." Moreover, her
leaving the vineyard (her homeland -- Palestine) and going into the wilderness
(the lands of the Gentiles, for that is what wilderness symbolically stands for
in contrast to a vineyard), again shows that she continued after her child was
born.
Taking all these
points into one common whole, they positively show that the woman is symbolical
of God's everliving Church for all times, and that she is His saving Truth, His
true wife, the Truth that gave birth to Christ and that gives birth to all His
"brethren" (His followers), "the remnant of her seed." Rev.
12:17.
When the promise of
the coming Saviour was made, it was then that the dragon learned that the
Church was to give birth to the "man child," and from then on he
watched her closely, hoping to destroy the world's Redeemer as soon as He was
born. This he endeavored to accomplish through Herod, when he caused a
multitude of little children to be slaughtered. The child Christ, nevertheless
escaped, and the Devil met his first defeat in this connection.
Now the Dragon being
fortified with seven heads and ten horns, denotes that he controlled all the
civil and religious powers in that day (for the symbolical number
"ten" denotes universality, just as do the ten toes of Daniel 2, the
ten horns of the other Bible beasts, and the ten virgins of Matthew 25).
The horns represent
all the civil powers, while the heads represent all the religious powers, for
the Biblical number "seven" denotes completeness. Moreover, the fact
that the Church (the Jews), the only agency through which God worked up to that
time, crucified the Lord, is in itself sufficient proof that the Church had
apostatized, that she had become the Dragon's seventh head, and that thus was
the Dragon armed with ten horns and seven heads, -- with all the civil and
religious powers. And, so, you see, the Dragon with his horns and heads
represents the world captured by the Devil.
Thus it is that the
world was lost in that day, and thus it was that Christ came to redeem it. To
do all this He started a new church organization. In this light we see Christ,
the world's Redeemer, and His mission even more important than we have ever
seen it before.
The Dragon's drawing
from heaven a third part of the stars (angels, Rev. 12:9) with his tail, not
with his claws, denotes that in the beginning of Satan's universal rebellion
the angels volunteered to follow the rebel leader, and to unite with him in his
evil work against the human family.
Rev. 12:7-17 --
"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. 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. And when the Dragon saw that he was cast unto the
earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. And to the
woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the
wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and
half a time, from the face of the serpent. And the serpent cast out of his
mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried
away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her
mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the Dragon cast out of his mouth. And
the Dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of
her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus
Christ."
The main point to be
noticed in these verses is that after the Dragon and his angels were cast out
of Heaven (Satan's second defeat), and after he had persecuted the Church, and
she had taken her flight into the wilderness, the Dragon followed her there,
but rather than persecuting her, he cast "water as a flood after
her," hoping to cause her to be carried away by it. In other words, after
he saw that he could not stop the growth of the Christian Church by persecuting
her followers, he changed his tactics and instead compelled the Pagans to join
her, expecting thereby to cause her to be paganized -- "carried away."
The Dragon, though,
is again to miss the mark, for the earth is to open her mouth and swallow up
the flood; that is, Inspiration definitely forecasts that those who join the
Church for some purpose other than to follow and practice the Truth, shall be
disposed of by a miracle, be swallowed by the earth, as it were. And when this
comes to pass Satan shall have met his third defeat. Summarized, here are his
three defeats: No. 1 -- Failing to devour the child; No. 2 -- Losing the war in
Heaven; No. 3 -- Failing to paganize the Church by flooding her with the
unconverted.
When he meets his
third defeat, when the tares which he sowed are burned (for as a flood they are
swallowed by the earth, but as tares they are burned by the angels), then it is
that the Church will appear "'Fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and
terrible as an army with banners,' she is to go forth into all the world,
conquering and to conquer." -- Prophets and Kings, pg. 725.
Having met such a
mighty defeat, and having seen that the Church is freed from his flood, the
Dragon's wrath is to be intensified. He will be wroth with the woman and
"make war with the remnant of
her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus
Christ" (Rev. 12:17), "the Spirit of Prophecy" (Rev. 19:10).
Obviously, the
remnant are those who are left after the earth opens her mouth and swallows up
the flood. They as a body keep the commandments of God, and have the living
Spirit of Prophecy, the Spirit Who dictated the Scriptures, Who has led God's
people into all Truth down through the ages, and Who still is. Thus it is that
the Dragon's wrath, and the Church's purity, caused by the Dragon's third
defeat, are to bring the time of trouble such as never was:
"And at that
time shall Michael stand up, the great Prince which standeth for the children
of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since
there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be
delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book." Dan. 12:1.
Nothing in the world
is worth as much as having our names written in the book. And therein we may
have our names if we choose to follow the Spirit of Truth and to keep the
commandments of God. Here we have seen that those who think that the law, the
ten commandments, is "abolished," that their lives need not comport
with the law; and those who think that the Spirit of Prophecy is a thing of the
past, that God has left the world to get along as best it can, that He no
longer bothers Himself to send a prophet; that all such shall find themselves
in league with Babylon the Great, the seat of the Dragon, and rather than
having their names written in the Book, they will have the mark of the beast,
and have a part in persecuting the remnant which keep the commandments of God,
and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Now is the time for
all to decide either to be swallowed up by the earth -- cast into the fire --
or to be delivered by Michael, our Prince.
Let us therefore
choose deliverance rather than defeat. "O love the Lord, all ye His
saints: for the Lord preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the
proud doer." Psa. 31:23.