The Everliving Church and Her Enemy

Recently we have received questions regarding how to understand who is “the remnant of her seed” in Revelation chapter 12 verse 17. To answer this it is best to look at the entire chapter as the standard Adventist understanding of the time setting of the women as a whole and the various symbols employed therein needs correction in order to more fully understand who are the remnant. We shall be posting in two parts coming from Tract No. 15 “To the Seven Churches, Breaking of the Seven Seals” pp. 68-90 first published in 1947. May God bless your earnest study of this first portion.

“The first of these to come in review at the Throne of Judgment, is the everliving church.

“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 three-score days.” Rev. 12:1-6.

It is clear to see that this “woman” was clothed with the sun and attacked by the dragon even before her child, Christ, was born; yes, years before the Christian church and the Gospel came into being. To say, then, that she represents the New Testament church clothed with the gospel of Christ, is indeed as ungrounded and as illogical a theory as to say that the chicken is hatched before the egg is laid.

“Clothed with the sun,” the woman is, of course, God’s everliving church, clothed with the Light from Heaven, the Bible. “Thy Word,” says the Psalmist, “is…a light unto my path.” Ps. 119:105.

The moon, as we know, is the medium by which sunlight is reflected and the night lightened. Being under the woman’s feet, it is a most fitting symbol of the period before the Bible came into being, the period from creation to Moses. This phase of the symbolism very definitely points out that the woman was emerging from the period in which the Word of God, “the sun,” was indirectly reflected, was passed on from father to son, and that she was entering into the period in which she was clothed with God’s Light, the Bible.

Moreover, she was with child at the time she was clothed with the sun, and the moon stood under her feet. This in itself positively displays that at her outset she represents the church after it had received the promise to bring forth the world’s Redeemer, the “man child, Who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron.” He “was caught up into God and to His throne.” He, of course, is Christ, the Lord.

The twelve stars that comprise the woman’s crown, most obviously bespeak God’s government upon earth, the church’s cumulative authority — that of the twelve patriarchs, of the twelve tribes of the twelve apostles, and of the 12,000 out of each of the twelve tribes of Israel (the 144,000).

It is also to be observed that she portrays the everliving church of God while in combat with the enemy.

“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.” Rev. 12:3, 4.

If the student of Heaven-inspired Truth is to know the object lesson that is taught by this symbolism, he should now carefully notice the significance which the dragon’s crownless horns and his crowned heads carry. Also, if the student of Truth is to profit by what the Scriptures teach, he should fully realize that the preceding as well as the following Scriptural and logical considerations must be heeded.

To begin with, since the dragon’s horns are a group of ten, they must depict all the kings or kingdoms then present, just as the ten toes of the great image of Daniel, chapter 2, and also the ten horns of the beast of chapter 7, represent the kings or kingdoms existent universally in their respective periods.

Neither should be overlooked the fact that all the horns, heads, and crowns, were there grouped together when the dragon stood ready “to devour her Child.” Exactly as the symbolism reveals, they do symbolize a coalition of two separate and distinct parties (horns and heads), both existing at the same time, not one following the other. It is well to remember, too, that though horns grow up and drop out, heads never do.

And now, continuing with the subject of the dragon, it can be clearly seen that in order that consistency be maintained, the Biblical interpretation of the dragon’s heads and horns must be that the former are religious bodies, and the latter, civil governments. And how many of them do the dragon’s horns and heads depict? — All the civil governments and all the religious bodies at that specific time. How do we know this? — Because there are ten horns and seven crowned heads, and because the Biblical number “ten” denotes universality, and the number “seven” denotes completeness. (See Tract No. 3, The Judgment and the Harvest, p. 94, 1942 edition.)

From the aforementioned examples, we already see that the time has come for all faithful Bible students, students after saving Truth, to realize that Inspiration never does anything vain or careless. Its work is ever accurately constructed, always dependable at face value, and explicit beyond improvement.

It is a recognized fact, too, that crowns always stand for kingly authority. And as they appear on the dragon’s heads, not on his horns, it is especially noticeable that while the dragon ruled both the civil and religious worlds, yet he crowned the religious.

In other words, the church held the sceptre; the church sat on the dragon’s throne. And the fact that the number of the dragon’s horns represents universality and the number of his crowned heads, completeness, coupled with the fact that both the Jewish church and the Romans persecuted the Lord, shows that the dragon as a whole represents a complete Satanic-ecclesiastical world, that Satan had taken the world captive. As conqueror of it and armed with horns and heads, he moved upon Herod to kill the newborn children as soon as he learned of Christ’s birth. This he did with the hope of destroying the Saviour, devouring the child and thereby perpetuating his own kingdom. Such was the condition of the world at Christ’s first Advent, and thus was the church enabled to crucify the Lord, to stone Stephen, to behead others, and yet to escape the penalties of the civil authorities.

For this very reason the Son of man, the world’s Redeemer, came just when He did. The dragon, though, to defend his Satanic dominion, patiently waited and carefully watched for the arrival of the world’s promised Redeemer. So it was that while the everliving church of God was with child, and crying to be delivered, the dragon with his seven crowned heads and ten horns, stood ready to devour the child as soon as He was born.

Just such apostasy had gripped the world in the days of Noah, too, and made it necessary for the Lord to do something to save the world. For the sake of mankind, the Creator sent the flood to bring an end to the wickedness. In like manner the terrible apostasy of the Jews in the days of Christ’s first advent, demanded another disaster as thoroughly destructive as the dreadful deluge in order again to blot out wickedness. But, if for no other reason than to keep His never-failing promise to His faithful servant Noah, God could not thus overthrow the world the second time. And so He sent His Son to die in the world’s stead. In this light, how much brighter than ever stands forth the Redeemer’s mission! By His death did He indeed save the world from destruction at that time, and by His resurrection did He make possible for it to stand today.

“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 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 when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.” Rev. 12:4, 7-9, 13.

Here are described two different “castings out.” Note that in the first instance, the dragon drew the angels with his tail. But, you wonder, why not with his claws? — Simply because such would falsely indicate that Satan defeated the Lord and consequently dragged out of heaven a third of the angels. But since he drew them with his tail, the true significance is clear — that a third part of the angels voluntarily followed him. They clung to his tail, so to speak, while he led the way. “They turned from the Father and from His Son, and united with the instigator of rebellion.” — Testimonies Vol. 3, p. 115. The dragon persuaded the angels and they followed him from heaven to earth whereupon he sought to devour Christ.

This incident of Rev. 12:4, the dragon drawing down the stars, preceded the incident of Rev. 12:9, the Lord casting down the dragon. The former took place before the Lord was born and the latter after His resurrection. This is made manifest in the following paragraphs:

In the days of Job Satan still had access to heaven, for we are told that “…there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.” Job 1:6, 7.

Satan, then, was not cast out of heaven immediately after he rebelled or even when he caused Adam and Eve to sin. Rather, it must have been after Job’s time. But to determine just when, we shall read Rev. 12:13: “And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.” He therefore was cast out before he went to persecute the church. This he did at the “time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles.” Acts 8:1. This fact is again borne out by the Spirit of Prophecy:

Triumphantly the Lord was caught up unto God and His throne. “…all are there to welcome the Redeemer. They are eager to celebrate His triumph and to glorify their King… He presents to God the wave-sheaf, those raised with Him as representatives of that great multitude who shall come forth from the grave at His second coming…. The voice of God is heard proclaiming that justice is satisfied. Satan is vanquished. Christ’s toiling, struggling ones on earth are ‘accepted in the Beloved.’ Before the heavenly angels and the representatives of unfallen worlds, they are declared justified.

“Satan saw that his disguise was torn away. His administration was laid open before the unfallen angels and before the heavenly universe. He had revealed himself as a murderer. By shedding the blood of the Son of God, he had uprooted himself from the sympathies of the heavenly beings. Henceforth his work was restricted. Whatever attitude he might assume, he could no longer await the angels as they came from the heavenly courts, and before them accuse Christ’s brethren of being clothed with the garments of blackness and the defilement of sin. The last link of sympathy between Satan and the heavenly world was broken.” — The Desire of Ages, pp. 833, 834, 761.” — Tract No. 15, pp. 68-82  (Part 2 to be continued next week)

Tagged as: dragon, prophecy, remnant, Revelation 12, woman