Things Which Must Come To Pass Hereafter

by J. Miller, Ayr | Category: Things Which Must Come To Pass Hereafter | Jun 1967

In Revelation 12 the scene depicted sets forth Israel, "of whom is Christ as concerning the flesh, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen" (Romans 9.5). Israel, the woman, is "arrayed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars" (verse 1). She is with child, and is travailing in birth and in pain to be delivered. Then there is another sign in heaven of "a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his heads seven diadems". This dragon, later called in this chapter the Devil and Satan (verse 9), has seven heads and ten horns. Notice that the diadems are on the heads, whereas the beast that comes up out of the sea (chapter 13.1) has ten horns and seven heads, and on the horns are ten diadems. The seat of royalty and power has changed from the time of chapter 12 to that of chapter 13 from the heads to the horns. The picture drawn in chapter 12 is the dragon, Satan, seen in the Roman empire, in the time of Christ and after, whereas the beast that comes up out of the sea, in chapter 13, is the Roman empire as revived in the future, the head of which will be the man who is also called the beast. In reading Revelation we must notice the distinction that the Spirit of God is making between the beast as a system of government and the beast who is a man. It is said that the tail of the dragon draws the third part of the stars of heaven, and casts them to the earth (12.4). As nothing is said other than the few words about the third part of the stars of heaven, the reader is left without any means of arriving at what is meant. Having regard to what astronomers say about the immensity of the stars, we can hardly think that stars here mean literal stars. At the same time, there is little profit in conjecture, so we leave the statement without trying to explain what God has apparently not explained.

Then we are told that the dragon stood before the woman that was about to be delivered, that he might devour her child. She brought forth a Son, a Man Child. The parable here told was fulfilled by Pontius Pilate, the representative of the Roman empire, who condemned the Lord, and sent Him with His Cross to Golgotha. This was the power that Satan the dragon used in his endeavour to devour the woman's Child. But her Child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron (Psalm 2.8,9; Revelation 2.27; 19.15), was caught up unto God, and unto His throne. We can easily identify the only One who has been caught up to God and unto His throne. Many passages of the Scriptures tell of this, and He is the One who shall rule the nations with a rod of iron. Thus in this paragraph the woman is Israel, of whom is Christ as concerning the flesh, our Incarnate Lord is the Man Child, and Satan is the great red dragon, under the guise of the Roman empire, which sought to devour Christ, but in resurrection He was caught up to God and to His throne.

Then follows the announcement that the woman fled into the wilderness to her place prepared by God, where they (who are the "they"?) may nourish her for 1,260 days-that is the second half of Daniel's week of years (Daniel 9.27). The fleeing of the woman will take place when the image of the beast is set up and the worship of the beast and of his image commences (Revelation 13.14,15).

After this it is announced that "there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels going forth to war with the dragon; and the dragon warred and his angels; and they prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast down, the old serpent, he that is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world; he was cast down to the earth, and his angels were cast down with him." We are told in Daniel 11.45 of the king of the north, who is also the beast, that "he shall plant the tents of his palace between the sea and the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him". Then we are told in Daniel 12.1:

"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."

In the middle of the last week of Daniel's seventy prophetic weeks, which week is still future, Michael shall stand up, the great prince that standeth for the children of Israel (Daniel 12.1), and with his angels will go forth to war with the dragon (Satan) and his angels, and the latter will not prevail, but be cast down to the earth, and no place will be found for them any more in heaven. Great will be the joy of heaven when the deceiver of the whole world, and the accuser of the brethren, is cast down, and a great voice in heaven will say,

"Now is come the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ" (verse 10).

The brethren of those days will overcome the dragon in their warfare with him on a spiritual plane, because of the blood of the Lamb, being assured that by His blood they are saved eternally, and by the word of their testimony, that for which they stand as witnesses, and they will not love their life even unto death. The power of the Devil in any age is futile against people of this kind. The blood of martyrs has given nourishment to the seed of the gospel, and brought about the Reformation.

When the dragon is cast down, he will come down with great wrath and persecute the woman (Israel) that brought forth the Man Child (this will be in the middle of Daniel's seventieth week, the same time as the worship of the beast and his image commence). There will be given to the woman two wings of the great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness unto her place (see verse 6), where she will be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time (that is, for 31/2 years). The wings of the great eagle remind us of what God says about the deliverance of Israel from Pharaoh and Egypt. "Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto Myself" (Exodus 19.4). When Pharaoh and his army pursued Israel to the Red Sea, they entered the sea in pursuit, but none of them came out alive. The water, which was salvation for Israel from the Egyptians, was destruction for the Egyptians. In the future flight of Israel into the wilderness, from the dragon, the beast and the false prophet, we are told that the dragon cast out of his mouth water as a river, that she might be carried away by the river, but the earth helped the woman and opened its mouth and swallowed up the river. Was this literally a flood of water? I think not. It is no new thing that an invading army is compared to the flood waters of a river. Illustrations of this are given in Isaiah 8.5-8; Jeremiah 46.7,8; 47.2. I am therefore of the view that the flood of water that Satan, the serpent, sends after the woman is a flood of soldiers, an army, which the earth will swallow up in an earthquake. This will be the army of the king of the north, the beast, who will act under the direction of the dragon, and though he shall enter the glorious land of Israel, the lands of Edom, Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon shall be delivered out of his hand. It has generally been believed that these lands will be the place of Israel during the time of the great tribulation where she will be nourished for the 31/2 years. When Satan is foiled in the destruction of the fleeing people of Israel, he will go away to make war with the rest of her seed which keep the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus. Verse 1 of Revelation 13 should be joined to chapter 12, "And he [the dragon] stood upon the sand of the sea".

Then John tells us, "I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and upon his horns ten diadems, and upon his heads names of blasphemy". We have drawn attention already in remarks on 12.3 to the fact that here the diadems are transferred from the heads to the horns. This beast with the heads and horns is the revived Roman empire. It is like the beasts which represent the four world empires of Daniel 7 which came up from the wind-lashed great sea. The first was like a lion (the Babylonian), the second like a bear (the Medo-Persian), the third like a leopard (the Grecian or Macedonian), and the fourth, terrible and powerful, which had ten horns (the Roman). The beast of Revelation 13, that is, the last world system of government, was like a leopard, and had feet like a bear, and also had a mouth like a lion. The dragon gave to the beast his power, his throne, and great authority. Then there is reference to one of his heads as though it had been smitten unto death, and his death stroke was healed. The whole world wondered after the beast, and they worshipped the dragon, the devil, and they worshipped the beast. When we come to these words in verses 3 and 4 we come to the person of the beast. In verses 1 and 2 it is a system of government called the beast. Ever after verses 3 and 4 of chapter 13, it is the person of the beast, the head of the revived Roman empire. This beast is the king of the north, of Daniel 11, the antichrist, the man of sin, the son of perdition, the man who will claim to be god and the object of worship. and will sit in the temple of God in Jerusalem.

Men will say, "Who is like unto the beast? and who is able to war with him?" Then we are told about the mouth of the beast. He will be no ordinary speaker. He will speak great things and blasphemies. He will have authority to continue forty and two months; that is the same time as 31/2 years, and 1,260 days, the second half of Daniel's seventieth week. I take it that he will have divine authority to continue for this space of time, for neither the dragon nor the beast would limit himself to this time, if it were possible otherwise.

Quite a number of terrible statements are made about the beast: he will blaspheme God, His name and His tabernacle. His tabernacle are the ones that tabernacle in heaven. "It was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them [a solemn statement]: and there was given to him authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation." Then we have a still more solemn statement, that "all that dwell on the earth shall worship him, every one whose name hath not been written in the book of life".

Saints who shall live in that day have warning as to what is said in this chapter. "If any man hath an ear, let him hear", which means, I take it, to keep clear of the ways and acting of the wicked of those days, for "if any man is for [leadeth into captivity-R.V. margin] captivity, into captivity he goeth: if any man shall kill with the sword, with the sword must he be killed. Here is the patience and faith of the saints". Saints are to have no part in the violence of those days. They are to suffer in patience and faith, knowing that their Deliverer will come, and if death is to be their portion, then they must suffer, but to retaliate and fight with the sword is not the course they are to follow.

Then comes into view another beast who comes up out of the earth; he has two horns like a lamb, but he speaks like a dragon. He is the beast's fellow and assistant. He makes the earth-dwellers to worship the first beast whose death-stroke was healed. He himself is not the object of worship. He is called elsewhere "the false prophet" (16.13; 19.20; 20.10). This person, I take it, is referred to in Daniel 9.27 in the words, "and upon the wing of abominations shall come one that maketh desolate". It is said of him in his wicked deceptions, that "he doeth great signs, that he should even make fire to come down out of heaven upon the earth in the sight of men, And he deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by reason of the signs which it was given him to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, who hath the stroke of the sword, and lived". Eastern and ancient monarchs in Egypt and Babylon, and no doubt in other kingdoms, had their magicians. We read of the magicians of Pharaoh casting down their rods and they became serpents, as Moses' rod had become. Also, when Moses lifted up his rod and smote the river Nile the water was turned into blood, and it is said, "The magicians of Egypt did in like manner with their enchantments" (Exodus 7.9-13; 20-22). This went on to the plague of lice, but the magicians could not bring forth lice with their enchantments, so they said, "This is the finger of God" (8.1619). This is referred to by Paul in 2 Timothy 3.8.9, where he revealed the names of the Egyptian magicians. God sometimes allows men in their deceptions to go so far and then He stops them, as Paul says in the verses referred to. The magician-false prophet shall do his deceptions before the beast, the world emperor, and before men, and those that do not read their Bibles will be liable to be deceived. The chiefest deception will be the image of the beast. The beast, the contemptible person of Daniel 11.21, will obtain the kingdom by flatteries; he comes after the king who, within a few days, shall be destroyed. This agrees with Revelation 17.10, where we are told that the last of the seven kings, or heads of the beast, continues for a little while. Then we are told in verse 11 that the beast is an eighth, but is of the seven, that is, I understand, he is one of the seven, but is an eighth because of his second term of office as king. The beast, otherwise the king of the north, fills Daniel 11 from verse 21 to the end of the chapter. In this chapter we are told of the arms that shall stand on his, the beast's part, profaning the sanctuary, taking away the continual burnt offering, and setting up the abomination that maketh desolate, which is the image of the beast. To this the Lord referred in Matthew 24.15-21 (also see Daniel 11.31). What a blessed thing it will be for men to have Daniel's prophecy, and possibly Matthew's Gospel, to read and to warn them that their safety will be in flight to the mountains and the wilderness beyond the Jordan!

To this fearsome idol, the image of the beast, many will render homage, and in their worship will receive the mark either on their right hand or upon their forehead. Such will later be tormented by fire and brimstone for ever and ever. The mark of the beast is either his name, or the number of his name which is 666, the number of a man. The image of the beast is not made by either the beast or the false prophet, but, by order of the latter, by them that dwell on the earth who are told to make an image of the beast. These may be the scientists and technicians of that day. It may be that the ability to make such an image is far ahead today. To this image the false prophet will give breath, and it will speak and cause as many as will not worship it to be killed. So

from this terrible slaughter the people that fear God are told by God in the Scriptures to flee. Only such as have the mark, the name of the beast or the number of his name will be allowed to buy or sell. Better by far to starve than to worship the beast and to reap the fearful consequences.

J. Miller, Ayr | Jun 1967
Things Which Must Come To Pass Hereafter