Revelation 12:15

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. FLOOD - `river,' (cf. ; ; especially Exodus 14:1.) The flood is the Germanic tribes which, pouring on Rome, threatened Christianity. But the earth helped the woman, by swallowing up the flood: earth, contradistinguished from water, is the world consolidated. The German masses were brought under the influence of Roman civilization and Christianity (Auberlen). It includes, generally, the help given by earthly powers (those least likely, led by God's overruling Providence) to the Church against persecutions and heresies by which she has been at various time...

12-17 The church and all her friends might well be called to praise God for deliverance from pagan persecution, though other troubles awaited her. The wilderness is a desolate place, and full of serpents and scorpions, uncomfortable and destitute of provisions; yet a place of safety, as well as where one might be alone. But being thus retired could not protect the woman. The flood of water is explained by many to mean the invasions of barbarians, by which the western empire was overwhelmed; for the heathen encouraged their attacks, in the hope of destroying Christianity. But ungodly men, for their worldly interests, protected the church amidst these tumults, and the overthrow of the empire did not help the cause of idolatry. Or, this may be meant of a flood of error, by which the church of God was in danger of being overwhelmed and carried away. The devil, defeated in his designs upon t...

NOTES ON CHAP. XII., BY J. E. C. Verse Revelation 12:15. _AND THE SERPENT CAST OUT OF HIS MOUTH WATER AS A FLOOD_] The water here evidently means _great multitudes of nations and_ _peoples_; for in Revelation 17:15, the interpreting angel says, _The waters which thou sawest-are peoples, and multitudes, and_ _nations, and tongues_. This water, then, which the dragon cast out of his mouth, must be an inundation of heathen barbarous nations upon the Roman empire; and the purpose which the dragon has in view by this inundation is, that he might cause the woman, or Christian Church:- _TO BE CARRIED AWAY OF THE FLOOD._] Entirely swept away from the face of the earth. Dr. Mosheim, in the commencement of his second

AND THE SERPENT CAST OUT OF HIS MOUTH WATER AS A FLOOD - This is special and uncommon imagery, and it is not necessary to suppose that anything like this literally occurs in nature. Some serpents are indeed said to eject from their mouths poisonous bile when they are enraged, in order to annoy their pursuers; and some sea monsters, it is known, spout forth large quantities of water; but the representation here does not seem to be taken from either of those cases. It is the mere product of the imagination, but the sense is clear. The woman is represented as having wings, and as being able thus to escape from the serpent. But, as an expression of his wrath, and as if with the hope of destroying her in her flight by a deluge of water, he is represented as pouring a flood from his mouth, that he might, if possible, sweep her away. The figure here would well represent the continued malice of...

EXPOSITION This chapter commences another series of revelations. Again St. John returns to the beginning, and traces the spiritual history of the Church and the Christian in their warfare with Satan. But the visions which now follow are somewhat different in character from those already related, inasmuch as the conflict is now described rather as between the powers of heaven and hell than between the individual Christian and his oppressors. As with the other visions, so here, the recital seems calculated to support the suffering Christian in his trials, since the overthrow of the powers of darkness is foretold; and the whole series culminates in an account of the final abasement of the devil, and the exaltation of the Church and the bliss of heaven. The following analysis will help to make clear the relation of the several parts of the vision. I. THE ORIGIN OF THE...

AND THE SERPENT CAST OUT OF HIS MOUTH WATER AS A FLOOD,.... Which cannot design any persecution before the fall of Paganism, either of the Jews, or of the Romans; nor indeed the Arian persecution, since the casting out of this flood is distinguished from the above persecution, and was after the church began to flee upon that persecution; though it is not unusual for wicked persecutors, and violent persecutions, to be expressed by waters, and they are called proud waters, Psalms 124:1; and these may be said to be cast out of the mouth of the serpent, the devil, who was a persecutor and a murderer from the beginning, and by whom all persecutors and persecutions are instigated, moved, and carried on; but rather, as the words of a man's mouth are as deep waters, Proverbs 18:4; and doctrines, good

Revelation 12:1. _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:_ This is that woman of whom the promise runs, «The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head.» John saw this in a vision in the heavenly places; he saw the Church of God, enthroned, made glorious, clothed with the sun, having the brightness of divine light about her, with all that is variable, changeable as «the moon under her feet, and upon her head the crown «that her Lord had given, her « twelve patriarchs, twelve prophets, twelve apostles, a complete number of glorious lights kindled from heaven. Revelation 12:2. _And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered._

REVELATION 12. THE VISION OF THE WOMAN, THE CHILD, AND THE DRAGON. This chapter has always presented difficulties to the student of Revelation. Two questions present themselves: (_a)_ What is the connexion of this chapter with the previous part of the book? (_b_) What interpretation did the writer intend his readers to put upon the vision? The first question has been answered in many ways. Some scholars regard this passage as a fresh interlude, and think that it is unconnected with the main movement of the drama. It is often explained as a fragment of a Jewish Apocalypse which the writer determined to utilise, though he failed altogether to weave it into the thread of the argument. The most probable explanation is as follows. The theme of the second part of the Apocalypse is the struggle against Antichrist, and this chapter forms the introduction. Antichrist is first introduced almost in...

John, in the same chapter, beholds another conflict. The defeated dragon changes the scene of combat. On earth he wages. war of "persecution" which results in the exile of the woman to the wilderness for. period of 1260 years, there in silence and obscurity to be nourished of God until the time appointed for her to come forth. We have pointed out the fulfilment of this portion of the vision in the establishment of the Papal power and in its persecution of the true worshipers;. persecution that results in the apparent disappearance of the true Church from the earth. Though not visible to the eye of the historian during this period, yet the true Church, fed of God, survives in the hearts of hidden and persecuted saints. The period of her exile began about 533, in the reign of Justinian, and ends about the beginning of the nineteenth century. Before the end of the period, the Divine measure...

THE WOMAN AND THE BEAST (Revelation 12:1-17) It is necessary to read this chapter as a whole before we examine it in detail. A great sign appeared in the sky--a woman clothed with the sun, and with the moon beneath her feet, and with a crown of twelve stars on her head; and she was with child, and she cried aloud in her labour and in her agony to bear the child. And another sign appeared in heaven--lo! a great flame-coloured dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and with seven royal diadems upon its heads. Its tail swept a third part of the stars from the sky and cast them on to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to bear the child so that it might devour the child as soon as she bore him. She bore a man child who is destined to rule the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was snatched away to God, even to his throne....