Revelation 12:7

And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, In Job 1:1; Job 2:1, Satan presents himself among the sons of God, before God in heaven, as accuser of the saints; again, in Zechariah 3:1. But at Christ's coming as our Redeemer, he fell from heaven, especially when Christ suffered, rose, and ascended to heaven. Christ appearing before God as our Advocate (Hebrews 9:24), Satan, the accusing adversary, could no longer appear against us, but was cast out judicially ...

7-11 The attempts of the dragon proved unsuccessful against the church, and fatal to his own interests. The seat of this war was in heaven; in the church of Christ, the kingdom of heaven on earth. The parties were Christ, the great Angel of the covenant, and his faithful followers; and Satan and his instruments. The strength of the church is in having the Lord Jesus for the Captain of their salvation. Pagan idolatry, which was the worship of devils, was cast out of the empire by the spreading of Christianity. The salvation and strength of the church, are only to be ascribed to the King and Head of the church. The conquered enemy hates the presence of God, yet he is willing to appear there, to accuse the people of God. Let us take heed that we give him no cause to accuse us; and that, when we have sinned, we go before the Lord, condemn ourselves, and commit our cause to Christ as our Adv...

Verse Revelation 12:7. _THERE WAS WAR IN HEAVEN_] In the same treatise, fol. 87, 2, on Exodus 14:7, _Pharaoh took six hundred chariots_, we have these words: "There was war among those _above_ and among those _below_, בשמים חזקה היתה והמלחמה vehammilchamah hayethah chazakah bashshamayim, _and there was great war in heaven_." Of _Michael_ the rabbins are full. See much in _Schoettgen_, and see the note on Jude, Jude 1:9. _THE DRAGON-AND HIS ANGELS_] The same as _Rab. Sam. ben David_, in _Chasad Shimuel_, calls וחיילותיו סמאל Samael vechayilothaiv, "_Samael and his troops_;" fol. 28, 2. NOTES ON CHAP. XII., B

AND THERE WAS WAR IN HEAVEN - There was a state of things existing in regard to the woman and the child - the church in the condition in which it would then be - which would be well represented by a war in heaven; that is, by a conflict between the powers of good and evil, of light and darkness. Of course it is not necessary to understand this literally, anymore than the other symbolical representations in the book. All that is meant is, that a vision passed before the mind of John as if there was a conflict, in regard to the church, between the angels in heaven and Satan. There is a vision of the persecuted church - of the woman fleeing into the desert - and the course of the narrative is here interrupted by going back Revelation 12:7 to describe the conflict which led to this result, and the fact that Satan, as it were cast out of heaven, and unable to

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 THERE WAS WAR IN HEAVEN,.... Not in the third heaven, the habitation of God, the seat of the angels and glorified saints, there is no discord, jars, and contentions there, nothing but peace, love, and joy; but in the church below, which is militant, and has in it as it were a company of two armies; or rather in the Roman empire, which was the heaven of Satan, the god of this world, and of his angels; and this war refers not to the dispute between Michael the archangel and the devil about the body of Moses, Judges 1:9; nor to the of the angels when they rebelled against God, left their first estate, and were cast down to hell, Judges 1:6; nor to that ancient and stated enmity between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman, Genes

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._

ANGELS (_ See Scofield) - (Hebrews 1:4). _...

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...

WAR IN HEAVEN. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she bath. place prepared of God, that they should feed her there. thousand two hundred and three score days. 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."--12:6-9. The flight of the woman into the wilderness. will consider in connection with verse 14 which refers to the same event. In the order of time this flight occurs after the events related in verses 7-14. These verses describe. conflict which John saw in heaven, the overthrow of the dragon and the song of victory sung in heaven. If we will remember th...