Chapter 6

WHO ARE THE 144,000?

Due to the fact that the 144,000 are mentioned in two places in Revelation--chapter seven and again in chapter fourteen---it would seem to warrant special attention be given to this subject. The Bible itself seems to give special treatment in introducing the 144,000. In chapter seven, verses one and two we read, "And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads." The passage here indicates that the people of God are preserved and protected from evil and secured by the stamp of ownership, which is the seal of the living God, that is stamped on their foreheads. The stamp, or seal, on their forehead and in their hand signifies that mentally they give their allegiance to God and by their hands they carry out His orders in obedience to His will.

It is interesting to note that the angel in charge of this operation comes from the east and he has the seal of the living God. The fact that he comes from the east signifies that he has authority from God, and it is interesting to note that he has the seal of the living God. This must be taken in contrast with the dead gods, images or idols of pagan religions. Usually God is referred to in Revelation as "He that was and he that is and he that is to come," but in this case He is referred to as "the living God." It would be well if each one took his Bible and turned to Isaiah chapter 44, beginning at verse 12 and reading through to verse 20. This is the most expert bit of satire in the Bible. At verse 15 we read, "Then shall it be for a man to burn: for he will take thereof, and warm himself, yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto. He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied: yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire: and the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god."

The significance of this passage is that the carpenter makes his own god. He gets a tree from the forest and first of all he uses part of the tree to warm himself. The second thing is that he uses fire with which he roasts his food, and lastly with the residue, he makes a god and prays to it. The thing to notice is that first he seeks a shelter; next he provides food. If there is anything left over, he makes a god out of it and says, "Deliver me for thou art my god." The Bible teaching is that you can never satisfy God out of your leftovers. The way of the world is to provide shelter and then food and then make a god out of the residue. The way God has designed, with Abraham for instance, is that man makes his altar first and worships God, then, he trusts God to provide for his other needs. This is the scriptural way. God must come first if He is to be God at all. That way we worship the living God.

This introduces us to the number of the ones which were sealed, namely 144,000. It describes these as being of 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel. It is noteworthy that the tribe of Dan and the tribe of Ephraim were missing, and in their places we find the tribes of Joseph and of Levi. We might well ask what is the significance of these omissions and also of the ones who were put in their places.

If we turn to the meaning of the names that were given to each of Jacob's sons, we find Judah means "praise." Of the tribe of Dan, we are told it means "Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward" (Gen. 49:17). This is certainly not a Christian trait, and so Dan is omitted. In his place we find Levi. The tribe of Levi was set apart for the priesthood. In the New Testament, the Church is the priesthood of the believers. Levi did not have any inheritance in Israel, but each tribe set apart certain areas that were designated as places where the Levites could dwell. So Levi is mentioned as one of the tribes making up the 144,000.

When we come to Ephraim, we find that he has no part in the tribes listed. It seems the reason for this omission is that Ephraim was born in Egypt and therefore belonged to a foreign land. There are no foreigners in the Church; consequently, Ephraim's name is omitted. It may be that some will wonder why, Manasseh is included while Ephraim is not. The only reason we can give is that Manasseh means "forgetfulness or forgetting," and he was named thus because Joseph wanted to forget his trials and persecutions in Egypt. Ina sense, the characteristics of his name are manifest in a Christian like Paul, who says, "Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark..." (Phil. 3:13,14).

Joseph is included in the tribes and his name means "Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall" (Gen. 49:22), according to the blessing of Jacob. A Christian should bring forth fruit wherever he is, and the fruit should be ample to share with others. In one way or another, each of the 12 tribes listed has a Christian virtue or characteristic associated with it. There is no such characteristic so far as Dan is concerned. Ephraim, although he is fruitful, is from a foreign land and is not included among the Family of God.

It should be clear that the 144,000, made up of the tribes of Israel is not for Jews only. It is for the believers. This is apparent from chapter 14, which fists that same 144,000 as having the Father's name in their foreheads. In this passage, we find that there is great joy and singing. The song, which they sing is the new song which no man can learn except the 144,000 which are redeemed from the earth. We see that there is no mention made here of the Jews or any tribes but of the ones who are redeemed from the earth. It is interesting that this group is not defiled with women for they are virgins, or as it says in the Berkley Version, "celibates" (Rev. 14:4). They are not only redeemed, but they are called the first fruits of God and to the Lamb. One wonders why these 144,000 are all bachelors and what that significance is. They are virgins and they have this characteristic: they follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. To assume that only bachelors could be numbered among the 144,000 would seem inconsistent and extremely partial-it would exclude women entirely. But this difficulty is soon overcome when we remember that this is describing the Church, the redeemed from all the earth. Elsewhere, the Church is described as the Bride of Christ, and when we remember that this is the group that is espoused to Christ, and that they have no contamination with the world, then it becomes clear why they are regarded as virgins. They are making ready for the grand event when the marriage supper of the Lamb will become a reality.

The reason why the number is 144,000 is that four plus three, that is, the number of man and the number of God, equals seven. This is a complete number, but when we multiply four times three, the number 12 is an extention of completeness, and when you multiply this by itself and then one thousandfold, you have the entire constituency of the people of God. All those who are redeemed without any single person missing are included in this wonderful symbolic number. In Revelation 7:9b we extend it: "A great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands."

Thus we see how tremendously great the Church is, and we see how it includes all people, all tribes, all nationalities, all colors, both men and women-all those who are redeemed and have had their sins forgiven and have put their trust in Christ. These will constitute the Body of Christ, which is His Bride.

Following this tremendous disclosure in heaven, we find that there is immediate thanksgiving and praise, again invoking the sevenfold blessing "saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen" (Rev. 7:12). The question is then asked in verse 13, "And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they.? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat, for the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes" (Rev. 7:13-17). You will notice in this portion that this 144,000 are those who come up through great tribulation. They have also been made clean and acceptable in the sight of God with their robes clean through the shed blood of the Lamb. These are among those whose troubles are past. They hunger no more as they did down here on earth. They thirst no more, and although they shed many tears and experienced many heartaches on earth, God now wipes away all tears from their eyes. Here is a blissful ending to all of their problems. Although they had many trials during their lifetime and possibly experienced the worst kinds of persecution, heaven is worth it all and that is where they shall make their eternal abode.

Chapter 7

ACCUMULATED WOES UPON EARTH

The Apostle John continues his unfolding of events upon this earth. They take the form of seven trumpets, and we have already seen that the book was sealed with seven seals. The Lamb who opened the book had seven horns and seven eyes, so we are confronted with the number seven continually throughout the Book of Revelation.

In the eighth chapter, we are told about these seven trumpets and their significance. The seven trumpets are sounded by seven angels. We are first informed that the first angel stands at the altar with a golden censer, and it is his duty to offer up the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar. It is significant that the prayers of God's people are availing. Of the prayers that we offer to God, the Bible says, "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much" (James 5:16b), and this is in confirmation of this text.

Now the things that come to pass after the sound of each trumpet by each angel are very similar to that which happened at the breaking of the seals. There is evidence that this is simply a confirmation of what has gone before. The things are perhaps more vivid and they do contrast, but they do not indicate that there is something radically different from what has gone before. We are introduced to a great star called Wormwood that causes the waters to become bitter and causes many people to die. We also have various plagues and scorpions and various other grim forms of persecution and punishment, but the overriding factor seems to be that there will be trials on this earth as long as there are people here. The concluding verse in chapter nine is, "Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts (Rev. 9:21). It just seems that many things happen on this earth that are regarded as natural things, such as earthquakes, fire, war, plagues and drought, and these things do not seem to cause people to look to God and accept His forgiveness and His blessings. The disasters fail to make men penitent and return to serving God. It is frequently the case that men will not give Him any glory for the good things that happen, but they are quick to blame God for any bad things or disasters that befall them.

Chapter 8

THE OPEN BOOK

Chapter ten begins with these words, "And I saw another C mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: and he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth." First, I would like to call attention to the identity of this angel. Many things point to the same characteristics as the description of Christ in chapter one. He had a face like the sun and His feet as pillars of fire and there was a rainbow enshrouding His head. All of these things indicate that this mighty angel is authorized to accomplish a very important mission. This rainbow would indicate the angel is on a mission of mercy. Attention is called to the fact that he has an open book in his hand. We go back to chapter five and we find that the angel there, which was the same angel called the Lion of the tribe of Judah, took the closed book from the hand of Him who sat upon the throne. He proceeded to break the seals that kept this book from the view of everyone in the universe save the One who was worthy to take the book and to break its seals. In chapter ten, we have an open book and it would seem legitimate to conclude that the one who has taken the closed book and has broken its seals now is in charge of this open book. The Apostle John was about to give a description of the proceedings up to this point, but in verse four it says, "Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not." So whatever the significance of this event was, we will have to wait until it is revealed by God at some future time. But in verses eight and nine we read, "Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth. And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey."

There is a significance here that we should observe. The little book that was in the hand of the angel is offered to the individual who took it. In order to get the full impact of what is meant here, we should return to the sixth verse and see what it says. "And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer." This does not mean that time will cease to be but that the waiting period for things contained in the little book is over. The message is ready for proclamation, and what has kept it in reserve is no longer restraining it. Thus we have the message of the little book to declare.

One may wonder why the little book was offered to the person who took it with the instruction that it had to be "eaten." We have a similar experience with Ezekial when he went down to the people in captivity. We are told that he received a scroll, which he was commanded to eat, and then he had a message to communicate to the people in captivity. If a person is hungry there is nothing as welcome as food. When a table is loaded with good things to eat and you are hungry, it will do you no good just to look at the table. You have to partake of the food that is set before you in order for it to do you any good. Once the food is consumed, it is no longer either appetizing or tempting. The chemistry of the body will assimilate it into blood and corpuscles and give strength to carry out your task. It is the same with the Word of God. It will not do you any good, just to read it or to look at it. It must be obeyed and assimilated into your spiritual fiber and then through its strength you are qualified to proclaim it and to demonstrate its usefulness. It is in this sense that the angel offered the book to the interested party and asked him to eat it. Immediately after this is accomplished, it tells us that the one who gave him the instruction states, "Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings." Thus we have this important analogy. Those who proclaim the message of God must first participate in it and assimilate it into their entire being. They must be witnesses. When they obey the Word in their very inmost being, they are qualified to witness or prophesy before any person in the world, including kings. So the message that was sealed in chapter five is now open and is available to anyone who submits to the call of God and experiences the redemption that He has made available, and he is now qualified to share this with every other person that he meets.

Chapter 9

THE NEW TEMPLE AND THE TWO WITNESSES

Chapter 11 opens with a very deliberate and specific instruction C to measure the temple. The opening words are, 'And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months." We omit the intervening verses and drop down to the nineteenth verse, which says, "And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail."

The questions that come to mind here are: How do you measure God's temple and them that worship therein? What is the temple of God in heaven to represent? Let us go back to Ezekiel chapter 40. In Ezekiel, from chapter 40 until the end, there is a most marvelous description of the temple. First of all there is the description of the Man who measures the temple. He, no doubt, reveals the Person of Christ, for Christ is the One who refuses or admits entrance. In Revelation it reveals that He is the One who sets before us the door that no one can open and when it is opened no man can shut. In the description in Ezekiel, it is clear that no stranger, no alien, no one who is unfit for the temple can enter it. This is also the meaning of the portion in Revelation which says the court of the Gentiles is left unmeasured and the Gentiles will trample under foot the city of Jerusalem for forty and two months.

It will be noticed that in the hands of Christ there is a measuring reed like unto a rod. When this rod is applied as a measurement, it is found that everything is one reed in length (even the porch that enters into the temple is one reed broad), and all the chambers in the temple are one reed long, one reed broad and one reed high. When we remember that Christ measures us according to His Word, the implication is astounding. Every individual in the temple is one Bible long, one Bible broad and one Bible high, and we enter into this temple by obeying Bible conditions. One Bible broad is the dimension of the entrance to the temple. Then when we apply Paul's definition of the temple, we see the significance and importance of the measurements. In I Corinthians 6:29 we read, "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?" The lives of Christ's followers should be patterned according to the Word. This is the measurement of God's temple.

We have a further application of the significance of this in the building of Solomon's temple. This temple was supernaturally designed and the architect was so meticulous in its execution that when the various parts of the temple were brought to Jerusalem, each part fit precisely according to the design and pattern of the architect. This temple was erected, therefore, without the sound of a hammer or any tool. In like manner, the various stones-living stones-are made to fit in God's temple according to the design of the Spirit of God, who takes up His abode in our bodies-His temple.

This temple excludes all who are Gentiles in the flesh, all who are aliens according to the Covenant of God and all who are strangers to God's plan of salvation. These apparently are a numerous group of people and they may mingle with the people of God, but they are not the People of God. They are the Gentiles living in an unmeasured temple, that is, not living in obedience of conformity to God's Word. We have a parallel to this in the building of the ark. Someone has asked what became of Noah's carpenters. When we stop to think that the ark was a huge structure, it seems unlikely that the building of it could be accomplished by four men, Noah and his three sons. He must have had the assistance of many others who helped him build the ark, although they did not have any spiritual acceptance; consequently, when the flood came, they were among those who were lost. When we go to the nineteenth verse, we read, "And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament." The implication is that God's temple in the heavenly realm is governed by the conditions laid down in the New Covenant. In Hebrews 7:12 we read, "For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law." There are many more things that we could read pertaining to this change of priesthood. If we read Hebrews 7:23, 24, we read, "and they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death: but this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangable priesthood." The significance of this monumental change in the priesthood and also in the Law is seen in I Peter 2:9 where it says, "Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people..." In verse five it says "an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." Thus we see Peter endorses the idea of a kingdom of priests when he uses the phrase, "a royal priesthood." He also endorses the holy priesthood with what is now called "the priesthood of believers," for the believers offer up spiritual sacrifices, namely, their own consecrated bodies, to be the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. It is in this way that the temple of God can be measured and made to fit into the pattern designed by God, measuring one Bible long, one Bible broad and one Bible high. When we comply with these instructions, we find a temple that is symmetrical and harmonious. There is no hammering, no prying, no cutting off and no schism or division in the Body. When we comply with God's measurements, we fit normally and precisely according to His plan. So we see the Church is the Body of Christ. It is also called the Bride of Christ, and at the same time it is the habitation of God through the Spirit. In the seventh chapter of Revelation, the Body of believers is described as members of the various tribes of Israel whose aggregate is 144,000. In Revelation 14:6, however, we have the same number, but there is no mention of the tribes of Israel. Instead, they are said to be "...redeemed from among men, being the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb." In other words, God's redeemed company will include all persons of whatever nationality, color or any other qualification so long as they are redeemed by the Lamb and follow Him in obedience according to His instructions.

We proceed now to deal with the two witnesses who are mentioned in Revelation 11:2,3, "...and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months. And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth." We should observe here that mention is made of forty and two months, that is one thousand two hundred and threescore days. Later on, it speaks of three days and a half, and in still another place it speaks of time, times and a half. Essentially, this all adds up to the same length of time. Forty-two months is the same as twelve hundred and sixty days, which is equal also to time (if that means one year), and times (two years), and half a time; then we have three and a half years and this is the same meaning as three and one half days, for the day is almost always referring to a year. If we project this a little farther, it is one half of seven or one half of a week.

Admittedly, there is a considerable amount of symbolism used in this passage. For instance, it says in verse 8, "And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified." We cannot unfold all of the details in this chapter without admitting some speculation. For instance, our Lord was crucified outside of Jerusalem, not Sodom or Egypt. The two witnesses have been described as Moses and Elijah, representing the Law and the Prophets, but it seems that the predominant interpretation is to reckon them as the Spirit of God and the Word of God. These certainly are two witnesses. They have often been crushed down and sometimes, apparently, silenced in their testimony, only to rise up again and proclaim life and redemption. This is the obvious meaning of this portion of scripture.

It will be recalled that "two" witnesses have a very significant meaning in the Bible. There are frequent references, like the one in Deuteronomy 17:6, "At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death." In Matthew 18:16, it is written, "But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established." Christ sent His witnesses out two by two to every place He intended to go. To make this matter conclusive, we have the words of Christ in John 5:36,37, "But I have greater witness than that of John; for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me. And the Father Himself which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me..." Thus, it is significant that "two witnesses" in sackcloth (in mourning), who stand before the God of the earth, are also called "the two olive trees and the two candlesticks" (Rev. 11:3,4). We can with confidence attribute the Spirit and the Word to be God's witnesses. They are God's olive trees and God's candlesticks, for even if crushed and silenced for a time, they will rise to proclaim His message until Christ comes again.

In the prophecy of Daniel's 70 weeks, we find that our Lord was crucified in the midst of the 70th week, which would be three and a half years after He began His ministry. The remaining three and a half years would constitute 42 months or twelve hundred and sixty days or time times and a half. Any way you reckon it, it comes out to the same duration of time. To the followers of Jesus, the crucifixion was a stunning blow to their hopes. This is pictured in the walk of the two disciples to Emmaus. Their conversation was one of dejection and despair. We see this expressed by them in Luke 24:21, "But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done." It is apparent that these dejected and despairing disciples looked upon the crucifixion as the end of all their hopes. But Jesus continued to talk to them and finally revealed Himself to them, which filled they with joy and hope. Thereupon, they rushed back to their company in Jerusalem and related the good news.

We see in the passage in Revelation 11:15, "And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever." Instead of the crucifixion being the end of hope, it was the beginning of a new vibrant and victorious proclamation of the triumph of Christ as the result of His victory on the cross. There is also evidence that with the proclamation of the good news of redemption, which the unbelieving world rejected, the followers of Jesus Christ were persecuted. The proclamation to the Jews exclusively lasted three and one half years after Pentecost when God spoke to Peter in a vision. God led him to the house of Cornelius, a Gentile, who was gloriously saved and became a witness. The gospel broke the Mosaic "wineskins" of Judaism and became a world-wide, universal proclamation of God's good news to all mankind.

Chapter 10

THE WOMAN AND THE DRAGON

In chapter 12, Revelation presents an entirely different role. To introduce this tremendous change, we will quote Revelation 12:14, "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."

Quite obviously, we are presented with a unique situation here. A literal explanation does not help. For instance, the sun is over 800,000 miles in diameter, and a woman clothed with the sun would be of incredible size. Also, if the dragon called down one third of the stars and cast them to earth, we must remember that few of the stars asr as small as the earth, and many are much larger. We are told that this wonder takes place in heaven, which indicates that what we are viewing takes place in the spiritual realm.

First of all, we notice the woman in the throes of childbirth. Who is she, and who is this mysteriously important child? Many interpreters regard the child as Christ and the woman clothed with the sun as the Church. But did the "Church" give birth to Christ? Some find a solution by finding the woman typified as Israel, and thus giving birth to Christ. But there are other factors, such as the moon under her feet. If the woman is Israel, what did the moon signify? For what it is worth, we offer the following simple explanation:

The dragon typified pagan Rome. Rome had seven different forms of government during its history. John said the dragon had seven crowned heads. Later he explained that five of the heads were already past, one existed at his time and one was yet to come. Historically, Rome was at that time under its sixth form of government -- the Emperors. Christianity made its way into history as the Church, which the Bible calls the" Bride of Christ." This Bride, the Church, was the woman who produced multitudes of Christians. The woman was, therefore, in the pains of delivery. The dragon, in the form of pagan Rome, sought to devour the Christians as soon as they were born. The Christians refused to bear arms and also refused to worship Caesar, and thus incurred the wrath of the Emperors, such as Nero and Domitian. It was not long until the Christians were violently persecuted, dispossessed, made to appear as gladiators, fed to hungry lions, and subjected to the most inhuman torture. But as the Bible says, "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." John was a victim of part of this persecution, having been banished to Patmos, where God inspired him to write the Book of Revelation. Eventually Christianity overcame pagan Rome and it became a free religion under Constantine. This episode covers approximately three centuries of history.

In order for us to grasp the full significance of these events, it is necessary to draw from history-both ancient and modern. In order to present these facts, we should observe that the dragon in chapter 12 has seven heads and ten horns; the beast in chapter 13 also has seven heads and ten horns; and the harlot riding on the scarlet beast in chapter 17 also has seven heads and ten horns. However, there is a significant difference. In chapter 12 the crowns are upon the heads of the dragon. In chapter 13 the crowns are upon the horns of the beast; while in chapter 17 the heads and the horns are the same but the crowns are missing. Perhaps it would help some if we went back to the Book of Daniel. In the second chapter of Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar tells of a very perplexing dream that he had, the contents of which he could not remember. Since Daniel was the only one Nebuchadnezzar could find to interpret the dream, he called on him. Daniel told the king that in his dream he saw an image of colossal size. The head of this image was of gold, the breast was of silver, the thighs were of brass and the legs and feet were of iron mixed with miry clay. While he was watching this image, he saw a stone miraculously cut from the mountain without hands and hurled across the horizon until it struck the image on its feet, that is, Rome, and toppled it until it became as dust on the threshing floor. Next Daniel pointed out to the king how Babylon was the head of gold. Immediately following Nebuchadnezzar, the Medo-Persians, symbolized by the breast of silver, would conquer Babylon and take over. The thighs indicated the Grecian world empire under Alexander the Great. Following this, there was the Roman Empire which became world wide, that is to say, it embraced the then-known world. It was in the days of the Roman Empire that the God of heaven would cause a stone to be cut out of the mountain, without hands, and it would destroy the empire and would itself become a mountain that would fill the earth (Daniel 2:36-44).

We should remember that the Babylonian Empire was a well- cultured and a very prosperous and progressive nation at that time. Their libraries contained the most up-to-date and advanced literature in the world, and their religion was a dominant factor in their way of life. When the Persians overthrew the Babylonian Empire, they not only conquered its people, but they took possession of their libraries and adopted a great deal of their religion. Among other things, they believed in the divine right of kings, so that they defied their reigning monarch. The Greek Kingdom was of short duration. Alexander the Great of Macedon led the Greek armies, for the first time, into Asia and conquered the Persian Empire in a few very short but decisive battles. It was not long, however, until the Greek armies were confronted with the powerful armies of Rome. They were conquered in due time, and Rome became supreme, extending her Empire from the British Isles as far as the borders of India. Their universal rule and power gave peace to the world for the first time in history. It was known as the Pax Romana or Roman peace.

During this period of time, Christ was born, lived, and later was crucified in Jerusalem. After His ascension into heaven, the disciples were filled with the Holy Ghost at Pentecost and immediately embarked on a mission that would change the world. The world has been changed to a greater degree by the preaching of the gospel than by the march of Caesar's legions. The witness of the disciples and their converts soon came into conflict with all that went before, namely, all of paganism and all of the pagan political powers that operated at that time. Gradually, however, the pagan shrines were emptied of devotees, and pagan customs were discarded in favor of the power and the witness of the believers. They overcame the dragon symbolized by Rome "...by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony: and they loved not their lives unto death." It was not by carnal weapons or military power that they overcame. The Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:12: 'For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Thus they were warned that their struggle was in the spiritual realm. The end result was that the dragon, which symbolized Rome and all the pagan practices before Christ, was cast down along with all his deceptive powers that held men in bondage until the proclamation of the gospel. The image seen by Daniel was intact and integrated in pagan Rome. The impact of the gospel message toppled the image forever and left it powerless to rise again.

The rest of the chapter simply portrays the wrath of the Satanic powers and their record of opposition to the gospel here on earth. We are told that the Lord equipped the woman with wings to enable her to flee, apparently to flee swiftly, to a place prepared for her, for a period of time in the wilderness.

We see that the message of Christ has not come to us by any easy method. Its message is portrayed well in the hymn "Faith of our fathers living still in spite of dungeon, fire and sword." There has never been a time when Christians in some part of the world have not had to give allegiance to Christ having greater importance than any other consideration, even life itself. The devil wants nothing more than to destroy Christianity from the earth, and the only certain way we have to confront this assault is by obeying the Word of God, and having the testimony of Jesus Christ.