The Mystery of Ephraim

Chapter 11 contains a vision of two wonders or signs seen in heaven, a woman and a dragon, and an account of what followed thereon, war both in heaven and on the earth.

Revelation 11

¹ 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. — and there was given me a reed like unto a rod; a measuring reed was six cubits long, Ezekiel 40:5; with the Greeks and Romans, ten feet long.

— measuring the servants of God is equivalent to trying them out and judging their performance, and if qualified, to seal them for official duties; these are called, chosen and are found to be faithful, Revelation 17:14;

² But the court which is outside the temple, leave out, and measure it not, for it is given unto the nations; and the Holy City shall they tread under foot for forty and two months. — for the time being, the majority people of the nations are not given the calling, nor judged yet, that’s why the court is left out and measure not;

— the reason of this is that it was given to the Gentiles, a reference to the “court of the Gentiles,” the outer court of the Temple to which the Gentiles had access, and within which they were not permitted to go; that its time will come; perhaps starting with the ‘times of the gentiles’? Luke 21:24

³ And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.” — clothed in sackcloth; black cloth commonly for mourning garments; here it is an emblem of mourning;”

— my two witnesses” that is, they, like Zerubbabel and Joshua, (Zechariah 4) are the two great witnesses of God; that they would give utterance the judgements of God as he reveals them for a thousand two hundred and threescore days; 1260 days is the same as three and half years.

⁴ These are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks, standing before the God of the earth. — and the two candlesticks; which hold forth the light of the Word of God;

— these are the two olive trees; or represented by the two olive tree; reminding us of Moses and Elijah who called for fire upon their adversaries; or in Zechariah 4:3, Joshua and Zerubbabel after the Babylonish captivity, who in laying out themselves, in rebuilding and finishing the temple, were types of these witnesses.

⁵ And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth and devoureth their enemies; and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. — fire proceedeth out of their mouth; it is, of course, necessary that this should be taken literally;

— the fire devouring their foes seems to allude to II Kings 1:10; like Elijah, they can close the heaven (1 Kings 17:1); like Moses, they can turn water into blood and summon down every plague (Exodus 7:20); thus the spirit and power of Moses and Elias; the meaning is, that they would have the power of destroying their enemies as fire should proceed out of their mouth and destroyed their lives; that is, their words would be like burning coals or flames;

⁶ These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy, and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will. — like Moses and Elijah, these have power to shut up the sky, that no rain map fall during the days of their prophecy, and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to smite the earth with all manner of plagues as often as they choose;

— and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed; this is repeated, partly to show the certainty of this destruction; and partly to point out the manner of it, which will be not by the use of carnal weapons: these enemies of the witnesses will not be killed by the sword, or any other weapon, but by the word of God, by the pronouncement of God’s judgements on them, by fire, proceeding out of their mouths.

⁷ And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them and kill them. — the beast’s coming is after the working of Satan: perhaps the papacy is meant; he is raised up, influenced, and supported by him; he is a creature of his, and has his power, seat, and authority from him, the great dragon, the old serpent, called the devil and Satan.

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. — that “the great city” is identical with where our Lord was crucified, is none other than Jerusalem;

— Sodom was the essence of abominations, and Egypt was the country where their forefathers had been kept in shameful slavery; both names therefore stood for the lowest and meanest on earth.

— and men of the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will see their corpses three days and one half, and will not permit their corpses to be placed into sepulchers; and they that dwell upon the earth will rejoice over them and be very glad.

⁹ And they of the people and kindreds, and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and a half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. — in this world of satellite technologies, their dead bodies could be seen all round the world;

¹⁰ And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another, because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. — and kings, people and kindreds will send one another presents, because these two prophets have tormented them that lived sinfully or rebelliously upon the earth;

¹¹ But after three days and a half, the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them that saw them. — the enemies of the Lord rejoiced too soon as in many cases; and after the three and one-half days the Spirit of Life from God came into them, and they stood upon their feet;

— and great fear fell upon them which saw them; in this posture; either on their enemies, who may fear that they should be tormented with them again; that the things which they had foretold concerning their ruin are now coming upon them;

¹² And they heard a great voice from Heaven, saying unto them, “Come up hither!” And they ascended up to Heaven in a cloud, and their enemies beheld them. — the resurrection of the witnesses is followed by their ascension unto heaven in a cloud; and their enemies trumbled in fear as they beheld them;

¹³ And that same hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth part of the city fell; and in the earthquake were slain seven thousand men, and the remnant were seized with fear, and gave glory to the God of Heaven. — and as they ascended to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them; and in that hour there happened a great earthquake;

— and the tenth part of the city fell, and there were killed in the earthquake seven thousand souls, and the rest became terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.

¹⁴ The second woe is past; and behold, the third woe cometh quickly. — the second woe is past; the meaning is, that the second woe trumpet, which is the sixth, will now have done sounding, when the four angels, bound in the river Euphrates, shall have been loosed,

— and they, with their horsemen, shall have done what they were designed to do; when the two witnesses shall have been slain, and are raised again, and ascended to heaven; and the things attending or following thereon as the earthquake, and slaughter and the conversions of men are accomplished;

— behold the third woe cometh quickly; immediately, upon the passing of the other; namely, the sounding of the seventh trumpet, as follows.

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!”

— and the seventh angel sounded; the sounding of this angel, the third woe commences, brought on the inhabitants of the earth to ruin and downfall of any rebellion and then, and not till then, the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and Christ;

— and that include all the remaining nations are to be taken into the account, and everyone of the Papacy, riding on a white horse with a bow; and of Mahometans, the army of locusts of 200,000,000, will “become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ.”

¹⁶ And the four and twenty elders, who sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces and worshiped God, — the twenty four elders represent the Church of God in all ages; these Saints sit with Christ in heavenly places,

¹⁷ saying, “We give Thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, who art, and wast, and art to come, because Thou hast taken to Thee Thy great power, and hast reigned. — which art, and wast, and art to come; the same as “the Eternal”; the “Everlasting”; ‘I am,’ ‘I was,’ ‘I’ll be.’

— these descriptions of the Lord are not to be mistaken as a name of the Lord, whose name is Yehovah (the letter J didn’t appear in the English language until the sixteenth century the earliest, so Jehovah as the Lord’s name is a recent invention).

¹⁸ And the nations were angry; and Thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that Thou shouldest give reward unto Thy servants the prophets, and to the saints and them that fear Thy name, small and great, and shouldest destroy them that destroy the earth.”

— and there are still nations that are angry; see Psalms 99:1, these could be the remaining nations that are harder to convert, having thicker skulls, which the Septuagint render, the “Lord reigns, let the nations be angry.”

¹⁹ 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. — and the Temple of God was opened in heaven; this Temple would be the Ezekiel Temple that were designed in heaven but now built at Jerusalem;

— to which the allusion is, was the place of public worship for all nations; the pure worship of God will be restored; the Temple with the Court of the Gentiles utilized to the full, will be open to all; here everyone may come and sing and worship without fear.

Revelation 12

Chapter 12 appears as an insert chapter, sort of a flashback.

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. — and upon her head a crown of twelve stars; “stars” could be the 12 stars that Joseph saw in his dream, the 12 tribes which Christ holds in his right hand;

— each star repesents an apostle; having the respect for the twelve original apostles; and the “crown” being rewarded to each of them, which are also composed of stars.

² And she, being with child, cried, travailing in birth and in pain to be delivered. — and a great sign was seen in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon beneath her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; and being pregnant, she cried in the pains of birth and was in torment to give birth. This woman symbolizes the Daughter of Zion, the Church, the saints;

— and the moon under her feet; the church is sometimes compared to the moon herself, because, as the moon receives its light from the sun, so she receives her light from Christ.

³ And there appeared another wonder in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. — so Pharaoh king of Egypt were also called dragons in Scripture, Ezekiel 29:3; Isaiah 27:1;

— all which places the Targum interprets of מלכא, “a king”, and particularly of Pharaoh king of Egypt; who is like to a great and mighty dragon: and the Roman empire, as under the influence of Satan, the missing “Holy Ghost” who wanted to be like the Most High, is fitly compared to a “dragon”;

— having seven heads, and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads; the “seven heads” of the Roman empire either design the seven mountains, or hills, on which Rome was built, as the seven heads of the beast on which the woman drunk with the blood of the saints sat, are explained in Revelation 17:9.

⁴ And his tail drew a third part of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to be delivered to devour her child as soon as it was born. — the devil’s tail dragged a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth;

— and the dragon stood before Israel (especially Judah the Sceptre holder) which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born; just as the dragon Pharaoh lay in the midst of his rivers, in the river Nile, Ezekiel 29:3; to slay the male children of Israel as soon as born; and as the dragon Herod sought to take away the life of Jesus quickly after his birth.

⁵ 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. — the house of Judah gave birth to a man-child, the Messiah, who was intended to rule all the nations with an iron rod; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne.

⁶ And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. — and the woman, of the house of Judah, now especially the Nazarenes, fled into the wilderness, where a place has been prepared for her by God, that they should nourish her there twelve hundred and sixty days (more at the end).

⁷ And there was war in Heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,

⁸ and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in Heaven. — not only the dragon and his angels could not prevail, but he could no longer maintain his place in heaven: he was conquered and cast out like lightning from heaven.

⁹ And the great dragon was cast out — that serpent of old called the Devil and Satan, who deceiveth the whole world. He was cast out onto the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

— Michael is an archangel, Daniel 10:13; Daniel 12:1 summoned the hosts of heaven and gave battle so successfully that the dragon, or Satan, called the old serpent and the devil because his constant endeavor is to bring ignominy and shame on all men, was cast out of heaven with his host.

¹⁰ And I heard a loud voice saying in Heaven, “Now have come salvation and strength, and the Kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ; for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, who accused them before our God day and night.

¹¹ And 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.

¹² Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea! For the devil has come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.” — for this reason rejoice, heavens, and those that dwell in them;

— Woe to the earth and to the sea, because the devil has come down to you having a great rage, knowing that he has little time. And they, the believers themselves, won the victory over Satan; they are winners in the fight against him through the power of Christ, through the fact that his blood was shed for their redemption.

¹³ And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman who brought forth the manchild. — the dragon persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child: the devil was enraged at the house of Judah that put forth the Sceptre, now the church, the Nazarenes, and pursued her with great wrath.

¹⁴ And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the face of the serpent. — two wings of a great eagle; as God said to the children of Israel (Exodus 19:4), “Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings.”

— “a time and times and half a time” is one time, plus two times, plus half a time which total 3 and a half times, and since one time is 360 days, the total is 1260 years; one day for a year.

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 by the flood.

— as the Lord holds his protecting hand over his Church, the scattered members continued to exist in spite of all persecutions, even though it be only in secret places and hidden from the eyes of men, and was protected by divine means in the wilderness for 1260 years from the serpent.

¹⁶ And the earth helped the woman; and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. — this is a scenario of the flood of trials and tribulations which Satan time and again poured forth against the Church;

— it is a time of great persecutions against the scattered brethren of numerous Inquisitions, to note in what manner the devil makes fanatics of men against the preaching of the truth;

— 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.

¹⁷ And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and he went to make war with the remnant of her seed, who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

— the Church were dispersed, no more functioning as a single body as was the Jerusalem church, and now her seed are scattered, dispersed throughout the hills and valleys of Asia and Europe, some later migrated to the Americas.

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The Church fled to the wilderness for 1260 days (Revelation 12:6; for more see the Pergamos Era)

Again, it must be emphesized that the only sign God has given mankind being classified as his true Church is the Sabbath; it is a sign between God and man (Exodus 31:13) that keepers of the Sabbath are being santified to be God’s elect.

The period for the Church to flee to the wilderness (mentioned in Revelation 12:6) is 1,260 days, which in this place prophetically refers to 1,260 years according to the “day for a year” principle found in Numbers 14:34 and Ezekiel 4:5.

The Church in this text flees into the “wilderness,” a solitary, lonely, desert place. Here is what happened historically: the Church was severely persecuted during the reigns of both Emperor Diocletian and Emperor Galerius from 303 to 313 AD, especially in the eastern provinces (see Revelation 2:10 “and ye shall have tribulation ten days”).

In 325 Constantine convened the Council of Nicaea and Catholicism became the state religion. In order for the Nazarenes to fully obey God and put into practice their beliefs, they had to “flee” from the centers of influence and into the less-populated areas.

In the early period of this “exile” the true Christians were most numerous in what today is eastern Turkey. In later centuries they were found in scattered areas of Europe, especially in and around high mountains and valleys, usually away from major population centers.

Around 1585, some 1,260 years later, Catholic domination of the throne in England ended. This brought to a close the period when the Church had to carry on in the wilderness, lonely areas of Europe and Asia Minor, instead of the greater population centers where Catholic and later even Protestant churches flourished.

It was not until about 1650 that there were again enough Sabbath keepers to establish local congregations. They often called themselves the Church of God, but the world termed them “Sabbatarians” and Sabbatarian Baptists.

From England the remnant Sabbath-keeping Church spread to America. In 1664, Stephen Mumford, sent to Newport, Rhode Island, raised up a small church mainly from Baptist converts. One by one new churches were established through continued help of the Seventh-day Baptists in England.

~ by Joel Huan on January 12, 2023.

Posted in Revelation