who turn from the power of Satan unto God, and who believe and obey the Gospel. Therefore saith the apostle, "There is none other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved." When the Temple of God in heaven is opened and the ark of the testimony is seen (that is, when Christ appears), then it is said, "There were lightnings and voices and thunderings and an earthquake and great hail." It is when the seventh vial (Rev. 16: 17-18) is poured out into the air that these lightnings and thunderings and voices transpire, and when that great earthquake takes place of which it is said that it is such as was not since man was upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. Then the great hailstones shall fall upon the wicked, which we shall speak of more particularly when we treat of the pouring out of the vials. CHAPTER VI TWO GREAT SIGNS IN HEAVEN, THE WOMAN AND THE Identity of " DRAGON of woman"- Man child His iron rule - Identity dragon"- War in "heaven"- Michael's position" The wilderness" · Result of war New kingdom are " dwellers in heaven "- Continued opposition against "dwellers on earth and in sea "— A little help - War upon saints — That old serpent called Devil and Satan Instances where spirit of evil in mankind was so called Satan" transformed in Eden Law of sin called Devil - Devil who tempted Christ - Same spirit of evil in future. In chapter 12 of the book of this prophecy John says, "And there appeared a great wonder (or sign) 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 (or sign) 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. 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. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and three score days." This prophecy, like the other notable prophecies contained in this book, has taxed the ingenuity and talents of the learned in the religious and sectarian world since the days that grievous wolves entered into the churches established by the apostles, not sparing the flock but turning things upside down, as Paul testifies to the elders of the church at Ephesus that they would do, as it is recorded by Luke in the twentieth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. Therefore from the early days of the churches down to the present time, men destitute of the truth, yet men of vivid imaginations and irrepressible, have corrupted the apostles' doctrines and turned the truth of God into a lie. And when it comes to the interpretation of the Revelation, the book of this prophecy, they have made havoc of the visions of John and have wrested and misapplied his words more, if possible, than they have corrupted the Scriptures that had gone before, until in these days of printing and publishing of books without end, the world is flooded with commentaries and religious books which put light for darkness and darkness for light, and in which they wrest the sayings of this wonderful book as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. The great body of these writers understand neither to what nation or peo my glory. And I will set a sign among them" (66: 18-19). the remnant of Israel, called "the woman," in this prophecy. this faithful people who are raised up and who will flourish and 1 the day of judgment, the Lord also speaks by Malachi, saying, that feared the Lord spake often one to another: and the Lord and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him hat feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. And they ine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Then eturn, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between serveth God and him that serveth him not. For, behold, the day hat shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do shall be as stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. to you that fear my name (the woman, the remnant) shall the Sun eousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth and as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they e ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, the Lord of hosts" (Mal. 3: 16-18; 4: 1-3). se are gracious words spoken among the last words of the Old Testacriptures and worthy of all acceptation (I Tim. 1:15; 4:9). The I righteousness here spoken of is that sun with which the woman in the days is clothed. The Psalmist also testifies, saying, "The Lord God in and shield." Jeremiah adds of Christ saying (23:6), “This is his whereby he shall be called, The Lord our righteousness." The woman thed with the righteousness of God, which is Christ Jesus, as Paul said e church at Corinth (I 1: 30), " But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who od is made unto us wisdom and righteousness, sanctification and redempBut in the Revelation the matter is cut short by simply saying, "She clothed with the sun." AND THE MOON UNDER HER FEET n the service of the sanctuary under the first covenant, the times, seasons, ts, and ordinances of the law were arranged and governed by the moon's ses, so that the moon naturally comes to be used as a symbol of the law. w the church of Christ, called the woman in this prophecy, is not organd under the law or first covenant, but under the new covenant. The law dead to them, for they are delivered from the curse of the law; therefore it said of the woman, "The moon is under her feet." "A CROWN OF TWELVE STARS " Under the new covenant there were twelve men selected and ordained as inisters of the new testament, to bear witness among all nations of the resurection of Christ from the dead, and of the immortality that was manifested his person. Speaking of these things to Cornelius, Peter says of Christ Acts 10:40-41), “Him God raised up the third day, and showed him openly, ple these prophecies relate, nor the age of the world in which they are to be manifested; for instead of having been fulfilled in the past they relate to the future, and not the near future either; and instead of the burden of this book relating chiefly and almost entirely to Gentile nations and countries and what has, and is to take place among them, it relates chiefly to the house of Israel, who at this time are neither a people nor a nation, but are wanderers among the nations. And these great things will be manifested and witnessed in the land of Israel, the holy land. Men may be very zealous and very pious, as the saying is, and yet may have only a zeal of God without knowledge, as had the Jews who killed their own Messiah, even as Paul, who conscientiously tore down and destroyed what he, after his eyes were opened, again built up. Moreover Jesus said to his apostles, "Yea, the time cometh that whosoever killeth you, will think that he doeth God service, and these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me." Therefore we must not judge from appearances, but judge righteous judgment. Now the woman and her son, and the dragon, as set forth in this prophecy are not Gentile characters, but Israelitish, and their operations and works are not manifest in Gentile countries but in the land of the Jews; and the days in which these things take place are not in the past, but in the future, and as this is to be a manifestation among the people of Israel and in the land of Israel in the future, it may aid an honest inquirer after the truth in these matters to know that these things have been foreshadowed in the past by what has already taken place in the house of Israel. For viewing the six hundred men that were allied to David as the woman, and David as the man child that was to be born to Israel, as a king that was to rule the surrounding nations with a rod of iron, and Saul the king of Israel, as the dragon, you have in what transpired in their history a great many things which serve in a moderate way to illustrate what is yet to transpire in a more enlarged manner among the same people and in the same country, and in the government and among the ruling classes and among the armies of Israel. THE WOMAN The woman consists of the saints in that day who have been sealed with their Father's name in their foreheads. Their number is an hundred forty and four thousand, and of them it is said, "They follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth." This woman is spoken of as a great sign in heaven, that is, in the government and among the rebellious kings and princes of Israel and Judah, and the kings, princes, great lords and renowned assembled there from among the mighty nations of the earth. The Lord speaks of this remnant by the hand of Zechariah saying (9:16), "And the Lord their God shall save them in that day as the flock of his people: for they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon his land." Therefore when the Lord lifts up this ensign upon the land of Israel, he speaks to the people by the mouth of the prophet Isaiah (18: 3) saying, "All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye." And the Lord says again by this same prophet, "I will gather all nations and tongues, and they shall |