티스토리 뷰
■ 목차
├ 본문 보기
├ 주석 보기
└ 일러두기
| 한글듣기☞ | 영어듣기☞ |
■ 요한계시록 12장
1. 하늘에 큰 이적이 보이니 해를 입은 한 여자가 있는데 그 발 아래는 달이 있고 그 머리에는 열두 별의 면류관을 썼더라
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 :
2. 이 여자가 아이를 배어 해산하게 되매 아파서 애써 부르짖더라
And she being with child cried , travailing in birth , and pained to be delivered .
3. 하늘에 또 다른 이적이 보이니 보라 한 큰 붉은 용이 있어 머리가 일곱이요 뿔이 열이라 그 여러 머리에 일곱 면류관이 있는데
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 .
4. 그 꼬리가 하늘 별 삼분의 일을 끌어다가 땅에 던지더라 용이 해산하려는 여자 앞에서 그가 해산하면 그 아이를 삼키고자 하더니
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 .
5. 여자가 아들을 낳으니 이는 장차 철장으로 만국을 다스릴 남자라 그 아이를 하나님 앞과 그 보좌 앞으로 올려가더라
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 .
6. 그 여자가 광야로 도망하매 거기서 일천이백육십 일 동안 저를 양육하기 위하여 하나님의 예비하신 곳이 있더라
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 threescore days .
7. 하늘에 전쟁이 있으니 미가엘과 그의 사자들이 용으로 더불어 싸울새 용과 그의 사자들도 싸우나
And there was war in heaven : Michael and his angels fought against the dragon ; and the dragon fought and his angels ,
8. 이기지 못하여 다시 하늘에서 저희의 있을 곳을 얻지 못한지라
And prevailed not ; neither was their place found any more in heaven .
9. 큰 용이 내어 쫓기니 옛 뱀 곧 마귀라고도 하고 사단이라고도 하는 온 천하를 꾀는 자라 땅으로 내어 쫓기니 그의 사자들도 저와 함께 내어 쫓기니라
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 .
10. 내가 또 들으니 하늘에 큰 음성이 있어 가로되 이제 우리 하나님의 구원과 능력과 나라와 또 그의 그리스도의 권세가 이루었으니 우리 형제들을 참소하던 자 곧 우리 하나님 앞에서 밤낮 참소하던 자가 쫓겨났고
And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven , Now is 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 , which accused them before our God day and night .
11. 또 여러 형제가 어린 양의 피와 자기의 증거하는 말을 인하여 저를 이기었으니 그들은 죽기까지 자기 생명을 아끼지 아니하였도다
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. 그러므로 하늘과 그 가운데 거하는 자들은 즐거워하라 그러나 땅과 바다는 화 있을진저 이는 마귀가 자기의 때가 얼마 못된 줄을 알므로 크게 분내어 너희에게 내려갔음이라 하더라
Therefore rejoice , ye heavens , and ye that dwell in them . Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea ! for the devil is come down unto you , having great wrath , because he knoweth that he hath but a short time .
13. 용이 자기가 땅으로 내어 쫓긴 것을 보고 남자를 낳은 여자를 핍박하는지라
And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth , he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.
14. 그 여자가 큰 독수리의 두 날개를 받아 광야 자기 곳으로 날아가 거기서 그 뱀의 낯을 피하여 한 때와 두 때와 반 때를 양육 받으매
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 .
15. 여자의 뒤에서 뱀이 그 입으로 물을 강 같이 토하여 여자를 물에 떠내려 가게 하려 하되
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 .
16. 땅이 여자를 도와 그 입을 벌려 용의 입에서 토한 강물을 삼키니
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 .
17. 용이 여자에게 분노하여 돌아가서 그 여자의 남은 자손 곧 하나님의 계명을 지키며 예수의 증거를 가진 자들로 더불어 싸우려고 바다 모래 위에 섰더라
And the dragon was wroth with the woman , and went to make war with the remnant of her seed , which keep the commandments of God , and have the testimony of Jesus Christ .
18. _
_
■ 주석 보기
【계12:1 JFB】계12:1-17. Vision of the Woman, Her Child, and the Persecuting Dragon.
1. This episode (계12:1-15:8) describes in detail the persecution of Israel and the elect Church by the beast, which had been summarily noticed, 계11:7-10, and the triumph of the faithful, and torment of the unfaithful. So also the sixteenth through twentieth chapters are the description in detail of the judgment on the beast, &c., summarily noticed in 계11:13, 18. The beast in 계12:3, &c., is shown not to be alone, but to be the instrument in the hand of a greater power of darkness, Satan. That this is so, appears from the time of the eleventh chapter being the period also in which the events of the twelfth and thirteenth chapters take place, namely, 1260 days (계12:6, 14; 계13:5; compare 계11:2, 3).
great—in size and significance.
wonder—Greek, "sign": significant of momentous truths.
in heaven—not merely the sky, but the heaven beyond just mentioned, 계11:19; compare 계12:7-9.
woman clothed with the sun … moon under her feet—the Church, Israel first, and then the Gentile Church; clothed with Christ, "the Sun of righteousness." "Fair as the moon, clear as the sun." Clothed with the Sun, the Church is the bearer of divine supernatural light in the world. So the seven churches (that is, the Church universal, the woman) are represented as light-bearing candlesticks (계1:12, 20). On the other hand, the moon, though standing above the sea and earth, is altogether connected with them and is an earthly light: sea, earth, and moon represent the worldly element, in opposition to the kingdom of God—heaven, the sun. The moon cannot disperse the darkness and change it into-day: thus she represents the world religion (heathenism) in relation to the supernatural world. The Church has the moon, therefore, under her feet; but the stars, as heavenly lights, on her head. The devil directs his efforts against the stars, the angels of the churches, about hereafter to shine for ever. The twelve stars, the crown around her head, are the twelve tribes of Israel [Auberlen]. The allusions to Israel before accord with this: compare 계11:19, "the temple of God"; "the ark of His testament." The ark lost at the Babylonian captivity, and never since found, is seen in the "temple of God opened in heaven," signifying that God now enters again into covenant with His ancient people. The woman cannot mean, literally, the virgin mother of Jesus, for she did not flee into the wilderness and stay there for 1260 days, while the dragon persecuted the remnant of her seed (계12:13-17) [De Burgh]. The sun, moon, and twelve stars, are emblematical of Jacob, Leah, or else Rachel, and the twelve patriarchs, that is, the Jewish Church: secondarily, the Church universal, having under her feet, in due subordination, the ever changing moon, which shines with a borrowed light, emblem of the Jewish dispensation, which is now in a position of inferiority, though supporting the woman, and also of the changeful things of this world, and having on her head the crown of twelve stars, the twelve apostles, who, however, are related closely to Israel's twelve tribes. The Church, in passing over into the Gentile world, is (1) persecuted; (2) then seduced, as heathenism begins to react on her. This is the key to the meaning of the symbolic woman, beast, harlot, and false prophet. Woman and beast form the same contrast as the Son of man and the beasts in Daniel. As the Son of man comes from heaven, so the woman is seen in heaven (계12:1). The two beasts arise respectively out of the sea (compare 단7:3) and the earth (계13:1, 11): their origin is not of heaven, but of earth earthy. Daniel beholds the heavenly Bridegroom coming visibly to reign. John sees the woman, the Bride, whose calling is heavenly, in the world, before the Lord's coming again. The characteristic of woman, in contradistinction to man, is her being subject, the surrendering of herself, her being receptive. This similarly is man's relation to God, to be subject to, and receive from, God. All autonomy of the human spirit reverses man's relation to God. Woman-like receptivity towards God constitutes faith. By it the individual becomes a child of God; the children collectively are viewed as "the woman." Humanity, in so far as it belongs to God, is the woman. Christ, the Son of the woman, is in 계12:5 emphatically called "the MAN-child" (Greek, "huios arrheen," "male-child"). Though born of a woman, and under the law for man's sake, He is also the Son of God, and so the HUSBAND of the Church. As Son of the woman, He is "'Son of man"; as male-child, He is Son of God, and Husband of the Church. All who imagine to have life in themselves are severed from Him, the Source of life, and, standing in their own strength, sink to the level of senseless beasts. Thus, the woman designates universally the kingdom of God; the beast, the kingdom of the world. The woman of whom Jesus was born represents the Old Testament congregation of God. The woman's travail-pains (계12:2) represent the Old Testament believers' ardent longings for the promised Redeemer. Compare the joy at His birth (사9:6). As new Jerusalem (called also "the woman," or "wife," 계21:2, 9-12), with its twelve gates, is the exalted and transfigured Church, so the woman with the twelve stars is the Church militant.
【계12:1 CWC】[THE SEVEN PERSONAGES]
1. Introduction (The Woman and the Dragon) 12.
The seven personages of this division as identified by Erdman, include the woman, the child, the dragon, the archangel, the remnant (of Israel), the ten-horned beast, and the two-horned beast or false prophet, the first four being found in this chapter. The woman represents Israel it is believed, and the man-child to whom she gave birth, the Messiah. The dragon is Satan, whose ten horns represent the 10 kingdoms of the Roman Empire when in that day they shall be federated under the "beast" of the next chapter. The 7 heads are not so easily interpreted, though with Benjamin Wills Newton, it may be thought that they stand for seven systems: commercial, industrial, social, military, educational, political, and ecclesiastical, which will contribute to the unity or federation just named. The rule of the man-child refers to the millennial reign of Christ, and his being "caught up," to His ascension including in the thought the translation of the Church to be with Him as the body of which He is the Head. The "wilderness" is the Gentile nations among which the faithful remnant of Israel will be preserved during the tribulation, 1260 days. Verses 7-12 call for little comment as the event of which they speak synchronizes with the period of the Tribulation, and indeed accounts for it. Satan's enmity against Israel is revealed in verse 13, the aid she receives from some of the Gentile nations, verse 14, and his futile attempts at her destruction, verses 15, 16. When Satan sought to frustrate God in His plan for Israel in Egypt he "cast out of his mouth water as a flood," i. e., the Egyptian army, but "the earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the flood," and shall we say that the closing verses of chapter 12 point to an event not dissimilar from that of the Red Sea?
2. Progression (Tribulation period) 13.
The "sea" represents the Gentile nations, and the first "Beast," the last form of Gentile dominion in the earth. In the first three verses we have the ten-kingdom empire, but in 4-10 the emperor himself is designated, who is emphatically the "beast." The three animals, leopard, bear, and lion, recall Daniel 7 as symbols of the empires which preceded the Roman and all of whose characteristics entered into the qualities of that empire, and will be reproduced in the final form of Gentile rule (Scofield Bible). The "wounded" head which "was healed," the same authority refers to one of the ancient forms of government of the Empire, that of absolutism, which for a period ceased to exist and will be revived again at the end. But consistency demands that if the 7 heads be taken to represent 7 influential systems contributing to the federation of the empire under the "beast," then the wounding of one head must be the temporary destruction of one of those systems, and its healing the restoration of it again to its former place. Newton regards this as the ecclesiastical system, and as pointing to the time when all religious influences will be suddenly swept away, while Satan has another system ready to be substituted for it, whose great high-priest is the second "beast" now to be described.
The second "beast" (13:17-18) is the last ecclesiastical head of the federated empire as the first "beast" is the last civil head. Many regard the second "beast" otherwise known as the "False Prophet," (계16:13), as the Anti Christ, rather than the first "beast," and probably this is true. "For purposes of persecution he is permitted to exercise the power of the first or emperor-"beast." "666" is man's number in distinction from 7 which is God's number, and the reference to it is designed to comfort the remnant in that awful day, when they may take heart in the thought that powerful as he is, yet he is a man only and not God.
3. Parenthesis (The First Fruits and the Three Angels) 14:1-13.
The 144,000 on Mt. Zion are another picture of the saved remnant of Israel (see chapter 7). The mission of the first angel with "the everlasting gospel" is interpreted to mean that gospel which will be proclaimed at the end of the "Tribulation" immediately preceding the judgment of the nations (마25:31). As Scofield says, "It is neither the gospel of the kingdom nor the gospel of grace. Its burden is judgment, not salvation, and yet it is good news to Israel and others who, during the Tribulation have been saved (시96:2-13; 사35:4-10; Luke 21-28; 계7:9-14). The mission of the second angel will be seen in fulfillment in chapter 18, and that of the third in chapter 19.
4. Consummation (The Harvest and the Vintage) 14-20.
The "harvest" (14-16) is thought to refer to the judgment on the Gentile nations, while "the vine of the earth" is applied in the same way to Israel. For the first compare Matt. 25: 31-46, and the second, 마24:29-51.
Questions.
1. Name the seven "Personages" of this lesson.
2. Give in your own words an interpretation of the imagery of chapter 12.
3. Do the same with chapter 13.
4. Do the same with chapter 14.
5. What two views are given of the symbolism of the 7 heads?
THE SEVEN VIALS
Chapters 15, 16
The law of recurrence finds a further illustration here for we are still in the "Tribulation" period, the latter half of Daniel's seventieth week, and are looking upon the features of that day of judgment.
1. The "Introduction" includes the whole of chapter 15, being the revelation of the "overcomers" and the seven angels. No one can read this without being struck by its likeness to the song of Moses after Israel's deliverance from Pharoah at the Red Sea. (Ex. 15.)
2. The "Progression" is set before us in the revelation of the six vials (16:1-12), which are doubtless literal plagues to be visited upon the followers of the "beast" and upon his throne, and which also suggest the story of Israel's deliverance from Egypt (Ex. 5-11).
3. The "Parenthesis" is the gathering of the Kings (13-16). The drying up of the Euphrates may be taken literally, though it is difficult to say just who are meant by "the kings of the east." Some regard the passage as paralleled by Ezekiel, chapters 38-39, which reveal the rising of Russia and her allies against the Roman federation sometime during the period, or approximate to the period, we are now considering. It is to be noted here that the great battle of verse 14 is not described, although its issue is announced (17-21), cf. also 슥14:1-3.
4. The "Consummation" (17-21) synchronizes with the judgment on the city of Babylon -- literal Babylon, rebuilt as the seat of the "beast" on the plain of Shinar, Isaiah 13-14.
【계12:1 MHCC】The church, under the emblem of a woman, the mother of believers, was seen by the apostle in vision, in heaven. She was clothed with the sun, justified, sanctified, and shining by union with Christ, the Sun of Righteousness. The moon was under her feet; she was superior to the reflected and feebler light of the revelation made by Moses. Having on her head a crown of twelve stars; the doctrine of the gospel, preached by the twelve apostles, is a crown of glory to all true believers. As in pain to bring forth a holy family; desirous that the conviction of sinners might end in their conversion. A dragon is a known emblem of Satan, and his chief agents, or those who govern for him on earth, at that time the pagan empire of Rome, the city built upon seven hills. As having ten horns, divided into ten kingdoms. Having seven crowns, representing seven forms of government. As drawing with his tail a third part of the stars in heaven, and casting them down to the earth; persecuting and seducing the ministers and teachers. As watchful to crush the Christian religion; but in spite of the opposition of enemies, the church brought forth a manly issue of true and faithful professors, in whom Christ was truly formed anew; even the mystery of Christ, that Son of God who should rule the nations, and in whose right his members partake the same glory. This blessed offspring was protected of God.
【계12:2 JFB】2. pained—Greek, "tormented" (basanizomene). De Burgh explains this of the bringing in of the first-begotten into the world AGAIN, when Israel shall at last welcome Him, and when "the man-child shall rule all nations with the rod of iron." But there is a plain contrast between the painful travailing of the woman here, and Christ's second coming to the Jewish Church, the believing remnant of Israel, "Before she travailed she brought forth … a MAN-CHILD," that is, almost without travail-pangs, she receives (at His second advent), as if born to her, Messiah and a numerous seed.
【계12:3 JFB】3. appeared—"was seen."
wonder—Greek, "semeion," "sign."
red—So A and Vulgate read. But B, C, and Coptic read, "of fire." In either case, the color of the dragon implies his fiery rage as a murderer from the beginning. His representative, the beast, corresponds, having seven heads and ten horns (the number of horns on the fourth beast of 단7:7; 계13:1). But there, ten crowns are on the ten horns (for before the end, the fourth empire is divided into ten kingdoms); here, seven crowns (rather, "diadems," Greek, "diademata," not stephanoi, "wreaths") are upon his seven heads. In 단7:4-7 the Antichristian powers up to Christ's second coming are represented by four beasts, which have among them seven heads, that is, the first, second, and fourth beasts having one head each, the third, four heads. His universal dominion as prince of this fallen world is implied by the seven diadems (contrast the "many diadems on Christ's head," 계19:12, when coming to destroy him and his), the caricature of the seven Spirits of God. His worldly instruments of power are marked by the ten horns, ten being the number of the world. It marks his self-contradictions that he and the beast bear both the number seven (the divine number) and ten (the world number).
【계12:4 JFB】4. drew—Greek, present tense, "draweth," "drags down." His dragging down the stars with his tail (lashed back and forward in his fury) implies his persuading to apostatize, like himself, and to become earthy, those angels and also once eminent human teachers who had formerly been heavenly (compare 계12:1; 1:20; 사14:12).
stood—"stands" [Alford]: perfect tense, Greek, "hesteken."
ready to be delivered—"about to bring forth."
for to devour, &c.—"that when she brought forth, he might devour her child." So the dragon, represented by his agent Pharaoh (a name common to all the Egyptian kings, and meaning, according to some, crocodile, a reptile like the dragon, and made an Egyptian idol), was ready to devour Israel's males at the birth of the nation. Antitypically the true Israel, Jesus, when born, was sought for destruction by Herod, who slew all the males in and around Bethlehem.
【계12:5 JFB】5. man-child—Greek, "a son, a male." On the deep significance of this term, see on 계12:1, 2.
rule—Greek, "poimainein," "tend as a shepherd"; (see on 계2:27).
rod of iron—A rod is for long-continued obstinacy until they submit themselves to obedience [Bengel]: 계2:27; 시2:9, which passages prove the Lord Jesus to be meant. Any interpretation which ignores this must be wrong. The male son's birth cannot be the origin of the Christian state (Christianity triumphing over heathenism under Constantine), which was not a divine child of the woman, but had many impure worldly elements. In a secondary sense, the ascending of the witnesses up to heaven answers to Christ's own ascension, "caught up unto God, and unto His throne": as also His ruling the nations with a rod of iron is to be shared in by believers (계2:27). What took place primarily in the case of the divine Son of the woman, shall take place also in the case of those who are one with Him, the sealed of Israel (계7:1-8), and the elect of all nations, about to be translated and to reign with Him over the earth at His appearing.
【계12:6 JFB】6. woman fled—Mary's flight with Jesus into Egypt is a type of this.
where she hath—So C reads. But A and B add "there."
a place—that portion of the heathen world which has received Christianity professedly, namely, mainly the fourth kingdom, having its seat in the modern Babylon, Rome, implying that all the heathen world would not be Christianized in the present order of things.
prepared of God—literally, "from God." Not by human caprice or fear, but by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, the woman, the Church, fled into the wilderness.
they should feed her—Greek, "nourish her." Indefinite for, "she should be fed." The heathen world, the wilderness, could not nourish the Church, but only afford her an outward shelter. Here, as in 단4:26, and elsewhere, the third person plural refers to the heavenly powers who minister from God nourishment to the Church. As Israel had its time of first bridal love, on its first going out of Egypt into the wilderness, so the Christian Church's wilderness-time of first love was the apostolic age, when it was separate from the Egypt of this world, having no city here, but seeking one to come; having only a place in the wilderness prepared of God (계12:6, 14). The harlot takes the world city as her own, even as Cain was the first builder of a city, whereas the believing patriarchs lived in tents. Then apostate Israel was the harlot and the young Christian Church the woman; but soon spiritual fornication crept in, and the Church in the seventeenth chapter is no longer the woman, but the harlot, the great Babylon, which, however, has in it hidden the true people of God (계18:4). The deeper the Church penetrated into heathendom, the more she herself became heathenish. Instead of overcoming, she was overcome by the world [Auberlen]. Thus, the woman is "the one inseparable Church of the Old and New Testament" [Hengstenberg], the stock of the Christian Church being Israel (Christ and His apostles being Jews), on which the Gentile believers have been grafted, and into which Israel, on her conversion, shall be grafted, as into her own olive tree. During the whole Church-historic period, or "times of the Gentiles," wherein "Jerusalem is trodden down of the Gentiles," there is no believing Jewish Church, and therefore, only the Christian Church can be "the woman." At the same time there is meant, secondarily, the preservation of the Jews during this Church-historic period, in order that Israel, who was once "the woman," and of whom the man-child was born, may become so again at the close of the Gentile times, and stand at the head of the two elections, literal Israel, and spiritual Israel, the Church elected from Jews and Gentiles without distinction. 겔20:35, 36, "I will bring you into the wilderness of the people (Hebrew, 'peoples'), and there will I plead with you … like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of Egypt" (compare Notes, see on 겔20:35, 36): not a wilderness literally and locally, but spiritually a state of discipline and trial among the Gentile "peoples," during the long Gentile times, and one finally consummated in the last time of unparalleled trouble under Antichrist, in which the sealed remnant (계7:1-8) who constitute "the woman," are nevertheless preserved "from the face of the serpent" (계12:14).
thousand two hundred and threescore days—anticipatory of 계12:14, where the persecution which caused her to flee is mentioned in its place: 계13:11-18 gives the details of the persecution. It is most unlikely that the transition should be made from the birth of Christ to the last Antichrist, without notice of the long intervening Church-historical period. Probably the 1260 days, or periods, representing this long interval, are RECAPITULATED on a shorter scale analogically during the last Antichrist's short reign. They are equivalent to three and a half years, which, as half of the divine number seven, symbolize the seeming victory of the world over the Church. As they include the whole Gentile times of Jerusalem's being trodden of the Gentiles, they must be much longer than 1260 years; for, above several centuries more than 1260 years have elapsed since Jerusalem fell.
【계12:7 JFB】7. In 욥1:6-11; 2:1-6, Satan appears among the sons of God, presenting himself before God in heaven, as the accuser of the saints: again in Z전3:1, 2. But at Christ's coming as our Redeemer, he fell from heaven, especially when Christ suffered, rose again, and ascended to heaven. When Christ appeared before God as our Advocate, Satan, the accusing adversary, could no longer appear before God against us, but was cast out judicially (롬8:33, 34). He and his angels henceforth range through the air and the earth, after a time (namely, the interval between the ascension and the second advent) about to be cast hence also, and bound in hell. That "heaven" here does not mean merely the air, but the abode of angels, appears from 계12:9, 10, 12; 왕상22:19-22.
there was—Greek, "there came to pass," or "arose."
war in heaven—What a seeming contradiction in terms, yet true! Contrast the blessed result of Christ's triumph, Lu 19:38, "peace in heaven." 골1:20, "made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself; whether … things in earth, or things in heaven."
Michael and his angels … the dragon … and his angels—It was fittingly ordered that, as the rebellion arose from unfaithful angels and their leader, so they should be encountered and overcome by faithful angels and their archangel, in heaven. On earth they are fittingly encountered, and shall be overcome, as represented by the beast and false prophet, by the Son of man and His armies of human saints (계19:14-21). The conflict on earth, as in 단10:13, has its correspondent conflict of angels in heaven. Michael is peculiarly the prince, or presiding angel, of the Jewish nation. The conflict in heaven, though judicially decided already against Satan from the time of Christ's resurrection and ascension, receives its actual completion in the execution of judgment by the angels who cast out Satan from heaven. From Christ's ascension he has no standing-ground judicially against the believing elect. Lu 10:18, "I beheld (in the earnest of the future full fulfilment given in the subjection of the demons to the disciples) Satan as lightning fall from heaven." As Michael fought before with Satan about the body of the mediator of the old covenant (Jude 9), so now the mediator of the new covenant, by offering His sinless body in sacrifice, arms Michael with power to renew and finish the conflict by a complete victory. That Satan is not yet actually and finally cast out of heaven, though the judicial sentence to that effect received its ratification at Christ's ascension, appears from 엡6:12, "spiritual wickedness in high (Greek, 'heavenly') places." This is the primary Church-historical sense here. But, through Israel's unbelief, Satan has had ground against that, the elect nation, appearing before God as its accuser. At the eve of its restoration, in the ulterior sense, his standing-ground in heaven against Israel, too, shall be taken from him, "the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem" rebuking him, and casting him out from heaven actually and for ever by Michael, the prince, or presiding angel of the Jews. Thus Z전3:1-9 is strictly parallel, Joshua, the high priest, being representative of his nation Israel, and Satan standing at God's fight hand as adversary to resist Israel's justification. Then, and not till then, fully (계12:10, "NOW," &c.) shall ALLthings be reconciled unto ChristIN HEAVEN (골1:20), and there shall be peace in heaven (Lu 19:38).
against—A, B, and C read, "with."
【계12:7 MHCC】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 Advocate. The servants of God overcame Satan by the blood of the Lamb, as the cause. By the word of their testimony: the powerful preaching of the gospel is mighty, through God, to pull down strong holds. By their courage and patience in sufferings: they loved not their lives so well but they could lay them down in Christ's cause. These were the warriors and the weapons by which Christianity overthrew the power of pagan idolatry; and if Christians had continued to fight with these weapons, and such as these, their victories would have been more numerous and glorious, and the effects more lasting. The redeemed overcame by a simple reliance on the blood of Christ, as the only ground of their hopes. In this we must be like them. We must not blend any thing else with this.
【계12:8 JFB】8. prevailed not—A and Coptic read, "He prevailed not." But B and C read as English Version.
neither—A, B, and C read, "not even" (Greek, "oude"): a climax. Not only did they not prevail, but not even their place was found any more in heaven. There are four gradations in the ever deeper downfall of Satan: (1) He is deprived of his heavenly excellency, though having still access to heaven as man's accuser, up to Christ's first coming. As heaven was not fully yet opened to man (요3:13), so it was not yet shut against Satan and his demons. The Old Testament dispensation could not overcome him. (2) From Christ, down to the millennium, he is judicially cast out of heaven as the accuser of the elect, and shortly before the millennium loses his power against Israel, and has sentence of expulsion fully executed on him and his by Michael. His rage on earth is consequently the greater, his power being concentrated on it, especially towards the end, when "he knoweth that he hath but a short time" (계12:12). (3) He is bound during the millennium (계20:1-3). (4) After having been loosed for a while, he is cast for ever into the lake of fire.
【계12:9 JFB】9. that old serpent—alluding to 창3:1, 4.
Devil—the Greek, for "accuser," or "slanderer."
Satan—the Hebrew for "adversary," especially in a court of justice. The twofold designation, Greek and Hebrew, marks the twofold objects of his accusations and temptations, the elect Gentiles and the elect Jews.
world—Greek, "habitable world."
【계12:10 JFB】10. Now—Now that Satan has been cast out of heaven. Primarily fulfilled in part at Jesus' resurrection and ascension, when He said (마28:18), "All power [Greek, 'exousia,' 'authority,' as here; see below] is given unto Me in heaven and in earth"; connected with 계12:5, "Her child was caught up unto God and to His throne." In the ulterior sense, it refers to the eve of Christ's second coming, when Israel is about to be restored as mother-church of Christendom, Satan, who had resisted her restoration on the ground of her unworthiness, having been cast out by the instrumentality of Michael, Israel's angelic prince (see on 계12:7). Thus this is parallel, and the necessary preliminary to the glorious event similarly expressed, 계11:15, "The kingdom of this world is become (the very word here, Greek, 'egeneto,' 'is come,' 'hath come to pass') our Lord's and His Christ's," the result of Israel's resuming her place.
salvation, &c.—Greek, "the salvation (namely, fully, finally, and victoriously accomplished, 히9:28; compare Lu 3:6, yet future; hence, not till now do the blessed raise the fullest hallelujah for salvation to the Lamb, 계7:10; 19:1) the power (Greek, 'dunamis'), and the authority (Greek, 'exousia'; 'legitimate power'; see above) of His Christ."
accused them before our God day and night—Hence the need that the oppressed Church, God's own elect (like the widow, continually coming, so as even to weary the unjust judge), should cry day and night unto Him.
【계12:11 JFB】11. they—emphatic in the Greek. "They" in particular. They and they alone. They were the persons who overcame.
overcame—(롬8:33, 34, 37; 16:20).
him—(요일2:14, 15). It is the same victory (a peculiarly Johannean phrase) over Satan and the world which the Gospel of John describes in the life of Jesus, his Epistle in the life of each believer, and his Apocalypse in the life of the Church.
by, &c.—Greek (dia to haima; accusative, not genitive case, as English Version would require, compare 히9:12), "on account of (on the ground of) the blood of the Lamb"; "because of"; on account of and by virtue of its having been shed. Had that blood not been shed, Satan's accusations would have been unanswerable; as it is, that blood meets every charge. Schottgen mentions the Rabbinical tradition that Satan accuses men all days of the year, except the day of atonement. Tittmann takes the Greek "dia," as it often means, out of regard to the blood of the Lamb; this was the impelling cause which induced them to undertake the contest for the sake of it; but the view given above is good Greek, and more in accordance with the general sense of Scripture.
by the word of their testimony—Greek, "on account of the word of their testimony." On the ground of their faithful testimony, even unto death, they are constituted victors. Their testimony evinced their victory over him by virtue of the blood of the Lamb. Hereby they confess themselves worshippers of the slain Lamb and overcome the beast, Satan's representative; an anticipation of 계15:2, "them that had gotten the victory over the beast" (compare 계13:15, 16).
unto—Greek, "achri," "even as far as." They carried their not-love of life as far as even unto death.
【계12:12 JFB】12. Therefore—because Satan is cast out of heaven (계12:9).
dwell—literally, "tabernacle." Not only angels and the souls of the just with God, but also the faithful militant on earth, who already in spirit tabernacle in heaven, having their home and citizenship there, rejoice that Satan is cast out of their home. "Tabernacle" for dwell is used to mark that, though still on the earth, they in spirit are hidden "in the secret of God's tabernacle." They belong not to the world, and, therefore, exult in judgment having been passed on the prince of this world.
the inhabiters of—So Andreas reads. But A, B, and C omit. The words probably, were inserted from 계8:13.
is come down—rather as Greek, "catebee," "is gone down"; John regarding the heaven as his standing-point of view whence he looks down on the earth.
unto you—earth and sea, with their inhabitants; those who lean upon, and essentially belong to, the earth (contrast 요3:7, Margin, with 요3:31; 8:23; 1Jo+4:5; 빌3:19, 1 요4:5) and its sea-like troubled politics. Furious at his expulsion from heaven, and knowing that his time on earth is short until he shall be cast down lower, when Christ shall come to set up His kingdom (계20:1, 2), Satan concentrates all his power to destroy as many souls as he can. Though no longer able to accuse the elect in heaven, he can tempt and persecute on earth. The more light becomes victorious, the greater will be the struggles of the powers of darkness; whence, at the last crisis, Antichrist will manifest himself with an intensity of iniquity greater than ever before.
short time—Greek, "kairon," "season": opportunity for his assaults.
【계12:12 MHCC】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 the church, turns his rage against persons and places. Being faithful to God and Christ, in doctrine, worship, and practice, exposes to the rage of Satan; and will do so till the last enemy shall be destroyed.
【계12:13 JFB】13. Resuming from 계12:6 the thread of the discourse, which had been interrupted by the episode, 계12:7-12 (giving in the invisible world the ground of the corresponding conflict between light and darkness in the visible world), this verse accounts for her flight into the wilderness (계12:6).
【계12:14 JFB】14. were given—by God's determinate appointment, not by human chances (행9:11).
two—Greek, "the two wings of the great eagle." Alluding to 출19:4: proving that the Old Testament Church, as well as the New Testament Church, is included in "the woman." All believers are included (사40:30, 31). The great eagle is the world power; in 겔17:3, 7, Babylon and Egypt: in early Church history, Rome, whose standard was the eagle, turned by God's providence from being hostile into a protector of the Christian Church. As "wings" express remote parts of the earth, the two wings may here mean the east and west divisions of the Roman empire.
wilderness—the land of the heathen, the Gentiles: in contrast to Canaan, the pleasant and glorious land. God dwells in the glorious land; demons (the rulers of the heathen world, 계9:20; 고전10:20), in the wilderness. Hence Babylon is called the desert of the sea,사21:1-10 (referred to also in 계14:8; 18:2). Heathendom, in its essential nature, being without God, is a desolate wilderness. Thus, the woman's flight into the wilderness is the passing of the kingdom of God from the Jews to be among the Gentiles (typified by Mary's flight with her child from Judea into Egypt). The eagle flight is from Egypt into the wilderness. The Egypt meant is virtually stated (계11:8) to be Jerusalem, which has become spiritually so by crucifying our Lord. Out of her the New Testament Church flees, as the Old Testament Church out of the literal Egypt; and as the true Church subsequently is called to flee out of Babylon (the woman become an harlot, that is, the Church become apostate) [Auberlen].
her place—the chief seat of the then world empire, Rome. The Acts of the Apostles describe the passing of the Church from Jerusalem to Rome. The Roman protection was the eagle wing which often shielded Paul, the great instrument of this transmigration, and Christianity, from Jewish opponents who stirred up the heathen mobs. By degrees the Church had "her place" more and more secure, until, under Constantine, the empire became Christian. Still, all this Church-historical period is regarded as a wilderness time, wherein the Church is in part protected, in part oppressed, by the world power, until just before the end the enmity of the world power under Satan shall break out against the Church worse than ever. As Israel was in the wilderness forty years, and had forty-two stages in her journey, so the Church for forty-two months, three and a half years or times [literally, seasons, used for years in Hellenistic Greek (Moeris, the Atticist), Greek, "kairous," 단7:25; 12:7], or 1260 days (계12:6) between the overthrow of Jerusalem and the coming again of Christ, shall be a wilderness sojourner before she reaches her millennial rest (answering to Canaan of old). It is possible that, besides this Church-historical fulfilment, there may be also an ulterior and narrower fulfilment in the restoration of Israel to Palestine, Antichrist for seven times (short periods analogical to the longer ones) having power there, for the former three and a half times keeping covenant with the Jews, then breaking it in the midst of the week, and the mass of the nation fleeing by a second Exodus into the wilderness, while a remnant remains in the land exposed to a fearful persecution (the "144,000 sealed of Israel," 계7:1-8; 14:1, standing with the Lamb, after the conflict is over, on Mount Zion: "the first-fruits" of a large company to be gathered to Him) [De Burgh]. These details are very conjectural. In 단7:25; 12:7, the subject, as perhaps here, is the time of Israel's calamity. That seven times do not necessarily mean seven years, in which each day is a year, that is, 2520 years, appears from Nebuchadnezzar's seven times (단4:23), answering to Antichrist, the beast's duration.
【계12:15 JFB】15, 16. flood—Greek, "river" (compare 출2:3; 마2:20; and especially 출14:1-31). The flood, or river, is the stream of Germanic tribes which, pouring on Rome, threatened to destroy Christianity. But the earth helped the woman, by swallowing up the flood. The earth, as contradistinguished from water, is the world consolidated and civilized. The German masses were brought under the influence of Roman civilization and Christianity [Auberlen]. Perhaps it includes also, generally, the help given by earthly powers (those least likely, yet led by God's overruling providence to give help) to the Church against persecutions and also heresies, by which she has been at various times assailed.
※ 일러두기
웹 브라우저 주소창에 'https://foreverorkr.tistory.com/pages/' 다음에 '창1' 처럼 성경 약자와 장 번호를 입력하면 해당 장으로 바로 이동할 수 있다. 상단의 '한글듣기'와 '영어듣기' 우측의 플레이 아이콘을 누르면 읽는 성경을 들으며 읽을 수 있다.(읽는 성경의 출처는 https://mp3bible.ca , https://www.wordproject.org 이다) 성경 번역본은 개역 한글과 킴제임스 버전(KJV)이다. 주석은 세 가지로 CWC는 Christian Workers' Commentary, MHCC는 Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary, JFB는 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible을 의미한다.