of the sea and comes up upon Israel's land, when the dragon king of Israel surrenders to him his power and his seat (in Mount Zion) and great authority, and takes second place as mouth to the beast. Now this subordinate and dependent position that the king and princes and people of Israel are compelled to take, is shown by this spectacle in the wilderness of a drunken harlot sitting upon many waters, whom John saw in the wilderness sit upon a scarlet coloured beast full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. She is supported and stays upon the beast. Isaiah says (10: 20) that she stays upon the Assyrian.

Thus to stay upon the Assyrian, as saith the Prophet Isaiah, or to be carried by the scarlet colored beast, as saith the apostle John, is the same thing; the one Scripture explains the other. The Revelation abounds in different views of the same thing. For instance, things in that day in the government at the seat of power in Israel are shown to John, first in one form and then in another. In one view he sees a great red dragon in heaven, having seven heads and ten horns; in another view he sees substantially the same thing, but under the figure of a woman in the wilderness sitting on a scarlet coloured beast having seven heads and ten horns. Consequently, to cast the dragon and his angels out of heaven is to cast the woman and the beast that carrieth her out of the wilderness. The two things are the same, and when the wilderness is evacuated by the harlot and the beast, it will be taken possession of by a woman and her son of a very different character.

THE FLIGHT OF THE WOMAN

"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" (Rev. 12:6). This flight of the woman is further described in verse 14 saying, "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."

A Place Prepared of God

The preparing of a place for the woman into which she flees for safety, is something after the manner of what God did when he brought up Israel out of Egypt, when he prepared a place for them by casting out nations greater and mightier than they, and brought them on eagles' wings into the place which he had espied for them, even as the children of Israel sung when the Lord had thrown the horse and his rider into the sea, saying, “Thou shalt bring them in and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in; in the sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established" (Exod. 15).

So also will Michael, the great prince which standeth for the remnant of Israel, who also brought up Israel out of Egypt and planted them in the mountain of the Lord, cast the dragon out of Israel's heavens and dislodge him from the strongholds of Mount Zion, with all his angels and supporters, so that place will no more be found for them in heaven, but he will be cast out into the earth and his angels will be cast out with him; and the place from which he has been dislodged by the strong hand of power, by battle and war,

will be occupied by the woman and her man child for a period of three years and an half in times of trouble such as never was, and never will be again.

"Two Wings of a Great Eagle"

This figure of speech may be understood by what Moses said in the song touching the manner in which the Lord brought up Israel out of Egypt with an uplifted arm, and by fury poured out, saying, "As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings, so the Lord alone did lead him and there was no strange god with him" (Deut. 32:11-12). Again the Lord said to Israel, "Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bear you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself" (Exod. 19:4). So in the latter days by the mighty power of God like two wings of a great eagle will the remnant of Israel be brought into the place which God hath prepared for them.

LOUD REJOICING IN HEAVEN (REV. 12:10-12)

When this great victory is achieved by Michael and his angels and those who follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth, John says, " 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, 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. 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" (Rev. 12: 11-12).

THE KINGDOM OF OUR GOD AND POWER OF HIS CHRIST

The loud voice that is heard in heaven when the battle is fought and the victory won, is the shouting of the hundred forty and four thousand who have captured and occupy the strong holds of Mount Zion and have wrested the city of David from the hand of the enemy. Then there is great rejoicing in the hosts of Israel. The remnant and their king constitute the new kingdom of God and of Christ organized under the new covenant and in their first contest with the enemy they are successful, and they overcome by the blood of the Lamb because they have the faith of Christ and put their trust in him, and are not like unto faint-hearted Ephraim of old, of whom it is said in the seventy-eighth Psalm (verse 9), "The children of Ephraim being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle."

The magnitude and importance of this contest can only in part be understood when we realize the great truth that at this time the land of Israel will be filled with millions of armed men from the four quarters of the earth who are in league with the dragon king of Israel; and the little remnant under the command and lead of Michael will have to cut their way through these powerful armies of the dragon and the allied forces of the mighty nations of the earth who stand ready to swallow them up. But the Lord encourages and strengthens his people, saying, "But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not, for I have redeemed

thee; I have called thee by name; thou art mine. When thou passeth through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee; when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee" (Isa. 43: 1-2); again (verses 16-19), “ Thus saith the Lord, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your king. Thus saith the Lord, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters; which bringeth forth the chariot and the horse, the army and the power; They shall lie down together, they shall not rise; they are extinct, they are quenched as tow. Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold I will do a new thing: now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. The beasts of the field shall honour me, the dragons and the owls: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen. This people (the remnant) have I formed for myself; they shall show forth my peace."

Many are the testimonies in the prophets that speak of these times, and it is not possible to speak of them all here. But we desire to show that the Book of the Revelation is a reproduction in a new form of what the prophets have spoken.

When the remnant capture Mount Zion, the seat of government, by casting out the dragon and his angels, they then dwell there for three years and an half and are spoken of as dwellers in heaven. They are organized as a kingdom, with a king at their head, and as a government is called a heaven in the Scripture and the Scripture cannot be broken, so it is said to this people, "Rejoice ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them "; and of the beasts and his dragon mouth it is said, "And he opened his mouth against God, to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle (the Temple), and them that dwell in heaven" (that is the remnant that dwell in Mount Zion) (Rev. 13:6).

Now the correctness of this view of these things is plainly seen by what the Lord says to the remnant after they have, by battle and war, wrested Mount Zion out of the hand of the dragon and Assyrian his strong ally, saying, "Therefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts, O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian; he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against thee after the manner of Egypt; for yet a very little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction" (Isa. 10:25).

That is, as Pharaoh pursued the children of Israel saying, "I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my lust shall be satisfied upon them, I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them" (Exod. 15:9),— even so the Assyrian shall go forth with great fury to destroy and utterly to make away many (Dan. 11:44). But Isaiah says in continuance, "And the Lord of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock Oreb; and as his (the Lord's) rod was upon the sea, so shall he lift it up after the manner of Egypt," that is to say, as Moses at the command of God lifted up his rod over the Red Sea, dividing its waters so that the children of Israel went through the deep on dry land, and as Moses

again at the command of God lifted up his rod upon the sea, so that the sea returned to its strength and buried the Egyptians, who sank as lead in the mighty waters, even thus will the Lord destroy the Assyrian when his work upon Jerusalem and Mount Zion is finished.

Again what John saw touching Mount Zion is a further confirmation of the correctness of this view, for after the remnant are entrenched in Mount Zion, John says (Rev. 14: 1), "And I looked and lo, a Lamb stood on the Mount Zion, and with him an hundred and forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads," thus proving that Mount Zion is the place where the remnant are lifted up as an ensign upon a hill.

The dwellers on the earth at this time are what are called " the remnant of the woman's seed which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ" (Rev. 12:17). They are that portion of the righteous who dwell among the tribes of Israel. They are like the three Hebrew children in Babylon, who said to the king, "If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king; but if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up" (Dan. 3: 17-18). Even thus the wise and faithful among the people of Israel will not bow down nor worship the idols which the rebellious house have set up throughout the land, and in the streets of their cities. They are that portion of the righteous who are left out to be trodden under foot of the Gentiles forty and two months, which is during the time that the woman dwells in the wilderness.

These are they who have fled out of their own country to escape the persecutions of the kings, princes, priests and prophets of the rebellious house, and have taken refuge among the seas of nations, and when these nations confederate with the Assyrian and the dragon king of Israel, these refugees among them will be pursued unto strange cities and become the subjects of terrible persecution; therefore it may well be said of those who survive these troubles and finally return to their own land, "These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb" (Rev. 7: 14).

THE DRAGON'S FLOOD (REV. 12:13-15)

And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. . . . 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. 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." The flood that the dragon cast out of his mouth are the armies that he sends forth by the word of command that proceeds from his own mouth, to his own armies and those of his allies, to swallow up the army of the Lord. But it is contained in the Psalms (93: 4; 77: 19), "The Lord on

high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea." He makes a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters; and through this path he leads his people as he led them through the deep waters of the Red Sea. These are times of trouble and great fear, wherefore the Lord speaks encouragingly to his people by the Prophet Isaiah saying (41:8), “But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend (verse 10). Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Behold all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish. Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee: they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought. For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee. Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff. Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel."

Now to these good and comfortable words by the remnant, the true Israel of God responds, as it is set forth in the hundred and twenty-fourth Psalm, saying, "If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, now may Israel say; if it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us; then they (the dragon and his floods) had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us; then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul: then the proud waters (of the dragon) had gone over our soul. Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth. Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth."

"The Earth Helped the Woman" (Rev. 12: 16)

12:16)

That is to say, there will be a counteracting element raised up among the tribes of Israel in favor of the woman, so that the purposes of the dragon will be frustrated, and he will not be able to fully carry out his mischievous designs, even as the man clothed in linen spake to Daniel saying, "And they that understand among the people shall instruct many, yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, and by captivity, and by spoil many days. Now when they shall fall, they shall be holpen with a little help" (Dan. 11:34-35).

WAR UPON THE REMNANT OF THE WOMAN'S SEED (REV. 12:17) When the woman has found a safe retreat into the wilderness from the face of the serpent, then he turns his hand against those of like precious faith, who dwell in the earth and in the sea, as it is written (Rev. 12: 12), “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 (verse 17). And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make