No. X.

OBSERVATIONS ON THE APOCALYPSE.

Revelation xii.

It is constantly God's way throughout Scripture, and especially in the Apocalypse, to unfold His ways to us under the form of visions. It is thus that some of the most important truths are revealed, and it is of all modes of representation the most powerful.

Truths, under symbolic forms and personifications, are presented to the eye of faith, and thereby are we taught not only the bearing and relation of those truths thus symbolized to all other things; but also, the exact proportion and relation which the parts and elements of the scene bear to one another, and that according to the estimate of God and not of man.

Who then can limit the importance of the divine mode of instruction?

It was thus that Ezekiel was shewn the judgment of God and His glory, in relation to Jerusalem, as well as the ultimate bringing in of millennial blessing. It was thus that Daniel was made to perceive and comprehend what was God's estimate of the kingdoms of the earth, Jew and Gentile, throughout thousands of years; it was thus that Peter, Paul, and John were instructed in many of the deepest counsels of God. Those revealed to the latter are largely developed in this book, under the form of visions, embodying a wide range of truth relative to Israel, the nations, and (at the conclusion) the Church, and what we find unfolded to us in the vision of Chap. xii. is one of the most prominent in that portion of the counsel of God which relates to the earth; that is to say, that which is connected with His earthly people; and with regard to which the earth is the scene of action; in fact, it is that from which all other such counsels emanate,

the centre round which they revolve, the pivot which sustains them: for what does this vision reveal to us? what is its aim and object? Is it not Christ the centre of God's earthly counsels on the one hand, and the object of Satan's rage and antagonism on the other?

It is not a heavenly Christ, in His relation to the Church, that we have here. That, or rather her associa tion with Him in this central position, is given elsewhere; but in this vision He is seen in His character of Messiah, and in His relation to the Jewish people, from whom He springs as to His earthly association.

In fact, the whole scene is essentially Jewish, and does not extend to His connexion with man universally. He, the man-child, is born of, for, and in relation to the woman; and though the facts herein represented are a striking fulfilment of the sentence which God pronounced on the serpent with reference to the woman's seed, "It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel," it is more an accomplishment of it in connexion with Israel than with man in the broad sense of the family of Adam. With the Jewish, rather than with the human, seed.

The symbols under which this is represented are most powerful. Let us examine them.

The first object which John sees is a "great wonder," which appears "in heaven." The scene is an earthly one, yet it is mapped out to the eye of the prophet as in heaven, and why so? Because it is to be revealed to him as it stands in the mind and purpose of God; he must not see it as on earth, i. e., in man's view and estimate, for in that case a very different aspect would have been presented, the whole character of the scene would have been changed; but it is shewn to him in heaven, in God's holy perfect estimate and mind, and the colours of the picture are dark or bright in their moral bearing as He sees them, and not as a human unspiritualized eye would regard them.

The scene, then, is laid in heaven, but what does the prophet behold? "A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars." This striking figure presents to us Judah,

the royal tribe, and is one in full keeping with the symbolism of scripture, for the nation of Israel in connexion with the Lord is continually represented to us thus, not (it is true) elsewhere in this investiture, but the simile of a woman is made use of to represent the earthly bride as well as the heavenly. Here, however, it is Christ's humanity, or rather His incarnate connexion with Israel that is to be developed; and, consequently, it is in a maternal and not in a bridal character that she appears. She is presented, not as that which He draws into relation with Himself, but as that from which He springs. And from whence did he spring? Was it not from Judah, the royal tribe, here typified by this glorious woman? That she represents Judah exclusively, and not the whole nation, we shall see proved as we proceed further in the detail of the chapter, where we shall find her in scenes in which no part of the nation except Judah will move in the last days.

But ere we proceed further, it will be interesting to note the figures of glory and dignity with which she is invested; symbols very frequently made use of in scripture in Jewish connexion, and which would seem to bear a double signification here.

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In the first place, the sun, moon, and stars, as the three orders of the heavenly bodies, and comprising "the host of heaven" (Deut. iv. 19) are in their individual attributes, the expression of light and glory; and, in their relation to system which they form, of the stability of God's will and counsel by which they are upheld. Conferring and reflecting light, they are a very fit symbolic investiture for that royal house which in God's mind is the centre of earthly glory and blessing, and which will confer on the earth that light which she reflects from her Lord and King. Thus, also, the sun which clothes her may, in another aspect, be regarded as Christ himself. He the "Sun of Righteousness" is indeed her true glory and covering, her "sun and shield," and in this aspect, the earthly glory which is but a reflection of Him, is "under her feet," while the stars form her crown. The number of these stars is significant, and would lead us to think that the symbol conveys more than (as has been stated

above) a part of the glory necessary to the woman's position. The number 12 is that of the tribes which actually form the crown of Judah, and in God's mind adorn it thus gloriously. The crown designates her as royal; that which forms the crown declares of what her royalty consists.

Many passages of scripture might be adduced to corroborate the signification here given to these symbols, which seem to be peculiarly linked with the throne of David. In Ps. lxxxix. 36, 37, they are used to designate the stability of that throne:-" His seed shall endure for ever, and His throne as the sun before me. It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in Heaven." In Canticles, where Judah (there it is Bridal Judah) is spoken of, she appears in the king's eyes "Fair as the moon, clear as the sun.'

In Gen. xxxvii., when Joseph dreams, and dreams in intelligent communion with the mind of God, the whole nation, of which Jacob's family was the nucleus, is prefigured by these heavenly bodies; the sun, moon, and eleven stars typifying the nation in obeisance to him in his anticipative and Christ-like exaltation, consequent on his humiliation. So far, then, we can understand the bearing of these symbols, and also how truly the scene is in heaven, i. e., in God's estimate. He always views this woman as thus mantled and clothed, although His manifested favour to her, her regal rights and her earthly glory, have waned since the days of Solomon, and totally disappeared to human sight; but to her shall it yet be said, "Arise, shine, for thy light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon thee." How truly do these words describe her as she here appears to John! What she once was, and still more will yet be to man's eye, and what she always is to the eye of God. But her intermediate history is also to be set forth for our instruction, so verse 2 continues, "And she, being with child, cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered." In her is the seed, the hope of the nation, but not yet brought forth. This verse describes the condition of the godly part of the nation from the time of its earliest existence to the first coming of Christ-the Messiah. It

was in throes of travail, as it were, yearning for "that holy thing" which was to be born, on which all hopes centred. And beautiful is it to notice from the very commencement of Scripture history, this pulse of the elect nation (if we may so say) ever beating, as evidenced by the throbs of it, which we meet with here and there, from time to time, as we trace its history onward; one which gained strength from the moment when it was first quickened into life by God's pronouncing those significant words to Abraham, "In Isaac shall thy seed be called." It beat in the heart of every godly mother in Israel, and produced that remarkable desire to be the channel of the fulfilment of the promise which was so strong in the Sarahs, the Rebekahs, the Rachels, the Hannahs, the Ruths, the Marys, the Elizabeths. Isaiah gave expression to this natural throb when, in anticipation, he bursts forth, "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given" (see Is. ix. 6). And as the time of the realization of these hopes drew nigh, it beat louder and more distinctly, though the circle in which it was found became more and more contracted; the greater part of the nation having, through ungodliness and unfaithfulness, fallen off from the line of God's promise, and its true hopes, so that at last it was concentrated in that little remnant which "waited for the consolation of Israel." Strong and clear did this pulse beat in the Simeons, the Annas, the Zachariahs, who, indeed, "travailed" in expectation of this desire of their hearts, which broke forth in accents of joy when the birth from the manger pointed on to the resurrection-birth from the tomb-communicating the glad tidings to all who looked for "redemption in Israel." As truly, if not so intelligently, did it linger in the hearts of the shepherds, who, on the announcement of the angelic host, gave vent to a gladness which evinced what had been the hope of their souls, a hope which, more or less intelligently, had buoyed up every godly Jewish heart, and which the very magi of the East felt the influence of, when, guided by the star, they came from distant lands in search of the new-born king, who personally was nothing to them.

But before the consummation arrived, during this