12:13. And when the dragon.—The civil powers of the old Roman Empire, under the control of the Papacy.
Saw that he was cast unto the earth.—Deprived of the superstitious reverence now almost wholly absorbed by the Papacy.
He persecuted.—Not on his own account, but under the orders and instructions and encouragements of the Papacy, and to win Papal approval.
The woman which brought forth the man child.—The true Church. For details of the infamous work of Charles V, Emperor of Germany and King of Spain and the Netherlands, the Duke of Alva, Philip II of Spain, the French kings Francis and Henry, see pages 337‐338 of STUDIES IN THE SCRIPTURES, Vol. II. These are but illustrations of what occurred in all parts of the old Roman world, and were all done at the behest of the Papacy.
12:14. And to the woman.—The true Church.
Were given Two Wings.—The Old and New Testaments.
Of a great eagle.—The eagle is a symbol of wisdom, a fit representative of the Scriptures in which are contained the words of our God. (Rev. 4:7.) “I bare you on eagle’s wings, and brought you unto Myself.”—Ex. 19:4; Deut. 32:11‐12.
That she might fly into the wilderness.—Separateness from the world; ostracism; represented by Elijah’s three and a half years in the wilderness.—Rev. 2:20.
Into her place, where she is nourished.—By Divinely provided means, of which almost no records have been permitted to survive the ravages of papal persecution.
Both for a time, and times, and half a time.—1260 years from A. D. 539 to 1799.—Rev. 11:2, 3.
The face of the Serpent.—Satan himself, the real instigator of all persecutions from the Lord’s time even until now.
And the Serpent.—Satan himself, at the close of the 1260 years of Papacy’s power to persecute.
Cast out of his mouth water as a flood.—“The strength of the French revolution, to which reference is here had, lay in the fact that it was instigated by many stern truths, regarding priest‐craft and king‐craft, and regarding the individual rights and liberties of all. Truths regarding human rights were seen and expressed there which cause us surprise when we consider the ignorance, superstition and servility of that day, under which the masses had so long rested. Many of the truths which then swept as a flood over France, deluging it with blood, are now very generally accepted among all civilized peoples.”—C. 65.