Posted on 09/02/2011 9:07:47 AM PDT by marshmallow
Minneapolis, Minnesota (CNN) –Prior to 2006, few people even knew that then-Minnesota state legislator Keith Ellison was a Muslim. Because of his English name, he said, no one thought to ask.
But five years ago, when he ran for a seat in the United States House of Representatives - a race he would go on to win - word of his religious affiliation began to spread.
“When I started running for Congress it actually took me by surprise that so many people were fascinated with me being the first Muslim in Congress,” said Ellison, a Democrat now serving his third term in the House.
“But someone said to me, ‘Look Keith, think of a person of Japanese origin running for Congress six years after Pearl Harbor–this might be a news story.’”
Though Ellison's status as the first Muslim elected to Congress is widely known, fewer are aware that he was born into a Catholic family in Detroit and was brought up attending Catholic schools.
But he said he was never comfortable with that faith.
“I just felt it was ritual and dogma,” Ellison said. “Of course, that’s not the reality of Catholicism, but it’s the reality I lived. So I just kind of lost interest and stopped going to Mass unless I was required to.”
It wasn’t until he was a student at Wayne State University in Detroit when Ellison began, “looking for other things.”
(Excerpt) Read more at religion.blogs.cnn.com ...
You wrote:
“So you NOW give these two links to “prove” your point???”
Nope. Nor did I claim that. I mentioned why I posted the links. Are you unable to read?
” Did you perhaps actually READ the links?”
Yep.
“Neither one said anything about Moody Bible NOR about a problem of a professor insisting on teaching only Paul’s epistles.”
Where did I claim either link would say a single word about the professor or his Paul-only teaching? What I posted was clear: “No. Claiming that no one would ever do what in fact was done just because of a statement of faith that profs would be expected to adhere to is simply silly. It is the height of idealist based denial. There’s simply no reason to ignore these cases”
“Did you think nobody would dare call your bluff?”
I made no bluff at all. Can you read? What does this say: “Claiming that no one would ever do what in fact was done just because of a statement of faith that profs would be expected to adhere to is simply silly. It is the height of idealist based denial. There’s simply no reason to ignore these cases”
I then posted examples of profs doing what their colleges had forbidden. Again, can you read?
“Back to your “research”, I guess. Until then, we will all know that this was pure bluster and bluff and dishonest...you, know, what you have accused ALL Protestants of.”
Nope. What I posted was true. All of it. Apparently you can’t read. I made the point that a statement of beliefs/faith/doctrines imposed by a college in no way guarantees observance.
After I posted that, I re-read it and it says Mary has an altar, too. An altar and a throne. Nah, she’s not worshipped. /s
Sorry, Vlad, B-D is right on this point, whether you accept it or not. You have made an accusation by which you tar all who are "Protestants" with only a vague memory? I can only imagine the outrage had any one of us done the same about a Catholic professor!
You went from smearing Moody Bible to implicating all professors of theology who aren't Catholic. Here's the thing, WE DON'T HAVE TO PROVE your libelous statement and because you don't prove your claim and only toss out a few deflectors about one professor's book that went against the Westminster Theological Seminary and another's being fired for "heresy" for his teachings about the working of man's will, ALSO not from Moody, then you have been clearly caught in a false statement. That you will not retract it, but only use it to further flame bait, proves YOUR character for all here to see. Enjoy it!
Is it any wonder many think the RCC is the whore of Revelation?
Queen mothers had thrones in ancient Israel.
The Blessed Virgin Mary:
QUEEN MOTHER OF THE NEW DAVIDIC KINGDOM
“Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!”Luke 1:28
So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him about Adonijah; the king got up to meet her and bowed before her; he then sat down on his throne; a seat was brought for the king’s mother, and she sat down on his right. 1 Kings 1:19
The title Gebirah (Gebira), meaning “Great Lady” or “Queen Mother” was a royal title and an office which was bestowed upon the mothers of the Kings of Israel, but limited to those Queens who were mothers of kings in the line of King David. When the monarchy divided into the two kingdoms of Judah in the south and Israel in the north, the institution of the Gebirah was not practiced in the Northern Kingdom of Israel. The Northern Kingdom was ruled by 9 ruling houses (dynasties) but Judah continued to be ruled by the House of David.
The royal kings of Israel and the House of David had many wives and no single wife of the king had the influence that his mother enjoyed as the chief confidant of her son. It is not clear exactly what position of authority was accorded the mothers of the kings of Israel/ Judah, but scholars believe that Queen mothers of the ruling House of David were crowned, occupied a throne next to their sons, and that both state and religious functions required their presence and attention. There is evidence from other kingdoms in antiquity that the queen mother was the most highly placed person in the kingdom next to the king [i.e. in Egypt, in the Hittite Empire, etc.]. We do know from Scripture that these women exercised their influence from the time their sons ascended the throne and sometimes even into the reign of their grandsons as in the case of Maacah in 1 Kings 15 during the reign of her grandson Asa. It is significant that every mother of a Davidic king is listed along with her son in Sacred Scripture. The name of each Davidic Queen Mother is given in the introduction to each reign of the Davidic Kings of Judah [i.e. 1 Kings 14:21; 15:9-10; 22:42; 2 Kings 12:2; 14:2; 15:2; 15:33; 18:2; 21:2; 21:19; 22:1; 23:31; 23:36; 24:8; 24:18; also see the Chart of the Kings and Queen Mothers of Judah].
The Gebirah, the Queen Mother of the Kingdom of Judah, was the most important and influential woman in the royal court and the king’s chief counselor. The Hebrew word, gebirah, is found fifteen times in the Old Testament [Genesis 16:4, 8, 9 (used for Sarah, wife of Abraham); 1 Kings 11:19 (used for the Egyptian Queen Mother); 15:13; 2 Kings 5:3; 10:13; 2 Chronicles 15:16; Psalm 123:2; Proverbs 30:23; Isaiah 24:2; 47:5, 7; Jeremiah 13:18; 29:2]. In Sacred Scripture the mother of the Davidic king is listed along with her son in the books of 1 &2 Kings and 1 & 2 Chronicles when he assumes the throne. The only queen mothers not listed are those of King Jehoram, who married wicked Athaliah, daughter of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel of Israel [2 Kings 8:17-18], King Ahaz [2 Kings 16:2-3], and King Asa [1 Kings 15:10]. In the case of Jehoram and Ahaz, their mothers may have died prior to their sons assuming the throne of David, and in the case of Asa, his grandmother is named as the Gebirah, his mother having died or perhaps his grandmother, the former Gebirah, did not relinquish her power and authority upon the succession of her grandson.
Some Biblical passages which refer to the office of the Gebirah [all passages are quoted from the New Jerusalem Bible translation]:
•1 Kings 11:19: [In this passage the Hebrew title is used for an Egyptian queen mother: Hadad became a great favorite of Pharaoh who gave him his own wife’s sister in marriage, the sister of the Great Lady (Gebirah) Taphenes. [Note: Taphenes is not a proper name but is an Egyptian title meaning “king’s wife” which was used to designate the Queen mother. Since Israelites reading the text might not understand the meaning of the Egyptian title, the inspired writer used the title for the Davidic Queen mother, Gebirah.
•1 Kings 15:13: He even deprived his grandmother Maacah of the dignity of Great Lady [Gebirah] for having made an obscenity for Asherah...
•2 Kings 10:13: he met the brothers of Ahaziah king of Judah. ‘Who are you?’ he asked. ‘We are Ahaziah’s brothers,’ they replied, ‘and we are on our way to pay our respects to the king’s sons and the queen mother’s (Gebirah) sons.’
•2 Chronicles 15:16: King Asa even deprived his (grand) mother Maacah of the dignity of Great Lady (Gebirah) for having made an obscenity for Asherah..
•Jeremiah 13:18: Tell the king and the Queen mother (Gebirah), ‘Sit in a lower place, since your glorious crown has fallen from your head.
•Jeremiah 29:2: This was after King Jechoniah had left Jerusalem with the Queen mother (Gebirah), the eunuchs, the chief men of Judah and Jerusalem, and the blacksmiths and metalworkers.
Jesus Christ is the heir of King David, He is the fulfillment of the covenant promises made to David in 2 Samuel 7:16; 23:5, and repeated to Mary in Luke 1:26-36 [see the chart comparing the promises to David and Mary in the Chart section on the New Testament/ Mary]. Mary’s son rules from the Kingdom of the heavenly Jerusalem. It is fitting that His mother should enjoy the same role that other Davidic Queen mothers enjoyed, that is the royal office of the heavenly Gebirah. It is in this sense that Catholics call her “the Queen of Heaven” and not in the pagan sense of that title as it is translated in English and found in Jeremiah 7:18; 44:17, 18, 19, & 25; which is a designation for an Egyptian goddess. Since Jeremiah uses both terms, the Hebrew title Gebirah for the Queen mother of a Judahite king of the House of David, and the Hebrew word “queen” = meleketh for the Egyptian goddess, it is obvious there one does not equate to the other.
Sacred Scripture indicates that the Gebirah assumed a throne along side her son [see 1 Kings 2:19] and exercised her role as counselor [2 Chronicles 22:3] and intercessor to the king [1 Kings 2:13-21. In times of conquest both the king and his mother represented royal power and both were deposed [2 Kings 24:12]. The Gebirah was clearly the most important woman in the Kingdom of Judah; a king had many wives, but only one mother. The Gebirah of the eternal Davidic Kingdom of Jesus Christ is Mary of Nazareth. Upon her Assumption into heaven He Son placed her in her well deserved place beside His throne as mother of the King of kings. She appears in this role in Revelation 12:1 ‘clothed with the sun and standing on the moon. As Christ’s mother she reflects His light just as the moon reflects the light of the sun and she calls all her children in the family of the Church to follow her Son and to do, as she advised the servants at the wedding at Cana, whatever He tells you [John 2:5].
“Finally the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sins, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, so that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and conqueror of sin and death.” The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is a singular participation in her Son’s Resurrection and an anticipation of the resurrection of other Christians: “In giving birth you kept your virginity; in your Dormition you did not leave the world, O Mother of God, but were joined to the source of Life. You conceived the living God and, by your prayers, will deliver our souls from death.” Catechism of the Catholic Church # 966 [quoting Pius XII, Munificentissimus Deus (1950); Revelation 19:16; and from the Byzantine Liturgy, Troparion, Feast of the Dormition.
Additional information on the institution of the Davidic Gebirah may be found in these resources:
1.Birth of the Messiah, Father Raymond Brown, New York: Doubleday, 1993.
2.Ancient Israel, Father R. De Vaux, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1961.
Michal Hunt, Copyright © 2002, revised 2006 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.
Revised August 2006, on the Feast of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary
June 2007; additional recommended resource: Queen Mother: A Biblical Theology of Mary’s Queenship, Edward Sri, Emmus Road, 2005.
It’s a shame Protestant anti-Catholics are so routinely ignorant of scripture.
I’ll tell you what’s REALLY a sham, shame. That your religion places Mary in place of Israel in Rev.12:1. Your religion is in Rev. But it’s Rev. 17:1, not 12:1. As each day unfolds and new deceit is attempted to be foisted, it becomes more and more clear.
You wrote:
“Sorry, Vlad, B-D is right on this point, whether you accept it or not. You have made an accusation by which you tar all who are “Protestants” with only a vague memory?”
Nope. Not all Protestants are tainted by what the Protestant in question did nor by what I posted. What is damning to Protestants or Protestantism is Protestantism’s own practices and beliefs.
“I can only imagine the outrage had any one of us done the same about a Catholic professor!”
Not really. I along with many other FR Catholics have noted that there are people out there who call themselves Catholics who have said or done unorthodox things. The difference is that they do things at variance with the basic principles of Catholicism. This guy was simply acting on the obvious outcome of a sola scriptura belief.
“You went from smearing Moody Bible to implicating all professors of theology who aren’t Catholic.”
False. I mentioned that the professor in question was from there. How is that a smear against Moody BI?
“Here’s the thing, WE DON’T HAVE TO PROVE your libelous statement and because you don’t prove your claim and only toss out a few deflectors about one professor’s book that went against the Westminster Theological Seminary and another’s being fired for “heresy” for his teachings about the working of man’s will, ALSO not from Moody, then you have been clearly caught in a false statement.”
Your statement is logically false. Not being able to post evidence of a thing is not proof that the thing is false.
“That you will not retract it, but only use it to further flame bait, proves YOUR character for all here to see. Enjoy it!”
I have no reason to retract it. I have been upfront from the beginning that I cannot find and do not have the article. The fact that you are labeling me a liar when you have not a single shred of evidence I have EVER lied only tells us about your character. The fact that I cannot post proof of what I am said - which I admitted - is only proof I have no evidence. It is not proof or error or lying. Everything you do is proof of your apparent desperation.
Thank you so much for those beautiful Scriptures, dear sister in Christ, and for sharing your wonderful insights!
You wrote:
“I’ll tell you what’s REALLY a sham, shame. That your religion places Mary in place of Israel in Rev.12:1.”
Well, then you’ll be happy to discover that you’re completely wrong. The Church has always interpreted Revelation 12 as referring to Israel, Mary and the Church.
Look at Michael Matthews’ comment here:
“As a Baptist in seminary, we were presented with 2 options when it came to the Woman in Rev. 12. Either she was Israel, as seen in the sun, the 12 stars and the moon under her feet; or she was the early Church in that she was persecuted. Today, when asked which the Woman represents, I can safely say “Yes!” The Woman represents Both faithful Israel of the OT (as opposed to the Harlot of Rev. 17, which represents apostate Jerusalem) and the NT Church. It just happens that the one literal person where they intersect, who was both a faithful Jew and the model Christian, is Mary, who also happens to be the literal mother of the Messiah!
“As a Catholic now, I love how the Church’s teachings tie up so many loose ends; and I love being one of the “remnant of her offspring”.”
http://forum.chnetwork.org/index.php?topic=9298.0;wap2
I appreciate that, thanks. First of all, neither I, nor most of the people on these threads, view these discussions as "an occasion of amusement". Not at all! My only intent is to "fellowship" with Christians and also to speak the truth in love as we are commanded to do. Now I know that sometimes these threads get rancorous - and it comes from ALL sides - but it still doesn't mean that some people aren't edified and grow in their faith through it. I know I have.
And lastly, what is the most important thing is to know Christ and to trust in him as our savior and all that that entails. You say you used to be a Protestant, well I used to be a Catholic. God leads us when we earnestly seek him and I have never said that someone should leave their church if they sense that God has led them to it. What matters way more than church affiliation is our faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
You say you were once a Protestant, I am curious, did you believe in eternal security then? Did you believe that Jesus died for your sins and that the gift of God was eternal life? If you said yes, then I'd like to know if now you have given that assurance up? Do you now believe that you can not know you are going to Heaven when you die?
For me, I did not have that while a Catholic and I believed I had to be good enough to go there when I died. That God would take all my good deeds on one side of the scale and all my sins on the other, and whichever one was the heaviest determined if I made it to Heaven or went to hell. But when I read:
John 10:27-30
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
I and my Father are one.
I really understood the Gospel and saw that Jesus would save me and never cast me out. That he GAVE me eternal life and I could know I was going to Heaven. So, I'm glad we had this conversation and I am sorry you are offended so much by what goes on here. Hopefully, you will join again in speaking your thoughts. God bless you.
Here are the commentary notes from the venerable old Haydock Bible which is 200 years old this year:
Apocalypse xii.
Notes & Commentary:
Ver. 1. A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet. By this woman, interpreters commonly understand the Church of Christ, shining with the light of faith, under the protection of the sun of justice, Jesus Christ. The moon, the Church, hath all changeable things of this world under her feet, the affections of the faithful being raised above them all. -— A woman: the Church of God. It may also, by allusion, be applied to our blessed Lady[the Virgin Mary]. The Church is clothed with the sun, that is, with Christ: she hath the moon, that is, the changeable things of the world, under her feet; and the twelve stars with which she is crowned, are the twelve apostles: she is in labour and pain, whilst she brings forth her children, and Christ in them, in the midst of afflictions and persecutions. (Challoner) -— Under the figure of a woman and of a dragon, are represented the various attempts of Satan to undermine the Church. -— On her head....twelve stars, her doctrine being delivered by the twelve apostles and their successors. (Witham)
Ver. 2. With child, &c., to signify that the Church, even in the time of persecutions, brought forth children to Christ. (Witham) -— It likewise signifies the difficulties which obstructed the first propagation of Christianity. (Pastorini)
Ver. 3. Another wonder in heaven; that is, in the Church of Christ, though revealed to St. John, in the visions, as if they were seen in heaven. -— A great red dragon; a fiery dragon, with seven heads and ten horns; i.e. many heads and many horns. By the dragon is generally understood the devil, (see ver. 7 and 9) and by the heads and horns, kings and princes, who act under him, persecuting the servants of God. (Witham) -— Dragon, &c. the devil; and by the seven heads and ten horns, are meant those princes and governors who persecute the Church of Christ. (Calmet)
Ver. 4. His tail drew the third part of the stars: a great part of mankind. This is spoken with an allusion to the fall of Lucifer from heaven, with the rebellious angels, driven from thence by St. Michael. (Witham) -— According to Pastorini, this passage refers to the angels whom Lucifer drew after him by sin to the earth. Menochius interprets it of those bishops and eminent persons who fell under the weight of persecution, and apostatized. -— And the dragon stood before the woman, &c. The devil is always ready, as far as God permits him, to make war against the Church and the faithful servants of God. The woman, the Church, brought a man child, or rather many men children, stout and valiant in the profession of the true faith, able to resist and triumph over the attempts of the persecutors in all nations, not of themselves, but by the grace and power of Jesus Christ, their protector, who is able to rule all nations as it were with a rod of iron, to frustrate all their attempts, and turn their hearts as he pleaseth. (Witham)
Ver. 5. A man child; that is, a masculine race of Christians, willing to confess the name of the Lord, and to fight his battles; who, through the merits of Jesus Christ, should triumph over all the attempts of the world. (Calmet) -— Her son (or children) was taken up to heaven, guarded by the special favour of God. They always overcome the devil, and all their adversaries, by reason of the blood of the Lamb, by the merits of Christ. And they loved not the life of the body, so as to preserve it, by incurring the death of the soul. (Witham)
Ver. 6. The woman fled into the wilderness. The Church, in the times of persecutions, must be content to serve God in a private manner; but by divine Providence, such persecutions never lasted with violence only for a short time, signified by 1260 days, or as the same is expressed here, (ver. 14) for a time, and times, and half a time, i.e. for a year, and two years, and half a year. (Witham) -— The Christians were accustomed to fly during the times of persecution into the deserts, to avoid the fury of the pagans. This was done by the greatest saints; and St. Jerome remarks, that it was this which gave rise to the eremitical state of life.
Ver. 10-12. Now is come salvation....rejoice, O ye heavens. The blessed in heaven rejoice for the victories of the faithful on earth, and also for the reward and glory which would shortly be given them in heaven. (Witham) -— Woe to the earth, &c. Both Pastorini and Calmet refer this woe to the persecution of Dioclesian. The dragon, the devil, is more irritated than ever against the Christians; he therefore stimulates the pagans to exercise their utmost cruelty against them, knowing that a Christian emperor (Constantine) would in a short time extend the reign of Jesus Christ over the whole world.
Ver. 14. There were given to the woman two wings of a great eagle. By these two wings, some understand the love of God, and the fear of offending him; others, piety, prudence, &c. (Witham) -— The Church, on account of the severe pressure of the persecution, obtained from the Almighty a special protection and assistance. (Pastorini)
Ver. 15. The serpent (the dragon, the devil) came out of his mouth, &c. He endeavoured to destroy the Christian religion; but the earth, that is, the princes of the earth, as God was pleased to turn their hearts, helped to turn away the persecutions. (Witham) -— As a last effort, the devil raises a more bloody persecution than was ever known before. See Eusebius, History of the Church.
Ver. 16. And the earth helped the woman. A prince of the earth, Constantine, came to the succour of the Church, and caused the persecution to cease.
Give me time to digest this post. Really read it carefully. So I won’t suffer a stroke with what I am scanning through quickly! :)
So Jesus was not the only sinless one. Wow!
You wrote:
“So Jesus was not the only sinless one. Wow!”
No, Jesus was the only sinless person - by His own power. Everyone else who is saved is made perfect by His grace - including His mother.
Why would she need saved if she was sinless?
ANY religion that forces their dogmas on a person so that they fear to leave even if they hear a different doctrine that speaks to them. Have you seen the few back and fourths Caww and Metmom are having with me about this? It would be the equivalent of emotional blackmail that threatens someones physical OR spiritual security. The Mormons do it. The Jehovah's Witnesses do it. Islam definitely does it AND threatens death for leaving it. And, yes, for some Catholicism does it. I didn't say I was NOT describing Catholicism, just that I was not speaking only about it. Can you see where this is what happens to some Catholics?
"We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instant of HER conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved FREE FROM ALL STAIN OF ORIGINAL SIN, is a DOCTRINE REVEALED BY GOD and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful." - Ineffabilis Deus, Pope Pius IX.
But wait, it gets "better"
The Church says she was created without a sin nature and was "ever ABSOLUTELY FREE OF ALL STAIN OF SIN, all fair and perfect," (-Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus) remaining "free of EVERY PERSONAL SIN her WHOLE LIFE LONG."- The German Bishop's Conference, The Church's Confession of Faith (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1987), p. 46, quoting J.A. Mohler.
The woman of Revelation 12 is the nation of Israel ONLY. No double speak.
Blasphemy, absolute blasphemy.
You might want to look at the Orthodox Study Bible too:
“The great sign in heaven, the woman, is either the Theotokos [Mary] or true Israel, the Church (Is. 7:14). Orthodoxy sees the Theotokos as the perfect symbol of Israel and the Church.”
Here’s what Bede wrote about 1200 years ago:
THE WOMAN AND THE DRAGON
1 sign. It is the same sign which now also appears in the Church, that God is born of man.
a woman. The Church is clothed with the light of Christ, and treads upon temporal glory. “Righteousness,” he says, “will arise in his days, and abundance of peace, until the moon be taken away, or consumed.” That is, the abundance of peace will greatly increase, until it consume all the changeableness of mortality, and then death, the last enemy, will be destroyed. Or: because the same Church has partly the fruition of Christ, the Sun, in heaven, and is partly absent from the Lord, that which he says, “His left hand is under my head, and his right embraceth me,” may be understood here.
stars. The Head of the Church is adorned with the number of the Apostles, which is twelve, whether Christ is understood, or whether the first beginning of the Church itself is designated under the name of the head. “Thou hast set,” he says, “upon his head a crown of precious stone.”
2 birth. The Church, in a spiritual sense, both brings forth those with whom it travails, and ceases not to travail with them when already born. As she herself says, “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again, until Christ be formed in you.”
delivered. So the Lord says in the Gospel, “A woman, when she is in travail, hath sorrow because her hour is come, but when she hath brought forth a son, she remembers the anguish no more for joy.” And He Himself expounded this to His disciples, and added, “And ye now, therefore, have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice.”
3 dragon. The devil, blood-stained in his cruelty, is armed against the Church with the power of an earthly king. For in the seven heads he describes all his kings, and in the ten horns every kingdom.
4 tail. He intimates the power and malice of the enemy, whom the Church overcomes by the help of the Lord, for he has cast down an innumerable host of angels and men by deceptive testimony, as with a tail. For the tail is a part of the body which is removed from sight, and unclean; and which conceals the parts which are unclean by the covering which it affords, that they may not appear. Tichonius, as his manner is, interprets the third part of the stars which fell, to false brethren, so that another third would be the Church, and the enemies external to it a third.
devour. The devil plots against the Church, and strives to extinguish the faith of Christ in the hearts of the faithful, that he may, as it were, kill him who has been taught, and to whom by teaching he has given birth. And a figure of this deceit was shewn in Herod, who, like an intestine foe, pretends that he desires to worship the Lord, in order that he may put Him to death.
5 man child. Although the dragon oppose, the Church ever brings forth Christ. But he spoke of the man child as conqueror of the devil, who had conquered the woman. For who but the man child, who is “to rule all nations with a rod of iron,” rules the good with inflexible justice, breaks in pieces the bad? And this is also promised to the Church, in that it is said above, “I will give Him power over the nations, and He shall rule them with a rod of iron.” For the Church, too, daily generates the Church, which rules the world in Christ.
caught up. Therefore ungodliness cannot apprehend Christ, Who is spiritually born in the minds of the hearers, because at the same time He reigns with the Father in heaven, “Who has raised up us also together with Him, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ.”
6 wilderness. The Church rejoices in her sojourning in this present wilderness, as living in hope of things eternal. For she has received power to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and upon all the power of the red dragon, like the Israelitish multitude which was fed with heavenly bread, and overcame the fiery serpents by the sight of the serpent of brass.
place. “Be thou to me,” he says, “as God my protector, and as a place of refuge, that I may be safe.”
days. In this number of days, which makes three years and a-half, he comprehends all the times of Christianity, because Christ, Whose body the Church is, preached the same length of time in the flesh.
THE WAR IN HEAVEN
7 heaven. The heaven signifies the Church, in which he says that Michael, with his angels, fights against the devil, for that, according to the will of God, he contends for the Church in her sojourning, by praying and ministering help; of whom Daniel also said, that he would come to the aid of the Church in the last and most grievous affliction; from which they suppose that Antichrist is to be slain by him. And they are said to be his angels in the same way that our angels also are. For the Lord says, “Their angels do always behold the face of My Father,” the angels, that is, of those whose citizens they are.
fought. The angels of Satan are not those alone who are like him in nature and will, but men who are entangled in their snares are also to be understood.
8 prevailed not. That is, the prevailed not through all time.
found. It was not found, that is, in holy men, who by his expulsion from them, have already become a heaven themselves, and who through faith no more receive him back, who has once been expelled.
9 earth. The old enemy, who is expelled from the spiritual, is more closely shut up in the earthly. This is to be hurled down from heaven, and sent into the earth. For to him it is said, “Earth shalt thou eat all the days ;” and in this earth he is bruised by the feet of the saints, as it is written, “Thou shalt tread upon the asp and the basilisk.”
10 salvation. It is clearly shewn in what heaven these things take place, for we know that in the Church salvation is procured by the victory of Christ, and because of this He says, “All power is given to Me in heaven and in earth;” not that power which He Himself always had, but that which He began to have in the Church, as the Head in the members, from the time that He Himself willed.
brethren. The angels express joy at the salvation of their brethren, that is, of those who will become citizens, but who now are strangers.
accused. For he suggests, that they both make an ill-use of prosperity, and have not patience in adversity.
11 lives. With good reason do they despise their lives for Christ’s sake, who have overcome so great and adversary by the blood of Christ.
12 rejoice. Here, by dwellers in heaven, must be understood both angels and holy men, and it belongs to both to rejoice in the Lord, since both men are joined with angels, and angels minister to man’s nature in Christ.
Woe. As he has shewn that joy is to be the expectation of the redeemed, so, also, is lamentation of those who perish. And a great woe is impending over those of whom the most wicked enemy has possession in his wrath.
THE DRAGON PERSECUTES THE WOMAN
13 saw. The devil assails the Church with inextricable craft, and the more he is cast down, so much the more does he persecute.
14 wings. The Church is upheld by the two Testaments, and avoids the envenomed tumult of the world, and seeks in the affection of her mind the solitude of a “meek and quiet spirit,” while she thus sings with joy, “Behold I got me away far off in flight, and abode in the wilderness.” Nor does it make any difference that there she asks for the wings of a dove, but here receives those of an eagle. For as the Church, “whose youth is renewed as an eagle’s,” is represented in the former because of the gift of the Holy Spirit, so also is it in the latter, because of the lofty flight and heavenly vision, by which it beholds God with a clean heart.
nourished. The whole time of the Church is signified, as being comprised in the number of the days above. For a “time” denotes one year, “times” two, “half a time” six months.
15 flood. Water signifies the vehemence of persecutors; whence it is said, “Perhaps like water they would have swallowed us up.” So, then, the Church is not only raised up by the word of God, but is driven onward by the violence of persecution, and hastens to fly away from the earth.
16 swallowed. The holy earth is the flesh of the Lord, which by swallowing up death which it accepted, and which for a time prevailed against it, has taught us also to swallow up death. The Church may also be understood, by the warnings and prayers of whose mouth the plots of the enemy are avoided.
17 wroth. When he saw that the persecutions could not be continued, because they were averted by the mouth of the holy earth, he prepared himself the more to rest upon the mystery of iniquity, that he might be able to plot continually.
commandments. To keep the commandments of God in the faith of Jesus Christ is to fight with the dragon, and provoke him to battle; and thanks be to God, Who has made the attempts of the cruel dragon of no effect. For, behold, while he endeavoured to annihilate the Lord incarnate, he is defeated by His resurrection. Afterwards, by striving to deprive the Apostles of their boldness in teaching, he was urgent, as it were, to take away from the world the woman, that is, the whole Church. But as he has laboured in vain to effect this, he assails indiscriminately every age of the faithful. And so it is, as follows.
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