Book III, Chapter XI, at Revelation 11:17 and following through the end of Revelation 12 (source)
And the seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdom of our God and of his Christ has come, and he will reign forever and ever." And the twenty-four elders who sit before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, "We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who are and were, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign. The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, to reward your servants the prophets and those who fear your name, both small and great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth." Concerning the elders, enough and more has been said about what should be understood. But it now mentions the beginning and end of Christ's dispensation; for by saying "you have begun to reign and the nations were angry" it first demonstrates Christ's coming. However, what follows, "your wrath has come and the time of the dead," or as another translation has it "that the dead may be judged," shows the second coming, when both the small and great, perfect and little ones, saints and prophets and those fearing his name, will receive their reward. "For my eyes," he says, "have seen my imperfect [works], and in your book they will all be written." And lest the wicked should promise themselves impunity, he added, "and to destroy those who have corrupted the earth," just as the Psalm says: "But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil." "Behold," he says, "the third woe is coming at the voice of the seventh angel," and when he had sounded, he spoke only of the church praising the Lord and giving thanks, from which we understand that the reward of the good is not without the woe of the wicked. Hence the Psalm: "When his wrath flares up in an instant," surely against the wicked, "blessed are all who trust in him." So now the church itself says: "Your wrath has come, and the time of the dead, to give to your servants their reward" and so on; this is the last woe. Indeed, having summarized the Lord's physical birth, it hints that he will speak about the same thing differently and in a more extended manner.And the temple of God was opened in heaven. With the birth of the Lord Christ, the temple of God in heaven was made manifest, that is, in the church. The body of Christ can be understood as the temple of God, whence the same Lord says: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." Alternatively, in this [passage], with the multiplicity of meanings, a certain understanding can be traced, so that each thing, more fittingly restored to its own property, can be more clearly recognized. For although the ark often signifies the church, here it describes the ark as having appeared in the temple, and by adding the "ark of the covenant," it warns that something deeper should be understood; also by saying "in heaven," it persuades us to penetrate some mystery, so that this may be the understanding: the temple is the church, the ark of the covenant is the mystery of the incarnation of Christ, who after the manner of that ark carried within himself the tablets of the covenant, who came not to abolish the law but to fulfill it, "for all the promises of God," says the Apostle, "are in him." And the golden urn having manna, because it carries spiritual nourishment within the body adorned with the brilliance of wisdom, is to be preferred intellectually; for the bread of God is "he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." And Aaron's rod, because he, uniquely begotten by the undefiled virgin in a new birth, is said to possess all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden within the covering of his flesh like an almond. Hence the psalm says: "Arise, O Lord, into your resting place; you and the ark of your sanctification," and the other things which agree with this sense. For thus God promises through Jeremiah to erase the ark of the covenant from the hearts of men, especially that of the Hebrews, and to call Jerusalem, that is the church, the throne of the Lord, saying: "When you have multiplied and increased on the land," says the Lord, "they will no longer say, 'the ark of the covenant of the Lord,' nor will it rise up on the heart. In those days and at that time, they will call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord, and all nations will gather to it in the name of the Lord."
And there were lightnings and voices and thunderings and an earthquake and great hail. Lightnings, the powers with which the Lord Christ made his disciples shine. Voices and thunderings, the preachings with which the apostles thundered to the peoples like clouds. Earthquake, the noise of the excited people who often inflicted persecutions on the growing church. Hail always harms the fruits more by breaking itself when struck against them and thus diminishes itself by shattering. So too, the fierce multitude of the gentiles, who persecuted the faith of Christ, afterward by following it, became either small or non-existent in number. He had said these things occurred in the description of the preaching of the seven angels from the very advent of the Lord, and generally from the beginning to the end; then, in parts, as they had occurred, so now that the temple of God in heaven might be opened, and the battles followed, saying:
Book III, Chapter XII
A great sign was seen in heaven. Which is still seen today in the church, that is, the wisdom of God being united to human nature through the operation of the Holy Spirit, and from both of these, one and the same Christ, the mediator of God and men, is made, preached, or believed. He himself says: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up," and the evangelist [adds]: "But he spoke of the temple of his body."
A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet. It has often been said that a kind is divided into many species which are one. For what is heaven, is a temple in heaven, is a woman clothed with the sun and with the moon under her feet, that is, the church clothed with Christ, trampling all changeable things beneath her feet because of His love. For she is not carried away by these changeable things, she who truly says while clinging to stable good: "For me, to be joined to God is good." Hence, there are those voices which we read about the church: "Beautiful as the sun, perfect as the moon," and again: "Thus the moon stands perfect forever, and a faithful witness in heaven." It certainly speaks of the church on pilgrimage; otherwise, after the human birth of Christ, we see many heretical and false opinions put forth. About this very temple, one thing was said by Valentinus, another by Bardesanes, another by Apollinaris, another by Nestorius, another by Eutyches, another by Timothy Elurus, heretical leaders, each saying as they pleased, lying, as if truth arose from the earth and battles followed, so that from where the orthodox and faithful obtain their reward, there the heretics, thinking wrongly about the incarnation of Christ, incur the punishment of eternal damnation. Hence, we remember what was said about Him by Simeon in the Gospel: "Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that will be opposed."
And on her head a crown of twelve stars, that is, of the church; it speaks of the church's beginnings, founded and soon adorned by the number twelve of the apostles. Hence, the psalm says: "You set a crown of precious stone upon his head." And she was pregnant in mind, not in womb, and she cried out (in the valley of tears) groaning and tormented in order to give birth. The church spiritually gives birth to those whom she bears, and she does not cease to be in labor even after giving birth. Hence, the apostle says: "My little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you."
And another sign was seen in heaven, and behold, a great red dragon, blood-red, vast in cruelty and savagery, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven crowns. The seven heads are kings, but the horns are kingdoms, about which there will be more thorough discussion in its proper place.
And its tail drew a third part of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. The tail represents wicked prophets, through whom the enemy fulfills his wickedness. Hence Isaiah says: "The prophet who teaches lies, he is the tail." Those who adhere to their teachings are said to be cast down to the earth. Moreover, the third part of the stars of heaven represents all the body of the wicked, whether in angels whom he dragged from heaven with him in equal ruin, or in men whom he seduces; and stars are those whom the devil turns from the good to become reprobate.
And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, to devour her child as soon as it was born. This means the treacherous devil schemes against the new man, created after God, in whom we are renewed by the spirit of our mind, in righteousness and true holiness, plotting to kill him when in each of the faithful he arises in the church, cunningly said to overshadow or extinguish his progress. We also remember this happened to a certain heretic, who is read to have suffocated his child with a lethal sleep unto death, in which the newness of life, in which we are commanded to walk, is prophetically represented as being killed. But he is said to have stood in the sight of the woman, and because she will watch over your head and you will lie in wait for her heel.
And she gave birth to a male child who will rule all the nations with an iron rod. Therefore, a male, because we know the victory rightly belongs to the male gender as if by superior right. Rightly here, the head of the church, Christ, is said to be born in individual members, who is recognized as ruling. For he is the author and finisher of our faith, in whom we will make our strength. With an iron rod, that is, in unyielding justice, he rules in the good, breaks in the bad. This is also adapted to his church as to a body from the head, for all of you who were baptized have put on Christ, and the two shall be one flesh, which the apostle says must be understood in Christ and in the church.
Her son was caught up to God and to His throne. Although Christ as the head preceded, having finished the dispensation, he ascended to the Father, it is also fitting for the body. Hence are those words of the Apostle: "Who raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places," and: "Our conversation is in heaven," and: "If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God." However, if you also wish to understand it specifically about the person of Christ, excluding the pain, which we believe the Blessed Mary did not experience during childbirth since we know she contracted no sin of lust in conception, you can properly apply the rest if we understand the snares of the red dragon as the persecutions Christ suffered, starting from infancy from Herod and subsequently up to the death on the cross. When death greedily sought him, he was thwarted by His resurrection. He lamented when He was taken to the throne of God, that is, to the right hand of the Father.
And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there for a thousand two hundred and sixty days. The wilderness stands for this life's journey, in which the Church lives like a solitary sparrow, in unique hope of blessed reward, having received power from her king to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, like the red dragon. For the people of Israel, led through the desert, could overcome fiery serpents by looking at the bronze serpent. For "all these things happened to them symbolically," says the Apostle, and just as they were fed with visible manna, so now the Church is fed with heavenly bread. She has a prepared place, about which the prophet says, "In the place which You have prepared," a place which "no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man," for the human heart must ascend there. With mutual peace compelling human speech, both a "prepared place" and a "set place" could each be expressed, as he previously says, "Blessed is the man whose help is from You, O Lord; he has purposed ascents in his heart, in the valley of tears, to the place which he has set." For it is both a place of refuge for pilgrims and refreshment food for hungry servants, to whom reward is promised when they will reign. Therefore, what God has prepared, the Apostle says, speaking to those who love Him: "God has revealed to us by His Spirit," by which alone even the Blessed John could penetrate these depths, and by this number of days, which make three years and six months, signifies all the times of Christianity even in this place, from when the preaching of Christ began, and grows bearing fruit until the end.
And there was a battle in heaven, Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and so forth. We should not think that the devil and his angels dared to fight in heaven, since not even Job could tempt here, unless God permitted. But "heaven" here more clearly denotes the Church, where a constant battle is waged against spiritual wickedness by each of the faithful. Hence the Apostle says: "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world." However, Michael and his angels are said to fight against the devil because, according to God's will, by praying for the traveling Church and providing assistance, they rightly understand to fight for her. "Are they not all ministering spirits," says the Apostle, "sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?" For Michael's name is interpreted to mean "help of God," and fittingly this task is especially attributed to him. Indeed, Daniel said that Michael would come to the Church's aid in the final tribulation: "At that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince who stands for the children of your people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time. And at that time your people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book." His angels, who are said to belong to him, are used here in the manner of speech we find in: "For their angels always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven," namely those who have begun to be citizens by believing in Christ. Thus, here, "his angels," because they are believed to be protected under one presiding king and blessed by one life-giving spirit.
And the dragon fought and his angels, but they did not prevail, nor was their place found any more in heaven. The devil and his angels are understood to be not only those who are similar to him in nature and will, but also men who, ensnared by them, have become followers of such beings. For, depending on the quality of their wills, it is said of the devil: "An evil man has done this," and of Judas: "He is a devil." The devil is described as having a two-part body among his own. However, he is said to be expelled by those who, after renouncing him and receiving the faith of Christ, no longer repeat his errors but persist in pure-hearted love, good conscience, and genuine faith. Either because the Church, now separated from all mixture of evils and soon to be glorified in future blessedness, will grant no further place to the devil and his angels either to seduce the wicked or to test the good. Hence the Psalm noting this says: "I passed by, and lo, he was gone; and I sought him, but his place could nowhere be found."
And that great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, who deceives the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. "Earth" here is understood as those who are worldly-wise, in whom the prevailing sentiment of the devil is recognized to dwell: "You will eat dirt all the days of your life." Excluded from spiritual things, he invades the worldly-minded who are fit for his purposes due to their deeds; this means to be thrown down from heaven and cast onto the earth.
And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying: "Now has come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ." It is clearly shown in what sense we should understand this heaven. For we know that in the Church, through Christ's victory, salvation has been achieved, through which, once it was known, he also received the power of binding and loosing, when in Peter, signifying all, he heard: "Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." About this, the Lord says: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me," not the power he always had, but which he began to possess in the Church from the time he willed to have it as the head in its members.
For the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night, and they have overcome him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. Recently, in a manner of speaking, from the perspective of the angels, it says "the accuser of our brothers," that is, of our fellow citizens in the future, but now of the strangers. For now, the faithful strive towards that heavenly city, the New Jerusalem, which the angels happily inhabit. And when they are said to rejoice that he has been thrown out of the heavens and cast down to the earth, they rejoice in the redemption of those whom the Lord has deemed worthy to prepare as a temple for Himself to inhabit. For the soul of the just is the seat of wisdom. About the earthly ones, to whom he is said to have descended, the angels, by understanding the innermost places of divine justice, praise together and always blessedly sing of His mercy and judgment, as both the goodness of God is shown in the redeemed and the fairness of God in the lost. For as they overcame through the blood of the Lamb, they are said to have been able to overcome the devil. And what follows, "They did not love their lives to the point of death," they certainly believe they have received that charity, which is poured into our hearts, not from us, but through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. It teaches us to rejoice over this great good, saying: "Therefore rejoice, heavens, and you who dwell in them." Here, as above, let the church recognize heaven in the angels so that both may fittingly rejoice in the Lord, since humans are believed to associate with angels, and angels serve the human nature in Christ. What follows is: "Woe to you, earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, knowing that he has a short time left." Just as it taught that there should be rejoicing for the redeemed, it also taught that there should be mourning for the doomed. Hence, Ezekiel says he saw a book written with lamentation, song, and woe: the tears of the repentant in lamentation, the joy of the saints in song, and woe properly reveals the condemnation of the wicked, whom he also mentions here, saying: "Woe to you, earth and sea," etc., knowing that he has a short time left. Hence, being compelled by the undefeated power of the Lord, he confesses, saying: "Have you come to destroy us before our time?"
And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had borne the male child. This is, as we have mentioned before, the devil waging relentless war against the church. For the more he is cast out and overcome, the more fiercely he continues to multiply his deceits.
And the woman was given two wings like those of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the desert to her place. The church uses the two Testaments like wings, by which, being taught, she strives to flee the snares of the enemy and, informed by commandments and examples, she overcomes. She is also guided by the twin love for God and neighbor. The place in the wilderness signifies this worldly pilgrimage; for as long as we are in the body, we are strangers away from the Lord. Especially in the heart, he who departs from the world not in location but in affection. The prophet says: "Behold, I have fled away and stayed in the wilderness; I waited for Him who would save me." Appropriately here, the likeness of an eagle is mentioned, which, being known to soar higher than other birds, yet seeing food from afar, driven by natural need, quickly descends to lower places. Just as the church, in its spiritual members, seeks and savors the things above with the mind, but, weighed down by the weakness of the body, is subject to the necessities of bodily need, "for which it groans and labors even now, for the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope." Again, "For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you."
Where she is nourished for a time, times, and half a time, away from the serpent's face. This represents the duration of three years and six months; it again signifies the time until the end of the world when the church of Christ spreads, fleeing the worship of idols and all the errors of the serpent. This is what it means "away from the serpent's face," whom it mentions above as the dragon, for she overcomes him by the blood of the lamb, so she can truthfully sing: "You will tread on the lion and the dragon." And the serpent spewed water out of his mouth after the woman, like a river, to sweep her away. The water represents the surge of persecutors. Hence the psalm says: "If men rise up against us, perhaps they would swallow us alive when their anger is kindled against us, perhaps the waters would swallow us up; the torrent would go over our soul," and so on.
But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the river which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. Although the earth can also be understood here as the church, as in the psalm: "Who established the earth upon its foundations, so that it will not totter forever and ever," that is, in the saints, whose prayers, teachings, and saving works uncover and nullify the deceptions of the enemy. However, it is better understood here as the human nature in Christ. This is the truth that has arisen from the earth, always appearing before the face of God, as the apostle says, interceding for us. This earth, by taking death upon itself, is said to "open its mouth," when it is known to have absorbed the author of death with the abundance of its life, and nevertheless taught to absorb, when, sitting on the mountain, opening His mouth, He gave superior commandments to the disciples, nullifying the law of commandments with decrees.
And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Seeing that he could not continue the persecution, nor bring his harmful desires to fruition, by which he thought or wished he could remove the church of Christ from the world, especially with the trophy of the Lord's body prevailing in the heavens, reigning on the earth, and ruling in the underworld. For this, the apostle says: "Christ died and rose again, so that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living." Also, "that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth." Seeing this, he ceaselessly endeavors to wage war against the rest of the seed of the church through each generation, whom he now knows he cannot entirely eradicate from the world because, as it is said, "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Thus, Christ, wonderfully using him, fittingly gathers many martyrs for Himself, while deciding that the dragon and his allies should be punished with more severe penalties. Therefore, I think this book is more aptly concluded with the memorable victory of the same church, whose memory cannot perish from the world.
