(2) The victory of the woman--12:10-17. It should be remembered that with the twelfth chapter there is the beginning of the recapitulation of all the events depicted in the first series of visions from chapter four to eleven. The first series of symbols surrounded Christ the conqueror; the second series encompassed the same events in a new set of symbols and surrounded the woman, the church in the midst of that period of trial. The verses now under consideration set forth the woman’ s victory over the dragon and parallels the triumph of the Rider of the white horse of the sixth chapter who was the conquering Christ of the closing verses of chapter eleven. 1. And I heard a loud voice saying, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ--12:10. This “ loud voice” of victory reverted to the chorus of “ great voices” in 11:15; and the exclamation “ now is come salvation . . . and the kingdom of our God” was repetitive of the refrain of chapter 11:15, “ the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ.” The meaning is that the kingdoms of the world became the kingdoms of the Lord by the conversion of its citizens. It was the anticipation of the world-wide expansion of Christianity through the gospel, after the destruction of Jerusalem, as forecast by the Lord in Matthew 24:31 --and that is the meaning of the statement, “ now is come salvation . . . and the kingdom of our God.” The salvation here meant deliverance of the woman (the church) from the dragon; and strength referred to the source of endurance; and the power of his Christ referred to that authority higher than Rome’ s emperor, that divine rod of iron by which the power of Satan, personified in the persecutor, had been broken and by which his diabolical character had been exposed. 2. For the accuser of our brethren is cast down--12:10. In verse 9 it states that the dragon was cast out into the earth--the place of the nations, or the political society. This was not the positions of government authority included within the sphere of the phrase in heaven. In verse 10 the dragon (the persecutor) was called the accuser of our brethren. This referred to that part of the offspring of the woman who were not martyrs, but were like the seer of the apocalypse on Patmos: “ I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ.” The emphasis put on the accuser of our brethren by the additional statement, which accused them before our God day and night, indicated the habitual character of the dragon-accuser, that the oppositions of the persecutor would be persistent and continuous.