As the beast was symbolic of the Roman empire, personified in the persecuting emperors, so was the Gog and Magog personification symbolic of the spiritual forces of heathenism launched against the church in the “ battle” of verse eight, in which the heathen forces of Gog and Magog were represented to be in number as the sand of the sea, which symbolized the proportions of the conflict and its challenge to the church; and verse nine stated that they compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city. The reference to the “ beloved city” here could not mean Jerusalem--the apostate harlot Jerusalem was no longer “ beloved,” and was no more. This beloved city was the church, the New Jerusalem, which was compassed about with heathenism, in the midst of its idolatries, surrounded by all of its antagonism to the church. The first chapter of Romans, and the Corinthian, Ephesian, and Colossian epistles confirm this great danger to the church. It was concerning this threat of heathen influence that Paul specifically exhorted the Corinthian church in 2 Corinthians 6:14-18. The description of verse nine that the legions of the heathen ruler went upon the breath of the earth in the forays of his satanic forces against the church emphasizes the extent of the opposition to Christianity, and of its threat to the church. But as in the finale of the imperial persecutions, the church prevailed against heathenism, and fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. This was the symbol of the consuming power of the word of God in exposing the error and evil of heathen idolatry. The apostle declared in 2 Corinthians 4:2-4 that the light of the gospel of Christ dispelled the darkness of “ the god of this world.” Neither the imperial beast nor the heathen Magog could withstand the power of God. It was in reference to these same things that Paul said in Romans 16:20 : “ And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.”