This is the one object which ever appears the same in all the scenes here described, and whose history is the leading theme of the prophecy, from first to last.

Trampled under the feet of the three colossal persecuting powers here brought to view, the followers of Christ for long ages bow their heads to the pitiless storm of oppression and persecution; but the end repays them all; for John beholds them at last, the storms all over, their conflicts all ended, waving palm-branches of victory, and striking on golden harps a song of everlasting triumph within the precincts of the heavenly land.
We turn then to the inquiry, What power is designated by the great red dragon of chapter 12?
The chapter first speaks of a woman clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.

A woman is the symbol of the church; a lewd woman representing a corrupt or apostate church, as in Eze.

23:2-4, &c., which refers to the Jewish church in a state of backsliding, and in Rev.17:3-6, 15, 18, which refers to the apostate Romish church; and a virtuous woman representing the true church, as in the verse under consideration.

At what period in her history could the church be properly represented as here described?
Ans.