1  War  in  heaven  —  These  sym-
1>j1s  are,  doubtless,  drawn  from  the
holy  tradition  so  often  alluded  to  in
^ripture,  that  Satan  was  once  a  heav-
enly angel  and  fell  from  his  first  es-
tate. (Jude  G.)  The  traditional  ac-
count is,  of  course,  modified  to  suit
the  symbolical  purpose.  Michael —
Mentiouod  in  Dan.  x,  13, 21  andxiv,  \^aa
'*  one  of  tho  chief  princes  "  anOi  ct^ajm


:-\


prevailed  not;  neither  was  « their
place  found  any  more  in  heaven.
9  And  f  the  great  dragon  was  cast
out,  "that  old  serpent,  called  the
devil,  and  Satan,  *  which  deceiveth
the  whole  world :  "  he  was  cast  out
into  the  eartii,  and  his  angels  were
cast  out  with  him.  lO  And  I
heard  a  loud  voice  saying  in  heav-

rLnke  10.  18;  John  12.  81. 8Qene»\»9,

1,4:  chiipter  20. 3. 1  Chapter  20. 8. u  Chap*

ter  9. 1.
pion  for  the  Jewish  people  against
adverse  powers.  And  as  in  the  apoc-
alypse Jerusalem  is  the  Christian
Church,  and  Jews  are  Christians,  so
Micliael,  "  the  archangel,"  (Jude  9,)  is
champion  for  Christ  and  Christianity.
He  is  not,  as  Hengstenberg  claims,
Christ  himself.  For  in  this  scene
Christ  is  the  man  child  on  the  throne,
and  overcoming  his  adversary  through
"the  archangel,"  the  heroic  general
of  his  forces.  The  signification  of
Michael's  name—"  Who  is  like  God  ?"
— suggests,  not  that  he  is  God,  but  the
champion  and  challenger  for  God;
just  as  the  parody,  "  Who  is  like  tlie
beast?"  is  not  uttered  by  the  beast
himself,  but  by  his  admirers.  The
forces  on  both  sides  are  angels.
The  dragon^s  being  in  the  firmamental
heaven,  means  that  he  was  ruling  over
the  Roman  world  as  the  impersonation
of  paganism.
