151 The Revelation of Jesus Christ We turn again to Rev. 12:5, and there we read further that the dragon was not able to devour the Child, but that He "was caught up unto God, and to his throne." Even so our Lord, having finished His redemptive work on Calvary, rose from the dead and ascended into heaven...-"caught up unto God," the Father, "and to his throne." There He is today, interceding for His redeemed children, waiting till the day when all His enemies shall be made His footstool. (See Psa. 110:l; Heb. 1:13.) THE DRAGON We have already seen that, as this woman was about to be delivered, there was waiting for that "man child" a dragon. He had seven heads and ten horns, and there were seven dia dems upon those heads. Now the dragon represents the Roman Empire, actuated and inspired by the devil himself. This is not the Roman Em pire as it was at the time when the Lord Jesus Christ was born, although it is true that the devil through Herod attempted to destroy the Christ-Child at His birth. Rather, the Roman Empire pictured here is as it is yet to be. We shall see, when we come to make a study of the thirteenth -and seventeenth chapters, that the future Roman Empire is represented by this beast, this great dragon with the seven heads and the ten horns. Those ten horns represent the ten confederated king doms into which the Roman Empire will be divided. After the church is gone, the Antichrist is going to weld those nations together; he is going to rule over the Roman Empire in that ten-kingdom form. THE MYSTICAL BODY OF CHRIST Let us pause here long enough to emphasize the fact that the bride of Christ is identified with Him, and will rule and reign with Him over the nations. He is the Head; we are members of His body. All New Testament Scripture abun dantly proves this blessed truth. Accordingly, we read in Rev. 2:26, 27: "And he that overcometh, and keepeth my words unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father."
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