half a year. The same length of time is expressed in yet
another way in the eleventh chapter, forty and two months. The time is
thus put in three different ways, that we may know surely that it means
just plain three and a half years of our common time. It is significant
that the dragon makes war with "the rest" of the woman's seed. This can
only mean the Church, which of course was born in the Jewish nation.
This is the first run of events in this view.[148]

Then follows a description of the awful leader of evil during the
tribulation time.[149] It is significant that, as Satan is cast out of
heaven down to the earth, this leader appears among men. He has great
intelligence and power and is the very embodiment of blasphemy. He is
described as a strange mixture of wild beasts, having the chief
characteristic strength of each, the cunning of the leopard, the feet of
the bear, and the mouth of the lion.

He is the personal representative on earth among men of Satan. There is
something strangely uncanny in the suggestion that he is some former
leader, who died, and is now raised from the dead. There seems to be
nothing too daring for Satan to attempt in his impious opposition to
God. This leader comes into great prominence and power. All the world
wonders after him. And they worship Satan, who is recognized as giving
his power to this notorious leader.

He comes to be accepted as the world ruler, and is commonly worshipped
by the people. And he not only persecutes God's people, but overcomes
them. A limit of time is set to his sway. It is the same as already
noted for Jerusalem being desecrated, for God's two witnesses, and for
the persecution of the Jew, _i.e._, forty and two months, three and a
half years.

It is striking that in the midst of the description of his terrible
reign there comes a word that sounds like an echo from those messages to
the Churches. "If any man hath an ear, let him hear."[150] Then the word
goes on warning, pleading, and encouraging. In the midst of these
blasphemous conditions every man must do as he personally decides. He
may yield to this evil and become a captive of evil, bound hand and
foot. He may try to use the world's weapons in fighting God's battle,
but will find himself outmatched in their use. He may rise to the true
level, and steadfastly cling to his faith, and endure, and by faith be
victorious in the end.

The description goes on to tell of the blasphemous worship demanded