A Brief History of Christianity

Up to now we have seen the beginning of Christianity, the spread of the gospel, the coming of the Great Tribulation, and the God’s judgment upon the world; in this chapter we begin the history of Christianity over again with different information being presented to us.

(1) Christianity Wins

You will never arrive at the correct interpretation of Revelation if you ignore 2000 years of incredible Christian history. This chapter gives us many of the details of that history.

1 A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2 She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. (Rev. 12:1-2)

According to Genesis 37, the twelve stars are the twelve tribes of Israel, the sun is Jacob, and the moon is Rachel. The woman here represents true (spiritual) Israel, not all of Israel, just the righteous remnant. Likewise, the Church is seen as a woman in 2 Cor. 11:2, Ephesians. 5:25-27, and finally as the Bride of Christ in Rev. 21.

In Rev. 12:17 we are told that the offspring of the woman “hold to the testimony of Jesus.” Therefore, the woman must be spiritual Israel. The Jews who converted to Christianity are now part of true spiritual Israel, so we see that her offspring are Christians. It cannot refer to the physical unbelieving Jews who were cut off the tree of promise; so it does not refer to
literal Israel but to spiritual Israel made up of believing Jews and Gentiles, as we have already seen. Revelation 12 continues:

3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. 4 His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born. (Rev. 12:3-4)

The dragon is later identified as Satan. Satan took one-third of the angels with him when he was cast out of heaven; right after Jesus was born, Satan tried to kill him through King Herod who ruled under the authority of Rome, which was one of the seven heads of the beast. (The word “dragon” is often translated “serpent”.) Rev. 12 continues:

5 She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. 6 The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days. (Rev. 12:5-6)

Jesus is, of course, the one who will rule with an iron scepter at his return (Psalm 2:9). And Jesus ascended to heaven after his resurrection. The woman fleeing into the desert refers to the true gospel, or true Christianity, being taken outside of the domains of the Roman Empire.

The Smith’s Bible Dictionary defines “desert” as, “Not a stretch of sand, an utterly barren waste, but a wild, uninhabited region” (p. 149). The Westminster Dictionary of The Bible says, “an unenclosed, uncultivated plain, where wild beasts roam at will… often terrible in its solitude and desolateness… yet also capable of affording pasturage” (p. 137). It is translated “wilderness” in the KJV, NKJ, and NAS.

The literal translation says the reason she goes into the wilderness is, “that they might nourish her” (GLT). The NKJ says, “Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there” (12:6). The Greek for “feed” is threpso (5142), and means “To nourish, feed, nurture . . . . bring up” (CWD). Luke 4:16 uses the word this way, “He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up.”

This tells us that true Christianity was to grow physically and spiritually in a place prepared for that purpose, which was mostly in Britain and Europe. The historical record in Britain shows clearly that Christianity was taken to the British Isles within 20 years of the death of Jesus. The gospel was accepted in Egypt but it was about 1800 years before the gospel penetrated darkest Africa and Asia. There is even evidence that the Apostle Paul visited Britain, but that is another story, the point being that Europe was the main location for the spread of the gospel.

It was first spread in the Middle East but it did not last, but was taken over by Islam. Perhaps the Apostles knew that a new religion would rise in Arabia and send armies throughout the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia Minor to kill Christians and force them to convert, and that it would become the dominate religion throughout the region.

Though the gospel spread into Europe, most of the spread did not come from the south, but from the north. It was the monks of Ireland and Britain that evangelized northern Europe. The most famous was Boniface who was responsible for evangelizing Germany:

Because of his British background and connections, he was able to bring a steady stream of Irish and British monks over to Germany. The latter were instrumental in founding many centers of evangelism and learning throughout Europe. (Wells, History Through The Eyes of Faith, p. 57)

Thought Christianity had almost ceased to exist in its original locations because of Islam, Christianity grew in size and knowledge in Britain and Europe, especially Northern Europe. Martin Luther was a German, which means the Protestant Reformation possibly can be traced back to the missionary efforts of Britain.

As the facts of history show, Christianity slowly developed in Europe as the Christians there grew in the knowledge of the Bible. Martin Luther was not the first reformer; he was merely the first who was successful. Even the Roman Catholic Church grew because of the reforms it underwent over the centuries.

(2) Defeat of Paganism

At this point in the chapter, you might suppose that we have progressed to the final three and one-half years of the Gospel Age, but we have not; we have only progressed to the gospel growing up in Europe. The 1,260 days represent the final 1,260 days of the Gospel Age, which tells us that true Christianity will be found in Europe right up to the conclusion of the Gospel Age; but we have not gotten there yet.

The battle between darkness and light first takes place in the spiritual realm, then it is played out on Earth, so here we see a battle in the heavenlies which resulted in a major victory here on Earth. Revelation 12 continues:

7 And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9 The great dragon was hurled down–that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.” (Rev. 12:7-10)

The first and biggest major victory of Christianity was the defeat of paganism, “Now have come salvation … and the authority of his Christ.” This represents pagan Rome being converted to Christianity in 325 A.D. Never mind that Christianity had become infected with some pagan beliefs, it was still a major victory. We will see more about this shortly. Pagans were frequently persecuting and killing Christians. They were also known to accuse Christians of horrible crimes such as cannibalism and incest. But here we see paganism defeated. Though it still exists in other countries, it was defeated in a vast area; the area where the Gospel first spread, which is within the Roman Empire.

The coming of salvation available openly and freely does not wait for the Great Tribulation. Do we not have the authority of Christ in Europe and North America now? Why would that wait until the coming of the Great Tribulation? What event could it possibly represent as taking place in the GT? Though Christ gave us victory and authority with his death and resurrection, it still had to be attained by the blood of many martyrs, but no longer. It shows the place that Christianity attained in the world. Revelation continues:

11 They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. 12 Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! …

The Greek for “testimony” is marturia (3141) and means, “A witness . . . It is a declaration by a witness who speaks with the authority of one who knows” (CWD). It is the same word used in Rev. 11; “Now when they have finished their testimony.” It refers to the proclamation of the Gospel. Many people were tortured to death or burned at the stake because they refused to worship pagan gods. The same could be said of the events of the Protestant Reformation, but many more Christians died at the hands of pagan Rome than in the battles after the Reformation.

The above passage describes how paganism was defeated, not by an army but by Christians dying for Christ. Many thousands of Christians died during the times of Roman persecution, which only resulted in more people converting to Christianity until finally Christianity was legalized; later paganism was outlawed. This made Satan angry. Rev. 12 continues:

12 Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.” 13 When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. (Rev. 12:12-13)

Notice that the events described in 12:7-13 contain both good news and bad news. Satan is cast down (paganism is defeated), yet there is a woe to the inhabitants of earth. Satan was filled with fury because of the defeat of paganism, so he raised up another way to attack Christianity; Islam that began in the early 600s. The Greek for “pursue” also means “persecute.” It took 300 years, but Satan raised up Islam to again wage war against Christianity. Notice the wording, “woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you!” In the very next chapter a beast comes out of the sea and another comes out of the earth. The Christians who lived in the Middle East, North Africa and southern Europe were soon to be attacked, imprisoned, and killed by the beast of Islam that came out of the sands of Arabia.

(The remainder of this chapter is not available online.)