not times of testimony, but of vengeance—not of testimony of any one Christian or Jew. The disciples, who had been giving testimony, and called to possess their souls in patience, are then directed to flee; for these were the days of vengeance. This was at the setting up of the abomination of desolation, the commencement of the last twelve hundred and sixty days, or three years and a half. So, in the twelfth chapter, after the casting down of Satan, his great wrath begins upon the earth; then heaven and its inhabiters are free; and the woman, accordingly, flees into the wilderness for the twelve hundred and sixty days, to be nourished from the face of the serpent. Antichrist does not assume his proper distinctive character in Jerusalem till then. He may, as the oppressive apostate head of the Gentiles, at the instigation of Jews, persecute the saints who have the testimony of Jesus—possibly tyrannically oppress even the Jews, as the holy nation, by times; but, strictly, their “covenant is with death, and with hell are they at agreement,” i.e. as to the rulers who represent the nation.
We have another distinction here, which also runs through what follows, not duly noticed—people, tongues, nations, languages, and they that
