This verse represents the period of time during which Antichrist is allowed to suppress the Christian testimony, just before Jesus returns and destroys the reign of Antichrist. The Church will be protected and nurtured throughout that period of tribulation.

"The woman fled." At various times throughout the history of the Christian Church the saints have fled from persecution under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Fleeing from danger when the Lord warns us is a Scriptural concept.

One has only to think of the story of the Baby Jesus to realize God is able to save His elect from the Satan-inspired ambition and envy of those who would rule God's people apart from God's will and blessing.

The angel of the Lord warned Joseph to flee with Jesus and Mary to Egypt in order to escape the envious Herod—a notable forerunner of the Antichrist.

And when they [the wise men—also warned of God to avoid Herod's envy] were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. (Matthew 2:13)

When the danger was past, the angel of the Lord directed Joseph to return with his family to the land of Israel.

We see then that God will protect Christ, and those who bring forth Christ, in the hour of Antichrist's rage.

In the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew, Jesus warns the elect who will be living in Judea in the days when the man of sin begins to claim he is God, to flee into the mountains.

It is our point of view that God has prepared various places and areas in the earth where His saints will be preserved throughout the reign of Antichrist.

God is a God of preparation. When He saw the worldwide famine coming He sent Joseph in advance to prepare a place in which food could be obtained. In the hour of tribulation, Jacob and his family left the land of promise and fled to Egypt, there to be fed by Joseph throughout the time of famine.

God will provide for His saints in the last days of this age, not by taking them out of the world but by guarding them from the evil one. He will prepare a place for them where they can be fed until Christ appears and destroys Antichrist with the power and glory of His appearing.

Elijah was fed in the wilderness when he was fleeing from the murderous Jezebel. Elijah, along with many others of God's "stars," is a type of the activities of the Lord's remnant during the latter-rain witness of the end time. The incidents of his life and Elisha's life are rich in typical significance.

To be continued.