ἀπὸ κ. τ. λ., = ὑπό of agent (so Acts 2:22; Acts 4:36, etc., Ps. Sol. 15:6, and a contemporary inscription in Dittenberger's Sylloge Inscr. 655 8 συντετηρημένα ἀπὸ βασιλέων καὶ Σεβαστῶν) only here in Apocalypse. On the flight of the faithful to the wilderness, a stereotyped feature of the antichrist period, cf. A. C. 211 f. Apocalyptic visions, particularly in the form of edited sources or adapted traditions, were not concerned to preserve strict coherency in details or consistency in situation. Thus it is not clear whether the ἔρημος was conceived to exist in heaven, or whether heaven is the background rather than the scene of what transpires. What follows in 7 12 is the description (from the popular religious version of the source) of what John puts from a definitely Christian standpoint in Revelation 3:21; Revelation 5:5, where (as in Asc. Isa. Gk. ii. 9 11 the downfall of Satan is ascribed to Jesus himself.

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Old Testament