Charles Spurgeon Commentary Revelation 12:16

"And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the river which the dragon cast out of his mouth." — Revelation 12:16 (ASV)

It is poor help that the earth can give, and yet God has overruled to make it useful. The kings and the powers of this world have for their own reasons sometimes protected the church. It was so in Luther's day. The jealousy that was felt regarding the influence of the Court of Rome politically tended to the preservation of Luther and those around him, so that the gospel was not destroyed. The earth helped the woman, and we may expect that even those political disasters, which we often dread, will all end that way.

How often has priestly arrogance been put to shame even for political reasons! We have nothing to do with that, but still we can see how God can overrule. It is always amiss when a woman begins to help the earth: she has nothing to do with that: let the Church leave the State alone. But sometimes it happens that in the political providence of God the earth helps the woman.