I hope everyone has had a chance to read my previous blogs, so that you will be able to see the picture that we are painting in it's proper light. Much of the things that we will be covering, as we complete Revelations, has already been covered in my previous blogs. Reading them will give you a much better understanding of what we will be seeing.
To understand what John has written here in Chapter 12, we have to look at what is symbolized in some of the things that he is describing. John writes in verses 1 and 2;
(1) And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the
moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of 12 stars; (2) and she was with child;
and she cried out , being in labor and in pain to give birth."
I don't want to make this complicated to understand, so I will use common deduction to help you see this picture.
1) The great sign is a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet.
This woman is Israel, why?
2) Her crown has twelve stars.
One star for each of the 12 Tribes of Israel (Jacob)
3) She is pregnant and about to give birth.
Coming forth the Tribe of Judah, the linage of David, through a humble
servant of the Lord, Mary, is God Himself as Savior Jesus.
Jehovah Yeshua ( the Lord our Salvation )
4) The woman being in labor and in pain.
From the very conception of Israel (Jacob) there has been a constant attempt by
Satan to destroy the decendants of Israel. The entire Old Testiment is about events
that occured where God had to intervene to preserve Israel from the attacks by
men motivated by Satan to destroy Israel from their very existence. You hear
mockers today who say that the Old Testiment is full of violence and that Israel
killed and God killed, when the Ten Commandments say "Thou shall not kill."
First of all, It is "Thou shall not Murder." Is there a difference? Of course there
is. When you murder someone, you are taking the life of innocent blood. When
you defend innocent blood by taking the life of a murderer, you are killing them.
"There is no greater love then someone laying down their life for a friend."
God had to intervene many times to protect the people of Israel from those who
were motivated by Satan to Murder them. God many times also instructed Israel
to kill those who would murder their people. If God had not done it this way, then
Israel would have been destroyed. He needed Israel to survive, because it was
through them that He would come into this world.
John contiues in verses 3 and 4;
(3) "And another sign appeared in heaven; and behold, a great red dragon having
seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems. (4) And his tail
swept away a third of the stars of heaven, and though them to the earth. And the
dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave
birth he might devour her child."
1) The great red dragon is Satan, of course.
2) The seven heads are revealed in Chapter 17, verse 9 as seven mountains.
These seven mountains are the seven Continents on the earth, Africa, Antarctica,
Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America.
3) Ten horns are ten kings who Satan gives authority to.
4) The seven diadems are a symbol of Satans kingship over the seven Contintents.
5) His tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven, and throws them to the earth.
A third of the angels were decieved and seduced by satan to follow him and
rebell against the Most High God. They end up choosing Satan over their Creator.
From that point on they were considered as fallen angels, now referred to as
demons. Satan along with the demons have been controlling the earth since its
creation. As of now their influence has been from the spiritual realm, but that will
change during the last 3 1/2 years of this age. There will be a new manifestation
of their presence on the earth.
6) The dragon standing before the woman who is about to give birth.
This is what I talked about when I was saying that God had to protect Israel
from Satan. Satan and his demons have always tried to destroy Israel to
prevent the birth of this child, Jesus, who would be the Savior of all who would
come to Him. When coming to Jesus, a person is transfered from the kingdom
of darkness into the kingdom of light. Satan knows where his final destination
is. This would be the lake of fire, where Satan and his demons will suffer
eternal death. It is eternal death because everything God creates is eternal,
therefore it can not cease from existing. This means that they will be their
forever. Satans goal is to take as many souls with him as possible. Every
person ever born has an eternal soul, they can not cease from existing.
That soul, when it choses Jesus, receives His gift of eternal life, and will live
forever with Jesus. The soul that refuses Jesus will live forever with Satan and
His demons in the lake of fire. This is not what God wills.
The apostle Peter wrote in his second letter Chapter 3, verse 9;
"The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some may count slowness,
but He is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all
to come to repentance."
John writes this in verses 5 and 6;
(5) And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations
with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and His throne.
(6) And the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared
by God, so that there she might be nourished for one thousand two hundred
and sixty days."
Obviously the child that is born is Jesus. In Revelations Chapter 7, we learned that there are going to be 144,000 Israelites, 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel (Jacob), who will be sealed with the seal of God on their foreheads. These are 144,000 of the decendents of Jacob who have chosen to follow Jesus. These will be protected from any harm during the last 1260 days (3 1/2 years) of this age. All other believers who are still alive will soon be caught up to meet Jesus in the air. These 144,000 are the remnent that Jesus referred to, who He will bring back to Jerusalem. These are the ones who will carry out the earthly rule of Jesus as Jesus rules over the earth for a Thousand years. Jesus will rule over the earth, along with the saints (those who chose Jesus and became New Creations), from His Heavenly Kingdom, the Heavenly Jerusalem, the place He is now preparing for the New Creations.
Jesus peace be with all of you.
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