Revelation #37

Today we jump into chapter 12! As we are in the middle of the book of Revelation, we are also in the middle of the tribulation....a terrible terrible time!



Revelation 12:1-6



The Woman and the Dragon

1And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. 2She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. 3And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. 4His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. 5She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, 6and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days.



John tells us in verse 1 a great sign appeared in heaven. Remember man put in chapter and verses in the Bible so we are just continuing here from Chapter 11. The sign was a women which represents Israel! She was clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and her head was a crown of twelve stars. To understand why thie is Israel we need to go back to Genesis 37:9:



Genesis 37:9



9Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers and said, "Behold, I have dreamed another dream. Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me."



This was Joesph who was having this dream. He was dreaming of the truth...that one day his brothers the 11 stars would one day bow down to him as he was a leader in Egypt! The 11 stars (brothers) plus Joseph = 12 tribes of Israel!



Now back to verse 2 tells us this woman was pregnant and crying out in birth pains from giving birth. Who is this she is giving birth too? Jesus as we will see in a few verses. In verse 3 we are told John sees another sign in heaven....a great red dragon....who is this? Satan. His seven heads, ten horns, and seven diadems symbolize his great power.( Daniel 7:6-7) Verse 4 tells us his tail swept down a third of the stars from heaven and were cast to earth. This is a reference to Satans fall from heaven and taking a third of the demons with him.



2 Peter 2:4

4For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell[a] and committed them to chains[b] of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment;



Jude 1:6

6And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day—

Isaiah 14:12-15

12"How you are fallen from heaven,

O Day Star, son of Dawn!

How you are cut down to the ground,

you who laid the nations low!

13You said in your heart,

'I will ascend to heaven;

above the stars of God

I will set my throne on high;

I will sit on the mount of assembly

in the far reaches of the north;[a]

14I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;

I will make myself like the Most High.'

15 But you are brought down to Sheol,

to the far reaches of the pit.



Verse 4 continues on to tell us that that Satan was waiting Israel to give birth to the Savior so that he might devour Him. Oh how Satan tried and we seen in:

Matthew 2:16



Herod Kills the Children

16Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men.



In verse 5 we are told more about Jesus, one day He will rule the nations with a rod of Iron in Judgement, but before this Jesus was called back up to God and to HIS throne....the throne of Jesus. We see the assention of Jesus here:



Acts 1:9-11



9And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11and said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven."



In verse 6 we are taken to the future of Israel...the verse tells us Israel will flee into the wilderness to hide from the anti-Christ under the protection of God for 3.5 years which will be half of the tribulation period.



Pretty interesting stuff huh??? See you tomorrow!



Tom