Revelation Chapter 12
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Labor Pains
Labor Pains
Chapter 12-14 introduce us to the main characters of the story
Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars.
Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth.
We now see some other things that are taking place of other events before the Vilas poured out
“A great sign appeared in the heaven” - Greek Semeion - miracle It speaks of the Greek play’s moment of “salvation” or “consummation” it’s that moment when the hero defeats the villain
For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.
It is the same word for the counterfeit workings of the antichrist
Remember that the book of Revelation is a story of the victory revealed!
We are told in the book of Genesis who this woman is - the nation of Isreal
Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, “Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me.”
Of course Joseph being the 12th star - the family of Jacob which is the nation of Isreal
Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth.
Of course a reference to the birth of the Messiah
An interesting issue here is that Moses prophesied this
“The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear,
And agin we see a reference in Acts
“This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear.’
“This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the Angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, the one who received the living oracles to give to us,
Here’s where some people claim the the church is Israel
In the above verse the words “from you brethren” is the Greek word Adelphos - brothers but the next verse say “who was in the great congregation in the wilderness”
The word wilderness here is Ekklesia - Church or congregation
It is interesting to note that there is no difference between the church and the congregation Hence the promise of God to us that...
And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
Throughout the OT and NT the same word is used to identify those who belong to Him! Remember they are greek translators
So the argument goes- “If the congregation was in the wilderness, then, the church was born in the OT not the NT
People will quote Eph
Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands—
that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
The problem here is that the word “commonwealth” is the word Politeia or citizen - a citizen can be natural born or immigrant. There is a difference - one natural born, one grafted in
But some of these branches from Abraham’s tree—some of the people of Israel—have been broken off. And you Gentiles, who were branches from a wild olive tree, have been grafted in. So now you also receive the blessing God has promised Abraham and his children, sharing in the rich nourishment from the root of God’s special olive tree.
Look at the original verse in the OT
“The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear,
“from your midst” is from the Hebrew meaning “from the loins bring life” or “from the womb”
It is clear here that one would come “form the womb” to give life!
So the church is the church and the nation is the nation! We are now members of the people of God but “grafted in” to the promise. As we are seeing in our study, God will deal with his people and call them back to Himsle and they then will become part of the church! What a beautiful transaction
Now we see another player in the drama!
And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads.
His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born.
She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne.
“and another sign appeared” A picture of our enemy, Satan - Plain for everyone to see
And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
The seven heads representing completeness of power and of course the 10 heads from the vision of Daniel shown as diadems earthly power - mimicking Christ’s royal authority
“After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.
The ten horns are ten kings Who shall arise from this kingdom. And another shall rise after them; He shall be different from the first ones, And shall subdue three kings.
The antichrist will control power through these 10 leaders of the restored European Union
His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born.
It is thought that there were initially 3 Archangels Michael, Gabriel, Lucifer
It seems that the heavenly host were divided into three divisions under each one authority. We see that 1/3 of the heavenly host fell with their leader
Now we see our enemy waiting for the day of the Messiah’s birth to kill him
Christmas story! Herod wanting to know from the wise men where this King was born so he could come and worship
Since the first day Satan came to planet earth he has been trying to destroy the nation to prevent God from fulfilling His promises to them!
She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne.
“And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, And till the end of the war desolations are determined.
Speaking of Christ and the completion of 69 weeks passed then Christ was cut off
God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,
has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;
who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
To the future now
Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days.
Abomination of desolation get out! - the antichrist image in the temple
“Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand),
“then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
220 Klm from Isreal a difficult but doable trek
Jordan?
He shall also enter the Glorious Land, and many countries shall be overthrown; but these shall escape from his hand: Edom, Moab, and the prominent people of Ammon.
Of the Antichrist
Who will bring me to the strong city? Who will lead me to Edom?
Is it not You, O God, who cast us off? And You, O God, who did not go out with our armies?
Give us help from trouble, For the help of man is useless.
Through God we will do valiantly, For it is He who shall tread down our enemies.
1260 days - 42 months - the last 3.5 years of the tribulation!
God will care for them there!
And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought,
Clearly there are Satanic forces at work in the world today! Remember that when you see the rampant increase in evil. Satan is the enemy not the people
but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer.
Currently Satan has access to the heavenlies accusing the brethren
So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
Be careful that you are not deceived!
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting;
being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers,
backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful;
who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.
Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.
Antichrist will bring a great delusion
You won’t receive me
Job - Where have you been? Seen my servant Job? - remove his things
Where have you been? Despite what you did he stayed true - affliction
But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.
“I do not receive honor from men.
But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you.
I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.
Don’t be deceived!
Heaven has finally been rid of the enemy
The accuser - overcome by the blood
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.
You have been bought with a price!
Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.”
He knows the end is coming and will take it out on humanity!
Again the national will be persecuted
Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child.
But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.
So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood.
God will protect them
But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth.
And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
God will protect - Arron & Cora and his rebellion
Rift of the dead sea 1300 ft below sea level African rift Syria to Jordan
Chapter 13 meet the Antichrist