The next insert comprises three chapters—12-14. Chapter twelve is one of the most played with and misunderstood portions of the book of Revelation. First of all, the first sign that John saw appeared in heaven. It appeared in John’s heavenly vision, but the action will occur on earth. Just stay with me while we go over it. I have heard preacher after preacher teach that the child that woman was pregnant with was Christ, because He is to rule with a rod of iron.
Surface scanning of Scripture will almost always lead the scanner into error. The devil uses human tendency to translate surface similarities into doctrines that make no sense when taken out to their obvious biblical conclusion. The next even more nonsensical teaching is that the woman is the church. The church did not birth Christ. Christ birthed the church! The woman will be the nation of Israel in the last days. The man child will be the first 144,000 Jews who will accept Jesus as their Messiah—the Messiah the present-day Jews are yet looking for. They rejected the real One Who came about 2,000 years ago. Once again, stay with me while I explain. Remember Joseph’s dream in Genesis 37:9? Joseph saw the sun, moon, and eleven stars (Joseph would be the twelfth star in the garland of the woman in Revelation) bow down to him. His dream was a symbol of the budding nation of Israel—Joseph’s father Jacob, his mother Rachel, Joseph and his eleven brothers. In verse ten, Jacob actually confirmed that truth, for he rebuked Joseph for suggesting that his mother and father would bow down to him. The sun-clothed woman is a symbol of Israel, not the church!
Now about that man child the sun-clothed woman bore. That woman represented a group of people, and so that man child also represents a group of people—the 144,000 Jews of Revelation 7:1-8 and 14:1-5. Remember, I said that the symbols in the book of Revelation are explained either in that book itself, or in some other Bible book. And we saw that Genesis 37 identified that sun-clothed woman in Revelation 12. (It takes time and some serious study to get the true scriptural picture of last-days events.) In Isaiah 66:7-9, Isaiah prophesied of that Revelation event. He prophesied that Israel will bring forth a man child, who is also referred to as a nation and children. So, the man child has to be the 144,000 Jews that will be born-again during the Tribulation Time. Another part of John’s heavenly vision was the devil, pictured as a fiery red dragon, who is ready to devour that child as soon as it is born. He is described as having seven heads, and ten horns. The seven heads—understood by studying history and prophecy in other Bible books—represents the seven Gentile kingdoms in history, right up to the last days, which have, and will, persecute God’s people—Israel and Christians. The ten horns will be ten future kings over ten future-formed Middle-Eastern kingdoms, whom the Antichrist will conquer at the beginning of the Tribulation Time. The Antichrist will defeat three of the ten, and the rest will submit to him—Daniel 7:24. Daniel prophesied about the four Gentile kingdoms from his day forward—Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome—the four beasts. John’s vision encompassed Gentile history from the very first nation that has either enslaved or harassed Israel—seven nations in all—starting with Egypt, then Assyria, then Babylon, in Daniel’s day, then Persia, then Greece, then Rome; and finally the Antichrist kingdom, which will be the eighth, which will be of the seven—Revelation 17:11. Will explain more later. See you!
(Ron Craig is pastor, teacher and author of Christian books; and these articles. You may view all the books by logging onto www.livingwayfellowshiponline.org. While logged on the website you can even listen to audio Bible-lesson podcasts. You may also send your questions or comments to ronwritercraig@gmail.com)
