1 A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2 She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth.
3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. 4 Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth.
The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born. 5 She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.” And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. 6 The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.
Revelation 12:1-6 NIV
The Illuminated Woman
A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. Revelation 12:1-2
The woman in this passage is adorned with all the heavenly bodies that illuminate our world. Paganism worships these heavenly bodies. However, the woman wears them like a garment because her betrothed has covered her with His created light. She will never bow down to them because she faithfully serves the one that created the sun, moon and stars. She is a light giving presence in our dark world. The light that she delivers is light from above. Matthew 5:14-16 When Jesus was on the mountainside speaking to the crowd of people, He was speaking to Jews that would become known as Christians.
Because of unbelief, the light of the Menorah in the Jewish temple went out and was carried off by Rome, representing the world. The faithful Jewish remnant as believers in Christ, known as the church, became the living Menorah and willingly went out into the darkness of the world as a light unto the whole world. Revelation 1:12-13, 20
The woman is about to give birth because she represents the bride of Christ to the final generation in the fullness of her time. First, Christ must be fully born in her so she can reflect His image. Then she will deliver His children during a time of great duress. They too will reflect His character and become a light to the world. During the final generation the Jews will recognize the antichrist as the false Messiah. Then they will once again join the body of believers as we wait for the appearing of the true Messiah coming in all His glory.
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20
It may seem strange that the church will deliver Jesus and His offspring, but this is the work of the church. Remember, Nicodemus thought being "born again" was a strange teaching. In order to be adopted into the family of God, we must be born again of the Spirit and through this process Jesus lives in the hearts of born again believers. The world will not see Christ in us if we do not fully reflect His image. Therefore, the final generation of believers will fully reflect His character, but only if He lives in our hearts excluding all else. The great mystery of the Gospel does not lie in Christ without us only (though we ought know also what He has done for us); but the very pith and kernel of it consists in Christ inwardly formed in our hearts. Ralph Cudworth
The bride of Christ will deliver this message to a world that is in its final era and to a people determined to waste their last opportunity. In doing so, the Spirit (oil) that is within her will persuade many and she will give birth to many believers. However, before she can deliver these babes in Christ, Jesus must live in her heart to the exclusion of all else and any other. The faith of the believers in Christ must reach full maturation so Christ can live in the hearts of the believers during the time of tribulation.
When therefore the first spark of a desire after God arises in thy soul, cherish it with all thy care, give all thy heart into it; it is nothing less than a touch of the divine loadstone, that is to draw thee out of the vanity of time, into the riches of eternity. Get up therefore, and follow it as gladly as the wise men of the east followed the star from heaven that appeared to them. It will do for thee as the star did for them, it will lead thee to the birth of Jesus, not in a stable at Bethlehem in Judea, but to the birth of Jesus in the dark centre of thine own soul. William Law
In Luke 18:1-8 Jesus tells a story of a widow that keeps going to the king seeking justice against her adversary. She does not give up, and he realizes that she will not cease presenting her request until her needs are satisfied so he grants her request. The world sees the church as a widow because they consider our God to be dead. Our adversary in this parable represents Satan. The time of the end will be a time when Satan will come against the church bent on destroying her. The trials will surpass in severity that of any previous generation. Like the widow in the story, as long as we make our petitions through prayer we demonstrate our faith which will be rewarded through continued prayer.
Christ ends this parable by assuring us that He will grant our request as soon as possible. He implores us to believe Him when He says that He will not delay and will deliver justice on behalf of all His loved ones without hesitation in the fullness of the times. He ends the parable with the following: However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth? That is the ultimate question because Christ will only deliver those that continue in their faith. The world sees the children birthed by the church and claimed by Christ as illegitimate. When Christ comes the world will witness their delivery and will eventually witness their coronation as kings and queens, not illegitimate sons and daughters!
Before the church can deliver those in the world that would enter into the family of God, the world must first see Christ in her. Therefore, He must live in and through her. He must live in her heart with conviction pushing aside all conflict and confusion. Her unwavering faith is a gift from God that will transform the church into a beacon of light that can only be ignored by those that will not see. The church must give birth to this faith so Christ can live in the hearts of believing men, women and children.
There will be a midnight cry heard by the house of God. The virgins (bride of Christ) with the betrothal agreement will hear it and will wake up. Matthew 25:1-13 However, because of the trials and tribulations, at least half the church will not have enough faith (oil) to sustain them during the final deception. Today is the day to seek the anointing believing that it will be delivered in the fullness of the times. If you are a doubting Thomas, do as he did. Ask God to help you in your unbelief so your light will shine in the darkness.
The Old Red Dragon
Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born. Revelation 12:3-4
Within each of us is the need to worship. This is a gift from Heaven. We desire to believe in something and/or someone that is bigger than we are and will fill that desire with various ideologies that become rules and regulations. This desire should cause us to seek our Creator. However, we will deny Him and fill our hearts and minds with superstitions and other nonsense and call it religion. Man relates best through religion which more often than not misrepresents God because He works best through relationships. Christ is our redeemer kinsman husband. God is our father. The angels in Heaven acknowledge us as brethren. God claims us as His own and beckons His children to Him. He loves each of us as if we were an only child.
God desired a relationship with Adam and Eve and demonstrated His great love toward them by minimizing the rules and regulations. To greater demonstrate His desire of a relationship He spent time in the garden with them. The devolution of mankind causes us to move farther from the Father forsaking a relationship with Him which demands greater restraints through our religion. And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. Exodus 20:18
God greatly desires a relationship with Israel. He brought them out of Egypt and into the desert so he could spend time alone with them. It was Israel that told Moses to go talk to God because they feared His voice. And they said unto Moses, speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you. Exodus 20:19-20 After His great demonstration of deliverance, they still could not hear the benevolence in the voice of a loving God.
Out of unbelief and because of fear Israel refused a relationship with God and chose religion instead. Had they chosen the Father, every man and all in his household would have become a law unto themselves since God wanted to speak to each of them from Heaven as if He were a friend. And the Lord said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. Exodus 20:22
It was in God's heart to only give them one law--the Sabbath as demonstrated by the falling of the manna which did not fall upon the Sabbath. Exodus 16:22-30 The only law God determined to give them was to rest in Him. Instead of desiring to speak directly to God, all the people answered together, and said, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do. Exodus 19:8 Their hearts desired a set of rules and regulations so they could form a religion instead of a relationship--hence, the ten commandments. Like the rich young ruler they wanted to know what good things they could do to please God because they knew they would not allow God to dwell in their hearts. There was no room in the inn even then. Therefore, God magnified His original intent by ten then heaped even more rules and regulations demonstrating that if a man governs his soul through the acts of the flesh, it is never ending. The flesh is never subdued through regulation and/or legislation. Therefore, the soul is never satisfied by the acts of the flesh.
Did all this satisfy their need for rules and regulations? No, it did not. Their religion has hundreds! All religions are established by men and require rules and regulations through legislation. In His mercy, God will go with whatever works for us if the end result is a relationship with Him. Because Israel would have it no other way, God established all kinds of rules and regulations regarding every aspect of their lives hoping to demonstrate through object lessons His great benevolence toward them and us.
Religions are sacred to the believer. I also have a preferred place to worship and a preferred manner in which to worship. However, without a relationship, our love of all things religious can cause us to misunderstand the heart and mind of God. Satan knows this and works through religion to twist our minds and harden our hearts. We then become very vulnerable to his misrepresentation of our benevolent Heavenly Father causing us to hesitate in our assembling with Him and one another.
This old red dragon that is identified as Satan has seven crowns on his seven heads. He also has ten horns. The horns represent his power over the kingdoms of the earth. The number ten is an earthly number used to demonstrate the fullness or completeness of something. Therefore, the ten horns represent all the powers of all the kingdoms of the earth. The heads are blasphemous and represent religions. The number seven is the heavenly counterpart to the earthly ten. It also represents a fullness or completeness but of spiritual matters. Therefore, these seven heads represent the minds of mankind pertaining to their belief systems. The fact that they have crowns demonstrates that Satan rules mankind through the corruption of our belief systems commonly called religions.
We are forever comparing our personal belief system to that of others persuading ourselves that we are superior to those other infidels. The bad news is that there is not a belief system in the world that is not vulnerable to the workings of Satan. The good news is that God can work with any mindset if the heart is pure. A pure heart will allow for a transforming of the mind. Satan twists us through fear and intimidation. God longs to give us faith and courage. Therefore, He commands us to fear nothing but Him. Like Moses did for the Israelites, Jesus expanded this grand illustration by telling us we have nothing to fear of or from the Father. Both Moses and Jesus commanded us to, "Fear not."
In the New Heaven and Earth we learn that there is not a temple! Revelation 22:1-6 That is alarming to some begging us to question God's intent by excluding the temple. I understand it demonstrates that the temple is unnecessary in the New Heaven and Earth because all old things have passed away, including all the works of man's hands which would also include religions. Why? It will no longer be necessary to legislate righteousness because the hearts of man are made new and fully given over to the love of God.
The image of the woman giving birth to Jesus is part of the transformation of the mind that must take place to prepare the church to resist the wiles of the devil during times of tribulation. By living in the heart of the woman, Christ speaks truth through the church which will transform the minds of those with ears to hear. I can summarize everything I just said by saying any religion, including the one you currently adhere to, will not save you; but a relationship with God is salvation. When you have that, nothing can condemn you! Satan knows that and it causes him to tremble in fear because your faith in the truth trumps tribulation every time. Therefore, he desires to devour the newborn while faith is fragile. He has been doing this since the beginning of the ages because he knows that when the woman comes of age, he can not stop the coming of Christ as the redeemer kinsman. He is the desire of all the ages. If in the final age the woman's heart desires Christ, nothing will stop Him from rescuing her and her children.
Jesus told us that He did not come into the world to condemn us. Satan is the accuser of the brethren. He not only accuses mankind, but He persuaded the angels to leave their original dwelling place and then accuses them before the throne of God. His witness against them ultimately causes them to permanently lose their home in Heaven. However, we have Christ as our adversary who recommends us to the righteous beings in Heaven as worthy inhabitants. Why doesn't He do that for the fallen angels? They chose their advocate, and it was not Christ. What is your choice in this matter?
The Delivery of the Man Child
She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.” And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days. Revelation 12:5-6
Clearly the woman is being prepared for an Exodus, but not until the mixed multitudes are gathered from all the nations. Exodus 12:38 The woman gives birth to the "desire of the nations" because He is the strong ruler over all the nations. He will come and subdue the kingdoms of this world.
For thus saith the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the LORD of hosts. The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the LORD of hosts. . .And again the word of the LORD came unto Haggai in the four and twentieth day of the month, saying, Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth; And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother. In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith the LORD, and will make thee as a signet: for I have chosen thee, saith the LORD of hosts. Haggai 2:6-9; 20-23
the beginning, God gave Adam and Eve dominion over the garden and told them to subdue the earth. However, through the deception of Satan, they gave up their right to rule allowing him to usurp their throne. God owns the world and all that is in it by right of design; however, God will honor His word. He gave reigning authority to mankind, and if mankind wants to give it away, God will also honor man's free will. This explains how Satan came to be prince and also explains how the world became a dark place. However, if there is a man, woman or child that wants God to be king, then His right to reign becomes imminent. When believers give Christ dominion over their hearts, He has ownership in this world and will take authority over all that claim Him. This is how the man child is snatched up to God and His throne. The kingdom of God is extended to this world through the hearts of believing men and women. Of course, Satan will cry, "Foul play!!"
He insists that God gave away His right to interfere since mankind gave away reigning authority. Two things Satan does not understand. One is that man's reigning authority is a lease agreement that has a time limit. This is one of the reasons God established time. He set a pattern in the garden. In 2 Peter 3:8 we learn that with God 1 day is like 1,000 years. The seven days it took to create the world represent the seven millenniums of the earth's duration until God makes all things new, including His final covenant with mankind establishing man's new lease agreement that will last throughout eternity. The last millennium will be a sabbatical which is especially frustrating to Ha Satan.
In Satan's opinion, God can not interfere with Satan's reigning authority since He gave authority to mankind and Satan stole Adam's birthright fair and square! However, now we begin to understand the second mystery. Why God had to become a man. Aha!!!!! The fifth verse of Revelation 12 is explaining to us that our savior is fully man and yet, fully God. The fact that He is fully man and overcame the death decreed in the garden by a sinless life entitles Him to challenge the reigning authority of Satan during the seven millenniums of Satan's reign, but only if at least one other living human chooses Him over Satan. There have been a few times through history that Satan was almost successful in destroying all the faith in mankind. The days of Noah certainly come to mind. Only Noah was a righteous man in his generation. It isn't coincidence that Jesus compared the last days to the days of Noah. It will be a time when Satan will very active in destroying the faith of mankind.
Satan is furious that through Christ, there is a sabbatical for mankind. He believes that if the world continued as is without interruption, because of the effects of sin through death and decay, the world would cease to be inhabitable. It is his plan that mankind would destroy the earth before the end of the 7,000 years. Therefore, there would not be anyone living on the earth to have faith in the Messiah. Satan would have proven to God that mankind is unfit to exist and that Christ is not worthy to reign. He believes that this would establish him in the eyes of the Creator as the worthy one. Satan is the consummate self-righteous hypocrite refusing to accept any blame for mankind's sorry state.
Fortunately, we have the sure word of the Lord. He will overthrow the thrones of this world including Satan's throne. He will indeed find faith upon the earth at His coming, and those that are faithful will be a sign to the entire cosmos of His right to reign not only on earth, but also in Heaven. The woman makes a place for Christ in her heart giving him reigning authority. Therefore, He makes a place for her in the wilderness. Before God brought Israel into the Promised Land, he brought her into the wilderness so she would be prepared to be the voice of God to the world. Christ does the something similar for the church. He leads her out of the bondage of this world into the wilderness where she will dwell for 1,260 days or 3.5 years. This is how long the ministry of Christ lasted as He desired to save the whole world. Therefore, it is the short amount of time that Satan will be given to deceive the whole world. God is just. The wilderness does not mean the woman will be inhiding, it means she will be sheltered there for a time as she is the voice crying from the wilderness.
All four gospels record John the Baptist saying that he was the one Isaiah predicted would come to prepare the way for the Savior. John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’” John 1:23 John was this voice at the first coming of the Messiah, but the church will be the final voice that will deliver the final altar call to come unto the Lord before He comes to deliver His own. She and her children will be priests and kings to the whole world and will beckon them to Christ as a shining light in a dark place. We will cross over dry shod, but like Pharaoh, Satan will not just let God's people go, but go we will. Satan will make war against Christ and all those He claims. The battle will be hard, but the victory will be sweet.
15 The LORD will dry up
the gulf of the Egyptian sea;
with a scorching wind he will sweep his hand
over the Euphrates River.
He will break it up into seven streams
so that anyone can cross over in sandals.
16 There will be a highway for the remnant of his people
that is left from Assyria,
as there was for Israel
when they came up from Egypt.
Isaiah 11:15-16 NIV
15And the LORD shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dryshod.
16And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.
Isaiah 11:15-16 King James
12 The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East.
Revelation 16:12 NIV
12And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.
Revelation 16:12 King James
