"And there appeared a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars, {2} And she was with child, and travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. {3} And there appeared another wonder in heaven, and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads, {4} And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, he did cast them to the earth, and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born, {5} And she brought forth a man child, which was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, and her child was caught up unto God, and to His throne."

Thus begins the 12th chapter of the book of Revelation. It's been called by some commentators an inset chapter, but there's really no suggestion of it at all, in the context of the book of Revelation.

The seventh trumpet has sounded. These seven trumpets are a part of the seven seals of the book, of the last days of man upon the earth and of man's mis-government and we have followed on the heels of an incredible series of disasters that have struck upon the earth. People have been dying in their hundreds of thousands, no, no, people have been dying in their millions, through the disasters and wars, the beginnings of what could be a nuclear winter.

Words fail to describe the kind of events that are described in what John has been seeing in this vision in Revelation. The seventh trumpet has just sounded, but remember, this is all just a bad dream, in a way, nothing is happening. John is on the Isle of Patmos. John is in vision, he has been carried in vision into the 'day of the Lord', the time of God's wrath, the time of God's vengeance upon the earth, and he's been standing there, round eyed, looking at all these things that are happening and marveling at them, as angels show him one thing after another.

So the seventh angel sounds and blows his trumpet, and there is silence in heaven about the space of half an hour, and some things and statements are made and all of a sudden, there is a great sign in heaven.

It says 'wonder' in the authorized version (KJV), but what it means is a 'great sign'. It is not a real woman. It's a 'woman' as a 'sign' of something else. She's clothed with the sun. She has the moon upon her feet, a crown of 12 stars upon her head.

Now most of the commentators as they look at this, have very little difficulty with the initial idea of what this is: The Dragon is Satan the devil, the Man Child to rule all nations is Jesus Christ. After that, well, it's a little hard to know.

Now as I said, I would not call this an inset chapter, or even an intermediary section. It's an explanation of what is going on, that includes some history and symbolic language.

In other words, "I want to bring you up-to-date," the angel says to John, "on what is happening here so you will understand the pattern, that you see before you, as these things break out."

It was probably a little easier for the original readers than it is for us, but not entirely. There are some things in this that I don't believe will ever become clear, until future events begin to happen. So yes, you're right, I'm not going to be able to explain all this and make it plain to you. Too much of it cannot be known at this time. What I want to do, is to give you the tools so, when things begin to break, they'll make some sense to you and you will be able to go back to the book of Revelation, perhaps and say, "Oh, I see. That's what this was. And that's what this means."

Now, as I said, we understand who the man child is, it is Jesus Christ. We know who that the Dragon is, it is the devil, but it is not so easy to identify the woman in this vision. Now as far as the red Dragon, who had seven heads, which basically suggests with his seven heads and seven crowns, a rather comprehensive or all-inclusive type of authority and ten horns means total power. So he is a very powerful individual. He's got complete and total control, his tail drew 1/3 part of the heaven. Well, the suggestion is drawn from that and I think most commentators seem to feel this, is in the initial rebellion of Satan the devil. He actually drew along with him a great number of angels, and that rebellion turned out to be something like one third of the angels that once did exist. Stars, for example, being a symbol often in revelation of angels.

The idea of a woman who's going to give birth to a child, this child will be the prince to come who will supplant the wicked king who went before him, and the wicked king tries to destroy or kill the child. It was really remarkable how that long before Jesus ever came on the scene, that there were myths that existed in other pagan religions, that even foreshadowed what is to happen. Now where did they get it. The chances are pretty good that they got some of these things from the Old Testament and from the prophets and we will hope to be able to have time to bring some of that to you as we go along.

But the fact is, the devil himself has known a great deal about what God was going to do. He knew there was a prince to come, who would supplant him, and the battle between himself and that Prince was foretold a long time ago.

Actually, this battle is been played out many times in the royal family of Great Britain. I think as a man who is in power, and is a king is concerned about the child to be born to replace him. Where monarchies are, there is oftentimes a great deal of bloodshed over the line of succession.

Now the woman, in this vision, is usually identified with Israel. There is, for example, the story of Joseph's dream. Joseph, was one of the sons of Jacob, his father's name was changed to Israel and so consequently Jacob's descendants are the 12 tribes of Israel. Jacob had 12 sons.

In Genesis 37, and I'll start reading for you in verse nine, there is this fascinating little story of one of the dreams that Jacob had. Now remember, we're sitting in the first century in Asia minor in one of those seven churches and this letter is being read before us and we have no small knowledge by this time of biblical history. We are aware of the Genesis story and if we have a Jewish background at all, we will be painfully aware, or quickly aware of the significance of this woman with 12 stars on her head, and with the sun and the moon. Listen to what it says here.

Genesis 37 and verse 9, "Joseph dreamed yet another dream, and he told it to his brothers, and he said, "Behold, I have dreamed a dream, and behold, the sun and the moon and the 11 stars made obeisance to me.""

He places himself as being one of the stars, and the other 11 stars are bowing down to him, and even his mother and father are bowing down to him. This actually was fulfilled, when he was sold into slavery in Egypt and they all came down to him there and he saved their lives.

Anyway, verse 10, "He told the vision to his father, and to his brothers, and his father rebuked him, and said, "What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come and bow ourselves before you to the earth?""

He didn't bat an eye. He knew precisely what the symbolism was of the dream. The father was the sun, the mother was the moon, the brothers were the 12 stars. So Joseph's father, Israel, and his mother and his 11 brothers form up this image of the woman who is standing before John in the vision. So far so good.

It's Israel, and it's not hard to follow, that the woman Israel, brought forth, or gave birth to the Messiah, is it? Jesus of course, was born of the virgin Mary. Mary was a Jewess, of the tribe of Judah.

The apostle Paul acknowledges all this in Hebrews, the seventh chapter, he says this in verse 13, "For He of whom these things are spoken, pertains to another tribe, of which no man gave attendance at the altar, for it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah, of which tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning priesthood."

Now Paul's argument, which is not particularly relevant in this context, has to do with the Levitical priesthood and the fact that if Jesus were on earth, He wouldn't be a priest, because He's not a Levite, He's a Jew of the tribe of Judah. I know that's going to offend one or two people, who are listening to me, to think that I might say that Jesus was a Jew, but He was. His mother was Jewish, and of course, God was his father, and Paul comes along and says, "Our Lord sprang out of Judah." So I don't see any point in arguing the case.

Obviously Jesus came out of Judah, so the difficulty is resolved very quickly regarding the woman, she is Israel and Jesus, who was born of one of the 12 tribes of Israel, that is of Judah. He was a descendent of David, who also was a Jew, and fundamental to His identity of Him as being the Messiah is that He was a son of David, so the idea of understanding that the woman with the 12 stars that for a crown, was Israel who gave birth to the Messiah, poses no giant problem. So far so good.

So once again, let me ask you to imagine yourself as a Christian, sitting in church, in say Smyrna, in Asia minor, listening to the book of Revelation being read before you by a reader for the very first time. You've never heard these words before, you haven't had time to discuss them, you haven't had time to study them or compare them with anything else, and you hear the man read. What will go through your mind as you hear these verses that we read so far?

Then John says in Revelation 12 and verse 6: "And the woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there for 1260 days."

Well, one of the first things that would cross my mind is the fact that, right after the birth of Jesus, you remember the Magi came down to Jerusalem and ask Herod the king, "Where is He that is born King of the Jews." They understood that He was a son of David, they understood He was a Jew and He was supposed to be the king of the Jews, and they wanted to know. And Herod said, "What?" He was very concerned about who this individual was, this king of the Jews. What you mean, a rival?

Anyway, Herod sent the Magi on to find Christ, and he said, "I want you to be sure and come back and tell me what you found, because I want to go and worship him too." He was a liar, and because when he found out they had not come back, that he realized what he was facing. He sent men down to the area of Bethlehem and killed every child under two years old.

So, the devil was standing by to try to devour the man child as soon as He was born and devoured all kinds of other children around where He was born, but he missed Jesus.

So I would think that Mary and Joseph and the child Jesus fleeing into Egypt might have some sort of relationship to what I'm reading here, and yet I would also have to keep in mind that this letter is handed down in the context of the destruction of Jerusalem and the flight of messianic believers from the city, the Christian believers, they tell us, fled to Pella across Jordan off to the north, so that the believing Jews, the believing Israelites, took off and fled from Jerusalem.

Now remember, in an earlier chapter, we encountered 144,000 believers, all of whom were of the 12 tribes of Israel. They are called the servants of God, and they do not represent all of Israel, only the believing community of Israel and they are protected from the devil.

Now there are some problems connected with identifying this woman as Israel and that's what I'm driving at and how I'm working my way around to try to help you understand what we are dealing with here.

The woman is not all Israel, and I think the commentators are right when they speak of it as being 'believing Israel', for this 144,000 believers, converted people, in whom is the spirit of God, Christian people, are all the 12 tribes of Israel. They are called servants of God. They are a part of the believing community, and this part of the believing community is protected from the devil. You will find all that in the seventh chapter of the book of Revelation.

Now remember also, that earlier in this series, we connected this whole prophecy up, with Matthew 24 and the Olivet prophecy of Jesus, where He talked about the things that were to come to pass in the latter days that would affect God's people. That is the saints of God, whether they be Jew or whether they be Gentile.

Abomination of Desolation

Jesus made this statement in Matthew 24 and verse 15, "When you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoever reads, let him understand:)."

Now the caution that is put here in this particular case is, because there had been a historical fulfillment of the sorts of the abomination of desolation, and Jesus said, "You are going to see it again. So be careful about it. Now when you see it."

This is all in a context of the end time, of a lot of events taking place, that Jerusalem will be encompassed about with armies, it's invaded again. It's going to be taken again.

Jesus says in verse 16,"When this happens, then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains, {17} Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house, {18} Neither let him which is in the field turn back to take his clothes."

Now make a special note of this and remember it. It is the believers in Judah who fled in the past. It is the believers in Judah who will flee in the future. Now I said believers in Judah. Don't misunderstand me. I don't mean believers in Judaism. I mean believers who are in the country of Judah or modern-day Israel.

This group of people will find safety in the wilderness. Fair enough so far. Now if we can come back up just a little bit, we find that the child was born. He was caught up into heaven, and the woman fled into the wilderness where she was protected.

Now verse seven of Revelation 12, "There was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon fought and his angels, {8} And did not prevail. Neither was their place found any more in heaven. {9} And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He was cast out into the earth and his angels were cast out with him."

Okay, the man child is caught up into heaven. The woman flees into the wilderness, the devil seems to pursue the child all the way to heaven. There is a war there, and he loses. It almost sounds like in the way it is worded here, like the pursuit of the child into heaven and the war in heaven took place almost immediately. Although there's no way of being certain from the wording of the passage. But the idea here does not at this particular point seem to try to persecute the woman, he's not after the woman, he's after the child and it's after the failure of his persecution of the child, that he turns his attention to the woman.

Then John tells us in Revelation 12 and verse 10, "And I heard a loud voice in heaven, "Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ, for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.""

Oh, really, the one who then accuses us before God, the one who lays blame at our feet. The one who points the finger at us, accuses us, pursues us and condemns us, is who? It's the devil.

It says {10} "He is the accuser of the brethren, who accused them before our God day and night. {11}And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and the word of their testimony, and they didn't love their lives unto death."

Oh, boy, I'll say, the story of the people who love God and resisted the accuser of the devil who came back down to this earth and the persecution of God's people, be they Hebrew, be they Gentile, in the years following through that first century is staggering to consider.

He then says, {12} "Rejoice, you heavens, and you that dwell in them."

Because the devil is out of here. We don't have to fool with him anymore.

"But woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea, for the devil is come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows he has but a short time."

This really sounds like this war, took place a long time ago, or maybe it started a long time ago and maybe it's been going on for a long time, because I will tell you this, Time doesn't pass in heaven at the same speed it does down here. God's watch runs on a totally different speed from ours.

'Short" is really a relative term in the history of the planet, the devil when he came back down the earth knew we had a short time left and the saints of God have paid for it.

Verse 13, "And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman who had brought forth the man child."

Now there is a theory that the woman at this point in the prophecy, is the church, which flies into the wilderness on Eagles' wings and is kept in a place of safety, until the return of Christ. Well, okay, but when the dragon was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.

Now, the problem with this is not too difficult. It is, how can we think that the church brought forth Jesus? Do you remember what he told Peter when Peter made his famous confession of faith and he said, "You are Peter, upon this rock, I will build my church!"

"Will" is future, "I will (future) build my church.' So how could the church, as we define it, be that which brings forth the man child. Jesus was not born of the church. It's the other way around, and so we are faced immediately with the problem here in the identity of this woman, with the church.

I know, I understand that the Old Testament church was Israel and the New Testament church is kind of a spiritual extension of that and it's not too hard with given the peculiarities of prophecy to think, well, it was the Old Testament church earlier, and now it's the New Testament church.

I might buy that if, it weren't for the choice that John makes of the word, so that we won't get confused about it.

He didn't just persecute the woman, {13} "He persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. {14} And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time."

And that's just another's way of saying 3 1/2 years.

"From the face of the serpent, {15} And the serpent cast out of his mouth, water like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood, {16} And the earth helped the woman and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth."

Well, how can that be true of Israel?

The truth is, that the Dragon, that is, Satan the devil has been trying hard to destroy Israel for a very long time. The Holocaust is only a late and quite insane example of that. Every time I look at movies that have to do with the Holocaust, every time I see the pictures of those emaciated faces, every time I read a book that deals with that subject, that terrible period in human history, it is so irrational. It is so crazy, it calls for an insane mind, and Hitler, of course, must've been insane, but one wonders if there is not an even greater and perhaps even more insane mind, that has a bead on Israel, and had it so for generations, on top of generations and on top of generations, but you know, Israel has survived it all. It's funny that God has managed to save some of those people, through what really amounts to a determined effort to stamp them off the face of the earth, so it's not really that hard to visualize, the Dragon persecuting the woman, if the woman is Israel, and of course as the commentators suggest, some of them, that what the woman is, is not just Israel as a whole, but really is 'believing Israel', Well then, it becomes more interesting, even than that.

Those who are in Jerusalem, who fled from the serpent the very last time, are also going to fall into the same kind of a category, the believing ones may flee, and the believing ones may be protected.

But in the city of Jerusalem and everybody in it, will go right through another Holocaust.

I'm sorry, but it's in the book of Revelation, and not only is it in the book of Revelation, you will also find it in many of the Old Testament prophets, that the time is going to come when ‘unbelieving Israel’ will go through a terrible, terrible time of captivity one more time.

In Revelation 12 and verse17, the thought is closed out with this: "The dragon was wroth with the woman when he failed to get her."

He tried, he went after her. She fled from him. He cast out a flood of water after her, to try to drown her and carry her away and to emerse her in it, and the earth opened up its mouth and absorbed all the water and she got away and he was still furious, but when he couldn't get her, remember, he went to heaven actually trying to get the man child. He waited for the man child to be born. The man child was caught to heaven, he went to heaven to fight the man child, he failed there and he came back and he went after the woman, and he failed there. But he still isn't through,

War with the Remnant of Her Seed

Revelation 12 verse 17, "He was angry with the women and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ."

Now here is where, if you want to think of the church. This is where you find it in this prophecy, the woman, ‘believing Israel’, who brought forth the Messiah, who was caught up to heaven, who has been persecuted by Satan the devil throughout generations on top of generations, when he has utterly failed to destroy that woman, he goes to make war with the remnant of her seed, who keep the commandments of God and who have the testimony of Jesus Christ. They are in the terminology we would use, Christian, others tend to refer to them as Messianic.

They are people who also though are commandment keepers, all 10 of them, including the Sabbath commandment. They believe, not that the law will save you, but the law defines righteousness and if you are going to live a righteous life before God, you have to keep the Ten Commandments and so they have the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.

So that's what you were looking for, if you're looking for the church. Finally, we have found it.

Now the picture comes into focus. Some of the major players in this drama, are here as a part of the Dragon's work of destroying the saints of God, Jew and Gentile. It is a work of very long-standing.

And this is going to bring us to another chapter, that is sometimes also thought of as an inset chapter, but really is not. It is a continuation of the theme of chapter 12, that is the attempt of the Dragon to use the state and religion in an attempt to try to destroy the saints of God.

Now once again we will gain insight into this, if we can just take a moment to look at this through the eyes of a first century reader.

Revelation 13 verse one, "And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and I saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and 10 horns, and upon his horns 10 crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy."

Now who might that be? Now if you recall, we read back in Revelation 12, verse three. "There appeared another wonder in heaven, and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and 10 horns."

Oh, yes, now seven heads and 10 horns, actually seven crowns in this case, which basically means all authority and 10 horns again is a complete number and means great power. There is a connection between this beast and this Dragon, isn't there? They may not be exactly the same person, but here we sit in a small church in the first century, listening to this reader, and we are wondering in our minds as we hear this beast come up.

He says in verse 2, "The beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of the lion, and the dragon gave him his power and his seat and his great authority."

And so we have a Dragon that is worshiped, and a beast that can make war, and all this goes together to wear out the saints and the people of God. But we are not going to lose to this beast, because the children of God weren't intended to be losers.

Until next time, this is Ronald Dart and you were Born to Win!