Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: I now can sing Since I've been redeemed? I'm on the everlasting, everlasting rock? I faith in Christ my redeemer King? I'm on the everlasting, everlasting rock? Then row, row, pillows.
You are beautiful beyond description?
Too marvelous for words?
Too wonderful for comprehension.
Like nothing ever seen or heard?
Who can grasp your infinite wisdom?
Who can fathom the depth of your love?
You are beautiful beyond description?
Majesty enthroned above?
And I stand?
I stand in awe of you?
I stand, I stand in awe of you?
Holy God, to whom all praise is due?
I stand in awe of you?
Holy God, to whom all praise is due?
I stand in awe of you.
[00:01:59] Speaker B: Welcome to the Voice of Hope, a Bible teaching program produced by Heralds of Hope. I'm your host, Anthony High.
In this episode, we continue our series in the Book of Revelation.
Most of us have faced seasons where we felt like evil was winning, where the chaos in the world or in our own lives made it hard to believe that God was really in control.
In Revelation, chapter 12, John sees a series of signs that pull back the curtain on a cosmic conflict that has been raging since the Garden of Eden.
And in this chapter, we see something that we desperately need to Satan's schemes have never succeeded and they never will.
That truth alone provides hope that whatever battle you're in right now, he is in control.
And now join us as J. Mark Horse teaches from Revelation, chapter 12, verses 1 through 6.
[00:03:06] Speaker C: Back in the days of my youth, which, by the way, was a long time ago, the 1970s, there was a singing group from Canada that performed a song titled Signs. It was somewhat humorous, but it carried a message that still resonates even today.
The chorus went like sign, sign everywhere. A sign blocking out the scenery, breaking my mind. Do this, don't do that. Can't you read the sign?
Now, don't get me wrong. Signs are important. In fact, try to imagine a world without them. No matter where you travel, signs will be part of your experience.
They're in airports, train stations, bus terminals and highways.
They all have them.
They give us instructions, directions and warnings.
And on highways, they're designed to facilitate the smooth flow of traffic.
They're also there for our protection. And people who can't read them or refuse to follow them, they often endanger others lives on the road.
Signs are significant in the Bible, too.
Among the earliest signs is Genesis 3:15.
It is called by some the Proto Evangelium. That's Latin for the first gospel, as you remember, after Adam and Eve's, fall, God pronounced a curse on the serpent. He declared, and I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers. He will crush your head and you will strike his heel.
And this sign that is given There in Genesis 3:15 sets the stage for the narrative arc of the Bible.
There's an ages long conflict between the serpent, the woman and their offspring, so it charts the ongoing battle between good and evil until its final resolution.
And we are nearing that final resolution as we journey through the book of Revelation.
Our study today takes us to Revelation chapter 12 and verses 1 to 6.
I've titled it Signs of the Times.
Now, before I read the text, let's remember that chapter 11 ended with the sounding of the seventh trumpet.
The details of the judgments to follow are unfolded for us in the seven bowls, but that doesn't happen till chapter 16.
In the interim, the divine revelation turns to other aspects of this time period that precede the consummation of God's plan for human history.
Apart from the outpourings of the bowls, which occur when we get there in rapid succession, there's very little chronological movement from this point until chapter 19 that records the second coming of Christ.
And so the events and the situations we will observe in these next chapters are occurring during the same time as the seals and the trumpets.
All of these serve to emphasize the dramatic climax at the close of this period, the second coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
So let's turn now to our text, Revelation chapter 12 and verses 1 through 6. I invite you to listen carefully as I read Holy Scripture.
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 12 stars.
Then, being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth.
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 and 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 to his throne.
Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God that they should feed her there.
1260 days.
This text reveals several specific signs that highlight the great cosmic conflict that spanned the ages of human history and reveal God's faithfulness in bringing that history to its final conclusion.
The first sign is the sign of the woman.
Now, in the context of the Book of Revelation, a sign or a wonder is generally something that anticipates remarkable events that are going to happen soon.
However, as we will learn here, the woman who initially appears in our text as a figure in heaven is a sign from the past, not the future.
Notice her further description. She is clothed or enveloped by the sun, the moon is under her feet, and she wears a garland or crown of 12 stars.
Clearly, this is a symbolic description.
And so we must ask, who is this woman and why is she dressed this way?
But before we attempt to answer that question, there's a more basic one that we need to have an answer for.
And that is, how do we interpret symbols that are used in the Book of Revelation?
First of all, there has to be some level of consistency.
We're not free to assign whatever meaning we want because that would only lead to confusion.
If a symbol is used in the Old and New Testaments, in the vast majority of cases, it will have the same meaning.
My study of Revelation is based on the premise that all the symbols in the Book are explained elsewhere, either in the book itself or somewhere else in Scripture, either by a direct statement or by comparison. I believe the Scripture is the standard of interpretation.
And so, with that in mind, let's look more closely at this sign of the woman.
As you look at the way she is described, are there any other Scripture portions that come to your mind?
Reading verses one and two, we might quickly conclude that this woman represents Mary, the mother of Jesus.
However, we're going to see later in the chapter, those verses make that view untenable.
And others have seen this vision as representing the Church. But that also makes no sense because it would mean that the church gave birth to Christ, which is exactly the opposite.
So we must look further.
For those of us who take the Book of Revelation literally, this seems to be a clear reference to the nation of Israel, the woman who gave birth to the Messiah.
Now, I know some may object to viewing the nation as a woman, but think back to the Old Testament.
Israel is often depicted that way.
In the Old Testament, Israel and its capital, Jerusalem, are frequently personified as a woman.
This feminine imagery is often used in prophetic literature as an allegory for the nation's covenant relationship with God. In fact, she is often depicted as his bride.
The most prominent of these examples, of course, is Gomer, the wife of Hosea.
She is representative of the unfaithfulness of the nation of Israel.
And Then in Isaiah 54, Israel is personified as a barren woman who will ultimately bear many children and then experience restoration.
So describing the nation as a woman is not unusual at all.
The images of the sun, moon, and 12 stars, I believe, should immediately take us back to Genesis 37 and the dreams of a young man named Joseph.
You might recall that his first dream was of him and his brothers. They were binding sheaves of grain in the field.
His sheaf stood upright and the other sheaves bowed down to him. You know, that only increased the hatred they already had for their brother.
But then he had a second dream, and he said, look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time the sun, the moon, and the 11 stars bowed down to me.
So he told it to his father and his brothers, and his father rebuked him and said to him, what is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you?
Now we're getting somewhere.
Clearly, the sign John saw in heaven to me relates to Genesis 37.
The Son is Jacob, who was later renamed Israel. The moon is Rachel, the mother, and the 12 stars are the sons of Jacob. They later became the tribes of the nation of Israel.
I think because of this, we can legitimately conclude that the nation of Israel, rather than marry the individual, is in view here as the woman.
Further, the woman is pregnant, and she cries out in the throes of her labor.
Like every mother, she longs for the birth pains to be over.
Jesus acknowledged this in John 16:21 and likened it to the sorrows the disciples would have at his death.
And then in Matthew 24, after describing some of the initial events leading to his coming, Jesus said in verse eight, all these are the beginning of birth pangs.
Here the narrative is interrupted, and we are introduced to the next sign that highlights this cosmic conflict.
That next sign is the sign of the dragon, and a frightening sign. It is indeed a great fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns and. And seven diadems on his heads.
This is the first of three such descriptions in the Apocalypse. We find this one here in chapter 12, verse 3. There's 1 in 13:1. And then again in chapter 17 and verse 3.
And so again we ask this question, where does this imagery come from?
Well, if you're familiar with the Old Testament, you know that the dragon imagery is prominent.
He is depicted as God's chief enemy.
He appears in the Bible under a variety of names, like Rahab, Behemoth, Leviathan, and the serpent. In Amos, chapter nine and verse two.
And then in addition, he has seven heads and ten horns.
Now, this is not the exact replica of the image from Daniel 7:7 and Daniel 7:24, but they both refer to a dreadful beast with ten horns.
He shows up in Daniel's 70th week, which I believe encompasses the seven year tribulation. The time we're looking at here in our text, chapter 13 will expand on this imagery. However, verse 9 of this chapter plainly identifies the dragon as Satan.
So notice with me the dragon has seven diadems on his head.
In chapter 13, this same dragon is seen with 10 of those diadems on his head.
They signify power and authority.
If we were to compare that with Revelation 19:12, the conquering Christ has many diadems on his head.
And so, as is his pattern, Satan tries to counterfeit God's program. But I must say, he fails miserably.
Next, in John's vision, the dragon is drawing the third part of the angels of heaven and hurling them to the earth again. Verse 9 of this chapter identifies these stars as Satan's angels.
We don't have time to trace this all out, but we do know that in Satan's primeval rebellion against God, he was able to persuade a third of God's innumerable company of angels to Follow him.
Revelation 5 uses the term myriad of myriads to signify an uncountable number.
And so there was a large number of angels that accompanied Satan.
Isaiah 14, 12:21 and Ezekiel 28, 11:19 give us further insight into Satan's rebellion and the consequences of that rebellion.
Some of those fallen angels were sent to the lowest hell. That's according to second Peter chapter two and verse four.
Some were bound in the Euphrates river, others were confined to the abyss until the proper time for judgment. Revelation chapter 9 and verse 2.
But that means there are still multitudes of demonic angels freely roaming the world and serving the prince of the power of the air, as he is referred to in Ephesians 2. Two, these demonic spirits will be more active and become more dangerous than ever in these final days of human history.
So now we have the description of the dragon. But what is he up to?
John sees the dragon standing before the woman. Remember we said the woman is Israel waiting to devour her child as soon as it is born.
Ever since the promise of Genesis 3:15, Satan has been trying to prevent the promised seed from being born. And he began his attack right at the beginning by having Cain kill his brother Abel.
Later, he attempted to corrupt the entire human race during the days of Noah.
And still later, he used the pharaohs and other world leaders to try to eliminate the nation of Israel in a variety of ways.
All of those efforts failed and eventually Christ was born.
At his birth, Satan tried to destroy him. You remember how Herod had all of the innocents slaughtered at Bethlehem, 2 years old and under.
When that failed, he tried to corrupt Christ with his temptation in the wilderness.
And then in the Gospels they record several attempts where Satan tried to have him killed before he could go to the cross.
After being thwarted all of those times, it's not hard to imagine the seething hate and rage that Satan has toward Christ and toward everyone who follows him.
Satan's failure to devour the child sets the stage for the next sign that highlights this cosmic conflict.
And that final sign is the sign of the male child.
So the woman is identified as Israel in verses 1 and 2 and is said in verse 5 to bring forth a man child who is destined to rule the nations with a rod of iron. But for the time being he is caught up to God to the throne.
The phrase ruling the nations with a rod of iron comes directly from Psalm chapter 2 and verse 9.
Christ also promised the overcoming believers in the church at Thyatira and that they would share in his rule of the nations with a rod of iron. You can read that in Revelation chapter 2 and verse 27.
The Gospels then inform us of the details of Jesus earthly life, his birth, ministry, death, resurrection and ascension. Those are all part of verse five here in our text. And there is a span of 30 plus years between Christ's birth and his ascension.
So once again the dragon's vigilance is futile.
Now some have contended that this child is the New Testament church destined to reign with Christ and that being caught up to God is the Rapture.
Earlier I said the woman with child is identified with Israel collectively rather than with the Virgin Mary specifically.
Furthermore, the interpretation that the man child is Christ himself is implicit in the text. The Greek words for man child, with their emphasis upon his gender being a male, favor the identification of the child as Christ rather than the church because the church would be referred to in the feminine.
Not only that, but this man child is specifically stated to have been caught up to God's throne.
He is there now, interceding for us.
Frustrated again by the miraculous resurrection of Jesus and his ascension to the Father, Satan pursues the woman into the wilderness.
Now, a moment ago we were talking about the woman being Israel and giving birth to Messiah who was Jesus.
We can easily relate that to what we know happened 2,000 years ago.
There are some who see this as a reference to the flight into Egypt after Jesus birth. But the timing is off according to the previous sentence.
Not only that, we now see the woman fleeing to a place where God will take care of her for 1,260 days.
Nothing like that happened 2,000 years ago, nor has it happened since.
This sudden leap across time from the birth of Christ 2000 years ago to an unknown point in the future that may startle us. But if you know anything about biblical prophecy, it's not unusual for the Bible to do this.
The reference to 1260 days connects this account with that same period that's referenced in Revelation chapter 11, verse 3, which informs us that it refers to the time of great tribulation, which will take place during the trumpet period.
And remember too, this same span of time is found repeatedly in Daniel and in Revelation as three and a half years, 1260 days, or time times and a half time.
So the woman at this time can only be Israel, and the wilderness into which she flees must be the desert and mountain regions east and southeast of the Dead Sea.
This region was occupied in ancient times by the peoples of Ammon and Moab in Edom, and it is to this area that Israel will flee to escape the armies of the Antichrist, who is called the beast. According to Daniel, chapter 11 and verses 36 to 45.
The idea that God would protect Israel during the Great Tribulation is supported by Old Testament prophecy.
For example, Zechariah 14:1:5 describes the day of the Lord, which refers to God's wrath when Christ returns as king.
But first he promises to fight Israel's enemies and give the Jews a place to flee. Let me read it for you.
This is Zechariah 14. Behold, the day of the Lord is coming, and your spoil will be divided in your midst. For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem. The cities shall be taken, the houses rifled, the women ravished. Half of the city shall go into captivity, but the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations as he fights in the day of battle. And in that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem to the east.
And the Mount of Olives shall split in two from east to west, making a very large valley. Half of the mountain shall move toward the north and half of it toward the south.
Then you shall flee through my mountain valley for the mountain valley shall reach to Azael. Yes, you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, King of Judah.
These signs of the woman, the dragon, and the male child remind us of the great cosmic conflict that continues to rage even today.
They should remind us that Satan will never admit defeat, and he continues to deceive many and lead them to eternal destruction.
These signs also remind us that the time of these events is drawing nearer with every passing day.
However, you and I can take courage, knowing that our God is firmly in control and that he will ultimately bring human history to his predetermined conclusion.
That conclusion includes his plans for his ancient, chosen earthly people, the Jews.
We Gentiles are eternally indebted to them for our Messiah.
May the Lamb receive the reward of his suffering.
[00:25:15] Speaker A: In the company of his saints.
Let all the world be joyful in him.
Be joyful, be joyful, be joyful in him.
[00:25:38] Speaker C: And.
[00:26:05] Speaker B: Satan's attempts to stop God's plan failed again and again.
And they will continue to fail.
May this episode remind you that no scheme of the enemy can ultimately overturn what God has determined to do.
I'd encourage you to read Revelation chapter 12 for yourself and ask yourself the question, do I really believe that God is in control even when things look chaotic?
Before we close, consider this sobering reality One in three people around the world lack access to Bible resources.
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Messages centered on the gospel and personal surrender are also shared in conversations with seekers, helping to guide them from curiosity to decision.
The short focus format of the program makes it ideal for the one to one ministry responses. Rather than offering abstract answers, the team can send specific episodes that speak directly to the person's question.
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[00:28:51] Speaker A: Enjoy.
