A Study of Eschatology

Revelation 12:1-9

The warfare of the unseen world, it is the battle between God and Satan and it is ongoing everyday in our world and in heaven. We are going to look this morning at two great wonders and the war. There are symbols to explore and the purpose of Satan since he fell from heaven. We will also learn what part we play in this heavenly war.

The world around us is at war, it does not matter what century or segment of time in which we live; the war is on. What keeps things in check can be looked at from the beginning of time until today is the undercover operation of God to expose the enemy to the people of God. (The Holy spirit) Spiritual conflict is not something that we tend to think of and when it is exposed it seems so foreign to our natural thinking that it can soon be dismissed or overlooked. For the people who are not God's, or we could say those who have not been washed in the blood the Lamb, They have no capacity to understand this as the natural mind does not receive the things that pertain to God. 1 Corinthians 2:14 (Spiritual wisdom). God is a Spirit, John 4:24. God is a Spirit.

When it comes to Spiritual things our desire is to focus on the love of God and seek the wisdom of worship, but there are two sides to spiritual wisdom. There is a dark side that has nothing to do with God's economy, of which we are ignorant. It is sort of like looking at the moon. One side is visible, clear to the natural eye. The other side is dark and veiled to the natural eye, we know it is there but we do not know the details.

Satan is the exposed enemy who God is completely aware of and he is the stealth enemy of mankind. When we are accepted into the family of God through the death and resurrected son of God we are given a partial inheritance of our eternal estate. Mankind has a spirit within that knows only the things of man, this spirit has no capacity to go beyond the limits of the worldly wisdom and knowledge. 1 Corinthians 2:11. Those of us who are born of God are born of His Spirit, now we have as the scripture reveals; the capacity to know the things freely given to us by God. Spiritual wisdom. We cannot instruct God, but He can instruct us and He does so by giving us the mind of Christ. 1 Corinthians 2:16. Now we can move into the book of Revelation.

The first Great Wonder – The Woman

Revelation 12:1-2 The KJV states. “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: And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.” The word “wonder“ in this text means “sign.” This is not a real person. This is an image of a certain event in heaven and earth that we need to understand. This portion of Revelation is misunderstood by the “religions” of the world. Remember: Religions are man made, made of the natural mind. The family of God is made up of “like minded relationships” to God. Religion tries to instruct God, but God has given His family, His mind. 1 Corinthians 2:16. For example:

The Christian Science Teaching on this verse: Mary Baker Glover Patterson Eddy, the founder of the movement taught that she was the woman in this sign and that she gave birth to a man-child who is the movement of Christian Science. According to Eddy, the dragon is the “mortal mind” that is ready to devour the teaching of the Christian Science Religion.

The Roman Catholic View: This religion teaches that the woman is Mary, pregnant with Jesus, undergoing her assumption into heaven. There is no verse or portion of the Bible that teaches or assumes that Mary was taken up into heaven. Not even this passage; think about it. Why would Mary be pregnant with Jesus in heaven when Jesus was born, crucified and resurrected; all of this on earth, and is Himself seated in heaven.

The natural mind of religious people cannot understand the things of God, neither can they know these things.

The Protestant View: Some Protestants, not all; teach that the woman portrayed in Revelation is the Church. The problem with this is that the man-child brought forth is said to be Jesus Christ. However, the Church did not give birth to Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ gave birth to the Church. Matthew 16:18.

The Correct View: The interpretation that makes Spiritual connection is that the woman is Israel. Many Old Testament passages describe Israel as being a woman in travail. The prophets described their nation in this way over and again; Isaiah 66:7-8. God's plan for Israel is revealed in Romans 9: 4-5.

The man-child is Christ who came from the Jewish nation. Therefore, the woman in the sign is the Jewish nation, Israel, who is the promised Messiah and the promised Seed of Genesis 3:15-16. The twelve stared crown on her head are the twelve tribes of Israel.

The Second Great Wonder – The Dragon
 

Religion gets it right for the most part, there is no doubt among most scholars that this being is Satan. Well, we have a little help here too, since verse 9 tells us plainly that this is the devil, Satan, “who deceives the whole world.” Note, he deceives both the unbeliever and the believer. This is not a description of what he looks like, but this description describes what he is like. A dragon, a serpent and a deceiver.

The seven heads of Satan, describes his completeness of being evil. His evil is a full-circled strategy to rule heaven and earth. The crowns on his head stand for his abundant authority to be the prince and power of the air (The seen and the unseen world). Satan's strategy is summarized by Paul in his second letter to Corinthians: 2 Corinthians 4:4.

The Tail, historically we know that Satan did not fall from heaven alone, he took with him some of the angels. His purpose is to destroy God and overthrow God's kingdom, the dragons tail represents the power of his agenda, other angels like Satan agree with him. From verse four we can determine that one-third of the angels of heaven chose to follow Satan. The name Lucifer means “star of the morning” and you can read about his fall on your own from Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28. We also know from 2 Peter 2:4 and Jude 1:6 that there are some angels who are confined in the bottomless pit. (more later on this) But not all angels are confined, some are working with Satan this very minute to oppose God and His children.

The Purpose of this, Satan stands in opposition to the Plan and Purpose of God. From the beginning Satan has tried to overthrow God, Genesis records the battle as God created the known natural world. Genesis 3:15 as we read earlier explains the first attempt of Satan to destroy the nation that God would use to usher in the Son of God. History, both biblical and secular describe battles between God and Satan. When Satan could not defeat God in heaven and when God cast him out of heaven, Satan took his battle to the next level. For example during the Inquisition, history tells us that fifty million Christians were slain because they refused to deny Christ.

The Great War in Heaven, verse twelve describes the war in heaven, Michael and Satan. Daniel chapter 10 describes this battle in that Michael was delayed for three weeks. The hostel power here is described as the Prince of Persia who was able to delay answered prayer to Daniel. Michael and Satan fought, the Prince of Persia is a mighty fallen angel who intercepted God's answer. Michael dispatched another of God's angels who helped Michael get the message to Daniel. All of this is part of the whole picture that we must understand if we are going to know end time events properly.

More next week.