The Woman and the Child

I would like to talk about a little known subject from Revelation 12:1-6. "And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; and she was with child; and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth. And another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems. And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven, and threw them to the earth, And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child. And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron and her child was caught up to God and to His throne."
There is alot of hidden stuff here that we need to look at. I want to take a good look at the woman and her son. Most people believe this is a reference to Jesus Christ's birth. The problem becomes evident when you see that this is happening in heaven. When you have something described as occuring in heaven, it usually is a symbolic representation of something. For example, anytime a beast is described, it represents a government system.
Personally, I believe the physical birth of Christ on earth is a type of prophecy that represents this event that will occur in heaven during the tribulation period (the last seven years). Mary was a Jew that gave birth to Jesus, who grew up to become the Savior of the world. Mary was not married and according to the Jewish belief, she had to wait 40 days to become pure again after giving birth. Some time after this cleansing period, the wedding feast occurred and Mary became Joseph's bride. This is exactly what is being described in the book of Revelation. This time it is occurring in heaven. The difference is that it is a symbolic message that is being given to us.
Who is this woman that is about to give birth. Mary was a Jew. The woman must represent the Jewish nation before Christ. This seems more obvious when you realize that her crown has 12 stars, representation of the 12 tribes of Israel. She gives birth to a male child. On earth that child was Jesus. He was the beginning of a new belief system, no longer a follower of the law but a faith in the atonement for sin forever by the blood of Christ. So, the child is? The child is the believers. All of the believers in Jesus from the cross until the birth of the child are joined together. When you see that this child is "caught up to God and to His throne" we realize that to be in the presence of God you must be pure, forgiven of sin. God can't look upon sin. So, this group of people has to have been cleansed of their sin through the blood of Christ to be caught up to God. Look at Revelation 1:6, "and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father". We are a group, united in one kingdom (one body). Look at Revelation 2:26-27, "And he who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, To him I will give authority over the nations and he ( the ones who overcome) shall rule them with a rod of iron". This says that the kingdom of believers who overcome will rule over the nations (during the millinial kingdom) and they will rule with a rod of iron. We will be as guardian angels over the ones who live after the tribulation during the 1000 years of peace on earth.
Wait a minute, if these are Christians and they are "caught up to the throne" this might be the rapture. This occurs in a totally different place during the last seven years than 1 Thessalonians 4 rapture. When does this "caught up" occur? Also, if this kingdom of believers is finished and "caught up to God", is salvation over? We also need to discuss the red dragon.
I guess we will have to discuss that next time.

God bless, Dean