Revelation Chapter 12 opens with a woman with 12 stars above her head; she is pregnant and having birth pains. This woman is symbolically Israel; we know this from the 12 stars above her head. These are for the 12 tribes of Israel. To this is added a red dragon, this is symbolically the Devil. The dragon sits in front of the woman waiting for her to give birth so that he can devour the child. This child is born a male child who will rule all nations with an iron scepter. This child is Jesus and he will rule when He comes again. The woman's child is snatched up to God and His throne. The woman fled to a place in the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she will be taken care of for 1,260 days. The woman will be taken away and protected by God for 3.1/2 years.
Verse 7 opens with a war in heaven between Michael and the dragon. The dragon was not strong enough to win so he was thrown out of heaven. Verse 11 talks about they (the saints) overcame him (the devil) by the blood of the Lamb (Jesus Christ), and by the word of their testimony; they did not shrink from death. These are the saints who will oppose the devil during the time of tribulation.
It was during this time in the Bible study when questions arose to who exactly these saints are. Since chapter 12 opens with the woman symbolizing Israel, it would stand to reason that these believer's are part of the people of Israel. Is it only the believers of Israel is another question, I don't feel we have enough information at this point to discuss it further.
The end of chapter 12 ends with the dragon pursuing the woman into the desert to destroy her. A river of water comes out of his mouth to try to destroy her but the earth opens up and swallows the water. The woman and the rest of her offspring. If the woman represents Israel, and she/they are in the desert, then who are this additional part of her offspring? This is quite interesting, and created lots of questions as to the identity of these offspring. The fact that the woman represents the believing Jews of Israel, the offspring also has to be a group of believing non- Jews. We had a big discussion concerning the rapture at this point. The loudest group was in favor of a pre-tribulation rapture. My question to that was if the believer's are taken before the anti-christ is uncovered, then who are these saints? They answered that these are the ones who come to belief during the tribulation period. My question to them was if all the believer's are raptured, then who will be left to teach these people to have them become believer's (saints)?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment