Thread: Revelation 12 As Another Text Within the Thread On the Work of the False Prophets
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Revelation 12 As Another Text Within the Thread On the Work of the False Prophets
Posted : 27 Nov, 2013 06:40 AM
Revelation 12 As Another Text Within the Thread On the Work of the False Prophets
In Revelation 12:14-16 there is another metaphoric text within the thread of scripture giving knowledge about the work of the many false prophets of Matthew 24: 11.
"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, from the face of the serpent.
15. And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as 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."
The metaphoric woman in Revelation 12: 5 brings forth a man child, which is Christ, and yet in Revelation 12: 17 the remnant is said to be her seed. She can be seen as Sion, which is Zion transformed into Sion, or physical Israel reborn in Jesus Christ. She is not the church, since the church, from ekklesia, is just a meeting or assembly of those in Sion. and the assembly can include some who are not of the elect. Only the elect are Sion. The woman cannot be Old Covenant Israel because the remnant in Revelation 12: 17 is said to be her seed, and that remnant of Israel (Isaiah 10:20-22, Zephaniah 3: 13, Romans 9: 27, Romans 11: 5) is of the New Covenant.
Note that in Revelation 9: 17 the fire, jacinth and brimstone is said to come out of the mouths of the huge army of horsemen of verse 16. In Revelation 9: 18 what "kills" the third part of men is that which comes out of the mouths of the army of horsemen.
So, in Revelation 12: 15 and in Revelation 9:17-18 that which the serpent and the army of horsemen use to carry away the metaphoric woman and "kill" the third part of men comes from their mouths. Revelation 12: 15 and Revelation 9:17-18 are two different metaphoric texts describing the same thing. It is the work of the many false prophets of Matthew 24: 11.
Mark 13:22-24 also says "For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect. 23. But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things. 24. But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light..." Luke 21: 8 alludes to the appearing of the false prophets toward the end of the age in saying "And he said, 'Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying I am Christ: and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them."
Christ talks about deception three times in Matthew 24; in verses 4, 5 and 11. The false prophets operate through deception. To those who are not born again and do not know the scriptures very well, the false prophets appear to be men of God, but they are deceivers and bring false doctrines into the Christian community, and some of these false doctrines become traditions of men. Christ warned about the traditions of men in Matthew 15: 6, "Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition." In Mark 7: 13 Christ says "Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye."
One thing the huge number of false prophets do is block, for their followers, the knowledge that Bible prophecy would give to those in Christ. They do this by their War Upon the Word. They reduce and change the Gospel itself in their interpretations of scripture, and as Bible translators, they sometimes make slight changes in verse wordings to diminish the clarity of a teaching. Another way of diminishing the knowledge given by prophecy is to insist that all prophecy must be literal.
"But without a parable spake he not unto them..." Mark 4: 33
"I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets." Hosea 12: 10
With metaphoric language, God can open parts of the metaphoric texts to those he decides to open the knowledge to. Some metaphoric Bible prophecy is so rich in knowledge that it would be impossible to exhaust it. More and more knowledge from a rich metaphoric text can be opened to those in Christ as they pray for more knowledge from the Lord. But an entire richly metaphoric text like Revelation 9, 11, 12, 13, 17, 18 and on to 21 is often not opened entirely to us in all its details and inexhaustible riches all at once by the Holy Spirit. Those deceived by the false prophets may think that such metaphoric prophecies are opened to the false prophets as the religious authorities in all details, but they are leaning to their own understanding. Parts of the text are often opened by the Lord one at a time. And others to whom God has given them understanding tell us of that understanding and we can then decide whether its true understanding or not. "Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge." I Corinthians 14: 29
"But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; " Isaiah 28: 13
Threads of scripture on various topics are here a little and there a little, the strand is scattered in several different books of the Bible. The thread on the work of the false prophets is scattered over several books and is in both Testaments. In that thread on false prophets, they deceive people in order to bring them damnable heresies (II Peter 2: 1), and to change them to a spiritual condition said in II Peter 2: 3 to be as through the false prophets make them into merchandise. Joel 2: 2, 11 indicate that the false prophets are to appear near the time of the Day of the Lord.
Scripture can be used to help interpret other scriptures within a thread like that on the false prophets. But the false prophets, in being the majority in the churches, have led people to insist on using the traditions of men to interpret scriptures that are not immediately clear, simple and obvious in their meaning, such as Matthew 24: 11.
The tribulation can be seen as a period of time near the end of the age when the transgressors, the false prophets and their followers, have come to the full, as Daniel 8: 23 says. At that time the false prophets war against the word of God with their deception. They are the vast majority and those who defend the truth of the word are few. Yet this is the threshing floor of Jeremiah 51: 33 where the wheat is separated from the tares of Matthew 13:28-30.
Revelation 12 As Another Text Within the Thread On the Work of the False Prophets
Posted : 27 Nov, 2013 10:35 AM
WHO IS THE WOMAN IN REVELATION 12 AND WHO ARE HER OFFSPRING??
Galatians 4:22,23,28,31: �Abraham had 2 sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the Free Woman. His son by the slave woman was born in the ordinary way; but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a "PROMISE"!....You brother, like Isaac {Sarah's son}, are children of "PROMISE"....The slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with the Free Woman's son. Therefore, brothers, **WE** are not children of the slave woman {Hagar} but of the Free "WOMAN"{Sarah}!!� According to Galatians 3:16 Jesus is also the offspring of Abraham and Sarah !! Galatians 3:29: �If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.�
Revelation 12:1,5,17: A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of 12 stars on her head.........She gave birth to a son, a male child {Jesus}, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her Child was snatched up to God {The Father} and to His throne....The woman's offspring are those who obey God's commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus!�
Just before the coming of 666 and the 1260-day or 42-month Great Tribulation in Revelation 13:1 we read in Rev 12:17; 13:1,5,7: Then the dragon {Satan} was enraged at the woman {Sarah} and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring--THOSE WHO OBEY GOD'S COMMANDMENTS AND HOLD TO THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS!!" And the dragon {Satan} stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw Beast {666} coming out of the Sea {Or Abyss or Hell as per Rev 11:7 & 17:8 & Luke 8:31}.....The Beast will exercise his authority for 42 months..... He will be given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he will be given authority over **EVERY** tribe, people, language and nation.
And so according to Rev 12:6,14 Satan will attack some of God's saints but they will be protected in God's sanctuary in the wilderness for 1260 days. Then in Rev 12:17 Satan will attack the rest of God's saints �WHO OBEY GOD'S COMMANDMENTS AND HOLD TO THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS� **just before** the coming of 666 and the beginning of the 1260-day or 42-month Great Tribulation.
And so Revelation 12 also shows that the pre-trib rapture of God's courageous saints at the beginning of the Great Tribulation is a ridiculous fairy tale. Since some of God's saints will be protected in the wilds for 1260 days and Satan will make war with the rest of God's saints WHO OBEY GOD'S COMMANDMENTS AND HOLD TO THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS JUST **BEFORE** THE COMING OF 666!!
Revelation 12:11: "They {The Tribulation Martyrs} overcame him {Satan} by the blood of the Lamb and by the Word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death."
God will miraculously take care of His Faithful and Courageous Tribulation Saints {Just as he took care of the Israelites for 40 years in the Wilderness} even though they won�t be able to buy or sell anything as per Rev 13:17a. {See Matthew 6:25-34 where storing up items are forbidden}� Can God's NT saints go through the Great Tribulation without suffering the wrath of God, as did the OT saints in Egypt when God sent many horrific plagues on Egyptians because of Pharoah.
Remember the 3 Jewish saints who were not delivered from going through the fiery furnace which was heated 7 times hotter than usual. Indeed they went right through the middle of that persecution and the Lord Jesus went through it with them. Yet another example of God sending His saints through tribulation rather than keeping them from it, is Daniel being thrown into the den of hungry lions. He went right through the middle of that persecution, but God sent an angel to close the mouths of the lions. That great saint brought much glory to God in that tribulation.
This will come as a tremendous shock for those who teach the Prosperity Gospel and who are mainly seeking earthly treasures rather than eternal Heavenly Rewards. They teach: If you accept Jesus as your Savior you have a free pass to Heaven and God forbid that you should suffer any persecution or go through the Great Tribulation; which fits in with the Prosperity Gospel and pre-trib doctrines which are designed to increase church membership at the expense of the Truth. When is the last time you heard a sermon on the virtues and courage of the many thousands of present-day martyrs?? And this is probably why there will be a great FALLING AWAY {THE GREAT APOSTASY} at the beginning of the Great Tribulation.
During the Great tribulation a Voice from Heaven will say: Rev 14:13: �Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.� �Yes� says the Spirit, �they will REST from their labor, for their deeds will follow them. Heb 4:9,10: �There remains a MOST HIGH SABBATH REST or 7th DAY REST FOR THE PEOPLE OF GOD: for anyone who enters GOD�S REST also rests from his own work.� 2 Peter 3:18 {RSV}: But grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and to the �DAY OF ETERNITY!� Amen.�
There are some pre-tribbers who wrongly teach that ALL of God's Tribulation saints will be martyred during the Great Tribulation. This belief is refuted in Rev 13:9,10 & Mark 13:20: Revelation 13:9,10: �He who has an ear, let him hear. If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity he will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword he will be killed. This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints.� Luke 21:16: Jesus says, �They will put **SOME** of you to death.� Mark 13:20: Jesus says, �If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom He has chosen, He has shortened them.�
