Epaggelia

“A Woman Clothed with the Sun” v1, The faithful children of God are symbolized as the young bride in the prime of her life, she is giving birth to the future success of God’s Kingdom, Jesus Christ. Later on in Revelation as the pictures develop, the Woman actually represents the churches as a whole. The Old Testament is clear about how God views his people as a wife, read Isaiah 50:1, 54:1 & Micah 4:9ff.

“The Twelve Stars” represent  God’s continual crowning authority and victory for his faithful children, the 12 tribal leaders of Israel were previously pictured as Judah, Reuben, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, Simeon, Levi, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph & Benjamin, (Rev. 7:6-8), but as the Woman’s meaning changes into the church, she doesn’t lose her stars, which represent the 12 apostles, read Matthew 10:2-4. Stars are compared to God’s children through Abraham & Sarah, Genesis 15:5 and our ancestry sheds light on the world in darkness and having the moon under our ancestry’s feet would signify any other light other than our clothing in Christ being of lesser significance. The labor pain is indicative of the fact that we have a common struggle with the nation of Israel going through pain in order to bring the Messiah to the world. Today we find in our work of evangelizing that if there is no pain, there is no gain! Paul taught Timothy, to do the WORK of an evangelist, see 2^nd Timothy 4:5

“A Great Red Dragon” v3, remember that Satan has grown from the beginning of time as a subtle snake into a monstrous dragon, this is the nature of evil, it’s deception and destruction grow way out of our control but God’s victory overcomes our enemy in the end. The Pharaohs of Egypt are described as dragons in the O.T., see Psalm 74:13, Isaiah 51:9 & Ezekiel 29:3. It’s 7 diadems the dragon wears is actually reflecting how totally inferior his rule is, in comparison to the victory crown (garland) the Woman wears, she is the winner in the end, the dragon loses his temporary reign.

“Stands Before The Woman” v4, illustrated twice, once in Pharaoh’s slaughter of the baby boys, Exodus 1:15-19 and also prophesied in Jeremiah 51:34 through Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon, being fulfilled in Herod’s slaughter after the birth of Jesus. John alludes to the analogy in Revelation 11:8. “She Bore a Man-Child”, Jesus is the reason God rules perfectly in this life, ministry and sacrifice, shows his heart is enthroned with the Father’s rule, while the mother was being chased in the wilderness, she was nourished by God, this is happening in the spiritual heavenly places, Ephesians 1:3, now, the nourishment is given to her for 1260 days, again, emphasizing the temporary limited suffering of the new churches, this young mother now represents. Daniel foresaw this painful struggle in Daniel 7:25-27 & 12:5-7. The “ruling rod of iron”, it is interesting to note that Hugh J. Schonefield in his book, “The Incredible Christians” describes middle-eastern shepherds as carrying staffs which are covered or shielded with iron and/or lead to hit wolves with!

War Broke Out in Heaven…He was Cast Down to Earth” v7-9, Michael represents the front-line of battle which God orchestrates, see Daniel 12:1, so here in Revelation we shouldn’t think Michael has won the battle, but rather we should see Michael representing the fight Jesus initiated on earth, but actually won in Heaven after the resurrection and ascension. Our own spiritual battles are initiated here on earth but ultimately won in heavenly places, see Ephesians 6:10-17. “Now…have come”, v10, this is past tense for us, the victory for Jesus is already done as in His resurrection, but for us his victory is in his blood, v11. The blood has no effect if we do not express a testimony and are willing to suffer for Him who paid the price, read 1^st Peter 2;21 & Acts 14:22.

“Two Wings of a Great Eagle” v14, The woman has not changed into an eagle but was given wings of one, this is clearly showing God’s powerful care to rescue, nourish and deliver her out of harms way, see Deut. 32:11, Psa. 36:7, Isa. 40:31. “The Serpent Spewed Water out of His Mouth” v15, Satan here tries to ape God’s action during Noah’s flood, but the effect is reversed by the earth. This may be an analogy of Satan’s spiritual work in false religion from Rome’s Emperor worship and later on in the false religion of Rome’s secular seal of approval on Christianity, which did not bless the woman’s latter offspring, the new church gave birth to other children which struggled with false doctrine and persecution by so-called christian leaders. Notice the war is ongoing but we experience the war’s reality if our testimony is true and we are using the Spirit’s Sword which is the word of God, Ephesians 6:17.