Until the last installment, each part corresponded directly to a chapter. However, we decided to stop at verse 14. You may not be aware that it was Catholic Bishop Stephen Langton who is responsible for separating the Biblical texts into chapters and verses, doing so in the 1200s.
It is easy to see why he assigned verses 1-19 to those we see in Revelation chapter 11 as all refer to The Temple. We have decided to split our presentation commentary at 11:14 because of a change we would like to emphasize.
Let's review those 14 verses again.
11 Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told: “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, 2 but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample over the holy city for forty-two months. 3 And I will grant my two witnesses power to prophesy for one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.”
4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands which stand before the Lord of the earth.
5 And if any one would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes; if any one would harm them, thus he is doomed to be killed. 6 They have power to shut the sky, that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to smite the earth with every plague, as often as they desire. 7 And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that ascends from the bottomless pit will make war upon them and conquer them and kill them, 8 and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which is allegorically called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified.
9 For three days and a half men from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb, 10 and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth. 11 But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them.
12 Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up hither!” And in the sight of their foes they went up to heaven in a cloud. 13 And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.
14 The second woe has passed; behold, the third woe is soon to come.
As we pointed out, these verses show the severing of the bond between the Temple in Heaven and the Temple on earth.
After these scenes conclude, the replacement temple on earth is engaged.
15 Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever.” 16 And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying,
“We give thanks to thee, Lord God Almighty, who art and who wast, that thou hast taken thy great power and begun to reign.18 The nations raged, but thy wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, for rewarding thy servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear thy name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.”
The Kingdom of the world is once again God's Kingdom. The connection that was broken in the Old Jerusalem, which is now called a spiritual Sodom or Egypt, is now established in a New Kingdom. Recall in chapter 5, we were told that this Kingdom would be a Kingdom of Priests who would reign on earth. Now, we are being told that it is Christ who will reign. Is this a contradiction? No, it is synergy, once again. Christ reigns through His Priests.
Some see this Reign of Christ as a future event, as in our future. They are wrong. It is established right here. Notice that Jesus before was called He who is and was and is to come now He is only called He who is and who was. There is no more is to come, because He has come.
As the text takes great pains to show you who the Old Jerusalem was, and why it's downfall fulfills prophecy, it is equally clear on who the New Jerusalem is and how it is also the fulfillment of what was foreshadowed.
It first showed it with the Priests and the worship but it is about to show us much more through a series of powerful signs
19 Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple; and there were flashes of lightning, voices, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.
We move back from the vision of the earthly temple to a vision of the Heavenly temple and what is seen inside but the Ark of The Covenant.
At the time of John's vision, the Ark of the Covenant (as seen above) had been missing for some 500 years. At first blush, his readers would have been astounded at the prospect that the Ark of the Covenant was taken up (assumed) in heaven.
However, as we have seen over and over, this book is about shadow and fulfilment.
This is why we separated the text here so we could show you that in consecutive verses, we see shadow and fulfilment. To get to the next verses, we flip to the first verses of the next chapter.
12 And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; 2 she was with child and she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery. 3 And another portent appeared in heaven; behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems upon his heads. 4 His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bear a child, that he might devour her child when she brought it forth; 5 she brought forth a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, 6 and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which to be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.
I must emphasize that the division between Revelation 11:19 and Revelation 12:1 was not created until about 12 centuries after it was written. The Ark of the Covenant seen in the Temple and the Woman clothed with the Sun follow as if they are a continuous thought.
and they are.
Verse 5 tells us who the woman is by hearkening back to the Christmas story.
5 she brought forth a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne,
Luke 2: 7 And she gave birth to her first-born son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
8 And in that region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; 11 for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased!”
The entire Christian faith rests on that reality. A woman gave birth to God. Anyone who reads anything else into Revelation 12:5 is simply being too dishonest to even converse with.
Why here? Why is Mary inserted here?
It is because she is an essential and foundational fixture in the New Temple. The depth of what is revealed here is overwhelming and it will take some time to work through.
The Ark of the Covenant and Mary. What's the connection?
Let's examine what the Ark of the Covenant was. It was a special furnishing for the Temple in Jerusalem. I will start with the most obvious comparisons and then work from there.
First, let's examine what the Ark held inside it.
The 10 Commandments- The Word of God.
The Manna- The Bread from Heaven
The staff of Aaron- The Shepherd and High Priest.
The Word of God (John 1), The Bread from Heaven (John 6), The Good Shepherd (John 10) and The High Priest (Hebrews 7) are all titles given to Jesus.
So, the Ark of the Covenant held- symbolically- Jesus inside it. This made the Ark so holy that a man would be struck dead for even touching it. (2 Samuel 6)
What does this have to do with Mary?
She held the actual Jesus inside of her!!
John is telling us that the Ark of the Covenant is fulfilled in Mary! Jesus says this by telling us that He is the New Covenant!
Matthew 26: Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” 27 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you; 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you I shall not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
If Mary is the ark of the New Covenant, we must carefully explore what that means.
The Ark was made with the purest gold
The Ark was made of Incorruptible wood
The Ark always went before Israel in battle.
I could write pages and pages on all those things but it is enough to confront what is revealed right here in the text.
First, as we have stated, Mary is seen in the Temple in Heaven!
There's more.
12 And a great portent appeared in heaven
A portent is a prophecy of something to come- a teaching sign, a warning.
a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars;
Clothed with the Sun means resplendent with Heavenly light. Glorified, holy. The moon, representing creation, is under her feet. That is, it is subject to her authority.
Under her feet and upon her head are statements that show she has a body...in heaven. This confirms the Catholic doctrine of the Assumption of Mary.
A crown of 12 stars on her head show that she is a Queen over the 12 Tribes and 12 Apostles. This confirms the doctrine of Mary as the Queen of Heaven!
5 she brought forth a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne,
This confirms Mary's title as the Mother of God.
Let's explore these 3 themes before going any further.
The Assumption of Mary is not to be confused with the Ascension of Jesus. Jesus rose into heaven under His own power. Mary was taken into heaven body and soul just like Enoch, Elijah and Moses. Though with Moses, you have to glean it from Jude 9.
It is an event prophesized in Psalm 132:8 and we see it here, fulfilled. It is proven by Revelation 11:19-12:1.
Mary as Queen of Heaven is shown clearly by the fact that the Gebaria of the Old Testament points to her. Gebirah is a Hebrew word that appears in the Old Testament and refers to the queen mother of Israel and Judah. The title can be translated as "queen mother" or "great lady".
The Queen Mother was the Mother of The Davidic King and she was an intercessor before the King. She was second in command to the King. Luke 1 tells us that the Davidic Kingdom is fulfilled in Jesus, the King of Kings. That makes Mary the Queen of Heaven and the crown confirms it.
It is also confirmed by the word Chaire which means Hail. This is the greek word for the Angel's greeting of her in Luke 1. It is a salutation of royalty not unlike our modern "your majesty"
Finally, our entire Christian faith is based on the belief that Jesus is God (John 1:1) who became flesh (John 1:14). To deny that Mary is the Mother of God is to deny your own salvation. The sacrifice of Calvary was an eternal sacrifice because God was conceived in Mary's womb in Nazareth, born to her in Bethlehem and died in front of her in Jerusalem. Standing by the cross, she is called His mother.
There is more.
3 And another portent appeared in heaven; behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems upon his heads. 4 His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bear a child, that he might devour her child when she brought it forth;
In verses 3 and 4, we see the Dragon which is the Devil. His 7 heads represent the 7 deadly sins of Pride, Lust, Wrath, Envy, Greed, Sloth and Gluttony. The 10 heads represent Kings of the earth that are- or will be- under his influence. The third of the stars swept to earth represent the fallen angels. It should be no surprise to any Christian that the dragon sought to devour the child.
The flight into the wilderness is often understood as the flight to Egypt to escape Herod's wrath but I do not think that fits the text for 3 reasons. The first reason is that the text says the flight to the wilderness took place after her child was called up to God's throne. In other words, after Jesus Ascension. The second reason is that there is no mention of Joseph and it was Joseph who was told by the Angel to flee Herod.
The third reason is that we have done an intense study on the Christmas story. You should check it out! Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3. I believe a careful examination of the facts eliminates the possibility that Mary was in Egypt for 3- 1/2 years.
There is another explanation and we will get to it in just a bit.
7 Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, 8 but they were defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
Isn't the placement of this event strange?
In this book that many see as a handbook of the end times, and in the second half of the book, we see this scene that happened thousands of years in the past. Why is that?
Always remember.
Shadow and fulfilment.
By referring to the Devil as the ancient serpent, we are literally being taken all the way back to Genesis chapter 3 and the very first Messianic prophecy. This prophecy has become known as the Protoevangelium.
15 I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.
I quoted from the Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition because it gets this verse right.
Two enmities:
A. Between the Woman and thee (the serpent)
B. Between her seed and thy seed (the serpent's)
she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.
Who will crush his head? The one who he has the enmity with... the woman! The Hebrew and Greek pronouns are dependent on the subject for the gender and the woman is clearly the subject. Jerome, the first Bible translator understood this in translating to the Latin Ipsa and so it remained for almost 1600 years before protestant translations decided to change the Word of God.
Her seed?
Totally missed by many is the fact that this passage would seem an absurdity. Everyone knows that the seed comes from the man. Nowhere else in Scripture (or in all of history, for that matter) is it suggested that someone comes from a woman's seed- literally Sperma is the word.
Stranger yet, the word implies plurality. Not just a child but children.
What is this verse telling us and what is the connection between The dragon, the woman and the child in Genesis 3 and the dragon, the woman and the child in Revelation 12?
To answer that, we ask how the Serpent came to be in the Garden of Eden. He came to be in the garden of Eden after he was thrown out of heaven which we see in Revelation 12. He was thrown out after the war broke out.
When did the war break out and why?
Does Scripture tell us? We believe it does.
Verse 7 tells us the war breaking out in heaven was the next thing to take place after the portent of the Woman clothed with the Sun. A portent is a predictive vision....a warning if you will. This sign was seen in heaven. That mean's that Lucifer saw it and waged war because of it. The thought of a woman...a mortal... being Queen of Heaven was too much for his pride and he declared war.
From the very start, the Woman was his sworn enemy just as the text says.
What does that imply?
Romans 5: 6 While we were yet helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Why, one will hardly die for a righteous man—though perhaps for a good man one will dare even to die. 8 But God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we are now justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
By our sin, we are enemies of God but Mary, from the start, is the enemy of Satan, not of God. Simple logic dictates that this means that, in Mary, there is no sin. This proves the Immaculate Conception of Mary. She was full of Grace from the moment of her conception. The Greek word attributed to the Angel in Luke 1:28 is Kecharitomene which literally translated means endured from the beginning with perfected Grace.
What about her other children?
The Bible addresses that too.
Did Mary have other physical children? No, she did not. That's a debate for another day. This we do know, though. In Matthew 12, Jesus says the following:
48 But he replied to the man who told him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brethren?” 49 And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brethren! 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, and sister, and mother.”
Thus, Jesus is saying that the true believers are not only His brothers and sisters but they have Mary as a Spiritual mother. We see this again in John 19
26 When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.
take careful note of the words. Jesus says to the disciple, Behold your Mother. That command is for every disciple.
We will revisit this in a minute.
10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. 11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.
12 Rejoice then, O heaven and you that dwell therein! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”
The Witnesses (literally martyrs) gave up their own lives and their blood is united to the blood of the lamb, conquering the accuser.
13 And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had borne the male child. 14 But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time.
The dragon pursued the woman but she was able to escape by the wings of a great eagle. Who is this eagle?
Remember chapter 4 and the 4 living creatures? Remember how this is considered an allusion to the 4 Gospel writers? Do you remember which one is the Eagle?
That's right. John.
John took Mary to Ephesus where she was safe from the Jewish persecution of Christians recorded in the book of Acts.
15 The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with the flood. 16 But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river which the dragon had poured from his mouth.
The destruction of the Woman was Satan's job #1 but the Saints of the earth came to her defense and foiled his plans.
17 Then the dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and bear testimony to Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea.
and there is the money line. The dragon's enmity with the Woman, prophesized in Genesis 3, is fulfilled in Revelation 12. The Dragon wages war against her children who are the true believers of God and keepers of the testimony of Jesus. You cannot get any more catholic than that.
We pick up part 13 with chapter 13 in our next episode!
Comments