Thread: The Metaphors of Revelation 12 and the Transformation of Israel
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The Metaphors of Revelation 12 and the Transformation of Israel
Posted : 21 Oct, 2013 07:44 AM
More On the Metaphors In Revelation 12
The argument over whether the woman of Revelation 12 is all physical Israel, some part of physical Israel, or the church can go on and on. Dispensationalism would say that she must be either physical Israel or the church. In dispensationalism there can be no other possibility.
This woman is such a metaphor that she is both the "woman" who brings forth the man child in verse 5, which is a description of Christ, and the "mother" of the remnant in verse 17 who have the testimony of Jesus Christ. This means that the woman is clearly not literal. She is not even literal in the sense of being all physical Israel or the church.
The focus on who the woman is distracts from what the other metaphors say in Revelation 12. There is knowledge in those other metaphors which is lost if they are taken to be literal and dependent on a literal type of woman.
The dragon, or Satan, goes after the woman, but she flees into the wilderness. What does the wilderness mean as a metaphor? On one level it can be seen to hark back to the Exodus from bondage in Egypt. The Israelites escaped from bondage in Egypt by going out into the wilderness where the Lord nourished them and gave them power to defeat their enemies.
Then there is John the Baptist, who did not go into the temple in Jerusalem and preach about the appearing of Jesus Christ. He was the voice crying in the wilderness (Matthew 3: 3). He was not in the cities but outside of them, sort of in the literal wilderness. But as I Corinthians 10: 11 says this is an example which happened, like the Exodus from literal captivity, for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come.
The wilderness then is a metaphor for the woman going outside of the city, outside of the temple, outside of the camp, and outside and away from the control of the clergy, the priests and preachers. Hebrews 13: 12-14 talks about Christ going outside the gate to sanctify his people through his suffering, and then says "let us go unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach."
Paul's discussion of the two covenants in Galatians 4: 24 says that there is one Jerusalem that is in bondage, and another Jerusalem which is above, is free and is the mother of us all, meaning this Jerusalem which is not in bondage is the mother of the elect, not that Jerusalem which is in bondage. In bondage to what? Part of the answer to that question is in Matthew 15:6, "you have made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition." And part of the answer is also that God is sovereign. "O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand,O house of Israel." (Jeremiah 18: 6)
God chose to change physical Israel and did away with the first that he might establish the second (Hebrews 10: 9). The Jerusalem in Galatians 4: 25 which is said to be in bondage, as the Israelites were in literal bondage in Egypt, is changed into that Jerusalem of Galatians 4: 26 which is above, is free and is the mother of the elect, "us all" as Paul says.
Many of those in the church theologies, influenced by dispensationalism, will say, "Oh, no, Galatians 4: 22-26 is only about the two covenants, not about a change from physical Israel to an Israel reborn in Jesus Christ."
They will say, in effect, that because Galatians 4; 22-16 is about the two covenants that therefore it is not about the change which those in physical Israel must undergo in order to become part of the elect.
And there can be a subtle misrepresentation of misunderstanding of what changing physical Israel means. They may claim that physical Israel was not transformed because it as a house, as the majority in physical Israel, rejected Christ. But the transformation of physical Israel was fulfilled in the remnant who did accept Christ. And they were transformed. But dispensationalism as he majority church doctrine does not like the idea of an end time remnant. So, for them the transformation of physical Israel in the prophecy of II Kings 21: 13, Isaiah 29: 16 and Jeremiah 18: 1-6 cannot have happened because all physical Israel did not accept Christ, only a few of physical Israel accepted him in the First Ce
Christ says in Matthew 15: 24, "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel," meaning that all physical Israel, as a house, was lost. They were not the elect. But Romans 11; 5 says "Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace." Within what Paul is teaching in Romans 11, the remnant according to the election of grace is a small number of people of all physical Israel who accepted Christ.
And Christ says as absolute truth in John 3: 3 "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." And verses 6 and 7 say "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again."
Paul writes about what being born again means in several texts. In Romans 12: 2 he says "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind." Transformed is from the Greek word metamorphousthe, meaning a metamorphosis, a big change. a transformation. Paul says in Philippians 2: 5, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:"
The metamorphosis from physical Israel to the Israel of God is a change from the state of the natural man of I Corinthians 2: 14 to the man who has the mind of Christ.
Then in II Corinthians 5: 15 Paul says "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."
Going from the state of the natural man to being in Christ and becoming a new creature where things have become new is a big change, a metamorphosis.
Remember that Christ in John 3: 1-8 is talking to Nicodemus, a Pharisee. He represents physical Israel who must be born again, changed from the state of the natural man to man in Christ led by the Spirit in order for them to enter the spiritual kingdom of God, not an earthly carnal kingdom.
What does the metaphor of wiping Jerusalem and turning it upside down mean in II Kings 21: 13? It means that God is promising to change physical Israel. In Isaiah 29: 16 what does "Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not mean? It is talking about a change to come in physical Israel, and points to Jeremiah 18: 1-6, "O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the Lord."
Many church Christians do not like the teaching that the Lord changed physical Israel to the Israel which is of God in Galatians 6: 16, and the spiritual house of I Peter 2: 5-9, whose members are the chosen generation. In Galatians 6: 16, Paul distinguishes the Israel of God, from physical Israel in Romans 9: 6-9, "For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel...That is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God."
Then in Revelation 12: 15-16 there is the metaphor of the serpent casting out a flood out of his mouth after the woman. The flood coming out of his mouth is a key to this metaphor. The serpent inspires the huge number of false prophets (Matthew 24: 11. Revelation 9: 16-19) to deceive those who claim to be Christians by what they, the false prophets, speak from their mouths.
Finally in Revelation 12: 17 the dragon goes to make war with the woman and her seed the remnant who have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Dispensationalists do not like the idea of a remnant in end time prophecy. They want the multitude, or the broad way of Matthew 7: 13, not a small remnant as their church. The capital C Church goes back to the beginning of Roman Catholicism when the clergy, in order to control the doctrines and practices of the people, made use of the Church as both an institution and as a building. But II Thessalonians 2: 3-4 - supported by several texts in I Timothy and II Timothy - say there is to be a falling away from sound doctrine. But a remnant in Revelation 12: 17 is to remain who still have the testimony of Jesus Christ. The falling away from sound doctrine began in the 19th century with the rise of several cults, and gained momentum right after the end of World War II. It has been going on for a while and does not wait until after the dispensationalist church is raptured and the dispensationalist tribulation begins.
The Metaphors of Revelation 12 and the Transformation of Israel
Posted : 21 Oct, 2013 08:39 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.�
