Revelation 12

Bible study with Dr. Chuck Missler
http://www.god.tv/node/2602

We are still in the parenthetical chapters between the 6th and 7th Trumpets of Judgment.

THE WOMAN AND THE DRAGON
- This is an overview of the enigma of Israel, without which the Bible cannot be fully understood
- Background of Revelation 12 begins in Revelation 11:19

PATTERN OF THE ARK OF THE COVENANT
- The real Temple is in Heaven, not on Earth
- The real Ark is in Heaven, not on Earth
- Moses’s Ark was a replica (Hebrews 8:5) that represented the Throne of God (1 Samuel 4:4; Isaiah 6; Ezekiel 1, 10; Revelation 4-5)

That is, although sacred, the Ark of Covenant on Earth is but a SHADOW of what is true in Heaven.

THE MERCY SEAT
- The Mercy Seat sits on top of the Ark of the Covenant but is not a part of it (2 Samuel 6:2)
- Christ sits on the Mercy Seat to rule

THE WOMAN IS NOT THE CHURCH (Revelation 12:1-2)
Many believe that the woman of Revelation 12 represents the Church. Throughout the Scripture, the Church has consistently been described as the virgin bride of Christ. The woman of Revelation 12 is with child. Clearly, she is not a virgin and therefore cannot be the Church!

FOUR WOMEN OF REVELATION
- Jezebel (Revelation 2:20), representing evil doctrine
- The Harlot (Revelation 17-18)
- The Woman with Child (Revelation 12, Jeremiah 3:20)
- The Bride (Revelation 19:7; 21:2, 9), who is always presented as a virgin (2 Corinthians 11:2)

JOSEPH DREAMT ABOUT REVELATION 12 (Genesis 37:5-11)
- Sun + Moon + 12 stars = Mezzeroth (Hebrew)
- Jacob’s response to Joseph’s dream reveals to us what those symbols represent (Genesis 37:10): Jacob = Sun, Wife = Moon, 12 stars = Jacob’s 12 sons

THE WOMAN IS ISREAL
- Israel is consistently described as a woman in travail in the Old Testament (Isaiah 54:5; 66:7; Jeremiah 3:6; Micah 4:10; 5:2-3)
- The woman gives birth to the child (Revelation 12:5; Psalm 2:9; Revelation 2:27; Revelation 19:15)—The Church does not give birth to the Messiah; Israel does! This link goes all the way back to Genesis 3:15, where the Messiah was foretold to come from the seed of the woman (Eve)
- This woman is Israel, not the Church (Micah 4:9; 5:2)
- “Unto us a child is born… Unto us a Son is given” (Isaiah 9:6)—This is Isaiah speaking in a Jewish context! The child is used to describe Jesus’s humanity, whereas “Son is GIVEN” speaks of Jesus’s deity.
- One of the titles of Jesus Christ is the “Seed of the Woman” (Galatians 3:16; Jeremiah 31:31)
- And again, the Messianic Line begins in Genesis 3:15, when God declared war on Satan.

REPLACEMENT THEOLOGY
- There is a widely held view that when Israel rejected her Messiah, she forfeited the promises to her. This view states that these promises devolve upon the Church, thus making the Church the “spiritual Israel.”
- This is the viewpoint of the Roman Catholic Church. This is also the viewpoint of many church denominations that derived from the Reformation period.
- Israel appears 75 times in the New Testament in 73 verses, and each time, it is referring to the nation of Israel.

PROBLEMS WITH REPACEMENT THEOLOGY
- This viewpoint calls God a liar. It directly challenges the character of God, because this viewpoint states that God’s promises to Israel will never be fulfilled. Through all the prophets in the Old Testament, God repeated told Israel that He will one day restore her to her glory.
- The promises made by God to Israel are UNCONDITIONAL—Meaning, there is nothing Israel did or could do to deserve God’s promises. God simply will fulfill His promises BECAUSE HE SAID SO.

- The Book of Romans stresses that God is NOT finished with Israel (Romans 9-11).
- The 70th Week Prophecy by Daniel outlines the prophetic role of Israel after the “interval” of the Church period. Only during the interval between the 69th and 70th week is the period of the Church on Earth (Daniel 9:26).
- Jesus has yet to fulfill the promise given to Mary to take David’s Throne (Luke 1:21).


ORIGINS OF REPLACEMENT THEOLOGY
- Origen was a great writer, but he proposed allegorical interpretations of the Bible.
- Augustine followed Origen and from allegorical interpretations developed Amillennial Eschatology
- The medieval church had an insatiable hunger for power and the people’s lack of knowledge of God to their advantage
- The Reformation did a great job returning to the Word of God and focused on the doctrine “Salvation by Faith.” However, it did not address eschatological issues.
- The Catholic view of eschatology, having never been righted, continued to influence subsequent denominations of protestant churches.
- This view therefore led to silence of the pulpits during the Holocaust. No one protected the Israelites, God’s chosen people!
- This view will continue to lead people astray, all the way up to the Great Tribulation.

THE CHILD IS JESUS (Revelation 12:5)
“She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne”
- “Rule with a rod of iron” speaks of Jesus’s Messianic destiny (Psalm 2:9).
- Jesus spoke to the Church of Thyatira about “ruling with a rod of iron” (Revelation 2:27).
- Jesus, child of the woman, will “rule with a rod of iron” (Revelation 12:5).
- Jesus, as the King of Kings, will “rule with a rod of iron” (Revelation 19:15-16).

“And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back” (Revelation 12:7) 
- Who is fighting Satan? Michael is leading the pack. 
- That is, Satan’s counterpart is not Jesus. Satan is not equal to Jesus. Who created Satan in the first place? Jesus (2 Colossians 1). So no, there is no need for Jesus to go up against Satan. Michael leading is more than enough (Revelation 12:8).

MICHAEL 
- One of the chief princes (Daniel 10:13)
- The Archangel (Jude 1:9; 1 Thessalonians 4:16) 
- Daniel’s prince (Daniel 10:21) 
- Always pictured as a warrior, a military commander for Israel (Daniel 12:1) 
- Fought for the body of Moses against Satan (Jude 1:9) (Again, he is fighting against Satan) 
- Fought in “Wars of the Lord” (Zechariah 14:3; Numbers 21:14)

THE DRAGON IS SATAN/DEVIL (Revelation 12:3-4, 9)
- Devil = Greek for “deceiver”
- Satan = Hebrew for “adversary” 
- His origin is described in Ezekiel 28:2-15 
- His rebellion in Heaven is described in Isisah 14:12-17. When was he cast out of Heaven? Some say between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2 (aka, the Gap Theory; cf. Isaiah 45:18) 
- He is the ancient one; he’s existed since the beginning (Genesis 3)
- He deceives the whole world (2 Corinthians 4:3-4) - He is a liar from the beginning (Genesis 3:4-5; John 8:44—Pharisees are basically calling Jesus a bastard child, and Jesus responded by saying they were born of the devil. Intense conversation.) 
- He has enmity with Man (Genesis 3:14-15). Satan view man as his adversary. 
- He has seven heads and 10 horns (Revelation 13:1, 17:3; Daniel 7).

ALL OF THIS BOILS DOWN TO SPIRITUAL WARFARE 
- Background: 2 Corinthians 2:11; Revelation 9; Amos 7:1; Ephesians 6:10-13; Isaiah 59:17 
- Elisha’s servant saw a glimpse of this war (2 Kings 6:16). 
- There are spirit beings behind the powers of major empires (Daniel 10:12-20).

IN THIS WARFARE, SATAN PLAYS TO WIN 
- He deceives (Genesis 3:2, reassuring Adam, “You shall not surely die,” always casting doubt unto God’s Word) 
- He creates the ultimate lie (2 Thessalonians 2:11). 
- His whole plan is to thwart the plans of God. He is behind Cain’s murder of Abel (Genesis 4), corruption of Adam’s line to prevent the birth of our kinsman redeemer, Jesus (Genesis 6), targeting Abraham’s seed (Genesis 12, 20), famine (Genesis 50), destruction of male line (Exodus 1), Pharaoh’s pursuit (Exodus 14), the populating of Canaan (Genesis 12:6), attacks against David’s line etc. (2 Samuel 7).

SATAN ATTACKS DAVID’S LINE 
- Jehoram kills his brothers (2 Chronicles 21:16) - Arabians slew all but Ahazariah 
- Athaliah kill all but Joash (2 Kings 11:1-3; 2 Chronicles 22) 
- Hezekiah was assaulted (Isaiah 36, 38) 
- A blood curse was placed on Jeconiah (Jeremiah 22:30). The virgin birth of Mary circumvents the curse. 
- Haman attempted to wipe out the Israelites (Esther 3).

SATAN CONTINUED TO THWARD GOD’S PLAN 
- Joseph wavered about marrying Mary when he found out Mary was pregnant (Matthew 1) 
- Herod also attempted to wipe out the Israelites (Matthew 2) 
- Satan tried to tempt Jesus to join him and forsake God (Luke 4) 
- There were two storms on the sea to test the faith of Jesus’s disciples (Mark 4; Luke 8). Jesus rebukes the sea, clearly showing it’s not just any storm. 
- Satan thought he won when he forced Jesus to the Cross… when on the contrary, that was God’s plan all along!

THE ULTIMATE VICTORY OF THIS WARFARE IS GOD’S 
1 John 4:4; 2 Kings 6:16; Romans 8:25-38

SATAN IS ALREADY DEFEATED
1 John 3:8; Hebrews 2:14; James 4:7; Ephesians 1:20-21; Hebrews 10:13; Philippians 2:9; Psalm 110:1; Revelation 12:10

THE SUMMARY OF THIS WARFARE IS IN REVELATION 12 
- However, despite knowing all of this, Satan is not done and is determined to go out fighting (Revelation 13)! 
- Furthermore, Satan is not done trying to pull us astray (Ephesians 6:10-18).

HOW DID THE ANGELS OVERCOME SATAN? (Revelation 12:10-11) 
- By Jesus’s Blood (Hebrews 9:12) 
- By His Word of Testimony (Matthew 4:4, 7, 10; Ephesians 6:10-18; Isaiah 59:17), the Book of Life (Exodus 32:32; Daniel 12:1) 
- By not loving their lives (i.e., not putting themselves above God) (Romans 6:11-13; 2 Timothy 1:12; Acts 20:24), for example, the 2 witnesses (Revelation 11)

“But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short!” (Revelation 12:12)

ISRAEL’S RESPITE (Revelation 12:13-17) 
- Eagle (Exodus 19:4; Deuteronomy 2:9-11), from Egypt (Exodus 19:4), the wilderness (Deuteronomy 32:11-12), Babylon (Isaiah 40:31) 
- The Wilderness: Edom, Moab, and Ammon escape the Antichrist (Daniel 11:41; Isaiah 11:16; Ezekiel 20:35-38); the door of hope (Hosea 2:14-15; Exodus 15; Zephaniah 2:3) 
- The Earth swallows enemies of God (Numbers 16:31, 33; Micah 7:15)

THE CONFLICT BETWEEN TWO SEEDS 
- The Seed of the Woman: Jesus 
- The Seed of the Serpent: Satan, the Coming World Leader, the False Prophet (aka, the Satanic trinity; Antichrist = Coming World Leader + False Prophet)
- This conflict is the driving forces behind world powers today.