A Great Wonder In Heaven

 Temple Baptist Church - 3-28-2021

Revelation 12:1-6

 

Introduction:  Here, in chapter 12, we find another parenthetical or digression from the sequential events or chronological order in the Book of Revelation.  Parentheticals in prophecy give an overview of what is to take place before returning to the actual time of the events.

 

A.  Chapter 11 signaled the mid-period of the Tribulation Period, or the end of the first 3 ½ years of this 7-year period. 

 

B.  We get the title “The Tribulation Period” from 2 New Testament verses:

 

Matthew 24:21  For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

 

Revelation 7:14  And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

 

Revelation 7:14 dispels the theory that the first 3 ½ years of this period will be light tribulation while the second 3 ½ years will be severe tribulation.  These saints found in this verse were martyred and the Bible says (not a man says) that they came out of “great tribulation.”

 

C.  The Tribulation Period is also called:

 

Jacob’s Trouble - Jeremiah 30:4-7  And these are the words that the LORD spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah.  (5)  For thus saith the LORD; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace.  (6)  Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness?  (7)  Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.

 

Daniel’s Seventh Week - Daniel 9:24-27  Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.  (25)  Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.  (26)  And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.  (27)  And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

D.  Heretofore, nothing has been said about Israel, though they have suffered through the first 3 ½ years just as the rest of the world has. 

 

In the process of both the present and also the first half of Jacob’s Trouble, Israel has been re-gathered to their homeland, the land of Promise. 

 

During this time, they have also re-built the “third temple” and re-established worship through sacrifice which was stopped in 70 A.D. with the destruction of the “second temple.” 

 

The Abomination of Desolate has occurred, the daily sacrifice stopped, and the outer court overrun by the Gentiles.

 

E.  The “great wonder in heaven” is that of a “woman.”  This “woman” is not to be confused with the women mentioned in Revelation, chapters 2 and 17.  I believe that these two “women” are the same: The Roman Catholic Church.

 

Jezebel, in Revelation, chapter 2, who seduced the church at Thyatira (Historically 606-1320 A.D. – The Papal Age) – Revelation 2:20-22  Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.  (21)  And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.  (22)  Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.

 

The Great Whore, the end time religion of the spirit of antichrist, in Revelation, chapter 17 - Revelation 17:1-6  And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:  (2)  With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.  (3)  So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.  (4)  And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:  (5)  And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.  (6)  And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

 

F.  This “woman” is Israel, also referred to as the wife of Jehovah in the Old Testament.  As Jesus will be wedded to the Church of the New Testament, Jehovah was wedded to Israel in the Old Testament.  Israel rejected Christ and is now blinded but will accept Christ and be eternally glorified.

 

Jeremiah 3:12-14  Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever.  (13)  Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.  (14)  Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:

 

Isaiah 54:1, 5-6  Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD ... For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.  (6)  For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God.

 

G.  “clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet.”  Israel’s Preeminence with God.  Clothed with the light of the Son of God.  Israel, not as we see them now but as God sees them in eternity when they are restored; the natural branch once again grafted in to the Olive Tree.

 

God’s Election Of Israel – Israel’s Election – Romans 9:13  As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

God’s Blessing Upon Israel – Genesis 12:3  And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

God’s Protection Of Israel – I saiah 54:17  No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.

God’s Perception Of Israel – Zechariah 2:8  For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.

God’s Restoration Of Israel - Zechariah 12:10  And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.

 

Romans 11:26  And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:

 

H.  “the moon under her feet.”  The moon shines only when it reflects the light of the Sun.  Israel, God’s Peculiar People.  His Chosen People.  In heaven because in God’s predetermination, Israel as a nation, was always on His mind.

 

Isaiah 45:17  But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.

 

J.  “and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.”  Representing the 12 tribes of Israel found in the Old Testament and also referenced in heaven along with the 12 apostles as the 24 elders around the throne.

 

Genesis 37:9b  … behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.

 

Revelation 4:4  And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.  (The 12 Tribes of Israel of the Old Testament and the 12 Apostles of the New Testament.)