The dragon and the child- Revelation 12:4

Core text: 

Then the dragon turned toward the woman, because it wanted to eat her child as soon as it was born. (Revelation 12:4 CEV)

In the core text for this post John, the author of the book of Revelation, gives us a glimpse of what happened back in the time when Jesus Christ was born. This part of Revelation is thus not about the future but about the past.

In our core text the dragon is a symbol for the evil one or the devil, perhaps even Satan. In the core verse the dragon is about to eat the child right after birth. This reminds me of at least one passage in the Bible:

…because Herod is looking for the child and wants to kill him. (Matthew 2:13 CEV)

The child in Matthew 2:13 is Jesus. King Herod was evil and wanted to kill the Messiah on birth because he felt threatened by the power of the Messiah. Now that fits into the picture of Revelation 12:4. The dragon is in this verse King Herod who was doing evil and chose to murder his opponents. In Revelation 12:4 the woman is thus the mother of Jesus and “ to eat” ment to kill.

Thus Herod wanted to kill Jesus as soon as Mary gave birth to Him. John communicated the birth of Jesus in a mythological way.

Give us your thoughts on the text

Till next time!

Where does the devil come from? - Revelation 12:4

Core text:

With its tail, it dragged a third of the stars from the sky and threw them down to the earth. (Revelation 12:4 CEV)

Our core text in this post must be read in the textual context (pericope) that it is found in. The core text exists in a larger body of texts found in Revelation 12:1-6. I shall attempt to interpret the core text in the larger context that it is found in.

The core text begins with an animal picture: the animal was pulling others with it. Like a heard other animals followed their leader. We know that the leading animal was falling down to Earth so it was kicked out of the place that it was coming from! Presumably it lost whatever war it was fighting. We know that war was not fought on Earth because the animal was thrown down to Earth.

But why was the animal kicked out? Were they fighting a war? There are many answers to this questions but I have found at least three answers that fit the Biblical context:

·         It may be an astronomical picture. The writer may be describing a meteor storm or perhaps the star signs did not make sense at the time.

·         It may refer to Daniel 8:10: It became so strong that it attacked the stars in the sky, which were heaven's army. Then it threw some of them down to the earth and stomped on them. (Daniel 8:10 CEV)

But the contexts from Daniel and that of Revelation do not correspond. The text in Daniel refers to the Jewish hierarchy: The priests, the Levites and perhaps God. This doesn’t include evil forces like in the book of Revelation. Evil is a major theme in the book of Revelation and not in the book of Daniel.

·         It may also refer to the evil forces that came from heaven! We know from Geneses 1 that God created the heavens and the earth, with no evil forces. Now in the book of Revelation we have a glimpse into the divine past were some heavenly creatures opposed God the almighty and the opposing creatures got thrown out of heaven. The chief was Satan, probably portrayed in our core verse as the animal or dragon. When he was kicked out of heaven he brought his followers with him, about a third of heaven.

Which one do you think is the best answer?

Till next time!!

The woman in the sky (Revelation 12:1-2) Part 2

Core text:

Something important appeared in the sky. It was a woman whose clothes were the sun. The moon was under her feet, and a crown made of twelve stars was on her head. She was about to give birth, and she was crying because of the great pain… (Revelation 12:1-4 CEV)

In our previous post we talked about the symbols of the woman in the sky. Today we are going to talk about the future. Can the woman in the sky say something about the end of the world?

We know that there will be pain in the end and that the church of God will have a difficult time. The woman in the sky can refer to both the past and future.

You can be certain that in the last days there will be some very hard times. (2 Timothy 3:1 CEV)

Concerning the Past: The woman appeared out of heaven she was pregnant! This reminds us of, Mary, the mother of Jesus! But this whole revelation was seen by John an apostle of Jesus. This ment that Jesus was already born when John had this vision! It could have been Mary being pregnant with Jesus.

Concerning the future: We know that there will be lots of pain in the last days before the apocalypse. The woman had pain because she was pregnant. The symbol could be as follows: the end of the world is going to be so painful that it can be compared to a woman giving birth.

But what does the woman being “pregnant” have to do with it. It could mean that a new church will emerge. House churches or charismatic churches for example. It could also mean that the people of God will have tremendous pain in the last days, so much pain that, as mentioned, it could be compared to a woman giving birth.

Feel free to share your views on the Biblical prophecy!

Till next time

The woman in the sky (Revelation 12:1-2) Part 1

Core text:

Something important appeared in the sky. It was a woman whose clothes were the sun. The moon was under her feet, and a crown made of twelve stars was on her head. She was about to give birth, and she was crying because of the great pain… (Revelation 12:1-4 CEV)

What does the woman symbolize? Is it possible that she is connected to the end of the world?

We read in the core text that a woman appeared in the sky. She had three symbols to identify her. The sun, the moon and the stars. If you know the Bible well, you will instantly recognize these three symbols in the Old Testament. In Genesis 37:9 we find them together:

“Joseph later had another dream, and he told his brothers, "Listen to what else I dreamed. The sun, the moon, and eleven stars bowed down to me." (Genesis 37:9 CEV)

If you know the story about Joseph, you would remember that he became the second in command of Egypt without his family knowing. In command of the Egyptian forces, his family came to visit him but the family didn’t recognize him and they bowed before him. They bowed before him just like he had dreamed.

The catch is, however, that Josephs father was Jacob and his brothers were the fathers of the 12 tribes of Israel (Joseph included). Thus the sun, moon and stars would make the future Israel. Most modern scholars are certain that the sun, moon and stars represent the people of God.

The woman in our core text is thus from God, representing the people or the church of God. Tell us how you interpret the sun, moon and stars.

Till next time

Revelation 7:1-8 One hundred forty-four thousand

Core verses:

"Don't harm the earth or the sea or any tree! Wait until I have marked the foreheads of the servants of our God." Then I heard how many people had been marked on the forehead. There were one hundred forty-four thousand, and they came from every tribe of Israel. (Revelation 7:4 CEV)

The core verses of this post are Revelation 7:3-4. This is an obscure verse. In fact it is so obscure that there are different understandings of the 144000. Some churches and Christians define their religions differently if they read this verse. How should we understand the verse? And are you or I, on Gods list to be saved? And who can make it on Gods list?

Basically there are two (2) ways to understand the 144000. The first is literally and the second is figuratively or symbolic! I am briefly going to attempt to explain these viewpoints:

1.       The literal way states that the writer actually heard this number and that God is only going to save 144000 people during the apocalypse. But the Bible is not saying when God is going to save the 144000! In other words there is no timeframe connected to the number. Perhaps the writer ment during life on Earth. In other words 144000 people in total is going to be saved by grace and going heaven.

2.       The figurative way states that if only 144000 people are going to be saved Jesus Christ would have told the disciples while He was on Earth. Jesus said nothing of the sort, not specifying any number in any timeframe. Therefore the figurative way states that there is a deeper meaning connected to the number 144000. Can we unlock the secret behind this number?

In the bigger picture (Rev 7:1-8) the writer states two other numbers. That is the number of Israelite tribes- which is 12; and the number that is going to be saved of each tribe- which is 12000. Multiply that and you get 144000 (12*12000). Thus the Bible states that only Jewish tribal people can be saved right- wrong! The apostle Paul wrote: “No matter if that person is a Jew or a Gentile. There is only one Lord, and he is generous to everyone who asks for his help”. (Romans 10:12 CEV). The purpose of the 144000 could not be connected to the tribes. It must then be a metaphor- this is the secret to unlock this number.

The numbers 12 and 1000 is both complete numbers in the Bible! The number 144000 can then be seen as a symbol which contains a series of complete numbers and representing the fullness of God. Thus the figurative way states that all the servants of God are going to be saved, not limited to 144000.

It is up to you to decide what to believe. If you take the 144000 literally- well I hope you have a printout of that list, otherwise, how are you going to know if you are going to heaven for example? Please join our discussion and give your opinion.

Till next time!