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Revelation 12:1 - 17
ESV - 1 And a great sign 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 pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth.
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Verse 5 is interesting. And she brought forth a male child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron; and her child was "caught up" unto God and to His throne. Caught up is used in First Thessalonians 4:17 where it is talking about the rapture of the believers under grace. There are many other signs pointing to this day as the day of the rapture, but no one is adamant. I do believe something big is going to happen on that day. It is the feast of trumpets for the Jews, and this is a jubilee year for them 5777. Those numbers in this year are significant. The last Jubilee was when they won the six day war in 1967. That was 50 years ago. The Jews were given their land back in 48, and I believe that was a sign that this generation shall not pass away until all be fulfilled. A generation in the bible is 70 years. There are many other signs that it could be the rapture. We can only hope it is soon the way things are going here. We only have about 10 days to find out. If you have never trusted Jesus alone as your only savior, do it now. The time is very short whether now or very soon. All you have to do to be saved, is confess that you are a sinner, and believe the gospel. First Corinthians 15:1-4 That Christ died for sins, according to the scriptures, that He was buried and rose again on the third day, according to the scriptures. If you believe that, you are sealed by the Holy Spirit and you are saved. Ephesians 1:13 John 10:28 And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. First John 5:13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know ye have ETERNAL LIFE.
We need to establish the fact that God doesn’t communicate with humans through astrological signs and other signs of the zodiac. The bible is very clear about that in Deut 18:9-13 that we ought to avoid these things and stay away from them. "When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord; because of these same detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you. You must be blameless before the Lord your God." Rev 19:8 also makes it clear that sorcerers will be outside of the New Jerusalem. Therefore the long and short of it is that God will not send us a message that way. My view has always been that in the Bible we have all the information we need to understand and believe in God. Let’s rather talk about what I think Rev 12:1-17 is trying to tell us. In this chapter there are 3 characters that come up: a heavily pregnant woman clothed with the sun with 12 stars on her crown, a fiery red dragon trying to kill the male child and then the woman and her other offspring. The narration informs us that the woman is terrified as the dragon stands ready to kill the son that is to be born. We are told this dragon dragged down from the heavens a third of the stars of heaven. When the male child is born He is whisked to the safety of heaven but the dragon turns his attention on the woman and the rest of her offspring. This is an important prophecy for Christians to understand. By way of interpretation, we are left in no doubt that the dragon is satan the devil, the Child it is also clear is Jesus and the woman is the church before and after the cross. A good woman represents the church of God whilst a harlot represents an apostate church in prophecy. This prophecy is directing our attention to the timeline of the church, before Jesus is born, at birth and after He goes to heaven. The bible tells us that Israel and the Jews expected a Messiah to come, particularly round about the time Jesus was born. They even knew where He was going to be born. The bible also tells us that when Jesus was born the evil Roman Empire attempted to kill Him but He was hidden in Egypt until it was safe. When Jesus ascended to heaven we know of the great persecution that followed the disciples and the church during the Dark Ages. That is the persecution of the woman. The woman flees to the wilderness where the earth helps to save her by swallowing the flood spewed by the dragon. Towards the end of the Dark Ages a new territory was discovered and persecuted Christians in Europe fled there in numbers – that was America. History tells us that the church began to thrive again in freedom to this day in America. The objective of John, as inspired from heaven was to warn and prepare the church of the coming persecution. So that when the prophesied thing comes to pass their faith would be strengthened. Isa 42:9, John 161-4 and Rev 1:1-3. Therefore it is prudent to avoid reading some mystical interpretation to these verses and lose sight of the deep spiritual meaning that Jesus intended. Finally I draw attention to verse 17 of the Rev 12 which gives a grave warning. The devil is still wrath with the rest of Christians because they keep the commandments and have the testimony of Jesus. It would seem to imply that more persecution is coming our way at some point in the future before Jesus comes. The important thing is that we have been forewarned and we therefore need to prepare ourselves for this difficult time. What form this persecution is going to take I cannot speculate.
1 Corinthians 1:22, The Jews require signs. I believe if astronomy is saying how totally unique these events on Sept. 22,23,24, 2017 are going to be in regards to stars and moving stars or planets, then this could definitely be special to prophesy concerning Israel. Revelation 12 seems to aline with what is expected on these dates and seven years from now another full solar eclipse will take place. Exciting times to live in if you are born again, in general, anxious times to those who don't know Scripture or the Lord. We do need to be in prayer for all the lost, as this could be the beginning of the Apocalypse that all the media speculates about. May our Blessed Hope be the Hope for all. God's Word is True and will prove itself.
Any event that can be predicted by astronomers many years in advance is not a sign from God. True signs from God are not predictable, and come only through the will and intervention of God. One such sign supposedly occurred at Fatima, Portugal on October 13, 1917, when the sun exhibited very unusual behavior in front of thousands of witnesses. Https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_of_the_Sun
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