TREASURY OF SERMONS
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Who is The Woman of Revelation 12?
By Rev (Dr) Timothy Tow
(Preached at Calvary Pandan BPC, 28 Oct 2001)
In the O.T. the chosen people of God are called
the Wife of Jehovah (Isa 54:5). In the N.T. the Church is called the
Bride of Christ (II Cor 11:2). Who is the Woman of Revelation 12?
Roman Catholics interpret the Woman of
Revelation 12 to be the Virgin Mary. Protestants interpret it to be
the Church or Israel.
We believe this woman, a "great wonder in
heaven" to be Israel. We believe so from the following
characteristics: (1) She is Israel, first of all, from her being
identified with Joseph’s dream of the sun and moon and eleven stars
making obeisance to him (v.1). This refers to Jacob’s family. (2)
The Child that was born of her which the Red Dragon tried to devour,
who is caught up to God, and who was to rule all nations, is none
other than our Lord Jesus Christ (vv.3-5). (3) Satan, being cast to
earth then persecuted the Woman but to her was given a pair of
eagle’s wings to fly into the wilderness where she is nourished for
a time and times and half a time, i.e. 3½ years (v.14). This refers
to war breaking out between Israel and the Arabs (Dan 9:27). The
Arabs plus all the fighting forces of the East would want to swallow
Israel, but God will save her across the River Jordan in the lands
occupied by Ammon, Moab and Edom. This is the Kingdom of Jordan (Dan
11:41). (4) The two wings of an eagle might refer to the flying in
of Jewish Returnees from all over the world, so that today over 5
million have come back to Israel. The Second Coming of Christ is at
the door!
There are 4 general signs pointing to the Second
Coming of Christ. In Matthew 24 we have (1) the mounting increase of
earthquakes. The biggest one for a long time was the one that struck
Gujarat, West India, this year at which 50,000 perished. (2) The
second is pestilence. As to pestilence around Easter this year,
half-a-million cows and as many sheep were destroyed in England for
mad cow disease and foot and mouth disease. But the worst
pestilence, which has taken a toll of 25 million through AIDS, is in
Sub-Sahara Africa and 6 million in South and S.E. Asia. Add to this
is the bombing of the Twin Towers of World Trade Centre and now the
spreading of anthrax in the United States. (3) Famines. The Downturn
in Singapore that takes away 25,000 jobs with grimmer prospect from
the Downturn in America is an ugly omen of worldwide famine. (4) The
rise of false Christs and prophets, mentioned three times in Matthew
24, is attested by the many Charismatic Big Names like Benny Hinn
and Rodney Howard Brown that I have no need to elaborate.
But the sign of signs leading to Christ’s Return
is the struggle between those who attack Jerusalem and the Jews.
This is clearly revealed in Zechariah 12:2-4, "Behold, I will make
Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when
they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all
people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces,
though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it .
. . In that day shall the LORD defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem;
and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and
the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the LORD before
them. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to
destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem" (vv.8,9).
From this prophecy we can conclude President
Bush cannot bring the contending parties to peace. The
Palestinian-Israeli conflict has gone on the last 20 years and will
go on for many years to come. But peace of three and a half years
will be achieved by the End-time World Dictator, and only for 3½
years. This World Dictator is known as the Antichrist, a personage
of great charisma. At the end of these 3½ years of peace, WWIII will
break out. "And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from
the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, Saying to
the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which
are bound in the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were
loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and
a year, for to slay the third part of men. And the number of the
army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard
the number of them" (Rev 9:13-16). It will break out from the
Euphrates which is in Iraq. Armies of the East will join up with the
Arab nations and meet at Armageddon. Armageddon is a plain south of
Haifa, an ancient battlefield which the invading armies must pass
through (Rom 16:16).
Only some 70 miles north of Jerusalem, the
Battle of Armageddon will end up in Jerusalem. It will be such a
carnage that a river of blood 200 miles long will run from
Armageddon in the north to Eilat on the Red Sea in the south (Rev
14).
Jesus must descend on the Mount of Olives, hill
opposite Jerusalem, to save Israel which by this time will lose two
thirds of her people (Zech 13:8). Those who are raptured at the
blowing of the last (seventh) trumpet (Rev 10:7) will return in
triumph to earth to reign with Christ for 1000 years of golden peace
(Rev 5:10).
Times of terrible destruction may be upon us, in
the next decade. "Seekest thou great things for thyself?" said
Jeremiah to Baruch his secretary. "Seek them not. But I will save
your life from the war that is coming." Reader, do you know if you
are now saved in Jesus Christ? Do you know you will be raptured out
of this burning earth at the outbreak of WWIII? The Woman of
Revelation 12 is Israel now fast fulfilling the end-time prophecies
pronounced upon her. The Israel-Palestinian conflict is the key to
coming world events.
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