THE SIGN

THE SIGN

                “And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet and on her head a crown of twelve stars; and she was with child; and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth. And another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns and on his heads were seven diadems. And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.” Rev 12:1-4.

                As with everything in the book of Revelation, it is hard to nail down the times of which it is speaking. We know that this speaks of an historical event. The woman, being Israel, gives birth to the Messiah, Yeshua who is destined to rule the nations with a rod of iron. So right in that one sentence we see the birth of Christ followed by His millennial reign when He will indeed rule the nations with a rod of iron. This is a very large skip in time, taking us from the birth of Christ in the past to the rule of Christ in the future.

                In this historical scenario we see Israel as the woman who gives birth to the man child and so it follows that it is Israel (the Woman) that flees into the wilderness, where she is persecuted for 3 ½ years. But wait a minute. Where does the 3 ½ years fit in?

                Well, verse 17 tells us that the dragon was enraged with the woman, but he doesn’t go after the woman. Instead he goes after the rest of her offspring who keep the commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.

                Here again we have this huge leap of time from the original woman that brought the Messiah into the world, to a Remnant people who obey God, but these also have the testimony of Jesus. And since these believe in Jesus, they must be Christians, or at the very least, Messianic Jews. This remnant keeps the commandments, so they can’t be of those who teach that the commandments were done away… and since the book of Revelation tells us that the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy, it cannot be talking about those who avoid prophecy like the plague.

                So we see a Remnant people (a remnant being the last end) who keep the commandments and who have the testimony of Jesus which is the Spirit of prophecy. The Spirit of prophecy is not a “What”, but a “Who”, for the Spirit of prophecy must be the Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of the prophets.

                The book of Revelation itself begins by telling us that it is the revelation of Jesus Christ. And Jesus told the Pharisees that they were studying the scriptures because they thought that they would find eternal life in them, but they testify of Yeshua. And we also see on the road to Emmaus that Jesus went through all of the law and prophets pointing out all the things listed in the Old Testament that pointed to Him as the Messiah. So the Bible, from beginning to end is a testimony of Jesus and of course 2 Tim. 3:16 informs us that all scripture is inspired by God.

                So where are we going with this? My point is that in Revelation chapter 13 we see the same dragon and the same beast with 7 heads and ten horns that we just saw in Revelation chapter 12.. The dragon gives the Beast his power and his throne and great authority and everyone knows that this composite beast is none other than the final global kingdom that will enforce the Mark of the Beast in the end times.

                So, while the woman who gave birth to the man child in history is true, she may also be the woman who gives birth to the final Remnant that keep the commandments and have the testimony of Jesus.

                Here then we incorporate something that Paul said in Romans 8:19 where he says: “For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.”

                So what I see here is that a company of believers in the last days that will finally put it all together. They will restore the church to her Judeo/Christian roots, (something that was lost to the church in the 4^th century when she divorced the Jews and married the pagans) She will restore obedience to the Ten Commandments and she will bear the testimony of Yeshua.

                In this way, even as the final man child is being birthed, the dragon will seek to devour him, but he is caught up to heaven.

                This is why there are many people hoping and expecting that even as the Beast and the dragon emerge as the final global government in the last days, the faithful will be raptured out of here at the beginning of the tribulation. And if that is true, then who are the Remnant of her seed that keep the commandments and have the testimony of Jesus. Why would some be caught up and others left behind, especially since those left behind are described as being obedient and holding to the testimony of Jesus?

                I must admit that this is confusing and in truth, these verses are interpreted differently by every group and so they make it fit with their own prophetic understanding.

                But what if Revelation 12 wasn’t talking either about Jews, or Christians, but a sign in the heavens that would announce the Day of the Lord? (Including the players, both good and evil and the final 7 year showdown between Christ and Satan?

                Jesus told us that there would be signs in the sun, moon and stars. Some of these signs would happen (according to Joel) just before the great and terrible day of the Lord (The Tribulation) and again just before the second coming of Christ as a sign of His coming?

                If so, then the sky has been shouting to us for the past 3 years that we are about to enter into that very special time known as the tribulation in which we will be tested and tried and the man child will be brought forth… a company of people who bear the image of Jesus Christ who are obedient to Him and who bear testimony to his name.

                We have had blood moons and eclipses all falling on God’s Moeds, (appointed times) and in the coming weeks we are going to see a total eclipse of the sun followed by the Revelation 12 sign and a 40 day window in which to repent and to get right with God before the Day of Atonement on Yom Kippur.

                This is why God has been reintroducing the Feast days of Israel over the past few years. They form the framework, the timing and the meaning of all last day events. God’s timepiece was built into the Jewish religion and it corresponds to God’s other timepiece, the sun, moon and stars.

                Actually, there are three time pieces by which we can set our watches. We have the sun, moon and stars. We have the Jewish feast days and we have Bible prophecy and when we coordinate these three, then we get a 3D picture of the end times which we are now about to enter.

                Nobody knows with absolute certainty just what will happen as a result of these signs. Some believe a great earthquake will occur. Some believe the Rapture. Some believe that these events herald the beginning of the Tribulation. Others believe that these signs have no meaning at all and that when these dates blow by and nothing happens, they will announce the final death sentence upon all Bible prophecy.

                Then there will follow a great falling away from the faith and the rise of the antichrist and much of the church will wonder after him. They will join forces with the Pope of Rome in his global religion and he will lead them to worship the Beast and his image and to persecute those who refuse to join their ranks. Their final move will be to enforce the Mark of the Beast and after that the final sickle harvest of Revelation 14 will take place immediately followed by the outpouring of the wrath of God upon the kingdoms of the antichrist.

                We don’t have to perfectly understand all of this in order to know that we want to be among those who are faithful and obedient to Jesus Christ. We want to bear His testimony and to be filled with the Holy Spirit of prophecy. We want to be among the sons of God for whom all of creation waits in eager anticipation. We want to be like Him when He comes.

                “See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that when He appears we shall be like Him because we shall see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. 1 John 3:1-3.

                Whatever these coming signs portend, I believe that they are highly significant and that they are announcing the official end of time. They can also be announcing the end of the times of the Gentiles mentioned in romans 11:25. One way or the other we are now going to enter the Tribulation.  
Everything is in place for the rise of the antichrist and the false prophet. We are about to enter into a conflagration such as the world has never seen since there was a nation. Nimrod will arise to complete his final global kingdom.

                Those who are wise will prepare themselves, making sure that their lamps are filled with oil and they have made themselves ready as a Bride adorned for her husband.

                Just like anyone else I would surely prefer to be raptured out of here before this conflagration begins, but Jesus did not promise us escape from persecution and tribulation. He only promised us escape from the wrath of God which will be poured out upon Satan’s kingdom. (Luke 21:36, Rom. 5:9, 1 Thess. 1:10, 1 Thess. 5:9, Rev. 3:10)

                Some see the rapture as taking place at the beginning of the tribulation when Jesus says to John “Come up here”… but that is highly presumptive. Instead there is a very direct account of the rapture taking place in the sickle harvests of Revelation 14. One group is taken to heaven to stand upon the sea of glass as Revelation 15 shows us, while the other group is cast into the winepress of God’s wrath as delineated in chapters 16-18.

                In chapter 19 Jesus returns and His saints are with Him as He returns to defeat the Battle of Armageddon and to take up His millennial reign from Jerusalem.  (See Rev 19: 8, 14, Zech. 14.) Then at the end of the 1000 years, the City, the New Jerusalem will come down from God out of heaven and we will enter into a new creation for eternity with our Lord and Savior Yeshua. Rev. 21:10-27

                I know these are broad strokes, but as I have said before… Keep your eye on the ball. Keep your eyes upon Jesus and all of the other things will fit into place. And we will begin a new journey in a new frontier as friends forever.