The Identity of the Woman Clothed in the Sun...Revelation 12 pt 3

https://billrandles.wordpress.com/2015/05/10/the-identity-of-the-woman-clothed-in-the-sun-revelation-12/ ^ | 05 -10 - 15 | Bill Randles

[pastorbillrandles]

And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.(Revelation 12:1-5)

Who is the mysterious woman, writhing in agony of birth, seen in the vision of the apostle John in Revelation 12?

We have shown that on one level this woman represents the true people of God, the faithful congregation, those who truly worship God, and wait for his full deliverance. But there is a more specific meaning to the Image of the woman in the vision.

Some have speculated that the woman is Eve. We have remarked upon the connection between this chapter and Genesis chapter 3. In Genesis three we see Eve,(Adam also, but he was passive), in a dialogue with the serpent. Eventually she succumbs to the flattery and seduction of the serpent’s lie, and defects from God, with her husband. She is told that she will bring forth a son who would bring salvation, “the seed of the woman”.

Others speculate that the woman represents the virgin Mary, the counterpart to the disobedient Eve. Mary said “Yes” to God even though it meant saying no to herself. But Eve did the opposite. The Roman Catholic Church I was brought up in, featured a large statue of the virgin Mary standing upon a globe. She was crowned with 12 stars and under her feet was the serpent. The blasphemous teaching of this statue was clear, Mary defeated the Devil and set men free. This is none less than a distortion of the original Gospel as proclaimed in Genesis 3,

And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.(Genesis 3:14-15)

The European Union has selected for its flag the 12 starred, so-called “Crown of Mary” based on this mis-interpretation of Revelation 12.

Both of these possible answers for the identity of the woman miss the mark. There is no reason other than speculation, to see either Eve or Mary in this woman.

There are others who believe that the woman is the church, the Bride of Christ. But the church is an espoused virgin, not a pregnant wife. The woman is not the church, for the church is not yet married.

Fortunately there is a specific answer as to the identity of the woman. The book of Genesis offers the key, in the story of the visions of Joseph.

And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more. And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed: For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf. And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words. And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me. And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?(Genesis 37:5-10)

The woman is clothed in the Sun,Moon and the stars. The dream of Joseph represent the Sun,Moon and Stars as Jacob,Leah, and the twelves sons of Israel. Therefore the Woman is Israel. She is the specific ‘woman’ which the serpent hates and has often tried to destroy. Her seed, the Messiah defeated the Serpent in battle, and it is He that shall soon come to “Rule all nations with a Rod of Iron”.

Israel is a miracle. The beginning of Israel was a miracle, for God wanted to create a new nation, after the nations of the world defected from him in the “Babel” incident. Rather than select a healthy, virile “twenty something” couple to begin a new nation, God chose Abram and Sara, a barren married couple, long past child-bearing age!

Israel’s continued existence is a miracle, for long have the nations of the world sought to destroy her. She was dispersed from her land in 70 ad, and spread from one end of the earth to the other, living in exile for two thousand years.

Of course military defeat, dispersion and enslavement has happened to other nations in history. But the great modern miracle of Israel is that after 2000 years the nation was reconstituted, in May,1948 ad. The rebirth of Israel is a billboard sign to the world that these are the end times, and that there is a living God.

Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock. For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he.(Jeremiah 31:10-11)

For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim: Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days.(Hosea 3:4-5)

[af_vet_1981]

Since you have appealed to Rome, why stop with the American bishops ?

Is She the Virgin Mary?

Note that the Woman gives birth to a male child who is to rule the nations with a rod of iron. That’s a reference to the Messianic prophecy in Psalm 2, where we read:

Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron [Ps. 2:8-9].

Jesus fulfilled this Messianic prophecy.

The fact that the male child is caught up to the throne of God is a reference to Jesus’ Ascension into heaven, so we have another confirmation that the male child is Jesus.

And since the Woman who gives birth to him is his Mother, we could infer that the Woman here is Jesus’ mother, the Virgin Mary.

But there is more to the story.

Is She Israel . . . or the Church?

The symbolism connected with the Woman is drawn from the book of Genesis, where the patriarch Joseph has a dream involving the sun, the moon, and the stars.

Then he dreamed another dream, and told it to his brothers, and said, “Behold, I have dreamed another dream; and behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”

But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him, and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?” [Gen. 37:9-10].

The symbolism of the sun, moon, and twelve stars comes from Genesis, where it refers to the family of Jacob and the twelve patriarchs, who headed the twelve tribes of Israel.

That has led some to say that the Woman in Revelation 12 is Israel.

You could go further and note that the Church is the spiritual Israel. So some have suggested that the Woman as the Church.

Figuring out Which View is True

Which view is true?

Is the Woman Mary? Is the Woman Israel? Is the Woman the Church? You could try to solve this problem by making some of the symbols primary and some secondary.

For example, you could make the Woman’s role as the mother of Jesus primary, so she’s his literal mother, Mary, and the sun, moon, and stars imagery only means that Mary was a Jewish woman.

Or you could make the sun, moon, and stars imagery primary and say that she’s Israel, and the fact that Mary was the particular Jewish woman who gave birth to Jesus is secondary.

Either/Or Vs. Both/And

We don’t have to make that choice, because if you study the way symbolism is used in the book of Revelation, it often uses a single symbol points to more than one thing.

For example, Revelation 17 tells us what the seven heads of the beast represents:

This calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the [Whore of Babylon] is seated; they are also seven kings (Rev. 17:9-10).

If the seven heads can be seven mountains and seven kings then the Woman clothed with the sun might be the Virgin Mary and Israel and the Church.

Pope Benedict’s View

That’s what Pope Benedict suggests. In his book Jesus of Nazareth, volume 2, he writes:

When the Book of Revelation speaks of the great sign of a Woman appearing in heaven, she is understood to represent all Israel, indeed, the whole Church. . . .

On the basis of the “corporate personality” model—in keeping with biblical thought—the early Church had no difficulty recognizing in the Woman, on the one hand, Mary herself and, on the other hand, transcending time, the Church, bride and mother, in which the mystery of Mary spreads out into history [Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth 2:222].

On another occasion, Pope Benedict said:

This Woman represents Mary, the Mother of the Redeemer, but at the same time she also represents the whole Church, the People of God of all times, the Church which in all ages, with great suffering, brings forth Christ ever anew [General Audience, Aug. 23, 2006].

As Pope Benedict shows us, we don’t have to make a forced choice between the possible meanings of what the Woman represents.

In keeping with the richness of the way Revelation uses symbolism, to use Pope Benedict’s phrases, she can be Mary and “all Israel” and “the whole Church” in different ways.

[af_vet_1981]

Since the Roman Catholic position is that Mary could not be suffering birth pain (because of her Immaculate Conception and no Original Sin), then these verses cannot be about Mary.

You go ahead and keep searching for a man child who was not born of Miriam.

[RnMomof7]

Just showing that Rome has no INFALLIBLE interpretation of that scripture.. so my opinion is as good as any of your links or yours

[Iscool]

Since the Roman Catholic position is that Mary could not be suffering birth pain (because of her Immaculate Conception and no Original Sin), then these verses cannot be about Mary.

You go ahead and keep searching for a man child who was not born of Miriam.

Is this how you address the fact that your religion contradicts itself???

[johngrace]

Great links.