One Woman—Four Views: Part 1
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| The Woman Clothed with the Sun Fleeth from the Persecution of the Dragon Benjamin West, c. 1797 |
As a new believer I was taught that the woman in Revelation 12 was the Bride of Christ. A part of the church who followed the Lamb wherever He went, the faithful—those who had made themselves ready. Is this woman in Revelation 12 the Bride of Christ?
From
my study there seems to be four dominate views of Revelation 12’s woman:
1.
The
Bride of Christ: all the church or part of the church
2.
Israel:
past and/or present
§ Mary representing
Israel for she is an Israel descendant.
3.
The
constellation Virgo as the woman and Jupiter as the child.
4.
A
synthesis of all the faithful throughout history.
5. And finally, my thoughts.
Having been an end-time student for decades, I have some very strong beliefs and some not-so-strong beliefs. I find definite problems with Revelation 12’s most popular view that the woman is Israel. In this view there are three major components:
1.
Israel
is the woman.
2.
Jesus
is the male child, to whom Israel gave birth.
3. This woman clothed with the sun relates back to Genesis 37. In Genesis 37 Joseph had a dream where the sun, the moon, and 11 stars bowed down to him. Jacob (Israel: Joseph’s father), interpreted the dream relating the sun to himself, Israel, the moon to Rachel (Joseph’s mother), and the 11 stars to Joseph’s brothers.
Those who interpret Revelation 12’s woman as Israel miss some very important points:
· If the woman is Israel,
then she is both Israel (the woman) and clothed with Israel (the sun), since
she is clothed with the sun, which according to Genesis 37 is Israel. This does
not make sense, but if we are to relate it back to Genesis 37, this must be our
conclusion.
§ Subcategory:
Mary is the woman, a representation of Israel since Mary is an Israeli descendant.
Problems with this view: Verse 5 states that the male child, to whom she gave
birth, was caught up to God; verse 6 starts with: and or then the woman fled
into the wilderness… So the woman fled into the wilderness right after the male
child was born and caught up to God. Did Mary flee into the wilderness for
3-1/2 years to be taken care of by God? Did the dragon pursue Mary so that the
earth opened its mouth to help her? Is the church her children, the remnant of
her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of
Jesus (:17)? Could the 3-1/2 years of her earthly preservation by God be a type
or not an actual 3-1/2 years? If this is so, then all the time frames in
Revelation are to be in jeopardy of an actual time frame. Whereas God seems to
be very specific when it comes to time. This is why Jesus rebuked the leaders
of Israel for not knowing their time of visitation (Luke 19:44).
· The male child,
whom they say is Jesus, will rightly rule all the nations with a rod of iron
(Psalm 2). However, there is another who will also rule with a rod of iron: the
overcomers in Thyatira. So the male child may represent overcomers, ruling with
Jesus together.
· A huge problem with Jesus being the male child is when Jesus was “caught up” He was not a child: He was King of Kings and Lord of Lords—the Lord God Almighty.
I don’t see how Revelation 12’s woman could be Israel or Mary.
More
to come.
Your thought?
