All women in the Bible have a symbolic meaning as a church or a group of people. Eve is the disobedient church, Jezebel is the wicked church, Hannah is the faithful church, Deborah is the warrior church, Leah is the Old Testament bride and Rachel the New Testament bride, and so on. This does not negate their genuine message as real people functioning in real history. But for the purposes of dream interpretation a woman in your dream can easily mean a group of people with a shared attitude or goal.
Let’s apply this to Revelation 12. This passage is bizarre on the surface but when you see it is a group of believers preparing the way for the kingdom of God it makes sense.
One New Man
12 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:
2 And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. 3 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. 4 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. 5 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. 6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. 7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, 8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
God announced Jesus’ birth and this birth as well
10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. 11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. 12 Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.
God’s ultimate goal is not the church. We have that now and it is not the end of His Plan. Jesus said to His disciples as he departed earth, we are to share the “Gospel of the Kingdom.” Matthew 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
For 2,000 plus years we have shared the gospel of salvation. The kingdom is a different place. It is the place where not secular-religious people rule but Yeshua Himself rules through a holy people.
For this to happen a group of believers must give birth to this new wave of God’s will and prepare a way for him. We recall Paul saying he worked that “Christ be formed in you” just like the travail of the woman in verse 2. These glorified believers are clothed with the sun, that is of righteousness. There is no wicked way found in them.
Sun symbolizes holiness, moon the evil one
They have the moon, the symbol of the devil, under their feet (verse 1). When a foe is under one’s feet he is completely defeated. Symbolically this means that this group of people has a walk in God that is sin free as the feet symbolize the walk of one’s life.
The baby is called a “man child” meaning one having authority. The church, if you’ll recall, is always referred to as a woman who is under authority. She has power over the devil but authority is another issue. (See The Difference between Authority and Power.)
Power is delegated; authority is earned. Not every believer submits to the holiness of God. That lack of submission does not cost them their salvation but it does reduce their rewards. The chief reward of a godly life is to be a part of the kingdom. That submission in life gives a payoff later in being ready to assume leadership during the 1,000 year reign of Christ.
Heaven has more rewards than just heaven
Almost nothing is ever discussed by ministers about the rewards of heaven. It is always assumed that being in heaven is enough. No, rewards in heaven are based on the level of obedience in one’s life and particularly the willingness to engage in spiritual warfare against the enemy. This group of warriors simply called “the woman” is protected and hidden (verse 6) as she battles the Satanic powers. None of this is seen by the wider church.
Kingdom people are soldiers
She overcomes by spiritual warfare, her testimony and by being wiling to be “dead in Christ.” This passage is an extension of the scriptures which describe being “crucified with Christ.” Paul is referring to this level of obedience. We are willing to give up our right, and God has given us this option, to live our lives as free believers instead to submit to the governance of Yahweh in all things. People like this are needed to manage and promote the Kingdom.
Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
Galatians 5:24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Yeshua would like to have all men thus submitted but He takes those who are fully committed. No one is forced to obey. If you want to find these people today look for those who suffer great accusations, as verse 10 says.
We are watching the slow dissolution of the church as God’s primary focus. God is not finished with us yet. He has the Kingdom in mind and that is where we are going. Today believers are antsy and dissatisfied and they should be. They sense the Church Age is over. God will use this dissatisfaction to move them into kingdom territory and open up the demonic world to a more proactive warfare against evil in this world which increases all the time.
This past week I had a troubling dream A woman had me trapped inside an office building intent on killing me. There was a man there with me too, but he was not particularly wise about spiritual warfare. I was able to lock the office door from the inside but I knew it was just a matter of time before she got in to kill us both if I didn’t come up with a plan. I’ve been thinking about this passage and realized my dream was a confirmation of its meaning. The church must leave its place of safety and take on the enemy which is determined to destroy out Christian country and our selves.
The passage continues:
13 And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. 14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. 15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. 16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Notice again the persons charged with the task of bringing the Kingdom in are those who have both as testimony and have a life of holy obedience. They will be protected out of the sight of others. A flood of accusations and slander follows her but she is not drowned.
God’s goal as He says in Ephesians 2:15, is One New Man. We know it is not a woman (church) but a man, because males are given authority and women are given power. This in no way reflects gender or natural sexual identiy as in the kingdom ll the believers are equal.
Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
The Church is the saved believers; the kingdom is for the ruling believers. That Kingdom will be a joint operation of the Messianic Jews, the Gentile Christians and the Muslim Christians. God will not leave any of Abraham’s believing people outside of the covenant community. (See Asher Intrater’s book, Alignment.) Just where we are in the cosmic drama God will need to tell you.
#endtimes #prophecy #KingdomofGod
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