Gabriel of 12;
I wouldn’t expect you to understand these mysteries of Revelations, from you thinking Jesus had siblings, and the New Testament speaks about sexual relations between Joseph and Mary.
The woman in Revelations is Mary she was the only one found with child, and gave birth to him, Israel is the Woman next who cried outloud with birth pains from her sufferings by the Greeks and Romans. Israel did not give birth to Jesus his BROTHERS AND SISTERS REJECTED HIM, remember.
This woman is also symbolized as the Catholic Church which suffers birth pains to give birth to you, so that you can become her offspring and give testimony to Jesus and obey his commandments…
I only ask to be receptive to these teachings from Jesus and the Apostles handed down to the Catholic Church, learn of them, and then make a decision whether or not you wish to become an offspring of Mary and the body of Jesus Christ which is his Catholic Church.
Peace be with you
First; I did not laugh at your faith; I laughed at your misinterpretation of a single passage; sorry I offended you, I did not realize how sensitive you are, so I will keep that in mind going forward and ask you to forgive me.
Let’s look, first of all, at the woman. He looks up and, in this very large vision, he sees a woman. Now, there are several symbolic women in the book of Revelation. There is a woman in chapter 2 who is called Jezebel. She’s given that symbolic name, because she represents pagan immorality. There is also, in the 17th chapter of Revelation, a prostitute, a whore, a scarlet woman who represents the apostate church, the corrupt church, the church that has abandoned its fidelity to God and gone awhoring after idols. And there is also another woman in the 19th chapter who is the bride, the true church, who is the bride of the lamb.
And then there is this woman, the fourth of the symbolic women is Israel.
If you consider a traditional Catholic interpretation, this woman is Mary. And so you will see Mary sometimes depicted in art as clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and on her head are 12 stars. This cannot be Mary. Others have said, this is the church. The church is the one who brings forth the child? This cannot refer to the church. The church is never in the New Testament called a woman. The church is never a wife. The church is never pregnant. The church never gives birth to anything. The church is always viewed as a bride waiting to get married. The married supper of the lamb doesn’t occur till the 19th chapter of Revelation when we all get to Heaven. We are the chosen bride. We are betrothed, and we are to be a chaste virgin. We are not a pregnant wife.
Roman Catholic church sees Mary here, traditional covenant reformed theology sees the church here. Neither of those is possible. We are, as a church, a chaste virgin, a bride waiting for the marriage that hasn’t yet happened. There is one and only one real possibility. The woman is Israel. Israel is often called the wife of God. Sometimes a widow, even a divorced woman, according to Hosea. You find the same in Isaiah 47 and Isaiah chapter 50. Israel is depicted as a disloyal, unfaithful, adulterous wife who finally, in the end, will become faithful. Israel, all throughout the Old Testament, is the erstwhile wife of God. This has to be Israel.
And we know that the Messiah came out of Israel. We also know that we’re in the book of Revelation, and we’re getting close now in the chronology of Revelation to the time when the Messiah comes to establish His Kingdom. It’s not surprising then that Israel is being referred to. The salvation of Israel is near. The promised kingdom of Israel is near. Israel is becoming the focal point again in God’s redemptive plan, because the Messiah will come and establish the Kingdom.
But you don’t even have to talk about it in those sort of general theological terms. This has to be Israel, because this description is almost identical to the description of Israel given in Genesis 37:9 to 11. In Genesis 37:9 to 11, you have something unmistakably connected to this. There is this description of Joseph and a dream that Joseph had. And in the dream, verse 9, he had, he relates to his brothers. You remember? Joseph, one of the 12 sons of Jacob, and he has 11 brothers, and he said, “I have another dream, the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars were bowing down to me.” Now that is almost a direct parallel with the exception that you have 12 stars in the book of Revelation. And what Joseph is saying in that passage, in that dream, is that, "I had a dream that my position in Messianic promise, my position in the divine plan is to be the promised line of God; he represents Messianic promise. He represents the glory of Israel. He represents the hope of the world. He has been exalted above his brothers, who and above others. Other people might be represented by the sun and the moon, and all of his brothers are beneath him in the dream.
This woman is exalted above everybody else. This woman is exalted and associated with the 12 tribes of Israel. So, clearly, the imagery here is of the nation that is more than the tribes. The nation that is above all other nations. This is imagery that is literally taken from 37th chapter of Genesis. Clothed, in this case, with the sun, showing brilliance and reflecting its light as the glorious nation that God has chosen. The imagery here is just to show you that this is connected to the purposes of God with Israel, and it takes a little liberty with changing the imagery a bit from Genesis 37, but the parallel is very, very obvious. There’s no other parallel such as that anywhere in Scripture.
Hope this helps and again I apologize for offending you and may the God of all creation bless you!
Tanner
