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. Rev ch 12 vs 1-2
Roman Catholic Church believes ‘this woman’ is referring to Mary the mother of Jesus and they use this to support their idea of the assumption of Mary and her coronation in heaven as the queen of heaven. But if she is Mary, what would be the meaning of the crown of twelve stars on her head? When did the dragon cast out a flood against her to carry her away after the delivery of her son as relayed in verse 15, and how did the earth helped to swallow the flood in verse 16? When did she fly into the wilderness for 1,260 days as relayed in vs 6 & vs 13-14, and when did she return?
If all these cannot be answered, then she is not Mary the mother of Jesus.
This is the understanding the Lord gave me:
A nation or an organization is always seen as a feminine gender and hence, female adjectives are always used to qualify them. In fact, in the scripture, the Lord likened the nation of Israel to a woman he adorns with all manner of ornaments for beautification as relayed in Ezk ch 15 vs 8-15. Hence, this woman is simply referring to the nation of Israel.
As we move further, you will be more convinced.
The prophecy says the woman was clothed with sun.
One of the things sun symbolizes is glory and this applies to the nation of Israel; the manifestation of the power of God over her beginning from her deliverance with a mighty hand in the land of Egypt through signs and wonders and her conquest of Canaan clearly reflect the glory of God over her; she was wrapped with the glory of God; all the nations of the world came to know that there is a God in heaven who is Almighty through the manifestation of his power over the nation of Israel.
Another thing sun symbolizes is light which refers to knowledge or enlightenment.
The nation of Israel was also clothed or wrapped with the glorious knowledge of God. The Bible till today remains the most up-to-date source of enlightenment that has no equal and the knowledge in it was delivered to the nation of Israel through the Spirit of God; the whole world till today is still drawing from the light in the Bible.
The prophecy also says the woman had moon under her feet:
What does that mean?
The only nation that was with the true God in the time of old was the nation of Israel; all other nations before the coming of Christ were without the true God, hence were ruled by the power of darkness.
Darkness also has its own light which is the moon but the light of the moon is far lesser than that of the sun. Hence, the light of the nation of Israel which is the light of God is meant to rule over the light of other nations which had not the true God. Other nations in the world shone in glory and some notable ones among them were world powers which included: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome, yet the glory of these nations were incomparable with that of Israel; this is what ‘moon under her feet’ means.
The prophecy also says upon her head was a crown of twelve stars:
That crown depicts Jacob the ancestor of Israel and the twelve stars refer to the twelve tribes of Israel.
The twelve tribes are stars; they were ordained to reign on the earth. The dream of Joseph also pointed this to us. According to him, he saw eleven stars bowing to him and he definitely is the 12th star.
Then the prophecy says she was with child, crying, travailing in birth and pained to be delivered.
In Gen ch 3 vs 15, the Lord gave a prophecy concerning the redemption of mankind after the fall of man in the beginning, he said “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head and thou shall bruise his heel”.
When Abraham served the Lord and pleased him in faith, he gave him a promise in Gen ch 22 vs 15-18, he said “In blessing, I will bless thee, and in multiplying, I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is upon the sea shore: and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; AND IN THY SEED SHALL ALL THE NATIONS OF THE EARTH BE BLESSED”.
And to establish this promise, he produced the woman (the nation of Israel) who was to produce the seed which Gal ch 3 vs 16 says is Christ, through whom all the nations of the earth will be blessed with the blessing of salvation; he produced the woman out of one of his seed; Isaac, the father of Jacob also known as Israel.
Hence, the nation of Israel through God’s promise to Abraham was ordained to produce a seed which is Christ through which all the families of the earth will be blessed with the blessing of salvation. This is what her pregnancy means; the pregnancy of salvation she was ordained to produce to the world.
Her travail in birth refers to the persecutions she suffered in the hand of the nations around her; her survival before her final delivery of Christ was severely threatened; it was from one captivity to the other. She suffered persecution both within and without, if not infiltrated with idolatrous practices, she will be taken into captivity by another nation. Thus, she truly was travailing in birth to deliver her baby which was salvation to the world.
Expect the interpretation of the dragon with seven heads and ten horns.
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Shalom