EXAMING REVELATIONS TWELVE:2

            READ CHAPTER NINE OF DANIEL

             REVELATION TWELVE FILLS IN THE VOID LEFT BY THE PROPHETIC GAP IN DANIEL 9:25-26.  THE PROPHECY BEING: 

"SEVENTY WEEKS (weeks of years)  ARE DETERMINED FOR THY PEOPLE (israel) AND UPON THY HOLY CITY (Jerusalem) " Dan. 9:24

              In Daniel  9:25, having arrived at the point of time "threescore and two weeks", the last segment of 7 weeks and 62 weeks timeline (in verse 26), the "Messiah is cut off, but not for Himself...."  We know, for Israel-Jerusalem, historically, the Messiah, (Christ-Messiah Jesus) is rejected and crucified by Israel, Messiah's people, leaving no Messiaic Kingdom. (NASV translates "...and have nothing" following he"cut off " of the Messiah.  So this totals 69 weeks of years, leaving still one week or seven yearsyears to total seventy  70WEEKS

Daniel's concern was the restoration of Jerusalem, at a time whenfinishng transgration, ..end of sin...everlasting righteousness..." would happen, and that fact links this to Revelation twelve.

         So today the Messiah--Christ having been cut off and as a Jewish Messiah having nothing --for almost 2000 years.  
Why does that Daniel nine prophecy need to fill any void? And how does Revelations twelve fill that void? 

 READ AND STUDY DANIvingEL 9:26 AND 27 

"And the people of   the Prince who is to come...."

WHAT  PEOPLE AND WHAT PRINCE?

Is this ISRAEL and Jesus CHRIST?   NO!  

Both "the people" and "the Prince" are describecd in Daniel, verse 9:26.
"The people of the Prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary"

Historically, we know the Romans destroyed the city and the sanctuary.  So neither is Israel or Christ named here.

     So that leaves a void in Daniel 9.

        One point of a prophecy of the "woman" in Revelation 12. The major emphasis in Revelation 11: 19-20: 15 is the attack of Satan against the people with whom God is dealing at that time. This attack comes of years, chapter thirteen through the beasts,) who offer a false Messiah and a false fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant. It comes in chapters seventeen and eighteen through an apostate religious system, which falsely claims to be the Kingdom of God. It comes in chapter nineteen through the alliance of nations which is formed against this people and their King, which the Lord destroys at His coming.

Since the major movement in this portion of Revelation is against the one called in chapter twelve the woman, it is important to identify this individual who occupies so im­portant a place in the book.

Revelation 12 centers around three personages. It will help us in the identification of the woman to identify the other two. Fortunately their identification is made easy by the context itself.

JESUS CHRIST, RULER AND MESSIAH

1.. A man child. The quotation from Psalm 2, which all would agree is a Messianic Psalm, identifies the man child here as none other than Jesus Christ. The fact of the birth, the fact of the destiny of this child, for He is "to rule all nations with a rod of iron," and the fact of the ascension, since He is "caught up unto God, and to His throne," all cause the identification to point to one person, the Lord Jesus Christ, for of none other, could all three statements be made.

2.. A woman clothed with the sun. While there has been general agreement among commentators of all types concerning the identity of the two aforementioned individuals, there is a great diversity of interpretation concerning the key individual in this passage:

1. There have been many false interprutations of the indentity of this woman.  Some have held that it is Mary. However,  the only feature to make this possible would be the fact of motherhood, , for Mary was never persecuted, never fled into the wilderness, was never cared for for 1260 days." Others have }J(' that this woman is the church that is travailing to bring Chri to the nations.²² This, however, is built on the allegorizing pri ciple of interpretation and must be rejected.

The church did not produce Christ, but Christ the church. Since the church not seen on earth in chapters four through nineteen of Revelation, the church can not be represented by this woman.

J.A. Seiss in his lectures on the book, "THE APOCALYPSE, Lectures on the Book of Revelations" Still another landmark in the case is, that the birth here spoken of is not consummated before the period of the end of this age. Whatever earnests of it may have preceded, it is not fully accomplished till the day of judgment comes. It is here placed under the seventh trumpet, and the seventh trumpet is the last, with which the whole history of this present world comes to an end.

2. It has been the interpretation of dispensational premillennialists that
the woman in this passage represents the nation of Israel. There are a number of considerations which support this interpretation.

a. The whole context in which this passage is set reveals that John is dealing with the nation Israel. Gaebelein writes:

Revelation, chapters eleven to fourteen, leads us prophetically to Israel, Israel's land and Israel's final tribulation, the ti of Jacob's trouble and the salvation of the godly remnant. 'I scene of the eleventh chapter is "the great city, which spiritua is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified

 That city is not Rome but Jerusalem. The twelfth chapter begin connected prophecy, ending with the fourteenth.  Gaebelein, loco cit

THE PROPHETIC CLOCK FOR ISRASEL STARTS AGAIN

THUS CLOSING THE GAP LEFT AFTER THE MESSIAH WAS "CUT OFF" AND LINKING THE PROPHECY OF DANIEL 9:27

"Grant says of Revelation 11: 19,

 "The ark, then, seen in 1 temple in heaven is the sign of God's unforgotten grace tows Israel. ... " 24 

Thus, the context in which this passage is set shows that God is dealing with Israel again.   Cf. Ottman, THE UNFOLDING OF THE AGES., pp. 278-79

J. Dwight Pentacost, THINGS TO COME,  Pp283-285

C. A great red dragon. Verse nine makes the identification of this individual is certain. It is none other than Satan. Chapter 20, verse 2, confirms this identification. Satan is clearly revealed as the author and instigator of the attacks against the people of God hereafter described in the book. Scott well observes:

                Why is the dragon used as 11 symbol of Satan'? Pharaoh, king of Egypt, in his cruelty to God's people, and in proud and haughty independence of God, is termed "the great dragon" (Ezek. 29: 3, 4). Nebuchadnezzar is similarly spoken of in respect to his violence and cruelty (Jer. 51: 34). Gathering up the numerous scripture references in the Book of Psalms, and in the first three of the greater prophets, to the crocodile, the sovereign of the seas, who is identified with the dragon, insatiable cruelty seems the main feature. The Egyptians regarded the crocodile or dragon, according to their hieroglyphics, as the source and author of all evil, worshipped under the name of Typho. The color of the dragon, red, denotes his murderous, bloodthirsty character. This is the first time in Scripture that Satan is directly spoken of as a dragon. The heathen monarchs, Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar, en­ slaved and oppressed the people of God, and, thus far acting in satanic power, merited the appellation of dragon. But at the time treated of in our chapter, Satan is the prince of the world-its virtual ruler. The Roman power is the instrument through which he acts. Hence the title "great red dragon" can now for the first time be used of him....    Walter Sco.tt, Exposition of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, pp. 249-50.

3.The dragon is seen to have seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns upon his heads (Rev. 12: 3), which are the same as the beast possesses in chapters thirteen and seventeen. It is plainly stated in 13:2 that this individual derives his authority from Satan. This shows us that Satan is seeking a governmental authority over the woman's "remnant"  (12: 7), which authority rightly belongs to Christ Himself.