Revelation 12 - 1 - The Saved Eternal Church of Christ their king has conquered Satan and the law

Revelation 12:1
The Saved Eternal Church of Christ, their King, has conquered Satan and the law
By Brother Mike (1-15-22; 30 minutes)

1 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 : {wonder: or, sign }

INTRODUCTION

In this study, we will look at only one verse, Revelation 12:1, and we ask the question, what is this great wonder in heaven being described as a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars? Who is this woman, and what does it mean that she is clothed with the sun? What does it mean that the moon is under her feet? And, why does she have on her head a crown of twelve stars?

May our magnificent King, Jesus Christ who suffered, died, and rose from the dead to establish His saved eternal remnant Church, the elect, by conquering Satan and the law for them, now set our minds on the heavenly things that this great wonder in heaven is revealing to us that your people would become more of the same mind and faith for all eternity. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Revelation 12:1:

1 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 : {wonder: or, sign }

In this verse, we first read, And there appeared a great wonder in heaven. More literally, it reads, And a great sign was seen in heaven. A sign is something that signifies or symbolizes something, and what is this sign that is clearly symbolism? It is a woman clothed with the sun. The Greek word, here, translated as woman (pronounced gunE in the Greek) can also mean wife, and this is the better translation because we find that this wife had been clothed with the sun, and the sun in the Bible, being clear symbolism, can only refer to God or Christ Himself, for when we look up the word sun in the Bible, we find that the sun symbolizes God who is Christ. For example, we are told right out in Psalm 84:11,

Ps 84:11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly .

And, in Malachi 4, we read,

Mal 4:2 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stall .

Notice, here, how the Sun of righteousness, who obviously refers to Christ is spelled Sun (S-u-n) of righteousness; thus, teaching us that the sun symbolizes Christ. And remember when Christ was transfigured. We read,

Mt 17:2 And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light .

Then, in Revelation, we find several verses that clearly identify Christ with the sun. In speaking of Christ, we read,

Re 1:16 And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength .

And, again, we read of Christ in Revelation 10,

Re 10:1 And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire . . .

So, in all these verses, we find that we are on solid ground to see the Sun (S-u-n) as symbolizing Christ, and now returning to our verse, when we read that there appeared a great sign in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, it is better translated, there appeared a great sign in heaven; a wife clothed with the sun because the sun symbolizes Christ, and it makes more sense for a wife instead of just a woman to be clothed with Christ, for it is the wife of Christ (the Church) who better fits the entire context of Revelation 12.

Now, w e can see that the Church is the wife of Christ in Ephesians 5 where the heavenly relationship of Christ to His Church is the model for the earthly relationship of the husband and wife. We read,

22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord .
23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church [Christ's wife]: and he is the saviour of the body .
24 Therefore as the church [the wife of Christ] is subject unto Christ [the husband of the Church], so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything .
25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ [the husband of the Church] also loved the church [His wife], and gave himself for it ;
26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word ,
27 That he [Christ] might present it to himself a glorious church [a glorious wife], not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish .
28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself .
29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourishes and cherishes it, even as the Lord [Christ], the church [Christ's wife] :
30 For we [the Church] are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones .
31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh .
32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ [who is the husband of the Church] and the church [who is Christ's wife] .

It will become even clearer that the wife of Christ is the Church as we move along further in Revelation 12, so, for now, when our verse says, And there appeared a great sign in heaven; a wife clothed with the sun, the wife is the Church that has been clothed in Christ.

In that they have been clothed in Christ means that their nakedness or sins have been covered and forgiven through Christ's atonement on the cross so that they can no longer be condemned, but they are saved forever to receive new incorruptible bodies and a new heaven and earth on the Last Day of Judgment Day that we are now in.

We should mention that the participle translated, clothed in the sentence, a wife clothed with the sun is in the Perfect Tense and Passive Voice of the Greek language, which lets us know that the wife (the Church) from the perspective of this vision has been clothed with the Sun (saved) in the past with the result that they are still saved in the present, which supports once saved, always saved (see Perfect Tense ), and that the woman (the Church) was completely passive with respect to her having been clothed with the Sun (saved), which supports salvation being 100% God's work and no work of ours (see Passive Voice ). So, the Greek language itself excludes any possibility that someone was saved because they did something like accept Christ, or believe in Christ, or because they said the sinner's prayer, or because they went forward on an altar call, or because of anything else that they did. No, true salvation is 100% the work of God alone by election, and the recipient of true salvation is completely passive in the matter. That is what the Greek language of this verse is telling us. The fact that the earthly churches in the world of our day are full of people who think they were or are being saved because they did or are doing this or that clearly reveals that the churches are full of unsaved people who are following false gospels.

Indeed, if you believe that you were saved because of something you did, even if you say that you just believed to become saved, you may not be saved at all. Even just believing can be a work! We can see this because the Bible speaks of faith or belief in terms like the work of faith. For instance, we read in 1Thessalonians 1,

1Th 1:3 Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father .

And again, we read,

2Th 1:11 Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power ...

Yes, the Bible teaches that by grace through faith we are saved. It reads,

Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God :
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast .

Nevertheless, we are told that this faith which saves us is a gift of God. It is not something we already possess before we are saved and can then exercise to become saved; it is given to us when we are saved as a gift. But then apparently when we exercise this gift of faith, it becomes a work, which must be why 1st and 2nd Thessalonians spoke of the work of faith.

In other words, we are saved by God gifting to us faith and that heavenly faith given actually saves us before we do work in exercising that faith to believe. Thus, there are many people who think they are saved because they believe, but their faith is a believing that comes from their flesh and not from the true gift of God or heavenly faith that is imparted not by the flesh, but by the Holy Spirit. Only the elect have been given heavenly faith by the Holy Spirit; the rest are exercising their natural faith in the flesh, given to them by natural birth and not by the supernatural spiritual birth given only to the elect by the Holy Spirit.

Now, our verse continues in that this great sign or wonder in heaven that the Apostle John saw in his vision, namely a woman, which is the Church, clothed (saved) with the Sun, which is Christ, has the moon under her feet. What does the moon represent? We read,

Ge 1:16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also .

The greater light to rule the day, of course, refers to the sun while the lesser light to rule the night refers to the moon. As we learned previously in our study, the sun symbolizes Christ, and in that He rules over the day symbolizes that He rules over the kingdom of light. And, if the sun is a picture of Christ ruling over the kingdom of light, then the moon must be a picture of Satan who rules over the kingdom of night or darkness. Thus, we can see how the moon can symbolize Satan himself.

Yet, the moon can also symbolize the law of God, for just as the moon naturally reflects the sun in the night, so also does the law of God naturally reflects the Son of God in the night (the law reveals that all are sinners in darkness and so need the Son of God, Christ, the light). We can further see that the moon symbolizes the law of God in a verse such as Jeremiah 31 where we read,

Jer 31:35 Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name . . .

Notice that it is the Lord who gives the ordinances of the moon by night. The word ordinances can just as well be translated as laws. So, it is the Lord who gives the laws of the moon by night. And what are the laws of the moon by night? Why, they are the laws of God. Thus, we can begin to see how the moon can symbolize the law of God.

So, the moon can symbolize Satan or the law of God, or both. In the context of the verse that we are looking at, which says, And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a w ife clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet , the moon can symbolize both Satan and the law because in that the moon is said to be under her feet means that the wife who symbolizes the Church stands on top of the moon. And, in the Bible, for the Church to stand on top of both Satan and the law of God means that they have conquered them both and stand on them victorious.

The Churches victory, of course, took place at the cross where Christ conquered Satan and death by dying and then rising from the dead to win back from Satan an eternal people for Himself (the Church), and where the law was conquered in that it could no longer condemn the people of Christ (the Church) for their sins, for Christ died for their sins in their place to fulfill the requirement of the law, which said, the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Yes, the Church stands victorious over death and Satan, and the law through the atoning work of Jesus Christ, their Lord.

But now, we read that upon her head [upon the head of the woman, the Church] a crown of twelve stars. Since we read in Ephesians 5: 23 , For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church , we know that Christ, therefore, is the head of the wife, the Church, and so, on Christ who is the head of the wife is a crown of twelve stars, which symbolizes Christ's rule or kingship over the fullness of His people. The number 12 symbolizes fullness (see Bible number 12 ), and the stars symbolize the people of God or Christ, namely the elect.

We can see that the stars symbolize the elect by searching the Bible and comparing scripture with scripture as we should always do to come to truth. First, remember when we learned in Revelation 1 that the seven stars in the right hand of Christ were the seven churches. We read in Revelation 1: 16,

Re 1:16 And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength .

And then, in Revelation 1:20, we were taught that the seven stars are angels of the seven churches. There we read,

Re 1:20 The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches .

Thus, the stars are the angels, and the word angels can be translated as messengers, of the churches. And who are the messengers of the churches but the elect in those churches. Thus, we see that stars symbolize the elect.

There is also another pathway by which we can see that the stars are the elect. When we search further in the Bible, we read in Genesis 15,

4 And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him [Abram], saying, this shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir .
5 And he brought him [Abraham} forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be .

In other words, the stars of heaven are being compared to being the seed of Abram. We see this also in Genesis 22 where we read,

15 And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time ,
16 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son :

17 That 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 ;
18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice .

Notice how Abraham's seed here is compared to being as the stars of the heaven. That is, the stars of heaven represent the seed of Abraham. Yet, who is the seed of Abraham? We discover the answer to this in Galatians 3:16 where we read,

Ga 3:16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, and to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ .

So, we are told by this verse that the seed of Abraham is Christ. But then, we also read in Galatians 3:29,

Ga 3:29 And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise .

So, Christ is the seed of Abraham, and those who belong to Christ - who are all those who were saved in Christ by May 21, 2011 - are Abraham's seed as well.

Thus, now we can conclude as to the meaning to the stars of the crown on the head of the wife, the head of the wife being Christ: the stars represent the seed of Abraham, wh o are all those who are saved in Christ Jesus, namely the elect.

CONCLUSION

We looked at only one verse in this study, which reads,

1 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 : {wonder: or, sign }

What we learned is that this great sign in heaven, which was a woman - better translated as wife - clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars represents the eternal Church of Christ in heaven who are eternally clothed (saved) by Christ as represented by being clothed with the sun who is Christ, and they have the moon under their feet to reveal that they have conquered both Satan and the law of God through the death and resurrection of Christ. The law of God (symbolized by the moon) was conquered because through the death of Christ, the sins of the eternal Church, the elect only, were paid for, Christ taking on their sins and dying in their place to satisfy the law which says the wages of sin is death. And Satan (also symbolized by the moon) was overcome because a chosen remnant that Satan once had dominion over through having deceived Eve who encouraged Adam who then knowingly sinned to put the entire human race under Satan's rule were won back to Christ who was the 2nd Adam that was not deceived by Satan, and who paid for the sins of His chosen remnant, the elect, so that everyone who is descended from Christ through spiritual rebirth in Him by the Holy Spirit is now ruled over by Christ and not Satan.

And through the resurrection of Christ, the elect too will be resurrected with new incorruptible bodies to live with Christ in a new heaven and earth, created out of the ashes of this earth after it is destroyed by fire. The death and resurrection of Christ also ensures that all sinners including Satan and his minions will suffer the same eternal damnation that Christ suffered by being cast into the Lake of fire to be destroyed forever on the Last Day of Judgment Day that we are now in.

Finally, the eternal Church of Christ who have conquered and are victorious over Satan and the law have upon their head, who we learned in Christ, a crown of twelve stars to signify that Christ is crowned king of the fullness of His eternal Church, the elect, which are signified by the 12 stars on His crown.

Now one thing that we will find in our studies of Revelation 12 to come is that this vision in verse 1 that we just concluded, pictures the beginning of the New Testament period before Christ was born in the flesh and before he had died for His eternal Church. Nevertheless, we pictured in our verse the eternal Church of Christ in existence and saved before Christ was even born in the flesh to die for his eternal Church. How could His eternal saved Church already exist and be saved before He actually went to the cross to save them? The Lord willing, we will answer this question in our next study.

Now, until the next time, may Yahweh bless thee, and keep thee: Yahweh make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: Yahweh lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace (Numbers 6:24-26).