Revelation 12 - 4-6 - Satan destroys National Israel forever and almost destroys the Christ Child-And God cares for His Church

Revelation 12:4-6
Satan spiritually destroys National Israel forever and almost destroys the Christ child. And God cares for His Church!
By Brother Mike (2-5-22; 60 minutes)

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 .

INTRODUCTION

In this study of Revelation 12:4-6, we will learn what it refers to when we are told that Satan's tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth, and what it refers to when we are told that the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. We will also see what it refers to when we are told that 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.

And finally, we will discover what it means that 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.

May the Christ child who we gave birth to pay for our sins, and who Satan almost destroyed at His birth, and who ascended to God to be king over all, and who is now ruling all the nations with a rod of iron, and who has had great care over His eternal Church, the elect, bless this study.

Revelation 12:4:

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 .

In this verse, we first read, And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven. More literally, it reads, And his tail is dragging the third [part] of the stars of heaven. It is important to understand that his tail drew [not] the third part of the stars of heaven at some point in the past as the verb drew of the King James Version makes it sound, but this verb literally translated into the Indicative Mood, Present Tense and Active Voice of the Greek as is dragging means that his tail (the tail of the dragon, Satan) is presently and ongoingly dragging the third [part] of the stars of heaven at the time around the end of the Old Testament Period which is the time period being described in the context of our verse.

So, Satan is described as presently and continuously dragging the third part of the stars of heaven, which must mean that Satan is in some way controlling the third part of the stars of heaven; otherwise, he would not be dragging them by his tail.

But just how is this dragon, Satan, controlling the third part of the stars of heaven by dragging them with his tail? To begin to answer this question, we need to know what the tail of Satan that is dragging them represents, and to discover what a tail can symbolize in the Bible. To do this, we need to look up the word tail everywhere in the Bible because the Bible must be allowed to be its own dictionary to define its own terms. We can't just take a literal method of interpretation like so many of the churches take in our day, and just conclude that the word tail means a literal tail, or we could come up with so many false doctrines like they have, especially with respect to end times. No, rather, we must look in the Bible to see how God defines his terms, and use the Bible to interpret the Bible, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. And since we are told that the law, which is the scripture, is spiritual in Romans 7:14, we know that our method of interpretation should be one of comparing scripture with scripture and looking for the spiritual meaning. As we are told in 1Corinthians 2,

12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God .
13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual .

14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned .
15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man .

From these verses, God is making it clear that just the literal method of interpretation of scripture cannot be correct, for the natural man can understand and discern the literal. But we are told that the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. It is the spiritual that the natural man cannot understand, and the Bible is a spiritual book written by the Holy Spirit through men, which is why the natural man cannot understand it. You cannot just read the Bible like any other book, you must first have the Holy Spirit by having been eternally saved, and then compare the spiritual with the spiritual, the scriptures with the scriptures, defining scripture by scripture, and not just look for the literal meaning, but also looking for the deeper spiritual meaning, which is often the more important meaning that God wants us to see because God is a Spirit and, therefore, spiritual by His very nature. To see the spiritual, then, is to see things more like God sees and is, and it is by seeing the spiritual in God's word that we come to know the things that are freely given to us of God. But if you were not spiritually saved by having been given the Holy Spirit by May 21, 2011, you will never come to spiritual truth by reading the Bible because on that date, salvation came to an end, and it is a spiritual book, and you are not spiritual unless you have truly been saved by God's Spirit.

Nevertheless, unsaved people without the Spirit should still be encouraged to read the Bible because they can still learn more truth than from any other book, but chances are, being dead in their sins, they will have little or no interest in the Bible because it shines light in the darkness to reveal their sins, which is the last thing they want to have to face. Indeed, even as Adam and Eve hid from God after falling into sin (Genesis 3:8), so also does all of unsaved mankind now run and hide from God by not reading His word. Yet if they do read it, they come up with all sorts of false religions and teachings to unconsciously hide from the truth but make themselves feel better.

Well, if you want to learn more on the basics of bible study, I encourage you to click on the following link to read First Principles of Bible Study . But let's now look up the word tail in the Bible to see how God defines tail. When we do, there is one verse that stands out from them all, and this verse reads,

Isa 9:15 The ancient and honourable, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail .

Thus, God makes this one easy: the tail is the False Prophet. And since Satan, whose tail is the False Prophet, declares his false words through many human false prophets to get his message across into this realm, in that the third part of the stars of heaven are being dragged along by Satan, the False Prophet, means that this third part of the stars of heaven are somehow being dragged along by Satan through the false declarations or teachings of all his human false prophets.

And exactly how the third part of the stars of heaven are being dragged along by the declarations or teachings of all the false prophets, we will more clearly see after we discover just what this third part of the stars of heaven is. When we look up the term third part in the Bible, we read in Zechariah 13,

Zec 13:9 And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God .

Here, the third part which is brought through the fire and refined as silver and tried as gold are obviously God's people because God says, It is my people. We also see that the third part refers to God's people in Ezekiel 5 where Ezekiel is instructed to cut his hair and divide it into three parts to typify what will happen to each of the three third parts of God's people who have come under God's judgment. We read,

Ezekiel 5:1 And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barber's razor, and cause it to pass upon thine head and upon thy beard: then take thee balances to weigh, and divide the hair .
2 Thou shalt burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled: and thou shalt take a third part, and smite about it with a knife: and a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them .

Notice that God's people are divided into three third parts so that we can know that all of God's people can be called a third part no matter in which of the three third parts they are found.

So, we can conclude as we did in Zechariah 13:9 that a third part symbolizes the people of God, and, of course, the people of God in the Old Testament were the whole nation of Israel, the corporate Church (Acts 7:38) until the corporate Church became only all those who claimed a relationship with Jesus Christ, who, in the new dispensation after the cross, became all the local Christian churches and congregations around the world, the new corporate Church. After the cross, no longer could the whole nation of Israel be called the corporate Church or people of God, but only all the churches and congregations around the world that believed in Jesus Christ.

But focusing back on the meaning of the third part at the end of the Old Testament Period, we found that it referred to the people of God, which was then the whole nation of Israel. Yet we must remember that with God's people in the Bible, there is always an external representation of them, and there is an eternal representation of them whether in reference to the Old Testament people of God or the New Testament people of God. The external representation of God's people during the Old Testament was the entire nation of Israel, but the eternal representation of God's people during that time was only the elect themselves who were but a very small few among the external representation of the nation of Israel.

So, what I am getting at is that the third part can either refer to the external representation of God's people (the corporate Church which was the whole nation of Israel during the Old Testament period) or the eternal representation of God's people (the eternal Church which is the elect themselves). Exactly which one is being focused upon must be determined by the context in which it is used. In our case where the tail of the dragon, Satan, is ongoingly dragging the third part of the stars of heaven near the end of the Old Testament period, the third part must be in reference to national Israel as a whole because it is difficult to see how the false prophets of Satan (symbolized by Satan's tail) could be dragging, and then cast down to the earth, the very elect of the Old Testament who are ruled over by God Himself who is infinitely more powerful than Satan. No, rather, until the end of the Old Testament period at the cross when the veil of the temple was rent in two, the false prophets of Satan were dragging the nation of Israel as a whole whose people were the stars of heaven because they were given the law and prophets to shine forth the light of Yahweh.

Now, the next part of our verse tells us that Satan's tail (his false prophets) was not only dragging the third part of the stars of heaven, which we concluded was national Israel, but it (Satan's tail, his false prophets) cast them (national Israel, the stars of heaven) to the earth. To be cast to the earth means that the light of its stars could no longer be seen by the world. That is, near the end of the Old Testament period, the light of national Israel was cast down by all Satan's false prophets who so distorted the true meaning of the scriptures that when the true Messiah that all the law and prophets pointed to finally came to earth,

the nation of Israel as a whole didn't even recognize him as their Messiah. And this is why Christ cursed national Israel forever in the fig tree parable which reads,

Mt 21:18 Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered .
19 And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward forever. And presently the fig tree withered away . {a fig tree: Gr. one fig tree }

That the fig tree in this parable is representative of the nation of Israel can begin to be seen in a verse like Hosea 9:10 where we read,

10 I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the first ripe in the fig tree [the nation of Israel] at her first time: but they went to Baalpeor, and separated themselves unto that shame; and their abominations were according as they loved .

We can further see the fig tree to be in reference to the nation of Israel in a parable such as that found in Luke 13:

6 He spake also this parable; A certain man [Christ] had a fig tree [the nation of Israel] planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none . 7 Then said he [Christ] unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years [the approximate amount of years that Jesus ministered to national Israel on earth] I come seeking fruit on this fig tree [national Israel], and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground ?

In this parable, Jesus speaks of the nation of Israel as being the fig tree that he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. This is a clear picture of Jesus coming to His own; that is, to the nation of Israel when He came to earth the first time, but His own received Him not. We read of this in the gospel of John 1:11 where it states, He came unto his own [National Israel], and his own received him not. So, we know with all certainty that the fig tree is symbolic of the nation of Israel, so when Christ cursed the fig tree in Matthew 21:19 that we previously read and said, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward forever, we know that He cursed the national of Israel forever. We also see Christ curse the nation of Israel forever in Mark 11 where we read,

13 And seeing a fig tree [National Israel] afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find anything thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet. 14 And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter forever. And his disciples heard it .

What all this means is that the nation of Israel will never bear fruit again, which means they will never come to believe in Jesus as their Messiah contrary to the popular false teaching of all the nation of Israel becoming saved in the near future (they come up with this false teaching by a misunderstanding of Romans 11:26 which says, And all Israel shall be saved, by misinterpreting all Israel to be the whole nation of Israel when it is properly interpreted to be all spiritual Israel or the remnant of people from every nation, including the nation of Israel, that were saved by May 21, 2011).

Although Israel, having become a nation once again in 1948, appeared like they (the fig tree) would come to bear fruit or to believe in Christ as their Messiah (the fig tree put forth leaves) in fulfillment of the fig tree parable of Matthew 24:32-33, they actually never will. They were simply used as a sign of the end. There is no golden age for the nation of Israel yet to come when they all believe in Christ, but only wrath. As the scripture declares, for the wrath is come upon them [the nation of Israel] to the uttermost (1Thes. 2:16). No wonder the nation of Israel is constantly at war and suffers so much turmoil in the world today. And just like Christ taught that they would never bear fruit again, so it has been: they still reject Jesus as their Messiah - the true fruit - and always will in complete fulfillment of scripture. The pre-millennial dispensational viewpoint of a glorious and massive conversion of the Nation of Israel along with a literal 1000 year reign of Christ from Jerusalem is simply false (see Revelation 20, part 1 and part 2 ).

And now, returning to Revelation 12:4, when it states, And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth, we can understand what it means: it means that by the end of the Old Testament period, Satan's false prophets were so dragging the nation of Israel along by distorting the Holy Scriptures and teaching Israel false things, that the stars or lights of the nation of Israel that pointed to the coming Messiah were cast to the earth (their lights were put out) so that the nation rejected the very Messiah that their law and prophets foretold. The nation of Israel, as a result, were cursed forever to never bear fruit again.

Thus, we can see why Satan was described in verse 3 of Revelation 12 as having 7 heads and 10 horns; that is, having perfect rule and complete power near the end of the Old Testament period.

But now, the second part of verse 4 of Revelation 12 says,

4 ... and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born .

Although the dragon here is Satan that stood before the woman that is the Old Testament Church which was ready to give birth, for to devour her Christ child as soon as it was born, I think most of us know how this all worked out in history, but in case there are those who do not, it refers to when Satan, the dragon, worked through King Herod to try and kill the Christ-child when He was born to Mary and Joseph. We read about this in Matthew 2 where we read,

1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem ,
2 Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him .
3 When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him .
4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born .
5 And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet ,

6 And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel . {rule: or, feed }
7 Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared .
8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also .
9 When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was .
10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy .
11 And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh . {presented: or, offered }
12 And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way .
13 And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him .
14 When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt :
15 And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son .

16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men .

Thus, when our verse says, and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born, this all worked out in history by Satan working through King Herod to try to kill the Christ child in Bethlehem when He was born, but Joseph, the husband of Mary who bore the man child, was warned in a dream to flee to Egypt with the Christ-child before Herod could kill all the babies that he did from 2 years old and under in Bethlehem just after the Christ-child had been taken into Egypt.

But now, we ask the question, if it was Mary who actually gave birth to the man child, in what way did the eternal Old Testament Church give birth to the man child? First, let us recognize that Mary was a part of the eternal Old Testament Church, and so when she gave birth, it could be argued that the eternal Old Testament Church gave birth. And, remember, the eternal Old Testament Church, which included Mary, needed the Christ child to be born into the world to pay for their sins to validate and ensure the promises given to them (Contrary to the many false teachings of the Catholic Church, Mary was not immaculately conceived as proclaimed by Pope Pius IX in 1834 AD ). So, in a real sense, it was the sins of the eternal Old Testament Church that gave birth to the man child.

In fact, we could say that it was the sins of all God's elect, the eternal Church which consists of both the Old and New Testament elect, that gave birth to Christ, for unless He was born into the world to pay for their sins, and then rise from the dead for them, they could not have been eternally saved.

Revelation 12:5:

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 .

Here, we first read, And she brought forth a man child. The man child, of course, refers to the Christ child that she brought forth, and she refers to the eternal Old Testament Church that brought forth the man child. Thus, it was the eternal Old Testament Church that brought forth the Christ child. As was stated just previously, the eternal Old Testament Church figuratively brought forth the Christ child in the sense that it was all their sins that required the Christ child to be born and then die as a sacrifice for their sins so that they could be eternally saved, but the eternal Old Testament Church also literally brought for the Christ child because Mary who was a part of the eternal Old Testament Church gave birth to the man child.

Notice again that our verse says that she brought forth a man child. It doesn't say that she brought forth God, but she brought forth a man child. Clearly, the focus is on that she brought forth a man and not that she brought forth God. This is due to the fact that God has always been;

He has never had a beginning, nor could He, but the human nature that He took onto Himself did have a beginning when born to Mary. So, Mary should never have been called the Mother of God in 431 AD at the council of Ephesus by the Catholic Church (that is blasphemy) because that is not possible. But she was the mother of Jesus as a man in His human nature, and this is why our scripture says that she brought forth a man child and not God Himself. Indeed, Jesus was God, but He was also a man. And it was the man or human nature of Christ that Mary gave birth to. The God nature of Christ was never given birth to because it has always been and always will be. He, the Creator and Sovereign Almighty God, has never had a beginning. He is from eternity past to eternity future. God without beginning; God without end, amen.

Now, our verse continues by saying that this man child that the eternal Old Testament Church brought forth, was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. More accurately, according to the Greek, this man child is about to be ruling all the nations with a rod of iron. Most the churches of our day who hold to the false premillennial dispensational persuasion believe that after the Great Tribulation, which they falsely think hasn't already taken place, this period when Christ rules with a rod of iron will be during the literal 1000-year reign of Christ from Jerusalem, so they see it as a period of benevolent rule when Satan has been bound in the bottomless pit, and the world is being ruled perfectly by Christ (see the falsehood of this teaching also in Revelation 20, part 1 and then part 2 ). But this cannot be! When we look up the term rod of iron everywhere in the Bible, letting the Bible define its own terms ...

and comparing scripture with scripture as we should, we find that ruling with a rod of iron has nothing to do with benevolent rule, but it has to do with Christ bringing judgment against the world. For instance, we read,

Psalm 2:6 Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion . {set: Heb. anointed } {upon ... : Heb. upon Zion, the hill of my holiness }
7 I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee . {the decree: or, for a decree }
8 Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.
9 Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel .

And we read,

Re 2:27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father .

And again, we read in Revelation 19:11-15 ,

Revelation 19:11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war .
12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself .
13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God .

14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean .
15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God .

Thus, we see that when Christ rules with a rod of Iron, He is bringing judgment against the world so that this period when Christ rules with a rod of iron must be Judgment Day, consisting of many days, that we are now in ever since Judgment Day began on May 21, 2011 (see the above passage of Revelation 19:14 and 15 in part 3 ). For more reasons why Dispensational Premillennialism is false, study Revelation 20, part 1 and then part 2 .

Now, moving on, the last part of Revelation 12:5 reads, and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. That is, the eternal Old Testament Church's child that had been born through Mary was caught up unto God, and to His throne. This is obviously referring to the ascension of Christ when after He had been crucified and rose from the dead, and then spent 40 days on earth with His disciples, He ascended up to God in heaven, and to His throne as the king. We read of the ascension of Christ in Acts 1:1-11 where we read,

1 The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach ,
2 Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen :

3 To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God :
4 And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me . {being : ... or, eating together }
5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence .
6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel ?
7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power .
8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth . {power ... : or, the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon you }
9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight .
10 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel ;
11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven .

Thus, Jesus was taken up to God in heaven 40 days after He was resurrected.

But our verse also says that He was taken up to His thrown. Why does it say this? Well, His thrown is where He sits to rule, so it appears to be telling us that Christ is now the King over everything, which reminds us of Ephesians 1,

19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power , {his mighty power: Gr. the might of his power }
20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places ,
21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come ...

Revelation 12:6:

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 .

In this verse, we first read, And the woman fled into the wilderness. In the first instance, the woman who fled into the wilderness was Mary as she fled from Bethlehem into Egypt with her Christ child before king Herod attempted to kill the child by killing all the babies 2 years old and under. But, in the greater instance, Mary was a type or figure of the eternal Church. Whether called the eternal Old Testament or eternal New Testament Church, it is the same eternal Church, the elect, only at different times in history.

The eternal Church before the cross could be called the eternal Old Testament Church as we have done, and after the cross, it could be called the eternal New Testament Church. But, from now on, we will simply the matter and just call the woman the eternal Church whether it is the time before the cross, or the time after the cross. The eternal Old Testament Church and the eternal New Testament Church are the same church, which is why as we get further into Revelation 12, we will see that the woman is the same woman during the Old Testament and the New Testament periods

Now, we are told that the woman [the eternal Church, the elect] fled into the wilderness. In the case of Mary, she fled into Egypt to protect her man child, the Christ, from king Herod. So, the wilderness could be defined as being Egypt because the wilderness where Mary fled was Egypt. And since Egypt in the Bible normally typifies the world that is in bondage to Satan and sin - for instance, the Egypt of the Old Testament from which God brought out His people by the hand of Moses to lead them to the promised land of Canaan was but a type or figure of God saving His eternal people, the elect, out of the world (that Egypt typified) by the hand of Christ (who Moses typified) to lead them to the promised land of the eternal new heaven and earth (that the land of Canaan was but only a type of) - we can see how the wilderness can typify the world as well. Furthermore, just as God's Old Testament people had to make it through the wilderness and be tested of God before they could enter the promised land (read Exodus), so also God's eternal people, the elect or eternal Church,

have had to make it through this world (typified as a wilderness) and be tested of God before they have been able to go to their promised land, heaven. Thus, we can see how that the word wilderness symbolizes this world.

And there is much more that could be presented to show that the word wilderness often symbolizes this world because the word wilderness can also be translated as desert, and a desert is a place that has almost no water just as this world has had almost no spiritual water of the true gospel or teachings of Christ, and ever since May 21, 2011, the spiritual water of salvation can no longer even be found as the Lord brings judgment against all the churches and the entire world during Judgment Day that we are now in. So, spiritually speaking, this world is a desert or wilderness and always has been. And much more could be said, but it is fairly common knowledge that the wilderness represents the world, so enough has been said.

But now, returning to our verse, when it says, And the woman fled into the wilderness, we know it means that the eternal Church, the elect, fled into the world. And why did they flee into the world? In the case of Mary who but typified the eternal Church, she fled from Bethlehem to Egypt, Egypt being a type of the world, to save her child from the evil man, king Herod. But in the case of the eternal Church, the elect, she fled into the world, we read, where she has a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. And as we had learned back in Revelation 11:3 , the 1,260 days symbolizes the entire Church Age from May 21 of 33 AD to May 21, 1988.

You see, whenever one of God's elect was saved during the Church Age, he or she was freed from bondage to sin and Satan, but then Satan sought to attack such a one by spirit(s), or through evil men, or even by the saved person's own remaining evil nature in the flesh, so that saved elect person would flee to a place in the world prepared by God for protection, support, nurturing, and to be spiritually fed. Normally, that place would be a local church or congregation where in the context of the Church Age, we were exhorted to not [forsake] the assembling of ourselves (Hebrews 10:25), and that assembling of ourselves was normally in a church. But after the Church Age ended on May 21, 1988, the assembling of ourselves was no longer to be in or under the authority of any church (see the real meaning to Hebrews 10:25 the real meaning to Hebrews 10:25 ), but only in like-minded Bible Study Groups outside of and not affiliated with any church whether locally, if possible, or over the internet, or just the assembling of ourself individually unto the Lord through our own Bible Study and reading, worship, and prayer with the help of God's true prophets and teachers over the internet or otherwise (if possible) who have come out of the churches in obedience to God's command, and who hold to the true gospel.

Anyway, when we read that the woman [the eternal Church] 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, it is referring to the entire New Testament Church Age wherein God had a place in the world prepared for His eternal Church, the elect, normally in a local church where they could be supported, encouraged ...

strengthened, and protected, and notice what our verse says: that they should feed her there. Who is they? Well, the first word preceding they in our verse that the word they could be referring to is God, for remember, it reads, the woman [the eternal Church] fled into the wilderness [the world], where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there ... Thus, the word they appears to refer back to the word God in which case the word they would have to refer back to the they of God, which would be the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, the word they could possibly refer all the way back to the they of the woman, which would then be referring to they of the eternal Church, which would be the elect who would be feeding the eternal Church - the elect feeding the elect. Whatever the case, whether it be God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, or the elect who fed the eternal Church in the world during the Church Age, God was ultimately behind it all. Therefore, the best translation is that God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is the they who fed the eternal Church, the elect, at that place in the world prepared of God during the Church Age. And now, we can conclude that our verse reads like this:

6 And the woman [the eternal Church, the elect] fled into the wilderness [the world], where she hath a place prepared of God [normally the local church], that they [God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit] should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days [during the entire Church Age from May 21 of 33 AD until May 21, 1988 when the Church Age ended] .

CONCLUSION

During this study, we looked at Revelation 12:4-6, and in verse 4, we learned that the dragon's tail which drew the third part of the stars of heaven and did cast them to the earth is a picture of Satan (the dragon) whose false prophets (Satan's tail) were ongoingly dragging along the nation of Israel (in control of the third part) and did put out the lights of the people of national Israel (cast the stars of heaven to the earth) by deceiving them with false teachings and distortions of the Holy Scriptures. National Israel was so deceived by the time that Jesus was born, they could not even recognize who Jesus was, and so they were cursed by Jesus to bear no fruit forever. Thus, the nation of Israel will never come to a time, contrary to the false teaching of Dispensational Premillennialism in many of the churches of our day, when the whole nation of Israel will bear fruit to come to believe in Christ as their Messiah, Lord, and Savior. Only a remnant of the nation of Israel will ever believe just like in all the other nations of the world, and this all already took place by May 21, 2011, when salvation for anyone else came to an end.

But, not only did we learn in verse 4 that Satan put out the lights of the nation of Israel forever near the end of the Old Testament period so that the nation to this day even still rejects Christ as their Messiah and always will, but we also learned that Satan stood before the eternal Church (the woman) which was ready to give birth, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. We saw this worked out in history when Satan, through king Herod, almost killed the Christ child when the man child was born to Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem.

But Joseph was warned in a dream to flee to Egypt with the Christ child before Herod was able to kill all the babies 2 years and under in Bethlehem. So, the Christ child escaped from Satan and Herod.

Then, in verse 5, we read, 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. By this verse, we learned that the eternal Church, the elect (the woman) brought forth the Christ child (the man child) in the sense that the Christ had to be born into this world to pay for their sins. So figuratively, it was the whole eternal Church, the elect, that gave birth to the Christ Child. But the eternal Church also literally and physically gave birth to the Christ child through Mary who was a part of and typified the eternal Church. And when our verse 4 says that this Christ child is about to [not was to] rule all the nations with a rod of iron, we learned that the time when Christ would rule the nations with a rod of iron is during Judgment Day ever since May 21, 2011 because ruling with a rod has to do with bringing judgment upon all the nations, which Christ is doing right now by having removed any possibility for eternal salvation from them and by removing His restraint from the wicked hearts of mankind until when on the Last Day of Judgment Day that we are now in, all the nations of unsaved people will be cast into the Lake of Fire forever. This is all that being ruled over by a rod of iron has to do with! Woe unto the nations, for Christ is now ruling over you with a rod of iron!

But now, the last part of verse 5 said, and her child was caught up unto God, and to His throne,

and we saw that this happened in history when Christ literally ascended up into heaven 40 days after He was resurrected in His disciple's presence who were witnesses to the event. And by ascending into heaven to His throne taught us that Christ is now king over everything. As we read in Ephesians 1,

Then finally, in verse 6 of Revelation 12, which reads, 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, we learned that this referred to the entire Church Age from May 21 of 33 AD to the end of the Church Age on May 21, 1988 (symbolized by the 1,260 days) when God always provided a place in the world (normally a local church) for His eternal Church (the woman) that fled from Satan to be protected, strengthened, supported, and encouraged, that they [God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit] should feed her there by teaching the elect the word of God. Praise our Lord for His great care over His elect, the eternal Church, the woman.