Colin Badger - The Continuity of Babylon - Class 5 - Revelation 12-17 (Part 2)

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   And now we’ll be pleased to call call upon our brother Colin Badger, who will give us the his fifth class and the title of the 5th class is Observations on Revelations Chapter 12 and 17, Part 2. Mother Badger.

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   Morning brothers and sisters and young people. A little recap from yesterday before, we were trying to assess the meaning of the symbols and the events in Revelation Chapter 12. Yesterday, we first considered Revelation Chapter 11. We feel that it’s useful to take a look at that chapter prior to making a careful assessment of those events in Revelation 12. We believe that yesterday in Revelation 12, excuse me, Revelation 11, we saw indications of a concept that we met in our earlier studies in Daniel that we also met in Second Thessalonians Chapter 2.

3. 1:00

   The concept of the false being an imitation of the true. We believe that there are hints of that in those early details of Revelation Chapter 11. Then we went to the other side of Revelation 12. In Revelation Chapter 13, we met two beasts, the sea beast and the Earth beast. With both of these, we found that there were terms used that in scripture have strong association with apostasy.

4. 1:28

   The sea beast, for example, is introduced to us with a banner as it were. Over top of that beast the term blasphemy. And we noted yesterday that the term blasphemy seems to be used in a very specific sense in the Book of Revelation. Except for Revelation chapter 2 and verse 9, every reference to blasphemy in the Book of Revelation is in relation to the beast system.

5. 1:58

   And most significantly, that one exception in Revelation 2 and verse 9 refers to blasphemy in conjunction with those who claim to be Jews but are not Jews. They are people who make a pretense of being Israel, but they are not Israel. They don’t belong to the Ecclesia, they belong to the synagogue of Satan. Then we looked at the Earth Beast, and perhaps that’s where we can see the.

6. 2:29

   Truth of this. Concept most clearly brought out where following on from the dragon scene of Revelation 12, we noticed that this dragon has continuity as it manifests itself not only through the sea beast as John tells us in the opening of Revelation 13, where the dragon gives the sea beast its power. When we come to the earth beast in the second part of Revelation 13, John first views a creature that, to all intents and purposes must have reminded him of the Lord Jesus Christ. To start with.

7. 3:06

   For earlier in Revelation, the Master has been pictured symbolically as the Lamb. So he sees a lamb. But John tells us it wasn’t until this beast opened his mouth that he spake as a dragon. Thus the dragon of Revelation chapter 12 has not disappeared. He is getting power to the sea beast in its face. He is furthermore, continuing to give. Power and force.

8. 3:36

   To the Earth beast, the dragon has not gone. His appearance has changed. His obviousness has become more and more difficult to identify. He is covert rather than being apparently a dragon. Upon first picturing concept of the false of the truth, we notice how the Lord Jesus. Christ, of course. Used a similar figure to that of Revelation 13 with the Earth based when he talked about apostasy being pictured as wolves in sheep’s clothing.

9. 4:14

   The Apostle Paul, when he spoke to the Ephesian elders in the Acts, warned them that after his departure grievous wolves would enter in among the flock. Then there are references in conjunction with the dragon after chapter 12, which show that its later development does result in apostasy associations that prior to chapter 12 there. Are also.

10. 4:38

    Hints in Revelation 11 of this concept of the false imitating the truth. That whole concept surrounds Revelation 12 and we believe must be borne in mind before we can be sure we’ve got the right interpretation of the details. In Revelation 12, it issues a caution that though there may be certain things going on in Revelation 12 that seem to be reflections of the truth, there might also be there too, a deception. Similar to what we see the dragon going through in its later phases, such as with the Earth Beast, there may be something going on in Revelation 12 that looks very much. Like the true but.

11. 5:18

    It may be an imitation of the false. We have to look cautiously, therefore, at those details, and we have good good warrant to do so, knowing how the dragon goes on in 13 to take on this guise. Furthermore, brothers and sisters, we see from our studies earlier yesterday that the man of sin must be considered in this context too, for the details used to describe the man of sin in Second Thessalonians Chapter 2. Have word links and idea links with the beast and Daniel and the beasts in Revelation.

12. 5:54

    For if you recall in your notes, we have a chart in that booklet where we list for you, and we went through this yesterday,

13. 6:04

    close to 15 descriptions of the man of sin, which are also. Appropriated to the beast. System once we get into Revelation, the same Greek. Words. The same concepts associated with the man of sin and the beast system. Emphasis, especially being placed on the mouth that speaks great things in Daniel chapter seven, with the little horn, the speeches, and the pride and arrogance that come forth, obviously from the man of sin who thinks he’s God sitting in the temple of God.

14. 6:37

    And then in Revelation chapter 13, the beast that emerges as a conglomerate of the various beasts in Daniel 7, Revelation shows that it has a body that’s a leopard. Parts that are drawn from the other beasts, as we said in Daniel 7. But it’s mouth is drawn attention to. It has the mouth of a lion, and of the various beasts in Revelation 7 the lion is identifiable with Babylon, equivalent to the gold part of the image, to the stump and Daniel 4 around which the iron and brass are encased. The mouth was the mouth of a lion, like that of Babylon. It was a babylonish mouth in that sense, then. Furthermore, the earth beast is described with attention to its mouth.

15. 7:22

    It’s from its mouth that John determines that it is still the dragon inside, and its mouth is described as speaking things against the Most High. Blasphemy is associated with both these beasts. Therefore, we have good warrant as we look at Chapter 12 to be cautious in determining whether this is the true being portrayed or whether it’s an extremely good copy of the truth we noticed.

16. 7:51

    If we now go to Chapter 12 again by way of review, details within this chapter that should alert us to the possibility that the false is imitating the true. As in chapter 13, where there was emphasis on the deception of the Dragons working through the Sea Beast Manifestation and through the Earth Beast Manifestation, there is Dragon Assault.

17. 8:15

    There is deception associated with the dragon here in chapter 12, verse 9. The influence is deceiving. Furthermore, in chapter 12 there are events here which on the surface truly appear to be very grand and wonderful events of the truth. For example, when the dragon is thrust out and Michael is elevated, verse 10 we read, I heard a loud voice saying, In heaven now has come salvation and strengthen the Kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ. For the accuser of our brethren is cast down which accused them before our God, day and night.

18. 8:53

    It seems that this is an acclamation of the beginning of the Kingdom of God. Salvation is proclaimed. The Kingdom of God is believed to be set up now in process, and the stress is immediate. Now has come salvation. However, however, as we go further beyond that acclamation, do we see the signs of the Kingdom of God being set up?

19. 9:17

    In fact, we don’t, For we read in verse 12 immediately after these events, simultaneous to the acclamation now has come the Kingdom of our God. Instead we find woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea, for the devil has come down unto you. The devil is now released. Furthermore, this devilish dragon pursues the woman as we read in verse 13 and 14, and he drives her into the wilderness.

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    More than that, in verse 17 the dragon begins a campaign of persecution and he makes war with the remnant of her seed. Is this what we would expect to be the events after the acclamation that now has come? The Kingdom of God now has come salvation. Are these the events that we would expect to be ushering in the Millennium?

21. 10:08

    Hardly. And then we discovered that the Dragon’s life history continues. As we’ve already noted, he continues to give the motive power behind the Sea Beast in Revelation 13. He also is the force behind our earth beast here on the screen in verse 11. And as we pursue the rest of the Book of Revelation, we discovered that the dragon is still present as far as Revelation 20 and verse two. These are hardly the events that we would expect to be attending, the ushering in of the Kingdom of God, not prior to the Kingdom of God, but in fact after the Kingdom of God. After Michael, whoever he is has won an apparent victory. Whatever that is the false is it imitating the truth. Michael is exalted, we notice in Revelation 12 and the Saints are persecuted.

22. 10:59

    If Michael represents the Lord Jesus Christ is somewhat urge. It’s peculiar that upon the elevation of this Michael to a throne of victory, at the time when sin and the devil is finally destroyed or is at least subdued totally, the Saints, instead of being elevated and relieved of their problems, are persecuted even more so with the Lord Jesus Christ.

23. 11:23

    We know that when he attains his ultimate victory over the dragon, the dragon is not. Loosed. Rather, the dragon is destroyed and then bound for 1000 years. But that’s not what we find here in Revelation 12, upon the elevation of Michael to this throne in this heaven as it’s described. The devil is not bound.

24. 11:46

    He’s not destroyed. He’s released the very opposite of what we know to be the truth concerning Jesus Christ. Then there is warrant within chapter 12 from those details so far to have a strong suspicion that the concept of the false imitating the true, as hinted at in Chapter 11 as very obvious in Chapter 13. As the dragon continues its work. To see that perhaps in this chapter we have indeed the seeds of the same concept being developed around this dragon figure, then becomes more and more obvious, an imitation of the true in his final manifestations. I would like to pursue this just a little more, because we haven’t exhausted all these possible details for consideration in Revelation 12.

25. 12:33

    First, it has been urged by some recent expositors that this woman represents Israel, and that later on in Revelation 17 the city of Babylon represents Jerusalem in conjunction with Israel. It’s urged that Michael must represent Jesus Christ. There are certain associations in this chapter with the true, of course, which are urged as an indication that this is Christ and not some imitation.

26. 13:00

    I’d like to look at this just a little more closely. Could this concept of Israel in conjunction with this woman, and then finally with the city of Babylon in 17 really be the case? Well, first we notice in Revelation 12 verse one that this woman is clothed with the stars, the sun and the moon. And those who feel that this interpretation favors the woman representing Israel and Jesus being Michael will suggest that we go back to Genesis of course, and consider the fact that the sun, the moon, and the stars were given in a dream to Joseph, which of course is true, and that that was times. Of course, at that time the 12 stars had a bearing upon the 12 Suns on the tribes of Israel.

27. 13:45

    But once again we have to be cautious. For though that is indeed the initial association in Genesis with the 12 stars and the sun and the moon, as time went along in Israel’s history those symbols came to take on another meaning. Those symbols came to take on an apostate association. We say this when we look at passages in Scripture the deal with this concept, such as in Jeremiah and in the Kings, where the sun and the moon and the stars are worshipped by Israel. And the 12 signs of the Zodiac as it’s used in one of the marginal references in the kings are the subjects of apostate worship and adoration at the time of the captivity. As we’ve said in Jeremiah, there is a definite reference to Israel’s apostate adoration of the 12 stars of the sun and the moon.

28. 14:37

    So then there is once again need for caution, although initially the 12 Stars had that association with the 12 Suns. As we progress through. We find that they become associated with apostasy. They become the subjects of worship. The brazen serpent was a symbol to start with of God’s salvation in Israel. But by the time of Hezekiah it became a thing of brass.

29. 15:02

    The hush tan It had changed its associations in Israel. It had become apostasized. It had become an object of vain worship. So one needs to be cautious when one looks at those symbols, not. Just were their first. Jews in Israel’s history in the Bible. But what meanings were finally attached to them? How were they finally associated with Israel as time went along?

30. 15:25

    Since there is warrant in the environment of chapter 12, namely in 13 and in 11 for apostate associations, since they come out so clearly as the dragon manifests itself in its last stage after chapter 12, to be an ecclesiastical figure are at least an imitation of Christ like the Lamb, but in fact is not. We have good reason, when we look at Revelation 12 and verse one and see these stars and remember their associations with Joseph’s dream, to ask ourselves whether there is any other association in scripture besides. Was there a later development that gave those stars the sun and the moon another connection?

31. 16:05

    And indeed there was, and it amounted to apostasy, and that surely can’t be ignored in a context where apostate terms like blasphemy are used to describe this beast in his final manifestation. Need then for caution. Furthermore, considering the suggestion of Israel, Israel strictly speaking never did travail for Christ. When Christ was born, Israel is pictured as being oblivious.

32. 16:34

    There was no room at the inn. There was no stir in Israel. There was no agonizing for the birth of their Messiah. In fact, there was flat rejection to picture this woman in Revelation 12. Verse one is a picture of Israel travailing and agonizing over the birth of their Messiah is hardly an accurate picture of what actually transpired.

33. 16:55

    According to the birth scenes when Jesus comes into Israel unnoticed in a small place unrecognized, where there was no room for the inn. We don’t believe that’s appropriate at all. Furthermore, we can see that Christ did not go to heaven as soon as he was born. For let’s notice these details, and we press them for what they say exactly as she brought forth verse five.

34. 17:19

    As 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 in his throne. The dragon is waiting to pounce. In verse 4 the dragon is waiting to devour the child of the woman as soon as it was born. There is a sense of immediacy here. Urgency.

35. 17:43

    So thus when the child is born, he is caught up to God into his throne immediately as soon as he was born. Now any careful consideration of those terms can be seen not to fit the case of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was not cut up to the throne of God as soon as he was born.

36. 18:04

    He certainly had those like Herod who wished to take the child and to murder him. And certainly Jesus escaped the clutches of Herod and went to Egypt with his parents. But going to Egypt with his parents was not going to heaven. The symbols don’t fit. We also see in this woman figure that there is problem in the suggestion that she represents Israel. Could it be said, as in the case of this woman, that Israel was nourished in the place of her dispersion? For the woman flees into the wilderness, and there she has a place prepared there.

37. 18:41

    The inhabitants of the earth help her and assist her if the woman represents Israel. And this fleeing into dispersion or into the wilderness, represents Israel fleeing after the death of Christ in some way, such as after 70 AD, as she was scattered by the Romans throughout the Mediterranean world. Did those details fit?

38. 19:01

    Could it be said that the Roman Empire had a place prepared for the Jews? Did they nourish and tend and care for Israel instead? The opposite is the case. Israel in dispersion, as pictured in Deuteronomy 28 and Leviticus 26th, was a time of horror, no time to even consider where she’d go next. Thy life, says Deuteronomy, shall hang in doubt because of thee there thou shalt find no ease for thy foot, says Deuteronomy 28.

39. 19:29

    No in dispersion after the birth of Christ. Israel’s plight was something other than what might be described here as the condition of the woman in the condition of her wilderness dispersion, most importantly, when Babylon falls. If we just go a little further to Revelation 17, keeping in mind that this is viewed by sun, of course, as being the fall of Jerusalem in Revelation chapter 18, when the city falls, the city of Babylon, what are the Saints encouraged to do by way of response? Well, verse 20 of Revelation 18, they’re encouraged. Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets, for God hath avenged you on her. If in fact, this Babylon represents Jerusalem, as some would contend.

40. 20:25

    Is it appropriate? And is it in harmony with other scriptures that the Saints would be encouraged to rejoice over the demise of Jerusalem? That the prophets and the people of God would have reason to be joyful and happy about the fact that Jerusalem has been burned and destroyed by God, and not just, of course, by Gentile powers.

41. 20:47

    How does that harmonize with the expectations to pray for the peace of Jerusalem? The many other references in the Psalms, in the Old Testaments where the people of God are enjoying to sympathize and to care for the plight of Jerusalem, and not, of course, to rejoice over her final destruction and torture. Once again, the concept of Israel, we believe brothers and sisters, does not fit.

42. 21:10

    Furthermore, back in Revelation 12, where is the theater of activity? If the context is allowed to define its own terms of reference, heaven must be defined. In the cases where we have some indication as to what kind of heaven is being talked about, we are introduced to heaven. In verse one of Revelation 12, it’s where this woman sits. She is CLO with the sun and the moon is under her feet. She has a crown of 12 stars.

43. 21:40

    It’s in heaven that the dragon is already positioned. In verse 3, it’s in the same heaven where the dragon draws his tail. In the third part of the stars. It’s in heaven where the dragon confronts Michael in verse 7 and war breaks out. This is the heaven. And yet it is sometimes urged that in verse 5, when the man child is elevated and freed from the clutches of the dragon, as soon as he is born and is caught up unto God into his throne, that this must be none other than the resurrection of Jesus Christ to the right hand of the Father.

44. 22:19

    But where is this throne? Where is this God, this throne? And this God is in the position that Michael finally takes. What position does Michael finally take? He takes his place in heaven, Verse seven. That’s the throne. That’s the destination that he’s brought to, and that’s the very heaven where the dragon has been previously. Is this the heaven where the almighty dwells? Does he dwell in the place that was previously occupied by the dragon?

45. 22:51

    That’s the residence that Michael takes up. That’s the place of his throne. That’s where this God is positioned. Do we have any hints in the environment of Revelation 1112 and 13 that there might be another God spoken up here? Well, if we go back to Revelation 11, it’s interesting to note in verse 4 in reference to the candlesticks and the witnesses, these verse four are the 2 olive trees and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth, the God of the earth.

46. 23:31

    Is that the true God or is that someone else who perhaps poses this God? It’s interesting in Revelation 11 to read the following. In verse 13 by way of contrast we suggest and the same hour there was a great earthquake, and the 10th part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men, 7000, and the remnants were affrighted and gave glory to the God of heaven. Is there a distinction intended between the God of heaven? As opposed to the God of the earth. Two different articles in the Greek in verse four? Or are they two expressions of the same God? Well, it’s interesting once again to notice the original, for we discover when we look at Revelation 11, verse four, that the Greek word for God is curious. They stand before the curious of the earth. But significantly, we believe in verse 13. Curious is not repeated to describe the God of heaven. It is the say off of heaven in verse 13. Why use two distinctive Greek terms if in fact it was intended that we are to make these two titles synonymous with one and the same God, the God of the earth, the curious of the earth, as opposed to the, say, off of heaven? We suggest there’s a distinction there. And that in turn prepares us, we believe, for a correct understanding of Revelation 12 and verse 5, where Michael is caught up unto God and his throne in a heaven that we can define in the context of Revelation 12. That was a place of warfare, a heaven where a dragon presided before Michael got there.

47. 25:32

    A heaven where a woman finally sits, clothed with the sun and the moon and the 12 stars. Is this the heaven of where our Father truly presides? Is this this presence where a dragon fights and challenges Michael? Hardly, brothers and sisters, the context of Revelation 12 the destination of where Michael finally goes when he goes to this throne, and before this God, is the heaven where the dragon has presided. And therefore there’s good reason to suspect that this is not the true, but it’s an imitation of the truth. The language of the true is being used to portray a place that truly is not in the context that heaven where our Father in Heaven presides.

48. 26:18

    And then from the clues in Revelation Chapter 11, that the Scriptures distinguish this God who was called the curious of the earth as opposed to the true one, who is the Phaos of heaven, gives us reinforcement and further reason to suspect that where Michael goes is not where the Lord Jesus Christ went when he went to the right hand of the Father.

49. 26:43

    Therefore, once again, we see how. A. Further reading in Revelation 13 and asking ourselves how the dragon finally ends up in his later manifestations associated with the sea beast and blasphemy, and then finally a figure who looks like the lamb with the dragon inside, shows us that what’s happening in Revelation chapter 12 is the dragon in his first stage.

50. 27:10

    But there are clues in Revelation 12 before we get to 13 that this dragon is going to be associated with the woman. He’s going to be associated with a place of authority called Heaven. There is going to be a place that is something like a. Throne called the Throne of. God and that this Michael is indeed going to be one who portrays God like features in some ways.

51. 27:38

    Thus his name Michael, like unto God we might think that. That’s absurd at first. But is it so absurd? Do we not have a connection with this beast system and 2nd Thessalonians Chapter 2 In The Man of Sin We do. Our notes show us that by the very close word associations between a man of sin and the beast system, they are one and the same. Same terms, same concepts, the very same Greek words use. Thus when we get to Revelation chapter 12, we see one who is like God, who ascends to a position that is heaven, Who then sits in a place or comes to a place. That is called the throne of God. And we know at the same time that the man of sin, having the connections he does with this beast system, also is described as one like God, that he is one who presides in a place called a temple, that he has a seat according to Second Thessalonians 2.

52. 28:42

    We do have good warrant for believing from those connections with Second Thessalonians Chapter 2 that this is none other than a further amplification of what’s going on in 2nd Thessalonians 2. Perhaps this is a further stage or further information, but the concept is not out of the ballpark as it were. We do have a person in Scripture in a passage that does connect with this beast system at other points after 12 and before 12, Who does?

53. 29:12

    Pose as a God. And yet he isn’t God who does have a seat of authority. That would look like the Temple of God, but it isn’t the Temple of God who claims to be like a Michael one like God. But in fact, the man of sin is no more than the Son of Perdition, one who is doing a very careful job of counterfeiting great value and having first seriously considered the terms of reference in 2nd Thessalonians 2.

54. 29:39

    First, before going into Revelation value and seeing 1st that the man of sin has very careful associations with the beast system, and understanding that first. So that when we look at these details and might really wonder whether it could possibly be a counterfeit, there is a precedent for it already laid down in Paul’s writings.

55. 30:00

    Of course there must be cues within this context itself that we have something like the man of sin, and we look for those cues. We believe we have found them not only in 12 but as we’ve said in Chapter 11 and also in chapter 13, like just now. To go a little further into 17,

56. 30:29

    where does John see this woman sitting on this scarlet colored beast when he first pictures her? Well, we read in Revelation 17, verse three, that John is carried away and where does he go? Well, in Revelation 17, verse 3, John says he is carried away in the Spirit into the wilderness, and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast. Full of names of.

57. 31:00

    Blasphemy. Having seven heads and 10 horns, we’re reminded of the beasts in Daniel, especially the 4th Beast. We’re reminded of the beasts in Revelation 13. We’re reminded of the fact that the sea Beast is introduced to us with the name Blasphemy, and now this woman with this beast is associated in the same way with the term blasphemy. There is continuity between this beast, obviously in the beast in Revelation 13 and in Daniel.

58. 31:36

    We know that the dragon, of course, was still present in Revelation 13 in a very covert way. We know beyond chapter 17 that the dragon is still present as far as chapter 20 and verse 2. It’s not then unlikely that the dragon is doing here underneath the scene exactly what he was doing with the sea beast and the earth beast in Revelation 13.

59. 32:01

    Furthermore, in Revelation 13, the sea beast is described as having the mouth of a lion, and we know that from the connections in Daniel 7 the lion was associated with Babylon. Lo and behold, we discover in verse five that with this beast and this woman too, there is a connection with Babylon. Four upon her forehead is a name written Mystery, Babylon Mystery. Mystery was associated with a man of sin in Second Thessalonians chapter 2.

60. 32:34

    In fact, the very same Greek word used here for the mystery associated with this woman is the same Greek word used for the term mystery in Second Thessalonians chapter two. We have here a woman on a beast and she is in the wilderness coming out of it. Any connection with the woman, possibly that was pursued by the dragon in Revelation chapter 12.

61. 32:58

    Where did she end up? Well, keep our hand here in Revelation 17 and let’s remind ourselves how that scene closed. We discover in Revelation chapter 12, brothers and sisters, verse 13, that the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth. He persecuted the woman which brought forth the manchild. So first he went for the manchild to devour the child as soon as he was born.

62. 33:25

    But he didn’t succeed against the Manchild and now he turns against the woman. But the woman is taken away into the wilderness. 2 wings are given to her and she flies in there where she’s nourished. Furthermore, the servant pursues her in verse 15, lets out a flood from his mouth. But verse 16, the earth gives assistance to the woman.

63. 33:49

    The earth gives assistance to the woman and absorbs the shock of this water coming out of the Dragon’s mouth. As a consequence, you notice what’s happened in verse 17. He is wrought with the woman. But who does he pursue? He makes war now with the remnant of her seed, not the woman as such, but he makes war with the remnant of her.

64. 34:14

    Seed. We leave, therefore, the woman in the wilderness, having been first pursued by the dragon and chased into that wilderness. But we leave. Her. Being assisted by the earth in verse 16, and the earth swallowing up the persecuting influence of the dragon in verse 16. In other words, the woman and the earth now seem to have something in common. The inhabitants of the earth are giving her nourishment and assistance, in other words, this cooperation between the woman and the earth.

65. 34:46

    The dragon therefore pursues the remnant of her seed. We leave the woman in the wilderness in cooperation with the earth. In Revelation 17 the woman emerges. Now she emerges from the same place where she was left this woman, this whore, now compromised, impregnated with air, having compromised and adulterated, the truth now emerges as a compromised woman.

66. 35:21

    Out of the. Wilderness. John is taken to the place where we left the woman in Revelation 12. There she was being pursued by the dragon and finally given assistance by the earth. The dragon changed the object of his persecution. He pursued the remnant of her seed. But now the woman emerges at this latter stage from the wilderness as a whore. Her character has been adulterated. She is a woman.

67. 35:54

    That’s what she was when she went into the wilderness. She is now a whore. That’s not what she was at the start, when she was pursued by the dragon. She is no longer pursued by a beast. She is riding on a beast and is in collusion with the beast and those who are persecuted as we pursue the rest of this section in Revelation are not the woman or is not the woman herself.

68. 36:23

    She’s no longer the subject of persecution. She becomes a persecutor. Those who are persecuted are like those who are the Remnant. Of her. Seed mentioned incidentally in Revelation 12. At the end, those who are persecuted are only those left who resist this woman, who resist the beast system, and who, according to chapter 17 here in verse 14, these are those who finally make war with the Lamb when he’s ready to March out in judgment against this whore.

69. 36:56

    These are the Saints. These are those whom we read of earlier in our excitation this morning in chapter 14, that have not defiled themselves with women they have not adulterated themselves as. She. Has adulterated herself. She’s now a compromised women, a woman. The Saints are not to so compromise themselves. They are woman like figures.

70. 37:19

    They are virgins, not to be defiled. In contrast to this woman, she didn’t start off that way when she first went into the wilderness. But now the one who persecuted her and chased her into the wilderness is now the means by which she is transported. They are now in collusion. We might wonder what has taken place to put this woman in a position of compromise.

71. 37:46

    We might wonder how it is that she goes in one way and comes out the next. But we have a clue, don’t we? The woman at the end of Revelation 12 is no longer being directly pursued by the dragon. Instead, as we’ve said, he draws his attention only to the remnant of her seed, not to her as a whole. We did get a hint, didn’t we, that she received assistance from another party.

72. 38:11

    She was nourished and helped by the earth. Now what associations in this context are given to the earth? Who is the earth? What is the earth? What’s this beast called? It is the earth beast. It is the beast of the earth. What associations, finally in Revelation 12 are given to this earth? The earth is described as being in need of woe.

73. 38:38

    Well, when the dragon is cast down in Revelation chapter 12, it specifically says in verse 12 woe to the inhibitors of the earth and of the sea. Woe. To the earth woe, to the sea? Why, we might ask, while the earth nourishes the woman. And then in chapter 13, there surely is no coincidence that what do we have coming out of the water is a sea beast and an earth beast.

74. 39:08

    Woe to the inhabitants of the earth. Woe to the inhabitants of the sea. The scene closes. A new scene begins. Outcomes. A beast from the earth. Outcomes. A beast from the sea. The sea and the earth are now dominated by this power. The earth and the sea are now under the influence. Of. The Dragon, only it’s covert, for The Dragon gives us power to the Sea Beast.

75. 39:37

    The dragon is underneath the earth. Beast is the inside motive force. Although it’s not apparent, the dragon, although cast down to the earth now, has dominated the earth. The dragon isn’t the loser, although he’s been thrust out of a presiding place in heaven by Michael. In some symbolic sense, the dragon now dominates the earth.

76. 40:01

    More than that, he dominates the sea. So that Earth and sea are now pictured in a beast like form, totally dominated by the covert work of the dragon, who is the mode of force behind the Earth and the sea. No wonder then significantly at the end of 12 there’s a woe that is issued to the Earth and to the sea.

77. 40:24

    Why? Because in 13 we’re going to find that the Earth and the Sea become dominated by the. Earth system, the Earth based. And by the sea beast, so then, compromise has taken place with the woman. No wonder at the beginning of Revelation 12, she is. First pictured. As having a picture of authority. She doesn’t start that way, although that’s the first picture given to us of the woman with the sun and the moon and the stars associated with her.

78. 40:55

    When we actually read of the woman in the events of chapter 12, it’s not her that was in heaven and is thrust down and persecuted. Rather, the woman is chased by the dragon, but comes out finally out of the wilderness in 17, triumphant. As she comes out riding on the skullar colored beats, she is in control.

79. 41:15

    She is elevated. She is one who has had. Control over the whole earth. No wonder then, in Chapter 12, the first snapshot we have of her is what would seem to me to be her latter end. It’s not what she actually shows herself to be in the events of Chapter 12, but it is what she ends up to be. By the time we get to Revelation 17, and certainly before that, she ends up in a position of exhortation. She ends up in heaven.

80. 41:43

    But she’s not in heaven. As we look at the events of Chapter 12, the dragon was in heaven. Michael gets up there and casts out the dragon. The woman is never described in the events of Chapter 12 as being in heaven. We might wonder how she ever got there, because when we see her in chapter 12, she’s on the earth all the time. There’s no mention of her going down to heaven like with the dragon.

81. 42:06

    She’s pursued by the dragon on the earth, into the wilderness and finding help by the earth. So she was never in heaven in the events of chapter 12. How did she ever get up there then? How did she ever get to the position of verse one of Revelation 12? Revelation 12 doesn’t tell us she’s always on the earth.

82. 42:23

    In chapter 12. Somehow, in some way, at some later stage past Revelation 12, she gets up to that position of having the sun and moon adorning her. She gets up to a position of being in heaven. But there’s nothing in 12 that tells us how she got into heaven or how she might ever get out. So we first get a picture, typical of the pattern of Revelation, of the end with the woman, and then we go back and trace the events that lead up to that end. And that takes us all the way through 12. It takes 13 to do that, and it takes part of 17 to finally alert us to the fact.

83. 43:00

    This is how the woman gets into a triumphant posture. It’s after the events of chapter 12 and not before. So. John has to be taken to the wilderness to go and find the woman that went into the wilderness, and now she comes out compromised. Now she comes out triumphant, at least from the point of view of the flesh. Now, brothers and sisters, what about the identity of this woman?

84. 43:26

    She’s a hard. Figure some have urged that if we go back into the Old Testament and we ask ourselves what is the predominant hard figure of the Old Testament, we will be left with concluding it would be Israel. And that’s fair in the sense that most of the prophecies of scripture deal with Israel and picture her as a whore.

85. 43:46

    Certainly that would be true of Israel and many, many of the prophets. Ezekiel especially betrays her as an unclean woman. Hosea portrays her through his experience with his wife as a hard figure and so on. But we might ask, is that the only kind of hard figure in the Old Testament, the idea of it being Israel, always really to start with part of the true. Who then, like the prodigal son, has left and become apostate? Is that the only kind of hard figure? Is there another kind of heart of figure we might consider before we draw a permanent conclusion? There’s only really one other woman in the Old Testament that figures predominantly as a heart of figure besides Israel, and it’s Jezebel.

86. 44:32

    She’s a different kind of heart of figure. Unlike Israel, who started off on the right foot and then apostasized, Jezebel was always a Pagan. Jezebel was a Pagan right to start with. Through her marriage with Ahab, she adulterated Israel’s religion. She posed as a mother of Israel, but in fact she wasn’t and she never was.

87. 44:52

    To start with, she was a Pagan to her very bones, and she put on a veneer of Israelitis worship as long as she was in cahoots with Ahab, A Pagan at her heart with a veneer of the truth. That’s the figure of a harlot Jezebel. But is this woman Jezebel? Is she a Jezebel like harlots? Well, let’s look at the word associations and see if we can find Old Testament leads.

88. 45:22

    Verse five of Revelation 17 says that upon her forehead was a name written Mystery Babylon. The great, the mother of. Harlots. Is there a phrase that matches that somewhere in the old? Testament the mother of Harlots. Let’s turn to 2nd Kings Chapter 9, where we believe we find the closest approximation to that phrase in the Old Testament, and it’s interesting to discover who it’s talking about.

89. 45:57

    For we find in Second Kings Chapter 9 the following verse 22. And it came to pass when Joram slew or saw Jehu. Excuse me that he saw said, Is it peace, Jehu? And he answered, what peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many whoredoms associated with a mother and it’s Jezebel. The closest approximation to that phrase in Revelation 17 is here in Second Kings 9, and Arthur Gibson and his series that he did in the Testimony 701 quotations from the Apocalypse shows by looking at the original sources that indeed it’s even much closer as an approximation.

90. 46:51

    The way it appears here in the English and the King James, I’d have to say that I’m personally indebted to Arthur and his list of allusions and scriptural connections in the Apocalypse. For in second in Revelation 17 verse five, he was the first to indicate to me anyways, that this is surely the source in the Old Testament of that phrase, a woman who’s a harlot and she’s a mother figure and she’s associated with whoredoms.

91. 47:21

    But furthermore, brothers and sisters, and we believe this is the greater proof if we are asking ourselves who this harlot figure is in Revelation 17. And we are debating as to whether the harlot figure is something like Israel as a harlot figure in the Old Testament. Or whether this hearted. Figure would be more like a Jezebel who was a Pagan to her heart and only took on a veneer of the truth. Might we not be right in asking ourselves where is the first hearted figure mentioned in Revelation? Maybe the first reference to a hearted figure in Revelation would help to define the terms of reference in Revelation before we meet this woman.

92. 48:02

    In Revelation 17 we did the same thing with the term blasphemy use only of the beast system, except in Revelation chapter 2 and verse nine in the seven letters. And there we discovered when we went to Revelation 2, verse nine, that the first reference to blasphemy in the Book of Revelation. Is to do with those who.

93. 48:21

    Say they are Jews and are not imitators of the truth. So we asked the question who or what is the first reference to a harlot figure in the Book of Revelation, and we discover it very easily. It, too is in the seven letters back to Revelation chapter 2, to the Church of Thyrotyra.

94. 48:43

    The Spirit says this by way of warning. Verse 20 notwithstanding, I have a few things against. Thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a. Prophetess noticed that, like the man of sin, call it herself a prophetess, That’s a title or a description. She ascribes to herself like the man of sin, like the Prince of Tyre that we looked at yesterday in Ezekiel 28. Like Lucifer and Isaiah 14, Jezebel is of a similar type. She calls herself to be a spokesman for God. She claims to be God like, but she’s not. What does she do instead?

95. 49:35

    To teach and to seduce my servants? To commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed unto idols? What is the Jezebel figure associated with here? In Revelation, she claims to be a prophetess. #1 She has the appearance of being God, or at least God like, or a spokesman for God. She appears to have the credentials of the true. She’s not, however.

96. 50:02

    She’s a false prophet. She actively campaigns for her false views because she teaches and she seduces God’s servants. She is still associated by a figure as a harnot with Fornication Porneia in the Greek. And lastly, although she poses as a prophetess, although she seduces her servants and causes them to commit fornication and has those religious trappings, nevertheless is a Pagan at heart. Because what she brings the servants to do is to eat things associated with idols, just like the Jezebel harlot of the Old Testament she looked like.

97. 50:50

    An Israelitis worshipper. In her marriage with Ahab she looked perhaps like a mother of Israel, as a Queen of Israel. But she was from Tyre. She was a Pagan to her heart and never had become like the true Israel. But for a time she took on the veneer of being a godly woman, of having something to do with the true, when in fact at the heart she was a Pagan. What do we see with this lamb figure in Revelation 13? The heart of the animal is a Pagan. It’s the dragon, but outwardly the sea beast. Excuse me, the earth beast looks like a lamb. What about?

98. 51:33

    Jezebel. She’s a prophetess. She looks like and poses as though she’s got the credentials of a spokesman for God. But her teaching, what comes out of her mouth, That’s the test. What does she say? What’s her doctrine? It is seduction. What is really her heart’s desire and ambition? It is idolatry, you see then. The descriptions of Jezebel match the same kind of scriptural associations given to the sea beast and the earth beast, especially the earth beast. There is the first reference to a harlot figure in the Book of Revelation, and it’s connected with Tyre and Jezebel, the harlot figure we suggest then in Revelation 17. This whore isn’t like an Israelitis whore in the prophets and in the Old Testament.

99. 52:29

    Rather. This. Whore. Is like a Jezebel. And the connection in verse five of Revelation 7 and verse 17 and verse five with the reference to Jezebel and the kings as the mother of harlots or a mother associated with harlotry, Then the first reference in turn to Jezebel in the Book of Revelation defining what Revelation associates with that hard figure, we believe, puts us on an entirely different direction than some of our more recent expositors in their identification of this harlot and this beast.

100. 53:05

     This does bring us to connections with Tyre. Now, upon a little bit of reflection from the work we’ve done on the man of sin, that’s highly significant for another reason. Do you remember that shark we have in your book where we laid out for you the connections in the man of sin prophecy with Isaiah, with Ezekiel, with Daniel 7 and Daniel 11, where they were all man figures until we got to Zechariah 5 with a woman figure?

101. 53:30

     Do you remember how we pointed out that in the first two references, Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 were introduced to Lucifer of Babylon and to the Prince of Tyre, Tyre and Babylon? As. Old Testament sources for the descriptions given to the man of Sin, Tyre and Babylon. And here we discover in Revelation chapter 17 that this hardest figure is a kind of Jezebel, and she’s connected with Tyre.

102. 54:02

     More than that, as you go down through your marginal references all the way from Revelation 17 to 18, you’ll find that the descriptions of this whore and the descriptions of the city that falls are drawn from 2 main scriptural sources. The prophets that deal with the fall of Babylon and the prophecies that deal with the fall and the pomp of Tyre.

103. 54:25

     In fact, in pursuing chapter 17 and 18 in your margin, if you color-coded them, you would discover that in the end there’s 1 1/2 times more references to Tyre than there is to Babylon. More references to Ezekiel and Isaiah in their prophecies dealing with Tyre, then those prophecies like Jeremiah 51 that refer to Babylon of old. There is in fact a preponderance of references to Tyre, Tyre and Babylon here in the beast system. Tyre and Babylon with a man of sin. Once again, the bridges are made back and forth across. From those two key scriptural sources as they relate to the Beast.

104. 55:06

     System and to the development of this apostate system and figure. And we remind ourselves in Revelation 13 that the mouth of the sea beast was the mouth of a lion. And we know from the connections with Daniel’s beast that that lion was a babylonious lion, and therefore the sea beast had a babylonish mouth. It has a babylonish mouth.

105. 55:31

     And lo and behold, when this woman comes out on a scarred colored beast, she too, like the man of sin, is associated with mystery. She also like the beasts of Daniel and like the sea beast of Revelation 13 and verse one is connected with Babylon. She too, like the persecuting 4th beast of Daniel 7, persecutes the Saints.

106. 55:55

     It’s apparent in Revelation 17 and verse six she is drunk with the blood of the Saints. Exactly the same thing that was true. Of the little horn. With the Witch with the beast, the 4th beast of Daniel 7 wears out the Saints and persecutes them. Finally, I’d like to look in conclusion and another rather interesting time in with Daniel. It’s to do with the time period in the Book of Revelation. Time periods, I know, tend to stare us a little bit, but without trying to work out whether it’s days or years right now.

107. 56:38

     And without. Trying to be positive as to all the associations with these time periods, let’s just notice the following. I can just get all of this on the screen. Revelation Chapter 11, verse 2. Says that the. Holy City will be trodden by the Gentiles. For. 42 months, then in Revelation 11 in the very next. Verse verse 3.

108. 57:06

     The two witnesses are said to be free to prophecy. For. 1260 days. That’s interesting because in fact these two are somewhat related. 42 months is 1260 days on the basis of a 30 day month which was the lunar calendar. Used by Israel chapter. 12 then and verse 6 and verse 14 gives us two more time periods and they both refer to the woman as she is preserved for a period of time in the wilderness.

109. 57:40

     First in Revelation 12 and six, it’s expressed as time times and half time times and half a time. Then in verse 14 it’s expressed as 1260. Now there’s the clincher the 1260 and the times, times and half a time are one in the same period. 3 1/2 years is the same as 42 months, and it’s the same thing as 12160 days. Then in chapter 13 with the BEAST system. That comes out of the waters.

110. 58:11

     The power of the sea beast to wage war against the Saints is 42 months now. Isn’t that interesting? Go back to Chapter 11 where we have the. Holy city trodden down by the Gentile, persecuted for 42 months. In the Beast system of 13 and five, the same expression is used 42 months, describing the time in which the Sea beast can wage war against the Saints.

111. 58:39

     There’s a link. The Holy City of Revelation 11 and the Saints are one of the same in 13 and five. The Gentiles that trod down the Holy City must in some. Way be linked to the sea beast furthermore. Within Chapter 11, verse three says the witnesses are free to prophecy for 1260 days. And isn’t it interesting that the woman is allowed to have asylum in the wilderness for 12160 days?