BIRTH PANG NUMBER 37
THE REMNANT OF ISRAEL, PAST, PRESENT, &
FUTURE!
Part 2
February 22, 2002
Revelation 12:1-3
[1] And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a
woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her
feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: [2] And she being with child
cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. [3] And there appeared
another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and
ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
We fully exposited on verses one and two in Birth
Pang Update Number 36 last week, and proved that the “woman” represents Israel,
and that an Israelite woman, the virgin Mary, was chosen by God to bear the Son
of God, Jesus Christ.
In verse three we find the great adversary of the
woman and her man child. Their adversary
is the great red dragon, the fallen archangel Lucifer, whom the world knows
today as Satan. He is portrayed as being
made red with the blood of the prophets and other saints he has caused to be
slain. His seven heads represent the
kings of the six great world governments that have persecuted Israel in the past, and one that
will persecute her in the future. The
persecution began with the Egyptian Pharaoh of the Exodus, and will end with
her persecution in the Negev Wilderness by the antichrist. The six kings that persecuted her in the past
represented the following nations in chronological order: Egypt, Assyria,
Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Italy. The
last world government will be the seventh, and its king will be the antichrist
of Satan. The seven crowns represent the
authority given to the kings of these nations by Satan.
Revelation 17:10
[10] And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and
one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a
short space.
The seven kings are the seven governmental heads on
the red dragon. All seven wear crowns
given to them by Satan because he personally brought them to power during their
lifetimes. The first six kings came from
the six great world empires of the past beginning with the Pharaohs of the
Egyptian bondage, and ending with the empire that was still in existence in
John’s day, the great Roman Empire. In
John’s day all the learning and expertise of the previous five great empires
had been passed on to the sixth empire of iron – the Roman Empire. The last of these empires, the Antichrist’s,
will have incorporated all the accumulated knowledge of the ages from Satan’s
previous secular empires. In the Bible,
governments are frequently referred to as “mountains.” This final government of the antichrist will
be the seventh “mountain,” and it will have the political support of the great
apostate system of religion known as the “whore of Babylon.” She will verbally support the 10 Arab nations
in their Jihad against Israel, but she will ride to her destruction on their
back. And, after she rides high because
of the antichrist’s early successes, the 10 Arab nations, who have always hated
her, will turn on her and burn the thousands of her churches scattered across
their domains.
Revelation 17:3-6,16-18
[3] So he carried me away in the spirit into the
wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured
beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. [4] And
the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour,
and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her
hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: [5] And upon her
forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS
AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. [6] And I saw the woman drunken with the blood
of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her,
I wondered with great admiration. [16] And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and
shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with
fire. [17] For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil
his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words
of God shall be fulfilled. [18] And the woman which thou sawest
is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of
the earth.
There was only one city that met this criteria in
John’s day, the great city of Rome.
We will continue with Revelation 12:4 in Part 3 on
Birth Pang Number 38 next week, Lord willing.