They'll know Rev. 12 woman when they see her

"It makes good preaching when you're trying to embellish, but in Genesis 42 there's no indication that Joseph is surprised, shocked or unsettled by the news he has a younger brother. 

"The indication to hang that on is in Genesis 37, but notice what it says in verse 9: [9] And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.

"In the dream, Jacob has 12 sons, 11 of them bowing down in obeisance to the one. When Jacob says, 'I and thy mother,' whose mother is he talking about? If he's talking about Joseph's mother, then he leaves out all the other guys. They don't all have the same mother, unless it's a reference to the nation.

"Looking at Revelation 12, this incident in Genesis 37 is very important in prophecy, because it's the allusion used about the nation Israel.

"Revelation 12:1: [1] And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:

"There's the sun, the moon and the 12 stars. To understand the Book of Revelation, the illustrations used like that come out of the Old Testament, in this case Genesis 37, where the woman discussed is not just Rachel; it's the nation Israel.

"This is the passage Rome uses to say that the mother is the Church--Holy Mother Church. They should say Revelation 17:5: [5] And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

"But they don't do that; they use Genesis 37. And Roman Catholic-thinking Protestants use Genesis 37, too, to say that the church is the woman here. They mystify and so forth."

Here's an old post on the same subject and I will post a new article tomorrow:

The believing remnant that goes into the kingdom will be “BORN at once” out of a time of tremendous suffering that is like a woman “travailing in birth.”

Isaiah 66: 7-8 is a famous passage often misinterpreted: 7] Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child.
[8] Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.

As another famously misinterpreted passage, Revelation 12:1-2, reads, [1] And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:
[2] And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.

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Preacher Richard Jordan explains, “The standard teaching on that passage is that the woman is Mary and the child being born is Jesus. That’s Roman Catholic heresy.

“You see pictures all through history of Mary with the sun and the moon under her feet, and the stars, and she’s got the child at her feet. That’s the classic picture of the Madonna, or whatever they want to call it. It’s all mythology and it comes out of Revelation 12.

“The woman in the passage is Israel. Just the mention of the ‘twelve stars’ tells you that. The symbolism in Revelation is stuff anybody who knows their Old Testament would understand. Just remember, John’s book is written to Jewish Believers. They knew what stars represented in the Bible.

“Reading Revelation 12, anybody who knows anything about revival would immediately go back in their mind to Genesis 37 and the story about Joseph and his difficulties with the brethren.

“Genesis 37: 8-9 says, [8] And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words.
[9] And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.

“If you’ve got 11 brothers and one more brother, you’ve got 12. So you’ve got Joseph, his mother and the 12 tribes. Verse 10 says, [10] And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?

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“Over and over and over again, the nation Israel is described as a woman in the Bible because the nation Israel is the carrier of ‘the seed of the woman’ from Genesis 3:15 (‘And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.’) She is the bearer of the seed line.

“So when they see this woman in Revelation 12, the saints would know that’s Israel, and they would know it’s Israel in connection with her reigning in the kingdom and their obtaining of the inheritance.

“Revelation 12:3-4 is about Satan: [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.
[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.

“Now, that didn’t take place at the birth of Christ! That’s something in the future, to take place in the tribulation. Verse 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.

“John tells you in Revelation 4 that what he’s writing about are ‘things which must be hereafter,’ and what you read in the book is future from where John wrote, which was sometime before 70 A.D. You know when you get to chapter 12 you’re not talking about Jesus being born. You’re talking about Israel giving birth to a man child.

“The man child is then caught up to God and raptured out. Verse 13 says, [13] And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.

“You’re in the second half of the 70^th week here. The next verse says, [14] And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.’

“That’s the last three and a half years of the tribulation. The rest of the chapter reads, [15] And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.
[16] And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
[17] And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

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“In a lot of ways that’s a strange passage. First there’s going to be this man child, and those who are going to rule all nations turn out to be the 144,000.

“The reason people say verse 5 is Christ is because Revelation 19 says He’s going to come with a rod of iron and rule all nations, but He doesn’t do that by Himself. He has a group of people associated with Him--the little flock—who reign with Him.

“All of the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3 have a group of people associated with them who are called ‘overcomers.’ This is a crowd that comes out of the tribulation into the kingdom and is given a special status of ministering in that millennial temple. They literally dwell there in that temple with the Savior.

“When Christ talks about the 'many mansions,' He’s talking about these temple servants in that millennial temple--the ‘overcomers’; that little flock He’s talking to, and especially its leaders.

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“If you go back to Revelation 12:5, you see this group of people has something strange happen to them. It says ‘her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.’ This man child is taken off the earth into the throne of God into the third heaven. You say, ‘Well, what in the world is that all about?!’ Well, it’s a fascinating thing.

“As the Book of Revelation begins in 1:1, [1] The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John.

“You go through Revelation and you’ll discover time and again it is written to His servants, and there’s a special group of people identified with that moniker.

“Just look at John’s vision in Revelation 7:
 [1] And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.
[2] And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,
[3] Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
[4] And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.

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“So the 144,000 are identified as the servants. Have you ever wondered about how, after the ‘dispensation of grace’ is over with and the Body of Christ is caught up into the third heaven, the kingdom program can be started again?

“How did God start the ‘dispensation of grace’? There’s no members of the Body of Christ on Planet Earth and God wants to start the dispensation of grace.

“What did He have to do? He had to intervene personally in a cataclysmic way. Paul says ‘He apprehended me.’ That’s a term we use for cops who stop and arrest you. He literally stopped Paul’s wild career, apprehended him, and made him the first guy to kick-start a new program.

“Well, there will be the same kind of apprehension program to start the prophetic program back up. There will be no choice. He’ll have to intervene once again, and the people He intervenes with to re-start that program is this 144,000.

“They will compare, if you go back and study Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and early Acts—you’ll find the 12 apostles will compare with the 144,000 and the little flock will compare to that remnant that comes out of the ministry of the 144,000.

“In the middle of the week, look at where this 144,000, who are on the earth in Revelation 7, turn up in Revelation 14:
[1] And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads.
[2] And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:
[3] And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.
[4] These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.