Shepherds Bible Revelation Chapter 12

CHAPTER 12 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: #This verse, as we all know, is speaking of Israel. 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. 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. # Note, he cast them to earth... those angels and souls who chose to follow him. Lets take this verse in the presentday sense for a moment. The man child is Jesus Christ, as we find in verse 5. However, for our purposes, lets correlate the man child to the Identity message, born of the woman, Israel. Wouldnt Satan like to devour that particular child. 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 see Jesus crucified and caught up to His Fathers throne. We see a time shift here, an interval of many years occurs after this verse. 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 three-score days. #The woman (true Israel) flees the place where Christ was crucified, to the wilderness prepared of God. She turns this wilderness into the Christian nations, named for the One that was crucified. Refer to Ezekiel 20:33-35. The time span mentioned covers the forming of these Christian nations. 7. And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, 8. And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. 9. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. # Lets look at these three verses together. Many of us have thought that this war occurred in past ages. However, it has yet to occur, because after this war, Satan and his angels will not be found in heaven. Up until this time, Satan has had access to heaven. For example, in Job 2, Satan was in heaven talking to God. He could walk to and fro and up and down in the earth, yet he could also go into heaven and speak with God. After this battle, which is imminent, Satan and his unruly band will be barred from heaven.

# Satan lost his first estate before the foundation of the earth. Most scholars agree that between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2 there was a catastrophe which created the void spoken of in Genesis 1:2. In Hebrew the words without form are tohu va bohu, which indicates became (tohu), not created. This means the world, that was, became void, or was destroyed (because of Satan). Thus, Gen. 1:2 only begins this world age (the world that is) and not the beginning of earth in Gen.1:1. #In Ezekiel 28:1219, God is referring to Satan as the king of Tyre. Notice verse 13 refers to Satan being in Eden. We know, of course, that he was. Verse 14 tells us that Satan was a covering cherub, which was a position of protection before he rebelled. # So, to recap, we see in Genesis 1, Satan losing his position in heaven, but not his freedom to move between heaven and earth. Then, in Revelation 12, he is cast to earth, never to be found again in heaven. It is this earthly visit we are now awaiting. 10. And I heard a loud voice saving in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and 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. # Satan still has the power to go before the throne to accuse us. 11. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. # There are three facets mentioned here in overcoming the false christ. (1) (2) We overcome by our belief in Christ and His shed blood for us. The word of our testimony as Identity believers is a sharing of the truth as we see it and live it.

(3) The last facet in overcoming is loving Jesus more that our own lives, and standing against this viper even at the risk of death. 12. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. #This is the third and most terrible of the three woes given in chapter 8:13 to the inhabitants of the earth. The reason for this is that Satan has come to abide with man. 13. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. 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 time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. #This period represents the 3 1/2 years of Satans reign that was shortened to five months as mentioned Revelation 9. 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. -

# This is a flood of lies sent to quench the fire of truth which exposes the identity of the false one. 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. # Just as the earth stands as a bulwark against fire, it acts as a sponge to water. Yahveh will provide just such a sponge to gobble up the torrent of lies Satan will unleash upon the over-comers. Our Father. Himself, tells us not to worry about what we will answer when we are delivered up. He will obliterate the lies through our mouths. This passage is a promise of protection from the lies of Satan. 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. # We see here that it is the remnant of Israel with whom he is going to make war. He will not be successful. I would like to quote a verse from Isaiah 43 to give you peace in the troublous days to come. These words come directly from the Holy One of Israel, our Saviour: When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.