Revelation Chapter 12
Verse 2 “
Then (that is later)
being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth.”
“If we locate it aright, the woman (as depicted in
Verse 2) is seen in this vision about
308 A.D., and has been in the "
Smyrna" stage of the Church as described in
Rev 2:8-10.”
“
Persecuted and reviled, she was pained to be delivered, and longed for the completion of the promised “
seed of the woman, which should bruise the servants head” (
Gen 3:15)
“She wants to be delivered of her
true seed (
the Wheat class). Unfortunately, as we shall see, and as we know from Jesus’ parable of
the Wheat and the Tares, there will also be a
false seed (
Tares). That her seed is
plural may be seen by the reading of
Verse 17 where it refers to the “
remnant of her seed.”
“
As The Apostle’s Paul and John had warned “
the mystery of lawlessness was already at work” (2 Thess 2:7; 1 John 4:3) a very small yet persistent and determined minority of the early Church membership possessed an impatient and inordinate desire for the promised Kingdom power. At first these individuals were vastly outnumbered and buried in proportional obscurity within the sincere majority body membership of the
Ephesian stage of the Church. During that era, when their deeds surfaced, the brotherhood resented and responded to their impious behavior. The risen Lord commended the righteous majority, “
I know… how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles (teachers)
, and are not, and hast found them liars (false prophets)
: … this thou hast, that thou hates the deeds of the Nicolaitans (those who would lord it over God’s people)
, which I also hate” (
Rev 2:2, 6).
Nevertheless, that which began with certain individuals later, in the
Smyrna Church era or stage, significantly increased in size and influence; and in
Pergamos, the third era, this class constituted a clear and open majority, publicly representative of the whole. This distressing circumstance and progressive development in the professed Church of Christ caused those faithful and true to the Lord to experience pain and suffering, as pictured by the woman herself being in travail, crying out in pain, longing to be delivered of her internal agony.
Not only did the woman long to be delivered, but the growing numbers of the false element in her midst were also equally frustrated by the restricting influence of the holy class. Alas! The woman robed with the sun, and in labor, was somewhat comparable to the white horse of the First Seal, which was destined to come under the control and leadership of the
rider bent on pursuit and conquest (
Rev 6:2).”
“This woman cried and the baby grew in her womb and a birth was eminent. There was suffering and pain among these people, the “
wheat and the tares”, alike. A separation was coming in the future; it was already in the works.
These verses depict it as the birth of a human child, but a child it is not, but rather something else, something new, something different created out of the Church. Like as Jesus was born to a virgin, unmarried, but an espoused woman; so this picture shows that a new thing is to be created out from the virgin, unmarried, but espoused woman, espoused to Christ, the Christian Church.
The true Church, the wheat, was desirous of being freed from these factions of “
tares”, but Jesus had said; “
Let both (wheat and tares)
grow together till the harvest.” So no separation of the work was expected way back then, nevertheless, The woman was pained to be delivered; she desired to be rid of the loathsome babe that Satan had planted in her womb (
Matt 13:25).
The birth of the Antichrist from the early Church was a
counterfeit of the birth of Christ from the Virgin Mary. But the birth was slow and other things happen…
John has seen this pregnant woman,
in heaven (amongst the controlling elements of society); what an astounding sight for him,
“a great wonder” indeed. She was right up there among the ecclesiastical powers of the time,
“the powers that be”,
a place where the true Church of Christ should never have been,
not yet, not in this age. (“
The Revelation Decoded and Explained”, Page 163)
In this last statement a very important point is mentioned, the true Church has no part in the affairs of this world, the present order of things, or “
powers that be” we are in the world yes, but not to be a part of it, and so
we should not be found aspiring for a say or for a position in the affairs of this world whether they be political, economic or religious. This system or order of things is doomed, “
Babylon is fallen” so what have we to do with her or any of her works, which are destined to come to not?
How often have you heard some saying, ‘
There needs to be a revival in the church, a revival in the country, if we’re going to save this country?’ These fell to realize that even this once great nation is part of Babylon, a part of Christendom, that in stating such they are working against God, vainly attempting to repair that which God has already condemned.
The nominal church would have us believe that we have erred in our interpretation of these texts,
that it is they who suffer and travail in birth, and indeed the Lord through the prophet Isaiah so pictures it,
but not quite as they envision it. The prophet puts the following words in their mouth when at last they awake to the knowledge of the Lord’s presence
.
“
As a woman with child is in pain and cries out in her pangs, when she draws near the time of her delivery, so have we (i.e. the nominal church)
been in your sight O Lord. We have been with child, we have been in pain; we have, as it were brought forth wind; we have not accomplished any deliverance in the earth, nor have the inhabitants of the world fallen.” (
Isa 26:17, 18)
The nominal Church expects to convert the whole world eventually, but instead the percentage of Christians in the world is shrinking. The nominal Church has “
brought forth wind [gas, emptiness].” The inhabitants of the world have not “
fallen” prostrate in acknowledging that they are sinners and in recognizing Jesus as their only hope.
“
They claim that their principal object and aim is to convert sinners; to (spiritually) beget children, but alas their efforts have proven fruitless, they have only succeeded in bringing forth more “tares”,
the blind that follow the blind, as stated their efforts have brought forth nothing but “
wind”. (R 505)
We will continue our study with
Verse 3 in our next post.
