The Woman of Rev. 12

[katy]

The article about the "Next and Last Pope" that breakingrote linked was really interesting. I was pretty sure that the Antichrist would be very closely linked to the Catholic church, but I never considered that he might be a previous pope impersonated. Tho I am betting he'd be impersonating John Paul at a younger age than when he died...
It's definitely something to think about and look into.

At one point this article identified the woman of Revelation 12 as the church. That really confused me... I've always understood it to be Israel, mostly for four reasons.

1. Her crown is made of twelve stars... twelve tribes of Israel?

2. She is persecuted by the dragon, and while it is certainly true that the church has been heavily persecuted, especially earlier on, Israel has been persecuted since Egypt, and maybe even before then.

3. Also, it says that the child the woman brought forth was " 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." I don't really think there's anybody else this could be except Jesus... and he came from Israel's bloodline. Also, "a rod of iron" is attributed to Christ in Rev. 19:15.

4. And verse six says "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 threescore days." That many days is equivalent to three and a half years, which would be half of the tribulation...
Here I guess it gets tricky... if one is post-millenial, they'll find this wrong, but if you are pre-millenial, the church will be gone at this point, so it couldn't be her.
Even so, the other three points seem pretty convincing, to me at least, if you are post-millenial and this one is disagreeable.

So, I guess what I'm saying is that I don't understand why they said that this woman was the church.
I do realize that the church is personified as female... the bride of Christ.
But that doesn't mean Israel cannot also be cast as female.

I don't think this changes the credibility of the article at all... I just thought I'd point that out, and was wondering what ya'lls take is on the woman of Rev. 12.

Btw... all verses taken from the KJV.

[Jerod W. Rickert]

Thank You so much, Katy. I, for one, have always believed in a much larger role of Israel and the Jewish nation than a lot of people seem to want to admit or realize.

Now, I realize that a VERY strong argument can be made that we, as the Body and Bride of Christ, are the "Post Messiahnic Jews", but I won't open that can of worms right now, LOL.

Anyways, I just wanted to say that I concur that the woman of Revelation is not only possibly, but likely the Israel nation...

Thanx so much for the insight...

God Bless us each in our sojurn to discover the truth and seek the face of the Lord in these last, dangerous times

[breakingrote]

I always read these posts that demand a lengthy response when I have no time. Hopefully I have some time to comment later, because I think that in Matthew Jesus tells the Jews to flee into the mountain (wilderness?) after the abomination of desolation (the starting point of the second half of The Tribulation).

Mat 24:15 "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)"
Mat 24:16 "Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:"

Anyway, read this tidbit and tell me what you think.

(Edited: Changed a word that I used incorrectly.)

[katy]

Thanks for ya'lls responses!

I definitely agree with Jerod in that people seem to ignore that Israel is still very much a major part of God's plans. They were especially chosen, after all, and the only reason the church age began is because they refused Christ as their Messiah when He came... so now He's our Saviour. But He will take the throne of David in the future (Isa. 9:6-7, Luke 1:31-32).

A fun can of worms that could be

I wanted to work in that verse in Daniel (9:27) about the abominations in my post but I couldn't remember it was Daniel! That definitely would parallel the time allotment in Rev, and Matthew and Daniel both mention Jewish connections. (In Matthew, "them which be in Judaea", and in Daniel, "the sacrifice and oblation," and in verses prior to 27 it's talking about the Jewish people.)

So yeah, that would definitely support that it's Israel. I hadn't made the wilderness/mountains connection... that's good.

[breakingrote]

Katy Said:
"At one point this article identified the woman of Revelation 12 as the church. That really confused me... I've always understood it to be Israel, mostly for four reasons."

What biblical reasons does the article give for identifying the woman as the church?