Remember, at the end of the last lesson the two witnesses were brought back to life and called up to heaven as their enemies watched. Now we continue with Revelation 11:13. “That very same hour there was a great earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed. This earthquake killed seven thousand people, and those who remained were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.”
At this point I need to remind you that we are still looking at a parenthetical passage describing events during the last half of the tribulation period. The context of this verse (and the earthquake) is the end of the ministry of the two witnesses, which takes us to the end of the tribulation period. Therefore, this earthquake is the same one described in Revelation 16:17-21, when the seventh vial judgment takes place. It is also what is responsible for the destruction of Babylon, described in Revelation 18. Again, we’ll look at those two things in detail, when we get to that point in our study.
Then, in the next two verses (11:14-15) we see, “The second woe is past; the third woe is coming very soon. The seventh angel then blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, shouting, The kingdoms of this world have now become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.” What follows is a scene in heaven where the twenty-four elders worship God. I’ll not quote these verses (16-18), but just mention the highlights of what is said. First, they thank God for using His power to finally take full control (in context of what will happen during the fulfillment of the seventh trumpet, God is going to begin to deal with Satan in ways that will lead to the end of his evil influence on the earth). They then say the nations of the earth are angry (again, in context these are the nations directly involved in the events of the tribulation period as described earlier). They also say that the time of God’s anger and retribution has come; that it is time to judge and give promised reward to the saints and destroy those who are bent on destroying the earth.
The last verse in chapter 11 has symbolic importance. John says the sanctuary of God in heaven is opened and there he sees the “ark of His covenant”. If you study this subject, you’ll find that: Moses modeled the ark of the covenant after this original in heaven (Exodus 25:40); that it eventually resided in Solomon’s temple, the symbol of God’s presence and of His promises; that it disappeared when the temple was pillaged and burned by the Babylonians (II Kings 25:8-27). Now in the Book of Revelation the ark reappears, I believe to symbolize the establishment of God’s Kingdom on the earth when His presence and promised relationship with His saints is fully realized.
In chapter 12 we see another parenthetical passage. “And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.” (Verse 1) This woman symbolizes Israel. This is not Israel as a race of people. Jews are scattered all over the earth and they will not be gathered back to their homeland until the second coming of Christ at the end of the tribulation period as described in Matthew 24:29-31. This woman is Israel as a nation.
“And she was pregnant, crying out in her birth pangs and the anguish of her delivery.” (Verse 2) Remember, these passages describe events ongoing during the last half of the tribulation period. We know from verse 5 the “man child” born to this woman is the 144,000 Jews sealed with the seal of God on their foreheads to protect them from the destruction of the seals judgments in Revelation 7:1-8. More on this when we get to verse 5. But here we get a glimpse of the conditions in the nation of Israel during this time. This verse describes the difficult circumstances under which these Jews come to Christ. Having to remain loyal to Him in the midst of these terrible judgments and the hatred of those around them who are determined to defy God.
“Then another sign was seen in heaven: Behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns on his heads.” (Verse 3) The dragon is Satan (“dragon” is used 13 times in Revelation to symbolize Satan). The seven heads are the seven kingdoms through the ages that have oppressed Israel up to the time represented here by John’s vision (Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome and revised Rome during the tribulation – an eighth is yet to come, Revised Greece at the end of the tribulation as we will see in Revelation 17). The ten horns are not crowned. Satan has always been the power behind the world empires that have been used by God to judge and discipline Israel. However, it is the Antichrist who will rule the ten kingdoms (ten horns) of the revised Roman Empire, as we will see when we get to Revelation 13.
“His tail dragged down a third of the stars of heaven and flung them to the earth. And the dragon stood in front of the woman who was ready to be delivered, so he could devour her child as soon as it was born.” (Verse 4) The “third of the stars of heaven” represent the third of the angels that rebelled against God and who will be with Satan in the future war in heaven later in this chapter. The purpose of Satan has always been to interrupt or destroy God’s plan for the ages, because he knows the fulfillment of that plan means his own eventual destruction.
“And she brought forth a man child, who is destined to rule the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne.” (Verse 5) There are two things to note from this verse. The first is that these Jews who have come to Christ during the first half of the tribulation period are “destined to rule the nations with a rod of iron”. This is a reference to their responsibilities to represent God in the nations, starting in the millennial reign of Christ and continuing on in the Eternal State. We won’t talk about this until we get to the section of lessons on the Millennium. The second is that they are taken up to heaven before the seventh trumpet is sounded to protect them from Satan and his angels, who are cast down to the earth at that point in time. That’s coming up later in this chapter.
“And the woman fled into the desert, where she has a place prepared for her by God, where they feed her for 1,260 days.” (Verse 6) OK. The 1,260 days is 42 months or 3 ½ years, the last half of the tribulation. We know from Daniel 9:27, 11:31 and Matthew 24:15-22 that the Antichrist will break his 7-year covenant with Israel after 3 ½ years, come to Jerusalem, pollute the temple and begin his campaign to destroy the Jews. The Jews flee to the desert. Where, specifically, do they go? According to Daniel 11:36-45 the Antichrist is not able to overcome Edom, Moab and a portion of Ammon. This is Jordan and Saudi Arabia today. Verse 6 says, “they feed her for 1,260 days”. I believe “they” are the Arabs of Jordan and Saudi Arabia, who refuse to be a part of the Antichrist’s plans. The verse states that God “prepares” the place. So, I would have to assume that God somehow creates the situation through the chaos and destruction during the first half of the tribulation that turns these people against the Antichrist and makes them sympathetic to the plight of the Jews. And, even though it seems implausible that these Arabs would want to help the Jews, given the historic conflict between Arabs and Jews. As I’ve said before, nothing can prevent God from carrying out His plan for the ages. He has proven that over and over again.
We’ll continue in the next lesson with the war in heaven.