THE VISION OF REVELATION TWELVE

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THE EARTHLY INHERITANCE SERIES of BIBLE SUBJECTS

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Various Bible study guides in subjects pertaining to

New Earth prophecy, as taught by Paul Phelps.

For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD,

they shall inherit the earth. Psalm 37:9

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THE VISION OF REVELATION TWELVE

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Bible quotes are from the New Revised Standard Version

except for my own translations or as otherwise indicated.

The woman that comes from heaven to earth symbolises the

end-time transition from the heavenly to the earthly gospel.

A Bible study project by Paul Phelps.

After several years of study this writing was completed in 2000.

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The Book of Revelation is about the future, not the past. Even if it appears
to be teaching about the past it is not, it is all forward from the time of the vision.
Rev. 1:1,

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him

to show his servants what must soon take place;

he made it known by sending his angel to his servant John.

John calls it prophecy (v 3), saying, “the time is near.” Even when the vision
refers to the past, the application is still future. John was told to write everything:
all he had seen, all he was seeing then, and all he would see later (v 19). This is
saying that John received writing instructions after the visions began, and Jesus
wanted him to know that everything in the vision must be written—including all
that had been shown him earlier. Thus, all of the vision applies forward in time.

The woman of this vision is the Israel of God (Gal. 6:16). The other symbols
will be explained as we continue. Revelation 12:1-2,

A great portent appeared in heaven: a woman

clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet,

and on her head a crown of twelve stars.

She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pangs,

in the agony of giving birth.

There are Zodiac star patterns of the night-time sky that represent this vision,
and other writers have explained this aspect of the subject. In this study guide
we focus on the interpretation and symbolic meaning of the vision in relation to
other Scriptures. The message contained in this vision is important for us now.

The Greek word for ‘lady’ is usually translated as ‘woman’ in English Bibles.
It is correct but not adequate because the word usually means married woman.
In heaven she represents the Church gospel, a covenant of marriage to Christ.
But this marriage is waiting till the Church age is at an end. Until then the saints
are in preparation, in womb, awaiting birth—the resurrection to heaven.

Rom. 8:18-19,22-23,

v 18… I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not

worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us.

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing

of the children of God…

v 22... We know that the whole creation has been groaning

in labour pains until now; and not only the creation, but we

ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly

while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.

The resurrection to heaven happens during a quiet time before labour pains.
Isaiah 66:7,

Before she was in labour she gave birth;

before her pain came upon her,

she delivered a son.

v 8b, Yet as soon as Zion was in labour she delivered her children.

In v 8 we see that Zion is the mother of a son. Therefore the lady in the vision
is Zion, and the conqueror-child born in heaven is her firstborn.

Hebrews 12:22-23,

But you have come to mount Zion and to the city of the living God,

the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering,

and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven…

Galatians 4:26-28,

… the Jerusalem above; she is free, and she is our mother.

For it is written (in Isaiah 54:1),

Rejoice, you childless one, you who bear no children,

burst into song and shout, you who endure no birth pangs;

for the children of the desolate woman are more numerous

than the children of the one who is married.

Now you, my friends, are children of the promise, like Isaac.

Christian saints that make up Christ’s body are Zion’s children. Collectively
they are Christ’s body. They are collectively the conqueror-child. Rev. 12:5,

And she gave birth to a son, a male child*,

who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron.

But her child was snatched away and taken to God and to his throne…

*(conqueror-child)

The snatching away to God’s throne is the resurrection of saints up to heaven
to be with Christ. The change is the resurrection (birth) of the conqueror-child.
1 Cor. 15:51-52,

Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die,

but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,

at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound,

and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

Following the birth (the resurrection change), the saints will be “caught up.”
1 Thes. 4:16-17,

For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with archangel’s call

and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven,

and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive,

who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them

to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever.

The woman is the Israel of God. As long as she is in heaven she signifies the
Church age New covenant (the Sarah covenant; Gal. 4:21-31; Heb. 8-9).

Church saints are called to a marriage covenant as the future bride of Christ.
But they also are servants of the King, who in this age are in preparation as the
future governors of the Kingdom (Luke 12:35-48; 19:11-19).

As servants of a king, the saints in glory are called a male child. This phrase
is two words: ‘male’ is conqueror or superman, and ‘child’ is a newborn baby.
At their moment of birth into heavenly glory the saints are conquering heroes.
They are the body of Messiah. Rev. 2:26-27,

To everyone who conquers and continues to do my works to the end,

I will give authority over the nations;

to rule them with an iron rod, as when clay pots are shattered—

even as I also received authority from my Father.

This vision starts in heaven but finishes in earth and we follow that sequence.
The woman is God’s kingdom wherever she is, signifying both the Church-age
heavenly gospel and the eternal earthly gospel. Her position changes and she
is identified by the heaven-to-earth sequence. She is the Israel of God in both
heavenly and earthly aspects of the New covenant. The New covenant has two
aspects, the New Heaven and New Earth, and we should understand them both
to correctly comprehend the message of Revelation Twelve.

The New covenant for earth is for the House of Israel and the House of Judah,
to be agreed “after those days” (Israel’s exile, and Church age). Jer. 31:31-34,

v 31, The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will make

a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah.

It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors

when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—

a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the LORD.

v 33, But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel

after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them,

and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they

shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another,

or say to each other, “Know the LORD,” for they shall all know me,

from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD;

for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.

The New Testament gives Jeremiah’s prophecy a spiritualised interpretation
because the Church call is spiritual, but a literal earthly fulfilment is also in the
pre-ordained plan of God. After the Church resurrection to heaven the earthly
New covenant applies, and this aspect of the gospel is important to understand.

Lady Zion has two kinds of children, heavenly and earthly. The kingdom has
two kinds of seed, the heavenly and the earthly. Gen. 22:17,

I will indeed bless you, and I will make your offspring as numerous

as the stars of the heaven and as the sand that is on the sea shore.

Heaven’s pre-ordained people are the firstborn. This Church call to heaven
was a hidden mystery until Jesus opened the Church age.

Eph. 3:9-10,

... and to make everyone see what is the plan of the mystery

hidden for ages in God who created all things; so that

through the church the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now

be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

Lady Zion’s sunshine clothing symbolises the glory and honour promised to
the Church saints, a resurrection body for heaven. 1 Peter 1:4,

... and into an inheritance imperishable, undefiled, and unfading,

kept in heaven for you...

1 Cor. 15:41-42,49,

There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon,

and another glory of the stars; indeed, star differs from star in glory.

So it is with the resurrection of the dead.

What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable.

v 49, Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust,

we will also bear the image of the man of heaven.

The woman’s crown is the glory and authority promised the saints in heaven.
The twelve stars in the crown are the twelve apostles. They will rule the twelve
tribes of Israel, as prophesied in Matthew 19:28,

Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things,

when the Son of Man is seated on the throne of his glory,

you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones,

judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”

The stars of heaven are angels, the morning stars and sons of God (Job 38:7).
Satan, the great fire dragon, has access to heaven until the war of the angels. In
past times he succeeded to drag a third of heaven’s angels down to earth. This
occurred when Satan led them to trespass God’s bounds (Gen. 6:1-4; Jude 1:6).
In 2 Peter 2:4, it is said that those angels were thrown into a prison (TARTARÚS),
in chains of darkness until judgment; (those angels may not be the same angels
as the military angels joined with Satan in the war of heaven). Rev. 12:3-5,

v 3, Then another portent appeared in heaven: a great red* dragon,

with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads.

His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven,

and threw them to the earth. Then the dragon

stood before the woman who was about to bear a child,

so that he might devour her child as soon as it was born.

v 5, And she gave birth to a son, a male child,

who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron.

But her child was snatched away and taken to God and to his throne…

*(some manuscripts say fire)

The birth of this son is the resurrection of Christian saints to heaven. Satan’s
attempt to stop the Church resurrection is certain to fail, but it is important that
he not know the exact time of the resurrection and catching away (Matt. 24:43).
Apostle Paul was allowed to hear “things that are not to be told, that no mortal is
permitted to repeat” (2 Cor. 12:4). We are not told much about heaven.

The vision concerns the ending of this age and the last antichrist empire. It is
a time of war in heaven and chaos in earth. Lady Zion flees down to earth, to a
‘wilderness’ (refuge region), a place prepared by God. Rev. 12:6,

… and the woman fled into the wilderness,

where she has a place prepared by God, so that there

she can be nourished for one thousand two hundred sixty days.

This vision involves the last-day antichrist empire. Some Bible teachers think
the empire is world-wide (Dan. 7:23; Rev. 13:7) but Rev. 12:6 says Lady Zion has
a safe place in earth prepared as a refuge during the antichrist empire. Other
Scriptures prove that an antichrist empire cannot be world-wide; Satan is being
forced into a retreat and God is not allowing him to extend his area of control.

Lady Zion has both firstborn and last-born children. Christians are firstborn
(Heb. 12:23) and their reward is heaven but Zion gives birth to more children.
The last-born children will inherit earth. In this end time God is also choosing
people for his earthly kingdom. Isaiah 66:8,

Who has heard of such a thing? Who has seen such things?

Shall a land be born in one day? Shall a nation be delivered in one

moment? Yet as soon as Zion was in labour she delivered her children.

The children brought forth at once, ‘the nation born in a day’ is Israel entire,
sealed in the end time for God’s New Earth covenant. The earthly seed include
all the dead rising to life in the first resurrection of earth. But Zion’s children of
Rev. 12:17 are primarily those of the last generation, survivors of the tribulation.
These people for the most part are Jacob’s remnant, sealed for survival into the
earthly Kingdom (Rev. 7:1-8). They are the end-time elect.

The woman of Revelation Twelve is foreseen in Micah 5:2-5,

But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans

of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel,

whose origin is from of old*, from ancient days. Therefore he shall give

them up until the time when she who was in labour has brought forth;

then the rest of his kindred shall return to the people of Israel. And he

shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty

of the name of the LORD his God. And they shall live secure, for now he

shall be great to the ends of the earth; and he shall be the one of peace.

*(Heb. KEDEM, the ancient orient)

This predicts the birth of the Messiah and his future kingdom. All during the
Church age the Jews were put aside until the time when she who is in labour has
brought forth (the Church); then the rest of his kindred shall return to the people
of Israel. Ancient Israel could not meet God’s requirement so he put them aside
till the end of the Church age—with the intent of restoring them afterwards.

Isaiah 61:9,

Their descendants shall be known among the nations,

and their offspring among the peoples; all who see them

shall acknowledge that they are a people whom the LORD has blessed.

Zeph. 3:12-15,

For I will leave in the midst of you a people humble and lowly.

They shall seek refuge in the name of the LORD—the remnant of Israel;

they shall do no wrong and utter no lies, nor shall a deceitful tongue

be found in their mouths. Then they will pasture and lie down,

and no one shall make them afraid. Sing aloud, O daughter Zion;

shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart,

O daughter Jerusalem! The LORD has taken away the judgments

against you, he has turned away your enemies. The king of Israel,

the LORD, is in your midst; you shall fear disaster no more.

After the Church resurrection (son’s birth) war comes in heaven; Rev. 12:7-9,

v 7-8, And war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against

the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, but they were

defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.

v 9, The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, called

the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was

thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

Heaven’s war has been on wait until the Church is taken up; the gospel call is
the reason. But the Church resurrection alters heaven’s military power balance
resulting in Satan’s defeat; hence his main priority is stopping this resurrection.
The casting of Satan and his angels out of heaven is a big event. The saints are
no more accused by Satan—and God’s kingdom can begin! Rev. 12:10-12,

v 10, Then I heard a loud voice in heaven proclaiming, Now have come

the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the

authority of his Messiah, for the accuser of our comrades has been

thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.

v 11, But they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb

and by the word of their testimony,

for they did not cling to life even in the face of death.

v 12, Rejoice then, you heavens and those who dwell in them!

But woe to the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you

with great wrath, because he knows that his time is short.

This shout is among the most joyful announcements to be heard in heaven
since the world began, but it is not good news for earth for it is the start of the
worst trouble earth has ever seen. But there is some good news in it; the wrath
lasts just a short time. God is pursuing the war to earth and Satan cannot resist.
The antichrist empire is Satan’s last effort, he can’t win. But he is angry against
the woman and her earthly seed, and he wants to kill them.

The earthly seed are life to the upright, but death to the wicked; Micah 5:7-8,

v 7, Then the remnant of Jacob, surrounded by many peoples,

shall be like dew from the LORD, like showers on the grass,

which do not depend upon people or wait for any mortal.

v 8, And among the nations the remnant of Jacob, surrounded by

many peoples, shall be like a lion among the animals of the forest,

like a young lion among the flocks of sheep, which, when it goes

through, treads down and tears in pieces, with no one to deliver.

Our essay entitled “The Twelve Tribes of Israel” has more information about
Jacob’s end-time remnant. The world knows that Jews are Jacob’s seed but the
ten lost tribes are also Jacob’s seed. Rev. 7:1-8 says that God takes people from
all the tribes (not only Judah). Jacob’s remnant is a topic understandable only
if God reveals it. When Israel’s future restoration was revealed to the prophets
they prophesied mainly about the earlier Diasporas that migrated to east Asia.
(Little is said of the later western Roman Diaspora.) The angel of Israel’s tribes
is in the Far East (Rev. 7:2, Gr. ANATOLÉS HÉLIOU, the rising of the sun), for the
earlier Diasporas went to the Far East. Thus prophetically Jacob’s remnant is in
the Asian Far East.

Israel was in Goshen—Egypt’s eastern wilderness (Gen. 47:1-6; Ex. 12:40-41).
Goshen was in Egypt but was separated from Egypt’s people (Ex. 8:22). Egypt
is this world and Goshen is the prepared place for Hebrew people in this world.

A large part of Israel’s seed is still unrecognised but God knows them. After
the first captivity Israel’s ten tribes migrated on the Silk Road into the Far East,
and after the later Babylonian captivity many Judeans also went to the Far East.
God put Israel’s tribes into a larger land of Goshen, east Asia. After 2500 years
in Asia they have greatly increased. By assimilating with Asians the larger part
of Israel has now become Oriental. In the Exodus story, the Hebrews learned
about God only after their foreign bondage ended, and so it is now. In this time
of renewal, Eastern Hebrews are again learning about the God of the Hebrews.

East Asians are Hebrew through Joktan (Gen. 10:26-30). When Israel’s tribes
went east they assimilated in another Hebrew culture, so their posterity is both
Hebrew and Israeli. Lady Zion’s earthly posterity are not identified except that
they follow God’s commandments and have the testimony of Jesus. But other
Scriptures identify the end-time elect as Jacob’s seed, Israel’s natural posterity.
The outside world shall be very stunned to discover that most of Israel’s people
are Asians, and have become such a large multitude.

Therefore the prepared place is a large portion of Asia. The lands having an
Israeli heritage include east Asia, central Asia, south Asia, southeast Asia, and
portions of west Asia. Divine providences in technical, economic, and spiritual
renewal throughout Asia are easy to see; the preparation of this area was a plan
ordained from long ago. God is not caught unprepared. Asia was prepared for
Israel’s tribes long before they arrived. God did not put Israel in exile without
providing them a home for future generations and a long-term plan.

We know that God’s view of assimilation is different from the physical view.
Men look at the outer appearance but God sees the inward reality in the soul.
Jacob’s seed have the same soulish identity in assimilation as when they began.
While in their first homeland of Canaan Jacob’s tribes were in western Asia, but
later migrations put them farther east. Micah 5:2 mentions the ‘ancient orient,’
and verse 3 says the Judean remnant shall finally be rejoined to Israel’s people.
This is saying that Israel’s posterity was divided, not confined to Canaan alone.
Israel’s assimilation into the Asian populace was always God’s plan—and that is
a secret which has been kept hidden until the end of this age.

Lady Zion’s refuge is called a wilderness. A wilderness is a place of safety.
This has reference to Israel’s sojourn in Egypt and the wilderness journey. As in
Moses’ time, God is with his people during the 1260 days that Lady Zion begins
her earthly activity. Israel is joined to the New covenant at that time. The place
of covenant making is called “the wilderness of the people.” Ezekiel 20:35-37,

… and I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples,

and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face.

As I entered into judgment with your ancestors

in the wilderness of the land of Egypt,

so I will enter into judgment with you, says the Lord GOD.

I will make you pass under the staff,

and will bring you within the bond of the covenant.

The eastern tribes are in the New covenant from the time they are sealed by
the angel of the east (Rev. 7:2). The two witnesses control Jerusalem 1260 days
(Rev. 11:3-10) but the Jews there evidently join the New covenant only after the
1260 days, when Jesus returns (Zech. 12:9-14; 13:1). The woman's earthly seed
will then be united within the New covenant and Israel will then be complete.

All other nations and people-groups are made righteous by obedience to the
Kingdom gospel. This requirement is not for whole nations but for individuals.
People must obey the Kingdom gospel even at risk of death. Their place in the
earthly kingdom is then secure, and all who die as martyrs will be resurrected.
The New covenant is first made with Israel and then everyone else can enter it.

Daniel’s dream in Chapter Seven differs from the king’s Chapter Two dream.
The king’s dream was of ancient empires but Daniel’s dream was for latter day
empires. The four wild beasts from the sea are four latter-day nation-groups in
the Mediterranean Sea political arena: an eagle-winged lion (v 4), a bear (v 5),
a four-headed, four-winged leopard (v 6) and the horned monster (vv 7-8).

Daniel 7:11-14,

11b, ... And as I watched, the (fourth) beast was put to death,

and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire.

v 12, As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away,

but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.

v 13, As I watched in the night visions, I saw one like a human being

coming with the clouds of heaven. And he came to the Ancient One

and was presented before Him.

v 14, To him was given dominion and glory and kingship,

that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away,

and his kingship is one that shall never be destroyed.

This vision shows four empires—each separate but existing at the same time.
All earth dominions will be removed. The people of the lion, bear and leopard
empires will remain but the fourth (antichrist empire) will be totally destroyed.
This is when Kingdom activity begins to be felt in earth but Satan tries to stop it.
Rev. 12:13-17,

v 13, So when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth,

he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child.

v 14, But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle, so that

she could fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to her place

where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time.

v 15, Then from his mouth the serpent poured water like a river after

the woman, to sweep her away with the flood.

v 16, But the earth came to the help of the woman; it opened its mouth

and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth.

v 17, Then the dragon was angry with the woman, and

went off to make war on the rest of her children, those who keep

the commandments of God, and hold the testimony of Jesus.

v 18, Then the dragon took his stand on the sand of the seashore.

After the Church is in heaven Satan’s options are limited. He can’t accuse the
saints for he is no more in heaven. He only can try to stop the Kingdom gospel.
But Lady Zion is safe from the dragon in a prepared place. While Satan builds a
kingdom in the lands of the four empires, God renews his own kingdom activity
in Asia with the seed of Israel’s twelve tribes, elect and sealed. God’s kingdom
gospel (Lady Zion) is renewed in earth just after the Church is taken to heaven.
Kingdom gospel activity is indicated by the word “nourished” (Rev. 12:6,14),

v 6, … and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place

prepared by God, so that there she can be nourished

for one thousand two hundred sixty days.

v 14, But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle, so that

she could fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to her place

where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time.

Gospel activity in the one thousand two hundred sixty days is like Moses’ day
when Israel was encamped at Mount Horeb. New revelations in the wilderness
are like manna from heaven. This is true for us now. As these things occur, the
Kingdom becomes active in earth. In Moses’ day the Hebrews were protected
and taught God’s laws; they saw miracles and were strengthened for conquest.

In the last fulfilment all of earth is our promised land (now under Canaanite
occupation); but there will be war of God’s great army against antichrist forces.
The war between God and Satan advances from heaven to earth and continues
in earth. Satan is defeated in heaven and cannot win in earth and God does not
allow him more time. God’s great army (Joel 2:11-23) is the people of Zion, the
people of Judah and Ephraim (Zech. 9:13-17). Satan wants to make war on the
woman’s earthly seed (Rev. 12:17) but God wants the woman’s earthly seed to
make war upon Satan. Lady Zion’s earthly seed are assured victory in that war.

All this happens in 3¹/₂ ‘times.’ A ‘time’ is an Old Babylonian unit of 360 days.
Calendars using this time unit are not practical but this time concept is used for
Biblical prophetic timing. 3¹/₂ ‘times’ are one thousand two hundred sixty days,
or forty-two lunar months; (Biblical months are lunar). Lunar calendars have six
or seven months in the year that are 30 days. (The prophetic 42 months are all
30-day months.) Therefore 3¹/₂ times, 42 months, and 1260 days are the same.

There is increased angelic activity in last-day events. Kingdom preparations
involve angels. Satan’s new age activity also involves angels, fallen angels. But
his new age dreams will fail and be replaced by a New Heavens and New Earth
where righteousness dwells (2 Peter 3:13). After the war in heaven and Satan’s
defeat, God’s kingdom begins. “Now have come the salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Messiah.” (Rev. 12:10) This
proclamation is brought to earth by the seventh angel.

Rev. 10:7,

But in the days when the seventh angel is to blow his trumpet,

the mystery of God will be fulfilled,

as he announced to his servants the prophets.

Rev. 11:15,

Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices

in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom

of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign forever and ever.”

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