(One of the original drawings depicting Rev.12 by brother Houteff)
(Note: we did a prior post called “The Woman and the Dragon” but that dealt with all of Revelation 12. Here we shall concentrate on the part that prophetically shows God’s SDA church becoming victorious by His taking the reins into His own hands(TM, p.300)
Have you ever been a part of a club, or maybe even a class, where there were troublemakers? All they wanted to do was to disrupt, cause trouble, destroy the purpose of the gatherings however subtly ? Sadly this condition is prevalent within our SDA church today. It is overrun with tares. The unconverted vastly out number the converted. What I mean is those who obey all the light given to them via Scripture, SOP and the Elijah message are very few. What will God do about this? Let us look at Revelation Chapter 12 and see.
One of the most fascinating Biblical interpretations given us by the Lord’s last messenger, is the prophetic message of Revelation 12. We as Adventists like to pride ourselves as having much light on Scripture and particularly–Revelation. But those of us who search further and are not satisfied with our level of spiritual knowledge and attainment can receive a great blessing once we know the Revelation 12 story of our ultimate victory–God’s remnant church defeating Satan and his centuries old practice of infiltrating God’s church with the unconverted–ie. tares.
Let us look at God’s lesson and hope for us as written in Revelation 12, particularly 12:15-17
“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.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.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.” (Rev. 12:15-17)
Before we can correctly understand this prophecy, we must understand the symbols employed here. Many of us are familiar with God’s pin point and exact designs in nature. For instance the flower. When we pick one and closely examine it, we find a perfect symmetry of designs. The lines all flow in a direction, the flower is color coded, etc.
How much more will He be EXACT and measured in His word? Does He not place each word carefully? Will He not have meaning and purpose for us in each of His words? Each and every word means something and we must not skip over them as if they are not relevant. Only when we approach God’s word as such will we comprehend the true and correct meaning of His powerful word. Now, let us look at the purposeful and prophetic word spoken above.
1) The serpent represents Satan (Rev. 12:9)
2) The woman represents God’s church (Rev. 12:5,6,17: GC p.381,7 BC, p.972)
3) The dragon casts a flood of water after the woman hoping thereby to cause her to be carried away of the flood.
4) Water represents people (Rev. 17:15). Naturally a “flood” would represent a large amount of people.
5) Since the dragon causes these people (flood) to infiltrate the church, they must reflect his character and attributes. Such as non-converted, allowing sins to be fostered in the church, etc.
6) The SOP describes a “worldly flood” coming into the church (GC, p.385)
7) Obviously the dragon’s chief objective in flooding the church with the unconverted (tares) to cause the church to be “carried away” by the flood, to secure her downfall.
“While the Lord brings into the church those who are truly converted, Satan at the same time brings persons who are not converted into its fellowship. While Christ is sowing the good seed, Satan is sowing the tares. There are two opposing influences continually exerted on the members of the church. One influence is working for the purification of the church, and the other for the corrupting of the people of God ((TM, p.46)
8) The earth helps the woman by “opening” her mouth and swallowing up the flood. A miraculous event happens that causes the “flood” to disappear.The church is helped. This same type of event was shown us as a perfect example of the Lord “helping” His people in the days of Moses.
In Numbers 16:28-32, we read–
Verse 28– “And Moses said: ‘By this you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, for I have not done them of my own will. If these men die naturally like all men , or if they are visited by the common fate of all men, then the Lord has not sent me.
But if the Lord creates a new thing, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the pit, then you will understand that these men have rejected the Lord.”
Now it came to pass , as he finished speaking all these words, that the ground split apart under them and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the men with Korah, with all their goods.” (Verse 28-32)
There can be no doubt that this perfect prior example of the Lord’s direct cleansing of His people by opening the earth’s mouth, was meant for His future word in Revelation 12:16.
9) After, and let us keep this time schedule firmly in mind- after, this swallowing (helping of God’s church) the dragon is angry. The church being relieved of Satan’s tares, makes him furious. He then goes forth to “make war” with the remnant of her seed .Let us keep in mind that Satan has mixed the church with his tares since the early days after Pentecost. Now for the first time since then he is powerless to infiltrate God’s pure church. He is furious and knows this prophetic time clock event has shown him his days are extremely short!
10) This warring by Satan brings on the “time of trouble such as never was”(Dan 12:1).
So we see that this perfect example of the earth opening her mouth indicates a cleansing. The false brethren, those who would not listen to God’s appointed spokesmen were eliminated from God’s people.
Recently I have seen two examples of sincere meaning Christians, where even unbeknownst to themselves, are taking the adversaries side in going directly against God’s revealed word as said through Scripture, SOP and the Elijah message.
Why I would like to bring this up is that if we are not careful, we too shall be swallowed up by the earth just as Korah and his followers were. Remember that Korah and his men had declared that they were being directly guided by God just like Moses was. In other words God really did not need to send a prophet because these deceived men thought that they stood highly exalted in God’s eyes and basically showed severe doubt that God knew what He was doing!
Both of the two examples I have seen recently are based on this same premise! “So what if God said to do this or that, I know He is guiding me” — huh?? This is really a sinister deception. Korah and his followers basically did the same thing, and threw out what God said through His prophet Moses. The sad example of self-exaltation has not changed through time. God is right through His word–not us through what we think!
This is the lesson God is trying to give us in Rev.12. Satan has for centuries be able to cast a “flood” (unconverted) into the woman (church) BUT God decides to “take the reins into His own hands”(TM, p.300) and does a cleansing and it “helps the woman”. This is the prophesied Ezekiel 9 church judgment.
Yes, the earth swallowing is symbolic in Rev. 12, but it should not be mis-construed for what it stands for– a church cleansing.
A pure church cannot be flooded any longer. The prophesied “time of trouble as never was” begins–the Great controversy! Satan and his human agents war against God and His servants–what a gigantic end time struggle! The victory is Gods–praise the Lord!
The Lord’s Rod teaches us that Revelation is not only a history book but a prophetic future event guideline. There is hope for His church today. We look around and see –NO dress reform, NO health reform, NO worship reform, NO Tithe reform, and on and on. Yet, Revelation 12:15-17 gives us great hope! “But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon spewed out of his mouth.”(Rev. 12:16)
After God’s direct hand gets involved, the Spirit of Prophecy and Scripture tells us–
“Clad in the armor of Christ’s righteousness, the church is to enter upon her final conflict. “Fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners” (Song of Solomon 6:10), she is to go forth into all the world, conquering and to conquer.”(Prophets and Kings, p.725)
“In that day they will say, “Surely this is our God; we trusted in Him, and He saved us. This is the LORD, we trusted in Him; let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”(Isaiah 25:9)
“Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean.” (Isaiah 52:1)
Hallelujah!
(Printable Rev. 12 Study Outline — http://www.shepherds-rod-message.org/outlines/rev_12.pdf )
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