Gloriographs by Rick Reynolds

1 A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; 2 and she was with child; and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems. 4 And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child. 5 And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne. 6 Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days (Revelation 12:1–6)

Chapter 12 is where we need to keep our heads on straight. The tendency is to see what you want to see. There are going to be those who immediately see Israel, with the clue being the “twelve stars,” thought to mean the twelve tribes of Judah. Others are inclined to assume that number to mean the twelve apostles. Are we talking about Israel or the Church. I would think every fiber of a modern Christian theologian wants this passage to refer to the Church. Otherwise, it’s got to mean Israel. There are two camps.

There’s a 1990s hit movie called “What About Bob,” (1991) where the main character “Bob,” will not leave the side of his psychologist, following him everywhere , even on his vacation. Well, “what about Israel” has much the same vibe.

Therefore, to me, at least, it seems helpful to read on through verse six with a focus on the “woman” being Israel. This “woman” ends up protected in the wilderness by God for 42 months. I don’t see the same protection for Gentiles who become Christians during the Tribulation, as those already in heaven (under the altar) complain to the Lord, wanting to know how long his children will continue to be martyred. Revelation 6:9-11

Since the 144,000 witnesses are Jewish, representing the twelve tribes, and operate for 42 months, it is possible that their converts are the ones sheltered here. I can’t imagine God protecting Jewish people without them being believers in Christ, because the ultimate end of the road for any Jew (and their religion) is the Messiah. I also can’t imagine that these witnesses are ineffective. If this is the last half of the Tribulation we’re talking about, the “great red dragon” will be expressing his anger for being tossed out of heaven, likely with new headquarters in Jerusalem. After all, he has commandeered the altar of God in the temple by then.

“Forces from him will arise, desecrate the sanctuary fortress, and do away with the regular sacrifice. And they will set up the abomination of desolation. (Daniel 11:31) “From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days.  (Daniel 12:11)

So to recap what we know now, the “great red dragon” was/is hell-bent on devouring the “child” of the “woman,” Jesus, setting his sights on eliminating him as a baby—unsuccessful—and then throughout his 33 years on earth—unsuccessful—who was ultimately “caught up” to God’s throne in a crowd of witnesses. In the meantime we’ve learned that perhaps during the last half of the tribulation, 144,000 Jewish men are set apart as evangelists or witnesses, more by what they don’t do than what they do—they are pure—and two powerful witnesses perpetually share Christ for 42 months, we assume, on the streets of Jerusalem. They are then brutally assassinated, left for dead, but dramatically come back to life after three and a half days. They are then “caught up” to God in heaven.¹ Now we find that Jews are ushered off to the mountains where they are protected for 42 months until the Lord returns. It therefore seems certain that a “Jewish” contingent enters into the millennium, as are other survivors of the Tribulation.

There is no imaginable way that anyone in this group is not saved by the blood (i.e., life, death, and resurrection) of Jesus. They’re either Christians by virtue of unyielding faith in Jesus with no prior heritage—they are Gentiles—or they are truly “completed” Jews. Therefore, Jews are part of story, and it is plausible that the mode of worshiping Jesus during the millennium is fashioned in such a way as to reflect tangibly all the symbolism of their prescribed worship heretofore, that pointed to him and his coming, now finally perfected by the Lord’s personal presence on earth.

In the earlier chapters of Relevation, the throne of God plays and will continue to play a huge role. We need to rethink life after Jesus’ return without the trappings of how “worship” has been done by Jews and Christians in the past. Further, it is important to note the earth as we know it now will have drastically changed through contraction via disruption and destruction. The Lord will have set up his kingdom, and the center of the “universe” will likely be Jerusalem, not Washington, D.C., and the world’s population will have shrunk dramatically by virtue of the preceding judgments, the early successes of the anti-Christ, and the battle of Armageddon.

There is much more coming in the following verses to clarify and amplify what is being described here. As a result, we must read on, leaving some issues unresolved for now. It must be reiterated at this point that the many commenters on the Book of Revelation come from two general viewpoints which harken back to what is believed about the presence or absence of the Church during the seven-year tribulation. This writer believes as do those generally consulted here that the Church has already been summoned home. As an observation, those holding to this view use much less ink, and there is less “herding of cats.” But this is not a popular viewpoint these days, and few want to hear anthems like the “Midnight Call” sung, nor sadly do they understand what the “heaven” it’s talking about.

¹ “Caught up” is the same word or concept found in 1 Thessalonians 4:17, which is translated “harpazo” in the Greek, which in Latin means “rapturo,” or “ raptured.”