Bible in One Year Day 362 (Revelation 12-14, Hebrews 1-4, Proverbs 31:19-22)

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Day 362: The Woman Clothed in the Sun 

Agape Bible Revelation 12 - 14 

Revelation 12:1-6 ~ The Sign of the Woman and the Dragon

This point in the prophecy is something like a new beginning, and now John, after seeing Mary, the Mother of God, as the Ark of the New Covenant (Rev 11:19-12:1) goes back to the beginning, to Mary as the symbol of the Old Covenant Church, laboring down through salvation history to give birth to the Redeemer Messiah, Jesus, and His kingdom of the Church. He will also recall Satan's unsuccessful attempts to destroy Jesus and the Woman and her precious "seed" promised since the fall of our first parents, Adam and Eve. This second part of the book will end with Christ's victorious ascent into Heaven and the victory of the Church over Satan and his "seed."

In the Chapter 1 lesson, we discussed the phrase, He sent His angel to make it known to His servant John (Rev 1:1, underlining added for emphasis). In the English translation, "to make it known" uses the Greek verb semaino from the root sema and means sign or mark. A more literal translation would, therefore, be: He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John. Jesus tells John from the very beginning of his visionary experiences that this is going to be a Book of SIGNS of events that are to take place very soon (verse 1) and again in verse 3, Jesus warns John: the Time is near. In the second half of the Book of Revelation, John will use the word sign seven times in Chapters 12-19 (Greek text*), revealing three signs in Heaven (12:1, 3; 15:1), and four on earth (13:13, 14; 16:14; 19:20):

1. a woman in Heaven (Rev 12:1)
2. a red dragon in Heaven (Rev 12:3)
3. the second Beast on earth (Rev 13:13)
4. the first Beast on earth (Rev 13:14)
5. the seven angels in Heaven bring seven plagues (Rev 15:1)
6. demon spirits on earth (Rev 16:14).
7. the false prophet on earth (Rev 19:20).
   * IBGE, vol. IV #4592, pages 678, 681, 685, 687, 695.

In Revelation 12:1, John commands our attention immediately by announcing that the sign of "a Woman" is a GREAT sign! The words "a great sign" will only appear again in Chapter 15 when the seven angels bring the seven plagues. The "great sign," pointing to the woman as an important symbol, is central to understanding the message of the vision as a whole. John's message to us is that we must think carefully about the Biblical meaning of this "great sign." In this case, the Greek noun is semeion = sign, and the central sign or symbol is the "Woman." The word "woman" or "women" appears 17 times in the Book of Revelation (2:20; 12:1, 4, 6, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17; 9:8; 14:4; 17:3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 18), making it almost as important a symbol as that of the "Lamb," (arnion), used 29 times (Rev 5:6, 8, 12, 13; 6:1, 16; 7:9, 10, 14, 17; 12:11; 13:8, 11; 14:1, 4 twice, 10; 15:3; 17:14 twice; 19:7, 9; 21:9, 14, 27; 22:22; 21:23; 22:1; 23:3).

Question: What three astronomical signs describe the woman?
Answer: The signs of the sun, moon, and twelve stars.

The Catholic Church has always identified the woman clothed in the sun and standing on the moon as Mary, the mother of Jesus. This interpretation was confirmed as correct by the vision of St. Juan Diego when the Virgin Mary appeared to him at Tepiac hill in Mexico in December 1531. He saw her "clothed in the sun and standing on the moon," and the vision of Mary appeared miraculously on Juan Diego's cloak.
Question: Does this particular vision help us to understand when John received his revelation?
Answer: It has to be after Mary's assumption into heaven.

The Ark of the Covenant placed in the Holy of Holies in the desert Tabernacle and later the Jerusalem Temple was only a shadow of the Ark that God showed Moses in the heavenly sanctuary (Ex 25:8). In Jeremiah 3:15, Jeremiah gave the prophecy that the Ark of the Covenant, the most sacred object of the Covenant people, would one day come to have no function, would not be missed, and not sought. Who was the genuine Ark of the Covenant? Keeping in mind that when John first recorded his vision, there were no chapters or verse divisions.
Question: First, John sees the Ark of the Covenant (11:19), and then what does he see?
Answer: He sees a woman clothed with the sun and standing on the moon.

Question: What four images does John see in 12:1-9?
Answer:

1. The woman
2. The serpent
3. the woman's son
4. Michael with his angels

Question: Who is the promised "Woman" of Genesis 3:15 whose "seed" will produce the Redeemer-Messiah (in human reproduction, the "seed" comes from a human male but not in this case)? She is the one Jesus always addressed by her title'; the one prophesied in the Genesis 3:15 passage. Who is it that Jesus addressed by this title, identifying her as "the Woman" of Genesis 3:15? See John 2:1-4 and 19:25-27.
Answer: She is the Blessed Virgin Mary as St. Juan Diego saw her on a hill near Mexico City in 1531, and as John describes her in Revelation 12:1.

Question: When the sanctuary opened, and the thunder and lightning ceased, John saw the Holy Ark; how did it appear to John, and what was the connection to the prophecy in Genesis 3:15? Read Revelation 12:1.
Answer: John saw a woman who is the woman of Genesis 3:15 whose "seed" would defeat the devil.

God's judgment on the serpent in Genesis 3:15 is the first promise of a Redeemer who will defeat the serpent and bring salvation. Therefore, the verse is known by the Greek term the Protoevangelium, "the first good-news," referring to the first announcement of the "good news" of salvation. This verse in Hebrew uses an indefinite pronoun translated as she, he, or it. The Greek Septuagint (the first translation of the Hebrew Bible into a foreign language in the 3^rd century BC, and the translation used during the life of Jesus) uses a masculine pronoun in this verse (he, not it, will bruise or crush). The Septuagint, using the pronoun "he," therefore, ascribed the victory not to the woman's descendants in general, but to one son in particular and, therefore, giving the Fathers of the Church the basis for the Messianic interpretation. However, St. Jerome's Latin Vulgate translation used a feminine pronoun (she will bruise/crush), and since in the text "the seed" and His mother appear together, the Church has understood this verse to refer to the Virgin Mary, whom our Lord addressed by the title "Woman":

• (the wedding at Cana) and the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine." Jesus said, "Woman, what do you want from me? My hour has not yet come" (Jn 2:3-4).
• (at the foot of the Cross) Seeing His mother and the disciple whom He loved standing near her, Jesus said to His mother, "Woman, this is your son." Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother" (Jn 19:26-27a).

Catechism of the Catholic Church #410-411: "After his fall, man was not abandoned by God. On the contrary, God calls him and in a mysterious way heralds the coming victory over evil and his restoration from his fall. This passage in Genesis is called the Protoevangelium ("first gospel"): the first announcement of the Messiah and Redeemer, of a battle between the serpent and the Woman, and of the final victory of a descendant of hers. (411) The Christian tradition sees in this passage an announcement of the "New Adam" who, because he became obedient unto death, even death on a cross,' makes amends superabundantly for the disobedience of Adam. Furthermore, many Fathers and Doctors of the Church have seen the woman announced in the Protoevangelium as Mary, the mother of Christ, the new Eve.' Mary benefited first of all and uniquely from Christ's victory over sin: she was preserved from all stain of original sin and by a special grace of God committed no sin of any kind during her whole earthly life."

The Virgin Mary's title is "Woman" because she is the promised "woman" of Genesis 3:15, and "woman" is her title. She is also the "new Eve." Just as the original Eve cooperated in humanity's fall from grace, so too does Mary, as the "new Eve," assist in humanity's redemption. The first Eve's name means "mother of all living." Christ gave His Mother to the Church as the second Eve and the mother of all Christians when Jesus, nailed on the Cross, told John the beloved disciple as representative of all beloved disciples, "Behold your mother." It is by the gift of His mother to His Bride, the Church, that the Virgin Mary becomes the mother of all those who are spiritually alive in Christ (Rev 12:17). St. Irenaeus wrote before his martyrdom in AD 202, "Thus, the knot of Eve's disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. What the virgin Eve had bound in unbelief, the Virgin Mary loosed through faith" (Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3,22,4, quoted from The Faith of the Early Fathers, vol.1, page 222).

Question: What is the connection between "the woman" of 3:15 and the way Jesus addressed His mother? It cannot be disrespect because the fourth commandment of the Ten Commandments and the Law commanded honoring one's parents (Ex 20:12; Lev 19:3; Dt 5:16).
Answer: She is the promised "woman" of Genesis 3:15; she is the new Eve who, unlike the first Eve, was obedient to God, and through her obedience, she helped to bring about the redemption of humankind.

Question: What is Mary's connection to the Ark of the Covenant? What were the three sacred items placed in the earthly Ark, according to Hebrews 9:3-4? How do those three items relate to Jesus? See Jn 6:51; Num 17:16-26; Is 11:1; Jer 23:5; 33:15-16; Jn 1:1-5. What was Jesus inside Mary's womb?
Answer: The Letter to the Hebrews records that the Ark contained a jar of manna (the heavenly bread), the branch or staff of the high priest Aaron which miraculously came back to life and budded as a sign of his authority, and the tablets of the Covenant (the word of God). Jesus is the Living Bread come down from Heaven, He is the Davidic heir, the "branch" (Messianic title) that died and came to life again, and He is the Living Word of God.

Mary, the Mother of God, is that sacred vessel the Ark of the New Covenant prefigured! 

Question: Who is the Second Eve? See CCC #411

Answer: the Virgin Mary, the Woman of Genesis 3:15.

The concept of Mary as the "new Eve" goes back to the earliest years of the Church: St. Irenaeus, martyred in AD 202 wrote: "Consequently then, Mary the Virgin is found to be obedient, saying: Behold, O Lord, your handmaid; be it done to me according to your word.' Eve, however, was disobedient; and when yet a virgin, she did not obey. Just as she, who was then still a virgin although she had Adam for a husband,--for in Paradise they were both naked but were not ashamed; for, having been created only short time, they had no understanding of the procreation of children and it was necessary that they first come to maturity before beginning to multiply, having become disobedient, was made the cause of death for herself and for the whole human race; so also Mary, betrothed to a man but nevertheless still a virgin, being obedient, was made the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race ... Thus, the knot of Eve's disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. What the virgin Eve had bound in unbelief, the Virgin Mary loosed through faith"(Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 3.22.4; quoted from The Faith of the Early Fathers vol. 1, page 222).

Who does the dragon intend to destroy? There are two answers:

1. Mary's seed = Jesus and 
2. the Mother Church's seed = believers in the New Covenant in the blood of Christ. 

Do not miss the connection between Mary and the Church. Both are at the same time ever-virgin and fruitful mother. The Church is the virgin Bride of Christ and, at the same time, the fruitful mother of generations of believers.

In Revelation 12:4, "The dragon stopped in front of the woman" is perhaps better translated "took his stand before the woman." The Greek word is hesteken, which means "to stand." Satan knows this is the showdown. And continuing in verse 4, the phrase "eat the child" is more meaningfully translated "to swallow up the child." In Hebrew, the phrase "swallowing up" means to kill or to do away with and is used frequently to express Satan's seed bring suffering and destruction to God's people like Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon who tried to "swallow up" Jerusalem (Jer 51:34) With the imagery in this passage, John reveals the red Dragon as the power behind the imperial thrones (he wears a royal crown) of the ancient world that has persecuted God's holy covenant people. The ten horns identify the dragon with Daniel's beast vision (Dan 7:23-27), but we will set aside the symbolism of the ten horns and seven crowned heads until Chapter 13.

4 Its tail swept a third of the stars from the sky and hurled them to the ground
John has associated stars with angels, which, as we have already discussed, is a familiar Biblical connection (see Lesson 2, Rev 1:20). Now John symbolically describes the fall of the angel Dawnstar-Lucifer (Is 14:12-15) and the angels who followed him into rebellion against God. John gives us more clarification in verse 9: the great Dragon, the primeval serpent, known as the devil or Satan, who had led all the world astray, was hurled down to the earth, and his angels were hurled down with him. St. Peter mentions this same event in his second letter to the Church, and so does St. Jude in verses 5-13, which has relevance for our interpretation of the judgment of God on unbelieving Israel:

• When angels sinned, God did not spare them: He sent them down into the underworld and consigned them to the dark Abyss to be held there until the Judgement (2 Pt 2:4).
• I should like to remind you-though you have already learned it once and for all "that the Lord rescued the nation from Egypt, but afterward, He still destroyed the people who refused to believe Him; and the angels who did not keep to the authority they had, but left their appointed sphere, He has kept in darkness in eternal bonds until the judgment of the great Day (verses 5-6) ... like wandering stars for whom the gloom of darkness is stored up forever(verse 13).

We do not know that a literal third of the heavenly host fell with Satan (Rev 12:4). The third is probably symbolic of an incomplete number and recalls the thirds in the Trumpet judgments (see 8:7-12; 9:15, 18). Then too, there may be a connection to Jesus Christ as the "Firstborn" or re'shiyt in Hebrew (see Col 1:15, 18b). The "firstborn" son in an Israelite/Jewish family was a title and not necessarily a birth order. He was entitled to the two-thirds portion of the inheritance (see Dt 21:17). One-third of the heavenly host fell with Satan, and a two-thirds part remained for Jesus, the Firstborn, and His Kingdom. Another interesting point in this passage is the courtroom language John uses. The Biblical principle of the "two witnesses" may also be involved, since for every false witness (angel) of Satan who stands against the covenant faithful, God has two angles on His side to support the righteous covenant member.

This two-thirds/one-third imagery also appears in the Book of Zechariah, the post-exile prophet: 7 Awake sword against my shepherd, against the man who is close to me, declares Yahweh Sabaoth! Strike the shepherd, scatter the sheep! And I shall turn my hand against the young! 8 So it will be, throughout the country, declares Yahweh Sabaoth, two-thirds in it will be cut off and the other third will be left. 9 I shall pass this third through the fire, refine them as silver is refined, test them as gold is tested. He will call on my name and I shall answer him; I shall say, "He is my people," and he will say, "Yahweh is my God!" (Zec 13:7-9). Jesus will quote Zechariah 13:7 after His Last Supper discourse on the way to the Mount of Olives (Mt 26:31). The one-third that is faithful but tested by fire is the "faithful remnant" of Israel that embraces the Messiah. These faithful are also "the seed of the Woman" collectively through Mary as Mother of the Church upon whom Satan will declare war (see Rev 12:17).

Question: What is the Dragon/Satan's ultimate goal, quote the verse?
Answer: The Dragon/Satan's goal is to abort the work of the Messiah and to kill Him, so the Dragon stopped in front of the woman as she was at the point of giving birth so that he could eat the child as soon as it was born (Rev 12:4b). Satan planned to kill Jesus before the "birth" of Jesus' New Covenant Kingdom.

The war between the Messiah and Satan was announced in Genesis 3:15. It is the war between the two seeds, the Seed of the Woman and the seed of the Serpent. From Genesis to Revelation, from the first book to the last book of the Bible, this is the war of human history. Throughout history, Satan was either trying to (1) keep Jesus from being born, or to (2) kill Him as soon as He was born.

5 The woman was delivered of a boy, the son who was to rule all the nations with an iron scepter, and the child was taken straight up to God and to His throne, 6 while the woman escaped into the desert, where God had prepared a place for her to be looked after for twelve hundred and sixty days."
It is this verse that identifies Mary as the "woman" in addition to the symbolic representation of the "woman" as the Church. The reference to the Messianic passage from Psalms 2:9 identifies "the boy" as Jesus the Messiah, beginning with verse 7: I will proclaim the decree of Yahweh: He said to me, "You are my son, today have I fathered you. Ask of me, and I shall give you the nations as your birthright, the whole wide world as your possession. With an iron scepter, you will break them, shatter them like so many pots" (bold added for emphasis).

6 while the woman escaped into the desert, where God had prepared a place for her to be looked after for twelve hundred and sixty days.
Now the symbolism moves from the "Woman," Mary, and her "seed," Jesus, to the imagery of the "Woman" as the Church and her "seed," the believers. The Woman's flight into the desert is a picture of the escape of the New Covenant Church of Judean Christians from the destruction of Jerusalem by fleeing into the desert of Perea across the Jordan River. While she is in the desert, "the Woman/the Church," is nourished for 1,260 days. It is a period equivalent to the "time, two times and half a time (3 ½ years ) of verse 14 and symbolically linked to the 42 months/1,260 days of Revelation 11:2-3 and later to Revelation 13:5. Therefore, during the time that Satan's wrath is turned on apostate Jerusalem (see Chapter 9), God protects the Church. The "Woman's" flight does not signify God's abandonment of her but His loving provision. Christ's faithful Bride (the New Covenant Church) is safe because God had prepared a place for her to be looked after (verse 6, also see 2 Sam 7:10; 1 Chron 17:9; Jn 14:2-3).

Revelation 12:7-12 ~ War in Heaven!

This passage is an abrupt scene change. It is not a sequel to the preceding vision but a prequel. John unveils this scene to answer the question of why the "Woman," as Mother-Church, had to flee into the wilderness. Once he has explained Satan's rebellion in verses 7-12, John will return to the theme of the flight of the Woman.

To help with the symbolism and imagery in this chapter, keep in mind the major players:

The Sign	Identity of the Sign	Identifying Verse
The Woman	Mary (Spouse of the Holy Spirit)- The Church	verse 5
The Dragon	Satan	verse 9
The Son	Jesus the Messiah	verse 5
The Angel	Michael	verse 7

Question: Who initiates the Holy War?

Answer: Revelation 12:7 = Michael, the archangel and protector of the Church and His angles. Scripture names the angel Michael:

1. here in the Book of Revelation 12:7
2. in Jude1:9, where he is called the Archangel, and in the Old Testament Book of Daniel 10:13, 21 and 12:1.

But he may also be the unnamed Captain of God's heavenly army (Joshua 5:13-17), who appears in several books of the Old Testament. The Book of Daniel is, however, portrays Michael as "the great prince" who stands as the special protector of the people of God. War breaks out in heaven between the faithful and evil angels. Even Gabriel is unable to overcome them until Michael comes to lead the battle and defeat the enemy (see Dan 10:12-13, 20-21).

Question: What is the result of the holy war in Revelation 12:7-13?
Answer: Satan and his angels are defeated and thrown out of heaven.

The result of Michael's victory over Satan is fourfold (remember four is the number of the earth):

1. Satan is no longer the prince of the world.
2. His dominion over the earth has ended.
3. He has not been able to prevent God's divine plan for humanity's salvation.
4. However, his influence and the power to do damage remains.

Question: What is Christ's fourfold victory? See verse 10.
Answer: 1) Salvation: for the human race, 2) power over Satan, 3) empire: the establishment of Christ's Kingdom, 4) all authority belongs to Christ, the King of the Kingdom of heaven on earth = the universal Catholic Church.

Question: Who shares in Christ's victory over Satan?
Answer: The martyrs who spent their lives in the service of the Lamb.

They did not die or suffer in vain but are partakers in the victory because they conquered the Dragon by the blood of the Lamb. The phrase even in the face of death they did not cling to life recalls John 12:25, anyone who loves his life loses it; anyone who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

Question: When did Satan fall from heaven? See Luke 10:17-20.
Answer: He fell, definitively, during the ministry of Jesus Christ and His disciples.

The climax of Satan's fall was in the atoning death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus the Messiah to His heavenly throne. You can see the stages of this Holy War throughout the four Gospels. Have you noticed the frequency of demons mentioned in the Gospels? The activity of demons seems relatively rare in the Old Testament, but the New Testament records numerous accounts of demonism. There are at least 60 references to demons or demon possession in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John but only two in the Old Testament! Why is that? What made the difference? The difference was the presence of Jesus Christ. He entered history to do battle with Satan, the great Dragon/Serpent, and immediately Satan counterattacked, fighting back with all his might.

When we see Jesus attacking the devil, we also see Him leading an angelic host (Mt 4:11; 26:53; Lk 22:43). The Archangel Michael, commanding the army of angels, led the attack in heaven as Jesus led His Apostles and disciples in the war against the devil with the weapon of the Gospel message here on earth. Satan lost his place of power and fell to earth.

Re-read Luke 10:17-20 in light of understanding the impact of Satan's fall. Did you notice the "courtroom" language of Revelation 12:10-12? You have the accuser (Satan) and the witnesses (the Saints), the Judge (God), and the verdict: Victory for Christ and His Saints! The Greek word in verse 11 is nikao, which means "conqueror." A more literal translation is and they conquered him by the blood of the Lamb. This passage carries the connotation not only of a military victory but of a legal one as well in the winning of a favorable verdict in the court of Heaven.

Satan, the great accuser, accused humanity before the throne of God day and night, but Christ's atonement for the sins of His people by offering Himself as the sin sacrifice has resulted in their sentence of justification: right standing in heaven's hall of justice. Their accuser has been thrown out of court; his false testimony invalidated. The very language of the Gospels supports this. The standard term for Jesus' "casting out" of the demons throughout His ministry is, as we have discussed, ekballo (i.e., Mt 8:16, 31; 9:33-34; 10:1, 8; 12:24, 26-28). The word ekballo is an intensive form of the term used repeatedly in Revelation Chapter 12 for the "throwing down" of the Dragon = ballo! Jesus told the Pharisees, "If I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you" (Mt 12:28 NAB).

In Jesus' ministry, by the saving work of His death and resurrection, Christ triumphed over Satan and his demons (Col 2:14-15). Satan has been rendered powerless (Heb 2:14-15), and Paul was able to assure New Covenant believers in his letter to the Romans: the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet (Rom 16:20). And the crowds in John's Gospel experienced the assurance of this victory when A voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and I will again glorify it." The crowd standing by, who heard this, said it was a clap of thunder; others said, "It was an angel speaking to Him." Jesus answered, "It was not for my sake that this voice came, but for yours. Now the sentence is being passed on this world; now the prince of this world is to be driven out. And when I am lifted up from the earth, I shall draw all people to myself" (Jn 12:28-31).

12 So let the heavens rejoice and all who live there; but for you, earth [land] and sea, disaster [woe] is coming because the devil has gone down to you in a rage, knowing that he has little time left.
Question: Verse 12 ends with what warning?
Answer: Lookout there is more to come; the devil may have suffered defeat, but his rage will be unleashed because he knows he has little time.

The Seventh Trumpet has sounded (Rev 11:15), and the third disaster has arrived. Satan was cast out/excommunicated from Heaven following the Ascension of Christ, having lost the heavenly Eden surrendered to him by Adam. Now his domain is the Land and the Sea, and so, in Chapter 13, John will see two great Beasts in the Dragon's image coming up out of the Land and the Sea. The Sea in John's imagery represents the pagan Gentile nations, and the Land, as we have seen repeatedly, is Israel. The Voice from heaven is warning that both Israel and the Roman Empire will become demonized in Satan's attempt to hang on, since he only has a brief period left: knowing that he has little time left (end of verse 12) to bring about the destruction of Jesus' Kingdom of the New Israel Church while she is still connected to Old Israel Church. He will seek to unite Old Israel and pagan Rome against the Church.

Revelation 12:13-17 ~ The Dragon Attacks the Church

In this passage, John returns to the theme begun in verse 6: the Woman's flight from Satan (the Dragon) when the Woman escaped into the desert, where God had prepared a place for her to be looked after for 1,260 days. John's point is that Satan's attack upon the Woman is a direct result of the defeat of Satan and his fallen angels at the hands of Michael and his angelic army: As soon as the dragon found himself hurled down to the earth, he sprang in pursuit of the woman (Rev 12:13). For John, this is one of the most crucial points of the entire chapter: that Satan persecutes the Church because Christ defeated him!

13 As soon as the dragon found himself hurled down to the earth he sprang in pursuit of the woman, the mother of the male child, 14 but she was given a pair of the great eagle's wings to fly away from the serpent into the desert, to the place where she was to be looked after for a time, two times and half a time." 
Once again, John gives us a link to the 42 months, the 1,260 days, the 3 ½ short duration that is a time of suffering and judgment. It is during this time that the "Woman" is safe.

Question: How is the Woman saved? Read Exodus 19:4-6, Dt 32:10-11, and 1 Pt 2:9-10.
Answer: John uses imagery from the Exodus in which the Glory-Cloud, the glory of God clothed with angels, is described as "eagles' wings" by which God brought the children of Israel to Himself in the wilderness to form them into a holy nation, a personal possession and a kingdom of priest: You have seen for yourselves what I did to the Egyptians and how I carried you away on eagles' wings and brought you to me. So now, if you are really prepared to obey me and keep my covenant, you, out of all peoples, shall be my personal possession, for the whole world is mine. For me you shall be a kingdom of priests, a holy nation (Ex 19:4-5). And in 1 Peter 2:9 as Peter, addressing the New Covenant Church, wrote: "But you are a chosen race, a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, a people to be a personal possession to sing the praises of God who called you out of the darkness into His wonderful light." 

Question: Can you think of another time when the "Woman," either individually as Mary or collectively as Mother Church, was hidden and nourished by God in the desert?
Answer: In Matthew 2:13-15 Mary, Joseph, and Jesus were protected from Satan's seed, King Herod, in the escape through the desert to Egypt, and in AD 67, the New Covenant Church, obedient to Jesus' commands in Matthew 24:15-28 and led by Simon, Bishop of Jerusalem, escaped across the Jordan River into Perea, living in caves in the desert, and saved from the destruction of the Roman invasion of Judea to put down the Jewish Revolt.

15 So the serpent vomited water from his mouth, like a river, after the woman, to sweep her away in the current, 16 but the earth came to her rescue; it opened its mouth and swallowed the river spewed from the dragon's mouth. 17 Then the dragon was enraged with the woman and went away to make war on the rest of her children, who obey God's commandments and have in themselves the witness of Jesus."

There seems to be a play on the words "mouth" in the serpent vomiting water from his mouth and the land opening its mouth and swallowing the water. Water in Scripture often symbolizes deadly perils.

These verses recall Exodus imagery. The serpent's torrent of water/wrath should remind us of Satan's wrath in pursuit of:

1. Baby Moses and the Israelite children in danger of the destroying wrath of a Pharaoh (Ex 1-2).
2. The children of Israel pursued by the wrath of Pharaoh's army (Satan's seed), as they escaped from Egypt (Ex 14:5-9). 
3. The children of Israel backed against the Sea of Reeds (Red Sea) as a flood of Pharaoh's army closed in for the kill (Ex 14:10-18).

Question: How is the "Woman" saved? See verse 16, which in the Greek text reads the land.
Answer: The Land came to her rescue because the land opened its mouth and swallowed the river of destruction that came from Satan.

"The Land" always symbolically represents Israel in Scripture. The wrath of Satan turned on to Israel (Judea). The New Covenant Church escaped Satan's power while his instruments, the Romans and their allies, spend their violence on Judea. The destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 left the New Covenant Church unharmed because the "Woman," the Bride of Christ and the Mother of New Covenant believers, remained safe under the shadow of the wings of Almighty God.

17 Then the dragon was enraged with the woman and went away to make war on the rest of her children.
After Satan's defeat in his plan to destroy both the Mother and her Seed, he turned in rage against the rest of her seed, the firstborn children and their siblings in future generations.

THE VIRGIN MARY AS THE ARK OF THE NEW COVENANT
"Mary, in whom the Lord himself has just made his dwelling, is the daughter of Zion in person, the Ark of the Covenant, the place where the glory of God dwells. She is the dwelling of God [...] with men.'" CCC#2676

Ark of the Old Covenant	Ark of the New Covenant
God the Holy Spirit overshadowed and then indwelled the Ark. The Ark became the dwelling place of the presence of God. Exodus 40:34-35	the Holy Spirit overshadowed and then indwelled Mary. At that time, Mary's womb became the dwelling place of the presence of God. Luke 1:35
The Ark contained the 10 Commandments [the words of God in stone], a pot of manna, and Aaron's rod that came back to life. Deuteronomy 10:3-5; Hebrews 9:4	The womb of the Virgin contained Jesus: the living Word of God enfleshed, the living bread from heaven, "the Branch" (Messianic title) who would die but come back to life. Luke 1:35
The Ark traveled to the hill country of Judah to rest in the house of Obed-edom. 2 Samuel 6:1-11	Mary traveled to the hill country of Judah (Judea) to the home of Elizabeth. Luke 1:39
Dressed in a priestly ephod, King David approached the Ark and danced and leaped for joy. 2 Samuel 6:14	John the Baptist, son of a priest who would himself become a priest, leaped for joy in Elizabeth's womb at the approach of Mary. Luke 1:43
David shouted for joy in the presence of God and the holy Ark. 2 Samuel 6:15	Elizabeth exclaimed with a cry of joy in the presence of God within Mary. Luke 1:42
David asked, "How is it that the Ark of the Lord comes to me?" 2 Samuel 6:9	Elizabeth asks, "Why is this granted unto me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" Luke 1:43
The Ark remained in the house of Obed-edom for three months. 2 Samuel 6:11	Mary remained in the house of her cousin Elizabeth for three months. Luke 1:56
God blessed the house of Obed-edom by the presence of the Ark. 2 Samuel 6:11	The word "blessed" appears three times in Luke 1:39-45 concerning Mary at Elizabeth's house.
The Ark returned to the Sanctuary and eventually came to the newly built Jerusalem Temple. 2 Samuel 6:12; 1 Kings 8:9-11	Mary returned home after visiting Elizabeth and eventually came to Jerusalem, where she presented God the Son at the Temple. Luke 1:56; 2:21-22
God made Aaron's rod return to life and bud to prove he was the legitimate High Priest. Later it was kept in the Holy of Holies and then in the Ark. Numbers 17:8	God would resurrect His Son, who had become enfleshed in Mary's womb and born to bring salvation to all humankind, to prove He is the eternal High Priest. Hebrews 4:14
The Ark was covered with a blue veil when it was outside the Holy of Holies. Numbers 4:4-6	In Mary's appearances outside of Heaven, visionaries testify that she wears a blue veil.
In Revelation 11:19, John saw the Ark of the Covenant in Heaven in the last verse of Chapter 11.	In Revelation 12:1, John saw Mary in Heaven. It is the same vision Juan Diego saw of Mary in 1531: a Woman clothed with the sun and standing on the moon.

Yahweh to the serpent: "I shall put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; she-he-it (indefinite pronoun) will crush (or bruise) your head, and you will strike its (her-his-its = indefinite pronoun) heel." 
Genesis 3:15.

Revelation 12:18-13:10 ~ John's Vision of the Beast from the Sea
 

According to the Greek text, Revelation 13:1 should read: ten horns and seven heads; on its horns were ten diadems. The New American translation is correct.

It is important to note that this is the reverse order of the description of the dragon in 12:3 that has seven heads and ten horns, with each of the seven heads crowned with a coronet. The point is that the sea beast is the mirror image of the dragon, but it is NOT the dragon. This difference is also apparent in the position of the diadems which are on the seven heads of the dragon (12:3) but on the ten horns of the sea beast (13:1), and the heads of the sea beast are marked with "blasphemous titles."

Daniel's interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's Dream	Historical Fulfillment of Daniel's Prophecy
1. head of fine gold	Babylonian Empire
2. chest and arms of silver	Medo-Persian Empire
3. belly and thighs of bronze	The Greek Empire — Alexander the Great
4. legs of iron with feet of iron and clay	Roman Empire (legs) and Province of Judea (feet)
5. the stone that struck and destroyed the statue became an everlasting 5thKingdom	Jesus is the stone, and the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth, the Catholic Church, is the 5th Kingdom.

The world kingdoms (beasts under the influence of Satan) that persecute God's holy people in Daniel Chapter 7. Revelation 13:2 repeats these same beast images.

Lion	Babylonian Empire (612 BC-539 BC) BC
Bear	Medo-Persian Empire (539 BC-330 BC) BC
Leopard	Alexander the Great: Greek Empire divided into four Kingdoms (four wings and four heads) in 323 BC
Beast with ten horns	Roman Empire (same beast as Rev Chapter 13) conquered the Greek Seleucids in 190 BC. Rome took Judah as a Roman province in 63 BC and renamed it Judea, making it one of ten Roman Provinces.

Parallels Between Daniel's Visions and St. John's Visions in the Book of Revelation

The Vision	Book of Daniel	Book of Revelation
Three-and-a-half-time period (a time, two times and ½ a time)	Chapter 12:7	Chapter 11:9, 11
The lion, the bear, and the leopard	Chapter 7:4-6	Chapter 13:2
The ten horns	Chapter 7:8	Chapters 12:3, 13:1; 17:3, 8
The beast mouthing boasting and blasphemies	Chapter 7:8, 11	Chapter 13:5
The Son of Man coming on the Glory-Cloud	Chapter 7:13	Chapter 1:7 & 14:14
The war against the Saints	Chapter 7:21	Chapter 13:7
The worship of the beast's statue	Chapter 3:5-7, 15	Chapter 13:15

 

Historical Fulfillment of the Visions in Daniel Chapter 8: The Ram and the He-Goat

The ram with two horns, with a second taller horn (Dan 8:3)	Medo-Persian Empire: the second taller horn represents the power of the Persians who succeeded in absorbing the Medes (Dan 8:20)
The he-goat with one great horn which broke and was replaced by four horns (Dan 8:8)	Alexander the Great and the Greek conquest. When Alexander died his Empire broke into four parts (Dan 8:21-22)
One of the four horns "grew in size" (Dan 8:10-11)	Syrian Seleucid (Greek) Empire, which controlled the Promised Land. Antiochus Epiphanes (174-164 BC) banned the Sabbath and the Holy Feast Days and abolished the daily Sacrifice in the Temple in Jerusalem. These actions led to the Revolt of the Maccabees and a nearly 100 yr. Period of independence for the Jews before the Roman conquest of Judea in 63 BC when Judea became a Roman province. The Jews would never experience independence again until the United Nations voted to create the state of Israel in 1947. When they achieved Independence in 1948, no "nation" named Israel had existed since 722 BC.

 

Revelation 13:11-17 ~ The Beast from the Land (the False Prophet)

In the Old Testament, there are several references to sea beasts and a land beast. These animals often appear symbolically to represent the evil powers of Satan. The sea beasts are Leviathan (Ps 74:13-14; 104:26; Job 41:1-34; Is 27:1; as Egypt in Ps 74:13-14), Tannin (Dragon= Ps 91:13), and Rahab (Job 26:12-12, Is 51:9-10; & often used as a symbol for Egypt's wars against God people in Ps 87:4; 89:10; Is 30:7). The Bible relates each of these monsters to the Serpent, who is the deceitful and cunning enemy of God's people since Eden.

Job 40-42	Revelation 12-13
land beast	Satan as the Dragon (Leviathan)
sea beast	The sea beast in the dragon's image
God	The land beast in the image of the sea beast who is in Satan's image

The image of the beast is a continuation of the satanic counterfeit: the demonic reversal of God's order. Just as the Son of God is the Image of the Father (Jn 1:18; Col 1:15), so the Church as been redemptively re-created as the Image of the Son: He decided beforehand who were the ones destined to be molded to the pattern of his Son (Rom 8:29), and in Colossians 3:10 ~ and you have put on a new self which will progress toward true knowledge the more it is renewed in the image of its Creator. But Israel, which was to have been a kingdom of priests to the nations of the earth, has surrendered her position to Leviathan and the beast (Satan). Instead of placing a godly imprint on every people and culture, Israel, in rejecting Christ, has been remade into the image of the pagan state; instead of becoming a prophet nation of God, Israel has become a prophet nation of Satan and a false witness against Christ. The Dragon is the antitheses of God, but the sea and land beasts are the antitheses of the Lamb and the authority of the Church:

Satanic Parody of the Dragon/Satan and his beasts

God the Father	Dragon
The Son (image of the Father)	Sea beast (image of the Dragon)
Angels/Bishops (given authority by the Son)	False prophet/land beast (given authority by the sea beast)
Church (image of the Son)	Synagogue of Satan (image of the beast)

Did you notice that the Lamb has two witnesses/prophets, and the Dragon has two beasts? The false prophet is what Jesus had warned would take place in the last days of Judea and the Old Covenant: And Jesus answered them, "Take care that no one deceives you, because many will come using my name and saying, I am the Christ,' and they will deceive many" (Mt 24:5) and also saying, "Many false prophets will arise; they will deceive many" (Mt 24:11). It is important to remember that false prophecy is not a pagan culture phenomenon but is instead a heresy that appears only within the covenant context. It is an imitation of divine prophecy and operates to deceive God's covenant people and to work in opposition to His true prophets. Even Moses warned that false prophets would arise from among the Covenant people performing signs and wonders in Deuteronomy 13:1-5 ~ If a prophet or dreamer of dreams arises among you, offering you some sign or wonder, and the sign or wonder comes about; and if he then says to you, Let us follow other gods (hitherto unknown to you) and serve them,' you must not listen to that prophet's words or to that dreamer's dreams. Yahweh your God is testing you to know if you love Yahweh your God. In this passage, Moses goes on to give God's judgment that if any town of Israel rejects God, it must be placed under the "curse of destruction" and face utterly destroyed. It is the same curse placed on Jerusalem for the rejection of Jesus the Messiah.

The Parody between the Two Witnesses and the Two Beasts

The Lamb's Two Prophets: Chapter 11	The Dragon's Two Beasts: Chapter 13
They will witness for 1,260 days (42 mo.) (11:3)	Land beast active for 42 months (13:5)
The two witnesses serve God (11:4)	The two beasts serve Satan (Dragon) (13:2 & 13:12)
The witnesses are two prophets who warn men to be faithful to the true God (11:3)	The land beast is called the false prophet (14:13; 19:10; 20:10) and leads people to worship false gods, the Dragon, and the sea beast (13:4; 13:14-15)
They perform miracles (11:6)	Perform great wonders (13:13-14)
They stand before the Lord of the earth in attendance on Him (11:4)	Exercises the full authority of the 1stbeast
They have the power to call down fire (11:5)	Makes fire come down from heaven (13:13)
They are revived with the "breath of life from God" (11:11)	The beast animates the image with the "breath of life," mimicking the power of God the creator (13:15).
When God resurrects the witnesses and humanity becomes convinced of God's supreme power (11:11)	The land beast kills all who do not worship the image (13:15) because the first beast has recovered from his fatal wound (13:3, 12, 14), and his miracles lead people astray. He compels everyone to worship the statue of the sea beast (13:15-17).
The witnesses are the two lampstands and the two olive trees (11:4).	The land beast has two horns like a lamb, and receives 1) power and 2) authority from the beast in the image of the Dragon (13:11-12).

Revelation 14:1-5 ~ The Lamb and His companions on Mt. Zion

Verse 1 is the third reference to Psalm 2. The other two were to Psalm 2:8, With an iron scepter, you will break them, shatter them like so many pots in Revelation 2:27 and 12:5, referring to Jesus as the victorious Davidic Messiah. In 14:1, Yahweh comforts His Church and reminds His people of His promise in Psalm 2:4-6: He who is enthroned in the heavens laughs, Yahweh makes a mockery of them, then in his anger rebukes them, in his rage he strikes them with terror. "I myself have anointed my king on Zion, my holy mountain."

Question: Where is the King-Lamb "standing," and who stands with Him? Where have you heard of these holy ones before? See Rev 7:3-8.
Answer: He stands on Mt. Zion with the sealed hundred and forty-four thousand from the twelve tribes who accepted Jesus as the Messiah and were sealed on their foreheads by the Angel of the Living God.

Notice the repetition of Revelation 5:6-11 that appears in Revelation 14:1-5:

REVELATION 14:1-5	REVELATION 5:6-11
14:1: I saw Mt. Zion, and standing on it the Lamb	5:6: then I saw... a Lamb standing
14:2: it was like the sound of harpists playing their harps	5:8a: each one of them was holding a harp
14:3a: before the throne, they were singing a new hymn	5:7 & 9: the One sitting on the throne...They sang a new hymn
14:3b: in the presence of the four living creatures and the elders	5:8: the four living creatures prostrated themselves ... and with them the twenty-four elders
14:4: they follow the Lamb...redeemed to be the first fruits for God and the Lamb	5:9: You bought people for God of every race, language, people, and nation

 

The Book of Revelation has what some scholars call the Law of Anticipation Theory. In the second half of Revelation, notice that some of the visions are anticipated in one chapter and revealed or paralleled in the next. As we continue, observe the links between these chapters:

Revelation Chapter 13 (the two beasts) anticipated in ==>	Chapter 11:1-13 (the two witnesses)
Revelation Chapters 17-19 (Babylon the great prostitute) anticipated in ==>	Chapter 14:8 (fallen Babylon)
Revelation Chapter 16 (the seven cups of wrath) anticipated in ==>	Chapter 14:10 (the cup of retribution)
Revelation Chapters 19:17-21 (defeat of the Beast) anticipated in ==>	Chapter 16:12-14 (Beast's forces preparing for war)
Revelation Chapters 21-22 (the New Jerusalem) anticipated in ==>	Chapter 19:7-9 (the reign of the Christ)

14:6-13: The Three Angels, the Gospel, and the Cup of Judgment

The rest of Chapter 14 (verses 6-20) divides into seven sections, with a vision of the glorified Christ (14:1) flanked on each side by three angels. These verses are the transition between the Trumpet-visions, which were the proclamations of judgment, and the Chalice-visions, which are the applications of God's judgment. Just before this transition, each of the first three angels will make a special proclamation concerning the Lamb's victory. The last three angels will perform special actions to assist Christ in implementing His conquest. Notice how these angelic proclamations and actions parallel the duties of the New Covenant Universal Church, especially those of the Church's hierarchy.

14:6, Angel #A-1 announces the Gospel of eternity to every nation, race, language, and tribe.

14:8, Angel #A-2 announces, "Babylon has fallen," referring to apostate Jerusalem.

14:9, Angel #A-3 announces judgment against those who follow the Beast and will drink the "wine of God's wrath" in eternal judgment

14:14 CHRIST (the Son of Man as foreseen in Daniel 7:13 but with a sharp sickle in His hand)

14:15, Angel #B-1 shouts to Christ that the harvest of the earth is ripe.

14:17, Angel #B-2 comes out of the Temple in heaven and carries a sharp sickle in his hand.

14:18 Angel #B-3 oversees the fire of God's altar, shouts to the angel with the sharp sickle to begin the harvest of the grapes of the earth.

Revelation 14:14-20 ~ The Harvest and the Vintage of the Land 

14 Now in my vision, I saw a white cloud and, sitting on it, one like a son of man with a gold crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.
John heard three angels proclaiming the sovereignty of God, predicting the fall of Jerusalem (symbolically called Babylon), making proclamations to the land of Israel/Judea (verses 6-13), and describing the future torment of idolaters. Now three more angels appear, performing symbolic actions over the land (verses 15-20). In the center between these two groups of angels, John saw one who looked like a human being that we can identify as Jesus Christ, the Son of Man (Jesus' favorite title for Himself).

John saw Jesus as he and the disciples saw Him at His Ascension in Acts 1:9, as John saw him clothed with the Glory-Cloud as the messenger in Revelation 10:1, and as Daniel saw the Divine Messiah coming in the Glory-Cloud to stand before the throne of God in Daniel 7:13 ~ I was gazing into the visions of the night, when I saw, coming on the clouds of heaven, as it were a son of man. He came to the One most venerable and was led into his presence. On him was conferred rule, honor and kingship, and all peoples, nations, and languages became his servants. His rule is an everlasting rule which will never pass away. And his kingship will never come to an end.

The message of encouragement to the Church is to let the beasts do their worst; they cannot win because Christ has ascended and has received everlasting dominion over all peoples and nations. His kingdom will last forever and will never be overthrown because it is the fulfillment of the promise of Daniel's 5^th Kingdom (Dan 2:44).

Question: There are some subtle differences between Daniel's 7:13-14 vision of Christ looking forward in time from the 6^th century BC to John's in the 1^st century AD. Can you discern the differences and what they mean? You should find three points of difference, and what is the connection to Psalm 2:4-6?
Answer:

1. In Daniel's vision, Christ is "coming," but in John's, He is already seated in Kingship on the Glory-Cloud as His throne. Revelation 14:1 and Psalms 2:4-6 are in agreement: He who is enthroned in the heavens laughs, Yahweh makes a mockery of them [those who oppose Him] then in his anger rebukes them, in his rage he strikes them with terror. "I myself have anointed my king on Zion my holy mountain."
2. In John's vision, Christ is wearing a crown, and
3. Christ carries a sickle that is a sign of judgment. The sickle, as an instrument of Divine.

15 Then another angel came out of the sanctuary and shouted at the top of his voice to the one sitting on the cloud, "Ply your sickle and reap: harvest time has come and the harvest of the earth is ripe." 16 Then the one sitting on the cloud set his sickle to work on the earth and the harvest of earth was reaped."
Question: In the second set of three angels, the first angel repeats what the first angel of the earlier triad said in verse 7. What does he repeat, and what does angel 1-B mean in contrast to the first angel of the first triad?
Answer: He announces, "the time has come." Angel 1-A announced judgment, but angel #1-B announces blessings and the gathering of the elect. 

Jesus described the Kingdom of God as a great harvest in Mark 4:26-29, and He told His disciples: "look around you, look at the fields; already they are white, ready for harvest! Already the reaper is being paid his wages, already he is bringing in the grain for eternal life, so that the sower and reaper can rejoice together (Jn 4:35-36). It is a message that John hears repeated in Rev 14:4 and 13.

The first angel of the second triad calls out to Christ to put in His sickle and reap. 

17 Another angel who also carried a sharp sickle, came out of the Temple in heaven, 18 and the angel in charge of the fire left the altar and shouted at the top of his voice to the one with the sharp sickle, "Put your sickle in and harvest the bunches from the vine of the earth; all its grapes are ripe."
In these verses, we return to the theme of judgment. The gathering of the New Covenant Church will mean the ex-communication of Old Covenant Israel.

Now at the close of the Trumpets section, John sees the same angel, the one who has the power over the fire (meaning the fire burning on God's altar), and he comes specifically from God's altar, where the Saints' prayers cry out to give judgment (this may be the archangel Uriel "fire of God"). He prays for a harvest, but this time it is a harvest of the wicked, the grapes of wrath that the prophet Joel spoke of in 3:13. Christ's harvest is of the righteous who now have access to the Kingdom of Heaven, but the Angel of the fire of God's altar is harvesting those called to judgment. It is the judgment harvest of the "wheat and the weeds" found in Jesus' parable of Matthew 13:24-30 and explained in 13:36-43: The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of falling and all who do evil, and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth. There will also be a final harvest in the Final Judgment when Christ returns to judge the nations of the world, but the judgment in Revelation 14 is on Old Covenant Israel for refusing their Messiah and choosing Ceasar over Jesus (Jn 19:15).

This fearful theme of judgment and destruction was repeated in AD 67-70 when the Roman legions of Vespasian invaded, and the Land ran with blood from the Galilee in the north to Judea in the south and from the infighting between the different Jewish factions. The Romans did not besiege Jerusalem until the majority of the Galilee, Samaria, and Judea, was subdued. The Romans repeated the strategy of the Babylonians, leaving Jerusalem until the last to be besieged and destroyed by fire. The symbolism is clear: Jerusalem is the vine harvested in blood and thrown on the fire of destruction!

Forty years after Jesus' Ascension, Jerusalem fell to the Romans, who burned the city and destroyed the Temple. 

19 So the angel set his sickle to work on the earth and harvested the whole vintage of the earth and put it into a huge winepress, the winepress of God's anger, 20 outside the city, where it was trodden until the blood that came out of the winepress was up to the horses bridles as far away as sixteen hundred furlongs.
God's judgment fell on the Vineyard of Israel from AD 67-70. The land is pressed in the winepress of God's anger and will produce what will "be poured" out in the seven chalice judgments in Chapter 16. 

Jesus' crucifixion took place outside the city walls of Jerusalem. It was a practice of the Old Covenant sacrificial system for the bodies of the animals whose blood is taken into the sanctuary by the high priest for the rite of expiation are burnt outside the camp, and so Jesus too suffered outside the gate to sanctify the people with his own blood. Let us go to him, then, outside the camp and bear his humiliation (Heb 13:9-13). Outside the city was the place of judgment where the body parts and bones of sacrificed animals not eaten or burned on the altar were discarded, and it was the place of judgment where Christ's blood was shed by an Israel who had rejected Him: "Pilate then gave his verdict: their demand was to be granted. He released the man they asked for [Barabas], who had been imprisoned because of rioting and murder, and handed Jesus over to them to deal with as they pleased.".(Luke 23:24-25).

There are multiple layers of imagery here: The blood flowing outside the city was Christ's blood, sacrificed for the sins of the world, but it is also the blood of apostate Israel who is cast out and excommunicated from the heavenly Jerusalem and disinherited by the Father. At the end of Jesus' trial with Pontus Pilate, the Old Covenant people condemned themselves: And the people, every one of them, shouted back, "Let his blood be on us and on our children!" (Mt 27:25). Christ offered His blood for the sins of the world in AD 30, and in AD 70, the Vine of Israel is cut down and trampled in the Winepress. The destruction of Israel was the culmination of a process that had lasted forty years. As Biblical scholar, Philip Carrington so eloquently wrote: "It began outside the city when the One they despised and rejected trod the Winepress alone, and of the people there none was with Him. It was in that moment that Jerusalem fell." 

The next chapter of Revelation will resume with the theme of the wrath of God as anticipated in Revelation 14:10 and will begin the Succession Arrangements section of the Covenant Tr

Agape Bible Hebrews 1 - 4 

 Hebrews 1:1- 2:4 — The Exordium (Prologue)

 

The verses from 1:1 - 2:4 in the Letter to the Hebrews serve as an introduction to the entire letter/treatise.  Scholars often identify this passage as an exordium.  An exordium in classical rhetoric is an introduction that is designed to prepare and encourage the audience to be receptive to what the speaker will say [from the Latin exhorto = to encourage, to advise].

 

The introductory verses to Hebrews begin with no greeting or expressing of thanksgiving like St. Paul's other letters, but immediately addresses the main subject of the letter/discourse—the divinity and pre-existence of God the Son who is the Redeemer of mankind. The prologue of the Gospel according to St. John also announces of the Son's eternal sonship, his pre-existence before creation, and His role as the promised Redeemer.

John's Gospel: Past to Present	The Letter to the Hebrews: Present to Past
1:1-2: In (the) beginning was the Word: the word was with God and the word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.	1:1-2a: At many moments in the past and by many means, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets. But in our time, the final days, he has spoken to us in the person of his Son..
1:6-7: a man came, sent by God.  His name was John.  He came as a witness, to bear witness to the light, so that everyone might believe through him.	1:2b: ..whom he appointed heir of all things and through whom he made the ages (all of creation).

Hebrews 1:4 declares that Jesus the Son of God is now as far above the angels as the title which he has inherited is higher than their own name.  Whenever there is a mention of one's "name" in Scripture, the reference is to the entire person, to who that person is in thought, word, deed, and desire. To "believe in the name of Jesus" is to believe everything He taught, in everything He did, and to be willing to obey everything He commanded.  Our salvation depends on our willingness to "believe on His name" as St. Peter preached in Acts 4:12: Only in him is there salvation; for of all the names in the world given to men, this is the only one by which we can be saved!  The human name  which Jesus bears, as commanded by the angel Gabriel in Luke 1:31-32 when announcing to Mary her child's exalted status,  is in Hebrew Yehosua (Joshua) or in proto-Hebrew, Yah'shua, which means "God saves" or more literally "I save" [Jesus is the English rendering of the Greek Iesous].   

 

In Hebrews 1:5-13 the inspired writer offers proof from Sacred Scripture, which in his time was what we call the Old Testament, to support his identification of the Son as God's divine heir and to support the claims he has made that it is the divine Son who ranks above the angels. 

 Hebrews 1:5-14, The Son's name is higher than the angels' Scriptural proofs:

 

Old Testament Passages quoted in Hebrews 1:5-13 Offered as Proof of the Son's Superiority over the Angels Bold type = portion of passage quoted in Hebrews

1. Psalm 2:7-8, I will proclaim the decree of Yahweh: He said to me, 'You are my son, today have I fathered (begotten) you. Ask of me, and I shall give you the nations as your birthright, the whole wide world as your possession.

2. 2 Samuel 7:14-16a, I shall be a father to him and he a son to me; if he does wrong I shall punish him with a rod such as men use, with blows such as mankind gives.  But my faithful love will never be withdrawn from him as I withdrew it from Saul, whom I removed from before you.  Your throne and your sovereignty will ever stand firm before me and your throne be for ever secure.

3. Deuteronomy 32:43, Heavens, rejoice with him, let all the children (literal O.T =  sons;Hebrews has "angels") of God pay him homage! Nations, rejoice with his people, let God's envoys tell of his power! For he will avenge the blood of his servants, he will return vengeance to my foes, he will repay those who hate him and purify his people's country.

4. Psalm 104:3-4, You stretch out the heavens like a tent, build your palace in the waters above, making the clouds your chariot, gliding on the wings of the wind, appointing the winds your messengers, flames of fire your servants.

5. Psalm 45:6-7a, Your throne is from God (literal = O God is) for ever and ever, the scepter of your kingship a scepter of justice, you love uprightness and detest evil.

6. Psalm 45:7b-9, This is why God, your God, has anointed you with oil of gladness, as none of your rivals, your robes all myrrh and aloes.

7. Psalm 102:25-27, Long ago you laid earth's foundations, the heavens are the work of your hands.  They pass away but you remain; they all wear out like a garment, like outworn clothes you change them; but you never alter, and your years never end.

8. Psalm 110:1, Yahweh declared to my Lord (Adonai), "Take your seat at my right hand, till I have made your enemies your footstool."

 

 Hebrews 1:13; Hebrews 2:1-4: Conclusion of the Exordium

Just as the exordium opened in one long complex sentence it concludes in another long complex sentence, Hebrews 1:13; verses 2:2-4 comprise one long sentence in the Greek text.  The inspired writer concludes his argument using the proof of Sacred Scripture to support his argument of the superiority of Christ over the angels by reminding his audience that if the messages send by God through His angels carried the power of God to punish or reward according to the obedience to that message, what then is the burden as well as the grace bestowed upon us through the message of the One who is superior to the angels—a witness confirmed by the miracles and signs of Jesus during His earthly ministry, and an acceptance of which upon hinges our very salvation?

 

Question: In Hebrews 1:13; 2:1 there is a reference to what we have been taught concerning the message of the Son.  The literal translation refers to holding fast to what we have "heard."  Jesus orally taught the Gospel of salvation during 3 years of earthly ministry, to the crowds of "heard" Him.  Who is it who orally taught Christ's message of salvation to those who heard?  See Hebrews 1:13; Matthew 18:18; Hebrews 1:13; 28:18-20; Hebrews 1:13; John 20:22-23; Hebrews 1:13; 1 Corinthians 11:23; Hebrews 1:13; 15:3.

Answer: The Son's emissaries, the Apostles-the only ones given the Son's authority to transmit the Gospel of salvation as initiated by Jesus' preaching.

 

Hebrews 2:5-13, The Proposition: Redemption is brought only by Jesus Christ:

5 It was not under angels that he put the world to come, about which we are speaking.      6 Someone witnesses to this somewhere with the words: "What are human beings that you spare a thought for them, a child of Adam that you care for him?  7 For a short while you have made him less than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, 8 put all things under his feet." For in "putting all things under him" he made no exceptions.  At present, it is true, we are not able to see that "all things are under him," 9 but we do see Jesus, who was "for a short while made less than the angels," now "crowned with glory and honor" because he submitted to death; so that by God's grace his experience (literally = taste) of death should benefit all humanity.

 

This next section of the address extending from Hebrews 2:5-9 is formally called the "proposition."  It consists of a further affirmation of Christ's superiority over the angels and contains a quotation from Psalms 8:4-6 followed by the interpretation of that text in the light of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ.  At this juncture between the exordium and the main body of the speech, the inspired writer is turning his audience's attention from the divinity and glory of the exalted Christ and His rightful inheritance as firstborn Son in the fulfillment of the Davidic covenant, to Jesus' humanity and the significance of His suffering and death.   The themes of Christ's suffering on behalf of humanity and His exaltation by virtue of His suffering as the fulfillment of God's plan of salvation for mankind are themes that will be developed as the address continues.  For more on Jesus as true man and true God see CCC #464-69l 480-82.

 

 Hebrews 2:10-18, Perfection and glory through suffering and Resurrection:

10 It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should in bringing many sons to glory, make perfect through suffering the leader of their salvation.  11 For consecrator and consecrated are all of the same stock; that is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers 12 in the text: 'I shall proclaim your name to my brothers, praise you in full assembly'; or in the text: 13 'I shall put my hope in him'; followed by 'Look, I and the children whom God has given me.'  14 Since all the children share the same human nature, he too shared equally in it, so that by his death he could set aside him who held the power of death, namely the devil, 15 and set free all those who had been held in slavery all their lives by the fear of death. 16 For it was not the angels that he took to himself; he took to himself the line [literally = seed] of Abraham.  17 It was essential that he should in this way be made completely like his brothers so that he could become a compassionate and trustworthy high priest for their relationship to God, able to expiate the sins of the people.  18 For the suffering he himself passed through while being put to the test enables him to help others when they are being put to the test.

 

Hebrews 2:10,  It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should in bringing many sons to glory, make perfect through suffering the leader of their salvation.

It is not that Jesus needed to be made more perfect than He already was but by suffering and dying on the Cross to fulfil the will of God, Jesus became the One perfect  Savior. He is then, by His suffering, responsible for the entry of human beings into the perfection of the glory of God. The verb "makes perfect" is used frequently in the Letter to the Hebrews to denote the various effects of Christ's work on the relationship between man and God (see 11:40).

 

 Hebrews 3:1-6, Jesus' superiority over Moses:

1That is why all of you who are holy brothers and share the same heavenly call should turn your minds to Jesus, the apostle and the high priest of our profession of faith.  2 He was trustworthy to the one who appointed him, just like Moses, who remained trustworthy in all his household; 3 but he deserves a greater glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house is more honored than the house itself.  4 Every house is built by someone, of course; but God built everything that exists.  5 It is true that Moses was trustworthy in the household of God, as a servant is, acting as witness to the things which were yet to be revealed, 6 but Christ is a trustworthy as a son is, over his household.  And we are his household, as long as we fearlessly maintain the hope in which we glory.

 

Question: Why does the inspired writer call Jesus an "apostle"?  What does the word mean and how is it applied to Jesus?

Answer: In Greek the word apostolos means one who is "sent out" or an emissary.  Jesus is sent by God to redeem the human race [see John 3:17, 34; 5:36; 9:7; Romans 1:1; 8:3; Galatians 4:4].

 

Hebrews 3:1 is the second reference to Jesus as the High Priest of the new order; the first reference was in Hebrews 2:17 where he also used the word "trustworthy" or "faithful", so that he could become a compassionate and trustworthy high priest for their relationship to God, able to expiate the sins of the people. 

Question: What was the role of the High Priest in the Old Covenant of Sinai?  What were the necessary conditions of his high office?

Answer: He was the people's representative to God and it was his duty to offer sacrifice on God's holy altar for the sake of the people in order that fellowship with God be restored.

Question: How does Jesus become the High Priest of the New Covenant?

Answer: The irony is that Jesus is both perfect sacrificial victim and the New Covenant High Priest and covenant mediator who represents the whole of humanity before the throne of God by continually offering up Himself as the perfect sacrifice in atonement for the sins of mankind, continually making it possible for mankind to enter into God's divine fellowship [also see Hebrews 4:14; 5:5, 10; 6:20; 7:26; 8:1; 9:11; 10:21].

 

In Hebrews 3:2-4 the inspired writer compares Jesus to the prophet Moses, claiming Christ to be superior to Moses.  Both Jesus and Moses were tested and remained faithful to God's plan and both received honor and glory but Jesus received a different kind of glory - a greater glory [see Hebrews 3:3].

Moses	Jesus
Constructed house (vs. 2)	Builder (vs. 3)
Part of created order (vs. 3)	Creator of cosmos (vs. 4)
Servant (vs. 5)	Son (vs. 6)

Michal Hunt, Copyright © 2007 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.

 

Question: This is a significant comparison.  To further understand Jesus superiority over Moses, how can Moses' mission be compared to Jesus' mission?  Why in the context of the mission is Jesus' mission similar and yet superior to Moses' mission?

Answer: 

Moses	Jesus
Moses led the children of Israel out of slavery in Egypt in the Exodus experience	Jesus is the new Moses who led the New Exodus, delivering mankind from bondage to sin and death
In crossing the Red Sea (Sea of Reeds) the children of Israel were "baptized" unto Moses, leaving a life of slavery behind for a new life of freedom.	In Christian baptism, the Christian receives "new life" in Christ, being freed from a life of slavery to sin and being resurrected to new life in Christ.
Moses gave the Law to the children of Israel at Mt. Sinai	Jesus is the new lawgiver of the New Covenant in His blood
Through Moses God established liturgical worship of the One True God based on the necessity of the shedding of animal blood for the temporary atonement of sins and the reestablishment of divine fellowship with God through the eating of the communion sacrifice.	Through Jesus Christ God revealed Himself in the full revelation of His Trinitarian nature and established liturgical worship based on the on-going sacrifice of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ for the atonement of sin and for the forgiveness which reestablishes divine fellowship with God through the eating of His flesh and blood.
Moses led the children of Israel on their journey to the Promised Land	Jesus leads all Christians on their journey of faith to the Promised Land of heaven
Moses was God's covenant mediator for the Sinai Covenant	Jesus is God's covenant mediator of the New Covenant in His Blood.
Moses could only offer temporal salvation and the promise of a future redeemer	Jesus offers eternal salvation and the promise of a bodily resurrection
Moses was a trustworthy servant	Jesus is the trustworthy Son/King*

In Revelation 3:14 Jesus announces to St. John, Here is the message of the Amen, the trustworthy, the true witness, the Principle of God's creation.."  In this verse Jesus uses the Hebrew word, "amen" as a title.  We understand the word "amen" to mean "I believe" or "it is true," or "so be it;" but this meaning is not indicated in this passage.  Instead Jesus is using the words most literal meaning.  In Hebrew "amen" is an acrostic, a word formed from the words of a sentence or series of words.  "Amen" or "emen" is the acrostic formed from the first letter of three the Hebrew words, God (is a) trustworthy King, "El Melech Ne'eman." The word "amen" appears for the first time in Scripture in Numbers 5:22.  Moses was a trustworthy servant but Jesus is the great Amen, the Trustworthy King.  [see The Talmud: Shabbat 1196].

 

Hebrews 3:7-17, Warning: Listen to God and be obedient 

 

Psalms 95 is referenced in Hebrews 3:7 to 4:13, but the references can be divided into two sections:

1.      Hebrews 3:7-11: Addressing testing and unbelief in which the inspired writer quotes from Psalms 95:7-11 as it describes the events of Numbers chapter 12 and Israel's lack of trust and faith that resulted in forty years of wandering and the death in the desert wilderness of the first generation of adults of the Sinai Covenant. The inspired writer uses this event in the history of the first generation of the Old Covenant people as a warning to the New Covenant first generation.

 

2.      Hebrews 4:1-13: In which the psalms is quoted in reference to the promise of entering into "God's rest" a promise first experienced by man on the 7^th day of Creation; a promise that looks forward to the New Covenant blessing of eternal life.

 

Question: What are the main themes of Psalm 95?

Answer:  Psalm 95 begins as David's hymn of praise, calling upon the assembly to sing praise to God and to bow down and worship Him.  Then beginning in verse 8 the psalm switches from David's voice to Yahweh's voice and becomes God's warning to the covenant people to guard against the lack of faith of the Exodus generation.  The warning contains a reference to three episodes in Israel's history: 

1. An event which occurred during the journey of the children of Israel from the Red Sea crossing to Mount Sinai as related in Exodus 17: 1- 7.
2. The failure to mobilize to take possession of the Promise Land in Numbers 14:21-35. 
3. The failure of the people during the wilderness wandering in Numbers 20:1-13. 

 

All the episodes illustrate Israel's lack of faith and trust in the promises of God and rebellion against His plan of salvation for Israel, entering into His "rest" through the conquest of the Promised Land.

 

In Hebrews 3:14 the inspired writer tells his audience, We have become partners of Christ if only we hold the beginning of the reality firm until the end...

Question: How do we become partners in Christ's work?

Answer: We become partners when we share in Christ's work of mercy and redemption though our acts of kindness and mercy; doing as He asked of us: to deny ourselves and our selfish interests and to pick up our crosses daily and following Him [Matthew 10:38; 16:24; Mark 8:34; 10:21; Luke 9:23; 14:27].  This is how we become "companions of the Son of God" [Hebrews 9:1] and not companions of the world.  In becoming partners with Christ we become partners in His inheritance which is eternal life and the promise of a bodily resurrection.

 

Please read Hebrews 4:1-13, Entering into God's Sabbath Rest:

 

The first mention of entering into God's "rest" is on the 7^th day of Creation when God ceased from His work: Thus the heavens and the earth and all their array were completed.  Since on the seventh day God was finished with the work he had been doing, he rested on the seventh day from all the work he had undertaken.  So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work he had done in creation  [Genesis 2:1-3].  In this passage it is repeated three times in the Hebrew text that God rested on the 7^th day.  On this day God blessed and sanctified the day but He did not "work" the inspired writer meant to emphasize God's "rest".  God's "rest" is associated with the 7^th day as the Sabbath, a day of worship [Exodus 16:23; 31:15; etc.]; in the Sinai Covenant God's "rest" is associated with liturgical worship of the assembly at the Tabernacle [Exodus 40:34-38; Leviticus 23:1-3, 32]; and the promise to Israel that they would enter into God's "rest" in the land He had promised them [Deuteronomy 3:18-20; 25:19; Joshua 1:13, 15].  The 7^th day of Creation, the promise of the Promised Land, the Sabbath "rest" and worship in the Tabernacle are all foreshadows of the promise of entering into God's eternal rest.  In later Old Testament passages the emphasis on God's "rest" forms our understanding of what God plans for us in the future, when we are promised "rest" in His heavenly realm.  Both David, as the inspired writer of Psalm 95, and the inspired writer of Hebrews are expanding on the parallels between God's "rest" on the seventh day of Creation, the land of "rest" promised to the Exodus generation, and the future "rest" that awaits the faithful believer in Psalms 95:11 and Hebrews 3:11, using the image of God's "rest" as a metaphor that depicts the mystery of the place that will be the true "rest" for the redeemed: There must still be, therefore, a seventh-day rest reserved for God's people, since to enter the place of rest is to rest after your work, as God did after his.  Let us, then, press forward to enter this place of rest, or some of you might copy this example of refusal to believe and be lost. Hebrews 4:9-11  

 

Question: Hebrews 4:1 seems to suggest that the opportunity to enter into God's rest is not an invitation that will continue indefinitely.  When will that invitation be withdrawn?

Answer: At the close of the age, in the Second Advent of Christ the opportunity to choose Christ will be lost to those who have hesitated in choosing Christ over the world.

Question: What will happen at that time which can be compared to the first generation of the Exodus experience?  

Answer: Once God had pronounced their judgment, it was too late to choose to trust in God. 

Hebrews 4:8-10: 

The Greek name Iesous can be translated either Joshua or Jesus.  In the Old Testament Joshua succeeded Moses as the leader and covenant mediator for the people.  It was Joshua, whose Hebrew name Jesus bore, who led the children of Israel into the Promise Land.  His leadership saved his people from their enemies. In both the case of Jesus and Joshua, the Hebrew name Yeshua, or "God saves", described their mission: 

• She will bear a son and you are to name his Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins [Matthew 1:21].  
• Valiant leader was Joshua, son of Nun, assistant to Moses in the prophetic office, formed to be, as his name implies, the great savior of God's chosen ones, to punish the enemy and to win the inheritance for Israel [Sirach 46:1].

 

 

Joshua of the Old Testament can be seen as a "type" or foreshadow of Christ:

JOSHUA	JESUS
In Hebrew his name means "Yah (God) saves", or "Yah is salvation" which is Yahshua in proto-Hebrew or Yeshua in the 1stcentury AD	In Hebrew his name means "Yah (God) saves" or "Yah is salvation", Yahshua or Yeshua in the 1st century AD
He was given his name by Moses [Numbers 13:16]	He was given His name by the angel Gabriel [Matthew 1:21]
His name reflected his mission to save the children of Israel: Sirach 46:1	His name reflected His mission to save mankind: Matthew 1:21
He stood against his kinsmen in proclaiming that God's promises were true [Numbers 14:5-9]	He stood against His kinsmen in proclaiming the New Covenant in His name.
He was God's covenant representative to the people	He is God's New Covenant mediator
He led the children of Israel into the Promised Land	He is leading the children of God into heaven

 

Hebrews 4:12-13: 

Question: How has the inspired writer of Hebrews skillfully wielded the word of God in Psalm 95 as a double-edged sword?

Answer: He has used the Psalm as both a warning to Christians to exposing human weaknesses and to urge them not to fall into sin and to lose their inheritance in the kingdom of heaven as their ancestors lost the hope of entering the Promised Land, and as a guide and a hope in the fulfillment of God's promises to the faithful that they will inherit through Jesus the Son eternal rest in the heavenly reality of the true Promised Land. He has skillfully used the theme of "the journey to God's rest" from Israel's deliverance out of slavery in Egypt, to the journey to Canaan and the failure in faith and trust and then in this section has turned to the promise of entering into God's rest in the eternal sanctuary where the Christ serves as our High Priest.  The inspired writer will continue to use this theme of "God's rest" to connect the other sections of his address.  In Hebrews 10:19-25 he will use the theme of God's "rest" to develop our understanding of Christ's role as High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary as compared to the earthly Temple in Jerusalem and then in Hebrews 12:22-24 he will end his address with a vision of "God's rest" in the heavenly Jerusalem.

 

If we are to enter into God's "rest" we must be aware that in the past the word of God was delivered through the prophets, but is now made present in the Living Word, God the Son.  Today all of the word has been made present through the Son including the understanding of Psalm 95 just quoted which is now living and active in all hearers of the word: And for this reason we too give thanks to God unceasingly, that, in receiving the word of God from hearing us, you received not a human word but, as it truly is, the word of God, which is now at work in you who believe [1 Thessalonians 2:13]. It is the living and active Word that judges the hearts and minds of believers who seek "rest" in God: Jesus said, Whoever rejects me and does not accept my words has something to judge him: the word that I spoke, it will condemn him on the last day, because I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and speak.  And I know that his commandment is eternal life.  So what I say, I say as the Father told me [John 12:48-50]. 

 Hebrews 4:14-16, Jesus Our Compassionate High Priest:

 

These verses provide a transition to the next section while connecting the audience to the theme introduced in 2:16-3:1: Jesus the merciful and faithful high priest who passed through the heavens and is now before the throne of God, expiating the sins of the covenant people.  This is the first mention of heaven as the place where Jesus administers His priestly function and where His sacrifice takes on an eternal and timeless value.

 

Once again with the phrase let us hold fast to our confession, the inspired writer urges his listeners to be vigilant in their faith, avoiding sin and trusting God's plan in their lives.