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"The Book of Revelation, An Eschatological Study of the Endtimes", by Chad J. McCoy

So what about the crown of 12 stars she was wearing? Does this make sense? We know that the 12 stars represents the 12 tribes of Israel. There is nowhere in scripture other than this passage that talks about 12 stars, so we have no other verses to reference. But we know from all over the Old Testament that 12 is the number that represents the 12 tribes of Israel.
Exodus 24:4 : He got up early the next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel."
Exodus 28:21: "There are to be twelve stones, one for each of the names of the sons of Israel, each engraved like a seal with the name of one of the twelve tribes."
1st Kings 18:31: "Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD had come, saying, "Your name shall be Israel."
Joshua 4:1-7: "So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, 5 and said to them, "Go over before the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, 6 to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, 'What do these stones mean?' 7 tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever."
You can study more on this yourself if you're interested, but the number 12 is the number that represents Israel.
This woman in Revelation Chapter 12 is wearing a crown of these 12 stars. Crowns always represent Kings, or rulers. Was Mary one of these? No. But the word "crown" here is translated by the Amplified Bible to mean "crownlike garland or tiara". Who wears tiaras? Kings? Men? No. Miss America wears a tiara. Do kings generally wear garlands? No. So this isn't a king. It's the headgear of a woman. (Note: I would not lead you astray. The Greek word used here for "crown" can also be used to mean an actual kingly crown. The thing is, like so many other words, it can be a literal crown, or just a figurative crown. It can also mean a prize won in the public games [think laurel leaf]. When a word has multiple meanings, you must decipher the true intended meaning from the sentence and flavor of the language. [Just as we can tell the meaning of the word "read" by its tense in the sentence] Not being a student of the Hebrew and Greek languages, I choose to take the word of the translators. They understand the sentence and can better make that determination than I can. Some translators do a better job than others, and the Amplified Bible translators found reason to call this not a crown, but a crownlike garland, or tiara.)
So what would this tiara represent? In the Miss America Pageant, every woman wears� not a crown, but a sash that proclaims the region she represents. This tiara is the same idea. It means that the wearer represents Israel.
With that thought, a little idea pops up. Perhaps, if the tiara means the wearer represents Israel, then the entire woman may be Israel. We'll just keep that little thought tucked away, and if it turns out that the woman is not Mary, then we can go back and see if it could be the nation of Israel, itself. For now, though, we'll continue along the lines of it being Mary.
So we know Mary gave birth to Jesus. It could be said that she was clothed with the strength of God and stood on Jesus Christ. She represents Israel, meaning that this woman is Jewish.
Everything fits. We don't have a strong case here (only 2 verses for sun, only two verses for moon, and a word "crown" that could mean ruler, or it could just mean "garland"), but we do have a case, so far.
We have now tentatively identified the woman as Mary. We know the dragon is Satan because the bible tells us so, and we know the boy is Jesus through strong language in other places of scripture that describe him as being the one who will rule the nations with an iron rod. Let's continue on to Part Two of Chapter 12.

WOMAN - MARY
- clothed with the sun - strength of God
- moon under her feet - stands on Faithful Witness
- wearing crown of 12 stars - represents Israel
- pregnant - with Jesus

Gigantic Red Dragon - SATAN
- has 7 heads, with crowns on them
- has 10 horns
- drew 1/3 of stars w/tail and sent them to earth
- stood before woman to devour her child

Part Two:
Woman gives birth to boy who will rule nations w/iron rod
- Jesus
- Boy caught up to God
- Woman escaped to desert for 3 ½ years

WAR
Satan cast to earth
Heaven rejoices - Christ's rule has come
Satan knows his time is short
Satan persecutes woman
Woman given eagle's wings and escapes to wilderness
where she is hidden from Satan for 3½ years
Satan sends flood out of his mouth to drown woman
The earth opens up, swallowing the flood
Satan is angry, goes to war with her other children
who keep the words of Jesus

Ok.
We see that this boy is caught up to God. Was Jesus ever caught up to God? Yes, at his death after the Crucifixion.
Now this is where it starts to get strange. When you read this passage in chapter 12, you are lead to believe that the boy is caught up to God as soon as he is born. But the bible never says when this happens, just that it does. We are led to think it happens when the boy is still a baby, because that is what the bible calls him - a male child.
But let's keep scripture firmly rooted in this quest for knowledge. We could be literal, and say that since the bible says "child", that this boy is caught up to God right at birth, or shortly after birth. We know this boy is Jesus. What scripture do we have that Jesus' spirit was brought before God in heaven at any time before his death on the cross? None. So we can't make the statement that Jesus was caught up to God at birth. We have no bible for it. We do have bible for it after his death on the cross, and that's all we have. So, let's not bend scripture to our own theories. Instead, let's bend the theory until it fits scripture.
So the boy is caught up to God. This is Jesus, and the event occurs after his death on the cross.
It makes sense. The dragon we know to be Satan was waiting in front of the woman Mary, ready to devour her child Jesus. King Herod, possessed by Satan, tried to have Jesus executed at birth. He failed. Satan thought he succeeded later at the cross, but all he did was play into the hand of God, and lost whatever hold he had on death and the grave. He never devoured Jesus.
You see, the dragon tried to devour Jesus, but he missed. Even later at Calvary, when he thought he had succeeded, he missed, for Jesus was caught up to God and His throne. So we see that although the prophecy in chapter 12 reads as if everything happens in certain timelines, it doesn't. This is the nature of prophecy. It can skip thousands of years between sentences, or even in the middle of a verse. Unless the prophecy is explained to us by the bible, it can be very difficult to sleuth out the correct interpretation.
Then it says that the woman escapes from the dragon into the wilderness for 3 ½ years.
The first thing that comes to mind here, is when Joseph took Mary and Jesus and fled to Egypt to avoid King Herod's murderous rampage. Can we prove they were in Egypt for 3 ½ years? No. The bible doesn't say how long they spent in Egypt. For now we'll give Mary the benefit of the doubt and say she was in Egypt for 3 ½ years.
Let's continue. It says that there was war in heaven, and Satan was cast out, down to the earth, and his angels with him.
Heaven then rejoices that the time of Christ's rule has come.
Satan, knowing his time left outside of Hell is short, persecutes the woman.
Ok, more detective work needs to be done. First of all, can we determine when this fall of Satan was?
Was this the original fall of Satan? No. How do we know this? Well, after this war in heaven, the bible says there was no longer any place in Heaven for Satan. That means he is no longer allowed to be there. It means that previous to this war, he was allowed to come and go in heaven! This might seem to be a revolutionary idea to some people, but check out the scriptures.
Job 1:6-12: One day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?"
Satan answered the LORD, "From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it."
8 Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil."
9 "Does Job fear God for nothing?" Satan replied. 10 "Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. 11 But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face."
12 The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger."
Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.

This shows that after the original fall of Satan, he was still allowed in and out of heaven.
Lest you think this was a one-time event, we see Satan enters heaven again in Job 2:1-7: On another day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them to present himself before him. 2 And the LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?"
Satan answered the LORD, "From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it."
3 Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason."
4 "Skin for skin!" Satan replied. "A man will give all he has for his own life. 5 But stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face."
6 The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life."
7 So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.

Zech. 3:1: Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him.
We see here that Satan was in heaven, accusing the high priest Joshua.

Rev. 12:10 shows us that Satan is in heaven all the time, accusing the believers of Christ: "Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: "Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of
our God, and the authority of his Christ.
For the accuser of our brothers,
who accuses them before our God day and night,
has been hurled down."

No, this war is not describing Satan's original fall into sin. This occurs after his fall. So when could it be? Well, we have a clue here, because after his being cast out of heaven for good, all of heaven rejoices and says that it is now time for Christ to rule the nations, and to set up his kingdom on the earth.
So Satan is cast out of heaven sometime here in the endtimes, rather close to the end of all the judgements. We know it's not at the very end of the judgements because Satan has a short time to run around the earth. If he were cast out of heaven after everything was all over, and there was nothing left to be done but to conclude the White Throne Judgement, then Satan would be cast out of heaven and straight into Hell. But he is cast to the earth for a short time. So we know this occurs towards the end of the days of tribulation on the earth.
A very good possibility is that he is cast out of heaven in the middle of the seven-year treaty that the antichrist has made with Israel. We can get into this treaty thing later. But you see, the antichrist makes a seven-year treaty with Israel. After 3 ½ years go by, he breaks the treaty. This is the time when he walks into the temple in Jerusalem and stops the sacrifices, proclaiming himself to be God. Why doesn't he do this earlier? Maybe it's because Satan is still roaming around heaven and earth. When he is cast out of heaven for good, he devotes himself full-time to the cause of destroying as much as he can.
Remember, Satan's original sin was that he wanted to replace God, and become God. Now the Antichrist says he is God. This has to be Satan speaking through him, because it just sounds so much like him. Isaiah 14:12-14: "How you have fallen from heaven,
O morning star, son of the dawn!
You have been cast down to the earth,
you who once laid low the nations!
13 You said in your heart,
"I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne
above the stars of God;
I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,
on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain.
14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.""

2nd Cor. 4:4 calls Satan the God of this World. "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them."

So if we had a timeline of the seven-year treaty, it would be divided in the middle, into two 3 ½ year parts, with the casting out of Satan from Heaven to the Earth being the dividing line:

3 ½ Years.......I......3 ½ Years
---------------------------------
........................I
................Casting out
.................Of Satan

(By the way, we could add the 2 Witnesses to the first 3 ½ years of this timeline - we know they are taken to heaven before the end of the judgements of the earth. If they have to fit in one of the 3 ½ years or the other, it would have to be the first one.)

With Satan cast to earth, knowing his time is short, he will persecute the woman. Now wait a minute. At this time on the earth Mary is not here to be persecuted by Satan.
Our whole chain of logic has just collapsed. If the woman is Mary, then the woman has to be Mary throughout the whole thing. We can't keep changing who the woman represents just to fit our theories. We must change our theories until they fit the scripture.
The only other thing that suggested itself to us when we were trying to figure out the identity of the woman, was the nation of Israel itself. So let's start over all the way from the beginning, and see if the woman could possibly be Israel.
Could the nation of Israel be said to have brought forth the Messiah? Yes. Jesus was born of the Jews, of the nation of Israel. So it's reasonable that the Nation of Israel could be the woman, who gave birth to Jesus.
Can we say Israel is clothed with the strength of God? Yes, I suppose we could.
Can we say that the nation of Israel stands on Jesus Christ? No way. Most Jews do not recognize Jesus as being the Messiah. Even the Jews back i

n the time of Jesus did not accept him as the Christ. The nation of Israel believes that their Messiah has not yet come. They do not hold to the words of Jesus. They do not seek his kingdom.
Does this mean that the woman cannot be Israel? No, because if you recall, our link between the symbols of the sun and moon were gossamer threads of only one verse for each meaning. (One said the Sun was strength, one said the sun was God. We combined the two. One verse in the entire bible said that the moon was the faithful witness.)
It was a weak case, at best. So perhaps there is another meaning to the sun and moon. Let's see if we can find a place where we can find reference to a Sun, Moon, and 12 stars. There are none. But there is one that talks about the sun, moon, and 11 stars as a symbol! Let's take a look at this and see if it sheds any light on our predicament.
Gen. 37:9,10: Joseph has a dream: " Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. "Listen," he said, "I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me."
10 When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, "What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?""
Very interesting. Joseph's father Jacob, interpreted this dream (correctly, by the way, as you will see if you continue reading the story of Joseph) as the sun representing himself, the moon representing his wife Rebekah, and the 11 stars representing his sons, not counting Joseph. If you count Joseph, then you have 12 stars! And Jacob's name was changed to� Israel.
Whaddya know? The symbol of a sun, moon, and 12 stars is simply the symbol for Israel.
So the woman is Israel, and she gave birth to the Messiah. Yes, Satan was at the bosom of Israel, ready to devour the Messiah as soon as he was born, but he missed. Later he missed again, and the boy was caught up to God. The woman then escapes to the wilderness for 3 ½ years.

Does this escape happen right at the birth of Jesus? No, we have no bible for that. We don't see the nation of Israel fleeing to the wilderness for 3 ½ years to be hidden from Satan.
We do have bible for Israel escaping at the time of the Antichrist proclaiming himself God. And they hide for 3 ½ years.
Matthew 24:15: ""So when you see standing in the holy place 'the abomination that causes desolation,' spoken of through the prophet Daniel-let the reader understand- 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains."
Jesus says that when the abomination stands in the holy place ("holy place" are words that describe a certain part of the temple), Israel should run to the mountains. The abomination is the Antichrist, and the desolation he causes is twofold. One desolation he will cause is that he will have armies surround Jerusalem to kill the Jews. The city will be desolate because there will be no more Jews living there. The second kind of desolation will be inside the temple. No longer will there be priests carrying out the daily sacrifices, because the Antichrist will put a stop to the sacrifices. The city and the temple will be desolate.
Luke 21:20,21: "When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near. 21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city.
Mark 13:14: "When you see 'the abomination that causes desolation' standing where it does not belong-let the reader understand-then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
This passage says "when you see the abomination standing where it does not belong - let the reader understand". The temple had specific places where you could stand. For example, only the high priest was allowed into the Holy of Holies. There was the Court of the Gentiles, the only place where non-Jews were allowed (this is the only place the Antichrist should be allowed to go), the Court of the Women, which was the only place the women could go, etc.
In Matthew, we are told that this place the abomination stands is in the Holy Place. The Holy Place was where the priests could go. The golden candlestick was here, as well as the shewbread. You can study more on the temple if you'd like.
So we see that the city of Jerusalem and the temple will be empty of Jews. Those who are ready and waiting for this event will know to escape. The others will be killed.
We see, then that it makes sense that Israel flees to the wilderness, or the mountains for 3 ½ years. The end of that 3 ½ year period will mark the return of Christ to set up his Kingdom.
The war in heaven casts Satan to the earth, and this is when the desolation takes place, and the Israelis who believe in Christ, the 144,000 who are marked with the seal of God, escape. These 144,000 Jews are immortal at this point, for all intents and purposes. They cannot be killed, and will be on the earth until Jesus returns for them.
We know this because the bible says that when he returns to set up his kingdom he will be seen standing on the Mount of Olives with the 144,000. None of them are lost. We will get into this in chapter 14.
The bible says that the woman will escape to the wilderness for 3 ½ years. It says this two times. This is actually just two tellings of the same event. We know that Israel doesn't hide for 7 years. They have a treaty with the Antichrist for the first 3 ½ years - there is no need for them to flee. Only when the treaty is broken will they need to flee.
We can update our timeline:

3 ½ Years............ I............3 ½ Years
-----------------------------------------
Two Witnesses.....I.......144,000 flee to Mts
....................Casting out
.......................Of Satan

By the way, some people think that when the bible says that Israel will be given two wings of an eagle, that this is the United States Air Force, rescuing the Israelis.
I would submit that with the way the United States is now, this cannot be the case. This was the idea when Reagan was President. Even when Bush was President, this might have been the case, because of our country's support of Israel as an ally. But with Clinton, all bets are off. Our country cannot even defend itself at this time, and it would take 3 years to get to the point where we could do so, once the order was given to begin re-building the defenses.
Even if we did airlift people out of Israel, they would not be safe here in the USA, with our defense system dismantled. The bible says they fled to a safe place.
People who say this is the USA are just trying to find the United States in the Book of Revelation. Just because our national emblem is the eagle doesn't mean that these eagle's wings are symbolic of our nation.
God said in Exodus 19:4: 'You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself.
There was no USA back then. This was not the US Air Force that delivered the Israelites out of Egypt. It was God. The eagles' wings were symbolic of God's power.
Remember, the best commentary on the bible is the bible. Revelation says eagles wings. We shouldn't go looking outside of scripture to try to explain this symbol. Look in the bible. Look at Exodus 19:4, and we have the bible explaining itself.
The eagles' wings here, means that God will deliver his people out of the hands of Satan, into a safe place for 3½ years.

We continue. Satan cannot find these 144,000. The bible says they will be hidden from him. So Satan will send a flood to drown them wherever they might be hiding. The bible says that he would have been successful, except for the hand of God. The earth will help them, opening up and swallowing the flood.
Is this a literal flood? Could be. The bible uses "flood" to mean "flood", as in the days of Noah.
It also uses the word "flood" to represent armies, as in Psalm 124:2-4: if the LORD had not been on our side when men attacked us, when their anger flared against us, they would have swallowed us alive; 4 the flood would have engulfed us, the torrent would have swept over us,
and in Daniel 11:10: His sons will prepare for war and assemble a great army, which will sweep on like an irresistible flood and carry the battle as far as his fortress.
There are other instances of this, which you can look up for yourself. (Isaiah 28:2, Hosea 5:10, Nahum 1:8, etc)
It is an actual flood or an army? We don't know. But it makes no difference. It will fail. If it is a flood of water, then the earth will open up and swallow it. If it is a flood of soldiers, then the earth will open up and swallow them. It will fail.
This could be an earthquake; there are sure plenty of them occurring at this time on the earth. Or, it could just be the miraculous hand of God, causing the earth to open up like He did to the people who opposed Moses: Numbers 16:28-33: Then Moses said, "This is how you will know that the LORD has sent me to do all these things and that it was not my idea: 29 If these men die a natural death and experience only what usually happens to men, then the LORD has not sent me. 30 But if the LORD brings about something totally new, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them, with everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the grave, then you will know that these men have treated the LORD with contempt."
31 As soon as he finished saying all this, the ground under them split apart 32 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, with their households and all Korah's men and all their possessions. 33 They went down alive into the grave, with everything they owned; the earth closed over them, and they perished and were gone from the community.
It is my opinion that the earth will swallow up soldiers, in the manner described here. But it does not mean it can't be a flood and an earthquake.
Once Satan sees that he cannot touch the 144,000 Jews, he will be exceedingly angry, and will go to make war against the woman's other children, who also hold to the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Who can these people be? All Christians were raptured long ago, at the opening of the Sixth Seal. The city of Jerusalem is trampled for 3 ½ years, the same time the Two Witnesses are testifying of God. After the Two Witnesses are resurrected, the bible says there is still more judgement to pour out (the third woe). So this is not the last 3 ½ year period of the treaty, or else we would be at Judgement Day. Instead, this must be the first 3 ½ year period, and the demon Destroyer that kills the Two Witnesses does so at the exact same time that the Antichrist proclaims himself God. This is when Satan is cast out of Heaven. For all we know, Destroyer may be Satan. When he is cast down, he may kill the Two Witnesses on his way into the temple. Maybe not. It still could be another demon, but all of this happens at the same time.
Let's update our timeline:

3 ½ Years.............. I....... 3 ½ Years
---------------------------------------------
Two Witnesses...... I...... 144,000 flee to Mts
......................Casting out
.......................Of Satan
.............................&
...............Death of Two Witnesses
.............................&
.............Anti-Christ claims to be God

The death of the Two Witnesses occurs with the sounding of the Sixth Trumpet. This is how we know that the raptured saints are already gone, even before the beginning of the second 3 ½ year period.
Satan tries to flood out the 144,000 at the beginning of this second 3 ½ years. He is unsuccessful. He goes to make war with the remnant of the woman's seed, who still hold to the teachings of Jesus Christ.
Who can these people be? Raptured saints are gone. The 144,000 Jews are sealed and safe, and are representative of the woman herself. So who are they?
They are people who have become Christians after the Rapture.
But you say that God shuts off His grace at the time of the Rapture. Where does the bible say that?
You say that no one can be saved after the Rapture. Where is your scripture?
You say that people can't just refuse to take the mark of the beast and gain heaven that way. You're right. Do you know why?

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