No 92 The woman and the dragon
☆
The Book of Revelation differs from other biblical writings in that, as stated in its prologue, it is a book testifying to what John saw and heard.
So, let me introduce that prologue.
Chapter 1, verse 1. The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants, things which must shortly take place.
And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John,
Verse 2. Who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw.
Why did I mention this first? Because prophecy and testimony are different.
Biblical prophecy refers to God's chosen ones receiving His word and conveying it to the people.
In the Old Testament, there are figures like Moses, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. Many of them came from priestly backgrounds and were originally dedicated to serving God.
Therefore, the prophetic books carry God's authority to be proclaimed to all people.
On the other hand, anyone can write the testimony if they come into contact the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
While no one can deny that personal experience is the individual's freedom, a third party can't verify the authenticity of each experience.
Therefore, the power of the testimony resides only within that person.
For this reason, this book of testimonies was a subject of long controversy and was finally included in the Bible as canonical scripture in the fourth century.
And because of its content, it became the subject of prolonged controversy long afterward.
The core of the dispute centered entirely on when Christ would return.
In short, the Book of Revelation is a book announcing the end times, and since all Christians await the return of Jesus, this is only natural.
Therefore, this book has been interpreted word-for-word more than any other scripture.
The original text is in Greek, the universal language of the time. Moreover, this book is arguably the greatest literary work ever written in the Greek language.
Its quality is so exceptional that, despite the author identifying himself as the Apostle John, some scholars still maintain that the true author is someone else.
I, of course, believe that the young John, admonished by Mary, the mother of Jesus, painstakingly mastered the Greek language he struggled with and wrote it himself.
Considering this book was written in his old age, it is reasonable to assume it is his own work, and it is only fitting that it should be a book that truly reflects the character of the disciple most beloved by Jesus.
When presenting it, he carefully added a sentence, first stating that it is not a book of prophecy.
Chapter 22, verse 18. For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book;
If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book,
(verse 19.) and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of his prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city,
and from the things which are written in this book. John likely added this sentence as a warning, knowing that personal testimonies are often rewritten by others.
“The words of the book of his prophecy” mentioned here refer to the words spoken by the angel within the testimony.
These must be interpreted separately from John's own narrative.
Specifically, John's descriptions of what he saw are his own writing, while what he heard from the angel constitutes God's prophecy.
And while part of that prophecy is intentionally concealed by God's will, John has cleverly hidden it within his own Gospel.
Such writing is impossible in a book of prophecy, for all of God's words are laid open before the prophet.
Thus, this hidden word within the Book of Revelation is the key to the entire book; without it, one cannot know the time of the end.
This makes the Book of Revelation an even more difficult book to understand.
However, in the end times, God has broken the seals, so even an ordinary Christian like myself can easily know that time. And what matters is what actually happens at that moment.
Now, getting to the main point, Chapter 12 is undoubtedly the most vivid.
He writes: Verse 1. Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars.
Verse 2. Then, being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth.
verse3. And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads.
Verse 4. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born.
Verse 5. She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne.
Verse 6. Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days.
Verse 9. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
Verse 13. Now, when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child.
Verse 14. But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place where she is nourished for a time and times, and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.
The son born to this woman is said to rule the nations with an iron rod, so He is Jesus Christ. Then who is the woman?
There are two interpretations: one that she is literally Mary, the mother of Jesus, and another that she represents the entire Jewish people, including Mary.
I chose the former without hesitation.
My reason is that I personally expect that Mary will play a crucial role in the time of salvation.
Furthermore, if the woman were interpreted as the entire Jewish people, it would overlap with the image of the 144,000 from the twelve tribes of Israel mentioned in chapter 7.
Salvation lies in Jesus Christ, so it seems only natural that His mother Mary should play the central role in salvation, following the commandment written in the Law of Moses: “Honor your father and mother.”
Naturally, it is the Heavenly Father who sustains them in the wilderness. For the God who once sustained the Jewish people for forty years in the wilderness, this is an easy task.
The concept of covering people with wings has existed in Judaism since ancient times.
For example, Psalm 91. contains this passage as part of Moses' prayer: He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.
Verse 10. Ther shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. This expression, “cover you with his wings,” is also used by Jesus in the Gospels.
“How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were unwilling!” (Luke 13-34)
Jesus' attempts to gather them were not fulfilled, and he was crucified.
Therefore, at the end of time, only those who have repented will be given the wings of the great eagle to escape Satan's grasp, thus fulfilling this prayer.
And the period of being nourished in the wilderness is 1260 days, exactly three and a half years.
This reveals that Christians will be raptured precisely at the midpoint of the Tribulation.
Details of that timing are given only to Christians who have received the Holy Spirit through the voice from heaven.
Therefore, John tells readers to pay attention to “the words of prophecy.”
Chapter 1, verse 3. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.
Moreover, the woman is clothed with the sun. The sun was then and remains now the source of light and the indicator of time.
Jesus testified that He is the light of the world. And now, 2000 years later, many nations use calendars based on His birth.
Truly, He is the foundation of time, the light, and the salvation. I painted this image with Mary conceiving the sun. Because in English, the sun and son are pronounced the same.
And she is pregnant with the sun of light, trampling the moon beneath her feet. The moon is inherently round, but here it is depicted as a crescent.
This represents something incomplete, its original form broken. In other words, the moon is a symbol of deception that changes shape.
Therefore, the sun (Jesus), which is always in its perfect form, tramples upon the deceptive moon.
Why is that? Some 4,000 years ago, during the patriarchal era, temples dedicated to the moon god existed in both Ur of the Chaldeans and Haran, Abraham's homeland.
Legend holds that Abraham left his father's household because he refused to worship the moon god idols that his father revered.
In modern times, everyone is familiar with the moon as a symbol of Islam. (Islam prohibits idol worship, so many Islamic nations use it on their national flags.)
Islam is second only to Christianity in numbers, but in the coming end times, it will be trampled underfoot by the sun, that is, the male offspring, the Son of God, as recorded in Genesis 3:15.
This is because they conceal their true nature and deceive people. For example, the Quran recognizes only the Arabic version as canonical scripture.
Thus, compared to Christianity, which encouraged Bible translation with the command to “go and preach the gospel to every nation, people, and language,”
Islam is a religion whose true meaning is concealed. It does not necessarily require a formal confession of faith, as seen in Christianity.
Rather, it demands the individual's role within the community and absolute submission to God.
This is, only when the heathens are defeated and their roles and submission are fulfilled will world peace be realized.
For this reason, it is also called the religion of conquest.
Even more intriguing is that Azerbaijan, a Black Sea nation whose flag features the moon, is said to be the region where Magog, Tubal, and Meshech? descendants of Noah's son Japheth? first settled.
Furthermore, Ezekiel's prophecy states that in the end times, they will invade Israel alongside Russia, Turkey, and Persia (modern-day Iran).
At that time, God will reveal His power and destroy them. This is a matter for the near future. Moreover, Revelation 14 states.
Verse 2. And I heard a voice from heaven, like the voice of many waters, and like the voice of loud thunder.
And I heard the sound of harpists playing their harps. This is the same account I heard directly from Mary in Nazareth.
At dawn, she awoke to the sound of countless harps from the heavens and prayed with David for the birth of the Savior.
Therefore, the woman of the “her seed ” is Mary, and the prophecy in the following verse 16, "I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; in sorrow you shall bring forth children.“
This prophecy is fulfilled in Revelation 12:2: ”Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth."
The offspring is Jesus Christ, the son of Mary, and through the blood shed on His cross, the earth, cursed by Adam's sin, was cleansed.
Thus, the Bible is a perfect book in which the prophecy of Genesis finds its fulfillment in the Apocalypse at its conclusion.
This concludes the explanation of this end-time vision, guided by the Holy Spirit.
September 2025 Oil 910mm×1167mm
☆