REVELATION 30 – THE GREAT SIGN IN HEAVEN

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

            John says And a great sign appeared in heaven and some of the futuristic pre-millennial folks might say “Ok, this is evidence that this part is symbolic, but then the rest of Revelation is literal.” How might you respond to that?

Response: It seems like it’s more of the same symbolism – twelve stars is probably twelve tribes, etc.

Yes. In fact in chapter 1 verse 1 it says The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave him to “sign” to his bondservants the things which must shortly take place. So the sign was a way of showing, it was signifying. Interestingly enough, we’ll get into this more a little later, the Greek word for sign that is used there is the word that was used for the constellations of the zodiac. We’ll talk more about how that fits in a little later on this morning.

            The word “sign” is used 7 times. Remember that in Revelation there is a repetitive thing, patterns that you see. It’s used 7 times in Revelation, 3 of those signs are in heaven. The one here in chapter 12 verse 1, chapter 12 verse 3 And another sign appeared in heaven, chapter 15 verse 1. Four of the signs happen on earth and they are signs that the wicked are doing, that the beast-powered prophets are doing to lead people astray.

            What is this great sign? Anybody have any ideas?

R: The child that’s born is Jesus?

Yes. I think very clearly that what’s being talked about here is Jesus. Notice that it says she gave birth to a son, a male, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, very clearly that’s talking about the Messiah. It’s talking about he who will rule the nations, shepherd the nations with a rod of iron. and her child was caught up to God and to His throne I think there’s a very clear connection here to Jesus Christ ascending into heaven and being seated at the right hand of God the Father.

So the “sign” then is a sign about Jesus. What is it saying about Jesus, though? Why do you think John would say a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars;? How many know the constellations of the zodiac? Anybody ever heard of the constellation Virgo? Virgo the Virgin. Anybody know how Virgo looks? She actually has twelve stars in her crown. Chilton says: “It’s important to realize the relationship of all this to the very obvious astronomical symbolism in the text. The word that St. John uses for “sign” was a term used in the ancient world to describe the constellations of the zodiac. His model for this vision of the church is the constellation of Virgo which does have a crown of twelve stars (there are twelve that are visible to the naked eye and he actually names them here) All these stars are visible ones that can be seen by observers. It seems likely the twelve stars also represent the twelve signs of the zodiac. From ancient times they were regarded as symbols of the twelve tribes of Israel.” Very clearly here I think the twelve stars are in fact relating to the twelve tribes of Israel. 

Q: Wasn’t Jesus born during that time of Virgo?

A: Yes. That’s exactly what Chilton and others believe, that what’s being talked about here is the time when Jesus was born.

Q: Part of the Virgo, the star system, is that part of the bright star of heaven that we’ve all heard of?

A: I don’ t think that is what is in view here. Chilton goes into a long explanation of the symbolism. Notice that it says the woman is clothed with the sun. He to Earnest Martin who wrote a book called The Birth of Christ Recalculated. Chilton says ‘Martin carefully and painstakingly narrows down the probably date of Christ’s’ birth to sometime in September, 3 BC. Martin then adds the icing to the cake. In the period of Christ’s’ birth the sun entered the head position of the woman (the Virgo) about August 13 and exited from her feet about September 2. But the apostle John saw the scene when the sun clothes or adorns the woman. This surely indicates that the position of the sun in the vision was located somewhere mid-body of the woman, between the neck and the knees. The sun could hardly be said to clothe the woman if it were situated in her face or near her feet. The only time in the year that the sun could be in a position to clothe the woman is when it’s located between 150-170 degrees along the ecliptic (which is a line across the sky where the zodiacal signs are). This clothing of the woman by the sun occurs for a twenty day period each year. This 20 degree spread could indicate the general time when Christ was born. In 3 BC the sun would have entered this celestial region about August 27 and exited from it about September 15.’

            If that is true, there is another key here. The key is the moon. Notice that John says the moon under her feet. What does the word “under” signify in this case? Does it mean that the woman was standing on the moon when John observed it? Or does it mean that her feet were positioned slightly above the moon? “John does not tell us. This however is not a major consequence if we use the moon to answer our question, because it would only involve the difference of a degree or two. Since the feet of Virgo the Virgin represent the last 7 degrees of the constellation in the time of Christ, this would have been between 180-187 degrees along the ecliptic. The moon had to be positioned somewhere under that 7 degree arc. In the year 3 bc, these two factors came to precise agreement for less than 2 hours, as observed from Palestine, on September 11.”

Q: Less than two hours — does this mean that the exact time of the birth of Christ is being shown here?

A: If that is what is being prophesied, yes. For less than two hours all these elements were all aligned.

            He says “the relationship started about 6:15 p.m., sunset and lasted until about 7:45 p.m. moon set. This is the only day in the whole year that this could have taken place.” An added bonus, “Sundown on September 11, 3 BC., was the beginning of Tischri 1 in the Jewish calendar, Rosh Hashanah, the day of trumpets which began the season spanning Rosh Hashanah, the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), and the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths. Scripture tells us that Christ is enthroned on the day of trumpets.” Martin summarizes “the central theme of the day of trumpets is clearly that the enthronement of the great king of kings. This was a general understanding of the day in early Judaism.” And it certainly is that in the New Testament. Remember that in John, chapter 7, at the Feast of Booths, on the last great day of the feast the priest pours out the living water, symbolizing the Spirit of God being poured out. When that happened, Jesus stood up in the crowd and said (verse 37, 38) “If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water” In that act, Jesus identified himself with that ritual.

Now there’s another interesting thing here. It says (3) And another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon Who is this great red dragon? Look at verse 9: And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; Interestingly enough, in the zodiac at this particular time, the constellation of Scorpio, the scorpion is basically stretched across the sky. The sign of Scorpio was also known in ancient times as the dragon. Those who have investigated this, and I have not done a lot of research on this, but I’ve heard several sermons by James Kennedy, believe that this is what it is talking about; the birth of Christ. It’s talking about the great red dragon being across the sky during that time and so what John is talking about here has to do with the birth of Christ.

I realize this is a lot of new stuff for you. Again, I’m not saying that this is fact, I’m just presenting this to you.

4) And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven John is capitalizing on the fact that the scorpion (that’s the serpent in the zodiac) with which the dragon serpent is associated with, has 1/3 of the zodiacal stars at his tail, four out of the twelve signs come after him. What of the statement and threw them to the earth? What he’s talking about there are fallen angels. When Satan fell, Jesus said “I saw Satan falling.” When he fell, when he was cast out of heaven, there were a number of the angels that went with him. I think that’s what it’s talking about here. Why does the dragon sweep away 1/3 of the angels? First, this is the form in which the trumpet judgments are cast. Christ is the first born, the 2/3 portion is reserved for him and his kingdom. Second the biblical principle 2 witnesses may be involved. For every false witness Satan can muster against the covenant, God has 2 angels on His side. So what it’s talking about here is Satan is cast out of heaven, and 1/3 of the angels with him. Again, we tend to think in concrete terms don’t we? That if there were 100 angels, 33 1/3 were cast out of heaven, but that’s not what Revelation is really saying. It’s saying they were a portion. A smaller portion, there’s still 2/3 in heaven. That’s why Chilton says it may have to do with witnesses.

Q: Is there a way of simplifying the message of Revelation so that we can understand the symbolism more effectively?

A: Unfortunately no. There is a way, but it’s not easy. It’s study the Old Testament, because as I said over and over again, these people understood the Old Testament. The Jewish people, the Jewish Christians that this was being written to, they would understand the symbolism. It was shorthand, not code.

            Why 1260 days?

R: I divided that by 365 days and it doesn’t come up!

Right because they use a lunar calendar. But, it you divide it out by Jewish calendar, what you get is 3 ½ and 42. Have we seen those before? 42 months, 3 ½ years if you use 30 day months. We see back in chapter 11 that the Holy City was to be tread underfoot for 42 months. Very clearly that 42 is symbolic in Scripture. Over in verse 14, And the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, in order that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. What is time, times and half a time? 3 ½! That’s a Hebrew way of saying 3 ½. So if it’s 1260 days, or 3 ½, that’s also 42. Anybody want to venture a guess as to how many places Israel camped in the wilderness? How many times they camped in the wilderness, different places? Would you believe 42?! The woman (who is Israel) fled into the wilderness and God sustained her. See, we don’t understand because we don’t understand the Old Testament. Two things are going on here, I think. One is John is talking about the birth of Christ using the zodiacal signs. He’s also talking about the fact that a child was to be born out of Israel who is called the bride of Christ, who was crowned with the twelve tribes of Israel. It was from Israel that Christ was born. You also see that here. The woman, Israel, the wife of God, gave birth to a son. So there’s a couple of things going on here.

Comment: But God kept her on the move so she would be protected?

Response: Yes, absolutely. God protected Israel in the wilderness. Remember that God was there. There were probably these twin pillars, one of cloud, one of fire representing the legs of God, the feet of God. They were there the whole 40 years in the wilderness. During the day the cloud gave them shelter from the sun and during the night the pillar of fire gave them light. God’s presence among His people. He fed them the manna. He fed them the water from the rock which was Christ, Paul tells us.

C: But the serpent was also there.

R: But the serpent was also trying to destroy the woman. When you read what Israel was doing in the desert it is mind-boggling to me, and I’ve said this before, Israel in the desert with God right there, all they had to do was open the flap of their tent and there was God, and inside their tents they were worshipping their star gods and their moon gods, the Bible says. They brought along other gods and they worshipped other gods. Even though God was there and God was providing them everyday with the manna and God was providing them everyday with the water. Yet, what do we see in the world today? God’s presence is everywhere, isn’t it? And what are we still doing? People are still worshipping their own gods.

C: This first section, we’re seeing things here that are not chronological but they are identifying things. Talking about Satan, the mention of the sweeping away, but that’s to identify who the dragon is. And of course, this woman being in the wilderness wasn’t happening right after birth. It was something that identified the woman.

R: Right. We tend to read something and we read it chronologically, don’t we? The Hebrews did not. When you read through Genesis, particularly. in the hebrew you will read ‘now these are the generations of Shem, Ham and Japheth.’ Then it will go through the chronology, then it will go back and talk about what’s going on. It’s not chronological. That’s what we have to get into our minds when we’re reading the Bible, is to try to understand it from a Hebrew point of view, not from a western Caucasian point of view. So it’s not chronological here, it’s a sign. It’s signifying something.

Q: When did Satan fall out of heaven?

A: Luke 10:17-20. Jesus has sent out the seventy. Beginning in 10:1 Now after this the Lord appointed seventh others, and sent them two and two ahead of Him to every city and place where He Himself was going to come. (2) And He was saying to them, “The harvest is plentiful…” (17) And the seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.” (18) And He said to them, “I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightening. (19) Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall injure you. (20) Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.” I think what we’re seeing here, the ministry of Jesus Christ, his life, his birth, his death, is that period of time when Satan fell from heaven. When he was overcome. It’s not a specific point in history.

Q: I have a hard time with that one. You’re saying that during the ministry of Christ is when Satan fell?

A: Yes.

Q: So who was the serpent?

A: Satan.

Q: Satan hadn’t fallen at that time?

A: Not in the sense that we’re talking about here. He was a fallen angel. But look at Job. Satan was in heaven in the heavenly counsel. God says where have you been? And he says I was out walking around the earth. So again we are thinking chronologically. The Bible is not speaking chronologically. Again remember God is outside of time. Things don’t happen chronologically for God. They happen all at once for God, and that’s hard for us. We struggle with that.

Q: Now Satan can’t go up to heaven?

A: Absolutely. Satan is restrained now. Christ very clearly says the strong man has been bound.

Q: How is that possible if all these things aren’t chronological?

A: Because the ministry of Jesus Christ was the crux, if you will, of history. It’s on that, that everything depends.

Q: But that’s chronological. You say after Jesus Christ, this can’t happen.

A: No, I’m explaining it very well. Let me read what Chilton says, and he’s quoting from Isaiah 66: And she gave birth to a son, a male, who is to rule all nations with a rod of iron. St. John returns to Psalm 2, one of his favorite texts, to explain his symbolism. The son is obviously Jesus Christ. The seed of the woman. The child of the virgin. Born of Israel to rule the nations. In this verse St. John telescopes the entire history of Christ’s earthly ministry stating as if it had happened all at once that her child was caught up to God in His throne. It is as if Christ’s incarnation had led directly to his ascension to the throne of glory. St. John’s point is not to belittle the atonement and the resurrection, but to stress that the Lord’s anointed completely escapes the power of the dragon.” See John is not talking about chronology here. He’s talking about event here. So we tend to read it, there was a birth, she gave birth, and her child was caught up to God in His throne, and we tend to think chronologically, and tend to think in terms of Jesus’ life, Jesus’ death, Jesus’ ascension. But that’s not the point of what John is talking about. John is talking about the event, not chronology, and that’s difficult for us. I know I haven’t made a very good explanation of that because I see everybody kind of going blank on me here.

C: I’m going blank because it appears from my perspective that we’re going in and out of linear.  Sometimes when it’s expedient we say well, God is outside of time, this happens and it’s not sequential and then when the opposite is important, we say oh well with the birth of Jesus now Satan’s is bound up therefore it is linear. That’s the problem I’m having. Do we apply it or not and how do we know when to apply a time concept or not to apply? I have a hard time with Satan being in heaven in Job and Satan was obviously thrown out in the Garden of Eden. He obviously was not a good angel, he was a fallen angel at that moment in time. How did he go back up into heaven in the time of Job? From that point I struggle throughout the rest of the time sequence.

R: I don’t know the answer to that. I really don’t. I have not even thought about that before. It’s a good question. I simply can’t answer it right now.

C: I have a list (as I’ve mentioned to others) of questions to ask God when I’m in His presence, or somebody up there that knows a whole lot more. Maybe Adam. OK God, how does this happen again because it’s one of those things that obviously the Bible doesn’t tell us and we have to sort of extract from it. It’s a difficult question. 

C: Could that be because maybe these are symbols? You know, they’re symbols, not necessarily a time frame?  

C: Obviously Job was symbolic but it was also very literal. Just as the Genesis event was a very literal event. How do you put the two together? A fallen angel has corrupted Eve, and yet he’s in heaven again? I don’t understand.

R: The Westminster Confession says we interpret Scripture literally when we can interpret it literally and symbolically where it is obviously symbolic. Here it’s tough. Do we really think there was a dragon flying around the sky with a woman on his back as it says in Revelation? No, that’s obviously a symbol. Do we think there was a great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns in heaven? I don’t think so. I think that’s obviously a symbol, and that’s what John says. So if this is symbolic, then I think what we need to do is try to understand what is it symbolizing? What is it a symbol of? What is it a sign of?

C: I remember reading in C.S. Lewis and he talked about time and beings like God, but as soon as you go beyond these mortal creatures that we are, C.S. Lewis says that time is drizzled out, it’s one drop at a time and we never get to see… we only know about now, we have no memory of the past, we know nothing about the future. So we travel this line and God is sitting right out side of it. He’s all alike from beginning to end. He can do whatever He wants. I imagine that Spirit beings probably all have this capacity to be outside of time.

R: Yes. It’s one of those things that we can’t really understand. But here clearly we’re talking about a sign. It is a sign of the birth of Christ. It MAY have to do with zodiacal signs because others have done the research and it appears this describes the line up of the zodiacal constellations at the time of Christ. But it also is very clearly a sign that Christ was going to come out of Israel. The woman who was the bride of God who had twelve stars in her crown, the twelve tribes of Israel, and that Satan, the dragon, was going to try and defeat what God was doing. When you look at the history of redemption in the Old Testament, you find that Satan is attempting over and over and over again to prevent the birth of Christ. There are events where the wicked armies come against Israel, and yet every time the wicked are overcome. Much of it goes back to Genesis chapter 3 where God says that to the serpent, you will bruise him on the heel but he will crush your head. Look at Goliath. Who was Goliath? He was a bad guy. He was Satan’s champion. Very clearly. David made that very clear that Goliath was coming against the name of God. He was there to denigrate, to put down the name of God and he had Israel trembling in their boots. David, a shepherd boy, the chosen one of God, a type of Christ, (shepherd, king) picked up five smooth stones (pebbles) - shaped without human hands may I submit. Five - if we study Scripture we see five is the number of grace. He put one stone in his sling and there was a little slit in Goliath’s helmet and he crushed the head of the serpent. The stone cut without hands, crushed the head of the serpent. Over and over and over you see that.

Over and over again we see this battle between Satan champion and God’s champion. There are so many of them… Jael and Cicera where the king was fleeing from Israel, he tried to overwhelm Israel and he was fleeing and he goes to her tent and he’s tired. She says come in and have some milk, here’s a nice warm covering. She fixes him some nice warm milk and covers him up and he falls asleep. Then she crushes the head of the serpent by putting a tent peg through his temple. She is God’s champion. Over and over and over we see that. The mill stone dropped from the wall that crushed the head of the king, over and over there are all kinds of these things. You see that prophecy coming true over and over in Scripture ultimately coming true in Jesus Christ at the cross, because it was at the cross that Satan thought he had the upper hand. The cross was God’s way of tricking Satan, Chilton says, into fulfilling His purposes according to His wisdom for if they had understood they would not have crucified the lord of glory, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2, in wounding the seed’s heel, the serpent’s head was crushed. He was finally overcome.

            So I think what we’re seeing here is symbolic. Next week we’ll get in to the war in heaven. Remember we’ve been steeped in the fact that there’s going to be this cataclysmic battle between Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. Next week we’ll talk about that, but that’s not futuristic. We’ll see that what’s being talked about here is symbolic. Michael (by the way the word means ‘who is like God’) and his angels waging war with the dragon.