Revelation 11:15-19
15 The seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven saying:The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom
of our Lord and of His Messiah,
and He will reign forever and ever!16 The 24 elders, who were seated before God on their thrones, fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying:
We thank You, Lord God, the Almighty, who is and who was,
because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign.
18 The nations were angry, but Your wrath has come.
The time has come for the dead to be judged,
and to give the reward to Your servants the prophets,
to the saints, and to those who fear Your name, both small and great,
and the time has come to destroy those who destroy the earth.19 God's sanctuary in heaven was opened, and the ark of His covenant appeared in His sanctuary. There were lightnings, rumblings, thunders, an earthquake, and severe hail.
Chapter 12 opens up and introduces us to the main characters to the tribulation
Revelation 12:1-6
12 A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and a crown of 12 stars on her head. 2 She was pregnant and cried out in labor and agony to give birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: There was a great fiery red dragon having seven heads and 10 horns, and on his heads were seven diadems. 4 His tail swept away a third of the stars in heaven and hurled them to the earth. And the dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she did give birth he might devour her child. 5 But she gave birth to a Son--a male who is going to shepherd all nations with an iron scepter--and her child was caught up to God and to His throne. 6 The woman fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared by God, to be fed there for 1,260 days.
I like what the Bible Knowledge Commentary has to say about this passage and it does a better job of explaining these verses then I can
The woman symbolized Israel, as indicated by Genesis 37:9-11, where the sun and the moon referred to Jacob and Rachel, Joseph's parents. The stars in the woman's crown clearly related to the 12 sons of Jacob and identified the woman as Israel fulfilling the Abrahamic Covenant. J.B. Smith cites Isaiah 60:1-3,20 as proof that the sun refers to Israel's future glory (A Revelation of Jesus Christ, p. 182).
Many commentaries are so intent on attempting to identify Israel as the church that they ignore these plain indications that the woman is Israel. Robert H. Mounce, for instance, makes the woman "the messianic community, the ideal Israel...the church (Revelation 12:17). The people of God are one throughout all redemptive history" (The Book of Revelation, p. 236). While there is a unity of the people of God, this does not wipe out dispensational and racial distinctions.
(from Bible Knowledge Commentary/Old Testament Copyright © 1983, 2000 Cook Communications Ministries; Bible Knowledge Commentary/New Testament Copyright © 1983, 2000 Cook Communications Ministries. All rights reserved.)
Clearly some commentaries try to state that the woman is the church but that makes no sense, given
verse 5:But she gave birth to a Son--a male who is going to shepherd all nations with an iron scepter--and her child was caught up to God and to His throne.
The church did not give birth to the Messiah, but he was born from Israel. The church did not precede the Christ but rather the Christ created the church after his ressurection on the day of pentacost. Also don't forget about the symbolism of the sun, moon and stars and how that referres back to Joseph's dreams about Israel. Clearly this is God telling us about Israel and not the church. Also the book of daniel details the purification of Israel which the 7 year period, called the tibulation is.
Further along the chapeter, we also get see more details about the players of tribulation, such as the devil. Here he's called the red dragon here and he swept a third of the starts from heaven, that is a third of the angels decided to follow him in his rebellion against God and thus turning from angels into demons. The 10 horns on the dragon's head represent satan control over the world, in fact more is written about the 10 horns, or rather 10 leaders who follow the antichrist in chapter 13 but this starts laying the groundwork of where the antichrist's comes from.
What's interesting that through ancent mythology, people have represented a seven headed dragon. I'm not sure what's up with that but its consistent.
Revelation 12:4
12:3. Ancient Mesopotamian myths portrayed seven-headed monsters; later Jewish tradition linked the worship of dragons to Babylon (Bel and the Dragon 23-27). The image of a seven-headed serpent or dragon was also part of Canaanite mythology that the Israelites symbolically turned to better purposes: God's parting the Red Sea was now symbolized as a defeat of the primeval serpent Leviathan or Lotan (Psalms 74:13-15; cf. also Psalms 89:9-10; Isaiah 27:1; 30:7; 51:9; Job 9:13; 26:12-13; Ezekiel 29:3; for the principle see Exodus 12:12. Rahab in some of these texts had become a cipher for Egypt -- Psalms 87:4). The Greek hero Heracles also confronted a seven-headed dragon, the Lernean hydra, in Greek mythology, although the number of heads changed quickly! Serpents were also associated with Asclepius; their association with Athena is less relevant in Asia Minor. Serpent veneration is common in many cultures and prevailed in a *Gnostic sect called the Ophites in the second century.Jewish people had many stories about the great evil reptile Leviathan, that he would even be killed and served up as part of the course at the *messianic banquet (cf. *2 Baruch and later *rabbis). Here the dragon is identified with the serpent of Genesis 3 and the devil (Revelation 12:9).
(from IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament by Craig S. Keener Copyright © 1993 by Craig S. Keener. Published by InterVarsity Press. All rights reserved.)
The beginning verses of chapter 12 is the foundation for detailing some of the characters in the tribulation that will be built upon in coming chapters. The dragon, ie., satan, the woman, Israel and the Christ who satan tried to devour/destroy while he (the Messiah) was on earth. Even in this early chapter we see God's control over everything. While it appears things may be falling apart, he is ordering events according to his will. He foretold the death of Christ but the ultimate victory over death and sin way back in Genesis, he added lots of details in the book of Daniel and now we see how he's ordering events to bring the final fulfillment.
While the end of chapter 11 and 12 offer no details on the forcoming judgements it creates the fondation of how the tribulation is to be, that is the devil through the antichrist will control 10 world governments and it will attempt to destroy God's people, specifically Isreal.God will supernaturally protect them for 3 1/2 years as told in chapter 12:6
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