I've been surprised many times to see what is NOT in Revelation. There is no mention of the Abomination of Desolation or the Rapture. And I've also been surprised by what IS in Revelation. Revelation speaks of a thousand year period here on earth when the curse is to a great degree lifted. This "Millennium" is not specifically mentioned anywhere else.
The Tribulation itself is not mentioned by this name in Revelation or anywhere else, although the period is described by John and other prophets. Correction. Jesus stated in Matthew 24:21 "These will be times of great tribulation." This is a time of trouble on a level that has never been seen before in human history, and will never be seen again. The good news is that it only lasts for seven years. The Tribulation is divided into two parts, the first part is the first three and a half years of the seven years. The second part, the last three and a half years, is called "the Great Tribulation." The period of the Great Tribulation is referred to in Revelation by the expressions "a thousand two hundred and threescore days," "forty and two months," and "time, times, and half a time." It's all the same period of time - three and a half years. Revelation 12 uses a thousand two hundred and three score days and time, times and half a time. Time means one year, times means two years, half a time means half a year, therefore three and a half years. One thousand two hundred and threescore days means 1260 days. Divided by 30 days in the Jewish month equals 42 months.
What has changed in the Great Tribulation? The level of violence? Wars? Disasters? Plagues, weather, volcanoes? Comets?
In Revelation 11:15, the seventh angel sounded his trumpet. The seventh trumpet signals the last set of judgments from God, the Seven Vials judgments. Still, since chapter 9 no judgments have occurred. Plenty happened up to this point though. In the first 7 judgments, the Seven Seals, one fourth of humanity died. In the second 7 judgments, the Seven Trumpets, one third died. Adding the two together means half of humanity has died in various catastrophes. And then the real trouble starts?
Chapter 12 describes two wonders appearing in heaven. One is a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and a crown of twelve stars upon her head. The other is the great red dragon. Who are these figures representing? I actually found Revelation 12 to be fairly straight forward. The woman represents the nation of Israel. In, Genesis 37 Joseph is described as his father Jacob's favorite son. Joseph was a "dreamer," he had prophetic dreams. He dreamed that the sun, the moon and eleven stars bowed down to him. He told his father and brothers about it. It was clear to Joseph and all his family what this meant. His father, his mother and his eleven brothers, bowed down to him. His mother had died giving birth to his younger brother Benjamin, yet she bowed to him, too. The woman seen in John's vision is the nation of Israel, and the twelve stars in the crown are the twelve tribes of Israel. What do the sun and the moon represent? Uhhh...I would say Jacob and Rachel, except that Rachel was the mother of only two tribes. Maybe Abraham and Sarah. ???? Anyway, that's the woman. She is with child, and the child of the nation of Israel is Jesus Christ, who will rule all nations with a rod of iron. The great red dragon is Satan. If Satan could have prevented Christ from paying the price for our sins, he would be the ultimate ruler of mankind, rather than God. Therefore, the woman and her child are his arch enemies.
Why is the dragon red? That's an interesting question that I've found no explanation for this so far. Well, I don't think pink would be his color. The great red dragon has seven heads, and ten horns and seven crowns upon his heads. This monster with seven heads and ten horns is seen other places in Revelation. This is chapter 12, his first appearance, and then a beast appears in chapter 13 having also seven heads and ten horns, and again in chapter 16. In the other two cases his crowns differ in their placement. The dragon has seven crowns on his seven heads, the first beast has ten crowns on his ten horns, and the second beast has no crowns at all. Why? To indicate the timing of the appearances of the dragon and the beasts. The dragon has seven heads to represent seven world empires that have occurred throughout world history. They are not concurrent. It is to be understood that they have all either happened or are happening, in the case of the seventh empire.
The seventh world empire is at this time in existence. This empire is something that hasn't happened yet, so the dragon won't be cast down to earth until it does. This will be the world empire, the "new world order." One earth under one government. He drew one third of the stars of heaven with his tail and threw them down to the earth. The stars mean angelic beings. Satan persuaded a third of the other angels to mutiny against God with him. In chapter 13, the first beast has seven heads, ten horns and ten crowns on his ten horns. The reason being that the ten horns are the ten divisions within the seventh empire. First is the coming of the empire itself, the dragon with seven crowns on his seven heads, then the seventh empire is divided up into ten areas, something like states, and when these are in place with rulers over them, the beast with seven heads will have ten crowns on his ten horns, to show that these rulers are in power at this time. Finally, the beast with seven heads and ten horns and no crowns is after the defeat of the empire and all the ten areas and their rulers or governors.
The woman "brings forth a man child" and then flees to the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she is fed a thousand two hundred and threescore days - the duration of the Great Tribulation.
A lot of people have speculated about this place in the wilderness. The consensus of opinion if that it's in the mountains of Israel. There is an area called Petra where some have even equipped old ruins there with food and water and the Bible.
And then...war breaks out in heaven! Michael the archangel of Israel, and his angels fight the dragon and his evil angelic forces and Michael and his angels toss the whole bunch of them out of heaven for good! Yay! I think. You mean Satan has spent this whole time since he rebelled against God still in heaven with the rebel angels? That's what it sounds like. I know there are other Scriptures that describe Satan in heaven accusing the righteous before God, and also having conflicts with righteous angels. But now he's out and all his demons with him. Where do they wind up? They all end up here on earth. They lost the war in heaven, and their place there won't be found anymore.
How do I know this dragon is Satan? Because verse 9 calls him, "that old serpent, called the devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world."
Revelation 12:12 "Therefore rejoice ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth, and of the sea! For the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time."
I would say this is the time the Great Tribulation starts, and the thing that distinguishes it from the earlier three and a half years will be the presence of Satan residing on earth.
Realizing that he has been cast unto the earth, the devil persecutes the woman, the nation of Israel. She is given two wings of a great eagle in order to fly to her place in the wilderness, where she is nourished for a "time, and times, and half a time," from the face of the serpent, aka the dragon. Again, the period of time will be three and a half years. Two wings? The serpent tries to cause her to be carried away by a flood, but the woman is helped by the earth, who swallows the flood.
Revelation 12:17 "And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments or God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ."
What has changed in the Great Tribulation? The level of violence? Wars? Disasters? Plagues, weather, volcanoes? Comets?
In Revelation 11:15, the seventh angel sounded his trumpet. The seventh trumpet signals the last set of judgments from God, the Seven Vials judgments. Still, since chapter 9 no judgments have occurred. Plenty happened up to this point though. In the first 7 judgments, the Seven Seals, one fourth of humanity died. In the second 7 judgments, the Seven Trumpets, one third died. Adding the two together means half of humanity has died in various catastrophes. And then the real trouble starts?
Chapter 12 describes two wonders appearing in heaven. One is a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and a crown of twelve stars upon her head. The other is the great red dragon. Who are these figures representing? I actually found Revelation 12 to be fairly straight forward. The woman represents the nation of Israel. In, Genesis 37 Joseph is described as his father Jacob's favorite son. Joseph was a "dreamer," he had prophetic dreams. He dreamed that the sun, the moon and eleven stars bowed down to him. He told his father and brothers about it. It was clear to Joseph and all his family what this meant. His father, his mother and his eleven brothers, bowed down to him. His mother had died giving birth to his younger brother Benjamin, yet she bowed to him, too. The woman seen in John's vision is the nation of Israel, and the twelve stars in the crown are the twelve tribes of Israel. What do the sun and the moon represent? Uhhh...I would say Jacob and Rachel, except that Rachel was the mother of only two tribes. Maybe Abraham and Sarah. ???? Anyway, that's the woman. She is with child, and the child of the nation of Israel is Jesus Christ, who will rule all nations with a rod of iron. The great red dragon is Satan. If Satan could have prevented Christ from paying the price for our sins, he would be the ultimate ruler of mankind, rather than God. Therefore, the woman and her child are his arch enemies.
Why is the dragon red? That's an interesting question that I've found no explanation for this so far. Well, I don't think pink would be his color. The great red dragon has seven heads, and ten horns and seven crowns upon his heads. This monster with seven heads and ten horns is seen other places in Revelation. This is chapter 12, his first appearance, and then a beast appears in chapter 13 having also seven heads and ten horns, and again in chapter 16. In the other two cases his crowns differ in their placement. The dragon has seven crowns on his seven heads, the first beast has ten crowns on his ten horns, and the second beast has no crowns at all. Why? To indicate the timing of the appearances of the dragon and the beasts. The dragon has seven heads to represent seven world empires that have occurred throughout world history. They are not concurrent. It is to be understood that they have all either happened or are happening, in the case of the seventh empire.
The seventh world empire is at this time in existence. This empire is something that hasn't happened yet, so the dragon won't be cast down to earth until it does. This will be the world empire, the "new world order." One earth under one government. He drew one third of the stars of heaven with his tail and threw them down to the earth. The stars mean angelic beings. Satan persuaded a third of the other angels to mutiny against God with him. In chapter 13, the first beast has seven heads, ten horns and ten crowns on his ten horns. The reason being that the ten horns are the ten divisions within the seventh empire. First is the coming of the empire itself, the dragon with seven crowns on his seven heads, then the seventh empire is divided up into ten areas, something like states, and when these are in place with rulers over them, the beast with seven heads will have ten crowns on his ten horns, to show that these rulers are in power at this time. Finally, the beast with seven heads and ten horns and no crowns is after the defeat of the empire and all the ten areas and their rulers or governors.
The woman "brings forth a man child" and then flees to the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she is fed a thousand two hundred and threescore days - the duration of the Great Tribulation.
A lot of people have speculated about this place in the wilderness. The consensus of opinion if that it's in the mountains of Israel. There is an area called Petra where some have even equipped old ruins there with food and water and the Bible.
And then...war breaks out in heaven! Michael the archangel of Israel, and his angels fight the dragon and his evil angelic forces and Michael and his angels toss the whole bunch of them out of heaven for good! Yay! I think. You mean Satan has spent this whole time since he rebelled against God still in heaven with the rebel angels? That's what it sounds like. I know there are other Scriptures that describe Satan in heaven accusing the righteous before God, and also having conflicts with righteous angels. But now he's out and all his demons with him. Where do they wind up? They all end up here on earth. They lost the war in heaven, and their place there won't be found anymore.
How do I know this dragon is Satan? Because verse 9 calls him, "that old serpent, called the devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world."
Revelation 12:12 "Therefore rejoice ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth, and of the sea! For the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time."
I would say this is the time the Great Tribulation starts, and the thing that distinguishes it from the earlier three and a half years will be the presence of Satan residing on earth.
Realizing that he has been cast unto the earth, the devil persecutes the woman, the nation of Israel. She is given two wings of a great eagle in order to fly to her place in the wilderness, where she is nourished for a "time, and times, and half a time," from the face of the serpent, aka the dragon. Again, the period of time will be three and a half years. Two wings? The serpent tries to cause her to be carried away by a flood, but the woman is helped by the earth, who swallows the flood.
Revelation 12:17 "And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments or God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ."
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