FOR THE TIME IS NEAR ~ FOUR WOMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE ~ EXPOSING HYPOCRISY ~ Part 27
Have you ever considered how you would live if you knew the day of your death? What if you knew the end of time, as we know it, was near? Why would anyone neglect or ignore a prophetic revelation that came with a blessing for those who read, who hear, and who heed the things written in it?
When homeschooling my two younger children, we were part of a local co-op that met once a week in a local Presbyterian church. In one particular creative writing class we were doing a special series on public speaking modeled after a Toastmasters Impromptu Speaking Course. Every mother who has ever known any heartache in the room cringed when one student answered the question, “If you could know anything, what would it be?” This student thought it would be grand to know her future. The problem for the mothers was not that she would want to know the future, but specifically, her future! (At least that is what I was thinking at the time.) It may have been what prompted the discussion around the mother’s roundtable later that day.
My children and I had just gone through the Book of Revelation in our own homeschool classes. One particular day after co-op was over, a group of homeschool moms were sitting around a table having some fellowship while the children played outside. At one point in the conversation, several children (including my own) had entered the building and were hanging around the table with us. (One of the things I loved about the whole homeschool experience was that children didn’t gravitate toward “their own kind” obeying “unspoken rules” of herd-like age segregation. It was not uncommon to see children of a young age hanging out with the older kids, and the older kids relishing in their abilities to mentor those younger who looked up to them. Children were welcomed into in-depth discussions with adults, not looked down upon as if they had nothing of importance to say.) This present discussion around the table at the end of the day turned to Bible study and what each of us was currently studying. One woman said, “The only book I stay away from, because I believe it is impossible to understand, is Revelation.” With perked up ears, this statement gained the full attention of my two boys. I can’t remember which child said it, but he blurted out, “I LOVE that book! It’s my favorite!” With dropped jaws and every eye turning toward the three of us, the only possible response was: “Why do you say that?”
For the most part, we’ve looked at ancient Israel in this lengthy study. Today, we jump to the end of the story focusing on the four women in the Book of Revelation. The Revelation of Jesus Christ…stop right there. How could Christians not love this book? The only book of the Bible that comes with the promise of blessing to those who read it, hear the words of the prophecy, and those who heed the things which are written in it. This book was given to John by God “to show His servants what must soon take place.” The book is filled with future mysteries to come. It is the final warning that the world will end, and judgment will be certain. We catch a glimpse of the glories of heaven and those blessings that await the ones who keep their robes white.
Before that, however, we walk through the pages detailing a great tribulation with all its woes and see the final fires of judgment all unbelievers will face for all eternity. We can see Satan’s final doom along with all his demonic host of fallen angels. We see the culmination of history and the glories of the Kingdom to come as we live with King Jesus for all eternity. No one can tell me based upon the current draw to video games and the entertainment choices of our generation that Revelation is a book that couldn’t draw our complete attention, especially when we believe it to be the inspired Word of God and our ‘heads up’ of what is to come.
The four women of Revelation are:
1. Jezebel—In Revelation 2:20, a woman who was living at the time, was harming the church at Thyatira. Jesus called her “Jezebel”. She was not Queen Jezebel from 1 and 2 Kings, but a Jezebel-type woman who represents the pagan church.
Revelation 2:20-24—But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bondservants astray so that they commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her sexual immorality. Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds. And I will kill her children with plague, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds. But I say to you, the rest who are in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not known the deep things of Satan, as they call them—I place no other burden on you.
2. Woman Clothed with the Sun—This woman represents Israel, NOT MARY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH or the church in any way!
Revelation 12:1-2—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; and she was pregnant, and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth.
John MacArthur says of this woman: “Not an actual woman, but a symbolic representation of Israel, pictured in the Old Testament as the wife of God. (Isaiah 54:5-6; Jeremiah 3:6-8, 31:32; Ezekiel 16:32; Hosea 2:16). That this woman does not represent the church is clear from the context. ‘clothed with the sun…moon under her feet…twelve stars…Cf., Genesis 37:9-11. Being clothed with the sun speaks of the glory, dignity, and exalted status of Israel, the people of promise who will be saved, and given a kingdom. The picture of the moon under her feet possibly describes God’s covenant relationship to Israel, since new moons were associated with worship (1 Chronicles 23:21; 2 Chronicles 2:4, 8:13; Ezra 3:5; Psalm 81:3). The twelve stars represent the twelve tribes of Israel.”
3. The Scarlet Woman—This woman represents the apostate church. She is also the whore of Babylon.
Revelation 17:3-6—And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns. The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold, precious stones, and pearls, holding in her hand a gold cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her sexual immorality, and on her forehead a name was written, a mystery: “BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” And I saw a woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. When I saw her, I wondered greatly.
The colors of royalty, nobility and wealth are purple and scarlet. The scarlet woman is portrayed as a prostitute who has become extremely wealthy. Prostitutes dress to allure their victims. The religious harlot of Babylon adorns herself to lure the nations into her web of deceit.
4. Wife of the Lamb—This last woman represents the true church.
Revelation 21:9-11a—Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls, full of the seven last plagues, came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God.
Here we see the New Jerusalem.
In this post, I want to specifically look at Jezebel. What does she have in common with the Harlot, a.k.a. Scarlet Women, Mystery Babylon?
A simple outline for the book of Revelation is found in Revelation 1:19. In Chapter 1, the risen, exalted Christ is speaking to John. He tells John to: “write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later.” The things John had already seen are in Chapter 1. The “things which are” at that time is what is found in chapters 2-3 (the letters to the seven churches in John’s day). The “things that will take place” refers to future things. These are found in the rest of the book (chapters 4-22).
A simple breakdown would be 4-18—God’s judgments on the people of the earth (not including the church (1 Thessalonians 5:2, 9). I believe that the church will have been removed from the earth in the rapture. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Corinthians 15:51-52). Chapters 4-18 describe a time of “Jacob’s trouble” (trouble for Israel —Jeremiah 30:7; Daniel 9:12, 12:1). Also at that time, unbelievers will be under the judgment of God for their rebellion towards Him.
Chapter 19—Christ’s return with the church, the bride of Christ.
Chapter 20—Satan is bound and cast into the Abyss. Christ, then, sets up His kingdom on earth that will last 1,000 years. At the end of that time period, Satan is released and leads a short-lived rebellion against God which is quickly demolished resulting in his being cast into the lake of fire. The final judgment of all unbelievers of all time takes place when they, too, will be cast into the lake of fire.
Chapters 21-22—Eternity is described for us in these last two chapters.
The key to interpreting Revelation is to interpret it as literally as possible. In his commentary on Revelation 1-11, John MacArthur says that the churches written to in chapters 2 and 3 were “actual existing churches when John wrote. But while not precisely duplicated, they also represent the types of churches that are generally present throughout the entire church age. Five of the seven churches were rebuked for tolerating sin in their midst, not an uncommon occurrence in churches since. Further, any church in any age could have a mixture of the sins that plagued these five churches. Reference is made to Jezebel in the letters to the seven churches in Chapters 2 and 3. We will look at women numbers 1 and 2 more in detail in the next blog.
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