PHILLIP HARRIS
Introduction
A major purpose in this article is to challenge the Seventh-day Adventist interpretation of Revelation chapter 12. It is Scripture itself we should use to give us an understanding of what any certain text means. However, Adventists do not understand Scripture the same way Christians do. They believe a prophet is given a “thought” from God and then allowed to record their own interpretation of that thought the way they think God meant it.
Instead, this passage reveals how God-given inspiration was given to godly prophets including Jeremiah:
Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the LORD said to me, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth (Jer. 1:9).
A true prophet of God records God’s words guided by the leading of the Holy Spirit. This means the language of the original text contains the very words of God which are “breathed out by God”:
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work (2 Tim. 3:16-17).
Furthermore, the apostle Paul’s inspired words say God has not rejected Israel:
I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? (Rom. 11:1-2).
In spite of what is recorded in Scriptures such as these, Seventh-day Adventists falsely believe they are God’s “remnant church” and that they are “spiritual Israel”, meaning they assume the promises once given to Israel now apply to themselves and that the woman in Revelation 12 represents Adventists. This is their mindset for blindly ignoring good hermeneutics—an error demonstrated by their falsely believing the 144,000 outlined in Revelation 7:4-8 are actually Adventist evangelists who will be preaching an unbiblical “health message” as part of their version of the “three angels messages” of Revelation 14.
To add authority to this interpretation, Ellen G. White endorsed the Adventist book Daniel and the Revelation written by Uriah Smith, a man who did not claim to be nor pass the test of being one of God’s prophets. Based upon Smith’s book, EGW claims that the two beasts described in Revelation chapter 13 are Rome and the pope or papacy (the first beast) followed by the second beast which, she says, is the United States. Adventists believe these two beasts will operate together to force the entire world to worship on Sunday. They project this scenario because of the their false belief that the Pope is the one who originally changed “Saturday worship” to Sunday. (Ironically, the Jewish weekly seventh-day Sabbath is a day of rest, not a day of worship.)
In summary, Adventism’s arbitrary claim is that the “historicist method” is the proper way to understand the book of Revelation even when their interpretation blatantly contradicts the inspired text.
Woman Dragon, and Male Child
- Israel the great sign
And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth (Rev. 12:1-2).
The “great sign” is something we can understand to represent Israel by looking back in Scripture and comparing this passage with Joseph’s dream:
Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers and said, “Behold, I have dreamed another dream. Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?” And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind (Gen. 37:9-11).
Joseph was one of twelve sons of his father Jacob whose name was changed to Israel. It was through the nation Israel where God fulfilled His promise to Abraham that through his offspring the whole world would be blessed:
I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice” (Gen. 22:17-18).
Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ (Gal. 3:16).
The twelve stars crowing the sign of the woman echo the twelve stars representing Israel’s sons in Joseph’s dream. Those twelve stars represent the twelve tribes (descended from the twelve sons of Israel), and the woman represents the nation that bore the Messiah. While Mary was the mother of our Savior Jesus Christ who is the blessing to the whole world, it is the nation of Israel that brought forth the Savior has suffered and continues to suffered the wrath of Satan.
To be sure, all of God’s people suffer in the world, but this vision of John’s is representing Israel and the birth of Jesus from the nation Israel. Adventism is nowhere in this vision. In fact, the woman’s being pregnant clearly identifies her as Israel—“salvation is from the Jews” (Jn. 4:22). Furthermore, the church is not identified until the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev.19:6-9 and 2 Cor. 11:2).
- Satan the great red dragon
And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it (Rev. 12:3-4).
When we come to verse nine, the great red dragon is clearly identified as Satan. Here he is described as having seven heads with seven diadems on his heads along with ten horns. Diadems are royal crowns, meaning these are seven satanic kingdoms that have been bent upon the destruction of Israel. The final of these seven kingdoms is ruled by the Antichrist.
We can find further references to this beast and to its heads and crowns and horns in other chapters. First, In Revelation 13:1 we will see these same symbols associated with the first beast. Later, in Revelation 17, we will be given an expanded understanding of these same symbols including that of the ten horns. In fact, Daniel 7:1-28 is where these symbols were first given.
The Dragon standing “before the Woman” that he might devour her child describes the time when Herod attempted to have Jesus killed upon learning that the wise men were looking for “he who has been born king of the Jews (Matt. 2:1-18):
Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son” (Matt. 2:13-15).
Satan, also known as Lucifer, the Devil, or a serpent, is called “the great red dragon”. The meaning conveyed is that he is far more evil than all else that is evil, and it echoes the reptile in the Garden of Eden.
- Birth of the “male child”
She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days. (Rev. 12:5-6)
In verse thirteen we will see the reason the woman flees into the wilderness.
The nation of Israel, in the person of Mary, gave birth to “a male child” who is Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. We see the fulfillment of this prophecy of the male child in the description of the Millennium in Revelation chapter 20. Jesus will rule the world “with a rod of iron”, as the psalmist also said:
I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel” (Ps. 2:7-9).
The phrase “caught up to God and to his throne” refers to Jesus ascending into heaven and sitting down forever at the right hand of the Father:
But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified (Heb. 10:12-14).
Satan Thrown Down To Earth
Now Revelation 12 describes Lucifer’s leading a rebellion and being expelled from heaven. Although different Christians may have different understandings of the timing of this particular vision, we will simply look at the passage and comment on the ways Adventism has misused it.
- Rebellion in heaven
Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven (Rev. 12:7-8).
The phrase “His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth” in Revelation 12:4 indicates that one-third of the angels were cast down to earth along with Lucifer the dragon.
The words of Ellen G. White falsely teach that Michael is another name for Jesus, the eternal Son of God. However, this identification cannot possibly be true because Jesus is the eternal “alpha and omega” while angels, not even archangels, are eternal from before the beginning of time. Only God in the person of the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit has that attribute. Moreover, all things were created by Jesus (Jn. 1:3)—including the angels and archangels.
We read of another time the devil contended with Michael the archangel and failed:
But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you” (Jude 9).
- The deceiver thrown down to earth
And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him (Rev. 12:9).
The word “devil” comes from the Greek adjective “diabolos” which means “slander”, “defamer” or “false accuser”. We see this illustrated when the devil in the form of a serpent lied to Eve in the Garden of Eden when God had already said, “but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Gen. 2:17).
But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die” (Gen. 3:4).
- Salvation by the blood of the Lamb
And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death (Rev. 12:10-11).
Jesus Christ has now assumed his rightful kingship, power, and authority. The devil has been “thrown down”, meaning he is no longer able to accuse the brethren before God.
The loud voice John hears appears to be coming from the martyrs who are under the altar at the throne of God. They are rejoicing because their prayers have been answered (see Rev. 6:9-10).
They have conquered by the blood of the Lamb he shed at Calvary and by their own testimony (of what the Lamb has done for them) because “they loved not their lives even unto death”.
- Rejoice because the devil’s time is short
Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!” (Rev. 12:12).
We are warned that the great red dragon now focuses his full attention on those still alive here on earth.
- Israel flees on the wings of the great eagle
And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time (Rev. 12:13-14).
Although there are different interpretations of this passage and of the timing of this passage among Christians, I am sharing my understanding based on the context and meanings of the words. The dragon pursues Israel, the “woman”, because she had given birth to the Savior Jesus Christ, but she is provided a way to escape into the “wilderness”. She is given the “two wings of the great eagle”—a phrase which reminds us of what God told Moses:
“You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself” (Ex. 19:4).
The phrase “time, and times, and half a time” suggests that this happens during the second half—three and a half years—of the tribulation.
- The serpent pours water like a flood after the woman
The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood. But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth (Rev. 12:15-16).
In his next attack Satan, now referred to as the serpent, spewed water like a river out of his mouth with the intent of killing Israel. However, the earth opens its mouth and saves Israel from danger, reminding us of yet another story from Israel’s wilderness experience—Korah’s Rebellion:
And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the people who belonged to Korah and all their goods. So they and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol, and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly (Num. 16:32-33).
• The serpent has a tantrum
Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea (Rev. 12:17).
The woman’s other offspring are identified as “those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus”. The rest of the Woman’s offspring could be Gentile saints, but I understand them most likely to be Jews who didn’t flee from the Dragon.
Since this verse is a well-known proof text used to support the Seventh-day Adventist view concerning obedience to the supposed Old Covenant “eternal moral law”, we need to examine what this verse is really teaching.
The word “commandments” in Rev. 12:17 comes from the Greek feminine noun “entolé”. In all five of John’s books, only Jesus’ commands are recorded as “entolé”, distinguishing His words from the Greek “nomos” which is law in general. Thus in every one of John’s five books, “nomos” is used when referring to Old Covenant law, and “entole´´” is used to refer to the commands and teachings of Jesus.
Also notice that it is Israel who is keeping the “entole´´”—the testimony of Jesus—and in Revelation 14:12 it is the 144,000 Jewish evangelists who are preaching the “entole´” the testimony of Jesus to all the world.
In the very words of Jesus in his Great Commission to the church via his instructions to the eleven remaining disciples recorded in Matthew 28:16-20 the text defines the commandments New Covenant saints are to obey, with the word “commanded” coming from the Greek “entellō”, the verb form of “entolé”. This means that the Jewish evangelist in the tribulation are preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ’s death at Calvary for the sins of the world. The gospel is Christ’s “entole´”, the testimony of Jesus.
In Revelation 20:8 we learn that “the sand of the sea” represent the nations of the world. Since “the woman” Israel is hidden away by God, the sand and the sea on which the dragon stood would indicate the gentile nations of the world.
The NASB translation of the Bible places the sentence “And he stood on the sand of the sea” at the beginning of Rev. 13:1. In either case we will see that it is Satan the dragon who is the power behind the beast controlling the nations of the world.
Summary
- The Woman (“the great sign” of Rev. 12:1-2) is the nation of Israel. The promise given to Israel is centered upon God’s promise to Abraham which is an unconditional covenant. Therefore the Seventh-day Adventists claim to being “the remnant church” that has replaced Israel is false.
- Michael the archangel is not Jesus. Archangels are created by Jesus, and there is no confusion among the angels as to who Jesus is.
- Adventism supports their “remnant” nonsense back in Revelation 7:4 where they refer to the 144,000 evangelists as being “spiritual Israel” whom they believe to be Adventists.
PART 2 NEXT WEEK
- Daniel 7:15–28 • Everlasting Kingdom of the Most High - October 10, 2024
- Daniel 7:1–14: The Ancient of Days - August 15, 2024
- Daniel 6: Cast Into the Lion’s Den - June 13, 2024