PURPOSE: To reveal the purification of the church and the anger of the devil toward the remnant.
INTRODUCTION
Letter 55, 1886 (3SM 385): “The great issue so near at hand will weed out those whom God has not appointed and He will have a pure, true sanctified ministry prepared for the latter rain.” This great issue is the Judgement of the Living. It is here said to take place before the Latter rain, Loud Cry in the world.
1. The Woman and her child (Rev. 12:1, 2,5) a) Read Rev. 12:1-According to GC 381, a woman symbolizes both a pure and apostate church. The Sun, moon and stars-Jacob’s interpretation of Joseph’s dream has a clue (Gen 37:9-10). Jacob represented the Bible when it was not yet written. Moon, his wife
representing church ministry, Stars, Joseph’s brothers-church laity of their day. Now: Sun (Psalms 119:105) =Written Bible. Moon=Church leadership. Stars=Church laity. The No. 12 =God’s government on earth through the church –the authority (crowns) vested upon her. That is why we see 12 patriarchs, 12 tribes of Israel, 12 Apostles, 12 +12 (24) elders in the heavenly sanctuary, 12 x 12000 (144 000) first fruits of the living….If the moon (night) is under her feet (night in past) means it is day time, closed with the “Sun” (written Bible) since Moses’ time.
b) Rev. 12:2-5 –If Jesus is her male child, then this expectant mother before the child was born, cannot be the Christian Church as the theologians are trying to make it. How can the Christian church which Jesus started be His mother! This expectant woman represents the church that expected and gave birth to the Messiah. The woman is not Mary the physical mother of Jesus for she was not persecuted and fled into the desert for 1260 days/years (verse 6): It was the Old Testament church –ever-living, from Edenic time to the Loud Cry period –in the New Testament time. See GC 267/AA 14.
1. The Woman and the Dragon
The Dragon (Rev. 12:9) =Satan. His 7 heads (Rev 17:9 /Zech 8:3) Armed with the apostate Jewish church (Sanhedrin); and 10 horns –Roman civil authority. Thus both church and state were bend to destroy Jesus and His disciples, while Satan crowned the 7 heads (completeness or total of the apostate church) to champion the rebellion against the Messiah. The third of the stars = (3T 115) the fallen angels he managed to win to his side by his tail (they willingly followed him in Rebellion). He was cast out with him before Jesus was born. In 4BC, he stood before the woman to try to devour her new born baby, through the evil effort of Herod (killing all babies in Bethlehem). Though Satan was cast out in the Old Testament time, he was still allowed to reach the gates of heaven to accuse the saints on earth (Job 1:6-7).
2. The War in Heaven (Rev 12:7-12)
This war in heaven occurred after Christ’s ascension into heaven (See DA 833, 761 /GC 501 – 502 /PK 586). That when he caused Jesus’ death he was labeled as murderer and completely no more allowed into heaven. But he tried to gate-crush, resulting in the war in heaven which he lost, and was forever restricted to earth.
3. The War with the Woman (Rev. 12:6, 13-15)
a) 1st strategy (verse 6): To persecute /kill Christians (Acts 8:1) – they had to run to gentiles lands. The war in heaven should have occurred between 31AD and 34AD–(the year when Stephen was murdered and probation closed for Judaism. But the devil followed the woman in the wilderness (gentiledom) for trouble.
b) 2nd strategy (v. 13-15): To cast a flood to drown the woman. Plenty of water in a desert is a sure trap. Water Rev. 17:15 =people. Being cast from the mouth of Satan, cannot be saints, but tares to overtake the church by majority rule! This work started in 150AD (GC 384-385) to the SDA church time, when the tares are to be separated by the Judgment of the living.
“Too much hasty work is done in adding names to the church. Those who admit them say, we will first get them into the church and then reform them. But this is a mistake. The very first work to be done is the work of reforming…many whose names are registered on the church books are not Christians.” RH May 21, 1901. “The Lord does now work to bring many souls into the truth, because of the church members who have never been converted…” 6T. 371. Thus through the crusades and hasty baptisms, Satan is helped to bring more and more tares in this judgment-bound church!
4. The Purification of the Church Rev. 12:16
The Earth assists the church to swallow the flood of tares not USA as on asylum from the persecution of reformers in Europe, but by the angels of Ezek 9 slaughtering them (Read Ezek 9:1-7/Amos 9:9- 10). If all unsealed sinners in God’s church die by the sword, then only saints (sealed 144 000) remain, and only these survivors become the Woman (purified SDA church and its name shall be changed: Isa 65:10-15 /Zech 12:1-3, 8 –House of David). “But the days of the purification of the church are hastening on apace. God will have a people pure and true…” 5T.80.
5. The Purification brings the Anger of the Devil (Rev 12:17)
When all tares (sinners) in the SDA church are thus removed and the 144 000 remain and become the only survived SDA church -the woman that time, then her seed will be the Great Multitude which their Loud Cry Ministry shall give birth. Their Loud Cry is the Law and Testimony which this seed shall accept and then possess.
See Isa 66:15 -20 /EW 33, 85 /GC 604, 611-612)
The devil remains a failure: (i) failing to devour the child by Herod. (ii) Failing the war in heaven
(iii) failing to paganize the church completely-tares removed. (iv) Failing to prevent the Loud Cry by the Sunday Law- a Great Multitude shall respond to the Loud Cry call! Therefore we should have nothing
to fear, these opposers you see today, you will not see them tomorrow. Stand for the truth even when cowards are many and champions are few. We have a General, Jesus Christ who has never lost a battle.