~~~ The Two Women of Revelation ~~~
The Woman and the Dragon: (Revelation Ch. 12)
  1. A great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.
  2. The symbolic connection of this woman to Israel:
    • Joseph, son of Jacob whom God renamed Israel, has a dream in which the sun and moon and eleven stars bowed down to him.
    • Upon hearing this Jacob asked, Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?
    • Joseph's mother was Rachel. Jacob had twelve sons by two wives.
  3. The woman is seen experiencing the labor pains of childbirth.
  4. Then appeared an enormous red dragon having seven heads and ten horns. Each head bore a crown.
  5. Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth.
  6. The dragon positioned itself in front of the woman so that it might devour her child the moment he was born.
  7. She gave birth to a son who will rule all the nations [or who will shepherd all the Gentiles] with an iron scepter.
  8. The child is rescued by God; taken up to his throne. The woman takes refuge in a place prepared for her in the wilderness.
  9. War in heaven: The dragon and his angels fight Michael and his angels.
  10. The dragon, he who leads the world astray, is defeated. He and his angels are banished to the earth.
  11. The dragon then pursues the woman who gave birth to the male child, but she is given the wings of a great eagle to escape to her place in the wilderness.
  12. The dragon then spewed a flood of water to overtake the woman and sweep her away.
  13. But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out.
  14. The dragon, enraged, went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring - those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.
 Mystery: Babylon the Great: (Revelation Chs. 17 & 18)
  1. She is called the great prostitute, who sits by many waters.
  2. She is also known as the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.
  3. The kings of earth have committed adultery with her. The merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries.
  4. The inhabitants of earth were made drunk with the wine of her adulteries.
  5. She is shown seated on a scarlet beast covered with blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns.
  6. The woman is adorned in purple and scarlet and jewelry of gold and precious stones.
  7. The cup in her hand contains abominable things and the filth of her adulteries.
  8. She is identified as the mother of prostitutes and the abominations of earth.
  9. She is seen intoxicated with the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus.
  10. She is guilty of the blood of the prophets, God’s holy people and all who have been slaughtered on the earth.
  11. The "many waters" where the prostitute sits are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages.
  12. John sees an angel coming down from heaven and the earth was illuminated by his splendor.
  13. With a mighty voice the angel shouted: Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!
  14. Then another voice from heaven says: Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins
  15. A time will come when the ten horns are empowered as kings and submit all to the scarlet beast.
  16. Together as one they turn on the woman and bring about her destruction.
  17. A mighty angel picked up a large boulder and threw it into the sea and said: With such violence the great city of Babylon will be thrown down, never to be found again.
  18. This prophecy ends with the beast and the kings of earth vanquished by the Lamb of God and his faithful followers.
Unfolding the Woman and the Dragon:
  1. The description of the woman identifies her with Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, whom God renamed Israel.
  2. God made a covenant with Abraham and his descendants: I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed. Genesis 24:3-4
  3. The sons of Israel became in time the twelve tribes of Israel which occupied the Promised Land after their exodus from Egypt.
  4. The vision of the woman giving birth to a male child who is destined to rule all the nations is clearly Messianic.
  5. However, the sequence presented here suggests the child is not Jesus, the son of Mary, but is symbolic of the "Promise of the Messiah". Genesis 3:15
  6. The red dragon desires to destroy the promise upon its delivery but the attempt is foiled by God, the author of the promise.
  7. The red dragon then attempts to prevent the coming of the promised Messiah by seeking to destroy the mother of the promise, but she is given aid and refuge from his attacks.
  8. Ancient Israel, throughout its history, became the target of many foreign powers who sought to destroy her. Most notable were the empires of Assyria, Babylonia, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome.
  9. Eventually, having failed to prevent the promised Messiah's coming, he redirects his attacks on the Messiah's follower's right up to the end of time.
  10. This woman, therefore, is symbolic of a "Spiritual Israel"; the true faith, connection and relationship with Yahweh that was the religion of Abraham and his descendants.
  11. This representation is valid even though the nation of Israel proved many times to be unfaithful. Romans 3:3
 Unfolding Babylon the Great:
  1. The mystery about her name may be that it refers not to the literal ancient city but to an entity that shares the same system of beliefs and practices as Babylon.
  2. These are some of the indictments brought against ancient Babylon by the Old Testament prophets: Blasphemy, idolatry, immorality, materialism, oppression, pride and sorcery.
  3. She is identified as a prostitute (and the mother of prostitutes), not in the literal sense of the word, but as one who trades favors for personal gain.
  4. She is shown seated on the scarlet beast. The implication here is that she exercises authority over the beast.
  5. The seven heads on the beast are said to represent seven hills which some say connects the woman with Rome as well as Babylon.
  6. Beasts as symbols are often used prophetically to represent nations that oppressed Israel through conquest.
    Daniel 8:20-21
  7. We have in this depiction two separate entities. The prostitute represents a corrupt religious system, while the beast represents the civil powers on earth.
  8. Together they can be seen as a corrupt and oppressive union of religion and state, particularly directed against God's faithful people.
  9. It appears some of God's people have been deceived by Babylon as the voice from heaven is urging them to come out of her.
  10. At some point in time Babylon the Great is overthrown from her position of authority over the scarlet beast.
  11. This could be the result of an internal power struggle in which the beast seeks to be the dominant force, promoting its own ideological system.
  12. This aspect is expanded in the thirteenth chapter of Revelation which introduces a new entity known as the False Prophet.