POINTS IN REVELATION 12
A letter of some length from a good sister, Mrs. L. E. Jones, tells about some things that came up in a class of which she is a member. The teacher holds to the future-kingdom theory. The class is going through the book of Revelation. The letter mentions several things that came up in their study of Chapter 12, and from the letter I glean the following questions:
1. Is the accuser of verse 10 the devil? Is it because of this accuser that Christ intercedes for us? It was so stated by a member of the class, who also said that as God was not human, he did not know what Christ suffered. Is that true?
2. Our teacher said that God was protecting and keeping the Jews, and that he had something special in store for them (something nice). I want you to answer in the Gospel Advocate as soon as convenient.
3. Does the woman of verses 1-6, 13-17 represent the Jews? That was our teacher’s idea.
1. From what is said in the context it seems clear that the devil was before God as the accuser of the brethren; but as he was cast down from heaven to the earth, how can anyone figure out that he is now before God accusing the brethren? He is, however, doing all he can to lead them into sin. Hence, the admonition: “Be sober, be watchful: your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Pet. 5:8.) He is busying himself here on earth now. Jesus is our advocate with the Father, but I would not think he was before God engaged in a talk contest with the devil.
2. As God is no respecter of persons, how can any believer in Christ argue that a Jew, because he is a Jew, is yet to enjoy blessings that a Gentile cannot hope to receive, no matter how faithful he is, simply because he is not a Jew. The theory contradicts the fundamental principles of the gospel. Those who hold to that theory judge after the flesh—a thing Jesus condemned. (John 8:15.) The theory encourages the Jew to glory in his fleshly descent from Abraham—to glory after the flesh. Such glorying Paul said was foolishness. (2 Cor. 11:17, 18.) It teaches the Jew to have confidence in the flesh, his Jewish flesh. Paul had no such confidence; to him such relationship was but refuse. Or, as the King James Version has it, he counted such dependence on Jewish flesh as but dung. (Phil. 3:2-8.) Such is your teacher’s theory. Christ died for all. (2 Cor. 5:15.) Now notice the next verse (verse 16): “Wherefore we henceforth know no man after the flesh.” Notice the force of the word henceforth—from now on. Yes, the Jews are still in the world; so are the Japanese and Chinamen. So what does that prove? The person who assumes to know what God knows or does not know is about like a worm assuming to know what Solomon knew and did not know.
3. Any theory about the woman of chapter 12 is merely a guess, for the record does not say who she was. Some commentators, perhaps the majority of them, say she was the church, the dragon was the Roman Empire, and the child was Constantine. I do not know. But if the woman was the Jewish nation and the child was Jesus, then she was a very unnatural mother, for she killed her child! But that leaves the dragon out of the picture, and leaves us wondering about verse 6.