Art used by permission by Pat Marvenko Smith, copyright 1992.
Rev. 12:1 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: 2 And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. 3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. 4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. John sees a woman clothed in the sun, twelve stars above her head, and the moon is at her feet, and she is heavy with child (which will be a male child). Who is this woman? We also see a dragon waiting to devour the child when it is born. The dragon is a 7-headed dragon with ten horns, and with his tail he draws down a third of the stars of heaven, who is that? This is all symbolism. If you asked, the Catholic church what this is, they will tell you that the woman in the vision is the Virgin Mary. It is not Mary, it is a representation of Israel, although Mary is part of Israel she does not make up the whole of Israel. The devil as it is has been shown, has always been after Israel. Why does the woman have the moon, sun, and stars? These are the only natural sources of light to this earth and this represents that fact that Israel is the only source of light to this dark world. Without Israel we would be in total darkness and Satan would rule us without challenge. It is the church that has been the light of the earth, but when the Rapture takes place darkness will come on the place, there won't be any voice big enough to fight the seduction of the Antichrist. There just isn't much of a voice right now to fight it. It is controlling every place you can look at. Darkness and deception are coming after us. The only hope that you have is knowing the Word of God. Now this dragon is after the woman because she is carrying Christ, and the devil wants to devour Christ.
Do you remember Joseph s dream in Gen. 37:5-10? It represented Israel, and it had the sun, the moon, and twelve stars. The sun was his dad, the moon was his mother, the twelve stars were his brothers. He made the mistake of telling these brothers the dream and how all the sun, moon and stars, bowed down to him. The brothers were jealous and so they sold him as a slave When God sets a plan in motion, and you try to stop it, you generally cause it to happen. The best thing you can ever do when God says something is to believe and obey. The brothers thought they would stop Joseph and they sold him as a slave to Egypt, and he ended up being the number one man under pharaoh. They all had to come and honor Joseph to survive the famine. God had already established a pattern that would establish Israel as the source of salvation, through Joseph he was saving the world from a seven-year tribulation type period.
Who is the dragon? He is Satan, and his tail is a play on words. The tail mentioned is really not a tail on an animal but a tale spoken by Satan's mouth. It was the rebellion that he spawned in heaven against God. The stars are angels that believed his lie against God, and were swept out of the heavenly kingdom into the damnable kingdom. The seven heads represents the gentile powers that have made up the age of gentiles. Every one of these seven nations have had a relationship with Israel. There are more nations than the seven, but God is concerned with the battle for right and wrong that is being fought and so he deals with what is connected to Israel. It was Egypt where the Israelites first became slaves, we have Assyria that carried off the Northern kingdoms, then you have Babylon that carried of the Southern kingdom, then we have Persia that took control of them, and then the Greeks conquered Persia and took control of them, then you have the Roman Empire, and then you have the final Roman Empire, and that is the seven heads that make up this dragon. Satan has used these military dynasties and powers to try to control Israel's fate, and to put her into a position where she could not openly and freely serve God as God wanted her to. You will see a representation of ten horns on the dragon. The ten horns represent the last Ten Kings of the Roman Empire. You know that the original Roman Empire split up into European States, like Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece and so on Ten rulers out of the European States are going to put their power together to bring the Antichrist to the forefront, and that is what that symbolism is about (Isaiah 14:4-20). The dragon here is Satan, and called Lucifer before his fall, ( The newer versions of the Bible have erased his name while the King James Bible preserves it). Art used by permission by Pat Marvenko Smith, copyright 1992. Lucifer was the son of the morning, the angel that covered, he led worship, he was heaven's song leader, he was God's most beautiful and glorious creation. He was that way until sin was found within him. Do you know what caused him to sin? He got impressed with himself that is generally when we get into trouble when we get impressed with ourselves. This is what Satan did, have you ever wondered what Satan could have said to get intelligent beings like the angels that caused them to revolt against God?
Isaiah 14:12 tells a little bit of the story of Satan. Isaiah 14:12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. He uses the word "I" an awful lot. You better watch out for those serving the Lord that use "I" in every sentence. You better watch out for those preachers that tell you what they did over here and over there, and what they're going to do, they have Satan's disease. If you follow the pattern of Christ, he didn't come to talk about himself, he glorified the Father. In fact Jesus said that when the Holy Ghost came, he would glorify Jesus. Lucifer becomes the prince of darkness and the angels are turned into demons, and they are in total absolute rebellion against God. What did Satan say to these angels to get them to rebel? I think he probably said things like, "Why does God have the right to rule over us, he is not an angel." "How can he even understand how we feel and think, we need to find the brightest angel among us?" "We need some fair treatment, I don't think God treats us angels very fair, we don't ever have any input in things." "I think God is just a dictator, a heavy-handed dictator." " I think he shows partiality. We need one of our own kind." "After all we do all of the work." Those angels might have thought, Lucifer is right, so why doesn't he become our leader.
Rev. 12:5 And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. The woman brings forth a man child, who is the Savior Jesus Christ, that will rule the nations with a rod of iron. Wasn't he caught up to God and to his throne? Rev. 12:6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. This number add up to three and half years and this woman ( Israel) is going to go into a place in the wilderness. We will talk about her a little later. Rev. 12:7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, 8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. 10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. 11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. 12 Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time We have some very interesting things going on here. There is a war in heaven. Michael the Archangel fights against Lucifer. I am sure that Michael has always wanted to do this. God has restrained Michael. It is the role of Michael to stand up for Israel. Why has God restrained Michael? God is giving the devil enough latitude that when all is said and done there will be no doubt that God was Holy, righteous, and ever merciful. Michael is commanded to cast Lucifer out of the heavenlies. His casting down to the earth happens in the middle of the seven year Tribulation period. It happens as the Antichrist receives his deadly wound. This is also the time of the false prophets arrival.
This is Satan as he is cast down, he is arriving in the middle of the Tribulation period. Art used by permission by Pat Marvenko Smith, copyright 1992. As Satan is cast down, a few things are being said. This is a little proof that Satan is not working out of a headquarters in hell. He and his angels are not down in hell, there are some angels in hell, but it is not the group which Satan is a part off. Satan is the prince and power of the air, he is in the atmosphere free to run around here on earth, he doesn't control hell, he is going to go to hell and be controlled. That is interesting since a lot of the Prosperity preachers are telling that Jesus died and became a wormy sinner, and that Satan and his band took him down to hell. Then they made him the worst sinner possible. They assert that he actually had to be born again to get out of hell. I want to tell you the devil didn't take Jesus anywhere when he died on that cross, the devil scattered out of the way quicker than you could imagine. Once the earthly body had no hold on Jesus, the devil had more than a match on his hands. Jesus wasn't being a sinner in hell, he was showing himself to those in hell that died before he came, he was in paradise showing himself to those who died in faith and giving them the chance to accept him. When he did that they accepted him and the graves opened up around Jerusalem, and the saints resurrected. Then he picked up his own life and rose from the grave. Satan was saying what have I done? Now that he is cast down, he is confined to the earth. He is very angry.
Here is a scripture we don't want to miss, 10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. Do you understand what this is saying? The devil is your accuser, he goes before the throne of God, and accuses you. There are two places where the devil can beat you. One is at the throne of God and the other is the life of the flesh. He has you beat at the throne of God because you are a sinner and God is a Holy. We overcome the devil by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. The moment I say "I believe that Jesus Christ is my Savior, I accept Him, and I believe His blood cancels my sins," at that moment I have overcome the devil. Whenever the devil says "You know that Raymond is a sinner" Then God says "The wages of sin is death, and Raymond is dead according to my book. Here his name is written in the book of those deceased from sin, his name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. So I have overcome him there. In this life he has to get me to change my mind, quit serving God. The scripture says 11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Do you understand what that means? It means that you must not love the things in this life so much that you are willing to sell your soul for them. You must be willing to die before you sin, and if you do the devil will not be able to defeat you anywhere. Those kinds of people are going to be with the Lord Jesus Christ when He comes back. They are called faithful and chosen. Rev. 12:13 And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. 14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. Art used by permission by Pat Marvenko Smith, copyright 1992.
Rev. 12:15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. 16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. Art used by permission by Pat Marvenko Smith, copyright 1992. As soon as Satan gets to the earth he is ready to persecute Israel. He goes straight to Jerusalem with the Antichrist. The living image, it has been said and I believe it to be true, that Satan actually possesses the image, he is inside of it. This gives him a body. Demons always want a body so that they can interact with humans. If this is true and you are in the temple you will see that image setting there then you are finally seeing Satan sitting on the throne of God even if it is just a symbol. You say Satan seems insane that is because he is insane. He is going to be a lot like Adolph Hitler during the last part of his reign, he knew all was lost but he wasn't going to give up, he would destroy everything in his path. Now Satan begins to persecute the woman, she is given to great wings as of an eagle, and she flies into a wilderness place prepared for her. The wilderness place prepared for her is believed for many years to be the city of Petra. It is the old Edomite city in southern Jordan. Edomites are the people of Esau. The city is hewn out of the mountains and it can house about a million and a half Jews. It would make a perfect gorilla strong hold.
These wings of an eagle are kind of interesting aren't they. Whenever an animal reference is used in prophecies, it is almost always associated with a nation. For example in the Bible the Bear is Persia, the Lion is Babylon, Leopard is Greece, Terrible iron beast is Rome. If this represents a nation that helps Israel escape and it has wings who might the eagle have been suggesting? Let me give you a test, do you know which nation has for a symbol an Eagle? There have been lots of nations that have used eagles, but this one still has wings or air power. Could it be that the eagle, is the old bald eagle, the United States of America? Somebody helps Israel escape into that wilderness, and she is fed for three and half years, somebody feeds her. My educated guess would be that the United States has suffered massively and horribly during this first half of the Tribulation period from that war. There are people still alive and there are assets still available because we have assets everywhere. Could it be that finally we have realized that the feminist, the gay lobby, the liberal politics, destroyed us and that we really need to do right? These are not the saints that have been remnant of the United States. Could it be that because the U.S. has suffered such damage, defend Israel or stop the Antichrist, but maybe some way, some of our assets will help Israel by flying away? Maybe those assets are used to arm and defend her while she is holding in this little city called Petra. Is that possible? the anti-god garbage has Raptured. It is the they cannot escape out This Petra actually exists, it can hold about a million and half people. We believe that this is the place that Israel will flee to. There is only one entrance into the place. It is big enough to drive a Volkswagen bus through. If you are going to have to be somewhere, while shelling, and war is going on then this stone city would be a really good place to be in. A peace treaty with the Jordanians a few years back made it possible too built a bridge that would give easer access to Petra this will allow Israel to get there quickly. When they go into this place, Satan is going to send in a flood. This is what is spoken of in Isaiah 59:19 So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him. This scripture reference reveals that when the Dragon sends the flood, there is a great earthquake that cracks the ground open and swallows the flood. This is all timed in Isaiah with the conversion of Israel to Christ.
Rev. 12:17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. The woman has the testimony of Jesus Christ. The nation of Israel is now converted to Jesus Christ. The Jews are now saved. He can't do anything against the ones that have fled to Petra, so he wants to destroy the ones that are still trapped within his boarders. Now he is going to try to make them bow down, worship him, and take the mark of the beast. The Jews will face the worst persecution that they have ever faced in the history of the world. Can you imagine if Menachem Begin were alive, getting him to bow down and take the mark of the beast? He said "You must have forgotten that Jews do not kneel but to God. Nobody is going to preach humanitarianism to us. The PLO will not stay in Beirut." Now imagine strong Jews like him filled with the Holy Ghost. They are filled with the Holy Ghost, being faced with the choice of worshiping Satan or death? They all believe in the Lord Jesus Christ now, and because of that they are no longer afraid of death. Because they understand this, they know that they are to be resurrected. The saved then could say if you kill me, know I get an immortal body. I am going to be resurrected when Christ comes back again. This is the same type of premise that has made Islam's warriors so fierce. They are told that if they die for Mohamed in war, then they will have their place in a paradise with their own harem. Wow, kill me now! I didn't have anything on earth. This makes them fierce and not afraid of death. Satan turns back to persecute these people of Jerusalem but they are not going to give in, they will fight to the death and until the last man is standing. The Antichrist does not have a peaceful day during his entire reign. His most peaceful day is when he signs the peace treaty. He is fighting the entire time and people are dying the entire time. The economy isn't saved, nature isn't saved, everything goes to pits. I don't understand why anyone wants to go through the Tribulation period, not a day of it is going to be good. It will be nothing but lies, destruction, and death.
Soldiers taking oath at Masada These are Jewish soldiers standing on top of Masada taking an oath. You remember the story of Masada, where about a thousand men resisted the sack of Jerusalem by Rome. They retreated to the mountain fortress and made an oath that they would not be captured and made slaves. Since they couldn't commit suicide, they killed each other to prevent being Masada at night captured. The Jews now make the oath that Masada will not fall again. They will die if necessary. They know that Israel is the only place on this earth where they can live. This is a battle for their total survival and they cannot afford to lose this battle. Israeli war planes flying over Masada