(Ver 1.0) This is now “Part 9” in the advanced Bible study series of lessons revealing, “The True Identity of the woman in Revelation 12”. But today’s lesson is also “Part 2” of the miniseries within the full series called “Why the Church”. This mini-revealing series is designed to answer a lot of Christian’s deep questions to how this woman could possibly be the church. Many see the words written to indicate this woman could only be the virgin Mary, or the natural nation of Israel. This is based upon the fact that her child will rule with a rod of iron, and this MUST be Jesus in some form. No doubt this is the popular belief, and it logically stands to reason why it is believed to be this way.

What this lesson series is attempting to do, is to help you change your vision from a natural reasoning viewpoint into a heavenly God spiritual viewpoint. God sees things in ways that the carnal human does not even begin to comprehend. Therefore, it is again highly advised that you go and pray the prayer found in Ephesians 1:17-23. This will ask God to give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in knowing HIM who is Christ Jesus. Opening your spiritual eyes to see what has been accomplished by God in and through Jesus Christ. Make this prayer personal and believe God heard and answered you.

Today’s Bible lesson will deal with the Bible interpreting itself on the subject of what the pregnant woman represents and her child represents, from a Holy God perspective, and viewpoint. This should be of interest to a lot of Christians. Because it will answer a lot of questions about how this woman in Revelation 12 can represent the church. Are you excited and expecting to learn? If you really are, then you are ready to begin.

If you have not read the first part of the miniseries or the entire full series, please at least start with “Part 8 – Why the Church”, or “The True Identity of the Woman in Revelation 12 PART 1”. There are too many details already covered that are not able to be restated in this lesson.

First, we need to repeat the series warning.  This series was written for spiritually mature Christians. For those that are newly born again, or younger Christians, you may want to go study some more basic Bible foundational subjects before trying to digest some deep eschatological study that may be hard to swallow. This decision could possibly help you not to be offended at what will be a very deep spiritual subject filled with complex spiritual information and application, about a highly controversial topic. Thank you for judging yourself before continuing.

We pray that you love God, and His Word as much as we do. We are infinitely blessed to have the author of the Bible living on the inside of us to help us all understand the mysteries of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We want to say before you begin, we love you all very much. This lesson series is founded upon divine love and no other motivation is present or hidden. Please know this before you leave any mean or nasty comments.

One of the first things to answer about the woman in Revelation 12, is to determine, if she is natural or spiritual. Is she literal, or a figurative symbol for a greater hidden spiritual message? Answering this question, can only be established based upon the context descriptions of her.

We can remember, that she is seen in heaven in verse 1. This causes us to begin to lean to understand that she is a spiritual reality. But then we see she is clothed with the sun and standing on the moon. Both of these CANNOT be taken literally, and this almost seals the confirmation that she is a spiritual being. The major confirming sign that this chapter is speaking of spiritual realities, is the mention of the dragon and the ancient serpent, who God defines to be Satan and the devil. This being is certainly a spirit being, therefore, the woman can only be interpreted as spiritual also.

Please remember the basics of eschatological hermeneutical principles. Here is a fundamental rule to begin “If the plain sense, makes perfect sense, seek no other sense”. Because the first verse in Revelation 12, does not make plain and perfect sense, this forces us to seek God for the actual true sense. People have tried to answer this problem by searching the Bible for any references to the “sun, moon, and stars”. They have then found one reference in Genesis 37:9 in the dream of Joseph.

This was used rapidly to confirm in their minds that the woman can only be the natural nation of Israel, since that is what the dream was about. But they ignored the placement of these objects on and around the woman because these facts do not make plain sense. Because the placement of these objects is important, and they were defined by Jacob to be clear symbolic references to specific individuals, we should try to apply this information into the Revelation 12 interpretation of the symbolic elements. But few have tried to do this.

We will be exploring a lot of great new hidden secrets of God concerning the church. What we are discovering is that the woman in Revelation 12, represents a victorious church that has overcome the enemy Satan. It must be understood that the two key chapters to understanding Revelation 12, is to first understand Genesis 3 and then understand Galatians 4. These two chapters have direct connections to what God wants us to learn about Revelation 12. But we will also be going over other verses to help us. Let us look at some new insights about what we learned in the last lesson, before we continue to today’s subjects.

NEW REVELATION 12:1 INSIGHTS

In the last lesson we did an overview of some of the key aspects and descriptions found in Revelation 12:1. We all know there was a woman, that appeared in heaven. She is said to be clothed with the sun. We have learned that this means she is clothed with Jesus, the Sun of Righteousness (Malachi 4:2). But there is much more to this sun symbol than just this single great revelation. For example:

Eph 6:11  Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 

Notice what this verse says to us. God says put on His armor. Then we find in the book of Romans:

Rom 13:12  The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. 

Ok, now we are gaining important insight into what type of clothing we in the church are supposed to be wearing. Our spiritual armor is called “the armor of light”. Wow, what does the sun do for our world? The sun gives us light by day. Now we are confirming we are in God’s kingdom of Light and the Day (1 Thessalonians 5:5). We are supposed to take off the works of darkness, and put on this (sun) light armor.

By casting off our clothes (works) of darkness, what happens to them? They fall to the floor of course. If they fell, are they under us, or above us?  Uh oh? This is just more confirmation that the moon under our feet in Revelation 12:1, are things that we have put off and thrown down and this allows us to be standing above the moon. Do you see how this truth concerning the church matches the description of the woman so far very well?

This new information about clothing being like works for good or evil, implies that we are supposed to be doing works for God’s Kingdom of His dear Son, and not the works of the enemy. What we must conclude is that wearing the Sun in Revelation 12:1 is the same as wearing Light as an Armor in Romans 13:12, and this must be connected with doing good “works” for the Kingdom of God on the earth. Can we agree so far? This will get much clearer soon as you continue to read.

But also notice in Ephesians 6:11 God says by wearing His full armor, the church (we) will be able to stand against the enemy. Notice the mention of standing. Does this involve the feet? Of course, it does, and we see a woman in Revelation 12:1 with her feet, which are implied to be standing on, and above the moon. We have already determined very clearly; the moon is the representative symbol of the ruler of the darkness who God calls Satan (Ephesians 6:12).

Again, we have this connection being made in Romans 13:12, with the mention of “night” and “darkness”. Being connected with the armor of “light” and the mention of “day” being at hand. The woman in Revelation 12, is certainly standing in the Daylight of the Sun. We are experiencing another confirmation for who the woman in Revelation 12:1 really represents, and how the church is planned by God to overcome the devil, by wearing God’s defensive weapons and by wielding God Spiritual Sword, called the Word of God. Amen.

INTRODUCTION –
SEEING REVELATION 12
FROM GOD’S SPIRITUAL VIEWPOINT

Let us review one of the foundational verses for this miniseries of lessons about WHY the church is the woman in Revelation 12. We should be attempting to rise far above the normal natural human perspective of things that anyone can read in the Bible. We can read in Isaiah 55:8, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, and my ways are not your ways”. It is very clear from this statement that God claims to be smarter than us, and to think and see things different than we do as humans. This is one of the reasons, Jesus came to the earth to help reveal God’s higher thoughts and ways to us, and here is one thing that He said about this subject of perspectives:

John 3:12  If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? 

Remember again that Jesus gave us this “key to help us in understanding God’s thoughts”. Knowing this will be a huge benefit to understanding a great portion of the book of Revelation. We must begin by understanding that God is a Spirit (John 5:24). If God is a Spirit, and it was Him who designed and authored the book of Revelation (2 Tim 3:16).  God selected a writing technique utilizing many major patterns from natural symbolic objects and realities, that reveal unseen existing higher spiritual truths, entities and realities.

But here is a potentially new revelation for you. God expects you to become a mature Christ follower. He expects His church to grow up spiritually (1 Peter 2:2). This simply means we are not supposed to remain as carnal thinking humans. This should help you to see the necessity to change our thoughts to conform to His. This is essential for understanding the book of Revelation.

Today we will focus on the natural subjects of the process of a physical woman’s pregnancy, labor, and delivery of a child. In this analysis, we will confirm and apply what this natural process represents, in the spiritual birth process that is taught to us in the Word of God. Probably most of you have never thought of this or studied this subject, until now. Is a spiritual woman’s process of giving spiritual birth, the same types of experiences as the natural birthing process? That should sound interesting to a lot of Christians who want to know the truth.

We will be going through additional verses in Revelation 12, starting with verse 2 and possibly continuing to verse 6. What will help you to see these verses differently, is by changing your perspective and expectation for who you may have ignorantly “pre-judged” her to represent. To “pre-determine” who she represents before you see all of the evidence, blocks your ability to see any truth that God really desired you to see. There are a lot of Christians that are closed minded to change any viewpoint. Some have called these types of people, “concrete Christians”, meaning they are thoroughly mixed up and firmly set, and almost impossible to change even with the greatest message of truth. We pray no one reading fits this description. Please, decide to be an Acts 17:11, more noble type of Bible student.

This is a common tactic of the devil, to block God’s revelation from being seen. As long as Satan can get us to seek words that makes this woman to be only natural Israel, then that is what we will see and find. This fact of what we seek for, determines what we find, is based upon the law Jesus spoke to us in Matthew 7:7. Therefore, instead of seeking to find natural Israel, just ask God to help you to seek the truth, and you are promised to find it (John 16:13).

Imagine in your spirit, that the Holy Spirit came to you in an audible voice and said “This woman is the Church”. Would you ignore this personal God visitation to help give you this revelation? Some people do this all the time. But not with an audible voice from God. No, God uses pastors and teachers of the Word of God by giving them the revelation, and then helping them to present it to the rest of the Body of Christ. This method of divine operation is so easy to bypass and ignore as false teaching, simply because a message did not conform to what you believed it said. Uh oh?

Therefore, allow the Holy Spirit that lives in you to bear witness with what you are reading today. If the Holy Spirit, makes you feel very unpeaceful, then please reject and ignore everything that this internal feeling occurs upon. It is possible, that God will give you peace with certain parts of the message and not every part. If that occurs, then be as wise as an old cow feeding in a pasture, eat the good green grass and spit out the bad tasting sticks. But if the Holy Spirit gives you perfect peace in your spirit, then that should be a sign to you, that this should be given your attention. Finally, are we ready to go? Let us turn to Revelation 12:2 and begin our study.

Rev 12:2  And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. 

Rev 12:3  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. 

Rev 12:4  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. 

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. 
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. 

Ok, these are really awesome word selections displaying an intentional intelligent design and designer behind them. God’s intelligence is so far beyond ours, that we easily miss the spiritual truths that He is speaking using a naturally coded message. Remember that it is much easier for us to understand the spiritual truths, by first coming to understand the corresponding natural truths. Let us list some of the major new qualities and descriptions of the woman in Revelation 12 verses 2 through 5:

1. Verse 1 informed us that there is a woman in heaven who is “with” child in verse 2.
2. Therefore, she is crying out, while travailing in labor in the spirit realm.
3. She is experiencing pain while waiting to be delivered.
4. An evil dragon stood before or against her.
5. The dragon waits to devour the male child as soon as he is born.
6. After birth her child was caught up to God and to His throne.
7. The woman goes into a wilderness prepared by God to be fed for 3 ½ years.

We will not go into tremendous detail, but we will try to take each point, one by one. However, this lesson will not be able to touch on every subject, because of the length of the lesson that this would cause. It is wise to warn you that this will still be a long Bible lesson. It is recommended that you break it into seven separate study sessions, unless you have the time to do it all in one study. Today we will focus our study upon seven sections of information which are:

1. A Woman with child, which will take us to the next subject.
2. Can the spiritual church of Jesus Christ, have a spiritual child or children?
3. Then we will learn about how God reveals the spiritual woman the church has children.
4. Next, we will review what are the differences between spiritual and physical births.
5. Next, we will address, the spiritual concept of labor.
6. Next, we will address the spiritual subject of fruit.
7. Finally, we will address the spiritual subject of delivery.

If you notice these are all components found, or implied in the natural concepts of birth that were listed within Revelation 12, but instead of looking at them from the physical perspective, we are going to shift into the higher dimension of seeing them from God’s spiritual viewpoint, revealed in the Holy Bible. If you are ready, let us get started.

1. WOMAN WITH CHILD

What do these natural words, descriptions, and symbols teach us? First, we must begin by understanding that everything stated in these verses (1-6) are predominately spiritual truths that are being taught to us with a mixture of both supernatural, and common descriptions of natural realities. Please take notice that the words spoken DO NOT teach a natural how to guide for human pregnancy. No, God is only using concepts that most are already familiar with to help reveal the hidden unknown spiritual message.

Without this foundation, you will be very confused. Let us go over a quick list of what we should be able to see in Revelation 12:1-6:

1. Remember that a woman (wife) in a relationship with God always represents a covenant partnership. We can learn this in several verses, but research Jeremiah 31:32 (Israel), and Matthew 9:15 (Church) to see two references.
2. This statement implies that this woman was previously a physical reality upon the earth, before she was taken into heaven. We can confirm her simultaneous existence in both heaven and on the earth, reading verse 6.
3. Therefore, we can conclude that God/Jesus must have taken this woman up to be with Him at the throne. Does this sound like a type of rapture for those that were ready with oil in their lamps? In this story 5 virgins were not prepared and did not enter into the wedding. These could represent the people that were left on the earth who repented and returned to Christ. We will find more evidence coming to support this view soon.
4. Also, this verse implies that this woman’s appearance in heaven was because she is considered righteous and not of the kingdom of darkness. We will see this more clearly when we look again at her clothing.

QUESTIONS?

1. Is the church viewed as a spiritual woman to God?
2. Can a spiritual woman give birth?
3. Is a spiritual woman’s child also spiritual?
4. What does it mean to be spiritually pregnant?

2. DOES THE BIBLE SPEAK OF
SPIRITUAL CHILDREN THAT ARE
BIRTHED BY THE CHURCH?

This is a very major and significant question that must be answered accurately, in order for us to believe, and confirm that this woman in Revelation 12 could represent the church. It is plainly stated in Revelation 12:2, that this woman was pregnant, and she was crying out while travailing with labor pains, waiting to be delivered. Please remember that this Greek word used to describe the pregnant “woman”, is the same word used to describe the Lamb’s “wife” in Revelation 19.

This is a lot of amazing information that we just read. This clearly describes the natural process of birth. But does this information also have spiritual applications for the church? I believe with all of my heart that it ALL DOES. To begin, we will only focus upon answering the question, can the spiritual church body (Romans 12:5), have a spiritual child?

The Greek word G5043 that was translated as “child” twice in Revelation 12, verses 4 and 5, describes the male child that was born to the woman. But this same word is used many times in the New Testament to describe both natural, and spiritual children. A search of this word in the New Testament reveals a lot of valuable information.

Also, it is very interesting to notice that this exact Greek word is never used to describe the baby Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem of the virgin Mary (Israel). It is only used to described the physical child that was born of Elizabeth, whose name was John. But for Jesus, it is NOT used. This appears to be another strike against the child in Revelation 12 being the newborn baby Jesus. Let us go to the first book of the Corinthians next, to see what Paul wrote to the church:

1 Cor 4:14  I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you. 

This is a very interesting verse of truth. Paul writing to the church in Corinth, calls them “his” beloved “sons”. It just so happens the Greek word translated as “sons” is the exact same word G5043 translated as “child” in Revelation 12. Is that a coincidence? I ask that question a lot, to get you to think. There are no coincidences in the Bible. If this is a spiritual parent child relationship, we should begin to ask, is Paul their spiritual father or mother? Uh oh? That sounds like satanic gender confusion.

We all should know the Apostle Paul was a human male. We also should all know that Paul was an unmarried bachelor (1 Cor 7:8). Therefore, it is impossible for Paul to have had natural children in this verse in 1 Corinthians 4:14, and he must be speaking spiritually. Let us read down a few verses and see another usage of this same Greek word:

1Co 4:17  For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every church. 

Here, we can confirm again, that a male name Timotheus, is being called a spiritual child of his spiritual parent also a male named Paul. Wow, if that is not amazing, I do not know how to then get you awake. This described parent and child relationship is purely spiritual, and not physical. We should believe that these types of spiritual revelations, are the reason why Satan is bringing up the confusion of natural sexual identity. Satan will attempt to use this evil, to turn people away from the spiritual truth of God’s word.

It is interesting that this same pattern is repeated again in 1 Timothy 1:2, and 2 Timothy 1:2, where Paul calls Timothy his dear son (child) in the faith. This is again repeated in Titus 1:4 where Paul calls Titus, his own son (child) after the common faith. We are seeing a pattern of spiritual truth that must NOT be ignored. God confirms very clearly that there exist spiritual births that come by spiritual parents.

Now who is PAUL? Paul is a male member of the early corporate church body. He is one of the chief spiritual leaders of the Christian faith. He wrote 2/3 of the New Testament, so he definitely knows what he is talking about. Paul should be considered to be a representative of the spiritually mature part of the body of believers, since he was the one that was teaching them how to grow spiritually (1 Cor 3:2). Since Paul is one major member of the entire church, Paul qualifies to be called a spiritual woman bride. Paul is confirming that the church can have spiritual children with some of the body being a mature parent, and new believers of the body being their child (G5043). Can we all agree so far? It only gets more amazing from here.

3. HOW WOULD THE SPIRITUAL CHURCH
BRING FORTH SPIRITUAL CHILDREN?

Please take note that this is the next most significant question for us to answer, in order for us to determine if someone specific in the church, or the church as a combined whole can conceive, bare, and bring forth a spiritual child. Let us take a look at a verse in Philemon:

Phm 1:10  I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds: 

Here is Paul writing to the church and claiming to have given birth to a son while being bound in chains. The Greek word G1080 that is translated as “begotten” literally means to “procreate”. This word procreate can mean, “to multiply by sowing seed”. This word can certainly apply to both the natural methods of procreation, and the spiritual methods of procreation.

It can also be applied to the father as the seed supplier, or the mother as the seed receiver. Therefore, which one is Paul claiming to be? It is entirely possible that Paul is claiming to be both. That is a difficult new question to answer in detail, in this Bible study series, but it is answered in the Bible very clearly.

What is the answer? The answer comes from Genesis 2. This is where God gives us the details of Adam’s creation and how his wife came out of his side. This was the exact pattern that occurred in the Spirit realm when Christ died on the cross and was raised from the dead to become the second man (1 Corinthians 15:47). Jesus is also called the Last Adam in 1 Corinthians 15:45.

To help us confirm that what happened to the first Adam, is what happened to the second Adam (Jesus), we must also know Romans 5:14, where God teaches clearly that the first Adam was a “figure” of Jesus to come. The Greek word translated as “figure” means” a “sample type”, “pattern”, “model”, and “style”. Wow, that is powerful.

This knowledge teaches us that what was recorded to happen to Adam, will be the prophetical “pattern” for what must happen to Jesus during His manifested presence upon the earth. But Jesus will make the right choices and His wife and bride will NOT be deceived. Again, we have the prophesied victory of a woman over Satan spoken from God’s mouth in Genesis 3. God’s Words WILL come to pass, and the time is now for the victory.

But we did not answer the question, how can a natural male in the church be both the spiritual mother and the spiritual father of new spiritual children in the church?  The answer is still found in Genesis 2. Adam was put to sleep, and Jesus was put to sleep on the cross. Adam’s side was opened to remove Eve, Jesus’ side was opened to pour out blood and water to save His church bride. Because the first natural woman was taken out of Adam, the last spiritual woman was taken out of Jesus. But God said in the Law of Covenant Marriage in Genesis 2:24, the “two shall be one flesh”. We learn in 1 Corinthians 6:17, that whoever is joined (married in a covenant) to the LORD is ONE SPIRIT! This teaches the concept of two being called one, as long as one is a male, and the other is the female joined in matrimony.

Please remember Eve, is a prophesied pattern of the spiritual church and not natural Israel. Then recall in Genesis 3:10, Adam calls His wife by the name Eve, because she is the mother of all living. Wow! This is where Christians are missing a major revelation of the church’s role in the kingdom of God immensely. This pattern of Eve being the mother of all the natural living human race teaches us that the church must also be a mother to all the spiritually living born-again believers in Christ. How does this occur? How is this even possible?

If Eve is one pattern of who the church is, and she was a mother the natural living, then this matches the description of the pregnant woman in Revelation 12 being a spiritual mother of the spiritual living. It is possible a lot of people will not be able to comprehend this immediately. Especially spiritually immature Christians. But we will soon see more evidence for what is being taught by the Holy Spirit. Thank you, Jesus.

We do not have time to cover this part in depth. This should be a Bible study series, all by itself. But there are more than enough facts of spiritual truth being given to you to continue to study and confirm more of this with other scriptures. I would suggest that you go and read the Bible study about “How did the church became the body of Christ”.

You might also like to read and study verses like “Romans 12:5”, and “1 Corinthians 12:12, 27”. In these two verses, the church members are called the body of Christ on the earth. This clearly is God calling His female church bride by the male name Christ, also being His body. Therefore, we can confirm how the woman bride is being given the same name as He does (Christ) through the covenant that we have entered into with Him. Wow, this is awesome when you see it. How can spiritually born-again people on the earth be our risen savior’s body, while He is physically seated in heaven? This is how God reveals hidden spiritual mysteries. God reveals this problem and answered it very clearly in Ephesians 5. We need to move on to a new verse that may help people to see what is being taught.

My special reader asked, “How can the woman be the church, since we did not birth the Messiah”. My response should be, “SAYS WHO?” What we are about to confirm using the Bible, is that the church actually does birth the Messiah, but our spiritual child is not the physical Jesus born in the form of a baby, in a manger in Bethlehem. Remember to stop thinking carnally, and look for the spiritual realities of God in scripture.

Gal 4:19  My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, 

This is one of the most amazingly obvious proof texts confirming the church to be the woman in Revelation 12:2. Notice that this is Paul writing to a different church in Galatia. He uses the same terminology “children” to describe his relationship with them. The Greek word G5040 translated as children comes from the Greek word G5043 used in Revelation 12. Therefore, God confirms that we have a direct connection that He is speaking of the same subject.

Then notice the Greek word G5605 that is translated “travail in birth”. Wow, this is the exact same Greek word used to describe the woman in Revelation 12:2. Now we have two direct word connections and this one is overwhelming and irrefutable. It just so happens that Galatians 4 and Revelation 12 are the only times this word is used by the Holy Spirit in the ENTIRE BIBLE. That makes this the ultimate qualified match.

Mary is never described using this word, and certainly not Israel either. This evidence of intelligent divine design, narrows the possibilities of choice that could have been easily changed by God, selecting and using different Greek words in either verse. There are many other possible word selections to describe child birth. This specific identical word choice, simply confirm that the woman in Revelation 12, can be NONE OTHER THAN THE CHURCH!

We must conclude that Paul by travailing the same as the woman in Revelation 12, is proclaiming to be that woman. Whether Paul knew this in his mind or not, it was what the Holy Spirit inspired him to write. Therefore, God is ultimately making the match.

Ok, here is what we MUST notice in this verse. My reader said the church never gave birth to Messiah, but here is the clear evidence proving the church does give birth to Messiah. The Greek word G5547 is translated as Christ. This is the Greek word for the Hebrew word translated as Messiah (H4889). Both words mean “the anointed one”.  Clearly God has just confirmed the Church does give birth to Messiah, but this Messiah is definitely not the natural child in Bethlehem. Are we all awake yet?

What else is important to learn from this verse? Notice that Paul said I travail in birth AGAIN, until Christ be formed in you. This is amazing! Paul is claiming to be a female that gives birth to children. Paul is also claiming this is NOT HIS first-time laboring to give birth. The word “again” clearly implies there have been MANY births, and we can see this from all of the children references that Paul claims to be the birth mother of. Wow, this is amazing if you will receive it.

4. THAT WHICH BORN OF FLESH IS FLESH
AND BORN OF SPIRIT IS SPIRIT

This is a majorly deep spiritual topic today, and our prayer is that it does not escape your understanding of God’s Truth. We have talked more than once in this series of lessons about this subject, that was brought to us by Jesus in John 3:3-6. Jesus taught clearly to Nicodemus and us, revealing that there are two types of “births” possible, and they DO NOT MIX. For humans, the natural comes first, and then and only then does the spiritual re-birth become possible. You should remember that we have already established from John 3 that only a spiritual woman can give birth to a spiritual child. Therefore, Paul as a born-again spiritual participant in the New Covenant, is qualified to give birth to new spiritual children who have the Spirit of Christ. Let us look at an important verse:

Rom 9:8  That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. 

Here is an essential concept concerning two kinds of children that come from two kinds of seeds, resulting in two kinds of births. The first was the natural human child birth process, and the second is introducing us to the “promised spiritual re-birth” process, that was also mentioned by Jesus in John 3.  God begins by comparing children of the flesh that came from natural Israel, with the children of the promise. Uh oh? What God is doing is informing us, that He promised all humans, that He would have spiritual children. Please go and reread Galatians chapter 4. Because this is a vital chapter needed to understand Revelation 12. Here is just one verse to pay close attention to:

Gal 4:23 – But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. 

In chapter 4 of Galatians, God gave us an allegory using Abraham, Sarah and Hagar to confirm to us an exceedingly important spiritual truth. Sarah and Hagar had two types of children because of who they were naturally. These two symbolic sons that were birthed, by two different symbolic women, represent the concepts of flesh births, versus spirit births. The first son born was Ishmael, and he is called a son of the flesh and the son of the bond (slave) woman because he came by the will of man. But then came Isaac who is referred to as the promised son who came from Sarah, and she is called the “freewoman” who came by the will of God.

We learn in Galatians 4, that this son named Isaac, was a type of the spiritual Christ that the church comes out from. This makes this type of Isaac the promised child, who is the risen from the dead spiritual Jesus Christ (Romans 7:4).  I pray no one is choking on the meat that the Holy Spirit is trying to feed us. I will encourage you that once you see this truth, it is impossible not to see it everywhere in the Bible. Notice what else God said to us in Galatians 4:28:

Gal 4:28  Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. 

Paul writing to the church (the members of the body of Christ) in Galatia, and he is calling them, both his brothers as well as children, is confirming that they were, as well as we are, the promised spiritual “Christ” child spoken of to Abraham. This is an amazing revelation. But you really need to go back to Galatians 3 and study to see that the promise given to Abraham was the promise of the Spirit that will be birthed in every believer in Christ. Please read this very carefully stated truth in Galatians 3:14. If you are lost with this new information, be patient and do not throw it away. It is the truth. Let us explore this more by explaining how we can be called simultaneous brothers with Christ and other believers, and be called promised children of God, and Christ at the same time.

We are named Christ, because we are the body of “Christ” (1 Corinthian 12:27). Each individual believer represents one spiritual member, in the one spiritual body of CHRIST with every believer being joined to Him and every other believer to form this ingenious new spiritual body (Romans 12:5, 1 Corinthians 5:4). This new growing body of the Spirit of Christ, can also be called the temple of God (1 Corinthians 6:19).

This new spiritual design of joining believers as cells in a human body, or bricks in a temple, is practically identical to the created human body consisting of potentially trillions of individual cells, and all of them being joined together are called by the name that was given to us by our natural parents, when we were born naturally. The human body comes from the union of just two physical cells. But from these two cells, they grow by division, and spread out to every other cell, increasing until full maturity. Even after maturity, cells die and are replaced with new cells in most tissues.

This human natural growth process from two joined cells, is the exact same process that is happening in the spiritual realm for the spiritual body of Christ. Jesus was called the firstborn from the dead in Colossians 1:18. In this same verse Jesus is also called the “head” of the body (of Christ) in order that He might have preeminence.

It is the head that controls the body and not the other way around. This makes HIM LORD and not any other individual spiritual cell joined to Him (in Covenant) in His spiritual body. Are you getting this, because this is an amazing new revelation for many Christians? In His new spiritual body, He is the head, and we are HIS body members (Ephesians 1:22-23), with all of us together being called Christ. There is no sane way to separate a person by naming His head Christ, and His body (the church) something else. They are called by ONE name.

Jas 2:7  Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called? 

In this verse James inspired by the Holy Spirit, writes about Christians being spoken of by other humans wrongfully. God is making the claim that when they do this, they are blaspheming the “worthy name” which they are called. This name has to be “Christ”, because no other human name can be worthy.  There are many spiritual aspects of being one with Christ, and here is another factor for us being called by His name as a born-again believer:

Rom 16:7  Salute Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen, and my fellowprisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me. 

Paul makes a comparison of order and likeness. Paul informs us that Andronicus and Junia were his kinsman. This Greek word G4773 literally means a relative by blood. But you can tell by the names of these people in Rome, they are probably not Jewish. Therefore, Paul is not speaking naturally and this can only be a spiritual relationship by the blood of Jesus. Yes? This was the message of these men were like me.

Then comes the mention of order. Paul is teaching us next how these Christians became members of the same spiritual family, by entering into CHRIST. But we also can notice that Paul said these entered into Christ, before he did. This truth is based upon our natural time line. We are recognizing another parallel, between the natural and the physical birth process of organized order that is noted by God.

Therefore, we are learning of two simultaneous realities that occur at a new spiritual birth into God’s Kingdom. This is a very essential truth to learn. When you are born-again by believing in Jesus being raised from the dead, and confessing Him as your Lord (Romans 10:9-10), you are reborn into a brand-new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). This means this had never existed before Jesus was raised from the dead. He became the first born from the dead and each of each us after enter into Him in order of believing.

When this happens to you by believing in Him, you enter into Christ, and the Spirit of Christ also enters into you, and you reside in both the natural, and heavenly dimensions simultaneously. WOW! Did you know this already? If you did, do you understand the power that was needed to accomplish this (Ephesians 1:19-20)?

What we are learning today is awesome.  We should now have begun to understand that Jesus seated in heaven right now, is the physical raised from the dead man, named Christ in the spirit realm. He is the mediator of the New Covenant (Hebrews 9:15) that we are in. But simultaneously born-again Christians living on the earth. are also called by His name Christ, because we have His Spirit on the inside of us. We are IN HIM, and HE is in us. This was God’s plan from the beginning and His wisdom is amazing!

If it would help you, please take note of Genesis 5:1 where God describes Himself creating man as a male and a female. God then says He called both of them by the name “Adam”. This matches what God did for Christ Jesus and His Church, by calling us both Christ.

Ok, everyone needs more verses to confirm the truth. God says in the mouth of 2 or 3 witnesses, let every word be established. Notice in 2 Corinthians 6:15, God through Paul writes what fellowship does “Christ” have with “Belial”. The church is very clearly stated to be named “Christ”, and if we join ourself to a devil, we are joining the body of Christ to that same spirit. Paul is writing that this should never be. Do you see this?

Now look at 1 Corinthians 6:15, and see that this is the exact same truth. In this verse, God through Paul says the church as a member of the body of Christ, we must not allow Christ to be joined to a harlot. This is just one of several other places where the church is referred to by the name of Christ.

But how does this work? We learn another important piece of the puzzle in Romans 8:10. In this verse God reveals that it is the Spirit named “Christ” that comes to live on the inside of our human body. Wow, because every born-again Christian has the same Spirit of Christ, we are all of the same name of Christ and represent one living and growing spiritual body of a child on the earth.

This brings up another new point. What happens when a Christian dies? Their spirit departs the earth body of Christ and goes to be with the spiritual body of Christ in heaven (Philippians 1:23). This helps to solve how a spiritual woman in heaven in Revelation 12:1, can still have parts of her same body as a remnant left here on the earth to battle with the dragon in verses 6 and 17. But this is probably a different topic for later.

So, we have learned how the spiritual process of a child growth and development can be understood, by us viewing a natural child’s development process. This will be brought up again in this lesson later, so please do not forget it. But remember this is what we are seeing happen to the woman in Revelation 12 with a growing child in her womb.

God was a genius in transforming one natural seed named Jesus (John 12:24), into a growing corporate spiritual entity consisting of millions and even billions of individual spiritual cell members. He did this in His own one Body and then He calls us by the same name Christ. And this is legal because we all have the same Spirit of Christ abiding on the inside of us. Wow! This truth has a far-reaching application to help us understand, and explain how the church will end up victorious over the devil. It also teaches that God views us (the church) the same as HIM. Let us take a quick side journey to help someone that needs to know how their prayers can be answered:

Joh 15:16  Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. 

This verse shows us why we can come to The Father in prayer with confidence, and ask Him our request. We can do this boldly because we ask in His name, and the Father in heaven will answer, because of who we are in HIM, and not based upon who we are on the earth, or what we have done. It is also important to notice the mention of bring forth fruit. We will be talking about this concept in a soon coming section in much more detail. Just take note of the connection being made by God’s design.

Now that we are beginning to learn and understand, how the church can be represented to be one body of one spiritual growing child. We need to explain, how new spiritual cell members in this growing body, came to exist. In the natural realm there are a lot of cell divisions that occur and each are just grown into a new body component, but in the spiritual realm it is slightly different. But this helps to explain how we can be both brothers and children of the same cell that birthed us. This is actually very similar to the natural if you think about it.

We are spiritual brothers because we are from the same spiritual Father (Holy Spirit, also known as the Spirit of Christ in Romans 8:9). We are spiritual children of others in the church, because we have God’s Spirit of Christ that was birthed on the inside of us from sowed Word (seeds) into our hearts shared by others in the body of Christ. These spiritual laborers, got each of us born-again spiritually, while they were travailing in birth, to bring us out of the flesh, and into the spiritual Kingdom of God. Praise the LORD!

We can further confirm what was just taught by analyzing Galatians chapter 3 that is directly connected with Galatians 4. In this chapter we learn two very important concepts about Abraham. First, we learn Abraham’s promised seed (son) was CHRIST by reading Galatians 3:16. In this verse the LORD says the seed is singular and not plural that God was speaking. Wow, that truth is ignored by a lot of Bible teachers. The main take away is for you to know God said His promised seed was only CHRIST! Please take note the name JESUS was omitted from this verse, even if we understand this was who came first to be born as the CHRIST.

Galatians 3 continues with a discussion between the promise and the law that was unable to nullify the promise because it occurred over 400 years before the law came. Then notice in Galatians 3:26 where God says we in the church have all become His children through our faith in CHRIST Jesus! Pay attention to the flipping of the order of the names, and take a note that God did not say “Jesus CHRIST”! God is so specific to even the order of words, that reordering them has a meaning about things beyond our imagination.

Now pay close attention to Galatian 3:27. This is another direct connection to Revelation 12 where the woman was clothed with the sun. Here we see how when we now in the church, are baptized into CHRIST, we have put on CHRIST. Again, this is amazing spiritual information that occurred when we were born-again. But it still directs us to Revelation 12 to confirm it is the church that is represented there.

Now for the sake of time we will jump to Galatians 3:29. In this verse God wrote about the church again, and here He says “If you be CHRIST, then are you Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the “promise”. Ok, if you study you will notice that I changed the translated possessive tense word “Christ’s”, to “CHRIST” not being the possessive tense. However, this Greek word 5547, Christos is translated as “Christ” the majority of the times it occurs. In other words, this word occurs 569 times in the New Testament, and it is translated as Christ in 553 of them. It would therefore, be legal to make it fit the majority if it works, and makes plain sense in context. I believe it does.

Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that there are times that it does appear to be correctly translated as “Christ’s”, with something belonging to Him. This is legitimate either way in this verse of Galatians 3:29. Whether we belong to His spiritual body, or are being called by His name Christ, it is the same end result as we have learned.

Notice the mention of a promise again? These are amazing connections being made.  Do you understand what the LORD is saying? I mean really, do you? This is a radical statement of your identity, and who you now are to GOD! God just called you Christ! God just said you are Abraham’s promised seed. Being the promised seed child, you have become a spiritual heir and a joint-heir with CHRIST (Romans 8:17). Let us back up in Galatians 3 and see what you may have missed:

Gal 3:14  That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. 

What may help you in understanding, is go back to Galatians 3:14. Notice again what this verse said. Also notice this time God included the name Jesus before CHRIST. This qualifies the reference of CHRIST, to be only the physical man Jesus who died for our sins. It is by our faith in His finished work for us, that Abraham’s “promised” blessing is able to come upon the entire human race. This we can learn was the promise of the Spirit to live on the inside of us through faith in JESUS CHRIST ALONE! It was only us being born of the Holy Spirit, and being joined with the Holy Spirit, that gives us this opportunity to be named CHRIST. This was the promised GOSPEL that was preached to Abraham (Galatians 3:8), even if he never understood it on the earth (Matthew 13:17).

This potentially new spiritual information may be overwhelming to some. It will take some a lot of prayerful thought and study to come up to a higher dimension of spiritual growth to see it. No one is claiming to be GOD.  No one is claiming to be JESUS. We are just reading what God has done for us and acknowledging this is an amazing gift of sonship being freely given by HIS GRACE and we receive it all by our faith.

Let us move to a new concept that was just introduced to us. This new concept is called “labor” and it is what the woman in Revelation 12 is described to be doing.

5. LABORING TOGETHER WITH AND FOR CHRIST

It is very important to know that when a woman is in travail producing a new child, she is said to be in “labor”. Uh oh? This is just another random coincidence, isn’t it? Absolutely not! There are many verses in the letters written to the church that describe us (the church) working laboriously and painstakingly for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Uh oh? Notice what Jesus said about this subject in Matthew:

Mat 9:37  Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; 

Here we have Jesus speaking to the foundational church members of the Body of Christ. Jesus was focused upon the great need of so many people that needed to come to know HIM! He is making a prophetical statement concerning a future spiritual harvest of saved human spirits (James 5:7), and their saved souls (James 1:21).

However, He is expressly declaring the need for many “laborers” to accomplish this. Wow, this is amazing when you see how this is connected to Revelation 12, and the woman that is laboring in travail. In fact, you may already can see it, since we have already found where Paul was travailing in labor in Galatians 4, to give birth to Messiah, in the people coming into the church. This work of God is certainly sharing the Gospel good news with other people and sowing spiritual seeds to produce new spiritual fruit. Notice this verse next:

1Co 3:9  For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building. 

Wow, again we see the concept of workers in labor together with God. As a Christian, we were created in CHRIST to do works for God (Ephesians 2:10). We do this with Him, because He lives in us to help. Notice the term husbandry to define the church, because this will come again in the next section. This means we are God’s spiritual garden on the earth.

God further calls us His physical building on the earth. The building corresponds with us being His temple that we saw earlier. The LORD is using multiple natural concepts to help us to understand how the spirit realm was created and is operating today. What we are discovering is the spiritual concept of Christians that perform labor for God is the spiritual realization of the natural description of a woman in Revelation 12 in labor.

This is becoming such an accurate picture of the woman in Revelation 12, that it can’t be denied. Can you begin to see the new spiritual perspective, of how this woman was given to us by the Holy Spirit using natural realities can fit with what we are doing in the church today? Can you understand, how excited I was to hear from God at 3 AM to receive this information?

Women could describe the experience of giving birth so much better than I could. But one noticeable feature of the process is the pain. This can result in loud outcries. Another observable quality of giving birth, is that the woman’s labor pains become more and more frequent, and closer together and they usually increase in intensity as the ending finale birth comes. Did any of this sound like what might happen before Jesus comes to take us out of the world and our labors to get people saved?

Can you potentially see that persecution from the world, has been increasing in intensity and come more frequently? If you have not, then you are not laboring for God’s cause. We need to see what else the Bible says about laboring, to take us into the next phase of the revelation.

1Co 3:5  Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? 

1Co 3:6  I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. 

1Co 3:7  So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. 

1Co 3:8  Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. 

Notice these verses are using natural farming concepts. But farming is also an analogous concept to having a natural child in birth. Both of these subjects are parallel natural realities projecting information about the spiritual birth process that Paul was describing in his letter to the church.

The spiritual birth process is based upon the principle of “seed”, “time” and “harvest”. Wow that was a lot to process. But notice the ending statement in 1 Corinthians 3:8 is about each worker in the church receiving a reward for doing their labor. Wow, is that not more than amazing, with us seeing the woman in Revelation 12 being in labor? Connect this back to the Galatians 4 example of the labor with Paul working to get Christ the Messiah formed in the church in Galatia. Please tell me that you are seeing this.  If any of this is registering on your spirit, leave a comment to help encourage others.

Remember in Revelation 12, we had a woman wearing a victorious royal crown. Could this be a part of her reward for enduring her spiritual labors for CHRIST?  I personally believe this is a part of the reward as we can see from 2 Timothy 4:8, to name just one example. We need to move on to the next subject. Now we are going to add a new spiritual dimension to connect us to what is happening to the church and parallel to what is described about the woman in Revelation 12.

6. THE PRECIOUS FRUIT OF THE EARTH

We have been learning new spiritual God perspectives that come from the Word of God to understand the natural descriptions about a woman in Revelation 12. So far, we have discovered that the woman is standing on the devil in a position of victory in Revelation 12:1. We have also seen she is wearing a royal victor crown as a symbol of her reward for victory. We have also learned that she is wearing Jesus, the Sun of Righteousness as her clothing revealing to us her position of authority being IN CHRIST (Romans 5:17). This new information confirms that she is a spiritual being and her identity can only be the church.

But we are now beginning to see in Revelation 12:2, that she is pregnant and travailing to give birth to a spiritual Messiah in the hearts of people that are becoming new-born believers. We have also seen how this process begins to correlate together of her enduring signs of crying, travailing, being pained, waiting for the birthing full process to come to completion. We learned this could certainly be the combined natural and spiritual process of how the church “labors” in the world, for Christ to minister by spreading God’s Word (Seed), into the hearts of unbelievers, to get others saved out of the world of our spiritual enemy. Please realize that this time of completion for laboring for Christ, is soon coming to an end.

But now, let us think about the natural birth process to help us understand what else God could be teaching us from the spiritual process of producing a natural child by receiving His Seed in our hearts. Do you know what this natural and spiritual concept of childbirth, is referred to as, in the Bible? You are about to find out that it is called “producing fruit”. If you did not already know this, please get your spiritual eyes opened to what the Holy Spirit is about to say. Let us begin by reading a verse in James:

Jas 5:7  Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. 

We were introduced to this topic in the previous sections. Notice this verse is about the coming of the LORD. This coming has to be for the catching away of His church bride. If this is the woman in Revelation 12, it is our hoped for “deliverance” from the world. Notice that this verse is speaking of God being a gardener, who has planted a lot of seed, and is waiting very patiently to produce something that is good for harvesting. Wow, did that turn on any lights in your mind and spirit? If not, Satan must have you very blinded with his darkness (2 Cor 4:4).

This verse in James is speaking of people. This is the only thing that is precious enough to cause God to wait and endure all of the evil of the world. God is looking for “precious fruit” to harvest. This fruit came first from Jesus sowing the Word in our hearts as taught to us in the Parable of the Sower. From God’s perspective, the end outcome of planting any of His good Seed is to produce good fruit, in the hearts of humans.

We confirmed in 1 Corinthians 3:5-8, that it is the church that has been assigned this responsibility to continue the sowing, and watering process to produce fruit in humans. Remember what Paul said in Galatians 4? “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again, until Christ be formed in you”. I believe sincerely that Paul was travailing, and waiting for these carnal Christians to become fruitful and to be on the path of spiritual maturity. Why do I say this? Because this “fruit” is what God is waiting for in James to harvest.

Now, here is another truth that helps to confirm this belief that this pregnant woman in Revelation is pregnant spiritually indicating she has produced a lot of fruit, and is waiting to be delivered. Let us remember Jesus’ natural birth to help us better understand this spiritual birthing process being described in Revelation 12.

Luke 1:42  And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. 

Do you see how Elizabeth described the unborn natural baby Messiah child, that was in the belly of the virgin Mary? She called her baby inside her physical womb, to be her “fruit”. Wow, this is God revealing an amazing parallel concept between the natural and the spiritual ability to produce “fruit” from planted seed. It is very obvious that a natural child is called a woman’s fruit of her womb. God is again using natural farming concepts to describe the natural birthing process, and this means both of these are teaching us hidden spiritual concepts about fruit, that we cannot see with our natural eyes.

It is very interesting to remember what Jesus said about fruit in Matthew 7:15-16. God in the flesh who we see waiting and wanting to harvest the precious fruit of the earth in James, informs us that we will be able to determine who is real and who is fake by examining their fruits. What is He speaking of? It is NOT apples, cherries, or apricots. God is saying if what they say is a blessing to produce a new-birth in some other human, this will be a sign of their external fruit. By observing their labors to produce fruit, you will know if they are real Christians.

Let us go back to the Parable of the Sower again. In this parable that Jesus taught us, He said He was the Sower and He came to sow the Word of God! The soil in this natural to spiritual parable was the heart/spirit of a human. The parable compares soil (human spirit) types, differentiating between those that produced fruit and those that do not produce any harvestable fruit.

Matching this information with other parables, and the verse we just read in James about God being the ultimate farmer, waiting for fruit, we know that those that produce fruit belong to God, and those that do not produce fruit, must belong to the evil one, Satan. This is revealed more clearly by the parable of the wheat and tares (Matthew 13:24-35). The wheat is harvested into the barns of God, and tares are burned in the fires of hell.

Now we have determined there are two types of people in the world. Those that belong to God and produce fruit to be harvested and those that belong to Satan that are called weeds that are eternally separated from God. But applying this to what we have just learned we know the woman in Revelation 12 has fruit in her womb. We should now understand that the womb is soil of the spiritual heart of a human. The spiritual fruits that are produced in the spirit, represent a human’s good works for the kingdom of God, and the fruits of the spirit (Gal 5:22).

It is very interesting to see how in Galatians 5, this was God’s selected location to discuss and define “fruit” directly after chapter 4. In this chapter 5 spiritual comparison we find the differences between producing good versus evil fruits. This is definitely applicable to what we have been learning. Do you believe this is just a coincidence? It cannot be! This is just a confirming method of God’s intelligent spiritual design.

Finally, notice that a woman that is unable to bear fruit in her womb is called “barren”. This is also discussed in Galatians 4, but we don’t have the time to go into this part of the deeper lesson. Please just notice the fact that the woman being in travail in Revelation 12, has the visible evidence of having produced fruit in her spirit (the spiritual womb and soil) of God’s Garden (Genesis 2:8). This is the location of where His WORD was planted as a seed to produce “fruit”. Wow, that is an amazing new way of viewing the woman in Revelation 12. Can you see it?

7. DELIVERANCE

We need to wrap this lesson up quickly. We have been receiving the “Seed” of God into our spirits, while studying this subject. What we need to remember, is that in the natural process of childbirth, there is usually always a “deliverer” involved to catch the baby. This has occurred this way in every normal natural childbirth since Adam and Eve. This deliver is usually, a mid-wife, doctor, or nurse, or they could be the spouse’s husband. I believe the husband Joseph was the deliverer of Mary. But in the spirit realm this person who delivers the church, is definitely the LORD Jesus Christ.

What we find in Revelation 12, is two connected verses concerning the pregnant woman on this subject of delivery and an implied deliverer. In verse 2 and verse 4 God mentions the woman is waiting to be delivered. This is the Greek word G5088. This word has a very amazing definition that corresponds to what we have been learning about. Let us review the Strong’s definition:

G5088 to produce (from seed, as a mother, a plant, the earth, etc.), literal or figurative: – bear, be born, bring forth, be delivered, be in travail.

This Greek word contains a double wow factor. This only means it applies to the literal natural and to the spiritual by figurative application.  Notice this word applies to natural things being produced from physical seeds. This included a human mother (woman), a tree, a plant, etc. including the earth’s natural soil. All of these are naturally created realities that parallel the spiritual realm. Notice the spiritual woman in Revelation 12, is travailing in labor awaiting to be delivered. How does this apply to anything for the spiritual church? A lot of light bulbs should be illuminating in your spirit all of the sudden from this new description. Please let us read these verses and analyze them in the NEW light of what we are seeing in Revelation 12.

Luk 21:27  And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

Luk 21:28  And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.

These verses are obviously speaking of the physical man Jesus, with Him being referred to as one of His physical human titles the “Son of Adam”. As the risen Jesus departed from the earth in Acts 1 for a cloud to receive Him, He will also be returning in like manner from a cloud. But this return is for the catching away of His bride, as spoken about in the Parable of the 10 virgins (Matthew 25:1).

Jesus was teaching in this context about the signs of the times for His return. Please pay attention to the last command. Jesus speaking to His followers, told them when you see these things, “look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is very near”. Now look up the word “redemption” and see how Strong defines G629 as being a “deliverance”. This is another amazing parallel to the woman in Revelation 12 being pregnant.

Every time a woman experiences pregnancy, she goes from not being outwardly seen as pregnant, to being obviously seen to even be called big or great in her pregnancy. Or another way to look at it, is to say her delivery day is “drawing near”. The Greek word G1448 that was translated as “drawing near” is also defined as “soon approaching”. Consider what this is saying about the potential of a birth in Revelation 12.

If this woman is the spiritual church, and being delivered of this child represents the rapture, by God using naturally coded symbolic terms, this should dramatically change how we are to view what is being revealed. We should be able to see from God’s perspective, that this description of the woman in Revelation 12, could be a detailed view of the end-time church and the rapture event, followed by the mention of the people that have repented and were saved after the rapture.

It is just so essential to see that the Greek word G726, that was translated as “caught up” in Revelation 12:5, speaking of the child after He was delivered, is the word “harpazo”. It is this exact word that is used by God to describe the rapture event in 1 Thessalonians:

1Th 4:16  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 

1Th 4:17  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 

No place in the New Testament, is this Greek word “Harpazo” used to describe the physical risen from the dead man Jesus, being taken up to heaven. The absence of Jesus being taken as man and not as a baby, and the church being “caught up” to heaven to be with the LORD, are two amazing confirmations to the woman in Revelation 12 being the church.

Also, the Greek word G4536 that is translated as “trump” in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 announcing the rapture event, is the exact same word used by God to catch John up to heaven in Revelation 4:1. This is just another major connecting force, that cannot be denied. This would teach us that the woman’s labor of the child coming to completion, is the same event of deliverance that is being described in Revelation 4:1, and 1 Thessalonians 4:17.

It is highly recommended that you go search the New Testament and look for all of the verses that has anything to do with deliverance, or a deliverer. We should all know that the deliverer of the Church is Christ. There are also other key Greek words that mean to be delivered, like the woman in Revelation 12 is waiting for. These include “redemption”, “redeem”, “save”, “salvation”, and “savior”. Of course, there are many forms of these words and others that could not be mentioned today. But all of these confirm the spiritual truth, that the Church body of Christ, is a woman waiting to be fully delivered. For example, please remember this one:

Tit 2:13  Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; 

As you can read in Titus 2:13, the church is waiting for out savior Jesus Christ. The Greek word G4990 translated as “Savior” literally means a “deliverer”. That is what we could also call a person that is catching up a baby in a hospital. Wow, I don’t know how anyone can deny what the Holy Spirit is teaching today.

But notice again, that this day of deliverance is called a blessed expectation event. Again, we see a woman who is expecting to be delivered. The Greek word G1680 is the word translated as “hope”, and this word means “expectation of something good”. It can also be defined as a feeling of “pleasurable anticipation”. What this is describing occurs when a normal husband sees his wife after a long time of separation, and vice versa, the wife’s feeling for the appearance of her husband after a long separation, like a long trip. WOW!

I believe the woman in Revelation 12 represents the church from what the LORD has shown us. I believe the process of childbirth, represent every person that was, and is being born-again by planting seed in the hearts of unbelievers. I believe the growing child in the spiritual womb of the woman, represents the spiritual body of Christ growing to completion to be taken up to heaven. Therefore, I believe the woman’s final birth of the child is the completion of the church age. This soon coming completion or fulfilment of the 2 day or the 2000-year period of the church (2 Peter 3:8), is where God ends the current ongoing time of GRACE for salvation. After this God will return to the 70^th week of Daniel’s prophecy to finalize His dealings, with another woman named natural Israel, for one week of years. If this is correct which I believe the scripture is teaching us, then the rapture is represented by the child’s finale birth in Revelation 12. This is why the child is immediately caught up into heaven and to the throne of God after the final birth has occurred.

In other words, the spiritual growth and birth process of the CHRIST child has been fulfilled and it is time for her to be taken up (Romans 11:25). The laboring has been accomplished. The birthing has been finalized. The woman has been brought to full safety and protection in heaven and the marriage supper of the LAMB can be celebrated. This would help us to understand how the description of the woman in Revelation 12:1, begins with a sight of a woman “appearing” in heaven. These words mean someone in the spiritual realm was looking on with wide open eyes viewing someone in heaven that was called very remarkable. Who else can this be but the body of Christ that the prophets and righteous men desired to see being fulfilled in total completion (Matthew 13:17)?

CONCLUSION

We have covered a lot in this lesson, and it has gone into so much new spiritual information that it is probably good to end now. Hopefully, the Holy Spirit has given you a lot of good spiritual meat to chew on for a long time. What God has taught us, is to look for His ways of understanding natural things so that we can apply them in the spiritual realm and find truth to see what He has prophesied in the book of Revelation. One question comes to mind that will mentioned in this discussion of a woman who is expecting deliverance. When will this occur? We can begin to learn this in this verse:

Rom 11:25  For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. 

As you can see God is speaking of the natural nation of Israel, and comparing them, to be separated from the largely spiritual Gentile church body of Christ. God calls His church a mystery, but He has been revealing us, with increased intensity in these last days. But notice in the last phrase of the verse. God indicates that there is coming a “fulness” to the Gentiles.

Now notice what the Greek word G4138 that was translated as “fulness” means. This word means “something that is filled as a place, a container, a time period, etc.”. Think of this in the terms of a pregnant woman. There is a limited capacity inside the womb. There is also a set time for delivery where her body just says I’m ready. God says in Matthew 24:36, that no man knows the exact day or hour of this event of Jesus coming to deliver us. But we all can see the signs and seasons, and know how close we are to this happening. I guarantee you, that it is closer than you think!

You should have a lot of take aways from this lesson. We were not able to answer every question, or go into every verse. This would definitely require many lessons to cover it all comprehensively. But remember the natural birth process of a woman, and a seed planted in a garden, should cause us to better understand what is happening in the unseen spiritual realm.

A child represents fruit using natural to spiritual symbolism. But it also represents the Spirit of Christ the Messiah being birthed inside humans to grow the church. Therefore, we have learned how the woman qualifies to be taken up into the spiritual realm of heaven to appear before God in Revelation 12:1 and 4:1.

There are multiple ways to react to what you have just learned? You can reject it completely or partially. You can also accept it partially or completely. If you have heard this taught before, I would love to hear about it and where it was shared. If you have never heard about this before, please share it with every Christian you know, if the Holy Spirit inside of you agrees with it. If not, that is OK, please just share why you feel something was not peaceful. No matter what, thank you for reading the lesson.

If you have any feedback, questions, or comments please leave them. They are greatly appreciated and encouraging. If you need prayer for any need, it is also nice to receive these requests. We will certainly pray if we are able to agree with you scripturally, and the request does not violate the written word of God according to His will for your life. We love you all very much no matter who you believe the Revelation 12 woman is. We hope and pray you will love us also. Love NEVER Fails!

If you would like to continue reading in this Bible study series, please click on “Part 10” now.