The first part of the first angel’s message is the carrying of the “everlasting gospel” to the world. That message is going to the world today, and has been going out since time began. In chapter 12 of Revelation, the woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet is first seen with a crown of twelve stars on her head. This likely represents the 12 tribes of Israel since the prophecy is pointing us to the time when the “woman gave birth to a male child,” representing Christ. Christ came via the “woman” which represents God’s truth and His people at any point in history. When Christ first came, God’s people were the Jews. They were the ones commissioned to carry forward the everlasting gospel. A few verses ahead, the woman flees into the wilderness where she has a place prepared for her by God where she was to be nourished for 1260 “days.” Those “days” are symbols of the 1260 years of papal supremacy. The “woman” at that time was not the Jewish nation of Christ’s time, but the people and truths that stood up against the enforced traditions of the papacy during those many centuries known as the Dark Ages.
In Revelation 12:16, the “earth helped the woman.” Here America is forecast as opening up her arms to receive the persecuted multitudes. America is where truth would flourish and be propagated around the world. The next verse says that “the dragon was wroth with the woman and went off to make war with the remnant of her seed…” Here is portrayed the last conflict between God’s people who hold to truth, and the dragon (Satan). This verse is expanded on in chapter 13. Again, the “woman” at this point represents those who keep God’s commandments and hold to the inspired writings at the very end of time, specifically in America and the areas America has influenced.
So, the “woman” through history has always represented God’s truths and the people who defend them. Those people have been known by a variety of names and been located in many different places. One of those places was Central and eastern Africa. The gospel was carried to the people of Ethiopia and Abyssinia very early in Christian church history. Philip baptized the Ethiopian official shortly after Jesus ascended back to heaven. Later, in the fifth and sixth centuries, groups that were persecuted by the Orthodox Roman Church were driven away and scattered to many places. In the first century when persecution broke out in Jerusalem, the first
disciples were scattered beyond and carried the gospel to the Gentile regions. So, persecution has always been a catalyst for the gospel to go where it may not have otherwise gone. We find that those persecuted Christians of the 5th through 7th centuries carried the gospel of the early church all the way to Persia, India, China, Indo-China and down into central Africa. There is some evidence that the Christians of Malabar were still keeping the Sabbath when the Portuguese arrived in the 15th or 16th centuries. We do have better evidence that in Ethiopia and Abbysinia they were still keeping the Sabbath. The Jesuits whom the Pope sent to set them straight found it not an easy task. However, the Abyssinians were in desperate need of more arms and methods to fight off their surrounding local enemies, and their emperor found himself in a spot in which he decided to give in to the European Orthodox demands so that he could obtain the military help he needed. Finally, on his knees he said, “I confess that the pope is the vicar of Christ, the successor of St. Peter, and the sovereign of the world. To him I swear true obedience, and at his feet I offer my person and kingdom.” This confession brought terrible persecution to his people, as they were not so eager to give up their beliefs. Two of the beliefs many refused to give up were the Sabbath and baptism by immersion. The new laws said that they must play and work of the Sabbath day. After the crisis from their surrounding enemies was over, the emperor, Segued, was persuaded by his relatives and people that he had done the wrong thing in submitting to the pope. So, he relented somewhat, and when he died, his son, Basilides, expelled the Latin patriarch and restored his people to their heritage of faith.
The “woman” of Revelation 12 not only represents truth and those who adhere to it during the time of Christ and since, but she represents those who carried the torch of truth from the very beginning. God initially established the Patriarchal system to carry forward the gospel. The patriarch carried the scepter, so to speak, as long as he lived. It was he who always erected an altar to God and led out in the sacrifices pointing to the Messiah to come. This was the “everlasting gospel” in those days. The patriarchal priesthood was then passed on to his son, or grandson if his son had already died. So Adam would have been the first patriarch, then Seth, then Enosh, Cainan, Hahalaleel, Jared, and skipping Enoch, Methusaleh. Enoch was taken to heaven before Jared died. Methusaleh died in the year of the flood, Lamech died 5 years earlier, so the next patriarch of course would have been Noah. Noah outlived both Japheth and Ham, so the patriarchal scepter went to Shem. Therefore, Shem was the patriarch for many years. When Abraham ran into “Melchizedek,” he probably was in the presence of Shem. Melchizedek is a title, not a name. It means “king of the righteous.” He was also king of a locale—Salem. Genesis says that he was a “priest of the Most High God.” Abraham paid Nelchizadek his tithe. After Shem died, Heber would have been next in line for the patriarchal scepter. He outlived Abraham, so the scepter probably went to Isaac, then to Jacob. Through Jacob, God started another movement, a nation of people who were to keep His covenant and spread the good news. We all know what happened from that point on.
In the book of Hebrews, the author says that Jesus’ high priestly ministry in heaven is in the order of Melchizedek, not Aaron and the Levitical priesthood. This is interesting because it places Christ back (and forward) into the ancient and ongoing movement that God has always had to reach the world with truth. You might say that the Jewish nation experiment was in addition to what God has always been doing. The Jews came to the point where they felt they were special and favored by God. Many look at them in the same way today. Through the prophet Amos, God tried to bring the Jews back to reality: “Are you not as the sons of Ethiopia to Me, O sons of Israel?… Have I not brought up Israel from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor and the Syrians from Kir?” Amos 9:7.
In the big picture, God is working everywhere He can find response. There have always been people who held to God’s truth. The “woman” of Revelation 12 represents those truths and those people. There is a narrow-mindedness today that places the Jews on a pedestal as God’s primary focus of attention. God had a people before the Jews, and He has had a people ever since the Jews made their final and fatal mistake in not receiving the Messiah. We need to see the “big picture” and many things will become clear.
Until next week,
Dennis
www.dennispumford.com
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