God named the light day, and the
darkness he named night. There was evening, then morning-the first day."
Genesis 3:9-13,
"But the
LORD God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?" (10) And he
said, "I heard the sound of thee in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was
naked; and I hid myself." (11) He said, "Who told you that you were
naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to
eat?" (12) The man said, "The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave
me fruit of the tree, and I ate." (13) Then the LORD God said to the woman,
"What is this that you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent beguiled
me, and I ate."
GOD asked four questions in those five verses.
Since
GOD knows all, including the answers to His questions, can you think of a covert
reason why He asked them at all?
It is a prefigurement of the Sacrament of
Reconciliation. GOD wanted to hear Adam and Eve confess their sin.
And what
were their answers to GOD? Adam blamed Eve, and Eve blamed the serpent. Neither
was willing to take the blame.
It is a classic example of passing the buck.
Exodus 2:1-2,
"Now a man from the house of Levi went and took to wife a daughter of
Levi. (2) The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a
goodly child, she hid him three months."
Notice that both the father and
mother of Moses are of the priestly tribe of Levi.
This alludes to Moses as
being a figure of Christ, the
High Priest.
Exodus 12:5-8,
"It
shall be to you a lamb unblemished, a male of a year old: ye shall take it of
the lambs and the kids. (6) And it shall be kept by you till the fourteenth of
this month, and all the multitude of the congregation of the children of Israel
shall kill it toward evening. (7) And they shall take of the blood, and shall
put it on the two door-posts, and on the lintel, in the houses wherein they
shall eat it. (8) And they shall eat the flesh in this night roast with fire,
and they shall eat unleavened bread with bitter herbs."
Overtly these
verses are quite clear as being a type of the Eucharistic sacrifice.
However,
covertly note very carefully that the Hebrews had to eat the body of the lamb,
and not a mere symbol of the
body of the lamb.
Remember, an Old Testament type is always inferior to a New Testament
reality.
Therefore a mere New Testament symbolic gesture of an Old Testament
type is an
impossibility.
2Samuel
2:1,
"And after these things David consulted the Lord,
saying: Shall I go up into one of the cities of Juda?
And the Lord said to
him: Go up. And David said: Whither shall I go up? And he answered him: Into
Hebron."
2Samuel 12:13,
"And David said to
Nathan: I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said to David:
The Lord
also hath taken away thy sin: thou shalt not die.
Those verses have
a meaning that are overt to some but covert to others.
Do you see one of the
seven sacraments typed in those two
verses?
Sometimes extracting short phrases from the verses one at a time will
help in understanding the messages they convey.
1. In the first verse, David
spoke directly to GOD and asked Him two questions.
2. And GOD answered him
directly both times.
3. In the second verse, David confessed his sin to
Nathan, a mere man, but a man of GOD.
4. It was Nathan who said
that GOD had taken away his sin.
5. David received
GOD's forgiveness not by Him speaking directly to David, but through a
human person.
6. It is the same today in the Sacrament of
Reconciliation.
7. The priest, acting 'In Persona
Christi' (in the person of Christ, 2Corinthians 2:10),
conveys GOD's
forgiveness of sins to the sinner.
2Samuel 6:6-9,
"And when
they came to the floor of Nachon, Oza put forth his hand to the ark of God,
and took hold of it: because the oxen kicked and made it lean aside. (7)
And the indignation of the Lord was enkindled against Oza, and he struck him
for his rashness: and he died there before the ark of God. (8) And David was
grieved because the Lord had struck Oza, and the name of that place was called:
The striking of Oza, to this day. (9) And David was afraid of the Lord that day,
saying: How shall the ark of the Lord come to me?"
Just by
touching the Ark of the Covenant, Oza was struck down by GOD.
The wooden
Ark of the Old Testament is a type of the New Ark of
the New Testament.
For those who say that Mary had other children,
they simply do not see the connection to 2Samuel 6:6-9.
Compare "How
shall the ark of the Lord come to me?" in the last verse (9) listed above to
the following verse:
Luke 1:43
"And why is this granted me, that
the mother of my Lord should come to me?"
The old wooden ark
contained the types of what the
New
Ark carried.
Isaiah
7:14,
"Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold a virgin
shall conceive, and bear a son and his name shall be called
Emmanuel."
"And his name shall be called Emmanuel"?
I thought His
name was to be called Jesus.
How can this be resolved?
Well the
answer to that one is that Hebrew names had a meaning, a title, and that is
explained very nicely in the following verses.
Matthew 1:21-23,
"And she
shall bring forth a son: and thou shalt call his name Jesus. For he shall
save his people from their sins. (22) Now all this was done that it might be
fulfilled which the Lord spoke by the prophet, saying: (23) Behold a virgin
shall be with child, and bring forth a son, and they shall call his name
Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us."
Isaiah
9:6-7,
"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the
government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called
Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of
Peace. (7) Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no
end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to
establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The
zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this."
These two verses are
absolutely loaded with overt and covert meaning. It is a very overt prophesy of
the coming of the Christ and His founding of His one Church.
1.
Notice that the word 'government' is singular, and it can only refer to His
Church.
2. Of the increase of His 'government' (His Church), there shall be
no end. Don't non-Catholics teach that His Church went into apostasy early on at
some unknown and unprovable time and without a shred of documentation on their
part to prove that it ever happened? Also, by claiming this heresy, aren't they
saying that what Isaiah prophesied is untrue?
His Church has been
growing and
increasing for almost 2000 years, despite the attacks
from heretics and others.
Today it has at least 1.1 billion members, and
is still adding more and more every day.
3. Even the word 'government'
disarms those who say that Jesus founded an invisible church.
How can a governing body ever be invisible, (Matthew
5:14) what with legislatures, governors, courts, etc.?
4. The last part of
verse 7 clearly says that He will establish His government and IT WILL LAST
FOREVER.
And who will insure this? In the last line it is GOD Himself. Here
is yet another verse that has to be denied by those who say His Church went into
apostasy at
some unknown time and with no documented proof whatsoever to support their
false charge.
Since 'the LORD of hosts will perform this', does that
mean that those who present these false charges are guilty of Acts 5:39, that
they will be found to fight even against GOD?
Isaiah 11:10,
"And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an
ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall
be glorious."
Jeremiah 16:19,
"O Lord, my might, and my strength, and
my refuge in the day of tribulation: to thee the Gentiles shall come from the
ends of the earth, and shall say: Surely our fathers have possessed lies, a
vanity which hath not profited them."
Micah 5:8, "And the remnant of
Jacob shall be among the Gentiles, in the midst of many peoples, as a lion
among the beasts of the forests, and as a young lion among the flocks of sheep:
who, when he shall go through, and tread down, and take there is none to
deliver."
Acts 28:28,
"Be it known therefore to you that this
salvation of God is sent to the Gentiles: and they will hear it."
Romans 3:29,
"Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not
also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also."
Romans 9:24,
"Even us, whom also he hath called, not only of the Jews but also of the
Gentiles."
Romans 11:25,
"Lest you be wise in your own conceits,
I want you to understand this mystery, brethren: a hardening has come upon
part of Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles come in."
Ephesians 3:6-7,
"That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of
the same body: and copartners of his promise in Christ Jesus, by the gospel
(7) Of which I am made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God,
which is given to me according to the operation of his power."
Do you
see a common thread among those verses?
Gentiles are mentioned in all of the
verses.
Gentile: a person who is not of the Jewish faith, or is of a
non-Jewish nation.
In the Old Testament it is prophesied that Gentiles
will come to the same GOD of the Jews.
In the New Testament is the
fulfillment of those prophesies.
Covertly they show that Christianity must be
true.
Isaiah 65:14-15,
"Behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for
sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit. (15) And ye shall
leave your name for a curse unto my chosen: for the Lord GOD shall slay thee,
and call his servants by another name:"
It is easy to see from the
context (read Isaiah 65:1-13) that GOD is not pleased with His chosen people.
They will be slain (it happened in 70 A.D. by the hands of the
Romans).
Now can you guess what 'another name' will be for His
servants?
How about "Christians" (Acts 11:26)?
Jeremiah 17:13,
"O Lord, the hope of Israel: all that forsake thee shall be confounded:
they that depart from thee, shall be written in the earth: because they have
forsaken the Lord, the vein of living waters."
It has always been a
mystery as to exactly what Jesus wrote in the dirt in John 8:6.
It is
by conjecture that what He wrote might have been what Jeremiah said in the
above verse.
Jesus certainly had many depart from Him. Read John 6:66 for one
verse out of many.
666???
Matthew 16:15-17,
"He said to them, "But who do you say
that I am?" (16) Simon Peter replied, "You
are the Christ, the Son of the living God." (17) And Jesus answered him,
"Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For
flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in
heaven."
Well, what have we
here? It is a tailor-made verse for those who claim that Peter did not have the
primacy.
It was only
Peter who knew that Jesus was the Christ.
How did Peter know?
GOD the
Father told him directly.
Throughout Holy Scripture there are verses where
GOD spoke directly to His prime person, the Father figure.
Here
are a few example verses out of many more:
Abram/Abraham in Genesis 12:1, and
in many verses thereafter.
Moses in Exodus 3:4, and in many verses
thereafter.
David, in 2Samuel 2:1, and in many verses before and
after.
Show me a verse in the New Testament where GOD spoke directly to
those that non-Catholics say had the primacy instead of Peter?
Matthew 18:15-18,
"If your brother sins against you, go
and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you
have gained your brother. (16)
But if he does not listen, take one or two
others along with you, that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two
or three witnesses. (17) If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church;
and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile
and a tax collector. (18)
Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on
earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed
in heaven."
In those verses Jesus
told us that the final authority is with His Church and that we must listen to
it.
He even told us what to do to those who refuse to listen to His
Church.
One covert message in these verses is, if His Church fell into error
or apostasy as some
non-Catholic sects teach, then GOD has deliberately deceived
us.
However, we know that GOD can neither deceive nor be
deceived.
Mark 3:32-35,
"And
the multitude sat about him; and they said to him: Behold thy mother and thy
brethren without seek for thee. (33) And answering them, he said: Who is my mother and my brethren? (34) And
looking round about on them who sat about him, he said: Behold my mother and my brethren. (35)
For whosoever shall do the will of God, he is my brother,
and my sister, and mother."
Some would charge
that Jesus put down His mother in these verses.
However, the context shows
that He is not talking about His natural family but about a higher order, His
supernatural family.
Luke 1:28,
And when
the angel had come to her, he said, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is
with thee: blessed art thou among women."
In order to uncover the
covert exegesis in this verse we must revert to the original Greek language in
which it was written.
The word 'Hail' (Chairo in Greek) is an honorable
salutation given to royalty such as 'Hail Caesar' or 'Hail King of the
Jews'.
Archangel Gabriel, using 'Hail', conveys to us that Mary is
being addressed as royalty.
Did you notice that Gabriel did
not call her by name by saying 'Hail Mary full of grace'?
It is an
indication that she was given a new title, "Full of Grace".
The original
Greek word used (kecaritomene) for 'Full of Grace' translates in
English to 'a plenitude of Grace'.
St Jerome used the Latin words 'Gratia
Plena' for the term in the Latin Vulgate, the first translation of the New
Testament from Greek.
GOD used "The Lord is with thee" to
embolden certain people to which He had given a special and difficult
calling.
A few Old Testament recipients are Moses (Exodus 3:12),
Joshua (Joshua 1:5,9), and Gideon (Judges 6:12-13,16).
Mary is the
only person in the New Testament to be called "Blessed art thou among
women".
Those words are repeated again to her by Elizabeth in Luke
1:42.
Luke
1:41-42,
"And it came to pass that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of
Mary, the infant leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy
Ghost. (42) And she cried out with a loud voice and said: Blessed
art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb."
There
is a very interesting covert message where Elizabeth 'cried out with a loud
voice'. Here is an excellent example where reverting to the original Greek gives
us much more to delve into and where the English translation falls
short. The Greek word used here is 'Anaphoneo'. This is the only time this
Greek word is used in the New Testament. This same Greek word appears five times
in the Septuagint or LXX, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament
where it describes Levitical priests praising GOD before the Ark of the
Covenant.
1Chronicles 15:28,
"And all Israel brought up the ark of
the covenant of the Lord with shouting, and with the sound of a horn, and with
trumpets, and with cymbals, playing loudly (anaphoneo) on lutes and harps."
1Chronicles 16:4-5,
"And he appointed before the ark of the covenant
of the Lord, Levites to minister and lift up the voice (anaphoneo), and to give
thanks and praise the Lord God of Israel: (5) Asaph was the chief, and next to
him Zacharias, Jeiel, Semiramoth, and Jeiel, Mattathias, Eliab, and Banaeas, and
Abdedom: and Jeiel sounding with musical instruments, lutes and harps, and Asaph
with cymbals: (anaphoneo)"
1Chronicles, 16:42,
"And with them there
were trumpets and cymbals to sound aloud (anaphoneo), and musical instruments
for the songs of God: and the sons of Idithun were at the gate."
2Chronicles 5:13,
"And there was one voice in the trumpeting and in
the psalm-singing, and in the loud utterance (anaphoneo) with one voice to give
thanks and praise the Lord; and when they raised their voice together with
trumpets and cymbals, and instruments of music, and said, Give thanks to the
Lord, for it is good, for his mercy endures for ever: then the house was filled
with the cloud of the glory of the Lord."
So what do you see as the
covert message here? It is praise given to GOD in front of the old wooden Ark of
the Covenant, and the same praise given before the New Ark of the Covenant,
the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Luke 2:6-7,
"While
they were in Bethlehem, the time came for Mary to have her child. (7)
She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in strips of cloth
and laid him in a manger because there wasn't any room for them in the
inn."
This is the Incarnation, when GOD took on a human nature.
All of
the substance and DNA of Jesus the Christ came from the substance and DNA of His
mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Luke 2:51,
"And he
went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject to them. And his
mother kept all these words in her heart."
How covert, the meaning of
this verse.
Did you notice that the creator of the universe was subject to a
mere human creature by the name of Mary until He started His ministry at
the age of 30 (Luke 3:23)?
Name another woman so blessed?
Luke 24:30-31,
"When he
was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed, and broke it, and gave it
to them.
(31) And their eyes were opened and they recognized him; and he
vanished out of their sight."
In order to put what happened in these
verses in context, you might want to read from verse 13 on.
Two disciples
were walking on the road to Emmaus when Jesus whom they did not recognize joined
them.
The covert meaning here is that they did not recognize Him until He
'broke bread'.
Remember at the last supper when He broke bread He said,
"This is my body".
Breaking of the bread is the Holy Eucharist, the
true
presence.
Now if that is only a symbol
as some say, how could a mere symbol cause them
to recognize Him immediately?
John
10:27-28,
"My sheep hear my voice. And I know them:
and they follow me. (28)
And I give them life everlasting: and they
shall not perish for ever. And no man shall pluck them out of my
hand."
This the classic verse
that some non-Catholic sects use to 'prove' their 'once saved,
always saved' false teaching.
Let us put this into context.
First of all, 'My
sheep hear my voice', means that they obey His commands and follow
Him, as He said in the second sentence.
The last sentence says nothing about
those who voluntarily jump out of His hand
and simply walk away from Him and
His Church (John 6:66---again, for one).
John
20:17-18,
"Jesus said to her, "Do not
touch Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father. But go to My brothers
and say to them, I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and My God, and
your God." (18) Mary Magdalene came
bringing word to the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that He
told her these things."
In this very overt set of verses, for those who
say verse 17 'proved' that Jesus Christ had 'brothers', a covert message that
they did not see proved them wrong.
Jesus told Mary Magdalen to go to His
'brothers'. But who did
she go to in verse 18? She went to His 'disciples'.
Those 'disciples' were
the Apostles, and they were certainly not His blood brothers.
Also, some
people might be confused since throughout the New Testament, His Apostles are
sometimes called His disciples.
A disciple is one who follows Christ as do
the Apostles. There are many disciples, but few Apostles.
Apostles are
disciples, but not all disciples are Apostles.
Acts 3:15,
"But
the author of life you killed, whom God hath raised from the dead: of which
we are witnesses."
Revelation 1:17-18,
"And when I had seen him, I
fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying: Fear not.
I am the First and the Last, (18) And alive, and was dead. And
behold I am living for ever and ever and have the keys of death and of hell."
Revelation 2:8,
"And to the angel of the church of Smyrna write:
These things saith the First and the Last, who was dead and is alive:"
This section is for those who say that GOD did not die on the
cross.
Here are a few questions for you:
1. In the first verse, who is
the author of life?
2. Doesn't that verse say that He was killed?
3. In
the verses from Revelation, who is 'The First and the Last'?
4. Do those
verses from Revelation say that He was dead and by words from His own
mouth?
5. Did the 'Author of Life' and 'The First and the Last' die?
6.
Holy Scripture said He did...
7. So
then why do some say that He did not?
Acts 5:38-39,
"And
now, therefore, I say to you: Refrain from these men and let them alone. For
if this council or this work be of men, it will come to nought: (39) But
if it be of God, you cannot overthrow it, lest perhaps you be found even to
fight against God. And they consented to him."
This should be an easy
verse for anyone to uncover its covert meaning.
Since truth is
a person, the person of Jesus Christ (John 14:6),
He promised that His
Church would last every day in every century until the end of time (Matthew
28:20).
Scripture also tells us that He is the Savior of His Church
(Ephesians 5:23).
The one Church that He
founded has endured the slings and arrows from myriads of sources and
from every direction and in every century for almost 2000 years, proving beyond
any doubt that His Church is not the work of men.
No man has been able to
overthrow it, and those who have tried can only be fighting against GOD.
1Corinthians
10:9-12,
"We must not put the Lord to the test, as some of them did
and were destroyed by serpents; (10) nor grumble, as some of them did and were
destroyed by the Destroyer. (11) Now these things happened to them as a
warning, but they were written down for our instruction, upon whom the end of
the ages has come. (12) Therefore let any one who thinks that he stands
take heed lest he fall."
Wow! If I were a member of the 'once saved always
saved' crowd,
those verses would have me shaking
in fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12).
If I claim that I am already
saved, isn't that putting the Lord to the test?
After all, it is He and not
any human person that determines who is saved and who is not.
Verse 12 drives
the final nail in the 'once saved always saved'
coffin.
1Corinthians
11:18-19,
"For, in the first place, when you assemble as a church, I hear
that there are divisions among you; and I partly believe it, (19) for
there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you
may be recognized."
In John 10:16 Jesus
said,
"And I have other sheep,
that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will heed my voice.
So there shall be one flock, one shepherd."
In John 17:21-23 Jesus
prayed,
"I do not pray for these only,
but also for those who believe in me through their word, (21) that they may
all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may
be in us, so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
(22)
The glory which thou hast given me I have given to them, that they may be one
even as we are one, (23) I in them and thou in me, that they may become
perfectly one, so that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast
loved them even as thou hast loved me."
In both of the quotes in the Gospel of John,
Jesus said that we must be one and not divided.
That is GOD's way. Satan is the divider. Divide and conquer is his way.
Division is evil since it comes from Satan.
However, from this evil arises
good in that true and genuine Christians are manifested as shown in
1Corinthians 11:19 as shown above.
Heresy must exist, for in studying it we
can separate the truth from the lie.
So what is the covert message here?
It is revealed in the following verse:
Genesis 50:20,
"Even though
you planned evil against me, God planned good to come out of it.
This
was to keep many people alive, as he is doing now."
See also Romans 3:8
and 8:28.
2Thessalonians 2:15,
"So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were
taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter."
That is a very
important verse with a widely overlooked covert message.
"Hold to the
traditions which you were taught by us."
'Taught by us' is
Apostolic Tradition.
What is the Bible?
The Bible is tradition written
down.
The best proof of this is right from the words of Saint Luke in the
prolog to his Gospel:
Luke 1:1-4,
"Inasmuch as many have undertaken to
compile a narrative of the things which have been accomplished among us, (2)
just as they were delivered to us by those who from the beginning were
eyewitnesses and ministers of the word, (3) it seemed good to me also,
having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly
account for you, most excellent Theophilus, (4) that you may know the
truth concerning the things of which you have been informed."
It is
widely taught that Moses wrote the first five books of the Old Testament,
commonly called The Torah.
Those books cover thousands of years, so the only
way he could have written them was by tradition handed down from generation to
generation.
1Peter 5:13,
"The
church that is in Babylon, elected together with you, salute you. And so
does my son, Mark."
So at the time of writing of 1Peter, was there a
church in the Babylon, which lies in what is today called Iraq?
The
covert answer to that question is no, simply besause after 130 B.C.,
Babylon faded into obscurity, and ruins.
It wasn't until the mid 1800's that
its location was found again and archealogical unearthing began.
So where is
the Babylon that is mentioned in the verse?
Christians, especially the
Apostles, were under constant persecution by both the Jews and the Romans
from the very beginning and had to practice the faith underground in the
homes of believers, and
in the catacombs of Rome. In order to recognize one another as fellow
Christians, they used code words and symbols. The fish symbol (icthos) was used
for recognition, and Babylon was the code word for Rome.
If Peter had said he
was writing to a Church in Rome, then no doubt, it would have
aroused Roman suspicion.
1John 4:6,
"We are of
God. Whoever knows God listens to us, and he who is not of God does not listen
to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error."
This Epistle by Saint John was written about the same time as his Gospel
which was around 100 A.D..
By this time all of the other Apostles were
dead.
John uses the plural 'we' and 'us' in that verse and obviously he could
not mean the other Apostles.
So who are the 'we' and 'us' that he refers?
What is the covert answer?
It could only be the Bishops, a fine example of
Apostolic Successsion,
and the priests.
Revelation 8:10-11,
"And
the third angel sounded the trumpet: and a great star fell from heaven,
burning as it were a torch. And it fell on the third part of the rivers
and upon the fountains of waters: (11) And the name of the star is called
Wormwood. And the third part of the waters became wormwood. And many men died of
the waters, because they were made bitter."
Let us again extract
short phrases from those verses one at a time, as those verses may contain a
surprise for some.
1. "A great star fell from heaven".
2. What makes
a star? Nuclear energy.
3. What makes an atomic reactor? Nuclear
energy.
4. "The name of the star is called Wormwood."
5. In 1986 a
nuclear reactor destroyed itself at Chernobyl Ukraine.
6. This man made
disaster killed thousands and contaminated the land and waters for miles
around.
7. So what is the point?
8. The stars name was 'Wormwood'.
9.
Wormwood translated to the language of Ukraine is 'Chernobyl'.
Revelation
11:19-12:9,
"And the temple of God was opened in heaven: and the ark of
his testament was seen in his temple. And there were lightnings and voices
and an earthquake and great hail. (12:1) And a great sign appeared in
heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on
her head a crown of twelve stars. (2) And being with child, she cried
travailing in birth: and was in pain to be delivered. (3) And there was seen
another sign in heaven. And behold a great red dragon, having seven heads
and ten horns and on his heads seven diadems. (4) And his tail drew the third
part of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood
before the woman who was ready to be delivered: that, when she should be
delivered, he might devour her son. (5) And she brought forth a man child,
who was to rule all nations with an iron rod. And her son was taken up to
God and to His throne. (6) And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she had
a place prepared by God, that there they should feed her, a thousand two hundred
sixty days. (7) And there was a great battle in heaven: Michael and his
angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon fought, and his angels. (8)
And they prevailed not: neither was their place found any more in heaven. (9)
And that great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, who is called the devil
and Satan, who seduceth the whole world. And he was cast unto the earth: and
his angels were thrown down with him.
Whew! There is a lot of overt and
covert meaning to those ten verses.
1. First of all, notice that we
continue from the last verse of chapter 11 to the first verse of chapter
12.
This is because of that little word 'and' (kai in the Greek), the first
word in 12:1, which ties the two chapters together, so that makes 12:1 a
continuation of 11:9.
In 11:9 it is said that the Ark of the Covenant was
seen in Heaven. Is that the wooden man-made ark of the Old Testament?
No,
since the prophet Jeremiah hid it in Mount Nebo (2Maccabees 2:4-8). What was
seen in Heaven is the New Ark.
Here is an
interesting trivia question for you. Is there anything man-made in
Heaven?
2. Who is the woman 'clothed with the sun, and the moon under her
feet'?
Remember to always hold to the context of a
chapter.
There are four beings mentioned in those verses.
2a. There
is a great red dragon mentioned in verse 3, and he is identified in verse 9 as
the devil and Satan.
2b. There is the Archangel Michael, identified in
verse 7.
2c. The man child who was to rule all nations with an iron rod
in verse 5 could be none other than Jesus the Christ.
2d. The
context demands
that the fourth person be identified also as the Blessed Virgin Mary, who gave
birth to Jesus the Christ.
Here is a flowchart
representation of the 'woman' of Revelation 12:1.
3. Study of the book of
Revelation could be likened to peeling back layers of a head of
lettuce or an onion. As each layer is peeled back, it reveals a deeper
layer of exegesis.
3a. The woman has been seen also as
the Church as 'she cried travailing in birth: and was in pain to be
delivered'. The Church which Jesus Christ founded has for almost 2000 years
given birth to millions through Baptism, and not without travail, pain, and
suffering.
3b. The woman has also been seen as Israel,
since promised Messianic deliverance would come from inhabitants of Israel
(Isaiah 26:16-21).
One lifetime is not long enough for any human
person to digest everything
written overtly or extracted covertly from the
one book that we call the Bible.