Podcast - The Woman, the child, the Lambs 144,00
There's A Man Going 'Round Taking Names • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 1 viewThe woman, the child, the 144,000 (again), the number 666
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Hello and welcome to this episode of Pastor’s Corner, I’m Thomas Hogan Senior Pastor of Amazing Grace church of The Nazarene in Wall Wall Washington.
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Today I want to spend time on The Woman, The Child, and The Lamb’s 144,000.
Let’s read together Revelation 12:1-2
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 she was with child; and she *cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth.
Some see the woman here as Mary the mother of Jesus, and that is certainly one possibility, but its possible that this vision is more specific.
Does the imagery hear have a ring of something familiar?
I saw this before in the a dream of Joseph
See it took me back to Genesis 37:9
9 Now he had still another dream, and related it to his brothers, and said, “Lo, I have had still another dream; and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”
This is imagery connected to Israel, thus its possible that the woman he is symbolically Israel.
This connects even better with the addition of verses 5 and 6
5 And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne.
6 And the woman fled into the wilderness where she *had a place prepared by God, so that there she might be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.
Israel symbolically gave birth to Messiah. That is Israel would be the nation through which Messiah, and thus also explains the actions of the dragon, even his wanting to devour the child.
This means then of course that the child is Jesus. Thus fleeing to the dessert reminds us of the time Mary and Joseph went to Egypt to flee Herod killing all the male children.
So this rounds out our discussion of this chapter except for one more thing, something I left hanging from the sermon video.
We come to the final verse of the chapter
18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.
This is probably the most famous verse in the book.
There are so many interpretations to this mark -
Nero Ceasar or Neron Caesar
Domitian
A future Chip to be placed in people
To a tattoo given to consumers in the time of John and the seven churches.
Possibly a key here is “for the number is that of a man.”
So this would be a man known to the readers of John’s day.
We kind find this out using what is called Hebrew Gematria which is assigning numerical value to Hebrew consonants.
Taking the name of Nero Caesar, translate it to Hebrew and then add numerical vale to only the consonants you get 666.
Namely Nero and/or all the Caesars
There is an issue here that Bruce Metzger brings to light, because one of the problems faced with the number 666 over the centuries is from ancient manuscripts of Revelation.
Bruce Metzger, “Over the centuries a very great deal of ingenuity has been expended in attempting to answer this question. A further complication arises from the fact that some ancient manuscripts of the book of Revelation give the number 616 instead of 666.”
Nero Caesar is likely the best possibility in Hebrew
Whoever this person is he is none the less human and not divine.
Despite the bold claims some of the emperors made.
There is still more to this number, because it is also a parody.
To the Jews 7 was a the perfect number, for example the seven days of creation, thus 777, the Trinity, is total perfection.
Like everything else in this chapter then 666 is a parody of the perfection. One short of the real number, a fake posing as the real thing.
You know I agree with N.T. Wright here, “We do well to search our conscience, and our own societies and enquire to what extent we, too, have been deceived by fakes posing as the real thing.”
Now let’s get into the Lamb’s 144,000 which is found in chapter 14:1-5.
We see the appearance again of the 144,000. This time to prepare for battle. This got me thinking again about what 144,000 symbolizes. The complete and total number of those purchased by the Lamb, which is the church of John’s day, which is in a spiritual conflict.
12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.
5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,
6 and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete.
This is pointing to the conflict then that the church is facing, a pagan empire lined up against the kingdom of God.
N.T. Wright, “The reality to which this symbol points, they are in fact a great company which nobody could count; the chances are they sing songs which all Christians would know; and some of them may be married and some may be single, but all are permanently ready for battle...”
This battle in Revelation and in all of Scripture is against the satanic trinity and their demands, and for some at any moment a willingness to die.
Now in contrast to the ending of chapter 13 at verse 18, these are not marked with the mark of the beast, but with the name of the Father and the name of the Lamb.
Thinking through this the multitude around the lamb is not the sum total, but the beginning.
A sign of an even greater number, a greater harvest coming later, as these are the first-fruits.
4 These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they have kept themselves chaste. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the Lamb.
So there you have it:
The woman is possibly Israel
The child Christ
The mark of the beast and parody of the mark of the lamb.
The Lambs 144,000 the Christians, the churches, lined up to do battle against the dragon and the two beasts.
Again feel free to leave you comments and questions in the comment section below.
Have a great day and thank you for joining me in the Pastor’s Corner.