Two Women in the Wilderness

  TWO WOMEN IN THE WILDERNESS

Facts, Data, and Information have been borrowed from several papers written by Dr. Stephen Jones of “The New Kingdom Order” website.

Many of you, reading this current article and previous articles such as: The Beast From The Sea  The Earth Beast   Mark of the Beast , will disagree with the assertions that are presented.  It is unfortunate that most modern minds have been preconditioned by the relatively recent stream of Scofield, dispensational, pre-tribulational Dallas Seminary induced, prophecy guidelines made famous by Hal Lindsey, Tim LaHaye, John Walvoord, and several others.  Some may be disappointed, but there will be no locust demons stinging people, and no horde of Nephilim roaming the world slaughtering people.

The Scofield reference Bible gave rise to the so-called doctrine of Dispensationalism.  Dispensation theory spoke of an end of the Church age and a return to the Legalism of the age of the Old Covenant with a rebuilt temple and the people calling themselves Jews again offering sacrifices which is totally incompatible to the will of God.  The Church Age is not an afterthought or a temporary correction inserted by God because the Jewish leaders refused to accept Christ as the Messiah.  God predicted and prophesied of the New Covenant from the very beginning.  The Church, or congregation, is the people of God and always will be.  This return to the Old Covenant required vacating Christians from the face of the earth which thus required the invention of a pre-tribulational rapture of the Church.   

As a side note the concept of a tribulation period of 7 years is the result of an inaccurate interpretation of the seventy weeks of Daniel by employing the wrong starting date using erroneous and misleading reasoning for that particular date.  Using the correct starting date for the 70 weeks will render the end of the prophecy at the crucifixion of Christ.

A specific and direct scripture indicating a pre-tribulation rapture does not exist although some have one or another verses as an indication but they are all circumstantial at best.  This PT rapture idea creates more problems than it solves.  Very few pre-tribulation rapture believers have ever been convinced to change their opinion.

The Woman in the Wilderness

Revelation 12:5-6 NET  So the woman gave birth to a son, a male child, who is going to rule over all the nations with an iron rod. Her child was suddenly caught up to God and to his throne,  (6)  and she fled into the wilderness where a place had been prepared for her by God, so she could be taken care of for 1,260 days.

Revelation 12:1 pictures a sign in heaven of a woman with labor pains.  She gives birth to a male child, “who is going to rule over all the nations with an iron rod”.  When the child is caught up to heaven (ascension of Jesus), the woman, which is the early church of believers, flees into the wilderness for a period of 1,260 years, even though the scripture says “days” it is actually years.

The church (Roman church) came into power in 529-534 when Justinian changed the laws and reset the calendar and become the “little horn” (or extension of the Roman Empire) according to Daniel’s chapter 7 prophecy of the four beasts from the sea.  [at this time the Roman church was the only church for all practical purposes]  This is the point in time when the church (or Roman church i.e. “the little horn”) became part of the succession of empires which began with Babylon, because of its religious carnality.

The Great Whore

In Revelation 17:1 we seem to be introduced to another woman being in the wilderness.  Is it the same wilderness or a different one?  This one is referred to as “the great whore”.  Later in verse 5 the woman is called Mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.

We now have two women in the wilderness.  Are they the same woman?  Although it seems unbelievable, they are the same.  Those who place their faith in the church may have difficulty seeing them as the same woman, insisting that there were two women in the wilderness.

Revelation 17:3 KJV  So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

Revelation 17:5 KJV  And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

These two women in the wilderness are patterned after the Exodus experience of the Hebrews under the leadership of Moses traveling through the wilderness.  The Israelites were required to traverse the wilderness to get to the Promised Land, which they would have reached in 490 days if they had the necessary faith.  At Mt. Sinai the vast majority refused to listen when God wished to speak to them with His voice of fire.  Due to their fear of God, they instructed Moses to listen to God personally and then relay the message to them.  The Israelites lack of faith caused them to worship the golden calf only weeks after refusing to hear God speaking for themselves.  Their lack of faith and their fleshly motivation created issues for them throughout their wilderness journey.

Whereas Israel was afraid to hear the voice of God, the church under the “little horn” was not allowed to read and listen to the Word on a personal level.  They only knew what they were told by the priests.  Both Israel, conquered and deported by Assyria, and Judah, conquered and held captive by Babylon were punished due to carnal flesh, harlotry, and idolatry.  The church has been retained in the wilderness for the same issues:  carnality, harlotry, and idolatry (which is Scripturally identical to harlotry).

The majority of the so-called church has been disqualified from ruling the Kingdom of God during the Millennium.  The apostle Paul explains that only the remnant of grace known as the overcomers or the “elect” are the true chosen ones, similar to the days of Elijah when he said, “I alone am left and now they want to take my life,”  but God answered:   

1 Kings 19:18 NET  I still have left in Israel seven thousand followers who have not bowed their knees to Baal or kissed the images of him."

Quote from Dr. Stephen Jones:

So here in Revelation 17:3 we see that the church, which fled into the wilderness shortly after Pentecost in Acts 2, was not able to enter the Kingdom at that time, but like Israel, she had to spend a long time in the wilderness. That in itself is an indictment upon the church. Whereas Israel spent just 40 years in the wilderness, the church spent 40 Jubilee cycles in the wilderness.

The harlot is describes as sitting on the beast although many claim she is riding the beast which may be true.  She is not portrayed as sitting on a throne since a throne is symbolic of law and this woman is considered lawless.  She follows the carnal laws of the beast system and not the laws of the Kingdom.  The phrase “full of blasphemous names” portrays the many manifestations of immorality and lawlessness in the red beast.  Although the great harlot is much more than the fleshly church, it most definitely includes it.

The Harlot’s Description

Revelation 17:4 NET  Now the woman was dressed in purple and scarlet clothing, and adorned with gold, precious stones, and pearls. She held in her hand a golden cup filled with detestable things and unclean things from her sexual immorality.

Purple and scarlet clothing speaks of royalty while gold, precious stones, and pearls speak of great wealth.

At one time, I believed these items along with those items listed in Revelation 18:12-13 spoke of clothing and accoutrements of a rebuilt Jewish temple.  I now do not believe a 3^rd temple will be built and if so, the Glory of God will not be there.  It is now apparent the Roman church and its popes, cardinals, and others have attempted to somewhat duplicate the clothing and vessels listed by God in the Pentateuch as the apparel of the temple priests.  Of course, they have added greatly to the masquerade.

Although literal gold cups have been used in the Roman church, this scriptural golden cup has more to do with symbolism and prophecy.  John employs many scriptures and ideas from the Old Testament including this golden cup reference in Jeremiah 51:7.

Jeremiah 51:7 NET  Babylonia had been a gold cup in the LORD's hand. She had made the whole world drunk. The nations had drunk from the wine of her wrath. So they have all gone mad.

The gold cup was given to Babylon by God for divine judgment upon Judah and other nations.  Now God has given the gold cup to the harlot to bring judgment upon the nations of today.

MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

The woman sitting (riding) on the beast is called the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.  Harlotry is a euphemism for idolatry and abomination is a euphemism for an idol.  Therefore this harlot is the mother of all idolatry appearing in the earth.  Idolatry is not limited to worshipping false gods, it also includes submitting to the laws of the beast rather than, or above, the laws of God.

John writes of Babylon, Jerusalem, Sodom, and Egypt as being associated with the earthly Jerusalem and therefore being harlot cities.  Isaiah 23:15-17 speaks of Tyre as a harlot city.  The book of Nahum claims that Nineveh was a harlot city.  And of course, Ezekiel chapter 16 is writing about Jerusalem as a harlot city.  Many Protestant churches (daughters) also employ various tendencies of the Roman harlot church.

Drunk With the Blood

Revelation 17:6 NET  I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of those who testified to Jesus. I was greatly astounded when I saw her.

Although Leviticus 17:10 forbids the drinking of blood, the harlot has become drunk with it.  God created blood as the emissary of the soul for the work of atonement.  The apostles had no problem with this for they write in the first Church Council:

Acts 15:19-20 NET  "Therefore I conclude that we should not cause extra difficulty for those among the Gentiles who are turning to God,  (20)  but that we should write them a letter telling them to abstain from things defiled by idols and from sexual immorality and from what has been strangled and from blood.

This apostolic edict was repeated in Acts 15:29.  However, the Roman church which strongly upheld its own Church Councils failed to recognize and enforce the very first Church Council held in the book of Acts.

To drink blood is a natural sign of a spiritual problem.  Scripture defines murder as an act of drinking blood (or spilling blood).  Therefore, when Jerusalem killed the prophets, they were in violation of drinking or spilling blood, even with the law of God threatening to cut off anyone who drank blood.  When the prophets called Jerusalem "the bloody city," they were accusing it of drinking blood, and by extension they were saying that the city would be "cut off from among his people".