THE WILDERNESS
Types and shadows are sometimes described as “road maps” to future events. God operates in the realm of the prophetic and through natural events and disasters to warn us of things to come so we can be prepared for them. The prophetic can also provide us with a panoramic view of the “spirit filled life.”
God reveals to us the past, present and future of all things that pertain to life and godliness in His word. God told us He would not do anything unless He first revealed it through prophetic ministry. The Bible says the scripture reveals the future to us from the past--the end from the beginning. (Isaiah 46:10). The mysteries of the future will be revealed to us if we study the mysteries and prophetic examples God has hidden in His word.
Revelation 12:1, 2, 5-6 tells us “And there appeared a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: and she being with child travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up to God and His throne. 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.”
God led the Children of Israel out of Egypt while performing great signs, wonders, and miracles. He did so to prove to His people and to the Egyptians that HE IS the I AM. He also wanted believers in the future to take note of those prophetic events and use them as teaching tools to instruct the righteous during the “last days.” Prophetic events are wonderful teaching guides that help lead us into spiritual truths regarding every day Christian lifestyles as well as future events.
The Wilderness was a place where the children of Israel’s faith, trust, and perseverance were tested. It was also a place where God would, time after time, prove Himself as their provider in the midst of trials and temptations on their way to the “Promised Land.” God proved His faithfulness and His ability to perform the miraculous in their time of need. I AM had delivered them from their taskmasters and taken them out of the land of their captivity. Now God was ready to lead them to the “land of promise.” First they were to undergo many trials that would either prove them worthy to receive the promise or prove them to be worthy of death. Moses had told Pharaoh the Hebrews wanted to travel three days into the Wilderness to worship God, now it was up to the Children of Israel to PROVE their faithfulness to Him.
The Promise Land was/is a prophetic picture of the promises of God. God promised His children a land flowing with “milk and honey. It was and is a land full of both natural and spiritual promises and blessings. The Promise Land was a picture of the Kingdom of God that would reside within the heart of every believer. The Kingdom of God is an invisible Kingdom. It cannot be seen with the natural eye.
Before the children of Israel could enter into the Promised Land the Lord led them through the Wilderness of Sin in order to test them and build faith and godly character within their hearts. This is also a prophetic picture of the Wilderness experience we all go thorough as Christians here on earth. The Wilderness of Sin was/is a type and shadow of the world.
A Wilderness of Sin experience will be visited upon the people of God during the Great Storm. A testing and trying of our faith will be necessary in order to help prepare us for the coming of the Lord before we enter into the “Promised Land—Heaven. The Promise Land is also a type and shadow of Heaven. Heaven is promised to all who overcome the trials and temptations in the Wilderness of Sin—the world. Christ is coming back for a Church without spot and/or wrinkle; a Bride that has been tested, tried, realigned, and “refined” in the fires of tribulation. Great faith and patience will be needed in order for the Church to become the Bride of Christ as she is “purified by fire.”
BITTERNESS
It did not take long for the griping and complaining to begin in the “ranks” of the people. Israel traveled three days into the Wilderness and found no water. When they finally came to a place called Marah, they could not drink the waters there because they were bitter. “Then the people murmured against Moses saying “What shall we drink?” And Moses cried unto the Lord; and the Lord showed him a tree, which when he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statue and an ordinance, and there he proved them.” (Exodus, 15:24-25).
The tree was a picture of Calvary and the waters that became sweet were a picture of the Word of God. Where the waters of bitterness rule and reign in the hearts of individuals, the cross (tree) brings sweetness and wholeness. Bitter hearts are made pure because of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.
Time after time the Lord proved His faithfulness to the Children of Israel, even when they were unfaithful. God caused water (His word) to come out of a rock (Christ) to “quench their (spiritual) thirst.” He sent manna from heaven to feed them. He was a “cloud” that went before them during the day and a “fire” that stayed with them during the night. After all the wonders God performed in their midst, there were still many” in the camp” who murmured and complained against Moses and God.
The Children of Israel did not realize there must be a time of testing before they, by faith, could enter into the “Land of Promise.” There were many obstacles in the “promised land” they would have to overcome if they were going to make it their home. Without faith it would be impossible for them to “possess the land.” The only way they could receive faith was by learning to trust the God of promises, and not just the “promise of God.”
Many of God’s people fail to receive His promises because they trust in the promises rather than the “promise giver.” When the things they have been trusting God for does not come to pass the way or when they expect them to, they murmur and complain against the Lord. The only obstacles which stand in the way of one receiving the promises of God are one’s own lack of faith and patience.
Incessant murmuring and complaining are sins which inhibit and prohibit the substance of faith from performing the miraculous in the lives of individuals. Those who murmur and complain cannot and will not enter into the promises or the “Promised Land” of God.
In the Wilderness God was trying to birth in the Children of Israel the faith it would take for them to enter into and take the Promised Land from the its “lofty” inhabitants. Every high thing which exalted itself against the “knowledge of God” had to be “cast down,” including their pride and “unbelief.” The Wilderness was not a pleasant place to be, but nevertheless, it was a place where their faith and trust in God would be tried and tested.
If Israel arrived at the outskirts of the “promise” and did not have enough faith to enter in, it would be disheartening and disappointing for them, to say the least. In every situation during their wandering through the Wilderness, Israel was a type and shadow of the undefined and unrefined Church of the future.
THE WOMAN WITH CHILD
Revelation, 12:1-6 says: And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: and she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. 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. And his tail drew a 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. 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 His to His throne. 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.”
Some Bible scholars believe the woman John wrote about is the Church, the Wilderness is Heaven, and this event takes place before the tribulation starts. This teaching is false and cannot be backed up by scripture. If we are to receive insight into the prophetic, there are certain rules that must be followed when interpreting scripture. The first and foremost rule is that we cannot trust our own carnal ideas or instincts, but we must rely on the Spirit of God to give us “spiritual understanding.” We must also use a little common Christian sense when it comes to prophetic events and interpreting prophecy.
Common sense would tell us that the woman cannot be the Church because the Church did not give birth to Christ. The Church cannot be in Heaven if the dragon has been cast out of Heaven, and he is persecuting her. Common sense also tells us that “no part of Heaven could be described as a Wilderness.”
However, the woman is related to the Church, and the Wilderness is a place where the institutional Church will spend a period time being fed and nourished before she enters into the true Promised Land (Heaven). Of course, the man child who is to rule all nations with a rod of iron is Christ. The “Remnant” of her seed are those who have received the Word (Christ) whom the dragon, or Satan wishes to destroy.
Just as Christ was conceived out of “wedlock” in the matrix of the Virgin Mary, the Church has also been conceived out of wedlock. Mary’s womb was the chamber where the seed of the Word was planted and conceived. The Church also had a miraculous conception, but the womb it is carried in is still closed up until the appointed time for the Church to be delivered and revealed. The Bible says “For the earnest expectation of “the creation” eagerly waits for the manifestation (revealing) of the Sons of God. (Romans 8:19).
The Church, as a nation, has not yet fully developed into a viable “life force” capable of living outside the womb. It is, however, a “new creation” that God has conceived and is forming into the Bride of Christ inside the womb of Creation. Creation itself groans for the manifestation of the sons of God which she carries in her womb. As Mary carried the seed of the Word in her womb, the mother of the “new creation” carries in her womb a “new nation.” The Bride of Christ, the Church, will rule and reign with Him forever.
On Mount Calvary that seed (the Church) was planted in the womb of “Creation” and is encompassed about with “living waters” which will break forth when the “Bride child” is born. When the appointed time arrives, those living waters will break forth during time of great travail to bring forth her new child. (See Isaiah, 66:8).
The woman was clothed with the sun (Light), and the moon (a reflector of light) was under her feet. On her head was a crown of twelve stars. The crown speaks of her authority, and her God given right to rule in Life. Stars represent angels or messengers of Light. The twelve stars represent the doctrines of the twelve apostles which bring light and spiritual understanding into the Church.
The twelve stars also represent the twelve tribes of Israel in that they are prophetic of the Church as a nation. There are also twelve gates made of pearl which are entrances to the City of the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem is also considered to be the Bride of Christ. There are twelve foundations that the New Jerusalem rests upon. In the midst of the City there is a tree called the Tree of Life which produces “twelve kinds” of fruit. All these illustrations have purpose and meaning in the “hallowed hallways” of prophetic types and shadows.
For instance, the twelve foundations had the names of the twelve apostles who laid those foundations with their doctrines. (See Ephesians, 2:18-22, and Revelation, 21:14). The apostle’s writings and doctrines offer the “light of truth” to a world encompassed by spiritual darkness. Each star in the woman’s crown represents, among other things, one of those twelve apostles and the foundations of truth they established.
The “man” child John wrote about is Christ. He will rule (who was to rule) with a rod of iron. Those who overcome with and in Him will also rule with Him. They rule and reign in LIFE with Christ. Through the sacrifice of Christ they have been found without sin and guiltless in the sight of their Creator.
The woman, “Creation” that carries the “new nation”
in her womb, flees into the Wilderness just as the Hebrews fled into the Wilderness from their persecutors and taskmasters. That is where God prepared a place for her to be fed one thousand two hundred three score days, or three and one-half years.
During the Great Storm the Church is going to have a “wilderness experience.” The wilderness experience will last three and one half years. Satan, for the last time, is cast out of the heavens to earth. “And they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto death. (Revelation 12:11).
Revelation 12:13-17 tells us “And the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, and he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness into her place (that God had prepared for her) where she is nourished for a time, times and half a time, from the face of the serpent. And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and swallowed up the flood. And the dragon was wroth with the woman and went to make war with her seed, (His people) which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Christ.”
We see the seed of the woman John is writing about are those who keep the commandments of God, the Church. The dragon tries to destroy this “new creation” before she can deliver the” new nation” that is in her womb.
A deluge of accusation, lies, intimidation, defamation, and insinuation, against the woman comes pouring out of the mouth of the Dragon. The woman is being persecuted in the Wilderness where God has prepared a place for her to be nourished. The flood, however, falls to the ground and is swallowed up by the earth. The woman cannot be defeated because her foundations are firmly built upon the ROCK which is Christ. They are built upon truth, righteousness, faith, and the Blood of the Man Child, who became the Chief Cornerstone of the New Jerusalem.
The Dragon couldn’t destroy the woman so he left to make war with the REMNANT of her seed, the body of Christ which remained on the Earth. The Dragon later gives his power to the Beast (Anti-Christ), and persecutes and makes war with them (the seed) and overcomes them. (Revelation, 13:7).
The idea that the tribulation period is seven years long cannot be found anywhere in the Bible. Some Bible scholars use three different scriptures in different parts of the Bible, take them out of context, put them together, and say they represent “seven years” of tribulation. Two of them are in the book of Daniel and the other one is in the scriptures we are dealing with now.
Daniel spoke of a period of “seventy weeks,” or seventy seven year periods that would take place. After sixty nine weeks Messiah would show up, and begin His ministry. In the midst of the seventieth week, according to Daniel, Messiah would be crucified. Bible scholars take Daniel’s seventieth week, separate it from the sixty nine weeks, and move it forward in time two thousand years so it will correlate with their teachings of a “seven year” period of tribulation.
This seven year period of tribulation has no biblical foundation in scripture. The Bible does not say exactly how long the tribulation period will last. It could be seven years or it could be three and one-half year. The Bible is not specific on this issue. The three and one-half year periods in the verses we are currently dealing with are the same ones. They tell the same story about the woman in the wilderness. I don’t think she is going to be taken out of the Wilderness and put right back in the Wilderness again. It is not a seven year period that John is talking about here, but a three one-half year period he mentions twice. This type of “thematic plurality” is not uncommon in scripture.
We must remember that all Wilderness experiences in the Bible were a time of testing for God’s people. The Holy Spirit even led Jesus into the Wilderness to be tempted and tested by Satan. Satan tempted Jesus with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of life. All sinful temptations are derived from these three categories. The Hebrews were tested in the Wilderness in the same three categories Christ was tested. Few passed the tests, and many failed. The same will happen to the Church during her Wilderness experiences in the last days.
God leads us through the Wilderness and the dark valleys in order to teach us how to stand and become victorious against the wiles and schemes of the enemy. God leads us through the storms of life by His Spirit to a place flowing with “milk and honey.” He removes all the sin and the bitterness in our hearts with the “water of His word.” God is with us through every trial and temptation we face as we “traverse” the Wilderness of Sin.