Understanding the Great Sign of Revelation 12:1

 Yes, I know, I haven't posted for some time now. Excuses, I have none, but life certainly gets in the way, and I went through a dry spell.

Revelation 12:1 NASB

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;

I am focusing on this passage because, within my relatively small circle of teachers, this was a hot topic for several years, and many of these teachers were not afraid to point out that we are in the season in which Jesus will come to snatch away the church.

If you have been a follower of my posts, then you know I equated this season to the American Baseball World Series. We recently finished the World Series in October of this year. To bring you up to speed on why this is poignant to Revelation 12, the World Series has variables built into the game, and so does the great sign.

The King James conveys Revelation 12:1 in this manner:

"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:” 

I advocate studying the simplest words and phrases, so let's start with this.

A great -

The Strong's number is G3173. It is the Greek word mégas; fem. megále, neut. Méga. It is an adjective (a word that describes;) and implies great size, largeness, or physical magnitude.

The Word study dictionary also speaks of men or creatures, indicating great size or stature.

Without explanatory details, we can understand that this "sign" is enormous.

Sign -

Sign is the Strong's # G4592. It is the Greek word sēmeion. It is a noun and means sign, mark, token, or a miracle with a spiritual end and purpose.

An obvious factor is that we know this is NOT a miracle, therefore we will cling to it being a sign, mark or token.

What can I make of this so far?

In John's writings, it is portrayed as something of tremendous size whose purpose is to mark an end. John wrote about a time in the future, and we live in that time.

Why didn't anyone tell me about this before?

Revelation 12:1 KJV  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:

There appeared -

Feel free to look at other translations if you can access another.

Appeared is the Greek word optánomai. This is Strong's # G3700 – and the reference implies with eyes wide open.

There is a clear sense that the Spirit wants us to take this in and understand.

If this is the arrangement of stars and heavenly bodies that make up the constellation Virgo, you can be confident that, for us, this constellation did not merely appear in the sky. What changed, and rather suddenly, was that other planets and moving objects, such as moons, comets, and asteroids, combined to create this sign.

According to the website “EarthSky.org”, this was initiated around September 17, 2017, and has continued to demonstrate God's prophetic word ever since. This “scientific” website also tells us that the constellation represents a harvest goddess.

In searching for answers, I stumbled upon this website: https://www.torahtimes.org/writings/date-clarified/article.html – here, we look at this constellation from a Jewish point of view. Considering that the entirety of our mindset should be Jewish, I thought this would be important. The following are excerpts from their site.

• “The word “sign” is first mentioned in Gen. 1:14¹, where it is explained, “Then they will have been for signs and for appointed times, and for days, and years.”

• “The woman is the constellation Virgo. This is an autumn seasonal sign when the sun conjuncts with it. The sun is also said to be in it in the autumn, or in front of it.”

  The sun's placement and timing would not seem important; however, it plays a role as the scene demonstrates God's plan of redemption and salvation of humanity, should they decide to jump on board.

  As a youth, these “night objects” were nothing more than interesting and pretty lights in the sky. What began to change my thinking was that the magi from the east, whom we understand to have been trained by Daniel while he, too, was in Babylonian captivity, the Magi used those lights to lead them to the Messiah. Add to this that Herod ordered the Scribes and Pharisees of the Jews to testify before him as to what sign the Magi had followed and the significance of such a sign. They knew that it was an indication of the birth of Jesus the Messiah, and they had chosen not to ascribe to it as the Magi had.

• The “torahtimes.org” goes on to say that “Virgo is the greatest of the constellations which mark the course of the sun, just as the text says, “a great sign.”” Of all the ecliptic constellations, it is the second largest. The largest constellation is Hydra, but this one does not lie along the ecliptic course of the sun, and it is only slightly larger.

  Significant information.

• “The sun moves into a new constellation almost every month. In September the sun lies in front of the constellation of Virgo. So this sign is giving us the seasonal date of Messiah’s birth.”

  Wouldn't it be awesome if this was the year that it marked the return of Jesus, the Messiah, to collect His bride?

• “Now when the sun is in a constellation sign its glare keeps the stars from being seen. However ancient astronomers back to Persian times (think about Daniel when you read this) knew exactly which stars the sun was in conjunction with even though they could not see past the sun. They determined this by observing the constellation at night in another season and then calculating the sun’s position when it moved into the sign. We must consider that Yoɦanan is seeing with the eyes of the Ruaɦ Elohım (this is the Hebrew equivalent to the Holy Spirit,) in the vision, and that though the constellation is clothed with the sun, he (John the beloved,) is enabled to see it and the selected stars at the head of it.”

  “The stars are there, but he (John) is only shown twelve. There are really many more than twelve stars.

  He is only shown twelve stars because the stars are supposed to give an additional message to the reader. These stars are the twelve tribes of Yisra‘ɛl (Israel). So we see a second message layered within the astronomical sign—about Yisra‘ɛl.

  Later in the passage, we also see that the woman is more than just a constellation.”

  “The position of the moon is given under the feet of the woman. In order to appreciate this we have to know at what angle this sign is typically viewed. As viewed from earth near sunset at the start of the feast day the vision appears like this simulated image. The atmosphere setting for the Stellarium 0.14.1 software has been turned off in the simulation. Otherwise the glare of the sun would fill the whole constellation. This makes the metaphor “clothed with the sun” sensible.”

  “The position of the moon on three days is as follows:

8/30 after sun sets   The Moon is under the hip and not visible.  
8/31 after sun sets   New Moon first visible (Tishri 1) under feet and legs. 
9/1 after sun sets.   Moon under empty space, (Tishri 2)       between Libra and Virgo. 

“The correct position is for sunset 8/31(August), which is the beginning of Yom Teruah, a scriptural feast day, also called Rosh Hashanah or the Feast of Trumpet”(s.)

"The sun only covers (“clothes”) the constellation Virgo in the fall, and this recurs every year. Likewise, when the moon is near the sun to the east of the sun, then it is likely to be a new moon. The lineup with the legs shows that it is a new moon. I should note that in Hebrew and also the Greek used by the Jews, the word “feet” also means “legs.”

The lineup of the moon, as described, does not occur nearly as well in other years, and in some years, not at all. This is because the sun varies its location in the constellation as the new moon day moves back and forth for about 30 days. And often the locations are not ideal.”

“Interpreting the Parable of Rev. 12:1-2”

“The simple astronomical explanation given above corresponds to all the details in the passage."

"The constellation of Virgo is a woman who is clothed with the sun in the fall, and under her feet was the new moon, and there are at least twelve stars near the head."

The constellation is a sign."

It is also a great sign.

"At the time of the sign, the woman was in labor to give birth. The only year that matched the sign exactly, and exactly with the priestly divisions, was 2 BC on August 31. (Which happened to be the birth of Jesus.)

Yet, most amazingly, and most incredibly, almost everyone in the Christian world hastens to DENY that this is what the sign means.”

“Yeshu‘a has his reasons, and he stated them in part here (See Matthew 13:10-17)². Messiah did not just tell parables himself while on earth. But through the Spirit he tells parables in the Scripture. There are quite a number of chronological ciphers both in the Torah and Prophets and also in the Apostolic Writings (a.k.a. New Testament). Revelation 12:1-2 is one of them.”

Wouldn't it be awesome if God decided it was time for Jesus to come and harvest His bride?

Many tried to make me aware of this sign, and I did what most of you do; I ignored the information because it was too much, and I integrated the demonic association of the stars (astrology) with astronomy, a scientific observation of the universe.

in heaven -

Strong's #G3772. It is the Greek word ouranos and means the sky; by extension, heaven (as the abode of God).

Now, we can ascertain that this great sign will be in the heavens, the sky, among the stars.

a woman -

Woman is the Greek word gune. It is the Strong's #G1096 and means a woman, specifically a wife: G1135.

She represents Israel, Eve who is the birth mother that led to Israel, and Jesus.

Assuming you have been paying attention, then you know that the first scriptural reference that demonstrates the plan of salvation and redemption of humanity, even if they should reject that plan, is through the woman Eve, with not only the birth of Israel, once again, but also the birth of Jesus.

Why Jesus?

Since the fall of humanity in the garden, we are ALL tainted in our DNA and carry traits that motivate us to SIN.

The Defenders Study Bible tells us that Genesis 3:15 is

“the first promise of redemption (Gen_3:15) is commonly known as the protevangel (first gospel). In its essence, the gospel (good news) is the message that the Creator is also our Redeemer and coming King and that true faith in Him—faith which produces salvation—will also produce loving obedience to His Word.”

I will tell you that I had never heard the term protevangel until the 70^th year of my life. However, I was adept enough to realize that the plan of redemption, though somewhat masked in terminology, was there in God's adversarial opposition to Satan.

The passage reads like this.

Genesis 3:15 MKJV  And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He will bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.

A more readable translation.

Genesis 3:15 BBE  And there will be war between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed: by him will your head be crushed and by you his foot will be wounded.

Pay attention to words and phrases such as enmity (what does that mean?) and “between your seed and her Seed.”

Enmity can be interchanged with hostility, antagonism, ill-will, and hatred. As you can see, the Bible in Basic English says there will be a war. When you read that the war began long ago in the heavens, you might wonder why it has continued for so long.

In the Gospel of Luke, it is recorded:

Luke 10:18 MKJV  And He said to them, I saw Satan fall from Heaven like lightning.

Satan did not merely trip and fall off the edge; he fought against the heavenly forces and lost. God himself threw Satan out of heaven. You might think that God was sufficient to kill Satan like a bug, but Satan, like the angels, is an eternal being and cannot be killed; therefore, Satan is still alive, and we see him in the Book of Job, approaching God with the Sons of God. Note: God does not waste time with idle threats, and that is why we will also see Satan locked up for a thousand years and then permanently, forever.

Ezekiel also describes the end result of this battle.

Ezekiel 28:15-16 MKJV  You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created until iniquity was found in you.  16  By the multitude of your goods, they have filled your midst with violence, and you have sinned. So I cast you profaned from the height of God, and I destroy you, O covering cherub, from among the stones of fire.

And Isaiah speaks of Satan being brought down.

Isaiah 14:13-15 MKJV  For you have said in your heart, I will go up to the heavens, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north.  14  I will go up above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High.  15  Yet you shall be brought down to hell, to the sides of the Pit.

We are still considering Genesis 3:15.

As many will tell you, the woman does not carry the seed but the result of the interaction of a seed from the male with the egg of the woman. In the case of Mary, from the point in which she agreed to be a participant, the Holy Spirit came upon her, and she became merely the carrier of a fertile egg that He created, and that became Jesus.

Why couldn't God use one of the eggs from Mary's womb?

Because of the actions of Adam and Eve in the Garden, where they both partook of the fruit that changed their DNA, they impacted the lineage of all humanity.

Let's assume you don't believe that could happen.

What do you think is happening when you take a mRNA vaccine that is openly declared to change your DNA? It changes your DNA. This is why God had to make a fertilized egg absent the typical path of fertilization, and Mary simply carried it as a surrogate mother through the birth process. Jesus, by this process, may have looked and acted like a human, but He did NOT have damaged DNA that pushed and motivated Him to sin, as it does us, and, therefore, had no sin.

So, Satan has been in a perpetual war with the seed, the lineage of Eve, ever since that day.

Proof?

Genesis 4:8 MKJV  And Cain talked with his brother Abel. And it happened when they were in the field; Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.

The firstborn child of Adam and Eve killed the secondborn over a sacrifice, which was easy to resolve by following the instructions. We, in scripture, do not see the specifics of those instructions, but the understanding that it happened is there if you are willing to look for it.

The “logical” mind will say this verse does not say that Satan killed Abel. It does not have to. We already know that Satan will try to kill off the seed of the woman, and as you continue to study, you will find that God uses people motivated by Satan and his demons to carry out the destructive side of evil.

1) Genesis 1:14 BSB  And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to distinguish between the day and the night, and let them be signs to mark the seasons and days and years.

2) Matthew 13:10-17 BSB  Then the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Why do You speak to the people in parables?”  11  He replied, “The knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.  12  Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.  13  This is why I speak to them in parables: ‘Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.’  14  In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled: ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.  15  For this people’s heart has grown callous; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them.’  16  But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.  17  For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

Young earth or old earth, is it worth the fight?

 At a time when we may be sitting at the edge of the church's removal from earth, it seems strange to ask the question,

"Are we dealing with a young earth or an old one?"

Science, with its ties to Darwinian theory and all of those simian-like skulls that we were compelled to associate with evolutionary theories, which were proven to be human manipulations pushed upon the public; that and the growing understanding of how the Smithsonian Institute and its aggressive push toward evolution and crushing of Christian beliefs played a role in our understanding of history, the less I value their input.

In a typical conversation with a young earth advocate who has brutishly advocated for their position, I will frequently bring up the validity of an old earth against a young earth based upon our lack of understanding of the scope of a simple Hebrew word like yôm, or day in the English transliteration.

The Young Earthers typically base their spirited arguments on information they have obtained from Dr. Ken Ham's Answers in Genesis. Dr. Hamm also created the Young Earth creationist organization that operates the Ark Encounter in Kentucky and believes wholeheartedly in the teachings of James Ussher.

According to Wikipedia and information listed by the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, James Ussher obtained a Master’s in Theology by age 20. He quickly became the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of all Ireland between 1625 and 1656. Many sought his wisdom, and he had the ear of King James of England. His influence extended into every known denomination of the time.

Ussher was best known for his calculation of the age of the Universe, known as the ‘Ussher chronology.’ He determined the first day of biblical creation to be October 23, 4004 BC. By the middle of the 19th century, Ussher’s chronology came under increasing attack from supporters of uniformitarianism, who argued that Ussher’s “young Earth” was incompatible with the increasingly accepted view of an Earth much more ancient than Ussher’s.

In the book Before Genesis, the authors Donna Holland and Dr. Thomas Horn pointed out that Ussher admitted that he assumed several dates. This assumption, as Donna Holland and Dr. Horn have pointed out, “may have been necessary, seeing as scripture is vague on some things like the word used for both a small increment of time or a vast period of undocumented time; and the transliteration of the King James version from “original” sources of Hebrew is influenced by many issues and difficult at best.”

These are things that would have influenced and potentially corrupted someone's understanding.

1. Moses documented what he saw, heard, and experienced. God filled in other details, such as the creation of the earth and, in time, humanity—Adam and Eve.

2. This accumulation of laws, history, and—in the case of Psalms and Proverbs—poetry became the Torah. But remember that until Heidelberg invented the printing press, the Torah was only in scroll form. These scrolls were so valuable that copies were primarily kept in the synagogues. If the scribe "copying" a scroll made a mistake, the entire scroll must be trashed. So, errors may not have been found for many years.

3. What language did they use to make these Bibles we use? Well, it is safe to say it was NOT English. We know that the Torah may well have been initially written in a form of Hebrew that was banished during Roman oppression. There would have been an eventual struggle to try to recover that language. A problem like this might explain why much of the Bible was transliterated from Koine Greek. Wikipedia gives us this about Koine Greek – it is also known as Hellenistic and Biblical Greek, evolved from Attic, and is a more recent dialect. It is pronounced more closely to modern Greek. It is the dialect in which the New Testament was composed and into which the Old Testament, or Septuagint, was translated from older Hebrew and Aramaic manuscripts.

I asked Wikipedia how many forms of Hebrew are known? The response:

• Biblical Hebrew: Also known as Classical Hebrew, this is the archaic form of Hebrew used in most of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament). 

• Mishnaic Hebrew: Also known as Rabbinic Hebrew, this was the language used in the Mishna, a collection of Jewish traditions written around 200 CE. 

• Medieval Hebrew: This period lasted from the 6th to the 13th century CE, and many words were borrowed from other languages. 

• Modern Hebrew: This is the language used in Israel today. It has two main versions: Sephardic Hebrew, also known as Ivrit or Israeli, and Ashkenazi Hebrew, also known as Ladino or Yiddish. 

• Ashkenazi Hebrew: This dialect is commonly used in Israel, but its popularity is declining compared to Israeli Hebrew. 

• Sephardi Hebrew: This dialect is spoken by Jews from Spain, Brazil, Portugal, and Italy. 

• Mizrahi Hebrew: This dialect is spoken by Jews from the Middle East. 

So, under Roman rule, where the Hebrew language, both written and spoken, was banished, the Jewish people had to learn Greek. Thus, Greek and Aramaic became the primary languages of biblical restoration, as we see in Daniel's writings.

Imagine the collective effort required to recover the entire book of Isaiah, for example. An oral recitation, a shared responsibility, would have been mandatory. The process of picking someone or multiple persons' brains to recover a rather large document not only adds to the potential for errors but also underscores the sense of community in the restoration of these texts. Many of those documents that were stashed away in the Qumran caves played a crucial role in the restoration of the Torah.

So when you respond to someone (typically a religious zealot who adheres to a literal six-day, 24-hour creation) with yes, but the Hebrew word yôm, which was translated as a day in Genesis 1:5, can also be translated as vast eons of time, the skilled young earth apologist will perpetually try to deter your assertions by pointing out God's installation of day and night, which, in their minds, clearly demonstrates a 24-hour period.

Sadly, all this talk about 24-hour creation periods doesn't seem to work without a Sun, and we don't see that until Genesis 1:16 when we see God placing the Sun in the sky on the fourth day.

Genesis 1:16NASB God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also.

The Hebrew word yôm covers a wide range of time concepts. The Word Study Dictionary gives us this.

• A masculine noun meaning day, time, or year.

• This word stands as the most basic conception of time in the Old Testament.

• It designates such wide-ranging elements as the daylight hours from sunrise to sunset (Gen_1:5; 1Ki_19:4);

• a literal twenty-four-hour cycle (Deu_16:8; 2Ki_25:30);

• a generic span of time (Gen_26:8; Num_20:15);

  In Genesis 26:8 it is an indeterminate amount of time, likely consisting of days (hence, along time.)

  Genesis 26:7-8 LEB  When the men of the place asked concerning his wife, he said, "She is my sister," for he was afraid to say, "my wife," thinking "the men of the place will kill me on account of Rebekah, for she was beautiful."  8  And it happened that, when he had been there a long time, Abimelech the king of the Philistines looked through the window, and saw—behold—Isaac was fondling Rebekah his wife.

  In the book of Numbers, we see God's people as slaves in Egypt for a long time.

  Numbers 20:15 LEB  our ancestors went down to Egypt, and we lived in Egypt a long time, and the Egyptians mistreated us and our ancestors.

  In Exodus 12:40 we see a reference that spells out how long Israel was there in captivity; that would indicate that “yôm” also meant 430 years.

• a given point in time (Gen_2:17; Gen_47:29; Eze_33:12).

  In Genesis 2:17, the day was not specified and was certainly to come, but when?

  Genesis 2:17 LEB  but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die."

  Genesis 47:29, in speaking of Jacob / Israel, he had lived a full life and at this point they could see his death coming, but no one could say when that would happen. In this case, the yôm (or day of his death) was unknown to them.

• In the plural, the word may also mean the span of life (Psa_102:3 [4])

  Psalms 102:3 LEB  for my days vanish in smoke, and my bones are charred like a hearth.

• or a year (Lev_25:29; 1Sa_27:7).

  Leviticus 25:29 LEB  "' And if a man sells a residential house in a walled city, then it shall be his redemption until completing a year after his selling; its redemption shall last a year.

  In the NASB version of this passage, the length is spelled out as a full year. This is the Strong's number H3117 yôm.

• The prophets often infuse the word with end-times meanings or connotations, using it in connection with a future period of consequential events, such as the "day of the LORD" (Jer_46:10; Zec_14:1) or simply, "that day" (Isa_19:23; Zec_14:20-21).

Zechariah is speaking about the thousand year reign of the Messiah over the earth and specifically the nations participating in the Feast of Booths.

Zechariah 14:20-21 LEB  On that day there will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, "Holy to Yahweh." And the cooking pots in the house of Yahweh will be holy, like the sacrificial basins before the altar.  21  And every cooking pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to Yahweh of hosts, and all those who sacrifice will come and will take from them, and will cook in them, and there will be no longer a trader in the house of Yahweh of hosts on that day.

Here, in contrast to a 24-hour day, the usage of the phrase “on that day” clearly refers to the entirety of actions that occur during the millennial reign, and it is the word yôm.

The word yôm is used by the Prophet Jeremiah as he addresses the seven years of God's wrath.

Jeremiah 46:10 LEB  For that day is to the Lord Yahweh of hosts a day of retribution, to take revenge on his foes. And the sword will devour and be satisfied, and it will drink its fill of their blood, for a sacrifice is for the Lord Yahweh of hosts in the land of the north by the Euphrates River.

Having studied our Bibles, we know that this time of revenge is also known as God's wrath. This is the period between the catching away of the bride of Christ and the millennial reign.

My hope is that I have made it possible for you to read the scriptures with an open mind and are willing to take in other information that would help to make a concept, such as a day a word that can help to answer your questions instead of creating more.

If I can l read Genesis 1:1 with the understanding that Jesus spoke the entirety of the creation into existence; and that Isaiah 45:18 tells us that it was perfect in the day that it was formed, then something cataclysmic happened between verses 1 and 2. It is now easier to understand that the cataclysmic event happened within an indeterminate time frame and that God was now putting things back into order without holding to a 24-hour time frame.