September 7, 2022: Day 192 – Revelation 7-12

Now we are in the part of Revelation that people are afraid of.  First, we find the 144,000 who receive a seal, and they are the nations of Israel times 12 which is a complete number and which represents all of the nation of Israel.  This number is used by the Jehovah’s Witnesses to describe the finite number of people who are saved.  I like to use the number that we find in 7:9 which says: “after this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language…”  That is the number, an infinite number of people that God has saved and will bring to himself.

You find in 8:8 and following the description of a great mountain that is hurled into the sea.  It is thought that this is the description of what happened with Vesuvius when it erupted, because we know that this great mountain in Naples was thrown into the sea and destroyed many villages and people in its wake.  

One word on prophecy vs predictions.  Prophecies describes ways in which God is going to work or ways in which God has already worked.  When I read Revelation I interpret it as a message to the first century church and an attempt at describing what has already happened, much less what will happen in the 21st century.  I know that takes some of the “fun” away from trying to match what Scripture says in Revelation and what is happening today in current events, but it is much healthier to see it this way.

I had not seen that 12 is also covered in this reading.  So, the woman has habitually been seen as Mary who gives birth to Jesus, what with the killing of the innocents by Herod after Jesus is born and their fleeing to Egypt, all of this can neatly fit into the prophecy that this Scripture lays out.