149 The Revelation of Jesus Christ ers and preachers have made of this woman. I want to give you a few interpretations concerning her identity: 1. Of course, you know that the most popular view con cerning her is that she is the church of Jesus Christ. Accord ing to this interpretation, she is seen here complete, in glory, clothed with the sun, and with a diadem of stars. But it does not take any thought to bring you to the conclusion that this is not correct, because she gave birth to a child, and that child, as we shall see, was the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the church did not give birth to the Lord Jesus Christ; it was the Son of God who founded the church. 2. The Roman Catholic expositors see, in this picture, the Virgin Mary and the place that she occupies now in heaven. It is upon this portion of the Word of God that Roman Cath olic expositors and theologians base their doctrine concerning the ascension of Mary and her elevation to be "the Queen of the Heavens." 3. From the beginning of the church, there have been false teachers; and among these have been certain women who had the conceit to claim that this woman of Revelation represented their own portrait. One of these false teachers was Mary Baker Glover Patterson Eddy. She asserted that "the man child" was Christian Science; that "the dragon" was "mortal mind"-whatever that is-ready to devour the teach ing she set forth in "Science and Health, the Key to the Scriptures." The born-again soul needs no argument to offset such blasphemy! The .Spirit of God teaches the Christian that these things are Satan's lies. But what does the Bible say about this woman? We turn back to the thirty-seventh chapter of Genesis for the scriptural key to these symbols. Every Sunday School child is familiar with the story of Joseph and his dream. He saw, as he slept, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars (he was the twelfth of Rev. 12: 1 ), bowing down to do obeisance unto him. This vision of the boy, Joseph, was understood by his father to foreshadow the glory of Israel that is yet to be, when, as a nation, she looks upon Him whom she has pierced. To quote another: "The moon at her feet represents the
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