150 The Revelation of Jesus Christ reflected glory of the old covenant; the sun, the glory of the new covenant." The twelve stars, of course, represent the twelve tribes, just as they did in Joseph's dream. Moreover, the Lord Jesus said to His disciples, "When the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel" (Matt. 19:28). In that day the nation will be back in their own land, even as the prophets have said. Sometimes men pervert the simplicity of a truth, trying to make a self-evident fact seem difficult to understand; and here we have an illustration of this. In other words, the whole line of Old Testament prophecy heralded the coming into the world of the Redeemer through the nation of Israel. Moses foretold that He would be "the seed of Abraham," from the tribe of Judah, a suffering Saviour and a reigning King. Samuel promised that He would come through the House of David; Isaiah, that He would be born of a virgin. Explicitly he wrote: "Unto us (Israel) a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder" (Isa. 9:6). The New Testament bears record of the fulfillment of these promises, even unto the most minute detail. Why, then, is this not the clearest, the most logical. the only scriptural interpretation of the identity of the "woman" of Rev. 12: 1, 2? Furthermore, the following verses abundantly prove this fact, dovetailing with other portions of Bible pro phecy, and unmistakably identifying the woman, fleeing into the wilderness from her persecutors, with Israel in the terrible suffering of the great tribulation period. THE CHILD-CHRIST We have no difficulty in identifying the "man child." Without a doubt He is the Lord Jesus Christ, because verse five tells us that He is "to rule all nations with a rod of iron." Many passages from the Word of God tell us that our Lord Jesus will one day be recognized as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, but at least two other times these very words are used concerning Him, as a good, marginal reference Bible will show: "Thou shalt break them (the 'nations,' R. V.) with a - rod of iron" ( Psa. 2:9). "Out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron" (Rev. 19: 15).
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