Carnegie Auditorium, Pittsburg, Pa.
Tuesday, November 6, 1962
Kathryn Kuhlman
SERMON NO. 23
- Revelation 12:1 through 12.
I am very frank to tell you that there are literally thousands of ministers who would take issue with me on one of the things that I have taught you on the Book of the Revelation. In some of those things I stand absolutely alone. I still put out a challenge to any Bible scholar, to any minister, to any teacher in any seminary to prove to me by the Word of God that I am wrong in anything that I bring you in giving you the interpretation of the Word of God as the Holy Ghost has given it to me. If you can prove to me by the Scripture that I am wrong, I will stand up publicly and admit that I was wrong in the interpretation. I have had no seminary training. No one has ever taught me. I have had only one Teacher on the Book of the Revelation, and that is, the Holy Ghost.
I still contend that you can have no understanding of the meaning of the Book of the Revelation unless you know the rest of the Bible. You have to know both your Old Testament and your New Testament. You have to have your theology straight. If you have the rest of your theology straight, then you have a perfect understanding of the Book of the Revelation. There is nothing that is complicated about it. It just proves the rest of the Word.
We are in something now that is very, very deep. There are two great wonders in this 12th chapter of the Book of the Revelation. May I make it very clear to you that both of these wonders will take place in the last three and a half years of the tribulation. There will be 7 years of tribulation.
The whole thing is shaping up so fast, and as I told the folk on Sunday, BE CAREFUL! Whenever the Word speaks of the time of the end, whenever reference is made to the time of the end, when we come to the time of the end of the Gentiles and we go into this new dispensation, always the Bible warns of two things: great deception and when they cry peace and safety, then shall come sudden destruction. It will come very quickly. With our missiles, with the type of warfare we have, it will all be over with very quickly. It isn’t as though we have old-fashion weapons. It isn’t a matter of just guns. With the type of warfare we have, in just 12 hours a nation can be completely wiped out. You can understand it partly now in the light of the day in which we are living.
Again remember that these very things that I am bringing you in these messages are yet prophecy but will become history. I could not bring you something that is more up-to-date than these messages on the Book of the Revelation. A smart editor could write an editorial regarding anything that I am bringing you and he would be safe. These things will – in our generation – appear on the front pages of our newspapers. Our news commentators will be speaking on these very things before this generation will have passed into history. People living today will see the things come to pass that I am giving you and these messages.
Now, you will remember, in the 12th chapter of the Book of the Revelation, John saw two great wonders. This is the first of the two great wonders that John saw. Again I repeat, both of these great wonders take place the last three and a half years of the 7 years of the tribulation. The first great wonder that John saw was: “a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.” Two weeks ago, we established the fact that this woman is Israel. I stand absolutely alone on this. Our greatest Bible scholar say that this woman, this great wonder that John saw, typifies or is a symbol of the Church. It absolutely cannot be the Church. The Church has already been raptured. This woman that John saw was with child. “And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.”
You cannot put words in God’s mouth that He did not say. You cannot put words in the Word of God that are not there. Whatever the Church is spoken of in the New Testament – and, of course, it is only spoken of in the New Testament, for no reference is made of the Church in the Old Testament – it is always spoken of as a “chaste virgin;” and a chaste virgin cannot be with child. It cannot be the Church. A chaste virgin with child? No. The Church is likened unto a virgin espoused to her husband. The Church will have been caught up. All of this happens during the time we are with our Lord at the great Wedding Supper of the Lamb.
There is always a key in every part of the Book of the Revelation and the key, as to who this woman is who is clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars, is right there: “and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.” Bless you! That’s Israel. All on earth you have to do is go to your Old Testament and read regarding Joseph’s dream. Joseph was the twelfth star. It is all in the Book of Genesis, chapter 37.
Isn’t it logical, when you realize that the “times of the Gentiles” has come to an end? Therefore, it has nothing to do with the Gentiles whatsoever. This happened during the last three and a half years of the tribulation, and God will be dealing with the Jewish people during that time.
You will find that this woman “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 to his throne.” Who is to rule with a rod of iron? Only One: Jesus, when He comes back to rule and reign. You will find that recorded in the 19th chapter of Revelation, the 15th verse: “And out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: AND HE SHALL RULE THEM WITH A ROD OF IRON: and he treadrth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.” This describes the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ when He comes back in bodily form and His feet actually touch this earth for the first time since He went away. Therefore, the man-child that was brought forth, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, can be none other than Jesus Christ.
Why is He referred to as a man-child? He was born a little tiny baby in His mother’s arms. We don’t refer to that as a man-child, when He came as a Babe. The three wise man knew who He was. Did the Jewish people, as a whole, accept him? No, they did not! The Jews, because of their rejection of the Messiah, were supplanted as a nation by the Gentiles because Jewish people rejected that Babe in the manger who was their True Messiah.
They were looking for Him. Every good Jew was looking for the True Messiah. Why? Their prophet sang of the Messiah who was to come. Read Jeremiah, Isaiah. Bless your heart! Every Jew in that day it was taught that the Messiah was coming. They were looking for the Messiah. Every good Orthodox Jew is still looking for the Messiah. You cannot talk to a good Orthodox Jew without knowing he is still looking, with great expectation, for the coming of the Messiah. They are expecting Him to come as a king in great glory. That is the reason they missed it, when He did come as a Babe in swaddling clothes.
Because of the rejection of the Messiah, they were supplanted as a nation by the Gentiles, and the Gentiles were given a chance and the Gentiles accepted that Babe in the manger as the Son of the Living God; as their Messiah.
Do you want to know why the Church was never spoken of in the Old Testament? Abraham knew nothing about the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ that was to be in the future. Jeremiah, Isaiah – read the Old Testament – never use the word or made any reference to the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Not a single reference is made in the Old Testament. Why? Because when the Jews as a nation, as a people, rejected the True Messiah, the very Son of the Living God, when He came as a Baby in the manger, remember the Jews, as God’s people, were supplanted by the Church. You must get that straight. They were supplanted by the Church, but remember something. God made some promises and He is going to keep them. I don’t care what those promises are. God never changes His mind. He never back down. Never! You can’t argue Him out of it. He will keep His promises.
I will give you a Scripture. Hosea 3:4:
“For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim.”
Hosea 3:4
This is what he is saying: “There is coming a time because of the rejection of the Messiah when He did come, the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice…”
Turn also to Luke, the 21st chapter, verse 24:
“And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.”
Luke 21:24
The time is coming when the “times of the Gentiles” will come to an end. The times of the Gentiles began with the Church on the Day of Pentecost. It began then because Israel, because the Jewish people refused to accept Christ as the True Messiah. Because they did, God turned to the Gentiles; because they did, we have the Church – the body of believers, men and women, both Jews and Gentiles, who have accepted Him. During the times of the Gentiles, the Jewish people have paid the price – and they are still paying the price, for rejecting the Baby born in that manger. They have been a scattered people; they have been people without a nation. They have been a people that have been driven out of every nation in the world, with the exception of the United States. Sometimes I believe that is why we have been blessed as a nation because we have been a shelter to the Jews, and God has promised a blessing on the nation who gives shelter to the Jews. They have been scattered to the four corners of the earth. You talk about persecution! I don’t think there has been a people more hated and more persecuted than the Jews – for no reason at all. They have been hated; they have been persecuted; they have been slaughtered.
When the times of the Gentiles is fulfilled – and it is fulfilled with the end of Pentecost, with the last day of the Church, when the Church is raptured – the very minute we have the Rapture of the Church, that is the day we come to the end of the times of the Gentiles and that will be the beginning of the seven years of tribulation. Those seven years will again be a dispensation of the Jews. God will turn from the Gentiles to the Jews. Why? Because He is going to keep those earthly covenants that He made with Abraham and his seed away back there. God never forgets. It may be 2000 years, 2400 years, 6000 years, but God never forgets! He will keep any promise that He makes. He has never forgotten a single promise that He made to Abraham and his seed. The Jews are an earthly people; God’s covenants with them are earthly covenants; their judgment will be an earthly judgment.
Paul continues with something that I want to read to you. Turned to the 11th chapter of Romans, the 25th verse:
“For I would not, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.”
Romans 11:25
He is not only talking to the brethren then as brethren in the Lord, he is also talking to the Jewish brethren. Oh, the spiritual insight that God gave to Paul; the glorious revelations that the Father gave to Paul. It is the most thrilling thing in the world. What is he talking about? Because the Jews, as a whole, rejected Jesus when He came as a Baby in the manger, He permitted a blindness, a spiritual blindness. I am not talking about the physical eyes. I am talking about a spiritual blindness.
Haven’t you seen people who can sit under a ministry and yet, at the end of six months they still do not know what it is all about? They can read the Bible and the simplest things in the Scripture are not understandable to them. Spiritual things are different than anything else in the world. “For flesh and blood has not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.” Spiritual things can only be spiritually understood and revealed.
God has permitted a spiritual blindness since their rejection of Jesus as the Messiah, when He came as a Babe. He has turned to the Gentiles giving them an opportunity for salvation, forming His Church, the Body of Christ. During this time He has permitted a blindness, a spiritual blindness, to come onto them. “… that blindness in part is happened to Israel.” How long? “… until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.” In other words, until the Rapture of the Church; until the Great Catching Up. Then what happens? “And so ALL Israel shall be saved.” When? During the times of the Gentiles? No. Not “until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.”
After the Rapture, after the time of the end, ALL ISRAEL SHALL BE SAVED. Romans 11:26 to 28:
“And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, there shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.
For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.
As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved or the fathers’ sakes.”
Romans 11:28
Why? Verse 29:
“For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.”
Romans 11:29
Away back there, He gave certain covenants to Abraham and his seed. God is going to keep those earthly covenants that He made Abraham and his seed – every blessed one of them will be kept.
Turn now to Jeremiah, the 30th chapter, verses 10 and 11:
“Therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the lord; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid.
For I am with thee, saith the Lord to save thee; though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered them, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct the in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.”
Jeremiah 30:10-11
THERE WILL ALWAYS BE AN ISRAEL! There may not always be an England, a Russia, a Germany, a United States of America, but there will always be at Israel. Always!
Turn to Amos, the 9th chapter, verses 14 and 15: “And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them;…” What are they doing right now? Exactly that. “… and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God.”
Those are earthly covenants. Therefore, watch something now. Israel has refused to accept the Babe in swaddling clothes. That Babe that came in swaddling clothes grew to manhood. At the age of 33, His feet left the Mount of Olives and He ascended and is today at the right hand of God the Father. He is a man-child, full grown, in position of Great High Priest. They did not accept the Baby as the Messiah, but they will.
The day is coming when, as a nation, the blindness will be lifted and the greatest revival that mankind has ever known will not be among the Gentiles, but will be with Israel and the Jewish people; for as a nation, as a whole, they will accept the True Messiah. But what is He now? He is a man-child, not a Babe, having ascended into heaven. They didn’t accept Him as a Babe. All this time has transpired. Much has happened since the first Christmas morning and that which is yet future. But when they do accept Him, He will have passed from a Babe to position of Great High Priest. That is why the child that Israel brought forth was “a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.” He is seated at the right hand of God the Father.
Revelations 12:6:
“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.”
Revelation 12:6
Why, beloved, did she have to flee into the wilderness? Why will Israel one day – after accepting the Christ as True Messiah – have to flee into the wilderness? She is not fleeing with the child. She is fleeing for her own safety. She will be provided for, she will be fed, she will be protective of the Lord for three and a half years. Hold that just a minute. I want you to see something. This is marvelous.
See what the second great wonder is. Beloved, it proves that this woman cannot be the Church but that it is Israel, for the two great wonders go hand in hand. We begin with: Revelation 12:1:
“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.”
Revelation 12:1
Watch verse 3:
“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.”
Revelation 12:3
What happened? Verse 4:
“And his tail drew the 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.”
Revelation 12:4
Therefore, these two great wonders go together. You cannot separate one from the other. You cannot! It is impossible to separate one from the other. Both of these great wonders take place in the three and a half years of the last part of the tribulation. Who is this second wonder? “… a great red dragon.” We are not left in doubt as to who is meant by the “great red dragon.” All you have to do is read the 9th verse: “And the great red dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” Therefore, we know absolutely that this dragon, this second great wonder that John saw in heaven, is none other than Satan. Why is he called a red dragon? I’ll tell you why. The color “red” stands for “a murderer,” and Satan has been a murderer from the very beginning.
Turn to John 8:44: “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him.” That is the reason Khrushchev cannot tell the truth. There is no truth in him. Watch it. “When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: poor he is a liar, and the father of it.” Every time you lie, you take on the personality of Satan. When you see somebody who is a liar, that one is a tool of Satan. God does not lie; the Holy Ghost does not lie. “Ye are of your father the devil, … He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him… for he is a liar, and the father of it.” Plainer words were never spoken. Watch now.
Here we have it. We have here Satan. To make dead sure, it goes on to say, in verse 4: “And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth…” Turn to the 38th chapter of Job, verse 7: “When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” Here you will find again angels are referred to as “stars.” In the Old Testament, over and over again, angels are referred to as stars. Here in revelation 12:4 this talks about “stars of heaven.”
When Lucifer fell – remember that which is the devil today was one of the three most beautiful angels that God ever created. Lucifer, Michael and Gabriel, these three, I think, were equal in power. But Michael and Lucifer have always fought. This gives proof that when Lucifer fell and became Satan through his fall and the sin of jealousy, he drew with him one-third of the angels. That is what it says: “And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven…”
Now, what we should have here is a period in the first part of verse 4, for it goes on describing – in other words he is giving us this picture of this woman, Israel, about to give birth to this child. Here comes the time when the eyes of the Jewish people are opened and they see for the very first time their mistake; they see the One they refused was the true Messiah that Jeremiah, Isaiah, the prophets of old, sang about. They will see it, not just 100, 1000 or 10,000. Suddenly their eyes will be opened, their hearts will be opened – and remember, ruling and reigning upon this earth will be Antichrist, the great world ruler, who will, in reality, be Satan incarnate.
The very second that the eyes of Israel are opened, that same instance, what happens? The devil is right there. He is standing before them: “and the red dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.” Watch something.
It isn’t that the devil loves you and loves me but, beloved, haven’t you seen a man about to accept Christ as his Savior. Literally, I have seen people who have been so under conviction when altar call was given. When they are about to make their decision, I have seen the greatest battle ever fought and won in the human heart. I have seen men standing there with great beads of perspiration dropping and their faces turning an ashen white. They couldn’t move. Literally, it was as though their bodies were frozen. Why? Because there was a battle that was going on between the forces of darkness and the forces of righteousness. There is a warfare that has been going on through the centuries. There are only two forces in the world tonight. “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world…” Against Satanic power. That force is on tonight. We don’t begin to know what goes on before a man or a woman accepts Christ as their Savior.
Now, Satan knows his time is short and when that moment comes when he knows that literally tens of thousands upon thousands of Jews will accept the True Messiah, just before Israel is about to give birth to that man-child, just before that new birth takes place, Satan stands there ready to take from them that experience; he is ready to take that child and choke it before it is born. He would like to put the True Messiah to death. He would like to destroy all Israel. It is there. You can’t take one from the other. Oh, this description: “and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.” It stops right there and then goes on with the woman, Israel. Revelation 12:5 and 6:
“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 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.”
Revelation 12:5-6
We come back again. You can’t separate one wonder from the other. Verse 7:
“And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels.”
Revelation 12:7
Why was there war in heaven? The Devil, the great red dragon, became so angry that again – me thinks that it was the first time since he was thrown out of heaven – again in his fury, in his anger, because his time is short, he begins to ascend into heaven. Why? Because Michael has defeated him again in the victories that he won. “And there was a war in heaven.” In other words, Michael and Lucifer again fight.
Verse 8:
“And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.”
Revelation 12:8
Verse 9:
“And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”
Revelation 12:9
Here is your key. Verse 10:
“And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.”
Revelation 12:10
Verse 11:
“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”
Revelation 12:11
“And they overcame…” Who? Bless you! Israel… The Jews. Who did they overcome? Him – the dragon; Satan. “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb…” A Jew has to be converted and saved through the BLOOD OF THE LAMB, in exactly the same way a Gentile is saved through the blood of the Lamb. “IT IS THE BLOOD THAT MAKES ATONEMENT FOR THE SOUL.” Hallelujah!! Israel, the Jews, will be saved how? BY THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB. Even though they waited to accept Him as a man-child, they still have to come through Him and are saved through the BLOOD OF THE LAMB and BY THE WORD OF THEIR TESTIMONY.
As in the day of Ahab, when they refused to bend the knee and bow the head unto old Ahab, Israel will not – in the future, bow a knee to Antichrist. They will NEVER take the mark of the beast, either in their foreheads, or in the right hand. Our example is Paul. When Paul saw he was wrong, when he saw that Jesus Christ was the True Messiah, a greater Christian never lived. All hell prevailed against him and he stood as a mighty Rock of Gibraltar. The Jews will also stand against Satan; against all the powers of darkness; against the old dragon. Verse 11: “And they overcame him ( Satan, Antichrist) by the BLOOD OF THE LAMB, and THE WORD OF THEIR TESTIMONY; and THEY LOVED NOT THEIR LIVES UNTO DEATH.” They will DIE for the truth.
But the greatest battle, the greatest fight that Satan will ever put up in his entire existence, he will put up those last moments before Israel accepts the True Messiah, the very Son of the Living God. He puts up such a battle because he knows that his time is short.
Verse 12:
“Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.”
Revelation 12:12
You cannot separate the two great wonders. The WOMAN IS ISRAEL and the DRAGON IS SATAN.
We are on the WINNING side. We are fighting a winning battle. We are on the side of our Lord.
REMEMBER TO WHOM YOU BELONG AND KEEP COVERED WITH THE BLOOD!
PRAISE THE LORD!!!!
