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KJV Revelation 12
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JST Revelation 12
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Analysis and commentary
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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:
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1
And there appeared a great sign
in heaven, in the likeness of
things on the earth; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon
under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.
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Calling
it a sign instead of a wonder implies we are to find
direction and instructions from this and the following imagery instead of
just marveling over it.
Telling
us this occurred in heaven and is in the likeness of things on the earth lets
us know that the events represented occurred (figuratively) in heaven and
they are happening again here on the earth. This helps us because of the veil over our memories so
that we can know the full significance and what our part should be.
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2 And she being with child
cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.
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2
And the woman being
with child, cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.
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This
seems to be meant to make it absolutely clear it is the woman this refers to.
(Not sure why this was needed.)
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3
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 his throne. [compare to KJV v5]
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Changing
the KJV v5 to be v3 in the JST may not seem to add much, but it gives the
sense that the man child was born and then caught up to heaven before the
dragon was even aware of it.
This
teaches us that God is much wiser than Satan and gets His work done before
Satan can get it together. It
should give us great confidence in God’s plan and timing.
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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.
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.
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4
And there appeared another sign
in heaven; and behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns,
and seven crowns upon his heads. 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 delivered, ready
to devour her child after it was born.
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Here
again the wonder/sign difference is repeated.
If
you notice, in the JST, the woman has already been delivered when the dragon
stands watching her.
JST
v7 tells us that the child represents both the kingdom of God and Christ, so
the dragon thinks that the kingdom of God has yet to be formed, when it was already formed with the organization
of the church and then caught up to God as valiant leaders were martyred and
received to heaven. (Likewise,
when Herod tried to kill the baby Jesus, Heavenly Father had already removed
Jesus from danger. When the
leaders of the Jews tried to prevent Jesus from gaining more power, His death
and resurrection and ascension to heaven brought him to the right hand of
God, a place of universal power.)
Once
again the message is the devil thinks he can frustrate the Lord’s plans, but
he is too late and doesn’t even realize it.
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5 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.
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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.
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5
And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she had a
place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred
and threescore years.
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Changing
days to years makes this time allotted seem more literal than figurative,
and makes us think of the Great Apostasy before the Restoration, but perhaps
we should shift our thinking a little bit. The woman fled to the desert
(a barren, desolate place), yet she is nourished
there instead of starving to death.
(Perhaps like the miracle of manna?) God prepared that place to be
nourishing and it evidently has a food supply adequate for her to stay there
1260 years. Does this sound like the Great
Apostasy? No. This sounds like the church is living
as it is supposed to and no one has any idea how they can live like that
because it looks like life would be so hard and brutal and joyless with so
much self-denial and sacrifice.
But there is more than enough nourishment there.
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7 And there was war in
heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon
fought and his angels,
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6
And there was war in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the
dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought against Michael;
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These
changes make clear that the dragon has his angels just as Michael has his
angels. The devil has his
followers just as the Lord has His.
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8 And prevailed not; neither
was their place found any more in heaven.
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7
And the dragon
prevailed not against Michael,
neither the child, nor the woman which was the church of God, who had been
delivered of her pains, and brought forth the kingdom of our God and his
Christ.
8
Neither was there
place found in heaven
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Here
is where Joseph Smith gives inspired interpretation that the child represents
the kingdom of God and Christ.
The
addition of Michael, the child, and the woman in the setting of heaven
further reinforces the idea that moral battles fought here were all
previously fought in heaven as well, fought and won.
It
is almost like all the evil was squeezed out with good. No wonder we are to fill our lives
with the best so that there is no room for anything less.
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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.
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for the great dragon, who was cast out; that old serpent called
the devil, and also called
Satan, which deceiveth the whole world; he was cast out into the earth; and
his angels were cast out with him.
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The
differences here reinforce that the devil and Satan are the same entity, not
two different entities.
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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.
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9
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;
10
For the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our
God day and night.
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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.
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11
For they have
overcome him by the blood of the
Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; for they loved not their own lives, but kept the testimony even unto death.
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This
verse adds that part of overcoming Satan (besides having faith in Christ,
fighting with testimony, and sacrificing our lives if necessary) is to keep
our testimonies to the end.
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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.
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Therefore,
rejoice O heavens, and ye that dwell in them.
12
And after these things I heard
another voice saying, Woe to the inhabiters of the earth, yea, and they who
dwell upon the islands of the sea! for the devil is come down
unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short
time.
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The
thing we learn here is that while one voice exults over the victory in
heaven, another voice warns that the battleground has moved to the
earth.
Woe
means great sorrow and distress.
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13 And when the dragon saw
that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth
the man child.
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13
For when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the
earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man-child.
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14 And to the woman were
given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness,
into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a
time, from the face of the serpent.
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14
Therefore, to the
woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might flee into the wilderness, into her place,
where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face
of the serpent.
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Changing
fly to flee while keeping the gift of the wings should make us think
here. What are wings for if not
to fly with? The answer is they
are symbolic of the power of God given to move, to act, etc.
God
gives the Saints the power to flee to a place of refuge—the Salt Lake valley,
temples, church, prayer, home and family, Zion—all require God’s power to be
a refuge where we can be nourished.
This
verse also supports the sense of the woman in the prepared place in the
wilderness as a time of the church’s faithfulness and not general apostasy.
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15 And the serpent cast out
of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be
carried away of the flood.
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15
And the serpent casteth out of his mouth
water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away
of the flood.
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At
first, this seems like a meaningless change until you realize that eth changes the tense of the verbs
from past tense to present tense.
We
learn the events of this verse are going on right now and will
continue to happen.
What
comes out of someone’s mouth?
Words. Satan tries to
flood the earth with all kinds of invective, slander, and libel against the church,
anything to destroy its influence among men or to destroy faith.
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16 And the earth helped the
woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the
dragon cast out of his mouth.
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16
And the earth helpeth
the woman, and the earth openeth
her mouth, and swalloweth
up the flood which the dragon casteth
out of his mouth.
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These
things are also happening right now, as we are to learn from the change of
verb tense.
This might be interpreted to mean that the libel
and the slander attacking the church gets buried and ignored, never gaining
much traction. To us in
the church it may seem like there are too many lies floating around as it is,
but if the promise of this prophecy is being fulfilled as stated, then much
of the anti-Mormon literature goes straight into oblivion and never fulfills
its purpose.
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17 And the dragon was wroth
with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep
the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Revelation 12:1-17)
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17
Therefore, the
dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her
seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus
Christ.
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