Revelation 12:1-2 marks the start of the Tribulation; it happens on September 23rd, 2017

Perhaps one of the most controversial books in the Bible is that of the book called Revelation, or sometimes referred to as “The Apocalypse of John (of Patmos.)”  The book is filled with strange imagery, wherein John is struggling to accurately describe what he is being shown by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, regarding what is now called “the end times.” The Hebrew writing style is inherently different than what we English speaking, writing, and reading people are accustomed to today, but once one starts to understand the outline of the book itself, the message becomes clear. A common misconception, one that I shared, is that the sign of Revelation 12:1-2 marks the mid-point of the tribulation; after some study, critical thinking, and asking God for wisdom because I’m an idiot, I had some things stand out to me in the texts like neon signs that pointed me in the right direction.

The book of Revelation is both ordered chronologically and non-chronologically, an assessment that I can back up with scripture. The first three chapters of the book are addressed directly to seven churches, which (very much not) coincidentally accurately describe each “church age”, a period of time that we are blessed to be living in at present, but for not much longer; an outrageously bold claim that I can not only back up with scripture, but with empirical evidence that correlates with said texts. I’ll get to that later, first we have to dissect Revelation as a whole to see how each chapter fits the chronology of events in accordance with what Jeremiah called “The time of Jacob’s trouble” (the tribulation), also known as Daniel’s 70^th week; this is a week of years, ergo this epoch lasts for 7 years to allow Israel to atone for the transgression they committed as a nation when they crucified their Messiah.

In chapter 4, John is told “Come up hither!” and brought up to the throne of God in the Spirit; here he also struggles to describe what he is seeing in heaven, as there is nothing on earth like what he is seeing, save for the four and twenty elders with crowns on their heads. In chapter 5, God Himself is holding a book in His right hand, and an angel cries out asking, “who is worthy to open the book, and loose the seals thereof?” No one is found worthy (yet), until Jesus Christ Himself shows up, Who is the only One worthy to open the book; it is at this point that all of heaven rejoices. Chapter 6 begins with Jesus Christ opening up one of the seals, which begins the 7 year tribulation; I will show through scripture that chapters 6 through 9 cover the first half of the tribulation, with increasingly intense catastrophes falling (sometimes literally) upon the earth.

For example, after all 7 scrolls are opened, there are then 7 angels with 7 trumpets; these angels then sound the trumpets, which result in some rather cataclysmic events that occur on the earth. Notably, right after the sounding of the 4^th trumpet, there are then three woes proclaimed in Revelation 8:13 “And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!”

The first woe is in Revelation 9:3, which is literally a demon horde being released with a “king” over them, named Abbadon, or Apollyon (Apollo; this actually turns out to be somewhat important in a later context.) The second woe is in Revelation 9:14, when the 4 angels bound in the great river Euphrates are released to kill 1/3 of mankind. In Revelation 11:14-15, something very curious is stated: “14 The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly. 15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.” Many pastors have (wrongfully) stated that this means that this is the beginning of the Millennial reign of Christ; there’s just one problem: we’re missing a 3^rd woe! Why would the angels consider the Millennial reign of Christ to be the 3^rd woe? The simple answer is: they don’t, and it is actually explained in the next chapter of Revelation. However, we need to cover Revelation chapters 10 and 11 before we get to that.

Revelation 10 occurs just before the sounding of the 7^th trumpet, and is a very curious chapter; John sees an angel come down from heaven with a little book, and the angel cries (like a roar) what is called the 7 thunders. John is about to write down what the 7 thunders said, however, John hears a voice from heaven telling him not to write down what the 7 thunders uttered. Now, this is just my speculation, but I believe that what the 7 thunders uttered concerns the fates of the 7 continents that we just so happen to have here on our earth. Alternatively, it could be the 7 major world powers we have at the moment, which are the US, Germany, China, Japan, Russia, India, and Saudi Arabia, but I believe the former to be more likely. Regardless, at the end of the chapter, John is told to eat a scroll that will taste like honey but turn his stomach sour, and that he must again prophesy again before many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.

Revelation 11 opens with John being asked to measure the temple of God, and the altar, and the people worshipping in it with a reed like a rod. However, in verse Revelation 11:2, he is asked this: “ But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.” Incidentally, forty two months is 3½ years. Then in verse 3, we read of two very fine gentlemen, who are known as the two witnesses: “And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.” One thousand, two hundred, and threescore days is 1,260 days; noting that the Babylonian calendar is 360 days long, and is what Daniel the prophet would have been accustomed to, this just so happens to equal 3½ years.

What’s amazing is what these two individuals do during their testimony; in verse 4, they are described as such: “These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.”  Verses 5 and 6 explain what they can do: “5 And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. 6 These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.” Some have speculated that, given the nature of their plagues, these two people are Moses and Elijah, respectively.

 After they prophesy for 3½ years, verse 7 of chapter 11 states: “And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.” The people leave their bodies in the streets and rejoice, and even send gifts to one another. However, verses 11 through 13 continue, “And after three days and an half the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them. 12 And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them. 13 And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.” Verse 14 is even more ominous, “The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly.”

Curiously, the two witnesses are raised from the dead after 3½ days, but it makes perfect sense in the context of what is about to happen. First, let’s look at 2 Corinthians 13:1, “This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.” The reason why there are two witnesses is (partially) because of the 3^rd woe.

And now we get to the real meat of this paper: this is where things actually start to become very, very serious. Revelation 12 opens with a scene that, for many, many years people have said would be impossible to literally observe; we now know for certain that that particular assessment is false, and a very literal interpretation of the opening verse of this scripture is going to occur in 2017.

 In Isaiah 40:27, Isaiah is speaking of the stars and the constellations, wherein he states that God named every single one of them: “Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.” This is also verified in Pslam 147:4, “He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names.”

Enter the constellation Virgo, also known as the virgin. Above her head sits the constellation Leo, a constellation of 9 stars which is representative of a lion. In January of 2017, the planet Jupiter (which is known by the Hebrews as the “king planet”) enters the womb of Virgo and travails back and forth for 42 weeks… or the length of a healthy, human pregnancy. At the end of this cosmic pregnancy on September 23^rd, 2017, Jupiter pops out of the womb while Virgo is clothed with the sun, has the moon at her feet, and the constellation of Leo (which normally only has 9 stars) is joined by a planetary alignment involving Mercury, Mars, and Venus. As far as the people who work on 3D models of our solar system can tell, this specific event has not happened and will not happen again for at least 7,000 years in either direction. We are presented with the literal interpretation of Revelation 12 verses 1 and 2. (**VERSES 3-4 DESCRIBE PLANET X or A BROWN DWARF STAR; I wrote an article on this that I now know was and is flawed, and will likely upload an updated article at a later date**) Also, for some very creative & poetic bonus points (because God is indescribably awesome like that), we have verse 12:5 “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.” The man child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron is, of course, a reference to Jesus Christ; however, there is also a pagan context that matters for the opposing force that is quite curious: the beast that arises out of the bottomless pit in Revelation 9:3 is called “Apollyon”, or more modernly “Apollo”, which in the Greek mythology is the son of Jupiter. Regardless, in the context of the “rod of iron”, (I thought this was really neat) it turns out that Jupiter has an iron-nickel core. One more notation is that [the woman’s] child was caught up to God and His throne; is it possible this is the rapture? Yes, it is, and for a small number of reasons that relegate it to the category of “educated guess” that I will further address.

The next verse is thus, “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.” This is both literal and metaphorical; the woman being the Jews, the place where God hath prepared for them being that miraculous nation state called Israel, and they are fed 1,260 days… which is the same number of days that the two witnesses will be preaching in Israel, “feeding them” spiritually. Oh, and just as a reminder, 1,260 days is 3 ½ years, or the first half of the tribulation. Why do they flock back to Israel for revival? The answer is clear when we cross-reference it with verses from other books in the bible:

Romans 11:25 “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. 26 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: 27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. 28 As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes. 29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. 30 For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: 31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. 32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.”

Revelation 3:10 – “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.” (Note: NOT this particular verse does not represent the current day, apostatized church; this would be the church of Philadelphia who choose to believe God’s infallible word over mans’ fallible opinion.)

And then there’s this intriguing wording in Colossians 3:1-4 “1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.”

And of course, there’s 1 Corinthians 15: 22-23 “22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming.” And then there’s the icing on the cake: verse 51 “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”

Now, please bear with me for a moment: this is going to seem like it’s going completely off topic, but it very much has to do with why the Israelites will flock back to Israel.

Israel was declared a nation by the UN on November 29, 1947, or according to the Hebrew calendar, Kisev 16, 5708; Israel recaptured Jerusalem during the Six-Day War, which concluded on June 10^th 1967, or 2 Sivan, 5727. There are a few, curious little fun facts about the Feast of Trumpets which is going to occur on September 21^st, 2017, or 1 Tishiri 5778; firstly, it is the 50^th Feast of Trumpets since the Jews retook Jerusalem during the 6 Day war, which means it’s a jubilee. Secondly, in a little under two months, it is the 70^th anniversary of Israel being declared a nation by the UN. Thirdly, it represents the Hebrew New Year… but the fact that the year will then be 5778 isn’t as important as the significance of the year, or number, 5777. In Hebrew numerology, 5 means Divine grace, and 7 represents spiritual perfection, fullness, and/or completion; one could easily interpret 5777 as: “Divine grace, the perfect spiritual fullness & completion thereof.” (see also Romans 11:25 regarding “fullness.”) Jumping back to 1 Corinthians 15:51-52, it says that we, as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, will all be changed in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump(et).

Given that the scene in Revelation 12:1-2 painted so eloquently by John (with help by the Holy Spirit of course) literally happens two days after a Jubilee Feast of Trumpets…. it sounds plausible that this could very well be (at a minimum) a general, ball-park, time frame for what has been called the rapture of the church, until you factor in that this scene in the heavens is what kicks off the tribulation, at which point it goes from “likely” to “WOW!” What would cause Israelites all over the world to flock back to Jerusalem? Let’s read Romans 11:11 (context inserted) “I say then, [have the Israelites] stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.” The sudden disappearance of millions of born again Christians across the entire planet would likely illicit several emotional responses in the average (non-Messianic) Jew: horror that the Christians had it right and their ancestors brutally murdered and rejected their messiah, dread that they would now have to experience 7 years of tribulation to make up for their transgression, jealousy that the real believers in Christ were safely pulled out of harm’s way to a much better place, and a great zeal to make atonement for their transgression against God’s only Son.

Now, I’ve heard Christians say that the Jews need to rebuild their temple so as to allow them to make the daily sacrifice to their Lord God; this isn’t necessarily true. Biblically speaking, in the Old Testament, all that was required to sacrifice to God was an altar, be it made of earth, or of stone: Exodus 20:24-25, “An altar of earth thou shalt make unto Me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record My name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee. 25And if thou wilt make Me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it.” I’d be willing to bet that the Israelites could build a decent altar in a few days’ time to allow for the daily sacrifice while they build their new temple unto God with great fervor. Really, the temple only needs to be built at least half-way through the tribulation, for reasons I will explain later.

Now, how can we discern that Revelation 12 gives a rough outline of the tribulation? It’s a simple matter of mathematics, cross referencing scripture, and some spiritual discernment with help by none other than the Holy Spirit. Bear with me while I break this down: you will (likely) be going back and looking at/up verses already mentioned in this paper.

We left off with Revelation 12:6, which represented the Jews returning to Israel for 3½ years to hear the gospel from the two witnesses. Meanwhile, in heaven, we have the following taking place, according to Revelation 12:7-9, “And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, 8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. 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.” Please take note it doesn’t mention how long this war actually lasts.

Before we read verse 10, let’s go back and reread Revelation 11:15, when the 7^th trumpet is sounded: “And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.” Now read Revelation 12:10-11, “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. 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.”

Remember that missing third woe? For a refresher, the Revelation 11:14 says, “The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly.” Continuing in Revelation 12:12, “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.” The third woe is Satan being cast down unto the earth.

To summarize:

Revelation 12:13 continues; “And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. 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.” A year + 2 years + half a year = 3½ years; and since Satan is cast down to earth to inhabit the antichrist, this fits very well with this being the 2^nd half of the 7 year tribulation.

This is where the 12^th chapter gets just a little ahead of itself, so we need to jump to Revelation 13:1-3 to get additional context: “And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. 2And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as [the feet] of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. 3And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.” The dragon, in this context, is obviously Satan; this is both an educated guess and a gut feeling, but it would seem that (in an attempt to counterfeit Christ, because Satan enjoys that) a major world leader suffers a deadly head wound, dies, and then Satan’s spirit is hurled into said body so he can become “resurrected.”

I feel like mentioning something highly amusing I realized once I started to study this topic in depth: Satan absolutely despises humanity. He hates us because we’re human, and he takes great pleasure in hurrying very unfortunate souls towards eternal damnation, likely because we are made in God’s image. His assault on humanity is the only way he can actually lash out at God, since God is untouchable (unless He allows it) and literally indestructible, so Satan goes after him emotionally. How deliciously ironic it is, then, that it is extremely likely that God Himself actually condemns Satan’s spirit to spend 3½ years trapped in a human body? God has one epically Holy sense of humor. Unfortunately, this is Satan we’re talking about, so the situation itself here on earth isn’t likely to be amusing in any capacity whatsoever.

Revelation 13 continues: “4And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who [is] like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? 5And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty [and] two months. 6And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.”

Forty two months is, again, 3 ½ years. But now we get to jump to the books of Matthew and Daniel, because Revelation 13:6 up there just casually mentioned what Daniel called “the abomination of desolation.” Daniel 12:11-12 “And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. 12 Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.”

Matthew 24:15-22, “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) 16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: 17 Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: 18 Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. 19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! 20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: 21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.”

Note the timing and phrasing here while cross referencing verses 16 and 20 with Revelation 12:14, where those in Judea flee into the mountains [wilderness]: “And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness.”

 I believe that all of the above information, when taken collectively, demonstrates that Revelation is ordered in such a way that it is not in point A to point B chronological format. Instead, Revelation is structured in such a way that it is telling a single narrative from multiple angles at the same time, and upon examination it is possible to take the contents of its various chapters and find the points where they intersect with one another on a given time line; this was the initial intent behind writing the previous 10 pages of information. The second is to show that there is a point in the very near future that coincides with the tribulation. In other words, the tribulation starts sometime in 2017, and there is nothing that we, humanity as a whole, can do to stop it. Instead, we should be warning the people that we’re all standing on railroad tracks, and that there is an unstoppable freight train 7 years long thundering towards us, even if it is 1 year down the tracks.