It really seems to me like the following two women are actually the same person. Obviously, they are both women. One goes into the wilderness for a while. The other one is found out in the wilderness. Also, the first woman escapes for a time. Unless the second woman is her, then we never hear from her again. It seems like we would want to find out what happens to the first one, and the book would want to tell us.
Revelation 12:13
And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. 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.
Revelation 17:3-6
So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: and upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
Furthermore, I find that this passage undermines the position that the woman stands for Jerusalem, or Judaism. Why would Jerusalem be found out in the "wilderness"? If anything, the general preterist idea that the world revolves around Jerusalem would seem make Jerusalem the center of the world, rather than the wilderness. Finally, if the woman refers to the early church, or something along those lines, then this passage would line up with 2 Thessalonians 2. In that passage, Paul predicts a "falling away" involving the "temple," and elsewhere he refers to the church as the temple. So the Revelation passages could be referring to the corruption of the church.
2 Thesslonians 2:3-4
Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
1 Corinthians 3:16-17
Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
Elsewhere, the writer of Revelation (arguably) refers to an individual church as a woman. And there are also the numerous passages which speak of all believers collectively as the bride of Christ.
Revelation 12:13
And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. 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.
Revelation 17:3-6
So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: and upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
Furthermore, I find that this passage undermines the position that the woman stands for Jerusalem, or Judaism. Why would Jerusalem be found out in the "wilderness"? If anything, the general preterist idea that the world revolves around Jerusalem would seem make Jerusalem the center of the world, rather than the wilderness. Finally, if the woman refers to the early church, or something along those lines, then this passage would line up with 2 Thessalonians 2. In that passage, Paul predicts a "falling away" involving the "temple," and elsewhere he refers to the church as the temple. So the Revelation passages could be referring to the corruption of the church.
2 Thesslonians 2:3-4
Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
1 Corinthians 3:16-17
Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
Elsewhere, the writer of Revelation (arguably) refers to an individual church as a woman. And there are also the numerous passages which speak of all believers collectively as the bride of Christ.
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