"a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and
on her head a garland of twelve stars"
(Rev. 12: 1)
"The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication."
(Rev. 17: 4)
Mother Jerusalem or Mother Babylon?
The woman of Revelation 12 versus the woman of Revelation 17 and 18.
On the similarities and differences of these two great women, J.A. Seiss, in his commentary on Revelation ("The Apocalypse" - here), made some very interesting observations. Seiss said (emphasis mine):
"The first thing which strikes me in the study of this subject, is one which I
have nowhere seen duly noticed, namely: the evident correlation and
contrast between the Woman here pictured and another Woman described
in the twelfth chapter. There, “a great sign was seen in the heaven, a
Woman;" here, it is remarked, “he bore me away in spirit into a
wilderness, and I saw a Woman.” Both these Women are mothers; the first
“brought forth a son, a male [neuter, embracing either sex], who is to rule
all the nations; the second “is the mother of harlots and of the abominations
of the earth.” Both are splendidly dressed; the first is “clothed with the
sun.” Her raiment is light from heaven. The second is “clothed in purple,
and scarlet, decked with gold, and precious stone, and pearls.” All her
ornaments are from below, made up of things out of the earth and the sea.
Both are very influential in their position; the first has “the moon,” the
empress of night, the powers of darkness, “under her feet;” the second
“hath rule, or kingdom, upon the kings of the earth.” Both are sufferers;
against the first is the Dragon, who stands watching to devour her child,
and persecutes and pursues her, and drives her into the wilderness, and
sends out a river to overwhelm her, and is at war with all her seed that he
can find; against the second are the ten kings, who ultimately hate her, and
make her desolate and naked, and eat her flesh, and burn her with fire,
whilst God in His strength judgeth her, and visits her with plague, death,
and utter destruction. Both are very conspicuous, and fill a large space in
the history of the world, and in all the administrations of divine providence
and judgment. That they are counterparts of each other there can hardly be
a reasonable doubt. The one is a pure woman, the other is a harlot. The
first is hated by the powers on earth, the second is loved, flattered, and
caressed by them. Where the one has sway, things are heavenly; where the
other lives, it is “wilderness.” The one produces masculine nobility, which
is ultimately caught away to God and to His throne; the other produces
effeminate impurity, which calls down the fierceness of the divine wrath.
The one is sustained and helped by celestial wings; the other is supported
and carried by the Dragon power, — the Beast with the seven heads and
ten horns. The one has a crown of twelve stars, wearing the patriarchs and
apostles as her royal diadem; the other has upon her forehead the name of
the greatest destroyer and oppressor of the holy people, and is drunken
with “the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all that have been slain
upon the earth.” The one finally comes out in a heavenly city, the New
Jerusalem, made up of imperishable jewels, and arrayed in all the glory of
God and the Lamb; the other finally comes out in a city of this world’s
superlative admiration, which suddenly goes down forever under the
intense wrath of Heaven, and becomes the habitation of demons, and a
hold of every unclean spirit."
These two Women, thus related, and set over one against the other as
opposites and rivals, must necessarily be interpreted in the same way. As
Antichrist corresponds to Christ as a rival and antagonist of Christ, so
Great Babylon corresponds to the Woman that bears the Man-child, as her
rival and antagonist.
By recalling, therefore, who and what is meant by the first Woman, we will
be in position to understand who and what is meant by the second. Beyond
question, the sun-clad Woman is God’s great symbol of the visible Church,
— the Lamb’s Wife, — the bone of His bone, and flesh of His flesh,
fashioned out of His rifted side as the Second Adam, who fell into the deep
sleep of death for that purpose. As Methodius taught, “The woman seen in
heaven, clothed with the sun, and adorned with a crown of twelve stars, is,
in the highest and strictest sense, our Mother. The prophets, considering
what is spoken of her, call her Jerusalem, at other times The Bride, the
Mount Sion, the Temple and Tabernacle of God.” She is not the church of
any one period or dispensation, but the entire Universal Church of all time,
as Victorinus, the earliest commentator on this Book, held and affirmed,
saying: “The Woman clothed with the sun, having the moon under her feet,
is the Church of the Patriarchs, and of the Prophets, and of the holy
Apostles” that is, the Church from the days of Adam and Eve on to the last
victory over the worship, name, and mark, of the final Antichrist. What
then can this rival Woman be but the organized Antichurch, the pseudochurch, the Bride made out of Satan, the universal body and congregation
of false-believers and false-worshippers? As Christ has had a visible Church
in all time, embodying the wisdom and spirit of heaven, and maintaining the
confession of His truth and worship, so has the Devil had a corresponding
following in all time, embodying the sensual and devilish wisdom and spirit,
and maintaining the profession and teaching of Satan’s lies. And as the first
Woman denotes the one, so the second Woman denotes the other. The
proofs of this will appear as we consider the particulars of the case."
Every person is either a part of mother Jerusalem or mother Babylon. To which community do you belong?
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