A great sign was seen, and it was seen in Heaven. God’s Temple had opened up in Heaven and the ‘Ark of His Covenant’ had become visible. For the remnant of Israel, this is the assurance of total victory. Beyond Israel, it continually functions as an visible symbol for all Christian believers—especially those of the end-times, guaranteeing that the Lord is in their midst and that victory over the ‘dragon’ and the ‘beasts’ is assured. The Ark in Heaven becoming visible means that the Kingship over the world has been accepted, but that there is still a battle to be fought to establish that Kingship worldwide. The battle takes place not only on earth, but also in Heaven—indeed, in Heaven first of all, for the fallen angelic beings are there and they are the strongest and fiercest enemies of God and of the Lamb. It was there in the Heavenly places that one of the mightiest cherubim fell into iniquity,1 and many other angels with him. It is there that Satan has access to accuse Job2 and Joshua,3 the High Priest. There are various regions of Heaven.4 Certain areas of those Heavenly regions are apparently allowed to be inhabited by enemy powers, opposed to God.
A sign is seen in Heaven. Whereas John has accurately described what he has seen up to now, for the first time now, he speaks of a sign, a paradigm, a symbol, a picture that makes visible an important spiritual principle: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. Who is this woman? Or, rather, what does this woman represent, for it is a sign. The image immediately reminds us of Israel, of Joseph’s dream.5 The sun, the moon and the stars (eleven in this case, because Joseph himself is the twelfth of the sons of Jacob) bow down before him. His mother, Rachel, being the moon and his father, Jacob, being the sun. The twelve stars, as the twelve patriarchs of the twelve tribes of Israel, adorn the woman’s head like a crown. The sun and the moon testify also in other places in Scripture to God’s faithfulness to Israel. “This is what the Lord says, He who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—the Lord Almighty is His name: ‘Only if these decrees vanish from My sight,’ declares the Lord, ‘will Israel ever cease being a nation before Me.’”6 In other words, Israel will never cease to be a nation. The kingship of David and his seed lasts for ever, and his throne “endures before me like the sun; it will be established forever like the moon.”7 Christ’s face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.8 Israel as a woman, a bride, a beloved, is as beautiful as the pale moon, shining like the blazing sun.9 But is this sign of a woman in Heaven just Israel?
• The Lord Jesus sometimes spoke in parables, in images, pictures from daily life to make things clear on the one hand, or on the other hand to veil, to disguise certain things. “…in order that seeing, they might not see, and hearing, not hear or understand.”10
• He speaks directly to the disciples, because “…the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven has been granted to you to know…blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears because they hear…” There are many parables told by Jesus in the Bible. Look at Matthew 13 about the Kingdom.
• There is an exception though. If such a story told by Jesus is meant to be a parable, He specifically says so. If not: then He tells something about a real situation. As it is not specifically stated by Jesus that the story of the ‘rich man and poor Lazarus’ (Luke 16:19-31) is a parable, as this is otherwise always expressly mentioned, so the Lord Jesus tells a true story here. He knows how things look like in the realms of the dimensions of eternity.
Bible References:
1.Ezekiel 28:13–15 2.Job 1:6–12 3.Zechariah 3:1–2 4.Ephesians 6:10–12 5.Genesis 37:9–10, 42:9 6.Jeremiah 31:35–36 7.Psalm 89:37–38 8.Revelation 1:16 9.Song of Solomon 6:10 10.Matthew 13:10–17; Luke 8:9–10
