33. We See a Woman on Fire

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Then a great sign was perceived in heaven, a woman enclothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and upon her head a garland of victory, a crown of twelve stars. Having a child in her womb, she screamed in travail, being tortured to bring her child to birth. But another sign was also perceived in heaven, look, a great fire-colored dragon with seven heads and ten horns and upon his heads, seven royal crowns. And his tail dragged a third of the stars of heaven which he cast into the earth. Then the dragon stood in the presence of the woman in travail, so that when she should bring her child to birth, he might devour her child. And she brought forth a son…

According to the Flesh. This is the single most important visionary picture in the Bible, a picture that has been before my eyes for 45 years.

Let’s dispense quickly with the false. Most will claim that this son can be only a Jesus separate from His body, Jesus as He came two thousand years ago. They are convinced that the term “we are the body of Christ” is not really real. Out from that solitary, tiny, and isolated image they have of Christ Jesus, then, comes the assertion that this woman is either Mary, who brought forth Jesus, or Israel out from whom Jesus came in the flesh. They see according to the flesh, without knowing the life and power of the gospel.

A Church Today. Yet John is very clear that this is a heavenly woman, clothed with the sun, that is, clothed with the Lord Jesus Christ, as in “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ.” And Paul said that the only heavenly woman is the New Jerusalem, the Church, the mother of us all.

When we know God and the gospel, when we receive Jesus into ourselves as all that God speaks, when we place God’s great pattern of the bringing forth of life above all, and when we know the present season of COMPLETION, then we see one thing only in this vision. We see a Church clothed with Jesus alive today.

The Larger Picture. First, we must express the larger picture – what is the essence of this vision? – We see millions of believers in Jesus alive now upon this earth, clothed with the full knowledge of Christ Jesus their only life, victorious over Nicene theology, bringing forth the knowledge of God into the knowledge of all, that is, loving one another, out from all weakness and travail and in the face of all opposition.

We do not separate ourselves from this heavenly woman, for we are absolutely part of her, yet we are not focused on ourselves, but on all our brethren in every land on earth, and thus we speak of her in the third person.

A Great Sign Was Perceived in Heaven. I want to look, now, at every detail found in these four verses, for all of it is essential to the unveiling of Christ. Every so often, we will add to a single Jesus Secret box for the page, in order to capture the meaning of the Spirit.

“Was perceived” is passive and general. Thus this is speaking of a perception now apparent to all inhabitants of the earth. Up until this moment, the Church has been a harlot, prostituting herself with the world, through unbelief and with all outward pretending. In this moment, she is become something entirely different.

A Woman. A woman, literally, is a human with a womb. She has the capacity to bring forth the life of her husband. The entire Church of Jesus Christ is a woman to God. She, as an entire gathering together of multitudes, has the capacity to bear in her womb the very Life of God.

This is the meaning of the entire Bible and the purpose of the Gospel. Nowhere in the Bible is there a suggestion that “salvation” is a bunch of individuals ‘going to’ heaven. Bible Salvation is the LIFE of God entering into creation through the Church walking together.

The Gathering Together. For just as the body is one, but has many members, yet all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. Indeed, we also inside of one Spirit were immersed into one body…, and have all been made to drink one Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:12-13).

This is the verse that RULES the definition of the Church, along with Jesus’ statement that He is found inside the gathering together and Paul’s assertion that we are one flesh and one spirit with Christ. The Church is not a vast number of isolated individuals. The life of Jesus comes through the gathering together. This woman can be clothed with the Lord Jesus only in her gathering together.

Clothed with the Sun. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ with no regard to the flesh one way or the other (Romans 13:14). John is seeing the central command of the gospel, the only commandment that counts, in all fulfilment today.

More than that, John is seeing millions of believers in Jesus living inside heaven upon earth, acknowledging that Christ Jesus is their only life, that every moment and particulate of their life, individually and together, is clothed with Him. They don’t “make it happen.” They acknowledge it with confidence to be already the only thing True.

Christ is all first before anything not-Christ can vanish.

A Garment of Fire. Our sun is an electrical arc lamp. The flow of electricity down the arm of the Milky Way discharges, not on the surface of the sun, but far above that surface. The sun itself is like a large Jupiter or Saturn; the fire we see is a garment.

Here is that same reality in God. – This Son is the shining forth of glory and the character and exact reproduction of God’s substance, bringing forth, carrying, and sustaining all by His word of power. – We are speaking of millions of believers in Jesus who have clothed themselves with the full knowledge of this Son, this shining forth of glory, this reproduction of God’s substance, this sustaining Word of Power – the Lord Jesus.

Faith and Acknowledgment. Until we all come down to the faith and acknowledgement of the Son of God (Ephesians 4:13).

My entire teaching has been to clothe you with the Lord Jesus. You do so by giving thanks, by justifying God in all. You do so by asking and believing you have received every Word God speaks. You do so by speaking Christ. You do so by placing the Lord Jesus upon every moment you have lived and live now, and by bringing all whom you have known into Mercy inside your heart.

But most of all, you do so by gathering together with other believers in Jesus that you might love one another.

A Woman on Fire. A wo(mb)man is a human with a womb. She has the capacity to bear and bring forth the life of her husband. The entire Church of Jesus Christ is a woman to God. She, as an entire gathering together of multitudes, has the capacity to bear in her womb the very Life of God. Bible Salvation is the LIFE of God entering into creation through the Church walking together.

A woman on fire is a Church clothed with Jesus in all, the command of the gospel fulfilled. The Church is not a vast number of isolated individuals, but millions of believers in Jesus who have clothed themselves with the full knowledge of this Son, the shining forth of glory, the reproduction of God’s substance, the sustaining Word of Power – the Lord Jesus. This woman is clothed with the Lord Jesus in her gathering together, and we are part of her as we are members one of another, as we drink of the same Spirit, and as we cherish each other with anxious care.

The Moon under Her Feet. The “moon” is Christianity that has not clothed itself with Jesus in Person, but rather only reflects a dim and faraway light, a light that cannot sustain anything. The “moon” is Nicene Christianity, a way of thinking that places everything on the assumption that the devil spoke the truth, that God knows evil.

This means that these millions of believers in Jesus have broken forever with the hades of imagining good versus evil and now partake fully and only of the Tree of Life. This means that the twelve ruling verses of the Bible rule their every thought and how they know the Gospel.

A Crown of Twelve Stars. Seven stars and twelve stars are both speaking of the Ministry of Christ to His Church. And so we return to the original word that I heard, a word I now know to be God’s necessary reality. This means that millions of believers in Jesus submit their daily lives to those whom God sends to her, that is, a true apostolic ministry, to be directed in the ways of God.

For as a young man marries a virgin, so shall your sons marry you (Isaiah 62:5). In the next lesson concerning the “manchild,” titled “We Are Seized into God,” we will define the meaning of this ministry to the Church more deeply and more specifically than ever before.

A Garland of Victory. These millions of believers have just come out of Nicene thinking, and have no clue of the Way of God through them.

When you see the ark of the covenant… and the priests… bearing it, then you shall… go after it. Yet there shall be a space between you and it… Do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not passed this way before (Joshua 3).

Here, then, is the “Garland of Victory” in the gospel. – God always leads us in the triumphal procession inside of Christ, with the aroma of His knowledge being made visible through us in every place (1 Corinthians 2:14).

The Church We See. We see millions of believers in Jesus alive now upon this earth, clothed with the full knowledge of Christ Jesus their only life, victorious over Nicene theology, bringing forth the knowledge of God into the knowledge of all, that is, loving one another, out from all weakness and travail and in the face of all opposition.

These millions of believers in Jesus have broken with the imagination of good versus evil, they have severed all interactions with demons, they partake fully and only of the Tree of Life. The ruling verses of the Gospel rule all of their thinking. They have placed their daily lives under the counsel of God’s ministry sent to them, and they walk in the celebration of a Victory already won.

Having a Child in Her Womb. The Church of Jesus Christ is PREGNANT. Again, we will look at the meaning of that child in the next lesson, but here we must reckon with the reality of pregnancy. How many Christian gatherings have you attended where everyone was overwhelmingly aware that, in their gathering together, they were PREGNANT, filled with a LIFE pressing to come forth?

I have called my time at the Blueberry Christian Community, “In the Womb of the Church.” The Word of Christ that I share comes out from God engraving me with the knowledge of “Christ-in-His-Church” through my years inside of those settings. (I must now include two Annie Visions.)

The Place of a Beginning (Annie Schissler). He showed me a certain beginning that was already in process and was coming forth upon the earth, and said, "This is the place of a beginning." It seemed as though the glorious drama of Mary were about to take place all over again, although I know that the thought is absurd. * (A Nicene response.)

Everything in this place of beginnings was covered by a beautiful quality of light that seemingly flowed forth in strong, maternal streams, as if bringing forth a natural birth. What was happening seemed to be something normal and natural, it was neither unusual nor strange.

It seemed as though God, dwelling in His Cloud of excellent glory, was bringing Himself forth into a far more natural, tangible, approachable and understandable form - God Himself becoming far more reachable by man. *

* The glorious drama of Mary is taking place again. God is birthing His very life out from us – the manchild seized into God and into His throne. * It is not God more reachable by man, but through man, for that is man’s purpose, to make God known and visible.

That Holy Thing (Annie Schissler). As I entered His presence, He showed me something so impressive and frightening that I feared greatly. Although He specifically told me not to fear, even so, I could not feel completely at ease, for in almost unbearable pain and in great love, He tore open, as it were, His own spiritual form or body. Even though He had told me to look at it, I feared to and wanted to hide my eyes, for after this great tearing open of Himself I could see within.

There I beheld something so terribly perfect in its holiness, that even the word perfection seems to sully it in my memory. This living something was very much a part of Himself, yet it seemed as though He were bringing forth, in a tremendous beginning, a new being from His own person. It was the same beginning in God that He had shown me several days before, in "The Place of a Beginning". For long eons He has waited to manifest this most Holy Thing which He is about to bring forth.

The tremendous, radiant perfection - the holy glory of this beginning that He showed me - was so far beyond expression and so filled with holiness and God-life, that I felt greatly perturbed, and trembled even though He told me over and over again not to fear. It was something too high, holy and perfect to look upon. When He said, "The hour has now come," it seemed that He was about to explode, not in an explosion of terrible, destructive violence, but rather a pacific explosion.

Then He came forth, as it were, in this explosion, and it was tremendously sweet. From this sweet, explosive breaking forth, He extended Himself over all; that is to say, He desired to manifest Himself, pouring this forth upon those of His own ones who were waiting upon Him. To me it seemed so imminent that it appeared to be right now, yet I know it was not at this moment in our time. * Wherever He broke forth in this manifestation it began to extend, and the wonderful glory and ineffable sweetness of that perfect thing that He was bringing forth made such an impact upon my being that it greatly troubled me; because I could in no way understand the vision.

* Annie saw this vision 50 years ago, the time is now.

When I read this vision first, in 1978, it came into me with great angst to confirm with power the Word I had already received. I have lived in this same travail, now, for 47 years.

She Screamed in Travail. Having a child in her womb, she screamed in travail, being tortured to bring her child to birth.

I must add this, my travail, in great agony of soul that I would KNOW the God of my Bible, began about 3 years after Annie saw this. In fact, Annie saw these visions at the same time that Jesus planted “give thanks” into my heart. That was the same summer that the communities in which I would live began. And – she saw these visions 50 years before Completion began for us in April of 2022.

But – let’s bring the points of Annie’s visions into this description of the Church in travail. I am able to do that because I know that travail.

God Coming Through. First, it is not “the manchild” per se. It is GOD coming through, God being “birthed” into the knowledge and experience of all creation. Yet God comes through us. Yes, this is the Ekenosis all over again. Yes, this is a second incarnation, God manifest in the flesh. Annie said, “In almost unbearable pain and in great love, He tore open, as it were, His own spiritual form or body.”

I must know that my years of great travail have never been me, but God. In the same way, we know that the travail of millions of believers in Jesus now upon the earth is not of us or them, but rather, God Himself. GOD is coming through.

In Travail. This Church we see is pregnant; and we are pregnant together with her. She is clothed with Jesus, yet Jesus is also the Life being formed inside of her, the life of the knowledge of God about to enter into all creation. Yet it is God Himself in travail, God bringing forth out from His own Being His Life in us, that all might know Him.

The glorious drama of Mary is taking place again, the Ekenosis, God manifest in the flesh. And God has made us a part of His own travail, as His Spirit labors with us in groanings that cannot be uttered. We place every moment of our lives into God’s travail, in all confidence, knowing that our hearts are God coming through.

Another Sign in Heaven. But another sign was also perceived in heaven, look, a great fire-colored dragon with seven heads and ten horns and upon his heads, seven royal crowns. – Then the dragon stood in the presence of the woman in travail, so that when she should bring her child to birth, he might devour her child.

Here is one place where we must see this entire chapter as a whole, with all of its parts having meaning together. Satan is accustomed to sleeping peacefully inside the Church. A woman “clothed with the sun” means that he has already been cast down. Nonetheless, the contest over the Word is not yet complete.

A Great Fire-Colored Dragon. In verse 9, John calls this angel, “the original serpent,” thus taking us back to the Garden. What is the essence of the original serpent? Why does God give him a place in the critical moments of God and man? The serpent anoints “sufficiency in self,” an anointing that brings with it all accusation, that is, false human judgment.

Jesus’ word, “I am enough for you,” means no sufficiency in self, which means no demonic influence. The contest in the garden, the choice between life and death, is utterly personal. It is a choice between Jesus my only life and the demonic sensation of “I, myself.”

Heads, Horns, and Crowns. It is only here that this serpent is first introduced as “the dragon.” I believe that the metaphor of a “dragon” references the relationship with the beast, coming up.

“Heads, horns, and crowns,” have nothing to do with the political map of present-day Europe. Rather, these metaphors are God’s way of showing us the relationship between demons and the political/bureaucratic rule of wicked people using violence to control. The Spirit brings it in here because God’s people, millions of Christians on this earth, must KNOW that Satan and his demons are FUSED together with ALL human government.

The Drag of His Tail. And his tail dragged a third of the stars of heaven which he cast into the earth. It is not wrong to draw from this line the suggestion that a third of the angels were caught in Adam’s rebellion and were dragged, with the serpent, into ruin and loss. Satan is not universal; he is one angel. His role, however, draws into one all the billions of angels who are fallen into darkness, and through whom humans are anointed to hurt one another.

Yet the ministry of the Church is also divided into three parts. A third draws near with Jesus, and a third takes control over “the earth,” that is, those who draw back.

The Opposition. In the presence of this Church stands the dragon, the original serpent, powerful and attractive, anointing all identities of self separate from Christ and accusing all. With billions of fallen angels at his command, he is determined to prevent the knowledge of God from entering into the human experience, whatever it takes. This dragon gives power to the beast and thus employs all human animosity and violence as well. ALL conceivable opposition is arrayed against this woman, to keep her from believing the Word God speaks.

In the Presence of the Woman. Then the dragon stood in the presence of the woman. Eve was NOT in the presence of the serpent in the garden; the serpent was in the presence of Eve. Jesus would come into the human experience through Eve, that we might know Him.

Eve, in type, was a metaphor of this Church, but this Church will also redeem Eve herself, with all her children, for this Church will be led by her Husband into Life. God is recasting the garden again. God is taking a man and a woman again past the tree of death, that they might eat of Life for the sake of all.

That He Might Devour. I now understand why God has given me an armchair interest in military tactics and history. The Jesus Secret portion for this part is titled “The Ultimate Danger.” It’s not so much the danger that concerns us, but the proving of Christ faithful and true.

God is recreating the garden scene so that He might demonstrate to all creation forever that HIS WORD brings forth ALL that Jesus is, inside of all human weakness and in the face of all opposition. God is obsessed with this venture. God is obsessed with magnifying His Word, with proving that He speaks the Truth, that His Word alone prevails.

When She Should Bring Forth. But God cannot demonstrate His Word except THROUGH faith, through His Church, through a woman who believes utterly in Jesus – in the hour of her greatest danger.

Our strategy is this, the same as with Jesus. With no regard for ourselves – We protect the Church; we provide for the Church; we are Mercy for the Church. We keep our eyes on the larger picture. We reject all tribalism and all worldly identities. We seek for NO sufficiency in ourselves. We hurl ourselves into the thick of the battle. We storm the gates of hades. We cast all down for the sake of the Church, that she might bring forth the knowledge of God into all.

The Ultimate Danger. God is taking a man and a woman, this Church and the ministry God has sent to her, again past the tree of death, that they might eat of Life for the sake of all. God is recreating the garden scene so that He might demonstrate to all creation forever that HIS WORD brings forth ALL that Jesus is, inside of all human weakness and in the face of all opposition. God is obsessed with magnifying His Word, with proving that He speaks the Truth, that His Word alone prevails. This is why the proving of our faith inside of the unveiling of Christ is more precious to God than anything, The great danger is that this Church would take her eyes off of Jesus and see herself in this world. This she will not do, for THEY/WE have provided for her.

The Focus of All. This woman clothed with Jesus is clearly the center of all God’s attention, the focused drive of His passion and determination.

The rest of Revelation 12, as well as the entirety of John’s vision, the rest of the Bible, the entire focus and power inside of heaven, human and angelic, and our concern above all, the entire purpose and meaning of our lives, is to protect this Church, to provide for her, to be MERCY for her sake, that GOD might enter our world.

We do that only by placing ourselves utterly into God, that Jesus gives Himself utterly to us, that He is able, and that all Victory is now come.

Reading for Next Time. The next lesson is titled, “We Are Seized into God.” Read Revelation 12 again. Memorize verse 5 in the JSV which is accurate to the Greek. Write it out several times. Speak it aloud as Christ made personal as us – “We are seized.”

And she brought forth a son, a boy who is about to shepherd all the ethnic families with a rod of iron, and her child was seized into God and into His throne.

We are speaking of the normal Christian life; we are speaking of the Covenant fulfilled, that we are just like the Lord Jesus, for we know Him as He really is. This is NOT the rapture, nor is it even, yet, the Resurrection; it is Christ Jesus as all that we are right now.

Let’s Pray Together. “God, our Father, You have brought us into Yourself that we might know You and that we might share Your Heart. You alone make us worthy, Father; You alone make us like the Lord Jesus, that we might love Your Church as You do.

“Father, we pray for our brethren, for all those You have given to Jesus in this final Feast, whether they know You right now or whether they await that moment of recognition. God, enclothe each one with the Lord Jesus Christ; gather them into Him, that You might clothe each local Church with the Lord Jesus.

“Father, we share Your travail for the sake of Your Church. – God, our Father, we labor with You for the sake of our brothers and sisters, that You might come through their acknowledgement of You into their world, that You might be LIFE through them.

“Father, we recognize the threat of the evil one and of the rulers of this world, for they would devour Your knowledge if they could. But they cannot, Father, for we stand here inside of Jesus and together with Him as Your witness in this earth that the evil one is cast down, and that the beast has no power.

“We proclaim Your Victory, Oh God, for Your Word is True and prevails. For You have magnified Your Word, the Lord Jesus, our Life, above all. Father, You answer us.”