Fri.’s Devo - The Woman

Read: Zechariah 1:1-21; Revelation 12:1-13:1A; Psalm 140:1-13; Proverbs 30:17
Zechariah gave his prophesy two months after Haggai finished his prophecy. The exiles had returned to Jerusalem and rebuilt the altar and began the rebuilding of the temple but the Samaritans had opposed them. They were able to get an edict to make them stop building for about 12 years. During this time the people had lost hope and gotten turned away to other things like building their own houses. Zechariah encouraged them to repent and return to God because he had great plans to bless them. He saw the same riders that John saw in Revelation. First he saw a rider on a red horse with a speckled horse behind him. He also saw the four horns in Revelation which stand for the four kingdoms that opposed Jerusalem. They are Persia. Assyria, Greece and Rome. The last kingdom will be the kingdom of Christ. God will send carpenters to terrify the four horns. How interesting that Jesus came as a carpenter to teach others his trade of creating beauty from ashes.
To understand Revelation, you have to understand that God uses all creation to speak his mysteries. Chapter 12 is demonstrated in the heavens. On September 23 of 2017 the constellations told this story of Revelation 12. The Jewish calendar starts in September with Virgo and ends Leo. Jesus came born of a virgin and rose a lion. In September of 2017 the constellation Virgo showed four planets aligned with Jupiter in the womb of Virgo for nine months. Virgo had five stars on her head and the moon was under her feet. God speaks in the sky so everyone can see. He has always used the sky to draw his pictures. He used the sky to point the astrologers of the day to the place where Jesus was born. He used the sky to sing to the shepherds in the field. He is writing on the wall of heaven so everyone has a chance to see if they are looking up.
This is also a depiction of Satan being hurled to earth when he tried to usurp God’s throne in heaven before time. One thing is for sure: “He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.”
Satan is after everyone who bears Christ in their inmost being. We are all the woman who is rescued by the eagle of the Holy Spirit when the persecution gets too much.
Lord, surely we will praise your name!