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| Let's ask God to help us: |
| Our Father, Now that we know the identity of the pure woman described in Revelation chapter 12, we humbly ask You to show us the identity of the rest of the woman's offspring. Please open our hearts and minds to Your truth, through the work of the Holy Spirit within us. In Jesus Christ we pray. Amen. |
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Revelation 12:1,13 |
Comments |
| Now a great sign appeared in
heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a
garland of twelve stars. (...) Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. |
In our last lesson, we discovered that the pure woman,
described in Revelation chapter 12, symbolizes the faithful
people of God. Satan tried to destroy this woman during the 1260 years of the Middle Ages, by way of persecutions and false doctrines. |
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Lesson 59 |
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Revelation 12:16,17 |
Comments |
| But the earth helped the woman,
and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out
of his mouth. And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. |
Following his failure to destroy the woman, that is,
the people of God, Satan now decides to attack the rest of the woman's offspring. Who is this rest? This is what we will discover now. |
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Lesson 59 |
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Acts 2:47 |
Comments |
| The Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. | In order to understand what «the
rest of the woman's offspring» means, we must first study what is meant by «the Church». The word «Church» comes from the Greek word «ekklesia», which means «gathering». The Bible confirms that God indeed has a Church, a congregation, gathering together those who are saved. |
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Matthew 16:18 |
Comments |
| [Jesus said:] «And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church.» | Furthermore, Jesus didn't speak of His Churches
(plural), but rather of His Church (singular): so, there is somewhere a Church which
belongs to Jesus. First, let's look at the foundation of the Church. An erroneous interpretation of this verse leads many people to the conclusion that the apostle Peter is the foundation of the Church. But what does the Word of God teach about this? |
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Ephesians 2:20 |
Comments |
| (...) having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone. | The one and only foundation of God's
Church is Jesus Christ. He is the only Rock upon which the Church is built. |
1 Corinthians 3:11 |
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| For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. |
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Ephesians 5:23 |
Comments |
| Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. | Christ is the one and only leader of the
Church. He is the head of the Church, and the members are its body, all called to carry out different functions within it. God has never appointed anyone to represent Jesus on earth. Jesus has always been and always will be the only head of the Church. |
Colossians 1:18 |
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| [Jesus Christ] is the head of the body, the church. |
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John 10:16 |
Comments |
| [Jesus said:] «Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.» | Although hundreds of churches claim to be the true Church of God, the Word of God is very clear: only one of them is really the Lord's Church. |
Ephesians 4:4,5 |
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| There is one body and one Spirit, (...) one Lord, one faith, one baptism. |
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John 17:17 |
Comments |
| [Jesus said:] «Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.» | Since its doctrine rests entirely on the Word of God, the Church of God is really the «the pillar and ground of the truth». |
1 Timothy 3:15 |
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| The house of God (...) is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. |
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Revelation 12:17 |
Comments |
| And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. | The Bible says that, at the end of time, the Church of
God will remain as a remnant, which leads us to the main subject of this lesson. The notion of «remnant» is found in many places in the Bible. By studying these passages, we will better understand what is really the «rest of the woman's offspring». |
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Lesson 59 |
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Genesis 3:14,15 |
Comments |
| God said to the serpent: «Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.» |
Right from the beginning, the Bible presents the
woman's seed (or offspring). After the disobedience of Adam and Eve, sin entered the world, and a war began between the woman's seed, that is, the children of God, and the serpent's seed, that is, the children of the devil. Fortunately, this war will soon come to an end, with the final destruction of Satan and evil. |
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Revelation 12:17 |
Comments |
| And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring. | Many times, Satan waged war so severely against the woman's offspring that only a little remnant was spared, a minority of believers remaining faithful to God and His commandments. |
Romans 9:27 |
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| Isaiah also cries out concerning
Israel: «Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, the remnant will be saved.» |
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| There was a «rest of the offspring» in the days of Noah, Moses, and Elijah: |
| «The longsuffering of God
waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is,
eight souls, were saved through water.» (1 PETER 3:20) «The carcasses of you who have murmured against Me shall fall in this wilderness, all of you who were numbered, according to your entire number, from twenty years old and above. Except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, you shall by no means enter the land which I swore I would make you dwell in.» (NUMBERS 14:29,30) «Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, "Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life"? But what does the divine response say to him? "I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal."» (ROMANS 11:2-4) |
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| The «remnant» also designates those who survive the enemies' attacks: |
| «There will be a highway for
the remnant of His people who will be left from Assyria, as it was for Israel in the day
that he came up from the land of Egypt.» (ISAIAH 11:16) «I will leave a remnant, so that you may have some who escape the sword among the nations, when you are scattered through the countries.» (EZEKIEL 6:8) «And the remnant who have escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward. For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and those who escape from Mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.» (ISAIAH 37:31,32) «The voice of those who flee and escape from the land of Babylon declares in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God.» (JEREMIAH 50:28) |
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Jeremiah 50:18-20 (NIV) |
Comments |
| I will punish the king of Babylon
and his land as I punished the king of Assyria. But I will bring Israel back to his own pasture (...). I will forgive the remnant I spare. |
Under the Old Covenant, God put an end to
the reign of Babylon, and a remnant of Israel came out of it. Likewise, under the New Covenant, God put an end to the 1260-year reign of the apostate Church - spiritual Babylon - and a remnant of spiritual Israel came out of it. |
Revelation 12:6,17 |
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| Then the woman fled into the
wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one
thousand two hundred and sixty days. (...) And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. |
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Romans 11:4,5 |
Comments |
| But what does the divine response
say to him? «I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to
Baal.» Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. |
The «remnant» doesn't necessarily mean «very few people»... |
Micah 2:12 |
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| I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob, I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together like sheep of the fold, like a flock in the midst of their pasture; they shall make a loud noise because of so many men. |
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Matthew 7:13,14 |
Comments |
| Enter by the narrow gate; for
wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go
in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. |
... but, just as Jesus told on several occasions, the «remnant» necessarily designates a minority of people. |
Luke 18:8 |
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| Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth? |
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Lesson 59 |
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Isaiah 41:14 |
Comments |
| «Fear not, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel! I will help you,» says the Lord and your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. | Confronted with the majority rejecting God, the «remnant», fortunately, always finds strength and comfort with its Lord and Redeemer, in order to succeed in fulfilling the mission God entrusted it with. |
Luke 12:32 |
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| Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. |
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| God is a constant source of comfort and help for the «remnant»: |
| «Listen to Me, O house of
Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been upheld by Me from birth,
who have been carried from the womb: even to your old age, I am He, and even to gray hairs
I will carry you! I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.»
(ISAIAH 46:3,4) «Say, "O Lord, save Your people, the remnant of Israel!" (...) I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they shall not stumble; for I am a Father to Israel (...). Say, "He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him as a shepherd does his flock. For the Lord has redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of one stronger than he."» (JEREMIAH 31:7,9-11) «For the seed shall be prosperous, the vine shall give its fruit, the ground shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew. I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things.» (ZECHARIAH 8:12) |
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| The remnant's mission is to proclaim the gospel throughout the world: |
| «I will leave in your midst a
meek and humble people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord. The remnant of
Israel shall do no unrighteousness and speak no lies, nor shall a deceitful tongue be
found in their mouth.» (ZEPHANIAH 3:12,13) «Arise, shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; but the Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you. The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. Lift up your eyes all around, and see: they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be nursed at your side. Then you shall see and become radiant, and your heart shall swell with joy.» (ISAIAH 60:1-5) |
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Lesson 59 |
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Revelation 12:17 |
Comments |
| And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. | After the 1260 years of persecution, from 538 to 1798,
during which more than 50 million people were killed, the Bible indicates that the Church
of God, at the time of the end, will remain as a remnant. The Bible gives us many clues to help us identify the rest of the woman's offspring, the remnant Church. Let's look at these clues. |
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Lesson 59 |
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The Rest of the Woman's Offspring |
Revelation 12:14,17 |
Comments |
| But the woman was given two
wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is
nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. (...) And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. |
First, God's Church, symbolized by the rest of the woman's offspring, appeared after the 1260-year reign of the apostate Church, that is, after 1798. |
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Lesson 59 |
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Revelation 12:15,16 |
Comments |
| So the serpent spewed water out
of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by
the flood. But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. |
Persecuted in Europe, a populous place
symbolized by the flood, the woman was helped by the earth, that is, a land which was
sparsely populated at that time: the New World. So, the remnant Church appeared in America, after 1798. |
Revelation 17:15 |
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| The waters which you saw (...) are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues. |
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Lesson 59 |
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The Rest of the Woman's Offspring |
Revelation 12:17 |
Comments |
| And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. | The remnant Church believes in salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, and keeps all the commandments of God, including the fourth one which requires the observance of the seventh day, the Sabbath, as day of rest. |
Revelation 14:12 |
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| Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. |
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Lesson 59 |
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Isaiah 58:12-14 |
Comments |
| Those from among you shall build
the old waste places; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you
shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, the Restorer of Streets to Dwell In. If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words, then you shall delight yourself in the Lord; and I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. |
The Word of God had foretold that the remnant Church would rediscover the Sabbath, which has its origins in Creation, thus raising up «the foundations of many generations». |
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Lesson 59 |
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Revelation 14:6 |
Comments |
| Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth - to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people. | The remnant Church is a worldwide movement,
proclaiming God's message throughout the whole world. And what is this message? |
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Lesson 59 |
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| The remnant Church must proclaim this triple message, whose content is: |
| To announce the judg-
| To announce the | To warn everyone not to wor- ment, and to call | fall of Babylon,a | ship the beast, nor to re- everyone to worship | religio-political | ceive its mark on the fore- the Creator: | apostate system: | head or on the hand: ----------------------|-------------------|------------------------------ «Fear God and give | «Babylon is fall- | «If anyone worships the beast glory to Him, for the | en, is fallen, | and his image, and receives hour of His judgment | that great city, | his mark on his forehead or has come; and worship | because she has | on his hand, he himself shall Him who made heaven | made all nations | also drink of the wine of the and earth, the sea | drink of the wine | wrath of God, which is poured and springs of wa- | of the wrath of | out full strength into the ter.» | her fornication.» | cup of His indignation.» (REVELATION 14:7) | (REVELATION 14:8) | (REVELATION 14:9,10) |
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Lesson 59 |
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The Rest of the Woman's Offspring |
Revelation 12:17 |
Comments |
| And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. | The remnant Church also has the testimony
of Jesus Christ, which is the spirit of prophecy. We studied this subject in our lesson entitled «The Testimony of Jesus». |
Revelation 19:10 |
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| The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. |
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| So, here are the seven clues allowing us to identify the remnant Church: |
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Lesson 59 |
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Luke 11:9 |
Comments |
| [Jesus said:] «Seek, and you will find.» | A serious study of all Christian churches will reveal
that only one presents all the characteristics of the remnant Church: the Seventh-day
Adventist Church. Founded in the United States in 1863, this Church has in 2001 more than 12 million members, in 208 countries out of 224, representing about 700 languages and 1000 dialects. It believes in salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, keeps all the commandments of God, and proclaims the triple message of Revelation 14. |
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Lesson 59 |
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John 10:16 |
Comments |
| [Jesus said:] «Other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.» | The Seventh-day Adventist Church does not teach that
only its members will be saved. It rather teaches that there are many sincere believers in every church, and that those believers, when they discover the truth clearly revealed in the Word of God, will join God's remnant Church. |
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Lesson 59 |
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Genesis 19:12,13 |
Comments |
| Then the men said to Lot, «Have you anyone else here? Son-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whomever you have in the city - take them out of this place! For we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the Lord.» |
God warned Lot before destroying Sodom. He does likewise today. |
Luke 17:28,30 |
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| Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot, (...) even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. |
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Lesson 59 |
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Revelation 18:2,4 |
Comments |
| Babylon the great is fallen, is
fallen, and has become a habitation of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage
for every unclean and hated bird! (...) Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. |
Here is God's solemn call to each one of us today. He urges us to come out of Babylon, that is, out of all the churches unfaithful to His will, and to join His people, the remnant Church, the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Will we respond to His call? |
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Lesson 59 |
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| Let's pray together: |
| Heavenly Father, With the help of Your prophetic Word, more valuable than fine gold, You have shown us where we can find Your Church, which keeps all Your commandments and has the faith of Jesus. Please give us the courage we need to come out of Babylon, and join Your Church, while it is still time to do so. May we be efficient and humble instruments in Your hands, so that Your message of salvation may be proclaimed throughout the whole world, and so that we may be one body and one Church. In the precious name of Jesus Christ our Savior we pray. Amen. |
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The Rest of the
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