Part III Tribulation Saints:
The Destiny of Believers during the Coming Tribulation
We come now to the third section of this book, and to things
that are yet future. After considering the history of Israel,
the chosen people, and of the church, we can not help wondering
who the true believers of the Tribulation period will be. According
to the book of Revelation, starting with Chapter Four, the next
period of human history will be a time of trial for the earth.
This is generally called "The Tribulation," from Christ's
own words in Matthew 24:9. "Then they will deliver you to
tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations
on account of My name." The word for "tribulation"
is the Greek word thlipsis. This word literally means "pressure"
and can be translated as "affliction, anguish, persecution,
or tribulation." (Usually the seven-year period after the
Rapture and before the Second Coming is called "the tribulation
period," however the last 3.5 years is frequently called
"the great tribulation" because of the terrible
violence loosed on the earth during the last half of the tribulation
period).
If Israel has rejected her Messiah and has been blinded, and if
true believers from the church have been taken away, who then
are these believers of the Tribulation period?
Saints and Martyrs of The Tribulation Period
Future believers will basically be the same as the believers
of today. They will be Christians: people who have put their faith
in Jesus Christ who have repented of their sins, received
Christ to come into their lives, and have been "born again,"
just like the Christians of the Church Age. (Luke 24:46-47; John
1:12; Revelation 3:20; John 3:3-16)
It is true that God works differently in every age. The church,
for instance is called the "Body of Christ" and the
(virgin) Bride of Christ. All Christians are said to be "members
one of another" in a special organic way. The church was
not promised a plot of land, nor a temple nor an earthly king
and inheritance. God's promises to her are "heavenly"
blessings while those given to Israel are "earthly."
Actually, salvation has been offered by God to people of all ages
on the same basis: that of grace and faith. God's grace has always
preceded man's response, because, as the Bible says, "There
is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands,
no one who seeks God." (Romans 3:10-11). We have only glimpses
of God's work in other nations down through history. For instance
many Ninevites evidently became believers in the one true God
because of the preaching of Jonah, yet these peoples were not
part of believing Israel, or of the church.
Even in the Garden of Eden God took the initiative to restore
our fallen, sinful parents to fellowship. It was God's idea to
call Abraham and Moses and David. It has always been God's idea
to call and enable every person to believe. Men do not seek God
on their own initiative (Romans 3)--God seeks out and saves every
one who ever comes to know Him. The proper response to God's call
call is faith--trust in Him, and actions based on that trust.
According to Ephesians 2:8-9, even that faith is a gift from our
loving God. "For it is by grace you have been saved, through
faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not
by works, so that no one can boast."
In the Old Testament, faith in God involved belief in the promise
that He would provide a payment for sin. That is what the sacrificial
system was all about. When an animal was being sacrificed, the
one offering the sacrifice would place his hand on its head and
acknowledge that the innocent animal was dying in his place.
In the New Testament Jesus was shown to be the Messiah and the
Savior whose death provided a once-for-all payment for our sin.
Messiah's sacrifice was retroactively effective for all those
who had believed in the promises that sin would one day be not
merely "passed-over" or "covered"--but removed.
(John 1:41; 4:25-26; Hebrews 9:26-28; 13:11-12)
Believers of the Tribulation period will undoubtedly have the
Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38; Romans 8:9-11), but since they will not
be accepted into Antichrist's evil world system, they will not
be allowed into public places of influence, as teachers business
leaders, and government positions, etc. The Holy Spirit in them
will not have the same restraining influence that He had during
the church age when believers were united in one body, the Body
of Christ. (2 Thessalonians 2:6-8).
Believers of the Tribulation will not be affiliated with the organization
of the church which remains on earth following the Rapture. That
church will be a totally apostate group commonly called "the
harlot church." After the Rapture, some churches will be
quite empty, and some may not be affected much at all, depending
on what percentage of true born-again believers belonged to each
church. Many of those who are left behind will actually be relieved
to be rid of the fanatical ones who were taken in the Rapture.
They will believe whatever lie is proposed by the Evil One to
explain this great disappearance. Some churches will close down,
and some will merely reorganize and go on with their religious
activities These spiritually dead organizations will not attract
new true believers in Christ. They may even turn them in as troublemakers
to the evil government of that time. Therefore, the saints and
martyrs of the Tribulation period are never called the church
(Revelation chapters 4-19). As noted there will indeed exist a
"renewed" church on the earth after the rapture, but
she will be a counterfeit, apostate organization and will give
her power to Antichrist. She is thus depicted as a prostitute
riding the beast in Revelation chapter 17.
Are you among those who know Christ personally? If you are
not sure, we urge you to turn to Appendix U, Do You Know Christ Personally?
Believers in Christ from all nations
The covenant with Abraham and his seed was for the purpose
of blessing all nations (Genesis 12:2-3; 22:17-18). It was a promise
to an earthly people ("as numerous as the grains of sand
by the sea shore") and to a heavenly people ("as
numerous as the stars of the sky").
The promise to Abraham was fulfilled specifically in the person
and work of Jesus the Messiah, as Paul reminds us in Galatians,
The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say "and to seeds," meaning many people, but "and to your seed," meaning one person, who is Christ. (Galatians 3:16)
In the book of Acts we gain a glimpse of this blessing extended to the Gentiles.
"Simon has described to us how God at first showed his concern by taking from the Gentiles a people for himself. The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written: "'After this I will return and rebuild David's fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it, that the remnant of men may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these things' that have been known for ages.'" (Acts 15:14-18)
Sudden belief of many after the Rapture
Since the Rapture will have taken all true Christians, one
might ask how there are believer during The Tribulation. There
could well be hundreds of thousands of immediate conversions right
after the Rapture by those who had heard the Gospel, and, though
they were not hardened against it, had not yet actually received
Christ as Savior. These people will remember the earnest pleading
of friends and family members who had disappeared. They could
respond quickly, turning to Christ in prayer, confessing their
sins and asking Him to save them.
Thousands of others will not know what to do, but will be convinced
in their hearts that their missing loved ones had been taken by
Christ. Perhaps some of them will not believe the lie that is
put forward by the ungodly media, which may be saying that the
Earth has at last been cleansed of its narrow-minded trouble-making
Christian extremists. Officials may even suggest that UFOs had
abducted them-- our planet's population has been conditioned for
decades now to believe in the existence of UFOs.
These honest seekers will turn to the Bibles and prophecy books
that have been left by their missing friends. Their minds and
hearts will be open to the Gospel when they read it or hear it
explained by the thousands of instant converts. Even if they do
not find the truth immediately, they will respond when evangelists
like the 144,000 specially sealed Israelites mentioned below,
boldly proclaim the Gospel during this period.
Messianic (Jewish) leadership
It is apparent that the spiritual leaders of this period will
be "completed" or "fulfilled" Jews, those
who have accepted Yeshua as their Messiah. Romans 11 reminds us
that they will receive God's mercy when they return to Him.
I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.
And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins."
As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies on your account; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable.
Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God's mercy to you. For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all. (Romans 11:25-32)
The Central Role of Israel
There are many indications that Israel is once again on center
stage of history during the Tribulation period. Even now, before
that time begins, our newspapers and television programs are preoccupied
with the events of the Middle East, and especially of the tiny
nation of Israel. The miraculous rebirth of the nation in 1948
was the fulfillment of the prophecies of Ezekiel chapters 36 and
37!
The importance of Israel in current events was prophesied in Zechariah:
"I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem. On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves." (Zechariah 12:2-3)
Israel is also portrayed in the Old Testament as the central nation of major future events. Especially in the Book of Daniel we are told of a "seventieth week," a seven year period, that still belongs to Israel's future.
"Seventy 'sevens' are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy.
"Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven 'sevens,' and sixty-two 'sevens.' It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble.
"After the sixty-two 'sevens,' the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed.
"He will confirm a covenant with many for one 'seven.' In the middle of the 'seven' he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him." (Daniel 9:24-27)
In his classic book The Coming Prince, Sir Robert Anderson, who was head of Scotland Yard, calculated the exact duration of the first sixty nine of these "weeks" of years. Sixty-nine times seven is four hundred eighty-three. These years were lunar years of exactly 360 days, as in all the Biblical references. Anderson showed that from the decree by Artaxerxes Longimanus to rebuild Jerusalem until the day that Jesus offered Himself as Messiah and was rejected by the officials of Jerusalem (the day of His "Triumphal Entry"), was exactly four hundred eighty-three years, that is 173,880 days (360 x 483).
This leaves one seven year period of Israel's history to be fulfilled
before the time of "everlasting righteousness." At the
beginning of this last seven year period Antichrist (the "prince"
or "ruler" who will come), will make a seven year covenant
with Israel, but will break it in the middle by setting up an
"abomination" in the newly rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem.
This time table agrees exactly with the timing of the Book of
Revelation. This will be shown later, where certain events which
begin when Antichrist sets up a statue of himself in the Temple
(Daniel's "abomination that causes desolation"), and
last to the end of The Tribulation, are exactly three and one
half years long. This is the second half of Daniel's seventieth
"week."
This period of upheaval is also characterized in Jeremiah 30:7
as the "Time of Jacob's Trouble."
Perhaps the best way to set the scene for this section is to study the wonderful overview of Israel's history in Revelation chapter 12.
A Symbolic Overview of All of Israel's History
The Book of the Revelation, Chapter 12, presents a great vision of the nation of Israel portrayed as a woman. The vantage point is that of eternity.
A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth.
Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born. She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.
And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down--that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: "Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short."
When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the desert, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent's reach. Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring--those who obey God's commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus. (Revelation 12:1-17)
In his sermon series on Revelation, Ray Stedman offers the following commentary on this passage,
"There is no mystery to the dragon's identity, for John will disclose that to us in verse 9: "that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray." In the opening verse of chapter 12, the devil is symbolized as a great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns upon his heads. But he is also "that ancient serpent" the very one who appeared in the Garden of Eden to the first woman, Eve, deceiving her and introducing sin into the human race. Dragons, of course, symbolize satanic worship in many cultures around the world. As John says in verse 9, the career of the devil has been devoted to deceiving the entire human race and leading human beings astray.
"The male child who is born to the woman is the next easiest to identify because verse 5 says that He is the one "who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter." This is one of four references in Revelation to Psalm 2. In verse 9 of that prophetic, messianic psalm we read, "You will rule them with an iron scepter."
"Though the book of Revelation is truly rooted in the entire Old Testament, it would be a valid analogy to compare Revelation to an oak tree that grows and expands out of the acorn of Psalm 2. In this Psalm we read that the One enthroned in heaven says, "I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill," and that this King will rule the nations with an iron scepter. Clearly this is a reference to the thousand-year reign of Jesus Christ during the Millennium, as is pictured for us in the book of Revelation. The reference to an iron scepter (in Psalm 2 and Revelation 12:5) always indicates a millennial scene. The iron scepter speaks of strict justice. The Millennium will be a time of worldwide blessing and prosperity when the curse of sin will be at least partly removed from the natural world. But sin will still manifest itself to some degree--hence the iron scepter of Christ. As we shall see in Revelation 20, righteousness will reign on earth during the Millennium, but it will have to be enforced.
"After the Millennium the new heaven and the new earth will appear. At that time Christ will no longer reign with a scepter of iron. Nothing evil can enter into the new heaven and the new earth. When sin is finally extinguished forever, the defining characteristic of Christ will no longer be His iron reign but tender, shepherd-like love as He ministers personally and kindly to His redeemed people.
"That brings us to the mystery of the woman. Why is she clothed with the sun? Why is the moon under her feet? Why are twelve stars arranged in a crown over her head? There are several theories as to whom or what this symbolic woman represents. Roman Catholic scholars have concluded that she is Mary, the mother of Jesus. Having understood that the child who will rule the nation with an iron scepter is Jesus, it certainly makes sense that the mother of that child would be Mary. The problem with this theory, however, is that there is no way you can fit Mary into verse 6 where we read that she "fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she will be taken care of for 1,260 days." That never happened to Mary, and never will. The woman in Revelation 12 does not represent a single individual but rather a community of people.
"Some Bible scholars say she symbolizes the church. Certainly there is some substantiation for this view, in that the church is pictured at the close of Revelation as a woman, the bride of Christ. But as with the previous theory this view has an insurmountable problem: It is impossible for the woman to represent the church because she is depicted as giving birth to Jesus. The church did not produce Jesus; Jesus produced the church! The church was "born" out of the wounded side of Jesus.
"What, then, is the true identity of this woman of mystery'? Let us examine the clues one by one and see where they lead. The clues are significant: The woman is clothed with the sun, the moon is under her feet, and a crown of twelve stars is on her head. There is only one other place in Scripture where you find all these symbols clustered together in one place: Genesis 37, the story of Joseph the boy-dreamer. He dreamed one night that the sun, the moon, and eleven stars bowed down before him. The sun, moon, and stars represented his father, mother, and eleven brothers, respectively. Eventually this dream would come true--but not until after those eleven brothers sold Joseph into slavery, not until after Joseph overcame trials of false accusation and unjust imprisonment, not until after Joseph became second in command over all of Egypt.
"The symbols of the sun, moon, and stars make it clear: The woman represents the people of Israel, all of whom are descendants of Joseph's father Jacob. Joseph himself would be the twelfth star. In Romans 9:5 Paul said of the people of Israel, "from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ." That is why Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well, "Salvation is from the Jews." Even the salvation of the Gentiles comes by way of the Jews, because it is the Jewish race that produced Jesus Christ. So here again, in the symbolism of the woman clothed in the sun with the stars at her head and the moon at her feet, we have a picture of Israel coming again into prominence in the last days.
"To understand the vivid images and symbols of Revelation 12 we should remember that we are viewing earthly scenes from heaven's point of view. In Revelation 4 we saw that John was caught up into heaven and shown all the things that follow in Revelation 4 through 19. When you look at earthly events from heaven's standpoint, time is never a factor. This vision does not present a sequence or an ordered chronology. It presents occurrences arranged according to their meaning and importance from a heavenly, eternal perspective. Events that may be widely separated in time may be clustered together in eternity's view. From heaven's perspective we are shown what happens, not when it happens. If we approach this chapter--and indeed all of Revelation--with this point of view, symbols that once seemed murky and obscure will pop into focus.
"What we have in Revelation 12 is a kind of tableau, like a scene in a wax museum, of three-dimensional figures frozen in place at the climactic moment of a dramatic event. Satan, the great dragon, is crouched with its fangs bared and its eyes smoldering, watching Israel as she prepares to give birth to her long-promised Son. Israel is pregnant and crying out in her labor pains. The dragon's intention is clear: it seeks to devour Jesus as soon as He emerges from the womb of Israel and makes His appearance upon the earth. What is the historical reality represented by this grim and symbol-laden tableau?
"This scene takes us back to the historical birth of Jesus, to the time of the Roman Empire and its subjugation of Israel. It takes us back to time of King Herod the Great and the demonic malice and enmity filled his heart when he learned of the birth of Jesus. It is easy to see events of that time in the symbolic tableau of Revelation 12:1-4. The dragon of world power in Jesus' day was the Roman Empire which, in the Jewish land of Judea, was represented by the person of Rome's puppet king Herod the Great. Though in his early career Herod had been a comparatively progressive and benevolent despot, his notorious cruel streak and murderous paranoia were already in full evidence by the time Christ was born. In a fit of jealous rage Herod murdered his favorite among his eight wives, as well as several of her family members. He later murdered his own firstborn son Antipas. So his attempt to kill the newborn Son of God by slaughtering the infants of Bethlehem was true to form for this brutal and unfeeling man. Like a dragon, he lay in wait for the child to be born--then pounced, beast-like, spilling blood as if it were water. But God intervened, sparing the infant Jesus from the maw of the dragon. Warned by the appearance of an angel in a dream, Joseph and Mary took Jesus on a secret journey to Egypt beyond the reach of Herod.
"This brings us to verse 5. It is at this point in the symbolic allegory of the dragon, the woman, and the child that we come upon a startling statement. John writes, "She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne." Completely ignoring any chronology or .sequence of historical events, this symbolic scene takes a sudden jump from the birth of Jesus to His ascension some 30 years later, skipping over His life, ministry, death, and resurrection in a single breath. In this image, John is shown only the birth and ascension into heaven of Jesus. This symbol encompasses both the beginning and the ending of His earthly ministry.
But a problem of interpretation arises at this point. The problem is this: The clear implication of Revelation 12:5 is that Jesus was "snatched up to God" in order to deliver Him from harm, from the reach of the dragon. Yet we know from reading the gospels and the book of Acts that Jesus' ascension was by no means an escape from harm. Rather it was a triumphal exit following His victory over death. The resurrected Lord was completely beyond the reach of His enemies, and there was no harm anyone could do to Him. Why, then, does this tableau in Revelation 12 depict Jesus as having been "snatched up to God" as a child is snatched out of the path of an onrushing car?
"Here is where the interpretation of Revelation becomes sensitive, because of the non-linear, non-chronological nature of the vision. The interpretation is this: There is an aspect of our Lord Jesus Christ which does find deliverance from danger, from the rage of the red dragon, by being snatched away into heaven. By this I mean the Body of Christ that is on the earth today--that is, the church. Throughout the New Testament, the Lord and His church are regarded as one. When Saul (later the apostle Paul) was confronted by an appearance of Christ on the Damascus Road, Jesus said to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" Saul had never even met Jesus--but he was persecuting the church. When Jesus spoke to Saul of His church He identified completely with that church. If Saul was persecuting the Lord's church, Saul was persecuting Him, because they were one. Paul later wrote to the Corinthians, "Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it." The church, he said, is a body, and "the body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ." The church and the Lord together are the body of Christ. So when we come to Revelation 12 and see that the child, representing Christ, was "snatched up to God and to his throne," it becomes clear that this is a reference to the removal of the church from the world and from the threatening presence of the dragon "
It should be remembered that Christ Himself ascended into the
heavens (Acts 1:9-11). This passage might only have that ascension
in view. However if, as Stedman suggests, this is a reference
to the Rapture of the church, it is still an event which will
take place before the Tribulation, when Israel will be driven
into the wilderness. Thus, even if the church is in view, it is
not a violation of the concept that the church is never mentioned
during the Tribulation period.
Ray Stedman continues:
"Verse 6 carries us on into the Tribulation period. In leaping immediately from the birth of Christ to the removal of the church and the beginning of the Tribulation, these verses in Revelation 12 completely eclipse all the centuries of the church age in which we now live. In verse 6, the woman (representing the people of Israel) flees into the desert to a place prepared for her by God. There she is taken care of for a period of 1,260 days--a significant time period, as can be seen in the previous chapter. In Revelation 11, the two witnesses will prophesy for a period of 1,260 days--the last 3 1/2 years of the seven-year Tribulation period. So it would be reasonable and consistent to conclude that the desert exile of the believing Jewish people (represented by the woman) would also take place during the same 3 1/2-year period in which the two witnesses prophesy against the Antichrist.
"Notice, too, that a subtle shift has taken place in the symbolism represented by the woman. In verses 1 through 4 the woman represented the Jewish nation which was to bring forth Jesus, the Son of God. In verse 5 the child is born and is snatched up to God's throne. In verse 6 the woman flees into the desert to escape the persecution of the Antichrist and the Tribulation. The fleeing woman, then, represents not the Jewish people as a whole--for many Jews will be deceived by the Antichrist--but the believing remnant of the Jews, those who have trusted in the Messiah and have refused to submit to the rule of the Antichrist.
"This woman, you recall, represents not all Jews of the last days but only the believing remnant. Those Jews who have not believed are suffering under the judgments that are foretold in the Old Testament prophecies. This is "the time of Jacob's trouble," when apostate Jews are cruelly eliminated by the dragon and the faithful remnant is pursued and persecuted. The remnant escapes to the desert, and the swiftness of their flight from danger is symbolized by the eagle's wings.
"Many Bible scholars believe the faithful Jews of the last days will flee to the city of Petra, south of the Dead Sea--a strangely beautiful city hewn out of the rock of the earth that is presently an attraction for tourists and archaeologists in the Holy Land. Perhaps this is true, but no one can say with certainty.
"What is important in these verses is that God will care for this believing remnant in a supernatural way. They will be borne out of danger on the metaphorical wings of an eagle. It is no coincidence that this is the very same metaphor God used when the nation of Israel was led out of Egypt by Moses. "You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt," God said to Israel through His servant Moses, "and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself." (Exodus 19:4) This is a picture of God's loving protection and care for the people who are His faithful remnant in that day.
"The symbolism of the river of water which the serpent spews in an effort to overtake the woman is likely an image of a vast host of soldiers sent by the Antichrist to overtake and destroy the faithful of Israel in the last days. But God will protect His faithful remnant, probably by means of a natural cataclysm--perhaps an earthquake--that causes the destruction of the Antichrist's armies and the frustration of his plans.
"The Antichrist will be diverted from attacking the faithful Jews of Israel (symbolized by the woman), and will instead turn his attention to "the rest of her offspring" and make war against them. Who is John describing in this phrase? Most likely "the rest of her offspring" refers to "Christ's commandos," the 144,000 Jews we first met in Revelation 7 and will meet again in Revelation 14. They are the special band of believing Jews who move out into the four corners of the world, preaching the gospel of the kingdom to all the nations. The devil gives his final attention to destroying this group because of their powerful and effective witness to the world. The rage of the devil is increasing as he grows more and more desperate, knowing that his time is short. Like any wild and dangerous beast, the devil becomes more deadly and ferocious as he is backed into a corner."