May, 30, 2026 Sabbath-School Review

 Derek West

Source material: Seven Trumpet Luminescence, Book no., 5.2; Book date, Dec, 2019

This week we read from page 212 to the end of the 226-page book.   The book ending speaks well to the issues of this blog: the victory of the woman, but more elaboration can be offered.  Thank you for studying my deepening embellishment and focus on her final victory. 

The term, woman is the subject of revelation-al symbolism.  It is a term that defines God’s special favor on His church, the focus of His nourishment and care. The icon of God’s devotion carries a female identity to define her quintessential missionary design: The symbol is feminine because females reproduce the seed of men.  Her reproductive mission, all these 6000 years, was intended to recreate in man the image and likeness of God.  As Paul said in Heb 5: 12, a strong-meat teacher must take you back to Genesis, or what he called the first principles of the oracles of God, to enlighten you on these matters.  Therein, for this blog, at least, we can relearn God’s original purpose for Adam and Eve: It was to multiply and replenish the earth. 

The woman —not of Revelation 17 but Revelation 12— reveals (hence the word Revelation) her path back home to the ultimate success of her original calling.  However, the saints, male and female, must achieve this mission under historic struggle and resistance: perplexities which stem from the original Adamic failure in the Garden of Eden.  The lesson thereby has been made complicated because man’s general life span, at least since Calvary, has barely endured beyond 70 years, and we have thereby found it impossible to generationally pass the essential academic knowledge of salvation.  Children seem averse to study human history.  Wisely then, her burden has been couched in symbolism seeing our hearts have become overly fixated on the cares of survival.  Thus, the Father gave a message that was intended to come to us at the end of the woman’s travail.  Before continuing, I must cite the Bible revelation.    It reads as follows:

“ ​¹ And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun … ² And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. ⁴…and the dragon stood before the woman….for to devour her child as soon as it was born…⁶And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days… ¹³And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. ¹⁴And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. ¹⁵And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. ¹⁶And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. ¹⁷And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” –Rev 12: 1, 2, 4, 6, 13-17.

The dragon persecuted the woman throughout those 2000 years of her struggle.  This was also called the time of the gentiles.  So, we make special recollection as we think back to the Second Trumpet to remember that, by it, the Lord’s fiery mountain was cast into the sea.  This was defined to be God’s law-and-order that was brought to the world, the sea representing the storehouse of humanity: The place where all His fish swim so-to-speak.  It just so happened that only the third part, Israel became blood —meaning the world’s life blood.   In other words, Israel became the force of divine work to revitalize the world because she —not just the Jews— became His most loyal and legal troop.  Parody of speech then suggests that Israel became the Lord’s pool of —not salt but— fresh water.  Their ultimate mission was to convert all of humanity to that higher level of life.  By God’s wisdom then, there is no better time than today for this mission of world salvation especially since we have reached peak population.  Reverting to the Text, you notice that the dragon’s enemy, or Satan’s enemy, was the man child —it says that he sought to devour him as soon as he was born— yet, because the Man child, Jesus, was extracted from the earth, Satan’s focus was redirected to the woman.  Thus, one major message that we learned from this passage is that Satan’s war is against the woman because her mission was evangelism: the duty to teach the world about Jesus, her Man child.  Such has been the burden of the church throughout its history until today. 

But we must make a point of special emphasis: The woman is not just the Christian Church after Calvary.  She began with Abraham and Sarah.  How, I ask, could she otherwise not be the Hebrew Church since, by the Revelation symbolism, a mature woman gave birth to Jesus?  Thus, at that time she had to be representative of the mature Jewish Church, as manifested by the Lord’s 120 disciples, devout Jews who converted to Christianity.  Her labor to bring forth then is much more than a mere reference to Mary’s pregnancy by the Highest; it is a proverbial expression. The book shows that her labor represents her struggle to properly introduce Jesus to the Jews and do so against leadership opposition.  Believe it or not, this was her travail even though it says she had Bible legitimacy: She was clothed with the sun.

Much work was dedicated this Sabbath afternoon to the place of her physical address on earth.  Being reminded that the very Book of Revelation itself, simply but accurately put, was a dedicated and sealed letter intended for her address.  This fact underscores the significance of this key point.  It says,  

³ Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand. ⁴ John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace …¹⁰ I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, ¹¹ Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.” —Rev 1:3-11

He that readeth is the man unto whom the sealed letter was to be delivered.  Letters, you know, are sealed before they are put into the postal mailbox.  Otherwise, they are susceptible to becoming stolen, destroyed, or corrupted.  It was only to be unsealed and read today by the overcomer, the mustard seed; therefore, the time that is cited in the first century whereby we are told that it is “at hand” was a prophetic, future perfect tense which pointed the sea, aka the world, to our day, the only time when the letter could be opened and understood.  This we know because Father told John to tell us that he that readeth is blessed.  This blessing points us back to the very first blessing conveyed to man: the dominion of Adamic reign because he, Adam and Eve, was (sic) originally blessed.  And leave no doubt about it: Their blessing was replete with real and actual meaning, graces that cannot be obscured.  If it could be obscured or rendered meaningless, then all other blessings by heaven could likewise be relegated to the trash heap of trite, meaningless, and platitudinal expressions.  Adam’s blessing then, as also now, included the mission of the woman, the mission to replenish the earth.  Be not shocked! Just because you chose to shorten your life to 70 years does not mean that God must alter His precisely articulated goodwill, dumbing it down, to suit your lethargic zeal for child development and enlightenment.  Therefore, the blessing pronounced on Adam then Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob became the proverbial sun with which the woman was clothed. 

Accordingly, it was not understood by the church in the first century when her first estate was in Jerusalem, her home before she fled into Eurasia.  Also, the letter was not opened to be understood during the time of her second estate in Eurasia.  It was only read with comprehension after the time of her last and most desperate flight: at the end of her stay in America.  Such was that time of which the Bible speaks, the time that is now at hand.  We can know this because the seven churches which she occupied were in Eurasia, but the Adamic blessings of her promise were not conveyed to the seven early Christian congregations of Eurasia.  It, her promise was only dedicated to the singular man called the “hearer”.  He was called blessed: the one who overcame by doctrinal advancement.  We find proof of this by reading the actual promise of the blessing.  It clearly relates to our final victory and to the singular man defined as the reader.  It says of him the following:

To Ephesus: “He that hath an ear, let him hear…To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life…”; to Smyrna, “…I will give thee a crown of life…He that hath an ear, let him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches…” to Pergamos, “…¹⁷ He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and … a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.”; to Thyatira, “…²⁵ But that which ye have already hold fast till I come. ²⁶ And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: ²⁷ And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. ²⁸ And I will give him the morning star. ”, to Sardis, “…white raiment…”, to Philadelphia…”…a pillar in the temple…”, to Laodicea, to “…sup with him…” and a “…seat in His throne…” —see Rev chapters 2 & 3”

The tree of life restoration, the crown of life, the dominion over the nations, the seat on Jesus’ throne next to Him, etc.: These are the very glories of the Book of Revelation; they are the perfect promises to end the Bible.  But we must note that they, as an assessment, could never come until the judgment and the Rod of Iron is granted to the overcomer today. 

Thereby, it is clear to see the furious passion to destroy the woman by the original serpent in the garden, Satan.  The rise of her victorious overcomer means his ultimate defeat.  And how does Satan eventually fall?  The book clearly shows: He falls by the overcomer’s strict fidelity to the Word of God a midst all intimidation.  Upon that event, the earth opens her mouth to destroy Satan’s lies.  And here we go with more symbolism: It speaks of the earth with a mouth.  This means the men of the planet who, through the technological developments installed in the world by Jesus’ historic leadership and nourishment of the woman, will have their own soon-to-be-well publicized broadcast.  The reader and the hearer uses his own tools to broadcast the truth, a news medium to simultaneously reach the globe giving the earth a voice, a mouth to countervail that of Satan.  And that voice, articulated by the overcomer, defeats the devil and his lies.  True indeed was the promise of Christ to the serpent:

“ ¹⁴ And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: ¹⁵ And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” —Gen 3: 14-15

The Lord has been patient: The curse of the serpent has now arrived, and we are blessed to see it.  A 6000-year fight has been waged between the woman and the serpent; it is called their enmity.  Her seed, he that overcometh, the mustard seed, goes to battle against masonry, the serpent’s head.  Though the serpent has frustrated the overcomer in his walk, all these past 10 generations of Adventism, and though by those frustrations he has walked with a Jacobian limp, he, in the final hour destroys the devil’s forces of evil; he exposes before the world the crimes of masonry.  As a snake with his head bashed, Satan is exposed to be false before the universe.

This is our resolution to our path back home: back to the Adamic bliss of the Garden of Eden.  But it has come with a choice that we uncovered and discussed in this Sabbath School Session.  To make the point even more resonant, I deployed a new metaphor, that of “Salmonic” fortitude.  It is a new word coined by the mustard seed which encompasses man’s fight to return home and receive the Adamic commission.  All can recognize the analogy of the salmon and his course through life; it is a unique fish.  Few if any other fish convert from salt water to abide in the streams and rivers.  The salmon, on his final trek back home, I dare say, is the only one who conquers the limits of the flesh to make that transition.  After spending all his life in the sea, nearly six years, he turns back to the place in which he was spawned.  Remember, the sea is also the proverbial home of humanity: We too must make a transition from carnal to spiritual beings.  But it is not enough to merely abide in the shallow ponds of fresh water for if we settle, we risk making it the lowlands of our destiny.  Instead, let us be encouraged by the salmon’s zeal: though it is one that is fraught with resistance and hazard.  Is not the spiritual labyrinths of our own peril metaphorically comparable?  We too have had an upstream swim against the raging white-water currents of human ridicule, even from devout Christians.  With the salmon, I concede that only a few succeed, but that is the point: They are the blessed of God.  The analogy does not fall on all fours because, likewise with the salmon, after he fertilizes his eggs he dies.  Yet, in a special way, even in that outcome, he makes the point: Only the men who swim against adversity are given the Adamic commission and blessing to multiply and replenish the earth.  Such is to be merely our rest since we have Bible assurance of everlasting life as we reach our destination.  So this Sabbath School Session has given us cause to offer special praise to the Lord: victory over lower-level lagoon lethargy.  For in the cozy ponds of theology, men cannot forward in earth the seed of the woman.  Let us rejoice that our kingdom has come and God’s will has been done on earth as it is in heaven.  God has navigated us back home to be His masters in the earth.  This is the reason why the Lord’s mountain was cast into the sea. 

The Bible has enough metaphors, but if not those, maybe the salmonic mission will buoy our spirits as we struggle against the incessant currents of resistance: for it is the struggle under which we, the woman, have been forced to abide.  How God seeks to save those who linger behind in the safe lowland puddles, is a matter for future discussion.  Today, with this lesson, we rejoice in our rescue from the serpent as a result of our successful upstream swim.       

Next week we will direct our focus to the to Series 28, audio studies.  I look forward to more communion with you then.

Derek