[§212] Rev 12:14: The Church Is Nourished in the Wilderness

This podcast interprets the symbolism found in Revelation 12:14, which states: “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.” (Rev 12:14) The context for this verse is the persecution of the Christian church after the death of Jesus Christ and prior to the destruction of the temple at Jerusalem in 70 AD. In this timeframe, members of the ancient church were initially persecuted by the Jews in and around Jerusalem. Revelation 12:14 symbolically describes how the woman representing the earthly church was protected and nourished by the two wings of the Great Eagle. The eagle was an emblem and standard for the Roman empire at that time. Thus, the Roman empire protected the ancient church in the wilderness of the Roman empire beyond Jerusalem, where all religions were generally accepted and tolerated. The woman of the ancient church was protected in the Roman wilderness for a time, times, and half time, representing the symbolic number 3½. In this case, this symbolic number means the 3½ decades from the death of Jesus Christ to the destruction of the temple in 70 AD. During this period of the apostolic era, the ancient church was protected against the serpent who represents Satan, but also the Roman empire as Satan’s earthly agent. Unfortunately, as the end of the apostolic era approached, the Roman Dragon turned on the woman in the time of Nero. After his edicts against Christians in 64 AD, the Roman wilderness ceased to be a place of spiritual refuge. However, even at the time of the Abomination of Desolation in 70 AD, the Christians were protected because they followed the warning of the Savior to flee Judea to Pella in Perea as the Roman armies encircled Jerusalem and ultimately destroyed the city. Many scholars in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints interpret the symbolism in Revelation 12:14, as the Great Apostasy when the ancient earthly church was taken up into heaven. This podcast explains why that interpretation is not correct.