1. The beginning of birth pains

The beginning of birth pains.pdf

NKJV (John 16: 21-22) 21 A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. 22 Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.
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Jesus compared the pregnancy of a woman and the birth of a child with His departure to His Father and His Second Coming. A very applicable comparison as will appear from this article.
Thousands of years have passed since the Christ was on earth.
Jesus told us in His days on earth about birth pains that would affect the inhabited world.
Now, after all these years, the woman is highly pregnant and the labor pains suddenly start.
These first birth pains are the birth announcement that will follow shortly.
John writes that a great sign appeared, an unusual event. It is therefore not a real woman who is going to give birth to a child, but a ‘symbolic’ woman:

CSB (Rev. 12: 1-2) 1 A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and a crown of 12 stars on her head. 2 She was pregnant….

The theme of this article is the birth pains of the highly pregnant woman and the impact of the birth of the Child.

photo: SVG SILH 

The birth pains of the symbolic woman are felt throughout creation, both in heaven and on earth. According to Jesus, the earthlings can know when the first birth pains begin:

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CSB (Matthew 24: 7-8) 7 For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these events are the beginning of birth pains.
NKJV (Luke 21:11) 11…. famines and pestilences; and there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven.

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Who is this pregnant woman?

Satan knows very well who this heavenly woman is. This is evident from Genesis:

NKJV (Genesis 3:15) 15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed….

This ‘symbolic’ woman is adorned with the sun and the moon is under her feet and she has a crown of 12 stars (Rev. 12: 1). The number 12 appears in Scripture as an organization-form that is complete, like the 12 apostles. But in this case it is a reflection of the 12 tribes of God’s covenant people. The promise of God, spoken via Moses to the Israelites of a kingdom of priests, of a holy people:

NKJV (Exodus 19: 5-6) 5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. 6 And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you (Moses) shall speak to the children of Israel.”

We have seen this representation of celestial bodies before in a dream of Joseph in Genesis 37: 9. The ‘twelve stars’ here refer to Joseph and his eleven brothers, the twelve patriarchs of the twelve tribes of Israel.
In prophecies, women are sometimes used as organizations such as ‘the bride’ of Christ.
The described pregnant woman stands for the Jerusalem that is above, the heavenly Jerusalem, the heavenly mother, the ‘old’ heavenly organization since creation.
The heavenly organization of freedom as opposed to the earthly Jerusalem of slavery:

NKJV (Galatians 4: 25-26) 25 for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children–26 but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all.
NKJV (Hebrews 12:22) 22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels,…

The ‘old’ heavenly Jerusalem turns out to include an organization of a very large number of angels, with their tasks. Clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet has the meaning of continuous enlightenment through the glory of God and of the Lamb, as also described in Rev. 21: 23 :

CSB (Revelation 21:23) 23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because God’s glory illuminates it, and its lamp is the Lamb.

The signs mentioned by Jesus that indicate the beginning of the birth pains

All the signs that Jesus spoke of in Luke 21: 10-11 and Matthew 24: 7-8 form the beginning of the birth pains of the pregnant woman in heaven.
According to our research, these signs can now unmistakably be discerned:

Nation will rise up against nation:
https://www.reference.com/world-view/many-wars-going-world-right-now-ffd6236450ccb7ae
The four ongoing conflicts with the highest number of casualties (at least 10,000 deaths per year) are the Syrian Civil War, the civil war in South Sudan, the war in Afghanistan, and the Mexican Drug War. Those with more than 1,000 deaths include the Yemeni Civil War, the Somali Civil War, the Kurdish-Turkish conflict, conflicts in Nigeria, the war in Darfur, the Boko Haram insurgency, the Libyan crisis, the Sinai insurgency, the South Kordofan conflict  and the South Sudanese Civil War. Beyond this is the ever complex war with terrorists throughout the world like ISIL and Al-Qaeda.

Famines are approaching, through the worst locust plagues since 70 years:
https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/pakistan-facing-a-locust-crisis-more-than-40-crops-under-risk-263563
Pakistan under attack by locusts, more than 40% crops under risk.
https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/locust-swarm-threatens-food-security-kenya/
Locust plague in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia. Now heading to Uganda and South-Sudan.
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/360-billion-locusts-and-growing-a-plague-of-biblical-proportions-is-destroying-crops-across-the-middle-east-and-africa
In Saudi Arabia, the swarms have been so thick at times that they have blocked out the sun.
https://dearborn.org/171336/sardinia-hit-by-worst-locust-invasion-for-70-years/
Swarms of locusts have destroyed crops on the Italian island of Sardinia, worst in 70 years.

Wikimedia Commons

Pestilences (contagious diseases) break out:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/last-years-flu-broke-records-for-deaths-and-illnesses-new-cdc-numbers-show/2018/09 /26/97cb43fc-c0ed-11e8-90c9-23f963eea204_story.html
Flu broke the record of deaths in the US, in 2017-2018 about 80,000 people.
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/4-plagues-are-marching-across-asia-simultaneously-coronavirus-african-swine-fever-h5n1-bird-flu-and-h1n1-swine-flu
The coronavirus, the African swine flu, avian flu (H5N1) and swine flu (H1N1). The African swine flu that is not contagious to humans has killed more than half of the Chinese pig population last year. More than 50 million people have been quarantined in 16 cities in China. The Mexican flu prevails in Taiwan.
https://www.rt.com/news/480073-saudi-arabia-bird-flu-virus/ H5N8: Saudi Arabia reports outbreak of VERY pathogenic (of biological origin) avian flu virus.
https://dailypost.ng/2020/02/07/benue-killer-disease-a-mystery-its-not-ebola-lassa-fever-or-coronavirus-nigerian-govt/ killer disease in Nigeria

Earthquakes on a massive scale:
National Geophysical Data Center
Sturdy global earthquakes of magnitude 5.0 and higher since 1960:


Great signs from heaven:
Jan. 2008 South Pole Telescope; observation of an object in the southern sky.
Image planet x = mini constellation with planets and moons (photo left)
On the right photo, an image of the mini constellation (weather camera) at sunset.
This mini constellation will soon become much more visible on earth.

How will, according to Scripture, the pregnancy of the heavenly woman continue?

In Revelation is also written about the same highly pregnant woman.
Three woes of this woman are described. But first the seven seals are opened. Then the seven trumpets are blown (Rev. 8: 7 and further):

NKJV (Revelation 8:13) 13 And I looked, and I heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!”

The 5th trumpet – (Rev. 9: 1) 1st woe The abyss is opened; the sun is darkened, grasshoppers come out like smoke out of a furnace (a horse army with tails like scorpions Rev. 9: 7,10) and are allowed to hurt the people 5 months who don’t have God’s seal.

NKJV (Revelation 9: 6, 12) 6 In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them….12 One woe is past. Behold, still two more woes are coming after these things.

The 6th trumpet – (Rev. 9:13) 2nd woe Four angels let go of a very large group of horsemen. By fire, smoke and sulfur (out of their mouth) 1/3 of the humans will be killed.

<Rev. 10: 1–11: 14 The little book that John eats, sweet in the mouth but bitter in the belly – the two witnesses prophecy – Matthew 24: 14 ; then a major earthquake follows>

NKJV (Revelation 11:14) 14 The second woe is past. Behold, the third woe is coming quickly.

The 7th trumpet – (Rev.11:15) 3rd woe After the times of the Gentiles (Luke 21:24) God Himself has again taken on the kingship together with His Messiah. God’s Kingdom has come:

NKJV (Revelation 11: 15-17) 15 Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” 16 And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their thrones fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying: “We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, The One who is and who was and who is to come, Because You have taken Your great power and reigned.
NKJV (Revelation 12: 2) 2 Then being with child, she (the heavenly woman) cried out in labor and in pain to give birth.

The 24 elders also sit around the throne of God before the seven seals are opened and before the woman gives birth. In any case, they are not the 144,000 saints, because in Rev. 5: 8-10 a song is sung by the 24 elders about the 144,000 who will soon be caught up into heaven:

CSB (Revelation 5: 8-10) 8 When He took the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song: You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals; because You were slaughtered, and You redeemed [people] for God by Your blood from every tribe and language and people and nation. 10 You made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign on the earth.

The unborn Child is threatened by Satan

Satan stands ready to devour the Child the woman wants to give birth to:

NKJV (Revelation 12: 3-4) 3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. 4 His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born.

From Rev. 12: 9 it appears that this ‘fiery-colored dragon’ is the old serpent called devil and Satan. A large number of angels (the third part) are under the influence of Satan and are thrown to earth by Satan. Then, the child is given birth:

NKJV (Revelation 12: 5) 5 She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne.

The symbolic Child is quickly brought to God’s throne and as an organization, it is the replacement of the ‘old’ heavenly Jerusalem, the heavenly Mother.
The ‘symbolic’ newborn Child can then be nothing else than the newborn New Jerusalem, the heavenly city with the apostles as the foundation stones and Jesus as the main corner foundation stone. (Ephesians 2: 19-20) (1 Peter 2: 6) (Rev. 21:14)
This heavenly organization will be the basis for the children of promise (Gal. 4:28). What else does the Scripture say about the child?
This male Child – or new organization – will guard all nations with a rod of iron (Rev. 12: 5) (Psalm 2: 9). This ‘guarding with a rod of iron’ refers to the way of government that will be drastic. Never again, the creation of the coming ‘new earth’ will be destroyed by genetic modification or chemical and radioactive pollution:

NKJV (Revelation 2: 26-27) 26 And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations–27 ‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron; They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels’– as I also have received from My Father;

According to Revelation 12: 5, the male child is ‘caught up to God and to his throne’, the 24 elders also belong to this and are brought into safety. The Child, this organization, is fully protected by God who is taking care of it. The heavenly woman flees after the delivery to a safe place (referred to as ‘wilderness’) after the Child, the New Jerusalem, is born:

NKJV (Revelation 12: 6-8) 6 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. 7 And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, 8 but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer.

After birth, Satan and his angels are cast out of heaven by Michael and his angels.

The persecution of the heavenly woman by Satan

After casting Satan out of heaven, the strength of the Kingdom has come and the power of Christ (Rev. 12:10). Satan is furious:

NKJV (Revelation 12: 12-13, 17) 12 Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.” 13 Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child….. 17 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.

Now that Satan has been cast to earth, he is going to persecute God’s heavenly organization, the woman. If Satan cannot destroy this woman, he focuses on the offspring or seed of the woman, the children of God on earth.
This offspring are ‘the children of the promise’ (Gal. 4:28) who obey the commandments of God and have testified about Jesus, even to the death (Rev. 12: 11). Christians, disciples of Jesus, have become God’s people since Jesus’ coming:

NKJV (Romans 9:26) 26 “And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ There they shall be called sons of the living God.
NKJV (1 Peter 2: 9-10) 9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. (see also Hosea 1:10)

The persecution of the remaining seed means the persecution of the still living Christians.

The heavenly woman has already given birth to a son before she gets birth pains from the other son

The following prophecy of Isaiah is about the mentioned heavenly organization:

CSB (Isaiah 66: 7-10) 7 Before Zion was in labor, she gave birth; before she was in pain, she delivered a boy. 8 Who has heard of such a thing? Who has seen such things? Can a land be born in one day, or a nation be delivered in an instant? Yet as soon as (for a short time) Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her sons. 9 “Will I bring a baby to the point of birth and not deliver [it]?” says the Lord; “or will I who deliver, close [the womb]?” says your God. 10 Be glad for Jerusalem and rejoice over her, all who love her. Rejoice greatly with her, all who mourn over her…

Isaiah does have a point in the Scripture above. First a son is born, then the labor pains appear and another son is born.
About the prophets or elders is also written in the Scriptures:

NKJV (Luke 1:70) 70 As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets, Who have been since the world began,
NKJV (Acts 3:21) 21… which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.
NKJV (Isaiah 24: 23) 23 … For the Lord of hosts will reign On Mount Zion and in Jerusalem And before His elders, gloriously.

Then why did Isaiah prophesy that a son was born before the labor pains began?
As written before, the prophets are already sitting as 24 elders around the throne of God, when the Child is born and when the saints receive their reward in the New Jerusalem.
Why is the other son born with birth pains?
When the 144,000 saints are caught up into heaven as kings and priests in the New Jerusalem, this is far more organizationally radical than the 24 prophets around the throne. The beginning of this new heavenly organization, the New Jerusalem, is therefore the explanation for the heavy labor pains that the heavenly woman has (Rev. 12: 2).
This will be experienced by the heavenly angelic organization as ‘very far-reaching’:

NKJV (1 Corinthians 6: 3) 3 Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life?

Who will all receive their reward according to the Scriptures?

NKJV (Revelation 11:18) 18 The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, And the time of the dead, that they should be judged, And that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, And those who fear Your name, small and great, And should destroy those who destroy the earth.”

Along the judged dead, three groups are mentioned who will receive a precious reward: the prophets, the saints, and those who fear Your name, small and great. (See also 2. Future https://www.dojc.nl/?p=5384&lang=en)
But they are not all ‘first fruits’ or first ones.
Being called first fruits means that these persons belong to a group who will be the first to receive a heavenly resurrection.
Jesus is the Firstborn from the dead, so that Jesus might be the First in all:

NKJV (Colossians 1:18) 18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

All who will be part of God’s first spiritual harvest are first fruits.
The prophets are also saints, the first fruits of the Old Testament.
Jesus is the very first, then the holy prophets and then the 144,000 saints. The 144,000 saints meet the Lord in the clouds (1 Thess. 4:17). They are called first fruits several times in Scripture:

NKJV (Rev. 14: 1,4) 1 Then I looked, and behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His Father’s name written on their foreheads…. 4 These are the ones who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being first fruits to God and to the Lamb. (see also James 1:18)

Scripture speaks of an inclusion of the saints in heaven during the last trumpet:

NKJV (1 Corinthians 15: 51-52) 51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed– 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

Jesus will gather His elected saints after the two witnesses prophecy has begun, so after the great tribulation:

NKJV (Matthew 24: 21,31) 21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be….. 31 And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

The rapture of the great crowd that no one could count, from all nations, tribes, peoples and languages, are also called the great multitude. The ‘great multitude that no one could count’ is a group that fears God’s name, ‘the small and the great’ and who also receive their reward:

NKJV (Revelation 7: 9,15) 9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands,…. 15 Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them.

In the very last phase the great multitude of Christians is included, as servants in the temple. (see also: Newsletters  6. The inclusion in heaven https://www.dojc.nl/?p=3596&lang=en )

Finally:

Bring up actual topics in your conversation with your children, acquaintances and friends.
Do not suffocate them with great urge, but be patient.
Speak for example about creation, about the genetic manipulation of food, about man and woman and gender confusion in these times or about having treasures on earth or treasures in heaven. That in the MainStreamMedia the lies are hard to distinguish from the truth.
Always close with words for thought, such as the blessings of God’s kingdom and the new earth.

Invite them to attend the memorial celebration at your home. Just do it.
Or invite them to discuss topics in your own little house community (Rom. 16: 5, 1 Cor. 16:19, Col. 4:15, Philemon 1: 2), such as relationships and marriage and what is written about these in the Bible. The series ‘the promised Messiah’ is also very suitable as a basis.
Tell them that we are all sinful people and all need Jesus’ sacrifice:

NKJV (Matthew 28:19) 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

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