Saturday 17th December
Read Galatians 4:19-20
“My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, 20 how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you!” (NIVUK)
The story of the woman and the dragon has a number of difficult ideas for those not familiar with the genre. One strange feature, if we are correct in identifying the woman as God’s faithful people both old and new, is that the male child (Jesus) is descended from the woman (Revelation 12:5) but the woman has further offspring with whom the dragon continues to wage furious war (Revelation 12:17). It is almost as if the woman’s purpose was to bring forth the Messiah, at just the right time, as promised in Genesis 3 – but that with that birth a new faithful people spring forth.
Consider some of the implications of John’s vision. If the offspring of the woman are ‘those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.’ (Revelation 12:17b) (NIVUK) and this is a clear description of those new faithful people of God then they are brothers and sisters of the Messiah. We are related intimately. We are family. It speaks to the humanity of Jesus, a humanity He shares with us as the perfect older brother!
Furthermore, the regular description of God’s people is female. The process of becoming ‘her offspring’ applied to both men and women, is to be ‘born again’ or more accurately ‘born from above’ (cf John 3). It explains why the apostle Paul can write to the Galatian church, a church at risk of denying their birth from above by the Spirit, and unashamedly describe his role as that of a mother in labour. The pain Paul feels as this young church looks back he compares to labour pains. He longs for them to be re-born in the image of Christ, formed and transformed by Him. Not deceived back into worldly ways, recaptured by the dragon. The Corinthian church likewise, although perhaps thinking they were spiritual indeed, had to be implored by Paul to think correctly… “Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly – mere infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready.” (1 Corinthians 3:1-2) (NIVUK).
The female imagery flows through to Paul and John’s image of the church in the world as the pure and blameless bride of Christ (cf Ephesians 5 and Revelation 21). If Paul is the rumoured misogynist many claim him to be, he is a very strange one indeed! Christmas is a time where we are called to remember that the promised seed of the woman has come and history has changed forever. We are siblings of Christ, being transformed day-by-day into His perfect image and prepared as a pure and spotless bride.
