R
this is about Mary and Jesus escaping to egypt
revelation 12:16..."But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth."
revelation 12:16..."But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth."
first of all i don't believe the woman is mary...
the birth of jesus took place all the way up in verse five...the woman flees -after- jesus' ascension into heaven...
the woman escapes into the wilderness for three and a half years...by this time i believe the woman is the hebrew church in judea which is fleeing into the mountains as jesus warned when they saw jerusalem surrounded by armies...three and a half years is roughly the length of the siege of jerusalem if i remember correctly...
the water from the serpent's mouth...from satan's mouth...seems to me to be false teaching... the main false teaching in those days was the teaching of the judaizers...which was dependent in a big way on the temple in jerusalem...
then the earth swallows up the river from the dragon's mouth...the steady stream of judaizing is suddenly stopped...by what?
i assume by the destruction of jerusalem and the temple by titus... therefore the earth swallowing up the river from the dragon's mouth would be the fall of jerusalem and the destruction of the temple...
and like i had said...the earth would most naturally be interpreted as symbolizing earthly players rather than direct acts of God...which i would expect to be symbolized more by fire from heaven...