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Revelation 12:4-6
Satan spiritually destroys National Israel forever and almost destroys the Christ child. And God cares for His Church!
By Brother Mike (2-5-22; 60 minutes)
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And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born
.
5
And she brought forth a
man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.
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And 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
.
INTRODUCTION
In this study of Revelation 12:4-6, we will learn what it refers to when we are told that Satan's tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth, and what it refers to when we are told that the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. We will also see what it refers to when we are told that she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.
Revelation 12:4:
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And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born
.
In this verse, we first read, And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven. More literally, it reads, And his tail is dragging the third [part] of the stars of heaven. It is important to understand that his tail drew [not] the third part of the stars of heaven at some point in the past as the verb drew of the King James Version makes it sound, but this verb literally translated into the Indicative Mood, Present Tense and Active Voice of the Greek as is dragging means that his tail (the tail of the dragon, Satan) is presently and ongoingly dragging the third [part] of the stars of heaven at the time around the end of the Old Testament Period which is the time period being described in the context of our verse.
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But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned
.
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But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man
.
From these verses, God is making it clear that just the literal method of interpretation of scripture cannot be correct, for the natural man can understand and discern the literal. But we are told that the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. It is the spiritual that the natural man cannot understand, and the Bible is a spiritual book written by the Holy Spirit through men, which is why the natural man cannot understand it. You cannot just read the Bible like any other book, you must first have the Holy Spirit by having been eternally saved, and then compare the spiritual with the spiritual, the scriptures with the scriptures, defining scripture by scripture, and not just look for the literal meaning, but also looking for the deeper spiritual meaning, which is often the more important meaning that God wants us to see because God is a Spirit and, therefore, spiritual by His very nature. To see the spiritual, then, is to see things more like God sees and is, and it is by seeing the spiritual in God's word that we come to know the things that are freely given to us of God. But if you were not spiritually saved by having been given the Holy Spirit by May 21, 2011, you will never come to spiritual truth by reading the Bible because on that date, salvation came to an end, and it is a spiritual book, and you are not spiritual unless you have truly been saved by God's Spirit.
Thus, God makes this one easy: the tail is the False Prophet. And since Satan, whose tail is the False Prophet, declares his false words through many human false prophets to get his message across into this realm, in that the third part of the stars of heaven are being dragged along by Satan, the False Prophet, means that this third part of the stars of heaven are somehow being dragged along by Satan through the false declarations or teachings of all his human false prophets.
Notice that God's people are divided into three third parts so that we can know that all of God's people can be called a third part no matter in which of the three third parts they are found.
So, we can conclude as we did in Zechariah 13:9 that a third part symbolizes the people of God, and, of course, the people of God in the Old Testament were the whole nation of Israel, the corporate Church (Acts 7:38) until the corporate Church became only all those who claimed a relationship with Jesus Christ, who, in the new dispensation after the cross, became all the local Christian churches and congregations around the world, the new corporate Church. After the cross, no longer could the whole nation of Israel be called the corporate Church or people of God, but only all the churches and congregations around the world that believed in Jesus Christ.
But focusing back on the meaning of the third part at the end of the Old Testament Period, we found that it referred to the people of God, which was then the whole nation of Israel. Yet we must remember that with God's people in the Bible, there is always an external representation of them, and there is an eternal representation of them whether in reference to the Old Testament people of God or the New Testament people of God. The external representation of God's people during the Old Testament was the entire nation of Israel, but the eternal representation of God's people during that time was only the elect themselves who were but a very small few among the external representation of the nation of Israel.
So, what I am getting at is that the third part can either refer to the external representation of God's people (the corporate Church which was the whole nation of Israel during the Old Testament period) or the eternal representation of God's people (the eternal Church which is the elect themselves). Exactly which one is being focused upon must be determined by the context in which it is used. In our case where the tail of the dragon, Satan, is ongoingly dragging the third part of the stars of heaven near the end of the Old Testament period, the third part must be in reference to national Israel as a whole because it is difficult to see how the false prophets of Satan (symbolized by Satan's tail) could be dragging, and then cast down to the earth, the very elect of the Old Testament who are ruled over by God Himself who is infinitely more powerful than Satan. No, rather, until the end of the Old Testament period at the cross when the veil of the temple was rent in two, the false prophets of Satan were dragging the nation of Israel as a whole whose people were the stars of heaven because they were given the law and prophets to shine forth the light of Yahweh.
Now, the next part of our verse tells us that Satan's tail (his false prophets) was not only dragging the third part of the stars of heaven, which we concluded was national Israel, but it (Satan's tail, his false prophets) cast them (national Israel, the stars of heaven) to the earth. To be cast to the earth means that the light of its stars could no longer be seen by the world. That is, near the end of the Old Testament period, the light of national Israel was cast down by all Satan's false prophets who so distorted the true meaning of the scriptures that when the true Messiah that all the law and prophets pointed to finally came to earth,
In this parable, Jesus speaks of the nation of Israel as being the fig tree that he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. This is a clear picture of Jesus coming to His own; that is, to the nation of Israel when He came to earth the first time, but His own received Him not. We read of this in the gospel of John 1:11 where it states, He came unto his own [National Israel], and his own received him not. So, we know with all certainty that the fig tree is symbolic of the nation of Israel, so when Christ cursed the fig tree in Matthew 21:19 that we previously read and said, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward forever, we know that He cursed the national of Israel forever. We also see Christ curse the nation of Israel forever in Mark 11 where we read,
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And seeing a fig tree [National Israel] afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find anything thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet.
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And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter forever. And his disciples heard it
.
What all this means is that the nation of Israel will never bear fruit again, which means they will never come to believe in Jesus as their Messiah contrary to the popular false teaching of all the nation of Israel becoming saved in the near future (they come up with this false teaching by a misunderstanding of Romans 11:26 which says, And all Israel shall be saved, by misinterpreting all Israel to be the whole nation of Israel when it is properly interpreted to be all spiritual Israel or the remnant of people from every nation, including the nation of Israel, that were saved by May 21, 2011).
And now, returning to Revelation 12:4, when it states, And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth, we can understand what it means: it means that by the end of the Old Testament period, Satan's false prophets were so dragging the nation of Israel along by distorting the Holy Scriptures and teaching Israel false things, that the stars or lights of the nation of Israel that pointed to the coming Messiah were cast to the earth (their lights were put out) so that the nation rejected the very Messiah that their law and prophets foretold. The nation of Israel, as a result, were cursed forever to never bear fruit again.
But now, the second part of verse 4 of Revelation 12 says,
4 ... and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born .
Although the dragon here is Satan that stood before the woman that is the Old Testament Church which was ready to give birth, for to devour her Christ child as soon as it was born, I think most of us know how this all worked out in history, but in case there are those who do not, it refers to when Satan, the dragon, worked through King Herod to try and kill the Christ-child when He was born to Mary and Joseph. We read about this in Matthew 2 where we read,
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Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem
,
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Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him
.
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When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him
.
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And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born
.
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And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet
,
Psalm 2:6
Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion
. {set: Heb. anointed } {upon ... : Heb. upon Zion, the hill of my holiness }
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I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee
. {the decree: or, for a decree }
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Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.
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Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel
.
And we read,
Re 2:27
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
.
And again, we read in
Revelation 19:11-15
Revelation 19:11
And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war
.
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His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself
.
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And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God
.
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And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean
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And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God
.
Thus, we see that when Christ rules with a rod of Iron, He is bringing judgment against the world so that this period when Christ rules with a rod of iron must be Judgment Day, consisting of many days, that we are now in ever since Judgment Day began on May 21, 2011 (see the above passage of Revelation 19:14 and 15 in part 3
Now, moving on, the last part of Revelation 12:5 reads, and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. That is, the eternal Old Testament Church's child that had been born through Mary was caught up unto God, and to His throne. This is obviously referring to the ascension of Christ when after He had been crucified and rose from the dead, and then spent 40 days on earth with His disciples, He ascended up to God in heaven, and to His throne as the king. We read of the ascension of Christ in Acts 1:1-11 where we read,
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The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach
,
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Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen
:
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To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God
:
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And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me
. {being : ... or, eating together }
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For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence
.
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When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel
?
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And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power
.
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But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth
. {power ... : or, the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon you }
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And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight
.
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And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel
;
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Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven
.
Thus, Jesus was taken up to God in heaven 40 days after He was resurrected.
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And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power
, {his mighty power: Gr. the might of his power }
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Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places
,
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Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come
...
Revelation 12:6:
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And 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
.
In this verse, we first read, And the woman fled into the wilderness. In the first instance, the woman who fled into the wilderness was Mary as she fled from Bethlehem into Egypt with her Christ child before king Herod attempted to kill the child by killing all the babies 2 years old and under. But, in the greater instance, Mary was a type or figure of the eternal Church. Whether called the eternal Old Testament or eternal New Testament Church, it is the same eternal Church, the elect, only at different times in history.
You see, whenever one of God's elect was saved during the Church Age, he or she was freed from bondage to sin and Satan, but then Satan sought to attack such a one by spirit(s), or through evil men, or even by the saved person's own remaining evil nature in the flesh, so that saved elect person would flee to a place in the world prepared by God for protection, support, nurturing, and to be spiritually fed. Normally, that place would be a local church or congregation where in the context of the Church Age, we were exhorted to not [forsake] the assembling of ourselves (Hebrews 10:25), and that assembling of ourselves was normally in a church. But after the Church Age ended on May 21, 1988, the assembling of ourselves was no longer to be in or under the authority of any church (see the real meaning to Hebrews 10:25 the real meaning to Hebrews 10:25
Anyway, when we read that the woman [the eternal Church] 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, it is referring to the entire New Testament Church Age wherein God had a place in the world prepared for His eternal Church, the elect, normally in a local church where they could be supported, encouraged ...
CONCLUSION
During this study, we looked at Revelation 12:4-6, and in verse 4, we learned that the dragon's tail which drew the third part of the stars of heaven and did cast them to the earth is a picture of Satan (the dragon) whose false prophets (Satan's tail) were ongoingly dragging along the nation of Israel (in control of the third part) and did put out the lights of the people of national Israel (cast the stars of heaven to the earth) by deceiving them with false teachings and distortions of the Holy Scriptures. National Israel was so deceived by the time that Jesus was born, they could not even recognize who Jesus was, and so they were cursed by Jesus to bear no fruit forever. Thus, the nation of Israel will never come to a time, contrary to the false teaching of Dispensational Premillennialism in many of the churches of our day, when the whole nation of Israel will bear fruit to come to believe in Christ as their Messiah, Lord, and Savior. Only a remnant of the nation of Israel will ever believe just like in all the other nations of the world, and this all already took place by May 21, 2011, when salvation for anyone else came to an end.
But, not only did we learn in verse 4 that Satan put out the lights of the nation of Israel forever near the end of the Old Testament period so that the nation to this day even still rejects Christ as their Messiah and always will, but we also learned that Satan stood before the eternal Church (the woman) which was ready to give birth, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. We saw this worked out in history when Satan, through king Herod, almost killed the Christ child when the man child was born to Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem.
Now, until the next time, may Yahweh bless thee, and keep thee: Yahweh make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: Yahweh lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace (Numbers 6:24-26).