Chapter 12
THE BIRTH
“The Lord said unto me, Thou art my Son, This day have I begotten Thee” (Psalm 2:7)
THE BIRTH OF TWO SONS
“And there appeared a great wonder (sign) in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars” (Rev.12:1).
This vision obviously refers to Joseph’s dream:
“I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun, the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me” (Gen.37:9).
In this vision Joseph was obviously the ‘twelfth star’, the sun was his father Jacob and the moon was his mother Rachel. This is why Joseph’s father says, “shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow ourselves down to thee to the earth?”
What surprised Jacob was not just his son’s audacity (in having ideas above his station), but the fact that Rachel was there – for Rachel had died in childbirth (Gen.35:19). This was therefore a vision of the Kingdom age – although it was partially fulfilled by his brethren paying obeisance to him in Egypt (Gen.43:26; 44:14).
Rachel was therefore a type of Israel, who was barren:
“And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened unto her, and opened her womb. And she conceived and bare a son; and said, God hath taken away my reproach: and she called his name Joseph; and said, The Lord add to me another son”1 (Gen.30:22-24).
She did indeed have this other son, but she died in childbirth:
“And it came to pass, as her soul was departing (for she died), that she called his name Ben-oni (the son of my sorrow)2but his father called him Benjamin (son of the right hand)” (Gen.35:18).
She had two sons
1) Joseph – sold into slavery in Egypt, who becomes the saviour of his brethren.
2) Benjamin – the son of sorrow who was to become the son of the right hand (enthroned) of God. She died while delivering the ‘son of sorrow’
(“she cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered” – Rev.12:2).
Conclusions
Both sons, typify Jesus. They also both typify the true ecclesia that would come forth out of the travailing of the nation. The nation died in AD 70 and will do so again in the future.
MATTHEW REVELATION 12
“Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, And they shall call his name Emmanuel” (1:23).
“A woman…travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered” (v.2)1
“Herod will seek the young child to destroy him” (2:13).
“The dragon2…sought to devour the child as soon as it was born” (v.4).
“Flee into Egypt…Out of Egypt have I called my son”3 (2:15).
“And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared of God” (v.6).
“Herod…was exceeding wroth” (v.16).
“The devil is come down unto you, having great wrath (v.12). The dragon was wrath with the woman” (v.17).
BORN AGAIN
The themes of birth and resurrection run as a thread through the beginning of the seventh trumpet, 11:15 – 12:5.
We have already seen that Psalm 2 is extensively paraphrased in the last section of Revelation 11. This Psalm relates to the Lord’s enthronement after his resurrection, we note that the language of birth is used: “This day I have begotten thee” (Ps.2:7).
Baptism represents death (Rom.6:4) but it also represents birth (John 3:7) to newness of life. When a child is born it is born of water (=the waters break) and spirit (=the breath of life), similarly when a new creation in Christ Jesus is born, it is born of water and spirit (John 3:5).
When the Israelites left the land of Egypt they were baptised unto Moses (my son) in the cloud and the sea. They also ate the same spiritual meat and drink (1 Cor.10:1-5).
Jesus himself had an EXODUS to undertake, he spoke about his EXODUS1 with the two witnesses (Moses and Elijah – Luke 9:31) and God declared? “This is my Son (Moses), my beloved, hear ye him” (v.35).
Conclusion:
We have then the following themes:
birth – death – resurrection (=birth = enthronement).
This is reflected in the Exodus:
Birth - the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and
multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with
them (Ex.1:7)
Death - made their lives bitter with hard bondage (Ex.1:14), Egypt = death
(Ex.12:33)
- the Passover lamb (Ex.12:7)
- baptism in the sea (I Cor.10:1-15)
Resurrection (= birth)
- the nation saved from death (Ex.15:2)
Enthronement
- a nation brought before God’s throne (Mt. Sinai) to become a kingdom of
priests, a holy nation (Ex.19:6).
- the firstbegotten of the dead (Rev.1:5)
- I am Alpha and Omega, which was, and which is to come (1:8)
- I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; I have the keys of hell and of death (1:18)
- the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive (2:8)
- the beginning of the creation of God (3:14)
- I am the first and the last; a lamb as it had been slain having seven horns and seven eyes (5:6)
THE BIRTH OF A NATION (Isaiah 66:8)
If ever the birth of a nation can be attributed to a single event, it is the Passover deliverance, and subsequent Exodus out of Egypt, which stands as the defining event in the salvic history of ISRAEL. What was a loose amalgamation of twelve tribes, became a nation, forged in the adversity of slavery, baptised into Moses, brought under the sovereignty of God and tested in the wilderness.
“Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day?”
The answer to this question is an emphatic ‘yes’.
“Shall a nation be born at once?”
Again the answer is ‘yes’!
Just as the nation of Israel was born in one day (= Passover), so, too, a new nation was born at Passover (= crucifixion). “For as soon as Zion travailed she brought forth.”
Isaiah says: “I am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name” (Is.65:1).
Once again, God wrought deliverance at Passover, a new nation was born comprising both Jew and Gentile.There is every indication that the future deliverance of Israel will again occur at a Passover. The ‘little apocalypse’ of Isaiah (chapters 22 – 29) has the following to say:
“Lord, in trouble have they visited thee, they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them. Like as a woman with child, that draweth near the time of delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs; so we have been in thy sight, O Lord.
We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the earth fallen” (Is.26:16-18).
Religious independence and military self-reliance will not deliver the nation in its time of need, only recognition of God’s son will bring the nation to the birth. In the time of Hezekiah (primary fulfilment) this deliverance (from the Assyrian) happened at a Passover:
“Yea, in the way of thy judgements, O Lord, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name and to the remembrance of thee1. With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early (RV diligently)” (Is.26:8,9).
The only feast celebrated at night was the Passover (Ex.12:8). It was to be kept as a memorial to the Lord (Ex.12:14). Note the words that Jesus used – “with desire, I have desired to eat this Passover with you” (Lk.22:15)… “this do in remembrance of me” (Lk.22:19).
The chapter continues with a resurrection scenario:
“Thy dead (ISRAEL’S?) shall live, together with my dead body (= my witnesses) shall they arise” (v.19)2.
The Passover features large in all the nation’s deliverances, and it is therefore appropriate that we should find the symbology of the Exodus linked with the birth theme. In fact the Exodus allusions are not limited to chapter 12, but also form part of Revelation chapters 13, 14 and 15.
EXODUS 15
REVELATION 12
“The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation” (v.2).
“Now is come salvation, and strength and the kingdom of our God” (v.10).
“Pharaoh’s chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea” (v.4).
“The accuser of our brethren is cast down (v.10)…the dragon cast unto the earth (v.12)…the dragon gives his authority to the beast of the sea” (13:1,4).
“Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods?” (v.11).
Michael (= WHO IS LIKE GOD?) (v.7).
The Lord is a man of war (v.3).
Contrast the beast: “who is like the beast? who is able to make war with him?” (13:4).
“Thou has guided them in they strength unto thy holy habitation” (v.13).
“She hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her 1260 days” (v.6).
“I bare you on eagles wings (the cherubim) and brought you unto myself” (Ex.19:4).
“And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle” (v.14).
“Thou stretchedst out thy right hand, The earth swallowed them” (v.12).
“And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth” (v.15).
“Give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes” (v.26).
“Her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” (v.17).
EXODUS 15
REVELATION 14
“Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord” (v.1).
A new song (v.3).
(Song of Moses and the Lamb, 15:3).
“Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance” (v.17).
“And I looked, and, lo, a lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him a 144,000 thousand” (v.1).
“Till the people pass over, which thou hast purchased” (v.16).
- which were redeemed (RV purchased) from the earth
- were redeemed (RV purchased) from among men (v.4).
EXODUS 19
“And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire…
the whole mount quaked greatly… the voice of the trumpet… waxed louder and louder… God answered him by a voice” (v.18,19).
- contrast mount Sion (v.1) (see Hebrews 12:18-24).
“And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder…(v.2).
“They washed their clothes. And he said unto the people, Be ready against the third day: come not at your wives” (RV near a woman) (v.15).
“These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins” (v.4).
EXODUS 15
REVELATION 15
“Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord” (v.1).
“And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the lamb” (v.2).
“With timbrels and with dances” (v.20).
“Having the harps of God” (v.2).
“The children of Israel went on dry land in the midst of the sea” (v.19).
“The sea of glass” (v.2).
“Glorious in holiness; fearful (LXX: thaumastos) in praises…” (v.11).
“Great and marvellous (Greek: thaumastos) are thy works” (v.3).
“Fear and dread shall fall upon them” (v.14-16).
“Who shall not fear thee, O Lord” (v.4).
Tabernacle in the wilderness erected (Ex.40:1).
Tabernacle in heaven opened (v.5).
The cloud covered the Tabernacle. Moses not able to enter (Ex.40:34,35).
The Tabernacle filled with smoke from the glory of God. No man able to enter (v.8).
Priests in white linen. The high priest girded about the breast with a golden girdle (Ex. 39:20,21).
Seven angels in white linen having their breasts girded with golden girdles (v.6).
H.A.W has the following comparisons (REVELATION A BIBLICAL APPROACH, page 162):
REVELATION 12
MOSES’ DELIVERANCE OF ISRAEL
1. The Dragon.
Egypt (Ezekiel 29:3; Psalm 74:13,14; Isaiah 27:1 and 51:9).
2. The woman.
Israel.
3. The man-child to be destroyed.
Pharaoh’s fiat against all male children (Ex.1:16).
4. The child caught up to God.
Israel at Sinai.
5. They overcame by the blood of the
lamb.
Deliverance through the Passover lamb.
6. The woman in the wilderness.
Israel in the wilderness (Ez.20:32; Hosea 2:14,19).
7. Provided with food there.
Manna given.
1. Wings of the great eagle (the cherub
of Rev.4:7).
“I bare you on eagles wings” (Ex.19:4; Deut.32:11).
2. The dragon persecuted (= pursued)
the woman.
Pursuit by Pharaoh’s army.
10. The earth swallowed up the flood.
“The earth (quick-sand) swallowed them up” (Ex.15:12).
THE BIRTH OF THE FIRST CENTURY ECCLESIA
All births are a period of intense labour pain and sorrow followed by joy (John 16:21). Thus it was in the first century (sorrow, John 20:11 turned to joy, Lk.24:53). The birth of Jesus was a joyous occasion (Lk.2:13,14; cp. Job 38:7) and the beginning of his ministry a birth of water (Lk.3:21) and spirit (Lk.3:22).
The start of the ecclesia’s ministry at Pentecost was also a birth of spirit (Acts 1:24, see John 15:26) and water (Acts 2:41). this ecclesia would, like its master, ‘rule all nations with a rod of iron’ (Rev.12:15). This was the promise given to the victorious in Thyatira (Rev.2:27)1. The ‘man child’ would be caught to God and his throne2. The destiny of this ecclesia was the same as its master3. Like its master this ecclesia would also suffer persecution (see WAR IN HEAVEN).
Just as the dragon tried to devour the infant Christ (who fled to Egypt), so the dragon also attempts to devour the new born first century ecclesia (which flees to Pella). The dragon, however, also sweeps a ‘third part’ of the stars of heaven (i.e. a third of the woman’s crown) with its tail (Rev.12:4). This harks back to the trumpets (one third stars, Rev.8:12) and reminds us of Daniel’s prophecy:
“And it waxed great to the stars of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and trampled (RV) on them” (Dan.8:10).
This ‘trampling’ of a ‘third’ is obviously referring to the down-treading of Jerusalem (Rev.11:3) and the refining of the people of Israel:
“I will bring a third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined” (Zech.13:8,9). This has previously been described in detail in the trumpet section.
The dragon in this scenario represents human opposition to the kingdom of God; in the first century the dragon epitomises the imperial power of Rome invested in the ‘divine emperor’.
The dating of Revelation can be accurately placed during the reign of Nero, who instigated the Jewish wars under his general Vespasian and also persecuted the Christians. Peter refers to this when he warns:
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion4, walketh about seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8).
(The dragon sought to devour her child – Rev.12:4.)
There is evidence that the full description of the dragon has dropped out of the text of Revelation 12:3 and been interpolated as a gloss into Revelation 17:9,105. If our conclusion is correct, this definitely establishes Nero as the ‘one that is’ (17:10) and pinpoints the writing of Revelation during the reign of Nero.
Romes attempt to destroy the Jewish nation failed for she was preserved in the ‘wilderness of the people’ (Ezek.20:35), a diaspora which lasted nearly 2,000 years. Because Rome could not destroy the woman, Rome turned her attention to the ‘seed of the woman’, the Christians, who suffered a terrible persecution in ca AD 68 (Rev.12:17).
The birth and persecution of the first century ecclesia typifies the events that will occur in Israel prior to the Lord’s return.
THE MOTHER OF THE LIVING
Genesis 3:1:
“Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?”
Revelation 12:3:
“And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.”
Genesis 3:5:
“For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”
Revelation 12:7:
“And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
Michael: Who is like God?”
Genesis 3:14:
“And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life”.
Genesis 3:24:
“So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.”
Revelation 12:9:
“And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”
Genesis 3:15:
“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”
Revelation 12:17:
“And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”
Genesis 3:16:
“Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.”
Revelation 12:1-2:
“And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.”
The analogies with original sin and the fall from grace have a deep significance. It was through the mechanism of childbirth that deliverance and salvation would be achieved. The promise made to Eve in Gen.3:15 termed the ‘proto-evangilum’ by some commentators, is the core of the gospel message.
Eve would become the ‘mother of the living’ and her offspring are ‘the general assembly and church of the firstborn’ (Heb.12:23). All those who possess a similar faith in the promise of Messiah are ‘living’ for God is not ‘the God of the dead but of the living’ (Mtt.22:32).
The death and resurrection (= birth = enthronement) of Christ typifies the resurrection and enthronement (acceptance into covenant relationship) of a faithful Jewish ‘last days’ remnant. This new-born ecclesia (HER SEED) is a direct consequence of the promise to Eve, and only possible through the death and resurrection of Christ.
The life and death struggle with the serpent (that old serpent, 12:9) from which Christ emerged victorious is repeated in the first century ecclesia and also within the ‘last days Jewish ecclesia’.
The original lie espoused by the serpent “Ye shall be as gods (the elohim) knowing good and evil” (Gen.3:5) is reflected in the name of Michael which means ‘who is like God’.
THE SERPENT’S LIE
The following is an extract from COVENANT AND CREATION by W.J. Dumbrell, pages 36 – 39:
In the garden two trees were singled out for special mention, the tree of life which was in the ‘midst of the garden’ (Gen.2:9), where the phrase used seems designed to underscore the accessibility of that tree, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It is described simply as being in the garden, and its fruit was forbidden. Since no such prohibition attached to the tree of life, but on the contrary, permission to eat of it seems to be entailed in the general permission granted to eat of every tree, apart from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen.2:16), we may take it that in the garden man had eaten of the fruit of the tree of life. Only after the fall was access to it prohibited (Gen.3:24), and the motive advanced for that decision is that the knowledge of good and evil acquired by the fall made it expedient that man should be barred from the garden “lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever” (Gen.3:22). That is to say, the divine prohibition placed on entry to the garden is an act of grace designed to ensure that man’s fallen condition would not be perpetuated eternally.
The conditions by which fellowship in the garden was to be regulated, were, as we well know, not met. When the fruit of the forbidden tree was eaten, we were all somehow involved (Rom.5:19). What happened in Eden affected for ill the future of the human race. It will be necessary for us to review briefly at this point what constituted this infraction of covenant to which we have referred, for clearly any future renewal of the covenant arrangement would carry as inbuilt the same regulative conditions, and we should thus need to recognise as fully as we may the nature of this initial transgression.
We need first to recognise the transgression of Adam as a free act. The prohibition of Gen.2:17 presupposes the ability to choose between alternatives, as well as an understanding of the consequences which ensue from disastrous choice. There is no evidence within the biblical account to suggest that prior to the fall the position of man was determined, either from within himself, or in virtue of his situation in the garden. He had been created as an autonomous moral being and stood presumably on the threshold of an advance towards fuller and more perfect moral personal expression. The story suggests that prior to the fall he was able to determine the course of action to be adopted; subsequent to the fall, as we are well aware, he is in the grip of the consequences of the course of action which was chosen.
What then was involved in the act of eating from the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil? Often, the prohibition on eating is construed simply as a test of obedience arbitrarily imposed. There is surely truth at this level, though simply to reduce the significance of the tree to that of a visible reminder of what was to be avoided does not do justice to what is pleaded by the serpent (Gen.3:5) and confirmed after the fall by God (3:22). In the eating of the fruit, enlightenment would follow and they would be “like God knowing good and evil” (Gen.3:5). To regard the tree simply as a touchstone by which obedience was to be measured, is thus to leave us in doubt as to how the eating of is fruit could enable the eater to be ‘like God’. Similarly, the familiar interpretation of the terms ‘knowledge of good and evil’ as reflecting sexual understanding of each other is inadequate. True, the first reaction of the pair after the fall seems to support such a view. But to adopt this view is firstly to read into the narrative misplaced comparative material at that point from the ancient Near East bearing upon the mythical notion of a ‘sacred marriage’. In such a ritual a primeval union was thought to be re-enacted whereby human well being, agricultural fertility and general fecundity was thought to be ensured. Secondly it also fails to explain how the acquisition of such knowledge could make the acquirer ‘like God’. Again, the interpretation of the phrase ‘knowledge of good and evil’ as inclusive of total knowledge by references to opposite poles, is attractive, but id does not come to terms with the realities of the human situation after the fall. In our world we simply do not see man in possession of profound knowledge of the character that this interpretation would imply.
The phrase ‘knowledge of good and evil’ is better taken, following W.M. Clark1, as referring to the exercise of absolute moral autonomy, a prerogative which the Bible reserves to God alone. Clark is able to illustrate the point from a wide range of Old Testament contexts. Solomon, for example, prays (1 Kgs.3:9) for an understanding heart to govern his people that he ‘may discern between good and evil’. This is an absolute for the task before which he is placed, since he continues in the test “for who is able to govern this thy great people?” The latter half of the same chapter offers a parade example of Solomon’s judicial wisdom, and when Israel acknowledges the astuteness with which the matter of disputed motherhood of the child has been resolved, they perceive that ‘the wisdom of God was in him, to render justice’ (1 Kgs.3:28). What is clear from this passage is that final authoritative decisions of this nature, which affect the whole shape of life, require the mind of God. For the human being, wisdom of this character is derivative, not natural. It must be sought from God and its source must be acknowledged. The regulation of the decision-making processes for life on all levels will not proceed satisfactorily unless the limitations of human knowledge are recognised.
Clark’s point that the determination of what was good and what was evil was ultimately a divine one is important and elucidates the context of Genesis 3, for it permits us to note what was the essential character of the fall. By eating of the fruit man was intruding into an area reserved for God alone, and the violation of the command is tantamount to an assertion of equality with God, a snatching at deity2. The decision of Adam to be self-legislating brought with it diverse consequences. Although thereafter he was the possessor by use of tremendous determinative power, and thus ‘like God’, yet he was ‘unlike God’ in that he would constantly be uncertain of the nature of the issues before which he was placed. He would never be able to foresee the consequences of the choices which he would make. Having power to choose, he would continue throughout life and history to be the captive of his choices. Putting himself in a position of moral defiance to his Creator, he plunged himself into a life of tension and absolute moral uncertainty. Thus the command of Gen.2:17 was not merely probative. In refusing to submit to the moral government of God, he refused to know God (Rom.1:28). A reprobate mind resulted and as a consequence of the fall man became assertive, but was unable to control himself or his world.
Conclusion:
To be ‘like God, knowing good and evil’, is to be self-legislating – to exercise absolute moral autonomy.
WAR IN HEAVEN
“And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world; he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him” (Rev.12:7-9).
This verse draws on two Old Testament texts:
1. Zechariah 3:2 quoted in Jude 9:
“Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring a railing accusation against him, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.”
2. Daniel 12:1:
“At that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be written in the book.”
Michael is the angel who administers the affairs of the nation of Israel. The Septuagint version of Deut.32:8 informs us “when the most High divided the nations, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the nations according to the number of the angels of God”. The Daniel text (12:1) implies a time of trouble and deliverance, the Zechariah and Jude texts also show Michael ‘at war’, however what is portrayed is not a military battle but a legal court case.
We have a ‘heavenly court case’:
1) Satan (the adversary) is the devil (false accuser) or prosecutor (compare Satan
in Job).
2) Michael – angel for the defence.
3) God – the Judge.
4) The accused – Joshua (Jesus) the high priest.
5) The accusation: He is not fit to be high priest because he ‘wears the filthy garments of Adam’, like Adam he seeks equality with God by his own means. (Michael – who is like God?)
(The serpent – ye shall be like the elohim.)
6) The case for the defence:
“He (Jesus) also, himself likewise, partook of the same (nature as us); that through death he might destroy him that hath the power of death, that is the devil” (Heb.2:14)1.
- “Who being in the form of God, thought it not a thing to be grasped (RV) [like Adam grasping the fruit] to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant…and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Phil.2:6-8).
7) The outcome:
The triumph of the cross:
“Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross: And having put off from himself his body (compare Jude 9), he made a show of the principalities and powers (angels who administered the law)2 openly triumphing over them in himself” (RV mg – Col.2:14-15).
The analogies with the Zechariah prophecy have already been highlighted in the ‘witnessing of the sons of oil’ section. The measuring of the Temple and the witnessing campaign are only possible through the triumph of the cross and the enthronement of our great high priest Joshua.
THE TRIUMPH OF THE CROSS
JOHN 12
REVELATION 12
“Then came a voice from heaven, saying, I have glorified it and will glorify it again” (v.28).
“With a loud voice Jesus yielded up the spirit” (Mtt.27:50).
“And I heard a loud voice in heaven, Now is the salvation, and the power and the kingdom, become our God’s, and the authority is become his Christ’s” (Rev.12:10, RV mg).
“Now is the judgement of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out” (v.31).
“And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil, and Satan which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth and his angels were cast out with him” (v.9).
See Digression 12.3 – THE DEVIL AND HIS ANGELS.
“And I, If I be lifted up from (out of) the earth will draw all men unto me” (v.32).
“The earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth” (v.16)3.
In the place of the accuser who after the original fall had accused mankind incessantly (day and night) before God (12:10) now stands the redeemer who, raised to the throne of the sovereign Lord, appears there on their behalf (Heb.9:24).
WAR IN HEAVENLY PLACES
The war in heaven is not limited to the crucifixion for it is a battle undertaken by each individual and by the ecclesia as a whole. Jude mentions that the war in heaven was about the ‘body of Moses’. He is commenting on the Zechariah text and alluding to the high priest Joshua, who was the ‘body’ (Gr. servant) of Moses. The high priest was indeed the representative of the people and the mediator of the law of Moses.
In contrast the war in heaven encountered in Revelation is fought over the ecclesia, the ‘body of Christ’.
2 CORINTHIANS 11
REVELATION 12
Eve (v.3).
A woman (v.1).
The serpent (v.3).
Old serpent (v.9).
Devour you (v.20).
Devour her child (v.4).
Satan fashioneth himself into an angel of light (v.14).
Satan which deceiveth the whole world (v.4).
In this chapter Paul has a particular protagonist in mind: “Satan (the man of sin) who fashioneth himself into an angel of light” (a messenger of the Gospel)1. This opponent had become “a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me” (2 Cor.12:7). His ministers were false apostles, deceitful workers (v.13) who preached another Jesus (v.4) and another gospel (v.4). [See 1 John 2:18; 1 John 4:1-3.] The purpose of Satan was to devour the new-born ecclesia, to take them captive (v.20) back to the bondage of the law. Paul reminds them that unlike the man of sin, who “exalteth himself above all that is called God” (2 Thess.2:4), Paul had abased himself in order that the ecclesia might be exalted (v.7).
In Ephesians Paul assures the believers that we now sit in ‘heavenly places’2 in Christ Jesus (Eph.2:6). This is a privileged position of access and fellowship. Paul, however, warns against the ‘rulers of the darkness of this world’ and against ‘spiritual wickedness in heavenly places’ (Eph.6:12 RV).
Similar to Revelation 12, Paul is drawing a contrast between events within the ecclesia and events in heaven. Although Paul’s metaphor of a soldier going into battle is easily recognisable, the Passover allusions are often missed. (See comparison.)
EPHESIANS 6
PASSOVER ALLUSIONS
“We wrestle not against flesh and blood (v.12) but against principalities, against the powers” (v.12).
Jacob wrestling the angel.
God’s angels (cp.Eph.3:10, I Peter 1:12; Rom.8:38,39; I Peter 3:22).
“Against the world rulers of this darkness” (Gr. kosmokrator)1 (v.12).
The destroyer (an angel) (RV mg Ex.12:13).
“Against wicked spirits2 (RV mg) in the heavenly places”3 (v.12).
A band of angels of evil sent on the Passover (Ps.78:49).
“Stand therefore” (v.14).
Passover eaten in haste (Ex.12:11).
“Having girded your loins” (v.14).
Passover eaten with loins girded (Ex.12:11).
“Your feet shod” (v.15).
Passover eaten with feet shod (Ex.12:11).
“Praying and watching thereunto” (v.18).
Passover a night of watching unto the Lord (RV mg Ex.12:42).
The allusions to the Passover and the reference to Jacob provide the clue to Paul’s meaning in this chapter. Jacob secured his birthright by deceit and all the troubles and circumstances that consequently followed from this event were providential, not man made but God directed. Jacob was forced to realise that he was not wrestling against man but wrestling against God. He was renamed Israel (God rules) after his wrestling with the angel. He was no longer the old Jacob (the supplanter – the one who catches by the heel) but he overcame his old nature (he did not overcome the angel, see Hos. 12:3-5) and this was acknowledged in the change of his name, henceforth God would rule in his life.
Jacob learnt that he could not manipulate events according to his own will, he was actually wrestling against principalities and powers, the angels of heaven.
We cannot overcome through our own power, only through the blood of the lamb (Rev.12:11).
In similar fashion the problems of the first century ecclesias, although manifest as trials, persecution and human opposition (man of sin) were God directed (we wrestle not against flesh and blood).
Just as Jacob had to overcome (sin in the flesh) so the believers had to overcome sin in the flesh – the real enemy!
The fiery darts of the wicked (Eph.6:16) are “lying lips and a deceitful tongue, the sharp arrows of the mighty. My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace. I am a man of peace: But when I speak, they are for war” (cp. war in heaven) (Psalm 120).
The experience of David with Ahithophel, Jesus with Judas and Paul and the man of sin, are of betrayal from within the household.
“The words of his mouth were smoother than butter,
But war was in his heart,
His words were softer than oil,
Yet they were drawn swords” (Ps.55:21).
WAR IN HEAVEN – SUMMARY
The sin principal in Revelation symbolises both internal and external enemies.
EDEN
EX
EDEN
IN
ISRAEL
EX
ISRAEL
IN
CHRIST
EX
CHRIST
IN
FIRST CENTURY EX
FIRST CENTURY IN
SERPENT
CAIN
EGYPT
(BABYLON)
KORAH
REBELLION
HEROD
ETC
JUDAS
ROME
NERO
MAN OF SIN
* The serpent is actually both internal and external for it represents sin.
The war in heaven has an application to:
1. Christ, his defeat of sin in the flesh, the triumph of the cross representing victory
over the principalities and powers (angels) that administered the law.
2. The ‘body of Christ’ – the ecclesia, which in the first century wrestled against the
same principalities and powers this time manifesting itself as the ‘man of sin’ (the
lawless one) who sought to bring them back into the bondage of the law.
The war has been won, but there are still battles to be fought. The lawless one was restrained in the first century (2 Thess.2:6) and is still to be revealed and destroyed at the Lord’s return (2 Thess.2:8). The destruction of the Temple and dispersion of the Jews curtailed the work of the ‘man of sin’. The war in heaven therefore typifies the situation in the new-born last days’ Jewish ecclesia.
This conclusion is reinforced because the same symbolism is used in Revelation 13. Note, however, the difference: the dragon (sin principle) is now represented by an empire (beast). The war is now no longer in heaven (ecclesiastical) but on earth.
(See Digression 12.2 HEAVEN AND EARTH).
REVELATION 12
REVELATION 13
Michael (who is like God?).
Who is like the beast?
War in heaven.
And his tabernacle……dwell in heaven.
The dragon warred (RV) and his angels.
To make war with the saints.
The devil (slanderer) which accuseth them day and night.
To blaspheme them that dwell in heaven.
They loved not their lives unto death.
And to overcome them.
THE VICTORY HYMN
“And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ” (Rev.12:10).
As it happened so far with every salvation event, this one too is celebrated in heaven with a hymn and thereby its meaning is unfolded. This time it occurs in a solo which is rendered by a representative of redeemed humanity – probably one of the elders (cp.4:4) – in the name of all (‘our brethren’). He announces the turning point in the history of mankind which has occurred with the sacrificial death of the Messiah and son of God (‘the lamb’). With him the breakthrough battle has been fought which assured the victory of Christ; the time of salvation in God’s kingdom has ‘dawned’ which although not consummated can never be reversed and of necessity moves towards its completion.
“For the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony (witness); and they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them” (Rev.12:10 – 12).
For redeemed mankind this means that the just claim of Satan, which originates from the mistaken decision of the first human couple, which Satan incessantly (‘day and night’) asserts before God, is now lifted (cp.Rom.8:33); the relationship of bondage has now expired. Not merely legally, but also practically a change has occurred for mankind through the redemptive act of Christ. ‘By the blood of the lamb’, with the help of the grace which Jesus Christ has earned for them on the cross, they themselves have received the ability to master evil; the victory of Christ is victory for all.
The clearest and most convincing proof of this is demonstrated by Christians in the attitude of superiority with which they seal their loyalty to the faith by death. By virtue of the grace of Christ, no demand, not even the extreme of bloody martyrdom, means an overstrain. To impart such an unconditional consciousness of superiority is the main purpose of this vision and this purpose is effective down to the formulation, when in the form of the prophetic perfect (‘they have conquered’), even the individual victories in every Christian life are asserted not only as possible but as already actual.
THE WILDERNESS WANDERINGS
Rev.12:12-14:
“Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man-child. And 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.”
John does not mention that the scene has changed from heaven to earth; the wilderness is therefore not a geographical place but a symbol. The wilderness is the arena in which trial and testing takes place:
“And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there will I plead with you face to face. Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord God. And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant: and I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me; I will bring them forth out of the land where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the Lord” (Ezek.20:35-38).
The wilderness wanderings were for the purpose of killing off the wicked (purging the nation)1 and also the scene of conflict (trial) between the Lord and the devil.
In similar fashion the dragon (serpent) principle is at work among the wilderness of the peoples.
THE BEAST AND SATAN (REV.13)
JESUS AND SATAN (MTT.4)
“The dragon gave him his power and his seat (throne RV) and great authority” (v.2).
“sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them…all these things will I give thee” (v.8)
“all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him” (v.8) (THE BEAST).
“if thou wilt fall down and worship me” (Satan)
The woman experiences the wilderness wanderings in order to bring her to a ‘place prepared by God’, the place being Jerusalem (= THE NEW JERUSALEM) as the place (= Jerusalem, Deut.12:21) is clearly the destination of Israel’s wilderness wanderings.
The symbolism is, however, not limited to the Exodus but also to the woman named ‘lawlessness’ in Zechariah 5. This is consistent with the typology that we have already explored in the previous chapter.
ZECHARIAH
REVELATION
chapter
chapter
2
measuring the Temple
11
3
Satanic dispute over legitimacy of Joshua
12
4
witnessing mission
11
5
removal of wicked woman
12
It is instructive to examine how Jesus used the prophecy of Zechariah 5 against the Jews of his day:
MATTHEW 23 & 24
ZECHARIAH 5
A den of thieves (21:13).
Stealing (23:23-25).
Corban (Mark 7:11).
The house of the thief (v.4).
Swearing (23:16-22).
Swearing (v.3).
Your house left desolate (23:28).
Not one stone upon another (24:1-3).
Timber and stones of the house consumed (v.4).
Leviticus 14 proscribes the procedure that the priest must follow in order to cleanse a leprous house. If the house could not be cleansed, the following took place:
“And he shall break down the house,
the stones of it, and the timber thereof,
and all the mortar of the house: and
he shall carry them forth out of the
city into an unclean place” (v.45).
The priest would inspect the house three times before pronouncing his final verdict – similarly Jesus inspected the Temple three times during his ministry, culminating in the last inspection during his final week (Mtt.21:12,13; Lk.19:43-48).
The woman incorporates two communities with diametrically opposing characteristics. The wilderness wanderings enhance and emphasise the difference between the ‘virtuous woman’ and the ‘wicked woman’ until she emerges as a separate entity in Revelation chapter 17.
REVELATION 12
EXODUS
ZECHARIAH 5
REVELATION 17
woman (virtuous)
Israel
woman (in ephah)
woman (whore)
wilderness
wilderness
wilderness
two wings of a great eagle1
cherubim
two women (ISRAEL AND JUDAH) with wings of a stork
protected by a beast
- her place
- a place prepared
Jerusalem (Deut.12:21)
- to build her an house
- land of Shinar
Great Babylon
nourished
manna
drunk with blood
The first section of Zechariah’s prophecy is therefore clearly applicable to the Jews and the Temple.
All the tennents of sound Scriptural exegesis demand that the second portion of Zechariah’s prophecy also concerns the Jews. A paraphrase of Zechariah’s prophecy should demonstrate this clearly:
The people who returned from Babylonian exile will rebuild the Temple and the priesthood will be reinstated (Zech.chapter 3, BC 520-515, Joshua/Zerubbabel). But because of their wickedness God will send a curse (written on a scroll) into the Temple. I had become a den of thieves and hypocrites and was no longer God’s house. God would destroy their house (AD 70).
Even though their house was destroyed, this was not the end of the matter for the two unclean women (Israel and Judah) would take their lawlessness back to Babylon (where they came from) from whence they would establish the principles of their new religion.
The destruction of the Temple and the end of sacrificial worship in AD 70, coupled with the diaspora, should have extinguished what had become a self-serving religion – instead it promoted a renaissance of the Jewish religion and Judaism emerged from the religious academies in Babylon.
(See Digression 12.4 – THE ESTABLISHMENT OF INIQUITY UPON ITS BASE)
The language of the last woe reflects the warning issued by Christ to the inhabitants of Jerusalem:
“Woe unto them (woe to the inhabitants of the earth, 12:12) that are with child (woman travailing in birth, 12:2) and to them that give suck in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land (RV earth) and wrath (the devil is come down unto you having great wrath, 12:12) upon the people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled” (Lk.21:23,24).
“And except those days be shortened” (Mtt.24:22).
(the devil…hath but a short time, 12:12)
The wilderness wanderings of the woman are not unlike the experiences of the captives during the Assyrian invasion of Sennacherib:
“Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail: for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered; there the Lord shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies” (Micah 4:10).
“Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: then shall the remnant (Shear Jashub – Isaiah 7:3) of his brethren return unto the children of Israel” (Micah 5:3).
The captives of Sennacherib were sent back from Babylon at the defeat of his army by divine intervention in the time of Hezekiah. It is from Babylon (symbolically) that the people of God are saved:Come out of her my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues” (Rev.18:4).
THE RIVER OF LIES
“And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood (river RV) after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth” (Rev.12:15,16).
John reverts again to the Exodus typology. Just as the Israelites were pursued by the Egyptian dragon and the ‘earth swallowed them’ (Ex.15:12 – the salt marshes bogged down the chariots), so now the earth ‘swallows’ the serpent’s invective. That which comes from the mouth of the serpent, is poisonous lying words:
“Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; The poison of asps is under their lips: whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness” (Rom.3:10-18)1.
In the wilderness the poisonous lying words were those of KORAH, DATHAN and ABIRAM – “all the congregation are holy, every one of them” (Num.16:3).
These were words of rebellion against Moses and Aaron and therefore a direct challenge to the authority of God himself.
They were in fact stating that they were ‘like the elohim’ (Moses and Aaron) and were therefore exalting themselves to a position to which they had no right2 repeating the folly of Adam and Eve when they listened to the lie of the serpent: “Ye shall be like the elohim” (contrast Michael – who is like God?).
As a consequence the earth opened up and swallowed KORAH and his lies (Num.26:33).
In the previous chapter we have already encountered the possibility that the apostle Paul typified the serpent power in his persecution of the early ecclesia. The poison of the asp is no doubt a reference to his ‘breathing out threats and slaughter’ (Acts 9:1) against the brethren (= THE FLOOD OUT OF THE SERPENT’S MOUTH). Paul was under the misconception that the early ecclesia was ‘the serpent’ and he saw himself as the ‘saviour’ of Judaism, doing battle with and ‘kicking with his heel against the sting [of the serpent]’ (Acts 9:5)3.
The earth opened up in the form of the risen Christ and swallowed up the persecution of Saul. Once again we are reminded of the serpent but this time the serpent on the pole (Num.21:8) – crucified flesh – “that everyone that is bitten, when he looketh upon it , shall live”.
We cannot, however, limit the ‘river of lies’ to Paul’s persecution. In the letters to Smyrna and Philadelphia, there had been trouble from ‘Satan’s synagogue’, “liars who claim to be Jews when they are not”. Slanderous attacks from without, false teaching designed to corrupt the ecclesia’s faith and to destroy it from within – this is the river of lies which the serpent spewed from his mouth.
The epistle to the Hebrews, written after the book of Revelation and before the fall of Jerusalem, makes an indirect reference to the ‘river of lies’ and the KORAH rebellion.
HEBREWS 12
NUMBERS 16
Sons of God (v.7).
Levites (v.8,9) 4.
Father of spirits (v.9).
God of the spirits of all flesh (v.2)5.
Partakers of his holiness (v.10).
All the congregation are holy (v.3).
Root of bitterness (v.15)6.
Korah, Dathan and Abiram.
Spirits of just men made perfect (v.23)7.
Moses and Aaron.
Refuse not him that speaketh (v.25)8.
Moses spake unto the congregation (v.26).
Removing the things that are shaken (v.27)9.
The earth swallowed them and all their goods (v.32).
God is a consuming fire (v.29).
Fire from heaven (v.35).
The situation in Hebrews draws on the example of the Korah rebellion, the provocation in the wilderness (Heb.3:15-19, citing Ps.95:8-11) and the fall from grace in the garden of Eden (Heb.4:11-13, the sword = the sword of the cherubim in Gen.3:24). All these themes are found in Revelation chapter 12.
It is significant that those who possessed spirit gifts were now turning back to justification by works (Heb.6:1-8). This is the lie of the serpent – man can be morally autonomous – like God. Similarly, in the Korah rebellion, Moses appealed to the ‘God of the spirits of all flesh’ for had God not recently put his spirit upon the seventy elders (SANHEDRIN) (Num.11:25) and were not at least some of these elders involved in the rebellion10 – would God now destroy those in whom his spirit resided? Korah had established his own tabernacle (mishkan) – the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan and Abiram, with their own instruments, 250 censers for burning incense. The apostasy of Korah had already proceeded far down the road to hell.
NOTES
4 The Levites were separated for God’s service and taken in lieu of the firstborn (Num.3:41). They were God’s (Num.8:14) and as such they were ‘sons of God’; the whole congregation were in fact ‘sons of God’ (RSV Deut.14:1).
5 Father of spirits, the Old Testament equivalent is ‘ the God of the spirits of all flesh’. This unusual
title is used only twice in the Old Testament, both times by Moses during prayer. The context of both prayers is rebellion against God.
Numbers 16:22 – The Korah rebellion.
Numbers 27:16 – The rebellion at Meribah.
The rebellion at Meribah, was the rebellion of Moses himself. “Must we (Moses and Aaron) fetch you water out of this rock?” It was an act of unbelief and rebellion (Num.20:12). The context (as in the Korah rebellion) is the appropriation of the rights of God (to be ‘like the elohim’), see also Psalm 106:33. In Deut.32:51, ‘trespass’ carries the idea of appropriation of another’s rights (Num.5:6). Presumably Aaron encouraged Moses to flout the instruction of the angel and to smite the rock instead of speaking to it. Therefore Moses did not believe the words of the angel. The title ‘God of the spirits of all flesh’ is no doubt derived from Gen.6:3:
“And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive (abide in) with man, for that he is also flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.”
Scripture informs us that Moses was 120 years old when he died (Deut.34:7).
Such was the humility of the man Moses, that he did not hesitate to use this title when addressing God, thereby acknowledging his own rebellion. By doing so Moses recognised that “The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy” (James 4:5) for the “flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh” (Gal.5:16,17).
Moses was indeed a great man, for not only does he refuse to justify himself or appropriate blame (unlike Adam and Eve), he also sets his own exclusion from the land over against the faith and inheritance of five women (Num.27:12-23).
The fact that the title ‘the God of the spirits of all flesh’, is derived from Genesis is significant. This was also a time when man rebelled against God and misappropriated his prerogatives. “Men began to call themselves by the name of God” (RV mg Gen.4:26).
The rebellion of the ‘sons of God’ whose descendants, the ‘men of renown’ (Gen.6:4), became the mighty men of old – men like Nimrod (Gen.10:9), who built their own cities (Babel) to make a name for themselves (Gen.11:4). Men like Korah (men of renown, Num.16:2), who challenged the authority of God.
6 Root of bitterness. This term originates from Deut.29:18. The context being those who turn away
from God in order to serve false gods. In the context of Hebrews those who tun back to Judaism and strive to be ‘like God’ through their own efforts (the law) (Heb.6:1-8).
The very next verse introduces the example of Esau who sold his birthright – the Korah rebellion consisted of Levites and Reubenites (Num.16:1). The tribe of Reuben had also lost its birthright – the excellency of dignity (priesthood) and the excellency of power (kingship) (Gen.49:5-6). No doubt this formed part of the motivation behind the Korah rebellion, the tribe of Reuben thought it should have been their birthright to be leaders and priests in the congregation. Together with disaffected Levites they fermented rebellion.
7 Moses is mentioned in the previous chapter (Heb.11:23-29). These men do not live as
disembodied ‘spirits in heaven’ for says Hebrews “they without us should not (have not been) be made perfect” (Heb.11:40).
The suggestion is then that the ‘spirit’ is the spirit that the ‘God of the spirits of all flesh’ withdraws from man at death and reserves until the time of resurrection. When God raises those ‘written in heaven’ (Heb.12:23), he will again breathe back all the characteristics of that man (or woman) until they become a living being made perfect (immortal) after the judgement. “The judge of all” (Heb.12:23).
This is not an immortal soul; man has no independent life outside his own body (or outside of God) but God remembers us and restores our very spirit for even the dead are already ‘enrolled (written) in heaven’ and in effect they are already members of the heavenly Jerusalem, for God is not a God of the dead but of the living.
8 “Refuse not him that speaketh”. This is a reference to Moses and to Christ.
“This Moses whom they refused, saying, who made thee a ruler and a judge?” (Acts 7:35).
The Hebrews were now being warned not to refuse Christ – “This is my beloved son (play on
Moses) hear ye him” (Lk.9:35). A direct reference to the message of Revelation (see also 2 Peter
1:16-21, also a late epistle written after Revelation).
NOTES CONTINUED
The Israelites had refused to listen to God at Sinai (Heb.12:19), they refused to listen to Moses (Acts 7:35 – Exodus 2:14) and now they were refusing to listen to Christ.
“For if they escaped not who refused him that warned them on earth (Moses), how much more
shall we not escape who turn away from him that warneth (speaketh) from heaven” (Christ).
It is God’s command to listen to him.
9 The tents of Korah were swallowed, similarly the Jewish ‘tent’ (their house) would be swallowed.
10 The account says that Korah gathered all the congregation. Moses and Aaron are instructed to
separate themselves from among this congregation and they pray for all the congregation.
“And the dragon was wrath with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Rev.12:17).
The protagonist in this sense is no longer a serpent but a dragon. The serpent represents the sin principle, the original lie and the false propaganda of those whose intention is to subvert the truth. The serpent was an internal problem in the Edenic ecclesia of Adam and Eve, the ecclesia in the wilderness, and in the first century ecclesia. The serpent now undergoes a metamorphosis into a dragon. The dragon represents external human opposition to the truth, usually in the guise of imperialistic antagonism1. This is confirmed by the dragon transferring his power to the beast empire (13:1).
The expression ‘the rest of her seed’ is obviously an Edenic reference and meant to contrast with the man-child brought forth in v.5. By this time there is an important distinction between the woman’s seed and the daughters of the harlot. The distinction is that these “keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony (witness) of Jesus Christ”.
In John’s gospel and his epistle to ‘keep the commandments of God’ has a very particular meaning. It means to love God (Jesus) and the brethren. It refers to the love (agape) – feast of the breaking of bread2. Jesus had instructed his disciples to “do this in remembrance of me” (Lk.22:19).
To keep the commandments of God can be summed up as loving God and loving your neighbour (Lk.10:27-28)3. This is expressed in the sacrament (breaking of bread). To remain steadfast in the breaking of bread is then to be equated with bearing witness.
REVELATION 12:7
REVELATION 14:12
Those who keep the commandments
of God
and maintain the testimony
of Jesus.
Those who keep the commands
of God
and (maintain) faith
in Jesus.
(literal translation)
If our conclusion is correct, then maintaining the faith and testimony (witness) in Jesus is obedience to the ‘agape command’.
“Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? The antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father” (1 John 2:22,23).
The dragon is then specifically an anti-Christian power that demands worship and forbids Christians to maintain their witness to Jesus as the Messiah (= the breaking of bread). In this context the dragon/beast power which has its ‘seat’ in the Middle East must be persecuting Jewish Christian converts that remain within this region. The remnant are those who repented at the preaching and vindication of the witnesses and “gave glory to the God of heaven” (11:13).
TYPE OR MEANING
ARENA
CHARACTER
VERSE
ISRAEL
CHRIST
ECCLESIA IN 1ST CENTURY
ECCLESIA IN LAST DAYS
THEME
Heaven
Woman
1-2
(Eve/
Rachel)
Israel –
Red Sea
Mary
Nativity
Death of Christ =
Birth of
ecclesia
Death of witnesses =
Birth of
ecclesia
Birth
Heaven
Red dragon
7 heads
10 horns
3-4
Israel – Egypt
(Israel – Babylon)
Herod
Pilate etc
Rome
Nero
Beast –
Rev.13
Persecution
Heaven
God’s
throne
Man
child
5a
5b
Israel at Sinai
Pentecost
Baptism
(resurrection)
Pentecost Spirit gifts?
The new Israel at Mount Zion
Enthronement1
Wilderness 1260 days nourished
Woman
6
Israel wilderness wanderings
42 campsites
Christ – wilderness ministry 3½ years
Ministry of apostles and ecclesia2
Ministry of witnesses and ecclesia (3½ )
Exodus
(trial)
Heaven
Michael
Great
Dragon3
7-9a
Israel –
Yahweh Nissi4
(Babylon – body of Moses
Joshua – Satan
Zech.3)
Crucifixion
Body of Christ -
internal struggle
Warfare
Accusation
Who is like God?
(Serpent’s lie)
Earth
Dragon
9b
Israel – serpent on a pole
Mediator – Moses
No accuser in heaven, now a mediator – Christ
Man of sin expelled in AD 70
Man of sin to be expelled (future)
Triumph of the cross
Satan expelled
Heaven
Loud voice
10-12a
VICTORY HYMN (Exodus 15)
Saints now able to overcome; even death and persecution no obstacle.
Passover
Deliverance
Blood of the lamb
Earth
Short time
(1260 days)
Earth
Devil
Dragon
Woman
12b
13
ISRAEL
Flying scroll
House destroyed, Zech.5.
‘The curse over the face of the whole earth’.
1ST CENTURY
Jewish war 3½ years.
Destruction of Jewish religion.
LAST DAYS
Harlot burned
Rev.17
Woe
Great wrath
Wilderness 1260 days nourished5
Woman
Serpent
14
‘Faithful woman’
Joshua
Caleb
ISRAEL ‘wicked
wilderness woman
genera-
tion that
perished
‘Faithful woman’
Saints flee to Pella
‘wicked’ woman in Ephah
Babylon
revival of Jewish religion, Zech.5.
Preservation of remnant outside the land?
Emergence of harlot woman
Mystery Babylon
Rev.17.
Exile
Diaspora
Protection
Separation
Wilderness
Woman
Serpent
15-16
Korah rebellion
Bar Kochba Rebellion
= false Messiah
(3½ years)
Lamb that speaks as a dragon (13:11)
Man of sin
River of lies
?
Remnant of
her seed
17
Remnant of Eve’s seed
Remaining Jewish Christians in the land?
Remaining Jewish Christians (in the land?)
Continued Persecution6
NOTES
1 Did the seventy elders of Israel (Sanhedrin) also receive the spirit at Pentecost? (Ex.24:9). They
certainly received it on a later occasion (Num.11:25). The true enthronement of Christ was his resurrection but this was typified by his baptism where the holy spirit descended upon him in the form of a dove (Lk.3:22) with the announcement “Thou art my beloved son” – the same announcement as at his enthronement in Psalm 2. The 1st century ecclesia was enthroned as a ‘holy nation’ (1 Peter 2:9) at Pentecost – 50 days after Passover (just like Israel). They also received the Holy spirit (Acts 2:3).
2 The internal struggle in the 1st century is well documented in Paul’s epistles. Judaist elements
turning the early Christians back to the law. Another interesting suggestion is the early witnessing of the apostolic ecclesia culminating in the trial and death of Stephen. The trial and death of Stephen is a type of the trial and death of Christ.
Harnack, Turner, Ramsay and Lightfoot all date the ascension of Christ as AD 29 or 30 and the
conversion of Saul as resp. 30, 35/36, 33, 34. This makes a 1st century witnessing ministry of 3½
years culminating in the death of Stephen very plausible. The apostle James refers to Stephen and
the fact that the Jews were jealous of his spirit power (“Stephen full of wisdom and the holy
spirit”) drawing on the example of Eldad (friend of God) and Medad (more than a friend).
[Num.11:24-29, see James 4:4-6]
Both Jesus and Stephen were ‘not of the seventy’ but were condemned by them. Just as they had
killed Christ so now they had killed ‘the righteous one’ (James 5:6) – Stephen. However, James
exhorts the brethren to be forgiving like Stephen and pray for the conversion of the sinner (James
5:19; Acts 7:60). The prayer was heard – the conversion of Saul.
Note James specifically mentions 3½ years (James 5:17).
3 The great dragon is given all his different names: old serpent, devil, Satan. The dragon has
imperial connotations – sinful human empires. Old serpent – this is Edenic human nature with its striving to God-like equality – human religion. Devil – the accuser who stands before God and makes the case against human sinfulness. Satan – the enemy of man who tests his true intentions (Job 1:9).
4 YAHWEH-NISSI: The Lord my banner. The warfare against Amalek symbolises the war against
sin. Amalek (sin) always attacks the vulnerable (Deut.25:17,18). Saul lost his kingdom because he did not destroy Agag the king of Amalek (1 Sam.15:20). By contrast David smote Amalek “from the twilight even unto the evening of the next day” (1 Sam.30:17). Mordecai refused to bow down to the Agagite (Amalekite) Haman (Esther 3:2). In similar fashion Jesus refused to bow down to Satan (Mtt.4:9).
“The Lord hath sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation” (Ex.17:16).
The banner is obviously the cross, symbolised by the outstretched arms of Moses (Ex.17:11).
5 The events of verses 12b and 13 are obviously contemporary with those of verse 14. While the city of Jerusalem and Judaism is being destroyed, a remnant of Jews is preserved. These emerge as two distinct groups – the faithful Jewish Christians and the Parthian Babylonian Jews who reinvent Judaism.
6 We are not told the location of this last persecution (v.17), only that the dragon ‘went away (RV)
to make war…’. The next chapter, however, makes it apparent that it is the beast empire in the Middle East that does the persecuting (Rev.13:1-10).
Summary
Revelation chapter 12 recounts the story of the birth of a latter day Jewish ecclesia in the land of Israel. The divine pattern repeats itself. It does this in the terms of the nations Exodus out of Egypt and Jesus Christ’s Exodus out of sin and death. Just as the triumph and vindication of the cross resulted in the birth of the first century ecclesias, so the death and vindication of the witnesses results in the conception of a latter day Jewish ecclesia. The dragon symbolises the power that attempted to destroy Christianity at conception, and again in it’s infancy, as it had tried to destroy the newly redeemed Israel when leaving Egypt.
The war in heaven was won through the victory of the cross, there is no longer one who accuses us day and night, but one who mediates on our behalf. Although the war has been won there are still battles to be fought. Within the first century ecclesia a ‘civil war’ was being fought for control of the ‘body of Christ.’ The sin principle is still at work in the guise of human religion and empires. (Never the less the saints share in their Lords victory even death cannot deter their witness)
The climax of the sin principle in the first century resulted in the outpouring of great wrath against the nation of Israel culminating in the destruction of the Temple. This was a time of trial and testing , during which divine protection was afforded to the faithful (the saints flee to Pella). The duration of the wilderness wanderings (3½ years exile) served to emphasise and expose the difference between the sheep and the goats. In the first century the wicked woman restored the self serving religion that God had destroyed, she did this in Babylon (Judaism – the Babylonian Talmud) the place where she had originated. She emerges in the latter day as the great whore of Revelation chapter 17, controlling a beast empire. In the first century she was characterised by the serpent propaganda (river of lies) by which she tried to subvert the ecclesia internally. Her motivation is as old as Eden, to be, “like the elohim” typified by the man of sin – finally manifesting itself in open rebellion against God. The first century false Messiah was Bar – Kochba, supported by the rabbis, his anti – Christian persecution and lies were swallowed up in the land of Israel by the Romans. In the latter days the false Messiah is a lamb that speaks (lies) as a dragon(serpent). The beast is the latter day reincarnation of the dragon power – it’s hostility is directed in particular towards Jewish Christians in the land of Israel: the power that at one time belonged to the dragon is now transferred to the beast.
“Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.”
1 John 2:18-19
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 There is a play on words here: God hath taken away (‘asaph) my reproach (see Isaiah 53:6). The Lord add (Yasaph) to me.
2 Son of sorrow, see Isaiah 53:4.
NOTES
1 The woman in this symbol represents Rachel (Mtt.2:18), but she also represents Mary (Mtt.1:20,21).
2 The dragon, having seven heads, and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads (Rev.12:13).
The dragon in the O.T. often represents Egypt (Ezekiel 29:3; Psalm 74:13,14; Isaiah 27:1 and 51:9). Pharaoh tried to destroy all the male children (Ex.1:16). Here the dragon symbolises world powers opposed to the birth of the Messiah. It is interesting to note that Luke enumerates seven authorities (Lk.3:1,2):
“Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests.”
These are the same authorities that are ranged against “thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together” (Acts 4:27).
3 Just like the new born nation of Israel (Hosea 11:1) so, too, the Lord was called out of Egypt the
land of bondage and slavery (sin).
“Out of Egypt have I called my son.”
The name Moses means ‘my son’ and originates from the Egyptian Meses (compare Rameses, son of Ra). The name Moses does not mean drawn out.
“And he (Moses) became her son (Pharaoh’s daughter). And she called his name Moses (my son) and she said, because I drew him out the water” (Ex.2:10).
She is in fact saying, I found him therefore he is my son (Meses).
The comparison is of God drawing the nation of Israel out of the waters (of the Red Sea) and calling them ‘his son’. Similarly, Jesus was drawn out (the waterless pit, Gen 37:24) of the land of sin and death, on completion of his Exodus, at his resurrection he was enthroned:
“Thou art my Son (Moses), This day I have begotten Thee” (Psalm 2:7).
NOTES
1 The word decease in Lk.9:31 is actually exodos in the Greek.
NOTES
1 RV Translation: to thy name and to thy memorial is the desire of our soul.
NOTES
2 The earth shall cast out the dead (v.19) Passover (v.20), reference to Abel (Christ) (v.21).
NOTES
1. According to some commentaries, Thyatira means ‘she who continues in sacrifices’. If that is the case, she represents the ecclesia that has come out of Judaism.
“We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle” (Heb.13:10).
It is also the ecclesia of Jezebel, the ‘false prophetess’ (Rev.2:27).
2 “Him that overcometh, to sit with me in my throne” (Rev.3:21) – promise to Laodicea.
3 Psalm 110:2:
“The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion” (to rule with a rod of iron).
This ecclesia is destined to become a nation of king priests (a royal priesthood, 1 Pet. 2:9) like
Jesus after the order of Melchizedek (Ps.110:4) and he shall strike through the head (wound the
head) over many countries (cp. Rev.13:3 – one of his heads as it was wounded unto death). This
ecclesia will sit at the right hand of God (like Jesus, Psalm 110:1):
“and I saw thrones, and they that sat upon them, and judgement was given unto them…they lived
and reigned with Christ a thousand years” (Rev.20:4).
4 The Christians were thrown to the lions in the Colleseum at Rome.
5 See Digression 12.1: A TALE OF TWO CITIES – JERUSALEM VERSUS ROME.
1 A Legal Background to the Yahwist’s Use of “Good and Evil” in Gen.2-3 JBL 88 (1969), pp. 266- On the general relationship of Gen.2:4-3:24 and the view that sin was an attack upon and a breach of the harmony of the created order cf. also Jerome T. Walsh, ‘Gen.2:4b-3:24 A Synchronic Approach’, JBL 96 (1977) PP. 161 – 177.
2 A counterpart of Adam’s action is clearly the attitude of Jesus referred to in Philippians 2:6.
NOTES
1 “Him that hath the power of death that is the devil.”
This is a reference to the destroying angel who killed the firstborn at Passover. Note the following correspondence:
HEBREWS 2:14-15
EXODUS 12
The children.
Children (v.26).
Partakers of flesh and blood.
Passover meal, blood on the lintel (v.22).
He also himself (sharing our nature).
Let him, and his neighbour next unto his house take it (a lamb) (v.4). (Sharing a lamb.)
Destroy him that hath the power of death, that is, the devil.
The destroyer (v.23).
(The angel of evil not the evil angel.)
And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
Passover eaten with bitter herbs (v.8), a reminder that their lives were made bitter with hard bondage “in mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve was with rigour” (Ex.1:14).
2 The law was administered by angels:
“who have received the law as it was ordained by angels (Gr. unto ordinances of angels) and have not kept it” (RV Acts 7:53).
See also Gal.3:9, Heb.2:2, Acts 7:38, Deut.33:2. The events described in Rev.12:7-9 which occur ‘in heaven’ are symbolic of earthly events. The characteristics of Satan, are those of his earthly representatives. Jeremiah had compared Nebuchadnezzar to a dragon that gulped Jerusalem down whole (Jer.51:34). Ezekiel had pictured Pharaoh as “the great dragon lying in the midst of the streams” (Ezek.29:3). We have already observed that the dragon bore similarities with Herod.
Everything that John sees in heaven is the counterpart of some earthly reality. When victory is being won in heaven, Christ is on earth on the cross.
The earthly events that conspired to crucify Christ were allowed to happen and were indeed pre-arranged from heaven:
“Thou couldest have no power over me, except it be given thee from above: therefore he (Judas? or the high priest?) that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin” (John 19:11).
It is interesting to note that although the outcome is already arranged from heaven this in no way infringes upon freewill or personal responsibility. (God hardened the heart of Pharaoh but this merely re-enforced his own inclinations.)
When Jesus was arrested he said: “this is your hour, and the power of darkness” (Lk.22:53).
The ‘power of darkness’ is no doubt a reference to the destroyer or waster, the angel of death who at the Passover killed the firstborn (RV Ex.12:13). This was indeed the Passover night (darkness) when a band of angels of evil (Psalm 78:49) had been sent out to accomplish God’s work – but, “the prince of this world cometh; and hath nothing in me” (John 12:3).
The death of Christ on the cross was therefore a triumph not only over worldly powers but also over heavenly powers.
(See Bible Studies, An Anthology: Principalities and Powers 16.05 page 375 for further reading.)
3 The lifting up or ‘out of’ the earth refers to the crucifixion and resurrection. All men (both Jew
and Gentile, without distinction) were drawn to Christ when the risen Christ appeared to Saul on the road to Damascus and stopped the flood of persecution, at the same time commissioning Saul to preach to the Gentiles.
NOTES
1 The ‘angel of light’ is no doubt intended to remind us of Lucifer, the morning star (King of
Babylon) who exalted his throne above the stars of God (angels) (Is.14:13). Sennacherib probably had a throne erected on the Mount of Olives overlooking the Temple mount.
2 To sit in ‘heavenly places’ or ‘among heavenly beings’. The word ‘places’ not in the original, see note 3, page 19.
NOTES
1 KOSMOKRATOR – World ruler in the context (not flesh and blood) it must refer to the angel of
death, the destroyer ‘of this darkness’ ie the present dispensation. Possibly a reference to the Passover night (Lk.22:53), used by the rabbis for the angel of death (cp. Abaddon and Apollyon, Rev.8:11).
2 AV = spiritual wickedness
RV = spiritual hosts of wickedness
RV mg = wicked spirits
Should probably read ‘spirits of wickedness’. This would give the same meaning as ‘angels of evil’. Angels whose tasks are the dispensation of evil (not evil angels).
3 H.A.W. has the following to say about ‘heavenly places’ (The Epistle to the Ephesians, p.89):
“The strange assumption is constantly encountered that the Greek original of this phrase is epourania, neuter plural. Yet in none of the passages cited is a reading of the neuter form inevitable, for in each instance the termination may be read as a genitive or dative plural, which has the same masculine termination in both masculine and neuter form. This once observed, leaves the way open to read the phrase with reference to ‘heavenly beings’; and it has already been shown that such a reference to angels makes a world of difference to the intelligibility of every passage when it occurs.”
Also, the Greek preposition ‘en’, in all these places translated ‘in’, carries several other meanings, one very common usage being ‘among’. The reader may verify this for himself by reference to such passages as:
Eph.2:3,7,21 Col.1:23, 27, 16 Phil.2:15
3:8 2:20, 3
5:3 3:1, 7
This means that ‘spiritual wickedness in high places’ (AV) [the word ‘places’ is not in the original], becomes spirits of wickedness (angels of evil) among the heavenly beings.
NOTES
1 Deuteronomy 8:15-20.
NOTES
1. See Ps.91:4 – a Psalm of Moses reflecting the wilderness experience.
NOTES
1 The apostle Paul is quoting from Psalm 14:1-3, Psalm 5:9 and Psalm 140:3. The ‘poison’ that Paul
is referring to, is the slanderous report (same chapter): “Let us do evil, that good may come” (Rom.3:8). Paul’s opponents were ‘wresting’ his gospel and twisting his words. Note also that his opponents are Jewish.
2 The man of sin exalts himself to this same position (and did so in the 1st century), see 2 Thess.2:4.
Jesus Christ, however, although in the form of God (Adam made in the image of the elohim), counted it not a thing to be grasped at (unlike Adam, who grasped at the opportunity to be ‘like God’) to be on an equality with God (Phil.2:6).
3 Not ‘kicking against the pricks’. Paul saw himself as the Messiah of Judaism, crushing the head of
the serpent (Christ and his ecclesia). On this, see H.A.W. – Studies in the acts of the apostles, p.128. The blindness of Paul prophesied in Isaiah 59:9 and the lifting up of a standard against him in Isaiah 59:19.
NOTES
1 The dragon in Revelation v.3 (great red dragon) represents Rome (Egypt/Babylon) but in v.7
(= war in heaven) it represents the ‘sin principle’ in the heavenly court case, but also human opposition to God (Rome and the Jewish state).
As we have observed the heavenly court case is concurrent with the crucifixion on earth.
“In that day the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea” (Isaiah 27:1).
The serpent was slain on the cross but the dragon will only be slain at the Lord’s return (Rev.19:20-21).
2 See John 15:9-14 context: continue in my love, keep my commandments, love one another,
sacrificial love (= breaking of bread). See also John 14:15,21.
1 John 2:4-12 context: keeping his commandments, abiding in Christ, loving the brethren, forgiveness of sins (= breaking of bread). See also 1 John 3:22,24, 1 John 5:2,3.
3 Jesus was the ‘good Samaritan’. He was in fact ‘the neighbour’ who had come to bind up the
wounds of the nation (Lk.10:29). Loving God and ‘your neighbour’ is in fact loving God and Jesus (expressed in the sacrament). It is impossible to hate your brother and love Jesus.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4 The Levites were separated for God’s service and taken in lieu of the firstborn (Num.3:41). They were God’s (Num.8:14) and as such they were ‘sons of God’; the whole congregation were in fact ‘sons of God’ (RSV Deut.14:1).
5 Father of spirits, the Old Testament equivalent is ‘ the God of the spirits of all flesh’. This unusual
title is used only twice in the Old Testament, both times by Moses during prayer. The context of both prayers is rebellion against God.
Numbers 16:22 – The Korah rebellion.
Numbers 27:16 – The rebellion at Meribah.
The rebellion at Meribah, was the rebellion of Moses himself. “Must we (Moses and Aaron) fetch you water out of this rock?” It was an act of unbelief and rebellion (Num.20:12). The context (as in the Korah rebellion) is the appropriation of the rights of God (to be ‘like the elohim’), see also Psalm 106:33. In Deut.32:51, ‘trespass’ carries the idea of appropriation of another’s rights (Num.5:6). Presumably Aaron encouraged Moses to flout the instruction of the angel and to smite the rock instead of speaking to it. Therefore Moses did not believe the words of the angel. The title ‘God of the spirits of all flesh’ is no doubt derived from Gen.6:3:
“And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive (abide in) with man, for that he is also flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.”
Scripture informs us that Moses was 120 years old when he died (Deut.34:7).
Such was the humility of the man Moses, that he did not hesitate to use this title when addressing God, thereby acknowledging his own rebellion. By doing so Moses recognised that “The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy” (James 4:5) for the “flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh” (Gal.5:16,17).
Moses was indeed a great man, for not only does he refuse to justify himself or appropriate blame (unlike Adam and Eve), he also sets his own exclusion from the land over against the faith and inheritance of five women (Num.27:12-23).
The fact that the title ‘the God of the spirits of all flesh’, is derived from Genesis is significant. This was also a time when man rebelled against God and misappropriated his prerogatives. “Men began to call themselves by the name of God” (RV mg Gen.4:26).
The rebellion of the ‘sons of God’ whose descendants, the ‘men of renown’ (Gen.6:4), became the mighty men of old – men like Nimrod (Gen.10:9), who built their own cities (Babel) to make a name for themselves (Gen.11:4). Men like Korah (men of renown, Num.16:2), who challenged the authority of God.
6 Root of bitterness. This term originates from Deut.29:18. The context being those who turn away
from God in order to serve false gods. In the context of Hebrews those who tun back to Judaism and strive to be ‘like God’ through their own efforts (the law) (Heb.6:1-8).
The very next verse introduces the example of Esau who sold his birthright – the Korah rebellion consisted of Levites and Reubenites (Num.16:1). The tribe of Reuben had also lost its birthright – the excellency of dignity (priesthood) and the excellency of power (kingship) (Gen.49:5-6). No doubt this formed part of the motivation behind the Korah rebellion, the tribe of Reuben thought it should have been their birthright to be leaders and priests in the congregation. Together with disaffected Levites they fermented rebellion.
7 Moses is mentioned in the previous chapter (Heb.11:23-29). These men do not live as
disembodied ‘spirits in heaven’ for says Hebrews “they without us should not (have not been) be made perfect” (Heb.11:40).
The suggestion is then that the ‘spirit’ is the spirit that the ‘God of the spirits of all flesh’ withdraws from man at death and reserves until the time of resurrection. When God raises those ‘written in heaven’ (Heb.12:23), he will again breathe back all the characteristics of that man (or woman) until they become a living being made perfect (immortal) after the judgement. “The judge of all” (Heb.12:23).
This is not an immortal soul; man has no independent life outside his own body (or outside of God) but God remembers us and restores our very spirit for even the dead are already ‘enrolled (written) in heaven’ and in effect they are already members of the heavenly Jerusalem, for God is not a God of the dead but of the living.
8 “Refuse not him that speaketh”. This is a reference to Moses and to Christ.
“This Moses whom they refused, saying, who made thee a ruler and a judge?” (Acts 7:35).
The Hebrews were now being warned not to refuse Christ – “This is my beloved son (play on
Moses) hear ye him” (Lk.9:35). A direct reference to the message of Revelation (see also 2 Peter
1:16-21, also a late epistle written after Revelation).
The Israelites had refused to listen to God at Sinai (Heb.12:19), they refused to listen to Moses
(Acts 7:35 – Exodus 2:14) and now they were refusing to listen to Christ.
“For if they escaped not who refused him that warned them on earth (Moses), how much more
shall we not escape who turn away from him that warneth (speaketh) from heaven” (Christ).
It is God’s command to listen to him.
9 The tents of Korah were swallowed, similarly the Jewish ‘tent’ (their house) would be swallowed.
10 The account says that Korah gathered all the congregation. Moses and Aaron are instructed to
separate themselves from among this congregation and they pray for all the congregation.
NOTES
1 Did the seventy elders of Israel (Sanhedrin) also receive the spirit at Pentecost? (Ex.24:9). They
certainly received it on a later occasion (Num.11:25). The true enthronement of Christ was his resurrection but this was typified by his baptism where the holy spirit descended upon him in the form of a dove (Lk.3:22) with the announcement “Thou art my beloved son” – the same announcement as at his enthronement in Psalm 2. The 1st century ecclesia was enthroned as a ‘holy nation’ (1 Peter 2:9) at Pentecost – 50 days after Passover (just like Israel). They also received the Holy spirit (Acts 2:3).
2 The internal struggle in the 1st century is well documented in Paul’s epistles. Judaist elements
turning the early Christians back to the law. Another interesting suggestion is the early witnessing of the apostolic ecclesia culminating in the trial and death of Stephen. The trial and death of Stephen is a type of the trial and death of Christ.
Harnack, Turner, Ramsay and Lightfoot all date the ascension of Christ as AD 29 or 30 and the
conversion of Saul as resp. 30, 35/36, 33, 34. This makes a 1st century witnessing ministry of 3½
years culminating in the death of Stephen very plausible. The apostle James refers to Stephen and
the fact that the Jews were jealous of his spirit power (“Stephen full of wisdom and the holy
spirit”) drawing on the example of Eldad (friend of God) and Medad (more than a friend).
[Num.11:24-29, see James 4:4-6]
Both Jesus and Stephen were ‘not of the seventy’ but were condemned by them. Just as they had
killed Christ so now they had killed ‘the righteous one’ (James 5:6) – Stephen. However, James
exhorts the brethren to be forgiving like Stephen and pray for the conversion of the sinner (James
5:19; Acts 7:60). The prayer was heard – the conversion of Saul.
Note James specifically mentions 3½ years (James 5:17).
3 The great dragon is given all his different names: old serpent, devil, Satan. The dragon has
imperial connotations – sinful human empires. Old serpent – this is Edenic human nature with its striving to God-like equality – human religion. Devil – the accuser who stands before God and makes the case against human sinfulness. Satan – the enemy of man who tests his true intentions (Job 1:9).
4 YAHWEH-NISSI: The Lord my banner. The warfare against Amalek symbolises the war against
sin. Amalek (sin) always attacks the vulnerable (Deut.25:17,18). Saul lost his kingdom because he did not destroy Agag the king of Amalek (1 Sam.15:20). By contrast David smote Amalek “from the twilight even unto the evening of the next day” (1 Sam.30:17). Mordecai refused to bow down to the Agagite (Amalekite) Haman (Esther 3:2). In similar fashion Jesus refused to bow down to Satan (Mtt.4:9).
“The Lord hath sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation” (Ex.17:16).
The banner is obviously the cross, symbolised by the outstretched arms of Moses (Ex.17:11).
5 The events of verses 12b and 13 are obviously contemporary with those of verse 14. While the city of Jerusalem and Judaism is being destroyed, a remnant of Jews is preserved. These emerge as two distinct groups – the faithful Jewish Christians and the Parthian Babylonian Jews who reinvent Judaism.
6 We are not told the location of this last persecution (v.17), only that the dragon ‘went away (RV)
to make war…’. The next chapter, however, makes it apparent that it is the beast empire in the Middle East that does the persecuting (Rev.13:1-10).
