,,His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. And she bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and to His throne.”
Rev. 12: 4-5
Last time we saw that the Dragon is actually Satan or the Devil, Lucifer, the Son of Dawn, and there are other names in the Bible that are attributed to Satan, and his names create an image of who Satan really is. But let's start from the beginning.
The first verse in Genesis begins with the statement, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." And in the first verse of the second chapter we have written, "Thus the heavens and the earth and all their host are finished," and it is important for us to say that they are in creation. angels were also involved. And when everything was created we have a written conclusion by which God concludes:
,, Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”
Genesis 1:31
We see here that everything that God created was good and angels were included and there were still no fallen angels but everyone served God.
We find a record of this in Colossians where the apostle Paul wrote:
,, For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.”
Col. 1:16
In this verse we read "everything in heaven" and then "what is seen and what is not seen" and we conclude that this refers to angels because angels also belong to creatures (the army of heaven) and for us angels are beings who we cannot see except in exceptional cases.
Since we are talking about Satan we can say that Satan is also an angel but at that time He was not Satan but a perfect angel who served God like all other angels. The prophet Ezekiel gives us a description of what he was like:
,, "Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, 'Thus says the Lord God: "You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: the sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created. "You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you.”
Ezekiel 28: 12-15
So he was a perfect Cherub (angels are divided into ranks so we have Seraphim, Cherubim, Archangels and Angels) who symbolically slaughtered the holy presence of God and He was a creature who had great power and great potential because he was very high in rank but he also had the free will to decide whether to remain holy forever or to turn away from God and do evil.
We read what he chose in the book of the prophet Isaiah.
,, For you have said in your heart: 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.'”
Isa.14: 13-14
And when he decided to go to the side of evil, God told him because of His proud and blasphemous thoughts that He would throw him to the ground:
,, "Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, that they might gaze at you. "You defiled your sanctuaries by the multitude of your iniquities, by the iniquity of your trading; therefore I brought fire from your midst; it devoured you, and I turned you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all who saw you. All who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you; you have become a horror, and shall be no more forever." ' "
Ezekiel 28: 17-19
And of course God keeps his promises and burns the angel who was the Cherubim, the slayer is no longer what he was but became Satan and is thrown as punishment on earth and that fall is described in the Gospel where the Lord Jesus says what that fall looked like.
,, And He said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.”
Luke 10:18
On this occasion as well, a third of the rebellious fallen angels were cast down from heaven with Satan, and we read about that in our text where it says:
"And her tail drew a third of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth."
,, So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”
Rev. 12: 9
The struggle of good and evil began in heaven a little earlier, and since Satan was cast down to earth, the relentless struggle of good and evil began on earth, and the first sacrifice that Satan could find on earth was Eve and then Adam and that struggle. it has continued to this day ("he deceives the whole world" Revelation 12: 9) and will continue in the future as long as Satan has God's permission to lead it.
From the text we do not know how many angels who became demons fell together with Lucifer but here it says that it is a third. So Satan is one and he cannot be present everywhere at the same time but he has an army of demons present around the world and they work through ungodly people.
"And the dragon stood before the woman who wanted to give birth, to devour her child when she gave birth. And she gave birth to a man, a son, who will feed all nations with an iron rod; and her child would be taken to God and his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared of God, that she might eat there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.
We have seen before that the Woman Israel was persecuted by "Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Mido-Persia, Greece and Rome" and why it is written in the text, "to devour her child when she gives birth". is Satan who knew that salvation would come from the Jews.
,,… for salvation is of the Jews.”
John 4:22
and that's why he fought so hard throughout history, they wouldn't have somehow changed God's plan not to ..become a Child "but of course he didn't succeed because what God says must be so that neither Satan nor his army nor anyone else can hinder him in that or prevent.
Satan does not want the salvation of the world but its destruction and that is why he fought and the last attempts to fight were after the birth of Jesus when Satan through Herod asked the sages to tell him where the "King who was born" was. to execute Jesus as a little newborn child and since he did not know who and where Jesus was he ordered the little boys to be killed thinking that Jesus would be among them.But as we have already said God's plan does not collapse so God saved Jesus and his "earthly parents" so that they fled to Egypt and Herod did not manage to find them. Of course, the fight does not end here, it still lasts and will continue for some time until all of God's plans are fulfilled.
Here, in one verse, the Holy Spirit practically revealed to John the whole history of Jesus Christ from the birth of the "girl Mary" all the way to his glorious kingdom, " to God and his throne "
The Lord Jesus was born, lived on earth for thirty-three years, died on the cross and was resurrected and then went to Heaven at the right hand of God the Father and all this is practically a defeat for Satan. and after that the final "end for Satan"
"And she brought forth a man, a son, which shall fall upon all nations with a rod of iron; "This second part, which will fall on all nations with an iron rod, has not yet been fulfilled, and that is the future that should happen soon, because God himself said so."
,, Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth.Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.”
Ps.2: 8-11
And the prophet Daniel describes something similar:
,, "I watched then because of the sound of the pompous words which the horn was speaking; I watched till the beast was slain, and its body destroyed and given to the burning flame. "As for the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. "I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed.”
Daniel 7: 11-14
We now have the fifth and sixth verses here
"And she bare a man, a son, who shall fall upon all nations with a rod of iron; and her child would be taken to God and to his throne. "
,, Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days.”
Rev. 12: 6
Here are the fifth and sixth verses and we have seen the content of the fifth verse and how it was fulfilled and the sixth verse happens "two thousand years later" and it has not yet come true.
We also find this pause between the twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh verses of the prophet Daniel:
,, "And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. the end of it shall be with a flood, And till the end of the war desolations are determined. Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; but in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. and on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, even until the consummation, which is determined, is poured out on the desolate." "
Daniel 9: 26-27
and then to the prophet Joel:
,, And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. "And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: blood and fire and pillars of smoke.”
Joel 2: 29-30
In this pause is "the history of the Church of Christ."
,, "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Loed has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn,”
Isa.61: 1-2
,, So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, "to preach the acceptable year of the Lord." Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."”
Luke 4: 16-21
Here is what the apostle Paul writes about this break, that is, about the mystery of the Church of Christ:
,, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, "
Eph.3: 4-6