Prophecy
10
The Baby Jesus
–
Revelation 12:1-6
[1] [2]
1
Beginning
Point in Time: Just
before Jesus was born
Ending Point in Time: 1798
Summary:
This is a
story about Lucifer (the dragon),
Christ (the male child), and the
people of God (the woman).
Although it is not explicitly
said in this story, Lucifer hated
Christ long before Jesus was
born. This prophecy begins with
Lucifer attempting to kill Jesus
at birth, but he fails. Lucifer
then focuses his hatred for Jesus
on the bride of Christ, but she
flees into the wilderness to a
place prepared for her. For 1,260
years, God’s people overcame
persecution and difficult
circumstances through faith in
Jesus.
Introduction:
Prophecy
10 provides a foundation for
Prophecy 11 in the same way that
Prophecy 1 (Daniel 2) provides a
foundation for Prophecy 2 (Daniel
7). We have seen, in this book,
how repetition and enlargement
allows God to review many
important concepts with the
fewest possible words. This
technique is important to
remember because in John’s
day, every copy of Scripture was
made by hand. Therefore, shorter
books meant less work and
repetition and enlargement
required fewer words. On the
surface, this prophecy appears to
be short and simple, but its
depth may surprise you.
This
prophecy reveals two essential
facts in a mere six verses.
First, in broad strokes, it
chronicles the passage of
eighteen centuries, from the
birth of Jesus in 4 B.C. down to
1798.[1] Second,
it speaks volumes about the
actions of Lucifer. Most
Christians believe in a devil,
but few have carefully studied
his clever and determined
efforts. Some Christians
unintentionally derail the
purpose of this prophecy by
forcing Lucifer’s
“agents” into the
spotlight. In other words, they
put King Herod and papal Rome at
center stage, but this should not
be done. Jesus and Lucifer are
the central characters in this
prophecy. The agents involved are
secondary to the story. Keep in
mind that before the world was
created, Jesus and Lucifer became
protagonists. They have been
engaged in a deadly conflict for
a very long time.
Lucifer
is a fallen angel, a demon that
human beings cannot see with the
naked eye. Of course, God clearly
sees the devil and He wants the
final generation to understand
Lucifer’s prowess before he
is released from the Abyss (the
spirit realm) to physically
appear on Earth. As you already
know, during the first four
trumpets, a crisis government (a
beast called Babylon) will rise
to power. When this occurs, the
devil will take over. He will
give Babylon its great power,
authority, and throne.[2] He
will accomplish this by using
leaders who are controlled by
their carnal nature. The carnal
nature loves sexual immorality,
money, power, and fame and
Lucifer knows it.
Jesus
will permit the devil to exercise
great influence over Babylon
during the Great Tribulation
because the Holy Spirit will
exercise great influence over all
people. Lucifer will empower
Babylon while Jesus empowers the
144,000 and this will sharpen the
contrast between right and wrong.
Jesus will not allow either party
to override anyone’s power
of choice. The devil will have
one objective for Babylon. He
intends to destroy God’s
people, the remnant of the woman.[3] Through
his agents, (the leaders of
Babylon and those who obey them),
the devil will wage a war against
God’s people for 42
miserable months.[4]
God
placed Prophecy 10 in the Bible
so that Christians can look
behind a curtain and see what
really occurred when Jesus was
born. Lucifer is a predator and a
heartless thug. He will do
whatever it takes to destroy
God’s purposes and people.
One interesting part of this
story is that the devil is able
to get agents to unwittingly
carry out his wishes.[5] Therefore,
God wants everyone to know and
understand that there is a
determined and intelligent demon
at work who cannot be seen (at
the present time). Events
transpiring before our eyes are
not always what they appear to
be. Every day, we see and hear
about horrible crimes and the
secular mind interprets these
atrocities as evil people doing
evil things, but there is far
more to evil behavior than this.
Remember how King Herod decreed
that all of the baby boys in
Bethlehem under the age of two
were to be killed.[6] Secular
historians claim that Herod was a
wicked man who committed this
atrocity to protect his throne
from a messianic baby, but the
Bible pulls back the veil and
reveals something far more
sinister. Lucifer controlled
Herod. Herod actually carried out
Lucifer’s desire to kill
Baby Jesus. Herod did not act on
his own. Over time, the king had
come under Lucifer’s demonic
control and Herod’s
predatory behavior reveals the
depth of his demon possession.
The clearest evidence of demonic
possession is predatory violence.
Think about this: If the 144,000
will be the “arms and
legs” of the Two Witnesses,
it stands to reason that demon
possessed people will serve as
Lucifer’s “arms and
legs” during the Great
Tribulation.
The
Sequence:
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.{1} I
looked up into the sky and an
awesome drama occurred. Although
I did not see the origin of this
drama, the story implied there
was an ongoing conflict between
Christ and Lucifer long before
Mary gave birth to Jesus. As I
watched, I saw a beautiful woman
dressed as a bride. She was
wearing white linen that was as
bright as the Sun. She stood with
the moon under her feet and on
her head she wore a golden
stephanos (Greek: a winner’s
crown, a crown of victory)
containing twelve stars.
{2} She was
pregnant, and cried out in pain
because she was about to give
birth.
Revelation
12:3-4
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. And his tail drew the
third part of the stars of
heaven, and did cast them to the
earth: and the dragon stood
before the woman which was ready
to be delivered, for to devour
her child as soon as it was born.{3} Then
another character appeared in the
sky. I saw an enormous red dragon
with seven heads and ten horns
wearing seven diadema (Greek: the
crown of a sovereign or a king,
seven crowns indicating sovereign
authority) on his seven heads.
{4} The
great red dragon had astonishing
ability and power. In fact,
before Jesus created the world,
his mighty tail caused a third of
God’s angels to be cast out
of Heaven and flung to the Earth.
The dragon knew that the woman
was about to give birth to his
archenemy and he was prepared. He
stood in front of the woman who
was about to give birth so that
he might devour her child the
moment it was born.
Revelation
12:5-6
And
she brought forth a man child,
who was to rule all nations with
a rod of iron: and her child was
caught up unto God, and to his
throne. And the woman fled into
the wilderness, where she hath a
place prepared of God, that they
should feed her there a thousand
two hundred and threescore days.{5} The
woman gave birth to a male child
who will someday rule all nations
with an iron scepter.[7] After
living on Earth for a few years,
God snatched the woman’s
child from Earth and put Him on
His throne.[8]
{6} When
the dragon saw that he could not
destroy Jesus, the dragon focused
his wrath on the woman. To escape
the dragon’s fury, the woman
fled to the wilderness, to a
desolate place that God had
prepared for her. Against all
odds, the woman survived because
God sustained her for 1,260 years
(A.D. 538-1798).[9]
The woman
standing on the moon represents
the people of God, the bride of
Christ.[10] This
is a cosmic drama, the woman is
not on Earth. Contrary to what
many people believe, she does not
represent Mary, the mother of
Jesus. She represents God’s
people from Eden lost to Eden
restored. According to God’s
promise, Jesus came through the
offspring of faithful Abraham at
the appointed time.[11] At
the appointed time, Jesus will
return to Earth and all of
God’s people will be united
with the Lamb at a great wedding
banquet in Heaven.[12] The
wedding of the Lamb and His
church will occur at the Second
Coming. The bride’s
brilliant dress represents
Christ’s righteousness.
Jesus Himself provides the
prerequisite wedding garment to
each person who reverently
surrenders to the authority of
the Holy Spirit.[13] The
moon under the bride’s feet
is a faithful witness of
God’s promise.[14] The
woman stands on a promise that
has no end: If you will be my
people, I will be your God.[15] Her
stephanos (golden crown)
signifies the victory that comes
through faith in Christ and the
twelve stars represent the twelve
tribes of Israel.[16] The
1,260 day/years in the wilderness
represent the Dark Ages – a
period of time during which God
permitted His people to be
scattered and persecuted. This
time period is the same period
granted to the little horn
in Daniel 7:25.[17]
Before we
can appreciate the contents of
this vision, we need to
understand two important
foundational points.
1. Before
Earth was created, a rebellion
occurred in Heaven. Lucifer
caused this rebellion. He became
jealous of Jesus and through
clever lies and insinuations, he
led one-third of the angels to
have contempt toward God. (The
tail (tale) of the great red
dragon swept many innocent angels
into his mutiny.) Lucifer’s
followers were cast out of Heaven
because of their defiance and
some time later, Earth was
created. (See Prophecy 12 for a
discussion on this subject.)
2. After
Jesus created Adam and Eve,
Lucifer preyed on Eve and led her
to sin. Then, Eve led Adam into
sin. Because Adam and Eve sinned
without defiance, the Father and
Jesus immediately initiated the
“Plan of Redemption.”
The Father had devised this plan
long before sin began because He
foreknew sin would occur. Jesus
volunteered to die in man’s
place and the Father accepted
Jesus’ offer provided that
Jesus agreed to do exactly as the
Father decreed. If Jesus deviated
from any part of the plan,
humanity would have no further
opportunity for salvation. Jesus
willingly subjected Himself to
whatever the Father required. In
return, the Father promised to
give all of the redeemed and even
the planet to Jesus if He
successfully carried out the Plan
of Redemption.[18]
Now that
these foundational points have
been presented, certain elements
of this prophecy will become
obvious. It is easy to see why
Lucifer desperately wanted to
kill Jesus as soon as He was
born. Lucifer hated Jesus long
before He was born on Earth and
Lucifer wanted to terminate the
plan of redemption before it
could be carried out![19]
The Plan
of Redemption is far more
involved than the earthly
ministry of Jesus and His death
on the cross. Jesus became the
Lamb of God on the day that Adam
and Eve sinned.[20] Prior
to His birth, Jesus managed the
affairs of mankind from Heaven.
Many significant events show that
Jesus was working toward
fulfilling the Plan of Salvation.
For example, Jesus sent the flood
in Noah’s day, He spoke from
Mt. Sinai, and He came to Earth
to live as a man. After Jesus
returned to Heaven, His service
continued. Jesus destroyed
Jerusalem in A.D. 70 and Jesus
limited the efforts of the little
horn to destroy His people for
1,260 years. Then, in 1798, Jesus
was found worthy to receive
sovereign power and the book
sealed with seven seals. In 1844,
Jesus opened the Books of Record
and began judging the dead. We
learned in Prophecy 8 that the
seven angels who stand before
Jesus were given seven trumpets
in 1994. (See Appendix A.) Soon,
the fourth seal will be broken
and everyone will see the
sovereign power of Jesus. Jesus
has been working for the
redemption of mankind for 6,000
years!
The Plan
of Redemption’s scope is
huge and it has many objectives
and dimensions. For example, the
plan includes the exoneration of
God’s character and
government; a topic we examined
in Prophecy 6. The Plan of
Salvation involves the testing of
mankind; a topic we examined in
Prophecy 7. The plan of salvation
involves passing eternal judgment
on mankind; a topic we examined
in Prophecy 9. The plan of
salvation calls for the faithful
to be redeemed and the defiant to
be destroyed, but these
objectives must be completed in
such a way that everyone finally
agrees that God is love. The plan
also calls for a new Heaven and a
new Earth to be created and each
step in the plan of redemption
must be perfectly
“full-filled” before
the entire plan can be declared
“finished.”[21]
[1] [2]
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