seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Revelation 12:4b The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born. 5 She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.”[a] And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. 6 The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.
a.Revelation 12:5 Psalm 2:9
Well, let me get amazingdiscoveries.org out of the way.
To “rule all nations with a rod of iron” references Psalm 2:9. This means that Christ will be victorious over His enemies. After His resurrection He was “caught up unto God.”
This is from the easy English site.
The baby boy was born to the woman. That boy was Jesus. He was born to Mary who belonged to the nation called Israel. But the woman whom John saw was not Mary. The woman in John’s prophecy meant the Jews who believed in the Lord.
The Lord Jesus Christ will rule on earth as the king over all the nations. He will be a strong ruler. All people will have to obey him. He will be strict with any who do not obey him.
God sent Jesus with his parents to Egypt. So, Herod failed to kill him. Later Jesus died but God raised him from death. Then, after Jesus rose from death, he went up in a cloud into heaven. He went up to God and to his throne.
The evil plan of Satan failed. Jesus defeated Satan. And Jesus went up to God’s throne in heaven.
During the last three and a half years, Satan will try to kill all the Jews. But God will protect those Jews who believe in him. He has prepared for them a place of safety.
The Lord Jesus Christ will rule on earth as the king over all the nations. He will be a strong ruler. All people will have to obey him. He will be strict with any who do not obey him.
God sent Jesus with his parents to Egypt. So, Herod failed to kill him. Later Jesus died but God raised him from death. Then, after Jesus rose from death, he went up in a cloud into heaven. He went up to God and to his throne.
The evil plan of Satan failed. Jesus defeated Satan. And Jesus went up to God’s throne in heaven.
During the last three and a half years, Satan will try to kill all the Jews. But God will protect those Jews who believe in him. He has prepared for them a place of safety.
Bible.org says these verses describe anti-Semitism.
The idea is this: since Satan failed to kill Christ, he will turn in dragon-like fury against the woman, Israel, and pour out his vengeance on her. Verses 13-17 give us the details of this persecution, but verses 7-12 point us to the immediate cause. Between Christ’s first and second advents, the church of Jesus Christ is the prominent figure in the plan of God. So much of Satan’s time and hatred is aimed at the church though the Jews still get their share as history so dramatically proves. But before the Tribulation begins the church will be raptured and out of the reach of Satan. However, something will occur in the middle of the Tribulation which will create the greatest anti-Semitism or Jewish persecution the world has ever known. This is described for us in the rest of this chapter.
I read a little ahead in the verses every day. I don't read the commentaries until I get ready to post the verses.... just the verses... sometimes I get the meaning and pat myself on the back the next day.... and sometimes I worry that I'm totally off base and don't know how I could be so wrong. So the commentaries keep me in check.... but in Revelation.... the commentaries conflict.... so...
When I read ahead the other day, I thought this was about abortion. You know... getting rid a of baby that is not quite timed right... or getting rid of a baby that makes you reminiscent of a horror..... using a baby to cure others..... that's what came to mind. I thought these verses were going to be today's version of the sacrifices to moloch.
I was wrong.... it's not about babies or abortion.... unless you think in terms of Satan trying to get earth to abort Christ. There was some concern about Mary's unwed status. She went to stay with her aunt and uncle for a while. You remember... her cousin was pregnant with John the Baptist [not the John that wrote Revelation].
It's bigger than that.... this prophecy must be about the attempted extinction of the descendants of Abraham and Isaac. Does this have anything to do with the descendants of Ishmael, Isaac's older half-brother?
Just to soothe my brain... I decided to go look at one more commentary.... and this is from a different Bible.org article.
Verses 1-6 describe the ultimate (cosmic) battle between good and evil in mythological terms taken from Ancient Near Eastern cultures (cf. Grant Osborne, The Hermeneutical Spiral p. 229).
1. Babylonian creation account—Tiamat (chaos), a seven headed monster who threw down one third of the stars of heaven, versus Marduk, the chief god of the city of Babylon, who kills her and becomes the head of the pantheon.
2. Egyptian myth—Set (Typhon), a red dragon versus Isis (Hathor), giving birth to Horus. He later kills Set.
3. Ugaritic Baal legend—Yam (waters) versus Ba'al. Ba'al kills Yam.
4. Persian myth—Azhi Dabaka (evil dragon) versus son of Ahura Mazda (the high good god).
5. Greek myth—the Python (serpent/dragon) versus pregnant Leto (she gives birth to Apollo, who kills Python).
2. Egyptian myth—Set (Typhon), a red dragon versus Isis (Hathor), giving birth to Horus. He later kills Set.
3. Ugaritic Baal legend—Yam (waters) versus Ba'al. Ba'al kills Yam.
4. Persian myth—Azhi Dabaka (evil dragon) versus son of Ahura Mazda (the high good god).
5. Greek myth—the Python (serpent/dragon) versus pregnant Leto (she gives birth to Apollo, who kills Python).
