In the Book of Revelation, the adversary, Satan, is revealed and becomes more visible. He grows ever more violent in his opposition, because the end of his power approaches as the revelation of Jesus Christ increases. He is seen as the ‘dragon’, a monster-like water creature, a reptile that rises out of the ‘sea’ (of nations)1 taking possession of his instrument in his counterpart, the beast. He, who was once the shining, brilliant, clever, intelligent ‘nachash’,2 became a creeping reptile after God judged him. Once the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty,3 he is now a ‘dragon’. The drama surrounding Satan becomes visible through the description of the prince of Tyre. He is at his most dangerous as an ‘angel of light’4 but the masks are off here. He tries to devour everything that the woman—the Heavenly Jerusalem, ‘the mother of us all’— brings forth on earth. What is more horrible than to devour a new-born child? What is seen symbolically in Heaven always appears again, visible on earth. The ‘dragon’— in Heaven—stands opposite the woman—in Heaven. The satanic angelic forces in Heaven are mobilised even before the Saviour is born and their leader, the ‘dragon’, looks forward with anticipation to the moment of birth, in order to devour the child—in Heaven—immediately.
He stands in front of the ‘women’ (not ‘stood’ as the New International Version and the New American Standard Bible says). He stands there and is remaining standing there and is always standing, ready for his work of devouring. To devour whatever the women is birthing. What God is His mercy is birthing. The emphasis is on “in Heaven”. It is still the Heavenly sign that John sees. The child will certainly be born of a woman on earth at the right moment, in the fullness of time.5 And the ‘dragon’ will be there too, to devour it. Look at his attempt, at the murder of the innocent children of Bethlehem,6 and throughout His whole life on earth.
The ‘sign’ is first seen in Heaven, in eternity, transcending time and history, so that what happens there will make it clear why things on earth happen the way they do. Joseph and Mary’s flight to Egypt,7 Christ’s Ascension8 are predicted by this sign. First the child is seen being ‘born’ and snatched away in Heaven—however, not from earth to Heaven, but away from the dragon in Heaven to God’s throne in Heaven. The battle between Michael and his angels against the dragon and his angels in Heaven9 follows immediately. Psalm 2:7 says: “You are My son; today I have become Your Father.” Jesus is God of God, Light of Light. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.10 Born of God, not created or made; of the same being, the same quality as the Father, ‘Firstborn’ over all creation, the ‘principle’ of the whole of Creation,11 not the first created being (as the Jehovah’s Witnesses and other sects and Islam claim), not a higher or the highest angel—but all things were created in Him and through Him and for Him.12 This ‘birth’ is of all eternity, before ‘time’ existed and thus did not take place at a ‘moment’ in time. Time only exists when matter exists. As the Father is of all Eternity, so is the Son. Who is born, generated, before ‘time’, before the ages/aeons. He became flesh in order to save us!13
• The ‘serpent’ from Genesis 3:1 is called ‘nachash’ in Hebrew. The word has a positive and a negative connotation. This is also the name for the bronze ‘serpent’ that Moses puts on a pole14 as a ‘sign’ of healing for the suffering Israelites, so positive. But the venomous snakes are also called ‘nachash’.15 The Lord Jesus is compared to the ‘snake on the pole’.16
• The word ‘seraph’ is used for the bronze snake in Numbers 21:8, and ‘nachash’ in verse 9. We know seraphs as ‘Heavenly beings’ (Isaiah 6:2, 6). Both words are used in verse 6!
• This shows what the brilliant background of the ‘serpent’ is, in Paradise; the serpent is —a being of celestial origin. The word is also used in Isaiah 14:29 and Ezekiel 28:12b-15 describes how beautiful the ‘nachash’ was – before the fall! No wonder Eve fell for the trap in Paradise. She was meeting with a brilliant Heavenly being!
Bible References:
1.Revelation 13:1 2.Genesis 3:1 and 14 3.Ezekiel 28:12 4.2 Corinthians 11:14 5.Galatians 4:4 6.Matthew 2:16–18 7.Matthew 2:13–15 8.Acts 1:9 9.Revelation 12:7 10.John 1:1 11.Colossians 1:18 12.Colossians 1:15–20 13.John 1:14 14.Numbers 21:9 15.Numbers 21:6 16.John 3:14
