A Study on Revelation 12:1
W
as the star sign prophesied in Revelation fulfilled in the sky on September 23, 2017? We know that God uses the stars in the sky for signs, but is that what this was? In this blog, we’ll be examining the Scriptures to try to determine if it’s true.
To get a better context, let’s look at Revelation 12:1-5:
Revelation 12:1-5 (NKJV)
12 Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. 2 Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth.
3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. 4 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. 5 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 His throne.
I think this passage is best understood going backwards.
The Male Child
Who is the male Child who is to reign with rod of iron?
There are other verses in the Bible that talk about someone doing that. Let’s check them out.
The first is Psalm 2:9. I’m going to read Psalm 2 for context:
Psalm 2 (NKJV)
1 Why do the nations rage,
And the people plot a vain thing?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves,
And the rulers take counsel together,
Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying,
3 “Let us break Their bonds in pieces
And cast away Their cords from us.”
4 He who sits in the heavens shall laugh;
The LORD shall hold them in derision.
5 Then He shall speak to them in His wrath,
And distress them in His deep displeasure:
6 “Yet I have set My King
On My holy hill of Zion.”
7 “I will declare the decree:
The LORD has said to Me,
‘You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.
8 Ask of Me, and I will give You
The nations for Your inheritance,
And the ends of the earth for Your possession.
9 You shall break them with a rod of iron;
You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’ ”
10 Now therefore, be wise, O kings;
Be instructed, you judges of the earth.
11 Serve the LORD with fear,
And rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the Son, lest He be angry,
And you perish in the way,
When His wrath is kindled but a little.
Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.
We instantly realize this passage is a prophecy about Jesus.
The Hebrew word mashiach (Messiah) in Psalm 2:2 means “anointed”. One testimony to Messiah’s divinity is how the rulers refer to Him in a unified way together with the LORD. “Let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us.” The LORD said to Him, “You are My Son, today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron; you shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.” No ordinary man has this kind of power or authority. Verse 7 corresponds to Jesus’ first coming, when He came as the only begotten Son of the Father, reconciling to God all who repent and believe in Him:
John 3:16-17 (NKJV)
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
Verses 8 and 9 are clearly about Jesus’ second coming, when He will reign on the earth after He comes again, systematically healing the earth from the curse.
As I was in the midst of preparing this blog, one of my friends on Twitter, Gregory Rogers (Erasmus House Publishing), “just happened” to send me a write up about this passage (obviously, God ordained it). It was perfect, so I requested his permission to share it. Speaking of Psalm 2:9, Gregory writes:
The crucial verse reads: ‘You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.’
The importance of these words becomes suddenly clear when we look at the culture of the ancient world, where such words as are found in Psalm 2:9 would have carried great significance.
In ancient Egypt, for instance, as part of the inauguration ceremony of a new king, special vessels of pottery would be prepared. Each vessel had inscribed on it the name of a foreign nation.
During the ceremony itself, the king would smash the said vessels to pieces, an act that was supposed to symbolize his mastery over the said nations.
A similar rite was to shoot off four arrows, one in each direction of the heavens, also to symbolize that ruler’s mastery.
Thus it was also said of the great Mesopotamian ruler Sargon that:
“He shattered the lands like pottery and bridled the four corners of the earth”.
In a similar way, when Jesus returns to set up the kingdom of God and reign supreme, He will show His mastery by totally defeating the rebellious forces of the world which have raged against Him during the tribulation period.
This ‘rod of iron’, a rod symbolizing the rule of a king, is a rod that will in effect destroy and judge the forces of wickedness as a prelude to setting up the eternal kingdom of peace.
(Source: H-J Kraus, Psalms I:132).
In Revelation 2:27, Jesus gave a letter to the church of Thyatira, saying:
Revelation 2:27 (NKJV)
26 And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations—
27 ‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron;
They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels’—
as I also have received from My Father;
Another mention of the rod of iron is Revelation 19:15—also clearly about Jesus:
Revelation 19:11-16 (NKJV)
11 Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. 12 His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. 13 He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. 15 Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 16 And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written:
KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS
So, by Scripture interpreting Scripture, we see that the male Child in Revelation 12 is Jesus.
Revelation 12:5 says the male Child ascended to God and to His throne. This happened at the end of Jesus’ first coming, as recorded in Acts 1.
It makes sense that Revelation 12:5 is talking about Jesus’ first coming, not His second, because His reign is still presented in a future sense.
When He comes back again, even at the very beginning, the angels describe Him as having “reigned”:
Revelation 11:17
“We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty,
The One who is and who was and who is to come,
Because You have taken Your great power and reigned.
The Dragon
Who is the dragon who wanted to devour the male Child soon after He was born?
He is clearly identified in Revelation 12:9 and 20:2:
Revelation 12:9 (NKJV)
9 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.Revelation 20:2 (NKJV)
2 He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;
Satan surely was the instigator behind King Herod, who tried to kill Jesus when He was a baby, as described in Matthew chapter 2:
Matthew 2:1-8 (NKJV)
2 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.”
3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.
5 So they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:
6 ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
Are not the least among the rulers of Judah;
For out of you shall come a Ruler
Who will shepherd My people Israel.’ ”
7 Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.”Matthew 2:12-18 (NKJV)
12 Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.
13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.”
14 When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, 15 and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”
16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men. 17 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying
18 “A voice was heard in Ramah,
Lamentation, weeping, and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children,
Refusing to be comforted,
Because they are no more.”
In Revelation 12:4, the dragon draws one third of the stars out of heaven and throws them to earth. I believe this refers to the angels who joined Satan’s rebellion against God.
In Revelation 1:20, stars stand for angels.
Revelation 1:20 (NKJV)
20 The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches.
Revelation 12:9 says Satan was cast to earth, and his angels were cast out with Him.
The dragon is described as having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads.
The seven heads and ten horns image is used to describe the beast of the sea in Revelation 13:1, to whom the dragon gives his power and authority. In Revelation 12, it has seven crowns on its heads, whereas in Revelation 13, there are ten, but I believe this can be understood because Daniel 7:8 says three of the [ten] horns are uprooted by the little horn.
The Star Sign
If the star sign is figurative like the rest of this passage seems to be, what could it refer to?
Thousands of years ago, God gave a dream to a teenage boy named Joseph, where the sun, moon, and twelve stars stood for the family of Jacob, or Israel, from whom Messiah was born.
Genesis 37:9-11 (NKJV)
9 Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, “Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me.”
10 So he told it to his father and his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you?” 11 And his brothers envied him, but his father kept the matter in mind.
Jesus was born of a woman (Mary) literally, but I believe the woman in this chapter especially refers to those of Israel who are justified by faith, as Abraham was. There are other passages in Revelation 12 with clear end times contexts, referring to the woman this way.
Why am I talking about the star sign idea nearly four years later? Some people believe it was the beginning of the Tribulation, and that we halfway through. We have always had tribulation, but I see no evidence for being in the Tribulation yet. The first sign Jesus gave about the start of the Tribulation was a warning about false christs. That’s what I believe the first seal in Revelation 6:1-2 is about, and the first “time” of the king of the north (Daniel 11:21-24).
Personally, I believe Revelation 12:1-5 was fulfilled in the first coming of Jesus, and explains why Satan hates Israel so much—especially those of them who are obedient to the gospel. And I believe that what happened in the sky in September 2017 was of no eternal consequence.
