Hello everyone and welcome back to Deeper Waters. Well I’ve certainly had a great evening and of course, the personal details are left to me and to those who I wish to reveal them. We’re going to be continuing our Trinitarian Commentary tonight. Can you believe we’re halfway through the last book of the Bible? Before that, some prayer requests. I first off ask for your prayers that I will continue on the path of Christlikeness and I believe I’ve made some progress today. I also ask for prayers with my finances as the windfall I had was good for one purpose, but there’s still more needed. I finally ask for prayers for the related area in my life that all will go well. God’s changing me there I believe. For now, let’s go to the text of Revelation 12:1-6.
1A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.2She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth.3Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. 4His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born. 5She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. 6The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.
Many of us are familiar with the Christmas story. We think of shepherds visiting and wise men. The most dangerous part we see is when Herod tried to kill the baby Jesus. I believe Revelation 12 is telling that from a different perspective. Now if you disagree, that’s fine. I do think we can all agree that this child however is Jesus.
What do we know about this child. First, this child is in direct opposition to the work of satan. If this child succeeds, the powers of darkness fail. This I believe is why Herod really sought to kill the child. Herod’s act was demonically inspired. I’m not saying Herod was possessed, but I’m saying he was tempted and with a bloodthirsty king like him, it was easy to give in.
This child will rule all nations with an iron scepter. We think of Jesus as meek and mild. Jesus came to save, but he also will be the king who sits on the throne one day and all will bow before him. We dare not believe in Jesus meek and mild exclusively. The one that prayed “Father, forgive them” is the one that will judge them if they do not repent.
Finally, this child is snatched up before God. While Jesus has ontological equality with God, we must remember that he is distinct from the Father. A great error in the church lies in that we usually use illustrations of the Trinity that are modalistic, such as a man who is a husband, a son, and a father. Great illustration if you want to show the heresy of modalism. Terrible if you want to show Trinitarianism.
In the end, we have the Lord who is fully God who will rule the nations. His work is in opposition to the works of the devil that he has come to end. May that end come soon.
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