| STATEMENT: It was stated by a pre-tribulation rapture believer, "I interpret this scene as a time to come when Satan and his angels are cast to earth, and take up residence (demon possession) in human bodies, which the New Age movement is preparing people for with their "channeling" and all that." |
I disagree. I interpret that to refer to the efforts of Satan to seek Christ's destruction, as we clearly see in the Gospels, where, for example, the wise men were asked by Herod to return to tell him of Christ's location, and the subsequent efforts to destroy the church.
Since Jerusalem rejected Him, which is the entire basis for Christ's doom upon Jerusalem, and the church accepted Him, the church would be spared and protected while Jerusalem would perish.
Jesus died, was buried and resurrected and then ascended. Satan was cast down to the earth (verse 9), for the victory of the cross was so extensive that the devil had nothing by which to accuse man of any longer.
Revelation 12:9-10 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.Verse 11 refers to the saints recognizing their testimony as one with Christ's due to His shed blood, and gives reason for the casting down to the earth of the dragon.
Your thoughts do not show that reason that verse 11 gives for the casting down.
Revelation 12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.Your thoughts fall short in explaining the above reasons for the falling of Satan from heaven, where he accused in the past, when you simply say you believe the casting down will account for strange satanic experiences in the world.
What death? Persecution death? No. Christ's death. One testimony is common to many saints in verse 11, (their (plural) testimony (singular)), and one death is common to many saints (their lives (plural) unto the death (singular)).
This is simply revolving around the victory of the cross. But whereas the cross also was extensively referred to as Jerusalem's ultimate rejection of Christ, linked with His curses thrown upon her for that rejection, we should naturally see much of those curses fulfilled in lieu of the references to the cross as we do here in Revelation 12.
Satan was in heaven during Old Testament days of Job, accusing God's people. But here after the ascension of Christ, there is no more place in heaven to accuse the brethren in.
Revelation 12:7-8 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.Now, we must notice that Revelation uses many Old Testament pictures. From the offset of the reference to the LAMB, in Rev chapter 5, we should have thought about the passover in Exodus. The lamb's blood redeems. That is explicit passover language. And Rev 12 uses the entire picture of the passover and Exodus to teach about the issue at hand.
The devil/dragon is like Pharaoh in this chapter. Pharaoh's kingdom crashed down all around him and he fell from great power due to the blood of the lamb (see 12:11). So he chased Israel after having been forced to release her, and tracked her down after the lamb's blood defeated him.
Since Pharaoh's power over Israel was destroyed, we see a parallel in the Church overcoming the dragon by her testimony and the power of the blood. Your theory provides no explanation as to the reason Rev 12:11 gives the saints the credit for the casting down of the dragon.
The dragon then chased the woman.
After the cross, the devil tried to defeat the church. In fact, I propose that the devil's rage against the church was that which Christ used to destroy Jerusalem. Satan sent Rome down to destroy the church in 70 AD. But unbeknownst to the devil, it was going to fulfill Christ's prophecy of doom upon Jerusalem and sparing of the church, a s the contrasting elements of the various parables after Matthew 21 through to Matthew 25 show the Christ-rejecting Jerusalem destroyed and the Church, accepting Him, spared.
We see reference to the same 3.5 years of Jerusalem's destruction in Rev 12.
Revelation 12:6 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.As Israel fled into the wilderness, the church would escape the destruction of Jerusalem by fleeing Jerusalem.
And when Pharaoh caught up with Israel, God caused the earth to help her and the Red Sea opened up. Pharaoh sent his armies out and they were drowned in the Red Sea, and Israel was freed and preserved from destruction.
Revelation 12:13-16 And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.Revelation is not about the end of the world, but about Jesus Christ. It is a Revelation of Jesus Christ. And that gives little surprise to the fact that Christ's victory through His blood is repeated in symbolic form. And since Jerusalem filled the cup of blood that began to be filled since Abel's death, and since upon her would come wrath against its filling, Revelation speaks much of her destruction as BABYLON THE GREAT, due to her ultimate rejection of Jesus' revelation as the messiah through the crucifixion of Him.
Revelation 17:1-6 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead [was] a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.This refers to :
Matthew 23:30-32 And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.And Deuteronomy warned Israel that if they should reject God's Word, a nation of fierce countenance would come upon her (Daniel 8:23 reveals that to be ROME, in lieu of reading the parallel vision of four beasts in Daniel 7 and the fourth beast of Rome), and told Moses that Israel would WHORE after other gods.Matthew 23:34-35 Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and [some] of them ye shall kill and crucify; and [some] of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute [them] from city to city: That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
Daniel 8:23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.This referred to Rome destroying Jerusalem due to Jerusalem's rejection of Christ.Deuteronomy 31:16 And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go [to be] among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them.
Deuteronomy 28:49-53 The LORD shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand; A nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor shew favour to the young: And he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy land, until thou be destroyed: which also shall not leave thee either corn, wine, or oil, or the increase of thy kine, or flocks of thy sheep, until he have destroyed thee. And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which the LORD thy God hath given thee. And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the LORD thy God hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee:The grisly scene of verse 53 was fulfilled in 70 AD when women ate their own babies in Jerusalem during the siege due to lack of food.
Deuteronomy. 31's reference to Jerusalem becoming a whore, connects us to Revelation. Who would be a greater whore in God's eyes, than JERUSALEM, the city where He put His name? Such a whore and adulteress could not be Rome or any other nation. An adulteress is one who is married to God and goes after other gods.
2 Samuel 12:28 Now therefore gather the rest of the people together, and encamp against the city, and take it: lest I take the city, and it be called after my name.Jerusalem is called THE GREAT CITY in Revelation 11, and spiritually called Sodom and Egypt.Jeremiah 25:29 For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the LORD of hosts.
Revelation 11:8 And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city , which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.And also BABYLON.
Revelation 17:18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.Jesus said this about Jerusalem and Jerusalem alone.Revelation 18:2-6 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.
Matthew 23:32-36 Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.So all of this is a contrast of the people of God spared, while Jerusalem is destroyed in wrath by using Satan, unbeknownst to him.Revelation 17:6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
None of the other interpretations have cross references to these scriptures to back up those differing interpretations.