Peace and grace in the love of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Revelation 12:3
12:3. And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads.
This is the clear appearance of Satan which is completed by the six activities as follows:
ad. 2. Devouring.
Revelation 12:4b-6
12:4b. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Childas soon as it was born.
12:5. 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.
12:6. Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days.
The dragon devours the male Child as soon as it is born.
The male Child refers to the Deliverer (the freedom from the dragon).
There are three deliverers in the bible who are shown as male child as follows:
God allows the shocks in all things, so we experience the freedom and we are not swallowed by the dragon.
We surely have to face the shocks, so we experience the freedom.
We are powerless, but God helps all of us. We see Him and stretch out our hands to Him. Let His power work when we can do nothing.
God blesses us.
Revelation 12:3
12:3. And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads.
This is the clear appearance of Satan which is completed by the six activities as follows:
- Verse 4a = His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth (it is explained in Bible Study Service in Malang, November 24, 2020).
12:4a. His tail drew a third of the starsof heaven and threw them to the earth. - Verse 4b = His mouth devours her Child (it is explained in General Service in Malang, December 06, 2020).
12:4b. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devourher Child as soon as it was born. - Verse 7 = Fighting.
12:7. And warbroke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, - Verse 13 = to hunt or persecute quickly.
12:13. Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. - Verse 15 = to cause her to be carried away by the flood.
12:15. So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. - Verse 17 = to make war or persecute the rest of her offspring.
12:17. And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
ad. 2. Devouring.
Revelation 12:4b-6
12:4b. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Childas soon as it was born.
12:5. 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.
12:6. Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days.
The dragon devours the male Child as soon as it is born.
The male Child refers to the Deliverer (the freedom from the dragon).
There are three deliverers in the bible who are shown as male child as follows:
- Moses was a male child who delivered the Israelites from the bondage of Egypt to Canaan (it is explained in Bible Study Service in Malang, December 08, 2020).
Exodus 2:1-2
2:1. And a man of the house of Levi went and took as wife a daughter of Levi.
2:2. So the woman conceived and bore a son. And when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him three months.
At that moment, all the male children were sought to be killed.
Exodus 1:22
1:22. So Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, "Every son who is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive."
Satan in the form of Pharaoh killed all the male children in Egypt when Moses was born. It was a great shock. - Jesus was a male Child who delivered the believers from the sins.
Matthew 1:21
1:21. "And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins."
Matthew 2:16
2:16. 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 childrenwho 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.
Satan in the form of Herod killed all the male children in Bethlehem when Jesus was born. It was a great shock. - A male Child is the deliverer of the church of God or the heavenly bride on the last days, so she may fly into the wilderness, far from the eyes of the Antichrist until she is lifted up to the heaven.
Revelation 12:4b-6
12:4b. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born.
12:5. 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.
12:6. Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days.
At that moment, a great shock happens. It starts from the pre-persecution of the Antichrist until the great murder for all God's children who are left in the world.
God allows the shocks in all things, so we experience the freedom and we are not swallowed by the dragon.
- We must pay attention to the things as follows:
Matthew 24: 27-28
24:27. "For as the lightning comesfrom the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
24:28. "For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together.- 'the lightning comes' refers to the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, the true teaching word, or the Bride Tidings.
It means that we hear and obey the Bride Tidings. - 'the carcass' refers to Christ's sacrifice on the cross to bear our sin and rebellion. He is numbered with the transgressors on the cross.
Now it refers to the Holy Communion.
Facing against the shocks, we must pay attention to the word and Christ's sacrifice, namely the perseverance in committing the Bible Study Service and Holy Communion until the Bride Tidings is ingrained in our life, so we are purified from twelve sins that are ingrained in our life.
Colossians 3:5-7
3:5. Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication(1), uncleanness(2), passion(3), evil desire(4), and covetousness(5), which is idolatry(6).
3:6. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience,
3:7. in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.
These are six sinful deeds or physical sins.
The things that become the idol are stealing the possession of God, looking for money until not prioritizing God, and ministering to look for money, not God.
Colossians 3:8-9
3:8. But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger(1), wrath(2), malice(3), blasphemy(4), filthy language(5)out of your mouth.
3:9. Do not lie to one another(6), since you have put off the old man with his deeds,
These are six spiritual sins.
The fact of being purified from twelve physical and spiritual sins is neither lying nor breaking promise.
It is the freedom from sin.
We are honest especially about the true teaching word or God.
If the teaching is true, we must support and practice it. Otherwise, we must avoid the false teaching.
If we are honest, we will experience peace. All things become easy and light.
So, God allows the shocks to set us free from sin. - 'the lightning comes' refers to the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, the true teaching word, or the Bride Tidings.
- 'lift up your heads' means that we must lift up our head when facing against the shocks.
Luke 21:28
21:28. "Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near."
The shocks happen in verse seven and so on.
Lifting up our heads or eyes means as follows:- Looking at God's field as the place to sow (the Gospel Word or good news) and reap (the teaching word or the Bride Tidings).
John 4:35
4:35. "Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest"? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyesand look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!
We must actively minister the building of the body of Christ, starting from marriage, shepherding, inter-shepherding, until the Israelites and Gentiles become one perfect body of Christ.
We minister through the things as follows:- Testifying the Good News for saving the sinner. It is the same as increasing the quantity of the body of Christ.
- Testifying the Bride Tidings to increase the quality of the body of Christ up to perfection.
- The ministry and gift that God gives to us. It means that we must minister God faithfully and fervently according to the ministry and gift that God gives to us until the finish line. Do not stop during the journey!
James 4:4
4:4. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the worldis enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
Not being faithful is the same as having fellowship with the world, so one surely experiences shock.
If we experience the freedom from the world, we will receive the wages, namely rejoicing--'both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together'. - Testifying the Good News for saving the sinner. It is the same as increasing the quantity of the body of Christ.
- Seeing God by falling down at His feet.
John 11:32
11:32. Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell downat His feet, saying to Him, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died."
We worship God with a broken heart.
It means as follows:- We confess all our physical weakness, namely failure and impossibility.
Look at Him! Lift up our heart and hand to Him!
We also confess our spiritual weakness, namely decay (not being obedient, insulting the word, and not willingly hearing the word), pain, weariness, and heavy burdens.
Let's fall down at Jesus' feet! Surrender all things to Him! - We just trust and commit ourselves to God. We totally surrender to Him. We rely on His mercy.
We stretch out our hands to God and He will stretch out His merciful hands to us.
Faith and mercy will result in miracle as follows:- The spiritual miracle, namely the decay is changed into fragrance.
It means obedience until the flesh does not speak anymore.
It is the freedom from the flesh and its lusts or the veil is torn.
If we become obedient, our face will beam or be good looking. - The physical miracle, namely God's merciful hands are able to finish all impossible problems and give beautiful and successful future.
- We are changed to become as perfect as Jesus when He comes a second time. We are worthy to greet His coming on the glorious clouds. We see Him face to face until we enter into the throne of heaven to worship Him day and night.
- The spiritual miracle, namely the decay is changed into fragrance.
- We confess all our physical weakness, namely failure and impossibility.
- Looking at God's field as the place to sow (the Gospel Word or good news) and reap (the teaching word or the Bride Tidings).
We surely have to face the shocks, so we experience the freedom.
We are powerless, but God helps all of us. We see Him and stretch out our hands to Him. Let His power work when we can do nothing.
God blesses us.