Revelation 12:7-9 is a vision seen by John that speaks about the war that will occur in heaven. The passage says,“Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down―that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.” The passage begins by stating that there will be a war in heaven, one between Michael and Satan. Michael is God’s archangel whose name means “one like God”. This leads to the possibility that Michael is Jesus Christ. Jesus has a nature “like God” and can be argued that the word “archangel” might mean not “ruling angel” but “the ruler of the angels.” Add to the fact that the word archangel is never used in the plural… ”(Becker). These facts are strong evidence that Michael is the savior Jesus Christ. Satan is the dragon that is referred to in the text. The dragon is not specifically described in this particular passage, but earlier in the chapter there is a glimpse as to what he looked like. According to Revelation 12:3, “...a great red dragon having seven heads ten horns, and on his head were seven diadems.” The dragon is red to symbolize that it is evil and the horns symbolize its great power. “The deceitful nature of his seven heads is exaggerated by his seven crowns”(Mueller). These crowns are diadems that
How does the story of salvation end with a man, a woman and a serpent (Rev 12: 1−11; CCC 410−11)?
The gospel of Mark is a short recollection of Jesus life, it has many details but is missing pieces or additions to his life. The Gospel of mark was said to have lost pieces, and also the first account of Jesus life. Although it is not as detailed in some areas as it is in others, it tells many accounts of Jesus life on earth and what kind of a person he was, the life he lived, his struggles and his ending.
JW does not believe in the Trinity, much less the Holy Spirit as part of the God-head. The personality and deity of the Holy Spirit is denied.
The beginning of Revelation chapter 12 states that a great sign or wonder appeared in heaven. This sign was the image of woman clothed with sun, the moon was under her feet and she had twelve stars on her head. Over the many years since the Apostle John described this sign there has been many false teachings about who this woman is. One of the erroneous teachings is that the woman is the Church. Matthew Poole in his commentary on Revelation chapter 12 stated “I find all valuable interpreters agreeing, that this woman represented the church, well enough compared to a woman.” This interpretation neglects that further down in the chapter that the woman is described as pregnant and at the point of giving birth. The church is described in 2 Corinthians chapter 11 verse 2 as the chaste virgin beginning presented to Christ not as one who is giving birth to Christ. Another example of false interpretation is applying it to be symbolic of all goddesses in multiple cultural contexts. Tina Pippin proposes such an interpretation in her work Revelation/Apocalypse of John where she states “She has been interpreted as many things: the image of Israel, of Mary, of Ishtar, of Inanna, of Isis, and more recently of Our Lady of Guadalupe (a merger of Mary with the Aztec goddess Coatlaxopeuh). The diversity of this goddess images fits easily into a variety of culture contexts as a symbol of power” One final example of false interpretation of this passage is that the woman is
In the scene with the agents and Neo we have mythical symbolism that relates to biblical times. As Agent Smith lectures Thomas, he flips through a record of Thomas' crimes. Smith is like Satan, who will always be called the 'accuser'. (Revelation 12:9-12). Agent Smith tells Thomas three distinct lies during the interrogation scene. Satan is the 'father
The Bible does not give any details on the war in Heaven, only that it occurred and led to the dismissal of Satan and his followers from the Heavenly court. In Paradise Lost, Milton gives a detailed account of the battle that was fought in Heaven, Satan’s reason for initiating it, and how his army was defeated and removed from Heaven. One of the reasons for Satan’s rebellion given by Milton was that “Lucifer refuses to be subordinate to God or his divine Son (Christ)” (Moss). Satan says in Book V of Paradise Lost to his followers that “our being ordained to govern, not to serve!” This line shows the reader that Satan, also known as Lucifer, believes that he feels he was created to rule instead of serve God. Another reason for Satan’s rebellion against God is that he doesn’t fully believe that God created him and the rest of the Heavenly host. “ ‘That we were formed, then, say’st thou?... Who saw/ When this creation was? Remember’st thou/ Thy making, while the Maker gave thee being?/ We know no time when we were not as now; Know none before us self-begot, self-raised/ By our own quickening power when fatal course/ Had circled his full orb, the birth mature/ Of this our native Heaven, Ethereal Sons’” (5. 853- 863). Satan’s disbelief shown in this passage helps lead himself and his followers against God. Along with his disbelief, Satan’s jealousy got the better of him. He was jealous and outraged that God had created a Son to inherit the Almighty’s throne. He believed that he was being cheated out of his rightful place as the “inheritor” of God’s
"In the forefront of the battle, where we expect him, is Milton's Satan, the great rebel of Paradise Lost" (Hamilton 7). Hamilton also introduces the idea of an underdog, describing Satan as a person fighting against an inferior power, with extreme odds against a victory for his side (14). In the scenes around the battle in heaven, Milton shows how Satan is viewed as a leader by the other fallen angels.
In the Old Testament story of Job, Satan is one of God’s angels. In order to become the Satan of evil, he must fall from God’s grace and vacate his position in His court. Greek mythology told the story of an epic battle in heaven between Zeus, god of heaven, and Typhon, the most fearsome of the giants, with “100 dragon heads, coiling serpents for legs and hundreds of hands” (Littleton, 149). Zeus succeeded in casting Typhon out of heaven forever, and the beast is said, variably, to either be destroyed in Mt. Etna, or banished to Tartarus, the deepest level of the underworld. In Revelations 12: 7-9, Michael and the angels fight Satan, described as “the great dragon… that old serpent”, and cast him out of heaven and into hell. Early versions of 2 Peter, telling the same story, even use the word Tartarus, which is later replaced with hell in King James and other popular
The book of Daniel and the Revelation are counterparts of each other. They should be studied together as to get the whole picture of God’s redemptive plan, world’s history, the future of the world, God’s victory over evil at the end of the world, and a glimpse into the new heaven and the new earth. Even if these two books are different, many parts of the books talk about the same event of world’s history in which we are about to find out. In this essay, I will show how the book of Daniel is related to Revelation and then how John uses the imagery of Daniel. First of all, let us look at the introduction to the books of Daniel and Revelation. I will
In (Revelation 12:3) Satan appeared as a 7 headed dragon that had a crown on every head. He became so jealous and full of pride that he threw a rebellion against God. Isaiah 14 says “ I will raise my throne above the stars of God.” (Isaiah 14 12-15 NIV). A war broke out in Heaven, Michael and his angles fought Satan (Revelation 12:7). This next verse proves that Satan is truly evil, It says “Its 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 it might devour her child the moment he was born.” (Revelation 12:4 NIV) That clearly shows that he wants nothing good for us and wants to destroy us. Hell was originally for Satan only, but in Genesis God gave us the choice to live in eternally in heaven or go to hell. The
To start this off, I don’t know much about the New Testament but I can name a few specifics. For instance, the first four books of the New Testament are all the same story just different perspectives. I know that the book of Revelation is a story of the end of times, written by John. However, Jesus was speaking through John, as he wrote the book. I know that Jesus was born of a virgin, named Mary. Jesus, before his time, had performed his first miracle of turning water into wine. By the age of thirteen, John the Baptist had baptized him. From that moment on, Jesus was now the man he was called to be, our Savior. I know that Jesus traveled through the Middle East, to more place than we know, performing miracles, such as, healing a leper, making
The book of Revelation was written by the apostle John, in an apocalyptic literature style. It consists of a series of prophecies about the end times, when Jesus will return and triumph over all the evil residing in the world. Its purpose is to bring hope and encouragement to Christians so that they will continue watching for the return and victory of Jesus Christ, but it is also a warning of the Final Judgment that nonbelievers will endure. The depiction of the cosmic battle that takes place both in heaven and on earth, symbolic language, and introduction of surreal
incarnation of the devil, or more likely, what the devil represents (Rauer 33). The first dragon from The
“Out of the temple came the seven angels with the seven plagues. They were dressed in clean, shining linen and wore golden sashes around their chests,” Revelation 15:6 (Buursma, Manikas-Foster). In Paradise Lost, a notorious angel, Lucifer, is said to transform into a toad and whisper into Eve`s ear (Jance). The world and the Bible have contrasting perspectives on what angels look like or what is an angel`s purpose. Angels are seen as mystical creatures with halos and beautiful wings, yet, also seen as beings that glorify God endlessly. So, what does an angel really look like? Do angels even exist? Are they made up creatures in movies? The world`s perspective and the Bible`s perspective on angels do not wholly match;
Similarly, in the Book of Job, the angels are not mentioned, but sons of God proceed to present themselves, and Satan is seen to be among them. God strikes a conversation and asks Satan about his whereabouts and Satan responds he has been on earth. Job is