The Seed Of The Woman...Revelation 12 pt 7

https://billrandles.wordpress.com/2017/08/30/the-seed-of-the-woman-revelation-12-pt-7-2/ ^ | 08-29-17 | Bill Randles

[pastorbillrandles]

And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.(Revelation 12:1-5)

The woman travailed in birth to bring forth a man-child. This is the meaning of so much of Israel’s sufferings. She was chosen to be the receptacle of the Messiah. This has incurred upon her the opposition and hate of the serpent.

Why did the Pharoah twice take Abraham’s wife? (Genesis 12 & 20)This was a Satanic attack on the seed. Isaac was to be a miracle baby, and so also the Messiah. Consider the implications had Pharoah slept with Sarah! Another Pharoah also took Isaac’s wife Rebecca. A Later Pharoah sought to kill all Hebrew baby boys.

Years later upon the death of King Ahaziah of Judah, Queen Athaliah, (Ahab and Jezebel’s daughter, but married to the King of Judah) seized power and slew all of her children and grandchildren except young Joash. He was hidden by priests, until he came of age. This son of David, was in the line of the seed, he was an Ancestor of Jesus, the Messiah. (2 Chronicles 22&23)

Always the Dragon stands before the woman trying to destroy the seed of the woman to thwart the prophesied salvation. Finally we had the tyrant Herod seek to kill all of the baby boys born in Bethlehem over a two year period.

This corresponds with the prediction in Genesis 3 of the enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent,

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.(Genesis 3:15)

The prophecy has a two tiered fulfillment. There would come an individual, born of a virgin, to crush the serpent’s head. This is the Messiah.He is destined to recieve all of the Kingdoms of this world, and to rule and reign with a Rod of Iron over all of the earth. Now would be a good time to recieve the message of the second Psalm,

Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him(Psalm 2).

And of course of the serpent, there will soon emerge an individual, who will take power on earth, this is He…

Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.( 2 Thess 2:4)

But only for a short time.

And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,( 2 Thess 2:8-9)

The seed of the woman and of the serpent also has a corporate meaning. Humanity from the beginning would divide, going one of two ways; The way of Cain, or the way of Abel.

Some would have an inward affinity with the chastened Adam and Eve, and thus become through repentance, the spiritual “seed of the woman”; humbly acknowledging that sin deserves death and the need of God’s redemption, patiently enduring all things whilst awaiting the triumph of the Messiah, living as pilgrims and strangers in this world.

But the rest would go in “the way of Cain” (Jude) and spiritually have an inward affinity with the serpent in his rebellion. No one describes this as well as GH Pember, in his book Earth’s Earliest Ages,

…the enmity should not be confined to the serpent and the woman, but should also extend to their seed. Who, then, are the seed of the serpent ? They are those who manifest that spirit of independent pride by which their father the Devil fell : those who will not acknowledge their own hopeless condition, and submit to be saved by the merits of the Son of God; but will either themselves do what is to be done, or else proudly deny the necessity of any doing at all, and clamour against God -if they have any belief in His existence-because He does not at once gratify all their wishes without any reference to His broken law. For blinded and maddened by self-conceit they believe the lie of the serpent, and, considering themselves as God, have, consequently, no reverence for Him, nor hesitate to defy His will if their own inclination prompts them to do so. Such are the serpent’s seed, distinguished by the spirit which animates their father and federal head, and doomed at last to share with him the Lake of Fire.

Neutrality is impossible, a non decision is a decision, but there is still time to examine yourself, to see which side you resonate with, and to “Seek the Lord while He can be found and call upon Him while He is Near…”

He is near….”time to examine yourself, to see which side you resonate with, and to “Seek the Lord while He can be found and call upon Him while He is near….”