The Woman, the Child, and, the Dragon - Pt. 2

 

And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. His tail swept down la third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days. (Revelation 12:1-6 ESV).

 

She 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 (vv. 5-6). The child is first and foremost Jesus. The description given of this child is that he will rule the nations with a rod of iron. This is a quote from Psalm 2:7-9 about the promised Messiah. We also see this same phrase in Revelation 19:15 when Jesus returns where it says: 'From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the winepress of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty.' He is the One that the woman, Israel, brought forth who shall rule all nations.

 

As the famous prophecy states: 'For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder.' (Isa 9:6). But there is a small 'but' here. As we move on we'll see that not everything fits perfectly just with Jesus alone and there are aspects of this story with the child that point to another as well. We shall see there is a 'midrashic' repeated pattern here with the body of Christ, and possibly even the 144,000 as well. The Church is also promised to rule with a 'rod of iron' earlier in Revelation 2:26-27. And as Jesus ascended into heaven, so His body, the church, shall also be caught up to heaven. Bible teacher H.A Ironside expresses this view:

 

Undoubtedly He (Jesus Christ) is primarily the man-child who is to rule the nations with a rod of iron and the special object of Satan’s malignity. But we have already seen, in Revelation 2:26-28, that when He reigns He will not reign alone for His promise to the faithful overcomers in the church period is: “And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. And I will give him the morning star.” Is there then any incongruity in understanding the man-child to represent both Christ Jesus our Lord and His church? Surely not, for He is the Head of the body, the church, which is the fullness, or completion, of Himself. So the title “The Christ” is applied to both Head and body viewed as one in 1 Corinthians 12:12 where we read, “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ”; literally it reads, “the Christ.” We may then, on the authority of Scripture itself, safely affirm that the man-child represents the one new Man who is to rule the nations with a rod of iron-Christ, the Head, and the church, His body.

 

With the current events in Israel, we would be very foolish to ignore how close we may be to the coming again of Jesus. Some of this statement is based on the attack from Hamas, however, we cannot discount the incredible awakenings being seen in Israel. Messianic Jews are making a massive inroad with the Gospel. That is very significant in prophetic interpretation.