Subscribe Daily Bible Study Mailing List Receive Daily Bible Studies directly into your email inbox.
You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth.
4 And [kai] his [autos] tail [oura] drew [suro] the third part [tritos] of
the stars [aster] of heaven, [ouranos] and [kai] did cast [ballo] them [autos] to [eis] the earth: [ge] and [kai] the dragon [drakon] stood [histemi] before [enopion] the woman [gune] which [ho] was ready [mello] to be delivered, [tikto]
for [hina] to devour [katesthio] her [autos] child [teknon] as soon as [hotan] it was
born. [tikto] KJV-Interlinear
4 And his
tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven, and threw them to the earth.
And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when
she gave birth he might devour her child. NASB
And why was there even a
need for salvation or a plan for salvation?
Because in prehistoric
history, even before man was created on this earth, Lucifer, now called Satan,
rebelled against God, and took along with him, one-third of the angelic
population.
Of this rebellion, we
know very little, but only that all of the angels were tempted to follow Satan,
at some point during that rebellion, and that two-thirds returned to God, while
one-third of their population, did not.
The term for stars in
our verse is a reference to angels, Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7; Ps 29:1; 89:6, Gen
6:1-4.
Their primary residence
was originally in heaven, but after the rebellion and presumably after their
refusal to rejoin God, then their choice to leave heaven (for the world), was
made permanent and they were cast out of heaven and down to earth.
As we have already studied,
there are demons, a general term used to describe those fallen angels who
rebelled and refused to rejoin God. Anyway, there are demons who are locked up
in the Abyss. There are demons who are confined in Tartarus. There are demons
who have been allowed to roam around the world. And Satan was given permission
to travel to and from heaven for a time, or until he is permanently removed from
heaven by Michael, at the mid-point in the Tribulation.
From the time of Adam,
to Cain and Abel, to Pharaoh, to the period of the Judges, to the dividing of
the nation after Solomon, to the birth of the person of Jesus, Satan tried and
kept on trying to destroy humanity, the human line of Christ, and Jesus
Himself.
Initially, the target
was the human race in general. But when the line of Christ became more
focalized through Abraham and Jacob and David, then Satan’s target was more
concentrated toward the Israelites.
After the Cross, the
target again became more general but toward the Jewish race specifically, as it
is in the many promises of God toward the Jews, that Satan was and is trying to
prevent.
This is a brief summary
of history, which spans eons of time beginning prior to the creation of humanity
up to and including the birth of Christ.
Satan tried to destroy
the birth of Christ. Satan tried to destroy the line of Christ. Satan tried to
destroy the one component, humanity, that God created to solve and settle the
angelic conflict.
But, as you can see
around you, it is obvious that we are here, and that thus far, Satan has failed
at every attempt to destroy Gods plan.
And even during the
Tribulation, which is still future from our point of view, when the restraint
of sin is removed from the world, and evil runs rampant without restraint, God
will still protect Israel from total destruction. But I am getting a little ahead
of myself here.