The Woman and the Fiery Red Dragon

How intense would this enmity be? “He (the offspring of the woman) will crush your (Satan’s) head, and you will strike him in the heel,” said Jehovah. The enmity between the serpent and the woman would be so fierce that Satan would spare no effort to obliterate her offspring. It is no wonder that the psalmist cried out in prayer to God about His chosen people: “Look! your enemies are in an uproar; those who hate you act arrogantly. With cunning they secretly plot against your people; they conspire against your treasured ones. They say: ‘Come, let us annihilate them as a nation.’” The line of descent of the offspring of the woman had to be protected from extermination and contamination. To accomplish this, Jehovah made binding legal arrangements that would protect the fulfillment of his purpose.

COMMENTARY

When Jehovah spoke to the serpent in Eden immediately after it had seduced Eve and her husband into eating the forbidden fruit, he laid out in a few words the absolute solution to the rebellion that had just taken place.

At the time it was not possible for any human to understand what was meant. Who was the serpent? The woman? Their respective offspring? There was simply no way of knowing. It was a sacred mystery.

Some time after the great flood Satan set about fabricating a fake woman and offspring in the persons of Nimrod and his wife/mother, Semiramis —the original goddess. Although shrouded in mystery the satanic religion that originated with Nimrod and Semiramis developed from the violent death and mythical rebirth of Nimrod as the offspring of the woman whose heel was wounded. As an indication of the insidious influence of the demon-inspired myth, the prophet Ezekiel saw in a vision an Israelite woman in God’s temple performing the ritual of “weeping over Tammuz” —Tammuz being a permutation of Nimrod.

But when Jesus appeared on earth one aspect of the mystery came to light. Jesus was the seed of the woman whose heel was struck by the serpent —the serpent being identified as Satan the Devil, whom Jesus revealed to be the original liar and manslayer —an obvious reference to the lie the serpent uttered in Eden that brought death upon mankind.

Jesus was struck on the heel when he was executed by Satan’s offspring —the unbelieving Jews, whom Jesus had already identified as children of the Devil who desired to do the will of their wicked spiritual father. It was a heel wound in the sense that it was not fatal, in that, Jesus quickly recovered from it when he was resurrected from death. The heel wound is in contrast to the crushing of the head of the serpent, which signifies annihilation!

Shortly after Jesus was born as a human Satan tried to have him killed in the cradle. Jehovah’s angel intervened, however, and instructed Joseph to move his family to Egypt. On many other occasions during his ministry, the demons tried to maneuver the Jews to kill Jesus. They were never successful because it was not Jehovah’s time.

But, it is noteworthy that although the demons sought to deceive the Jews as to who he was, they themselves were quite aware that Jesus was the foretold Messiah, that he was the one destined to crush the serpent’s head, along with all of his evil brood. That is why the demons taunted Christ on one occasion in a synagogue of the Jews, saying to him through the mouth of a human they possessed: “What have we to do with you, Jesus you Nazarene? Did you come to destroy us? I know exactly who you are, the Holy One of God.”

Toward the close of the first century the apostle John received the revelation of the things shortly to take place. In the 12th chapter are revealed the same symbolic entities with whom we were introduced in Genesis; namely, the serpent, the woman and the seed. The mystery is now solvable.

The enmity between the serpent and the woman and her seed reaches a new level of hostility when Michael and his angels force the Devil and his angels out of the heavens, confining them to the earth. That singular event will be earth shaking, marking the birth of God’s Kingdom and the beginning of the last days of Satan and his offspring. Revelation 12:17 relates what occurs next: “So the dragon became enraged at the woman and went off to wage war with the remaining ones of her offspring, who observe the commandments of God and have the work of bearing witness concerning Jesus.”

Just as the demons knew who Jesus was, obviously they are well aware of the identity of individuals who are “the remaining ones of her offspring” —otherwise, how could the dragon wage war against them?

But there is a twist. While Satan and Jehovah’s offspring have always been at enmity, prior to the final war the deceiver has been allowed to wield a deluding influence over them through a so-called man of lawlessness.

By means of his influential agents within Christ’s congregation, Satan has counterfeited another messiah who came to power in 1914 and ejected the original serpent from the highest heaven. The prophetic period of 1,260 days, which in reality is the duration of the final days, has been explained into nihility.

The purpose of the deception is intended to create maximum terror and confusion among God’s offspring when the war in heaven actually erupts and Satan is cast down to make his last stand.

JEHOVAH WILL KILL THE MONSTER

In an obscure prophecy in the 27th chapter of Isaiah appear all of the symbolic entities of the Edenic prophecy. In an obvious reference to the Devil, Isaiah 27:1 states: “In that day Jehovah, with his harsh and great and strong sword, will turn his attention to Leviathan, the gliding serpent, to Leviathan, the twisting serpent, and he will kill the monster that is in the sea.”

Of note the Septuagint, which was the pre-Christian translation of the Hebrew into Greek, translates leviathan as dragon. True, Satan, who is called the dragon and the original serpent in the 12th chapter of Revelation, is not literally going to be killed “in that day,” but certainly his world will be destroyed and his monstrous rule over mankind will abruptly end. 

Isaiah continues: “In that day sing to her: ‘A vineyard of foaming wine! I, Jehovah, am safeguarding her. Every moment I water her. I safeguard her night and day, so that no one may harm her.’”

There is nothing in the context that would indicate who she is whom Jehovah protects. A footnote in the NWT states that the pronoun “her” is “apparently” in reference to Israel. But it is also apparent that there is a parallel to 12th chapter of Revelation, which reveals how God’s woman is given safe haven during the time the dragon is warring against her.

Isaiah continues: “Must he be struck with the stroke of the one striking him? Or must he be killed as with the slaughter of his slain? With a startling cry you will contend with her when sending her away. He will expel her with his fierce blast in the day of the east wind. So in this way the error of Jacob will be atoned for, and this will be the full fruitage when his sin is taken away: He will make all the stones of the altar like chalkstones that have been pulverized, and no sacred poles or incense stands will be left.”

In keeping with the enigmatic language employed in the original prophecy “he” is in reference to the offspring of “her” —also known as “Jacob.” Just as in Eden evidently Jehovah is speaking to the twisting serpent when he states that “you will contend with her.” That is evident because in the previous verses God said that he was protecting and safeguarding her and that there was no wrath in him towards her.

“The blast in the day of the east wind” is in reference to the tempest known as the great tribulation. It is worth noting that the vision of Habakkuk, which is earmarked for fulfillment at the appointed time, identifies the onslaught of the Chaldeans with the east wind, saying: “All of them come bent on violence. The assembling of their faces is like the east wind, and they scoop up captives like sand. They scoff at kings and laugh at high officials. They laugh at every fortified place; they pile up a dirt ramp and capture it. Then they move forward like the wind and pass through, but they will become guilty, because they credit their power to their god.”

In what sense will the fierce blast of the east wind “expel her”? Since Christ was originally anointed there have been anointed Christians who have been offspring of the woman. But when the remaining ones are killed there will be no more. Hence, the new covenant will be concluded, as if the woman is expelled from the earthly realm. Christianity will come to an end. 

Jacob’s sin is atoned for and his sin removed means that Christ’s sin atoning work is accomplished as regards the Israel of God —the 144,000 who comprise the messianic offspring of the woman. The altar being pulverized, along with the removal of the sacred poles and the incense stands, means that all traces of false religion and impure worship are finally done away with. Jesus spoke of this in connection with the harvest, when he dispatches his angels to remove all stumbling blocks and all persons doing lawlessness out from his Kingdom. 

The concluding verses of the 27th chapter of Isaiah foretell a harvest gathering that is accompanied by the sounding of a great horn. Those verses read: “In that day Jehovah will beat out the fruit from the flowing stream of the River to the Wadi of Egypt, and you will be gathered up one after the other, O people of Israel. In that day a great horn will be blown, and those who are perishing in the land of Assyria and those dispersed in the land of Egypt will come and bow down to Jehovah in the holy mountain in Jerusalem.”

Jesus echoed this prophecy when he spoke of the final event to take place during the conclusion, saying: “And he will send out his angels with a great trumpet sound, and they will gather his chosen ones together from the four winds, from one extremity of the heavens to their other extremity.”

The reference in Isaiah to the gathered ones coming to bow down to Jehovah in his holy mountain signifies the total number of 144,000 being brought to stand with Christ before Jehovah’s throne in heaven.

Their being granted immortality and their unbreakable loyalty to Jehovah will completely repudiate the Lie that the serpent originally uttered in Eden when he accused God of holding back the knowledge of good and bad because he did not wish anyone to be like him.