Revelation 12:7-9: And war broke out in heaven, Michael and his angels making war against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought, but they were not strong enough, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down—the ancient serpent called the devil and satan, who deceives the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
There is only one thing connecting the serpent, to the dragon, to the beast, to the devil, to the satan, to the messengers, to the false prophets, and that is a KING. It is difficult for us to understand kingship in our Western world. We don’t necessarily have kings in today’s world. Or do we? In the Ancient Near East worldview, a king is someone you trust to protect and provide for you, someone you identify with or represent, and someone you bring honor and worship to. There are, however, two kings vying for your adoration, God and Oneself. There is a prayer called V’ahavta that we say in our Shabbat liturgy. In it, we say, “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all of your soul and with all of your strength,” stemming from Deuteronomy 6:5, which Yeshua calls the greatest commandment in the Torah (Lk 10.27/Mt 22:36/Mk 12.29-30). I interpret this verse to inspire loving God with the meditations of your heart, your soul includes your feelings, will, intellect, and desires that represent our earthy nature, and your strength consolidates your resources, including time, energy, and money-honey.
The Serpent
The creation story never says, “On the third day, God created one tree…and on the fourth day, He placed one, single star in the sky…and on day five, He made one bird and one fish…most likely, the sixth day is not when God created one man and one beast.” He made multiples of all things, but took Adam and placed him into a separate space called the Garden of Eden. This viewpoint should explain why Cain was worried about people killing him when God sent him away from His Presence, or how he got married. Like, where did these chicks come from if there were only three people on the earth?
Many platforms now teach the understanding of God creating space on the first three days of creation and filling that space on the last three days. I cannot remember where I first learned this, but I think it was in a book I read around four years ago called Genesis For Normal People. I would love to expand on this notion. God is the name translators give to the Hebrew word Elohim, meaning Divine Judge. The Divine Judge divided the light from dark on day one of creation, then asked the luminaries placed in the heavens to divide the light from the dark as elohim, connecting day one to day four. Little “e” elohim refers to the judges of Israel (Ex 22.8). On day five, God places birds and fish into the waters He divided on the second day. On the third day, God causes tree kingdoms to sprout, telling me that the human and beast formed on day six are the kings who represent these kingdoms. God’s Kingdom is the Tree of Life, where His Seed or His Word is inside, and when internalized, that Word produces the Ruach HaKodesh or Holy Spirit. The Kingdom of God is His Word and Spirit. The other tree is described in Galatians 5:19-20 as the Kingdom of the flesh, another way of saying man. The Kingdom of Knowledge of Good and Evil is represented by a beast king, described as a walking, talking, serpent beast because he is ruling without God’s Spirit. The beginning chapters of the Bible identify two kings, Adam, the one God desired would represent His Kingdom, the Tree of Life, and the serpent beast who was under the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, which carried the seed of pride-induced sin.
In Genesis chapter three God casts the serpent onto the ground.
The Devil
John, the author of Revelation, tells us that the devil is the serpent (Reb 12.7-8). The definition of a liar who is also a devil in John 8:44, is a faithless man. To obey God’s instructions, one must have faith. Adam was the first King who proved to be a faithless man when He disobeyed God’s instructions.
Romans 1:17: In it the righteousness of God is revealed, from trust to trust. As it is written, “But the righteous (just) shall live by emunah (faith).”
Habakukk 2:4: “Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him; But the just (lawful or Torah abiding human) shall live by his faith.
It is deceitful and proud humans who God casts down to the ground. Adam could have become the serpent beast king, who is the devil or father of unfaithfulness. He reflected the image of the flesh and not the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 15:45;47: So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit…The first man is of the earth, made of dust; the second man is from heaven.
Psalm 147:6: The Lord lifts up the humble; He casts the wicked down to the ground.
Proverbs 16:18: Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
The Dragon
Pharaoh, the King of Egypt is called a dragon, or tannin in Hebrew, in the middle of his rivers. His eventual end is that God cuts off his power when He destroys the firstborn of his kingdom. One of the meanings of a firstborn is that he is the strength of his father, according to Genesis 49:3.
Ezekiel 29:3 KJV: Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself.
God tells Pharaoh that He is going to cut off his arms so that he cannot hold a sword. This threat is almost like being cast onto your belly onto the ground, which would require arms AND legs to be cut off, taking away one’s strength.
Ezekiel 30:22: Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Surely I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and will break his arms, both the strong one and the one that was broken; and I will make the sword fall out of his hand.
Ezekiel 31:18: “To which of the trees in Eden will you then be likened in glory and greatness? Yet you shall be brought down with the trees of Eden to the depths of the earth; you shall lie in the midst of the uncircumcised, with those slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude,’ says the Lord God.”
The Satan
In Psalm 109:6, David is crying out to God about wicked and deceitful men. He asks God to place a satan at their right hand and describes the satan as a wicked ruler.
“Appoint a wicked man over him; may an accuser (satan) stand at his right hand.” JPS
Isaiah 14 is a warning to the King of Babylon that because of his pride, God will cast him down from the heavens. The heavens are a place of authority where kings, rulers, and judges dwell. God commanded the luminaries in the heavens to rule over the day and the night in Genesis 1:16 and 18 by partnering with Him. The King of Babylon thought inside of his heart that he was God and demanded that the subjects of his kingdom worship him and his image, rather than mediating the worship of others to God.
Isaiah 14:4: That you will take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say: “How the oppressor has ceased, the golden city ceased!
Isaiah 14:12-15;18: “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer (Day/Morning Star), son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will also sit on the mount of the congregation, on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit.
Luke 10:15 & 17: And you, Capernaum? You won’t be lifted up to heaven, will you? No, you will go down as far as Sheol…And Yeshua said to them, “I was watching satan fall like lightning from heaven.
In context, Yeshua was most likely speaking about the ruler of Capernaum falling from power. Kings are cast down from heaven or places of authority.
The Beast
Daniel chapter four describes the King of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, as a beast. God gave him the heart of a beast as he ate and acted like a beast for seven years
Daniel 4:32-33: That very hour the word was fulfilled concerning Nebuchadnezzar; he was driven from men and ate grass like oxen; his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair had grown like eagles’ feathers and his nails like birds’ claws.
Revelation 14:8: Another angel, a second one, followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen, is Babylon the great— she who made all nations drink of the wine of the fury of her immorality.”
The King and Kingdom of Babylon are cast down, just like the serpent, Pharaoh the King of Egypt, and deceitful, wicked men.
Messengers
Finally, Kings have messengers. The Bible verses containing the word angels can refer to human or celestial. I know I sound like a broken record, but it is an essential understanding.
Joshua 7:22: So Joshua sent messengers (angels), and they ran to the tent; and there it was, hidden in his tent, with the silver under it.
1 Samuel 16:20: Therefore Saul sent messengers (angels) to Jesse, and said, “Send me your son David, who is with the sheep.”
Revelation 12:9: And the great dragon was thrown down—the ancient serpent called the devil and satan, who deceives the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels (messengers) were thrown down with him.
Revelation 19:20: Then the beast was captured, and along with him, the false prophet who had performed the signs before him by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast, as well as those who had worshiped his image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone.
God has messengers, the Priests and Prophets of Israel, who should speak exactly what He tells them to speak (Micah 2.7/Rev 22.9). Beast kings have messengers and the Bible refers to them as false prophets who lead others away from obedience to God. To deceive means to lead others astray from the path of righteousness. In the Scriptures, the blame for deceit falls on humans, sin, wealth, and pride. Most of the mentions of accusers in the Scriptures point to humans. Our sin also accuses us before God (Isaiah 59:12). Celestial beings do not make the list of those who do not get to abide in God’s Divine Presence. Liars, adulterers, idolaters, the proud, and faithless people are on the lists. The lists consolidate faithless kings and those who reflect that human kingdom.
Revelation 22:15: Outside are the dogs (an impure human) and the sorcerers and the sexually immoral and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
Malachi 3:5: And I will come near you for judgment; I will be a swift witness against sorcerers, against adulterers, against perjurers, against those who exploit wage earners and widows and orphans, and against those who turn away an alien—Because they do not fear Me,” Says the Lord of hosts.
If we are currently in the Messianic era, a viewpoint I hold, God has bound the kings of this world, or empires, for a time.
Isaiah 24:21-22 It shall come to pass in that day that the Lord will punish on high the host of exalted ones on the earth, the kings of the earth. They will be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and will be shut up in the prison; after many days they will be punished.
Revelation 20:2: He seized the dragon—the ancient serpent, who is the devil and satan—and bound him for a thousand years.
A story of two Kingdoms unfolds from Genesis to Revelation. God gave Adam dominion/kingship over the earth. The Kingdom of God is in the heavens (Ps 115:16 and Ps 8) until one day, it merges with the earthly kingdom. The two kingdoms are a human one versus the Kingdom of God. Beasts kings represent the human kingdom and lead their subjects into chaos and rebellion. The last Adam, Yeshua, is the King who leads those who follow Him into God’s Kingdom of peace and love. There are empires or kings who raise themselves into the heavens and desire worship and submission. They pierce Divine boundaries that cause a Divine rebuke. We choose which kingdom to reflect by the internal voice we consistently listen to, the Voice of the Divine Breath that God placed inside of us when He created us or the voice of the earthy/beast nature that is starving for satisfaction. It boils down to a Kingdom of selfishness vs selflessness, love vs. fear, generosity vs. greed, humility vs. ego, self-control vs. anger and addiction, joy vs. anxiety, wholeness vs. brokenness. This is the Kingdom of Me vs. the Kingdom of God.
Joshua 24:15: “And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Unless otherwise noted, all Hebrew Scriptures taken from the New King James Version. The Holy Bible, New King James Version® Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by Permission. All Greek Scripture taken from the Holy Scriptures, Tree of Life Version*. Copyright © 2014,2016 by the Tree of Life Bible Society. Used by permission of the Tree of Life Bible Society.
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