9/23/17: The Great Sign Thread

I looked up Genesis 3:15 on Matthew Henry's commentary and found an interesting note of Rev. 12 and ends with Romans 16!!! Now that's understanding way back there! he says....

A perpetual quarrel is here commenced between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the devil among men; war is proclaimed between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. That war in heaven between Michael and the dragon began now, Rev. 12:7 . It is the fruit of this enmity, (1.) That there is a continual conflict between grace and corruption in the hearts of God’s people. Satan, by their corruptions, assaults them, buffets them, sifts them, and seeks to devour them; they, by the exercise of their graces, resist him, wrestle with him, quench his fiery darts, force him to flee from them. Heaven and hell can never be reconciled, nor light and darkness; no more can Satan and a sanctified soul, for these are contrary the one to the other. (2.) That there is likewise a continual struggle between the wicked and the godly in this world. Those that love God account those their enemies that hate him, Ps. 139:21, Ps. 139:22 . And all the rage and malice of persecutors against the people of God are the fruit of this enmity, which will continue while there is a godly man on this side heaven, and a wicked man on this side hell. Marvel not therefore if the world hate you, 1 Jn. 3:13 .3. A gracious promise is here made of Christ, as the deliverer of fallen man from the power of Satan. Though what was said was addressed to the serpent, yet it was said in the hearing of our first parents, who, doubtless, took the hints of grace here given them, and saw a door of hope opened to them, else the following sentence upon themselves would have overwhelmed them. Here was the dawning of the gospel day. No sooner was the wound given than the remedy was provided and revealed. Here, in the head of the book, as the word is (Heb. 10:7 ), in the beginning of the Bible, it is written of Christ, that he should do the will of God. By faith in this promise, we have reason to think, our first parents, and the patriarchs before the flood, were justified and saved and to this promise, and the benefit of it, instantly serving God day and night, they hoped to come. Notice is here given them of three things concerning Christ:—(1.) His incarnation, that he should be the seed of the woman, the seed of that woman; therefore his genealogy (Lu. 3, ) goes so high as to show him to be the son of Adam, but God does the woman the honour to call him rather her seed, because she it was whom the devil had beguiled, and on whom Adam had laid the blame; herein God magnifies his grace, in that, though the woman was first in the transgression, yet she shall be saved by child-bearing (as some read it), that is, by the promised seed who shall descend from her, 1 Tim. 2:15 . He was likewise to be the seed of a woman only, of a virgin, that he might not be tainted with the corruption of our nature; he was sent forth, made of a woman (Gal. 4:4 ), that this promise might be fulfilled. It is a great encouragement to sinners that their Saviour is the seed of the woman, bone of our bone, Heb. 2:11, Heb. 2:14 . Man is therefore sinful and unclean, because he is born of a woman (Job. 25:4 ), and therefore his days are full of trouble, Job. 14:1 . But the seed of the woman was made sin and a curse for us, so saving us from both. (2.) His sufferings and death, pointed at in Satan’s bruising his heel, that is, his human nature. Satan tempted Christ in the wilderness, to draw him into sin; and some think it was Satan that terrified Christ in his agony, to drive him to despair. It was the devil that put it into the heart of Judas to betray Christ, of Peter to deny him, of the chief priests to prosecute him, of the false witnesses to accuse him, and of Pilate to condemn him, aiming in all this, by destroying the Saviour, to ruin the salvation; but, on the contrary, it was by death that Christ destroyed him that had the power of death, Heb. 2:14 . Christ’s heel was bruised when his feet were pierced and nailed to the cross, and Christ’s sufferings are continued in the sufferings of the saints for his name. The devil tempts them, casts them into prison, persecutes and slays them, and so bruises the heel of Christ, who is afflicted in their afflictions. But, while the heel is bruised on earth, it is well that the head is safe in heaven. (3.) His victory over Satan thereby. Satan had now trampled upon the woman, and insulted over her; but the seed of the woman should be raised up in the fulness of time to avenge her quarrel, and to trample upon him, to spoil him, to lead him captive, and to triumph over him, Col. 2:15 . He shall bruise his head, that is, he shall destroy all his politics and all his powers, and give a total overthrow to his kingdom and interest. Christ baffled Satan’s temptations, rescued souls out of his hands, cast him out of the bodies of people, dispossessed the strong man armed, and divided his spoil: by his death, he gave a fatal and incurable blow to the devil’s kingdom, a wound to the head of this beast, that can never be healed. As his gospel gets ground, Satan falls (Lu. 10:18 ) and is bound, Rev. 20:2 . By his grace, he treads Satan under his people’s feet (Rom. 16:20 ) and will shortly cast him into the lake of fire, Rev. 20:10 . And the devil’s perpetual overthrow will be the complete and everlasting joy and glory of the chosen remnant.

I just ran across Dr. Steven Pidgeon, who's teachings delve deeply into the Hebrew texts. (I gather he's pre-trib/ salvation by grace alone, etc.)
Anyways, he made an interesting point I haven't heard yet regarding the dragon being wroth with the Woman.
He suggests it might be that the woman was Mary, and the dragon was wroth with her because she didn't bear a son who was created with xx and HUMAN xy chromosomes. This conception of course brought forth Messiah, which wouldn't have happened if things had happened in the 'usual' manner. (As in, since Eve.)
This and other topics, including the incredible importance of these next few months, are discussed here:

Sorry if any of this has already been covered, I only read the last couple of pages in this thread. This is my first post since the days of RITAN and it's good to see some of the old crew still kicking.

Welcome, rain! That is an interesting thought about the DNA. I think somewhere we may have mentioned something about Christ's DNA, but I'm not sure.

Well, I just watched this, so I am certain that I am way behind the curve on it: 




However, unlike the (imho) poor attempt at refutation from the changeover at Koinonia; Paster JD Farag's does a very good job with presenting the Sept 23 position.

I believe he makes the mistake of lumping all variant positions into those held by a few who hold the explicit position that the rapture will occur on 9/23; and so therefore, I believe (in that regard) he is incorrect.

But I have to give him super kudos and great respect for being humble and respectful about cautioning people who hold the Sept 23 position.

THANK YOU Pastor JD

For giving the benefit of the doubt.

For advising caution, instead of unilaterally and unctuously dismissing every portion of the position as flim-flammery!

For (presumably) doing your own homework to ensure you are communicating the position adequately (lacking only the new information discovered since January 2017).

I am incredibly impressed, and I do not impress easily.

I was already impressed with one of your sermons that I clicked on from this board (or the replies in the blog) and I will be taking the time to watch ALL of your videos now.

Welcome, kwaichang! Glad to see you are here. Yes, this has been covered, but it wasn't on in this thread. Isn't God wonderful, giving us all these little confirmations?

Welcome, Kwaichang! Are you Chinese? Where do you live? (If you don't mind telling).

Putting this one in, for the archives.