Introduction
It is quite startling to see how many intepreters of scripture will take this passage, and with any number of doctrinal prejudices interpret it with absolutely no attention to the principles of interpretation which common sense and attention to the details of the passage would dictate.
The most amazing thing is to take 'the old serpent', called the 'devil', and 'satan' and torture these descriptions into a prehistoric event which is completely unrecorded, and not referred to in any other place in scripture.
The proper way to interpret the passage is to use the same methods of interpretation we would (or should) use when addressing any other passage of Scripture.
1 Pay careful attention to the context and
2 Ask 'what does this remind me of' in the Bible.
The most deadly fault is to read other writers first, before trying to come to some understanding for yourself, and by yourself.
Milton's Paradise Lost
John Milton's Paradise Lost has a great deal to answer for, when it comes to this particular error. Here's wiki on the subject:
Milton's story has two narrative arcs: one is of Satan (Lucifer) and the other is of Adam and Eve. It begins after Satan and the other rebel angels have been defeated and banished to Hell, or, as it is also called in the poem, Tartarus. In Pandæmonium, Satan employs his rhetorical skill to organise his followers; he is aided by Mammon and Beelzebub. Belial and Moloch are also present. At the end of the debate, Satan volunteers to poison the newly-created Earth and God's new and most favoured creation, Mankind. He braves the dangers of the Abyss alone in a manner reminiscent of Odysseus or Aeneas. After an arduous traverse of the Chaos outside Hell, he enters God's new material World, and later the Garden of Eden.
You will observe that Milton was a poet, and given to much fanciful tale-mongering and fable-manufacture.
His concoction has nothing to do with the Bible, did not claim to understand it, and strung together this patchwork of fantasy and nonsense.
Strangely enough, Christendom nearly as a whole, has swallowed this piece of fantasy, and worked it into their cardinal doctrines. It is to be found in one form or another in the major doctrines of practically all the churches.
Yet, it has nothing to do with correct scriptural exposition or understanding.
With that as an introduction, let us now pay some very careful attention to the text of Revelation 12, and show just how little it has to do with Milton's efforts.
Revelation 12
Let us repeat the two rules mentioned above, and seek to apply them.
Rule 1 Pay careful attention to the context and
Rule 2 Ask 'what does this remind me of' in the Bible.
What is the context of Rev 12?
Answer: It forms a part of the whole book, which begins with very clear declarations:
1 ¶ The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:
It is not entirely clear when the Revelation was written: AD60, AD90 are dates which have been offered.
Whichever one we choose, we are immediately faced with the fact that Revelation 12 HAD NOT YET COME TO PASS, and therefore the events related in the chapter WERE YET FUTURE to John's day, i.e. sometime later than AD 60 or 90.
Therefore, these events CANNOT have been pre-Adamic, and no amount of special pleading can escape of nullify that simple fact.
Whatever the chapter means, it cannot possibly be that there was a pre-Adamic rebellion against God in heaven, with Satan and his angels being thrown out, landing in the Garden of Eden, and tempting Adam and Eve to sin.
That is Milton's fantasy, which owes nothing to scripture, and we ought not to be misled by his concoctions.
It is quite startling to see how many intepreters of scripture will take this passage, and with any number of doctrinal prejudices interpret it with absolutely no attention to the principles of interpretation which common sense and attention to the details of the passage would dictate.
The most amazing thing is to take 'the old serpent', called the 'devil', and 'satan' and torture these descriptions into a prehistoric event which is completely unrecorded, and not referred to in any other place in scripture.
The proper way to interpret the passage is to use the same methods of interpretation we would (or should) use when addressing any other passage of Scripture.
1 Pay careful attention to the context and
2 Ask 'what does this remind me of' in the Bible.
The most deadly fault is to read other writers first, before trying to come to some understanding for yourself, and by yourself.
Milton's Paradise Lost
John Milton's Paradise Lost has a great deal to answer for, when it comes to this particular error. Here's wiki on the subject:
Milton's story has two narrative arcs: one is of Satan (Lucifer) and the other is of Adam and Eve. It begins after Satan and the other rebel angels have been defeated and banished to Hell, or, as it is also called in the poem, Tartarus. In Pandæmonium, Satan employs his rhetorical skill to organise his followers; he is aided by Mammon and Beelzebub. Belial and Moloch are also present. At the end of the debate, Satan volunteers to poison the newly-created Earth and God's new and most favoured creation, Mankind. He braves the dangers of the Abyss alone in a manner reminiscent of Odysseus or Aeneas. After an arduous traverse of the Chaos outside Hell, he enters God's new material World, and later the Garden of Eden.
You will observe that Milton was a poet, and given to much fanciful tale-mongering and fable-manufacture.
His concoction has nothing to do with the Bible, did not claim to understand it, and strung together this patchwork of fantasy and nonsense.
Strangely enough, Christendom nearly as a whole, has swallowed this piece of fantasy, and worked it into their cardinal doctrines. It is to be found in one form or another in the major doctrines of practically all the churches.
Yet, it has nothing to do with correct scriptural exposition or understanding.
With that as an introduction, let us now pay some very careful attention to the text of Revelation 12, and show just how little it has to do with Milton's efforts.
Revelation 12
Let us repeat the two rules mentioned above, and seek to apply them.
Rule 1 Pay careful attention to the context and
Rule 2 Ask 'what does this remind me of' in the Bible.
What is the context of Rev 12?
Answer: It forms a part of the whole book, which begins with very clear declarations:
1 ¶ The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:
It is not entirely clear when the Revelation was written: AD60, AD90 are dates which have been offered.
Whichever one we choose, we are immediately faced with the fact that Revelation 12 HAD NOT YET COME TO PASS, and therefore the events related in the chapter WERE YET FUTURE to John's day, i.e. sometime later than AD 60 or 90.
Therefore, these events CANNOT have been pre-Adamic, and no amount of special pleading can escape of nullify that simple fact.
Whatever the chapter means, it cannot possibly be that there was a pre-Adamic rebellion against God in heaven, with Satan and his angels being thrown out, landing in the Garden of Eden, and tempting Adam and Eve to sin.
That is Milton's fantasy, which owes nothing to scripture, and we ought not to be misled by his concoctions.
