Don't wear the dragon's crown!!!

Revelation 12 speaks of a sign in heaven: the woman who is crying out in labour and about to give birth. It then speaks of another sign: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. This dragon stands in front of the woman who is about to give birth so that it might devour her Child the moment he was born.The woman gave birth to a son Who will rule all nations with an iron sceptre and her child was snatched up to God and to His throne.

Who is the woman?

Some scholars say she is Israel, others say she is Mary, some say she is the church. Actually I believe she is all three. I have heard the argument she could not be the church because the church is a virgin bride. To which I would reply… like Mary!

Who is the son?

The Son is Jesus, the pattern son. Israel and Mary laboured to bring forth the Christ child: the firstborn Huios son of many sons. The church has been brought to the birthing stool and is again in labour to bring forth the brothers and sisters predestined to be conformed to His image.

For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. Romans 8:29-30

Paul models this travailing of the church for us where he labours to bring forth the full measure of Christ in the members of His body.

My dear children for whom I am again in the travails of childbirth until Christ is formed in you. Galatians 4:19

There are 5 or 6 different words for child and son in the Greek text describing varying levels of maturity. The Huios sons are those who have died to self and who walk in in the spirit of adoption ‘huiothesia’ they are the ones who are about their Fathers business, who have been placed into their inheritance as heirs of their Father’s estate. They speak for the Father, they represent Him and they carry His name. These are the ones for whom the earth is groaning, Romans 8:19. (See my post. The wilding of the church)

The title of the book of revelation is literally ‘The revelation (unveiling: in Greek Apokalupsis) of Jesus Christ. How is Jesus revealed? Through the sons; the revealing of the sons IS the revealing of Jesus Christ. The ones who have been crucified with Christ and have been raised to new life and resurrection power in Him. Teresa de Avila wrote: Christ has no body on earth but yours. Jesus is made manifest in the earth through the sons who are His body.

Do you wonder at the hardship of the season we are in? It is because before the Messiah emerges, the community from which He arises endures the birth pains associated with His coming. This is a period of travail—a time of suffering and hardship—that God's people must go through before the Messiah's appearance.

Truly we are walking out the pages of the book of revelation. As I have stated before we will not nor cannot see the fullness of the unveiling or the fullness of the stature of the sons in this dispensation (which ultimately is glorification of our bodies), but it starts now. The pressing in to maturity starts now.

and Jesus comes ever closer in this day and is revealed with every increasing glory through the Huios sons who are His mature body in the earth.

“But we all, with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 3:18

The word ‘open’ in this verse is anakalupto, Anakalutpto is to unveil, to reveal. It is the root word of apokalupsis.

We are in the days of Unveiling and REVEALING, have you noticed that!!?? There is nothing concealed that will not be revealed in the earth. For the glory of God to be revealed, the MUST be an equal and opposite revealing and uncovering of sin. The glory of God cannot shine through an unclean vessel!

Someone asked the question after listening to my last YouTube video, asked the question ‘haven’t the sons always been here?’ This is a great question, and of course there always have been Huios sons on the earth, but we are entering a day and an age when it will not just be a handful of saints operating in the maturity of a Huios son but ALL. Christ needs a complete, fully functioning body in the earth through whom to reveal Himself; He cannot and will not reveal Himself through an immature carnal church.

What defines a Huios son? There are a couple of scriptures that I want to highlight: (note there are many scriptures. A study of the sons could fill a book!)

1. Like Jesus, the mature Huios sons of God are led by the spirit of God; like Jesus, they are the ones who only do what they see their Father doing.

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons (Huios) of God. Romans 8:14

2. The mature sons of God operate in faith:

For you are all sons (Huios) of God through faith!! Galatians 3:26

The preceding verses in Galations 3:24-25 speak of the law operating as a tutor whose job it was to bring us to faith:

Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. Galations 3:24-25

Now we know that the nullifying of the law was accomplished once for all time at the cross which brought salvation by grace through faith BUT each of us must appropriate it and walk in it. We are all in a wrestle continually between what is of the law (religion) and what is of faith. Huios sons are like their older brother Jesus, they operate out of faith in relationship with their father, they are not like the bewitched Galatians who are trying to walk out their salvation in the arm of the flesh.

Galatians 4:1 goes on to say that the heir, as long as he is a child (nepios.. unlearned / unenlightened / immature / simple-minded) does not differ from a slave though he is master of all!

Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Galatians 4:1-7

So there is a necessity for maturity! This is not a time-line that looks the same for everyone as does physical growth and maturity. Some new born Christians might almost immediately walk in great faith, others might have been Christians for 50 years and still be a nepios / unearned / unschooled child… Paul writing to the Corinthians says :

Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the spirit but as people who are still worldly - mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk not solid food for you were not yet ready for solid food… in fact you are still not ready! 1 Corinthians 3:1

We are all on a journey from being babies to becoming fully grown. We cannot remain in a place in the church where the majority are stuck in 1 Corinthians 3:1: consumer, worldly, carnal Christians who can only stomach milk.

In order for Jesus to be revealed He needs a body!!!

Who is the dragon?

We all know who the dragon is, but I think we sometimes forget his modus operandi:

I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High. Isaiah 14:14

He wants to be like the most high and he appears as an angel of light. Read again the description of him in Revelation 12:

 A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born. She gave birth to a (Huios) son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.” And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days. Revelation 12:1-6

He sounds very overt and obviously dragon-like and yet… he is wearing 7 diadems on 7 heads.

7 is the number of perfection and completion…

…You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. Ezekial 28:12

Perfect in Hebrew is Kallil which means whole, entire, complete, perfect!

A diadem is a royal crown, it symbolises and signifies authority / sovereignty / honour / status and power. Diadem mentioned in one other place in scripture:

His eyes were like flames of fire, and on his head were many crowns. Revelation 19:12

This is Jesus! The rider who is faithful and true. With righteousness He judges and wages war! Beloved we must know that we are moving into days when the dragon will not look like the dragon. It will look like Christ; it will look like it bears His name and stands for what He stands for, it will look like perfection and completion, it will look like authority, sovereignty, honour, status and power, but what looks like authority, sovereignty, honour status and power is coming to devour and consume.

What is speaks will look like truth and will register as truth to all but the very discerning. Revelation 12:15 says that the serpent (dragon) spews water like a river from its mouth. I used to think that this river would simply be scandal and accusation, but I now realise that it will be scandal and accusation that packages itself as truth, as justice, and as righteousness.

This dragon is an imposter!!

It wears a crown that belongs to Another. It releases a river that is not living water. It comes under the guise of perfection.

What does it mean that he might devour her child? Historically there is a recurring pattern through scripture.. think Pharaoh, Herod and the slaughter of the baby boys but there is also something more spiritual and sinister at play:

In Genesis 3, we read that curse given to Adam:

In the sweat of your face shall you eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you shall return. Genesis 3:19

And we read the curse given to the serpent:

So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” Genesis 3:14-15

The dragon feeds on dust. He feeds on our carnal nature!

Jeremiah Johnson, noted recently that what started as a serpent in Genesis had became a dragon by the book of Revelation. Why? because we fed him!

We fed him! How do we feed him? Job 41 tells us that Leviathan (the seven headed dragon) is King over all the children of pride and the degree to which we operate in pride is the degree to which we feed the dragon. He has no authority of his own. He uses the pride of humans to exert his authority in the earth.

Pride is fundamentally every place we are not in agreement with God. It is every place we operate in mans’ wisdom. Read the book of James. James 3 parses Godly wisdom from earthly wisdom. The latter descends downwards from earthly, through sensual and into demonic. God’ wisdom by contrast is: pure, peaceable, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.

The word IMPARTIAL has always struck me as an odd attribute for Godly wisdom. Consider with me….

The Cambridge dictionary gives this definition:

Impartial: able to judge or consider something fairly without allowing your own interest to

influence you:

Beloved church, the days are short and the dragon seeks to devour us and the mature sons who are being revealed in the earth just as he sought to devour the Christ child in Matthew 2:16. We must be those who have been crucified with Christ, who are not alive (partial) to our own interests, being driven by them and influenced by them. We must only be alive to Him and to His interests.

I have been through an incident recently where I was accused of something I was not guilty of. For the most part I was weirdly peaceful but there was a moment when I could feel indignation rising up within me and with it judgement towards the other person. Holy Spirit spoke to me and impressed upon me that when I walk in this spirit I am partnering with the same spiritual power that is being sent against me. This is pride (even if it feels justified!!) and in it I empower Leviathan who is releasing chaos in the earth. We must come out and be separate! Like Jesus we must be those who are led like a lamb to the slaughter and open not our mouths. Let God be the judge. Let Him vindicate. And if there is anything in me that needs judged (and there will be) then Lord judge me.

Beloved we CANNOT assume, in our righteous indignation that God has taken our side against others. We cannot!!! We must come up higher. Our warfare is always against principalities and powers, never against people made in the image of God. The fear of the Lord must not allow us to rise up in indignation towards others. Did you know that the root of indignation is indignari which means to regard as worthless. When we are indignant towards another person made in the image of God we are judging ourselves worthy and them worthless.

There is coming a time in earth, and is already here when we will be tempted and pulled to choose opinions and to take sides. I’m not talking about taking a stand against wickedness. I’m talking about Godly people at war with each other over differing opinions, a differing stance as to the role of the church, the role of politics, the role of prophets. Can we hold two opposing opinions lightly and refuse to rise up in indignant judgment even if one side looks more righteous than the other.

Have an opinion by all means but crucify every tendency to hold indignation and hatred in your heart towards another.

God is examining our hearts, and as systems crumble and shake, as mens' hearts are exposed and unveiled, as wickedness is revealed, as God judges His church know that there is purpose in it. Every place of partnership with the wicked one and every false alignment with earthly standards and morals is being dismantled and brought low. Leviathan sits as a principality over us in the second heaven, unleashing chaos. How can we, the Ekklesia, unseat him if we are in partnership with him?

The Huios sons of God are coming forth. The body of Christ in the earth is being unveiled and revealed through them and they will be marked by radical humility. My heart motives, wounds, traumas, sins are being unveiled and so are yours! What will you do as that happens (for it will!)? Will you side with Leviathan and wear his diadem of honour, glory, status and power by rising up in indignation, pointing fingers and casting blame. Will you allow yourself (your side) to be cast as victim by the prevailing powers of the air and by demonic cultural mindsets?

Something new is coming forth in the earth and it will not be one side pitted against another, where one walks in all the wisdom and the other in none (as we have been invited to believe over the past few weeks!). Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn said: “The battleline between good and evil runs through the heart of every man”. Today examine your own heart. Refuse the dragon's crown. Be like Jesus, the pattern Huios Son, who was led like a lamb to the slaughter and opened not His mouth, who emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant and humbling Himself by becoming obedient even to death on a cross. (Philippians 2:7-8).