Apostasy (Study No. 1)
(Vs 4) “And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth.”
In the Book of Revelation there are three people groups that are mentioned throughout the whole Book. You have the people of Israel, or the nation of Israel, which is God’s end-time prophetic timeclock for the nations. Then you have those “who dwell in heaven” and those “who dwell on the earth.”
Metaphorically, those “who dwell in heaven” are born again, blood washed, blood redeemed New Covenant believers, or the faithful Body of Messiah corporately, who do not belong to this world’s system, but are citizens of the Kingdom of God, and whose certain hope is not in this world.
Then you have those “who dwell on earth,” being those who are attached to this world and to the things of this world, whose desires and lifestyles are controlled by the world, centred in the world and all it has to offer in this transitory life, and who are under the control of Satan, the god of this world’s ambitions, pursuits, passions, desires, and the practitioner of all lawlessness (Torahlessness) on earth.
In Revelation 12:4 we read where the enormous red dragon with his tail sweeps a third of the stars out of heaven and throws them to the earth. Some interpret this as a third of the angels, however, I would suggest that these “stars” are not angels but a reference to the apostasy which will see abounding wickedness that will cause the love of most professing Christians to grow cold that ultimately leads them to fall away from the Lord Jesus and from the faith once delivered to the saints (Matthew 24:12). The context of verse four in Revelation chapter twelve is in relation to the last days because the beast kingdom of the Antichrist is mentioned (vs.3).
In chapter twelve Satan pursues the women Israel to destroy her but he cannot succeed, so in a rage, he makes war against the rest of the women’s offspring, being those who obey God’s commandments and hold fast to the testimony of Jesus. These are those who are spiritually grafted into the Commonwealth of Israel, the faithful Body of Messiah (vs.17) See also (Revelation 13:5-7a) (2 Timothy 3:5a).
Stars in the Bible are symbolic of believers in both Testaments (Genesis 26:4) (Philippians 2:15). Here John sees the tail of the dragon sweeping a third of the stars out of heaven and throwing them to the earth. Some will say this is a reference to the angelic beings that fell with Satan, however, when you consider stars as believers, it seems clearly a reference to the great apostasy or falling away mentioned in the Second letter of Paul to the Thessalonians that will precede the coming of the man of sin (2 Thessalonians 2:3).
“A faith that does not remain”
(Hebrews 6:4-6)) “It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.” Let’s now look at this text…
“It is impossible” a word that describes to be “without strength, impotent, powerless, weakly, disabled, unable to be done” something which at one time may have been possible but is now not possible to be rectified.
“…for those who have once been enlightened” the word “enlightened” describes; “to give light, to shine, to enlighten, to light up, illumine, to bring to light, render evident, to cause something to exist and thus come to light and become clear to all, to enlighten, spiritually, imbue with saving knowledge, to instruct, to inform, teach, and to give understanding to.” This describes those who were once walking in the light of spiritual revelation and possessing a saving knowledge of the truth and had been instructed and informed as to how to walk in the light of God’s presence and according to the light of His Word, the Bible. God had caused this spiritual knowledge to come into being within their hearts but it has been rejected and come to the point where it is impossible to recover in that the conscience has become seared as with a hot iron and unresponsive to spiritual stimuli (1 Timothy 4:2).
We are not speaking about when a believer commits an individual sin, because all of us have a sinful nature which is constantly at war with the new spiritual and eternal nature dwelling deep down on the inside of us, and we at times do sin but we also go to the blood of Messiah to cleanse us from it after we have confessed it to the LORD (1 John 1:9) (1 John 2:1-2).
There are individual believers who do struggle with a besetting sin but want to be free from it and seek God to remove it and yet they still have a heart for God and for the things of God. This proves that they are still spiritually alive but needing spiritual deliverance and their conscience is still sensitive to the convicting work of the Holy Spirit. We need to read further about the one who has been enlightened but now walks in spiritual darkness, or who is living a perpetual sinful life devoid of spiritual power. Let’s read on…
“…who have tasted” describes; “to taste, to try the flavour of, to taste, i.e. perceive the flavour of, partake of, to enjoy, to feel, to make trial of, to experience, physically to take food, eat, to take nourishment, to eat.” Some have suggested that tasting is not swallowing, however, when one tastes something they usually swallow it. It is more than just tasting as we see in the context of what follows.
“the heavenly gift” describes; “that which is existing in heaven, things that take place in heaven, the heavenly regions, heaven itself, the abode of God and angels, the lower heavens, of the stars the heavens, of the clouds, the heavenly temple or sanctuary of heavenly origin or nature.” Today there are many who sit in huge meetings or gatherings that are caught up in the euphoria of worship and the highly charged emotional atmosphere which it generates and which we see in most of the mega churches today where young people are being swept up by the music and spiritual euphoria of modern worship, and in many cases when they come into the meetings they leave their minds in the carpark. They may hear many things about God’s kingdom yet also in these meetings there is no exposition of the Word of God but a string of personal prophecies with proof texts usually out of context, and spiritual manifestations of one sort or another that appeal to the sensual and fleshly nature and desires.
There are three forms of spiritual power. There is the power of God, the power of Satan or demons, and the latent power of the soul, which in certain euphoric or emotional circumstances can be released. It is a form of spiritual power. We see this when a stage actor or a particular secular movie moves us to tears because it has released within us the latent power of the soul which is a form of ‘spiritual’ power generated by the flesh and not from the Spirit of God (We address this matter in more detail in study four). So one can ‘taste’ spiritual things but not enter into the fullness or the power of it that will change them deep down on the inside. However, this “tasting” goes further…
“…who have shared in (become partakers of) the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age”
“…who have shared in (partakers of) the Holy Spirit” the word “shared in” describes; “to cause to be ,to become or to come into being, used with great latitude applicable either literally or, figuratively, to arise, to be assembled, to be brought to pass.” It is one thing to sense the presence of the Holy Spirit in a meeting or when one is under conviction of sin but it requires a personal response. Those who have shared in the Holy Spirit are those who at one time responded to His promptings and invited Him into their life and tasted or participated in tasting the goodness of God which leads to repentance when pursued by faith.
“…who have tasted the goodness of the word of God.” The word used for “goodness” describes something that is “beautiful, handsome, excellent, eminent, choice, surpassing, precious, useful, suitable, commendable, admirable, beautiful to look at, shapely, magnificent good, excellent in its nature and characteristics, and therefore well adapted to its ends genuine, approved precious joined to names of men designated by their office, competent, able, such as one ought to be, praiseworthy, noble, beautiful by reason of purity of heart and life, and hence praiseworthy, morally good, noble, honourable, conferring honour, affecting the mind agreeably, comforting and confirming” such is the Word of God, that which is or has been uttered by the living voice of God Himself.
“…and the powers of the coming age” describes; “strength power, ability, inherent power, power residing in a thing by virtue of its nature, or which a person or thing exerts and puts forth, power for performing miracles, moral power and excellence of soul,” which will be the distinguishing marks of the Messianic age to come when the Messiah our Lord Jesus sits on David’s throne at Jerusalem ruling the nations of the world. Sickness and death will be rare and longevity of life will be the norm. The coming age describes; “forever, an unbroken age, perpetuity of time, eternity, the worlds, universe, period of time, age.” It includes the 1,000 years Millennial Messianic Kingdom but also telescopes ahead to the final and eternal state that follows the millennial age where there will be no sin, sickness, sorrow, sighing, or death for these former things will all have passed away.
“…and who have fallen away” describes; “to fall beside a person or thing, to slip aside, to deviate from the right path, turn aside, wander, to error, to fall away (from the true faith): from worship of Jehovah” Now some will say that those who profess to be believers and fall away were never saved in the first place, but we need to be careful in saying this. If those who fall away were never saved in the first place, then what are they falling away from? While there are false conversions there can be those who superficially receive the Word of God but fall away from the truth as we see in the parable of the sower Jesus spoke about.
The ones mentioned in the parable all received the seed of the word into the soil of their heart, but it was the one where the seed went deep down into their heart and produced spiritual fruitfulness for God that counted in God’s sight. There were four types of heart soil the Lord Jesus spoke about and they all received the seed of the Word but only one out of the other three made it into the Kingdom of God (Matthew 13:1-9,18-23).
The first one received the seed of God’s Word but lacked understanding of the Word of God or seemed content with a superficial understanding of it, and Satan snatched it out from them, even though that one may have had some emotional experience. They were not diligent to allow that seed of God’s Word to go down deep into the soil of their heart.
The second one received the seed of God’s Word with joy, there was an emotional response to it however it did not take root in their heart soil and when faced with persecution for the Word’s sake they quickly fell away.
The third one received the seed of God’s Word but the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of wealth choked that Word making it unfruitful in their life.
The fourth one received the seed of God’s Word and understood it and absorbed it into his heart soil producing a spiritual harvest for the kingdom of God yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.
“…to be brought back to repentance”or “to renew” these words “repentance or to renew” describes; “a change of mind, a change in the way one thinks, a change in the emotions and especially by the action of the will as it appears in the one who repents, of a purpose he has formed or of something he has done and to renovate and to restore something that has been damaged.” This is impossible for the one who has fallen away from the faith. It is not someone who has genuine doubts about what has happened to them after they have been saved but want to continue in following the light they have.
It refers to those who were spiritually enlightened, who had a foretaste of the kingdom to come, who shared in the Holy Spirit or were recipients of His power and who had tasted the goodness of God and His Word the Bible and the powers of the new age to come after the close of this present age but who…
“…to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace or an open shame.”
“…an open shame” describes; “to set forth as a public example, make an example of in a bad sense to hold up to infamy and to expose to public disgrace” such is the effects of those who fall away from the faith and who were partakers of the power of God’s invisible kingdom but the seed of God’s Word never penetrated deeply into the soil of their heart, the seat of their affections, hence they were not able to re-enter into the kingdom of God, or into the reality of its spiritual power that transforms a person’s way of life (2 Corinthians 5:17). To publically renounce by word and deed one’s faith in the Lord Jesus re-crucifies Him all over again before men in that at the cross He was put to open shame by the mob whose sins He was bearing in His own body on the cross. To re-crucify the Son of God is to side with the mob that crucified Him!
Even though as New Covenant believers there will be times when we do sin and that grievously and in such circumstances we need to keep short accounts with God and availing ourselves of the power of the blood of Messiah to cleanse us from it (1 John 1:9), knowing that if any man sins we have an advocate with our Heavenly Father, or one who speaks in our defence to Him on our behalf when we have messed up big time, the Messiah our Lord Jesus the righteous one, the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the world who, as our great High Priest, after having made purification for sins, now sits at the right hand of God where He ever lives to intercede for us according to the perfect will of God (1 John 2:1-2) (Hebrews 1:1-3).
As it is written of the Messiah our Lord Jesus; “But because Jesus lives forever, He has a permanent priesthood. Therefore He is able to save completely (to the uttermost) those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to intercede for them” (Hebrews 7:24-25).
You may be reading this article and wrestling with the world, the flesh and the devil and severe and prolonged temptation and experiencing heaviness of spirit, depression and a sense of weariness spiritually emotionally and physically because of it, however, if you want to stay saved there is no way you will ever be lost. In eternity and in His foreknowledge of all things God knows who will ultimately be saved and who will be lost, yet He still gives men and women the choice (John 3:16). The bottom line is that you did not choose God but He chose you in His foreknowledge in eternity knowing what your response would be to His Son.
As the Lord Jesus Himself said; “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:37-40).
