26.3 Caught into God
© 2016 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
She bore a male child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her child was caught up to God and to His throne (Revelation 12:5).
I have not included this verse as one of the most important verses of the Bible, even though it has always governed the set of my face and how I read the Bible. Yet it is, in fact, one of the closest companions in the New Testament of Romans 8:29 and as such, it belongs fully together with that most important verse. Indeed, as I look at the Greek words, I see that a closer examination of their meaning is necessary before we can begin to unveil this truth. The time of this birthing is at hand.
Greek Analysis
| Transliteration | English | Root Form | Phonetic |
| Kai eteken huion arsen | And she brought forth a son male, | Tiktó huios arrén | tik'-to hwee-os‘ ar'-hrane |
| Hos mellei poimainein | who is about to shepherd | melló poimainó | mel'-lo poy-mah'-ee-no |
| Panta ta ethnē | all the nations | ethnos | eth'-nos |
| En rhabdō sidēra | with a rod of iron | rhabdos sidéros | hrab'-dos sid-ay'-reh-os |
Tiktó (brought forth): to bring forth a child. This is the word for the birthing, in contrast to gennao, which is the conception.
Huios arrén (son male): huios refers to a son sharing the same nature as his father. Arrén seems to be a repetition of meaning.
Melló (is about to): I intend, I am about to. At the very point of acting; what is sure to happen (Thayer).
I Shepherd
Poimainó (shepherd): I shepherd, I tend, I herd. Poimainó refers to all the duties of the shepherd as he walks with the flock, guiding them in the right directions, keeping them from all harm.
Ethnos (nations): peoples. Ethnos refers, not to our modern concept of nations or even race, but rather to groups sharing the same cultural practices and customs.
Hrab'-dos (rod): a rod, a staff, a staff of authority, a scepter. Hrab'-dos refers, then, not just to the shepherd’s staff, but beyond that to the signifier of authority held by a ruler.
Sidéros (of iron): made of iron. Iron would refer to the strength of that rule (and not to any abuse).
I Seize
| Transliteration | English | Root Form | Phonetic |
| Kai hērpasthē | And was “caught up” | harpazó | har-pad'-zo |
| To teknon autēs | the child of her | teknon | tek'-non |
| Pros ton Theon | to God | pros | pros |
| Kai pros ton thronon autou |
and to the throne of Him. | pros thronos | pros thron'-os |
Harpazó (was “caught up”): I seize, I snatch, I obtain by robbery. Harpazó includes an open display of force, suddenly and decisively seizing. Used often to refer to open theft.
Harpazó is used throughout the New Testament to refer to the act of violent plunder, or the arrest of someone by authorities. But it is also used to refer to Phillip being caught up by the Spirit, Paul being caught up to the third heaven, and the living saints being caught up to meet the Lord.
Determination
Pros (to): advantageous for, at (denotes local proximity), toward (denotes motion towards a place). To, towards, with. Pros means moving towards a goal or destination, and it includes reciprocity, that is, initiation and response.
Thronos (throne): a king’s throne, a seat; power, dominion; a seat of judgment.
Let’s bring in Romans 8:29 paraphrased. Out from His pro-knowing, God determined to symmorphose us together, sharing the same form with His Son as the image of God, Father revealed, so that Jesus might be the first one out of the womb, the first of many brethren of His same family.
Never do we separate John’s vision from the gospel of Christ.
All One Word
God’s determination to symmorphose us together with Jesus and His forceful snatching of us into Himself and into His throne are the same determination. You and I are just along for the ride – as we believe in Jesus.
Many brethren and the Christ child are the same thing. When we see that the whole Bible is all one word, then we no longer need to “deify” or “weirdify” John’s vision.
Seed > Plant > Many Seeds.
Christ > Church > a many-membered Christ child > the throne of God.
And back to God’s original intention: subdue all things.
The Release and the Return
And her child was seized into God and into His throne.
Harpagmos (robbery): the act of seizing or the thing seized. Spoil, an object of eager desire, a prize. Harpagmos is the noun form of harpazó (caught into or seized).
Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to steal or to hold tightly (harpagmos) (Philippians 2:6 – modified to the Greek).
This is something beyond our understanding. Consider the release and the return. Jesus does not hold tightly to any equality with God, so that He might make an invisible God visible. Then, as Jesus’ work is finished, as He returns to Father with many, God seizes that return with all intensity.
That Where I Am
We are clearly looking at the full picture given us by Isaiah of the Word sent forth and returned again bearing fruit. It is clearly Jesus’ job to make us just like Himself and to return together with us into the Father. That where I am, there you may be also.
Again, we see that these statements are identical. And her child was caught into God and into His throne – Know that I am IN the Father and you in Me and I in you. Same word. The word “seized into God,” and the word, “KNOW” are the same thing.
We Know
Thus we see that this manchild is the opposite of the spirit of anti-Christ which rules almost all of our brethren, even those seeing similar truths.
John, in his epistle, positions the spirit that opposes Christ against the anointing that is upon us, that we “KNOW” all things. And even further – And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life (1 John 5:20).
This word, “know,” – that we may know Him – has suddenly become far larger to me than I have ever considered.
Our Own Human Consciousness
You see, the break, the great battle, the winning victory of Christ over anti-Christ – for real, I mean the huge on-the–stage-of-the-universe showdown – is taking place right here and now in our own human consciousness. KNOW God versus all shadow of separation. And we know God only by heart, only as the One who fills us with all of His fullness, and only through Jesus Sent into our own hearts.
Now, here is something incredible that I realized as I wrote a last-minute thought at the end of Lesson 23.2 Contradiction. I was again considering the question – What benefit does 6000 years of human misery bring to God’s purpose?
In the Spirit of Anti-Christ
When I lived as a believer in Jesus in the spirit of separation, that is, in the spirit of anti-Christ, I stressed for years over what it was in me that caused me to be so “far away” from Christ, unlike all these anointed brethren with whom I walked. There were whole chapters of my teenage life that I dared not investigate. Yet I searched for “my problem” in my childhood, from my ancestry, from how my parents raised me. Surely, through all that darkness, something must be causing my present inability to “walk in the Spirit.”
Then, from 2001 when I first read John Eldredge, until early 2015 when I wrote the first chapters of Musings on Union, Jesus and I together placed Jesus Himself into every moment of my life.
I See Christ Alone
Now, I look across the whole span of my life, including my own acts of sin, and I see nothing but Jesus. The sin has gone into His empty grave, but it was not sin through that experience, but me. And Jesus always intended me and He in me through the difficulty.
I cannot find a place for the question “Why did God allow so many difficult things to happen to me?” Because I see Christ alone, I see no difficulty at all.
God never answers the question, because when all accusation against Jesus ceases, the question, “Why human misery” will also cease to exist. We are seized into God.
A Rod of Iron
A male child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron.
This same line is also in Revelation 2:26-28, the full answer to a corrupt church (modified to the Greek). And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give authority upon the nations—‘He shall shepherd them with a rod of iron; they shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels’—as I also have received from My Father; and I will give him the morning star.
As I also have received – you in Me and I in you. Same word.
The question before us here is what does a “rod of iron” symbolize? The Bible translators want to say “power over” and “rule,” but Jesus said “authority upon” and “shepherd.”
Two Opposing Concepts
You see what is happening here. A rod of iron in the hand of our Shepherd and a rod of iron in the hand of Constantine the Great are two opposing concepts.
The translators are thinking entirely in the conviction that the serpent spoke the truth in the garden, that the greatest of heavenly beings shows us God. That the highest of angels is the image of God, God’s appearance, not a Man on His knees to serve. And thus a psychopathic dictator becomes their model for a reigning Lord Jesus.
Let’s use Isaiah, the one who with David saw the real Messiah of God, however, to define this Shepherd with His rod of iron.
Seed and Bread
For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it (the earth) may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it (Isaiah 55:10-11).
Shall not return to Me void – Her child was caught into God and into His throne. Same thing. Here is the clue: That it might give seed to the sower and bread to the eater. That is the entire role of this Christ child, this Shepherd, you and me, among the nations.
Into, Not “Up”
There is certainly a shattering of the nations, but that shattering is of the present cosmos, the old creation. And the thing that fully shatters all the contrived pretending of men and angels, all the connections of violence that join humans on this earth, is our bodies being swallowed up by immortal, incorruptible LIFE.
One more thing before we look at the larger picture. The word “up” was inserted by translators ignorant of God-IS all here now. “Up” is not found in the Greek or in the word “seized.” The “into God” is the same thing as the word, “KNOW,” as in KNOW that I am in the Father and you in Me and I in you or that they may KNOW You, the only true God.
Absolute Certainty
The “birthing of the manchild” is the same thing as the fullness of the word KNOW in our experience. It is you and I walking inside of all that KNOW means while yet in our present mortal bodies and as humans of weakness.
Let me unveil to you now this “rod of iron,” this absolute rule over all things possessed by the Reigning Lord Jesus, the only life we are. It is by this very rod of iron that Jesus subdues all things to Himself. The iron of this rod pictures the absolute certainty of this rule, the unbreakable nature of its ability to WIN and to subdue. Are you read for that unveiling?
Love
LOVE suffers long and is kind. Love bears all for all; Love believes all for all; Love hopes all for all; Love endures all for all. Love never fails. – Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.
That’s it; that’s the very rod of iron in the hands of our Shepherd as He reveals the Father through us, together with us.
Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will shepherd them with a rod of iron (Revelation 19:15). And here is that sharp sword coming out of Jesus’ mouth, striking the nations: – Father, forgive them.
The Unveiling
Here is the dividing line between Christ and anti-Christ, between our Father’s word and a serpent word, between Jesus and Constantine. Which side reveals Father to all creation and which side does not? Which side are we and which side are we not?
Our brethren, convinced that the serpent is the likeness of God and Constantine the revelation of Christ, use John’s vision to promote the rule of all that is anti-Christ as if it is Christ Himself.
We, knowing Jesus as our only life, find only the goodness and life of our Father in every word in John’s vision, every word that is Jesus, the unveiling of Jesus Christ.