Who Is the Man-Child of Revelation 12? Part III
Searching for Prophetic Forerunners of the Man-Child Using Our Five Primary Themes
The Big Five
In our previous article we learned that the man-child of Revelation 12 (synonymous with the 144,000 of Revelation 7 and 14) has five specific characteristics that identify him:
The man-child is born from a woman in great travail (Revelation 12:1-5 and Genesis 3:16).
There is a deadly conflict between the man-child and the serpent (Revelation 12:1-5, Genesis 3:15, Psalm 2, Psalm 8, and Psalm 91).
Adonai will supernaturally preserve the life of the man-child, protecting him from the wiles and destructive schemes and of the serpent (Revelation 12:5, Genesis 3:15, Psalm 2, Psalm 8, and Psalm 91).
The man-child is someone of very low status who will be exalted to a high position of authority, power, dominion and rulership (Revelation 12:5, Genesis 1:26-28, and Psalm 8).
The man-child is given authority to exercise dominion on Adonai’s behalf (Revelation 12:5, Genesis 1:26-28, Psalm 2, Psalm 8, and Psalm 91).
I will use these five themes to guide us on a journey that will introduce us to the prophetic forerunners of Revelation’s man-child; and in so doing, we will gain a comprehensive understanding of the primary mission the man-child will play in the apocalypse. My strategy is to simply find people in the Tanakh (Old Testament) who identify with the five-fold thematic pattern listed above. If we can find people with these themes manifested in their lives, then we will consider them a prophetic forerunner of the man-child of Revelation 12. The first leg of our journey consists of examining Moses’s life by determining how these themes occurred in his life. We’ll take a comprehensive look at how he stacks up against these themes.
As we progress through this teaching, please remember that Genesis 3:15-16 is a prophecy that has dual prophetic significance! It applies to Yeshua, the seed of the woman, who functions as the messianic man-child who has already legally crushed the head of the serpent through His death, burial and resurrection. But it also applies to the man-child, the seed of the woman, who functions as the man-child of Revelation 12—one prophecy, two prophetic applications.
One Born from A Woman in Great Travail
In a previous article, The Pattern of Judgments (A Cycle Beginning with New Creation and Ending with Judgment)—Part VIII, we dealt extensively with Genesis 3:16, the passage that foretold of the sufferings of the woman in childbirth:
To the woman He said: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception;
in pain you shall bring forth children; your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”
When we think of this prophecy we must do so within the context of Genesis 3:15!
“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” To the woman He said: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; in pain you shall bring forth children; your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”
In other words, prophetically speaking, Genesis 3:16 is stating that the woman will experience great travail and suffering when it comes to bringing forth the seed (a male child = man-child) who will one day crush hasatan’s head. I also mentioned that this suffering is much more than the actual physical pain of childbirth. This prophecy is also stating there will be much sorrow that will accompany the bringing forth of the seed of the woman, even the very conception of a child will be fraught with agony and suffering. This sorrow in conception can be seen in the matriarchs who suffered many things just to conceive a child, let alone bring the child forth to birth!
Sarah bore the stigma of barrenness for decade upon decade, then, once she was pregnant, she suffered through Hagar’s disrespect. Hagar despised Sarah because she was able to bear Abram a son when Sarah couldn’t.
Rebekah was barren the first twenty years of her married life. Isaac had to pray for her to conceive. And, once she finally conceived, she suffered a very difficult pregnancy.
Rachel suffered barrenness, and her barrenness was a major source of dysfunction in Jacob’s family!
The pain, sorrow, and suffering of the Genesis 3:16 prophecy can also be seen in the story concerning the birth of Yeshua, our original man-child. Remember how Herod had all the male babies two years old and under in Bethlehem and its surrounding areas slaughtered in an attempt to kill off the messianic seed? The result was the suffering of an innumerable number of women whose babies were slaughtered at Herod’s command.
Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men. 17 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying: 18 “A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted, because they are no more” (Matthew 2:16-18).
Exodus 1-2 begins the story of Israel’s exodus from Egypt, the land of their insufferable bondage. We are quickly introduced to the story of Moses’ birth, with the simultaneous death decree upon all male babies.
So Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “Every son who is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive” (Exodus 1:22).
Thus, immediately we are introduced to the suffering experienced by many of the pregnant mothers in Israel, especially Moses’ mother Jochebed, who had conceived a son destined to be drowned in the Nile River. Imagine her desperation when she placed him in the small ark and set him afloat on the Nile. What a seemingly hopeless situation. As you can see, Moses fulfills the first criterion for a forerunner of the man-child, the travail of a mother bringing forth a male child. Jochebed, however, was not the only one who experienced this travail and suffering at the time of Moses’ birth. There were countless other mothers’ voices weeping in lamentation and great mourning, refusing to be comforted because their male sons lost their lives too soon after birth.
Surely, the man-child Moses was born of a woman in great travail!
The Deadly Conflict Between the Man-Child and the Serpent
The circumstances surrounding Moses’ birth naturally lead us to this second important theme pertaining to a forerunner of the man-child of Revelation 12—the deadly conflict between the serpent and the seed of the woman, the man-child. Although the text does not explicitly say so, it can be inferred that hasatan’s goal in drowning all the Hebrew male babies was specifically designed to destroy Moses, Israel’s future deliverer. From the moment Adonai spoke the words of Genesis 3:15-16, one of hasatan’s most important tasks was to destroy the man-child, the seed of the woman who was destined to destroy him. As we learned in previous articles, Adonai began choosing the lineage of the man-child early on. The first eleven chapters of the book of Genesis were focused on tracing the only two lineages that matter in this life: the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. As of Genesis chapter 12, hasatan knew to focus all his attention on the family of Abraham. Hasatan’s goal was to prevent male descendants of Abram from ever seeing the light of day. Whether he had a direct hand in preventing Sarah’s conception or whether her barrenness was by the sovereign will of Adonai, I do not know. But one thing I do know is this—as soon as Abram and Sarai arrived in the land of Canaan, the devil got to work, regardless of whether she was barren or not. Genesis 12 records how Pharaoh kidnapped Sarai into his harem. The serpent’s goal was for Pharaoh to take her into his harem where he could then defile her, nullifying her qualification as the mother of the nation of Israel and the messianic seed. Although this line of the devil’s reasoning was probably unbeknownst to Abram, Adonai rescued Sarai from the devil’s plan by delivering her from Pharaoh’s possession.
Soon thereafter, Adonai again shared His future plans with Abram, informing him that his descendants would be enslaved in a foreign land for 400 years, until the iniquity of the inhabitants of Canaan reached its zenith.
Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. 13 Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. 14 And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. 15 Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. 16 But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete” Genesis 15:12-16).
Adonai told Abram that it would not be until after this 400-year period of time that his descendants would be delivered from their captivity and led to the Promised Land. More importantly, the devil was there at the covenant between the pieces (Genesis 15) and he also heard the plan! He likewise knew God’s ways, and that a leader would be necessary to deliver the people from their oppressors and take them safely to the land of Canaan. Therefore, I am suggesting to you that at the time of Moses's birth, the devil surely knew that Israel's deliverance had drawn near. In an attempt to thwart their deliverance from the land of Egypt and prevent their journey to the promised land by the hand of some capable, anointed leader, the serpent put it into the heart and mind of Pharaoh to kill all the male babies. I realize the Scripture states that Pharaoh had the male children killed because he was afraid Israel would join with their enemies in the advent of war. But hopefully you realize how that was just the stratagem the devil used in order to ensure his will was fulfilled by destroying any potential leader who could lead the people out of captivity, since the hour of their redemption had drawn nigh.
And, as you’ve already seen, the prophetic picture of the serpent lying in wait to destroy the man-child as soon as he was born (Revelation 12:5) was prophetically depicted in Pharaoh’s decree to destroy the male children as soon as they were born.
Surely, there is a deadly conflict between the serpent and any potential man-child, especially the man-child Moses!
The Man-Child Will Be Delivered from the Devices of the Serpent
Revelation 12:5 informs us that the man-child will be delivered by being caught up to God’s throne. In other words, Adonai will protect the man-child by rescuing him immediately upon birth. As we look at the prophetic forerunners of the Revelation 12 man-child, we will read about many types of deliverances Adonai devised to save his prophetic man-child. Every instance is a prophetic foreshadowing of the ultimate deliverance of the Revelation 12 man-child. The nature of prophecy is that they are shadows, not the complete image of what is to be, but a generic outline or silhouette of the future reality. This is explicitly stated by Paul in his letter to the Colossians with reference to messianic prophecy.
So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ (Colossians 2:16-17).
These verses inform us that the commandments concerning the holy days and sabbaths of the Mosaic law are shadows of Yeshua, who is the real substance for which the shadows stand as precursors. In other words, when we read about Passover, we read about a perfect, blameless, innocent lamb that was sacrificed. This lamb is not the reality. Yeshua is the reality, or as Colossians 2:17 states, the substance. Yeshua was not a lamb, and he was not innocent in the same way the lamb was innocent. So as you can see, the imagery of a perfect, blameless, innocent lamb is a shadow of Yeshua’s reality in that He was perfect in all aspects of life, and innocent of human sin. Thus, the shadow does not match 100% with the reality, because after all, it is only a shadow. A shadow does not confer all the characteristics of the reality, only certain ones. So likewise, as we look to forerunners of the man-child of Revelation 12, we will see shadows, not the complete reality. The reality concerning the man-child is that he was supernaturally protected from death immediately upon birth, and specifically by Adonai; whereas the shadow pertaining to Moses, the man-child forerunner, is that he was protected from death immediately upon birth, but specifically by his mother when she hid him for three months. Then, Pharaoh’s daughter also helped complete the shadow of his deliverance from death when she ensured his life by rescuing him from the Nile River.
Surely, Adonai supernaturally protected the life of the man-child Moses!
The Man-Child Is Someone of Very Low Status Who Will Be Exalted to a High Position of Authority, Power, Dominion and Rulership
The children of Israel were slaves in a foreign land, about as lowly an existence as is possible. Their servitude was also characterized as bondage! The Egyptians maltreated the Israelites for their own purposes and did not afford them the dignity and respect of humans created in the image of God. Thus was the situation Moses was born into. He was a lowly slave, owned by Pharaoh with no freedom of his own. Yet this is the description that best describes Moses at his birth. After those three months, his status as a slave child worsened because, in order to save his life from Pharaoh’s decree, he was abandoned by his mother and became a hopeless, motherless, homeless human, floating along the Nile with no certain future at all!
Fortunately for him, Pharaoh’s daughter plucked him from the Nile, adopted him and provided for him in Pharaoh’s palace. Later in Moses’ life, once he’d grown to maturity, he killed an Egyptian who was abusing a Hebrew. The news reached Pharaoh, and Moses, now a murderer, had to flee to the distant land of Midian in order to save his life.
Then he said, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” So Moses feared and said, “Surely this thing is known!” 15 When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well (Exodus 2:14-16).
Such is not the usual status from which kings and rulers are made! But, this was Moses’ status at the time Adonai found him on the back side of a mountain—a former Hebrew slave on the run for his life because he was a murderer. Moses’ story continues when he met Jethro, a herder who had seven daughters. Moses went on to marry Zipporah, one of Jethro’s daughters, whereupon he became a shepherd. This is interesting because earlier in Israel’s history, when Jacob’s sons joined Joseph in Egypt, we learn that the Egyptians hated and despised shepherds!
So it shall be, when Pharaoh calls you and says, ‘What is your occupation?’ 34 that you shall say, ‘Your servants’ occupation has been with livestock from our youth even till now, both we and also our fathers,’ that you may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians” (Genesis 46:33-34).
Therefore, in the eyes of the Egyptians, Moses was the lowliest of the low.
Surely, the man-child Moses was someone of very low estate!
The Man-Child is Given Authority, Power. and Dominion to Exercise Rulership On Adonai’s Behalf
Despite Moses’ lowly status in the pecking order of Egyptian society, the story of the Exodus goes on to inform us that Moses was exalted to a leader and judge in Israel! Moses is the great law-giver and is revered in Judaism as the greatest leader the Israelites have ever had. Even the Egyptians revered Moses!
And the LORD gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants and in the sight of the people (Exodus 11:3).
Moses was exalted to this position from an extremely low status. He was exalted to exercise authority, power, and dominion like no other person except Yeshua. At Moses’ prerogative, the plagues befell Egypt, water came from the rock, the Red Sea was split, the earth swallowed those involved with Korah’s rebellion, and on and on were the wonders and signs he performed. So great was Moses’ exalted stature that Adonai Himself likened him as God to Pharaoh!
So the LORD said to Moses: “See, I have made you as God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet (Exodus 7:1).
The grandeur of Moses’ excellency and his unparalleled authority is eloquently summarized for us at the end of the Torah.
But since then there has not arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, 11 in all the signs and wonders which the LORD sent him to do in the land of Egypt, before Pharaoh, before all his servants, and in all his land, 12 and by all that mighty power and all the great terror which Moses performed in the sight of all Israel (Deuteronomy 34:10-12).
Surely the man-child Moses was given authority to exercise dominion on Adonai’s behalf!
This article has clearly demonstrated that we can find shadowy, prophetic forerunners of the man-child of Revelation 12. We did this by simply noting the major themes associated with the man-child in Revelation 12 and connecting them to psalms that speak of the person and work of the man-child. Then, we were able to search the narratives of the Tanakh (Old Testament) and determine which stories teach us about the man-child and his ministry. My first choice was Moses since, besides Yeshua, he is the strongest candidate from the Tanakh to be a forerunner of the man-child in Revelation 12. I have simply chosen Moses as a representative of the many who are prophetic forerunners of the man-child. In subsequent articles I will 1) give a more exhaustive list of prophetic forerunners of the man-child, and 2) use their lives to identify the mission of the man-child of Revelation 12. In this manner, Adonai will show us what the 144,000 will be doing in the earth during the great tribulation, and we will have a clear picture of their future prophetic ministry to the nation of Israel and the remnant of her seed, those who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Yeshua (Revelation 12:17)!
Thank You 🙏.