Issued: 10/05/21  Revised: 12/26/23

PLEASE NOTE:  Because Bible versions sometimes differ from each other in crucial ways, the version quoted here will be the one that best clarifies the point being made.  For a quick comparison between versions, please go to: http://www.biblehub.com.

   All bracketed material may be authorial comments, attempts at proper syntax, or minimal rewordings of Scripture for the sake of clarity and continuity.  These emendations will not be italicized.

   The “/” will be used to signify “and/or.”  The symbol “↔” is used to connect verses corroborating each other and so establishing doctrinal truths (Matthew 18:16↔2Corinthians 13:1).

   In differentiating between Yahweh Son [Jesus] and Yahweh Father [the Most High God], lower case letters have been used when discussing the former; upper case letters are reserved for the Only and Most High God.  Since Jesus was at pains to differentiate himself from Father, we have followed his lead here.

   The term neo-Christians will be used to differentiate between false Christians and Jesus’ true followers.

SATAN’S CREATION

   As already explained in Jesus: The Light,¹ Yahweh Son was the first and only being personally created by Yahweh Father (Colossians 1:15; Revelation 3:14).  In Genesis 1:2 Father and the Holy Spirit are accounted for, but not Yahweh Son. Father then endowed Son with powers to create everything else; as corroborated by the Holy Spirit (2Peter 1:20-21) through John (John 1:3) and Paul (Colossians 1:16-19; Hebrews 1:2-3). 

 Genesis 1:3 introduces Son symbolically as “Light.” Since heavenly luminaries were created on the Fourth Day (Genesis 1:14-19), this “Light” does not refer to celestial bodies.  Neither, for those who subscribe to the Big Bang Theory, was this “Light” the energy released during the creation of the cosmos we now see.  If we hark back to Genesis 1:2, there were “earth” and “waters” already present prior to the Big Bang, contradicting the notion that matter pre-existed in infinitely compressed form.

   No.  This “Light” is symbolic of Son. John writes that “in [Jesus] was Life, and that Life was the Light of men…the true Light, which enlightens every man, coming into the world” (John 1:4,9); to which Jesus added, “I am the Light of the world…that has come into the world so that everyone who believes in me will not live in the dark” (John 8:12, 12:46).  Let us imagine Jesus uttering these words to us:  He would only have to stress “the” to establish the connection with Genesis 1:3.  John further makes the distinction that John the Baptist was not the “Light” (John 1:6-8) whose Messiahship the Holy Spirit confirmed in Matthew 3:11,14.

   Going back to Genesis 1:4, “God [Father] saw that the Light was good, so God separated the Light from the Darkness” which is not declared to be “good.”  If we scroll down the rest of Creation, everything created in any one day except Darkness was deemed “good” (Genesis 1:10,12,18,21,25,31). Why?  Since Darkness is the antithesis of Light, is not Scripture suggesting that Satan was created on First Day after Yahweh Son—though not by Father but by Son? Since Father tempts no one (James 1:13), He could not possibly have called into being the quintessential Tempter; whereas Son, capable of being tempted, could.² Thus properly understood, Genesis 1:4 should be read as “God [Father] saw that the Light was good“ while Darkness would not be;³ so foreknowing the two would be irreconcilable, He “separated” them. Jesus corroborated this in John 14:30, when referring to Satan about to fall from Heaven (Revelation 12:9↔Luke 10:18), he said, “The ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in me.”

 Since nature was so fashioned to mirror human affairs and divine truths [↔Ecclesiastes 3:17-21], sun and moon were created to symbolize Jesus and Satan respectively.  Just like Jesus, the sun reveals the scope of nature and sustains life; the moon cloaks them with shadows and death. Jesus’ domain is day; Satan’s domain is night.  Jesus is the Sun of Righteousness (Malachi 4:2), “the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star” (Revelation 22:16); Satan is the moon at the feet of the “woman clothed with the sun,” symbolizing the enmity between the Church and Satan’s progeny (Genesis 3:15; Psalms 91:13; Revelation 12:1).  Jesus’ children are “children of the day”; Satan’s are “sons of darkness” (1Thessalonians 5:5). 

 Isaiah 14:12 has been given many interpretations; but in the absence of unequivocal, corroborating evidence, we should glean some understanding from related teachings.  Though called “morning star” [Latin for “Lucifer,” or light-bringer], Satan cannot share a Biblical symbol incontrovertibly denoting Jesus.  It has been posited that Lucifer is a reference to the planet Venus, which appears both before sunset and is brightest before sunrise; hence its dual appellation:  morning and evening star. But Venus is no star and its brightness is a function of its closeness to and reflection of the Sun.  As such it is no definitive “son of the dawn” or “son of the morning,” suggesting Satan is ‘son’ of the “Light” he reflects but is incapable of emitting.

 Consequently, Satan is no “light-bringer” like Jesus is.  The moon, Scripture’s symbol for Satan, is non-luminous in and of itself.⁴  If we can be fanciful, the moon ‘pretends’ to be a star, just like Satan pretends to be an angel of light (2Corinthians 11:14).  The ‘light versus dark’ motif is a staple of New Testament writing.  Jesus exhorted his disciples to “let [their] light shine before people in such a way that they will see your good actions and glorify your Father in Heaven” (Matthew 5:16); whereas any evildoer “hates the light, and does not come into the light, that his works may not be detected” (John 3:20).⁵ Paul calls Christian Philippians “stars in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation” (Philippians 2:15). Finally in 2Peter 1:19, perhaps re-phrasing Proverbs 4:18, Peter likened prophecy to “a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns, and the morning star arises in your hearts.”  He definitely was not referring to Satan.

   We posit that Isaiah’s “son of the morning” alludes to Satan’s creation by Yahweh Son⁶ after Father empowered Son to carry on the Creation Father had started. As such Satan could technically be called ‘son’ of the true morning star (Revelation 22:16); in the same sense that Father called Son the “Light” He willed into existence (Psalms 2:7↔Romans 4:17).  ‘Paternity’ in these cases is a matter of creating beings out of nothingness.  And if Son, having been made in Father‘s image (Colossians 1:15) fully radiates His luminosity (1Timothy 6:16), Satan is a paltry reflection of Son’s brightness as moon—and Venus—is of sun.

SATAN’S PERSON

Who was he?

   Though we treat it as a proper name, Satan is the English transliteration of a Hebrew word meaning “adversary,” a word often describing Father’s enemies (Psalms 38:20, 71:13; Luke 13:17, 21:15; Philippians 1:28; Hebrews 10:27; 1Peter 5:8). Though other non Judeo-Christian gospels have done so, Satan’s real name is not given in the Bible.⁷ Since Scripture provides no forum for Satan and his minions to state their cases, there is no need to concern ourselves with their names.

   We do know Satan was one of the Cherubim (Ezekiel 28:14), angelic guardians of Eden, attendees to Yahweh and bearers of the Heavenly Throne (2Samuel 6:2; 2Kings 19:15; Isaiah 37:16; Ezekiel 1:4-28↔the UFO non-event, 28:12-14).  This suggests an angelic hierarchy of sorts; and since the qualifier “of hosts” or “of armies” is appended to Yahweh Son‘s name, let us use military lingo and call upper echelon angels ‘officers’ and the rest ‘soldiers.’  Michael, for example, is Yahweh Son‘s official aide-de-camp (Daniel 10:13,21; Revelation 12:7-9);⁸ Gabriel performs as liaison officer (Daniel 8:16, 9:21-22; Luke 1:26-37). In terms of ’soldier’ angels, we have Hebrews 1:14 and Revelation 19:10 as evidence they were conceived to assist men fighting for salvation.

On Satan’s heavenly ranking

   Note that the angel in Revelation 19:10 did not ask for the type of reverence that his Commander-in-Chief, Yahweh Son, demanded of Joshua (Joshua 5:14-15↔Hebrews 1:4-6).  How do we know Joshua faced Yahweh Son?  Because of Exodus 3:2-6, specifically verse 5, where Joshua was told to do exactly what Yahweh Son Angel God had instructed Moses to do from inside the burning bush (Exodus 3:2-6). Besides, Joshua could not have been speaking to the Father no man has ever seen or heard (John 5:37; 1John 4:12).

   There is still the seeming contradiction between Zechariah 3:2 and Jude 1:9, Zechariah identifying as the angel of Yahweh the self-same being Jude calls “Michael.”  In these verses we find intimations of an angelic council discussing Moses’ fate, who is referred to as “Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who are sitting in front of you are men symbolic of things come” (Zechariah 3:8).

   The word “symbolic” holds the key to the correct interpretation.  Moses, who was an early symbol for Jesus, is called “Joshua the high priest.”  Jesus’ Hebrew/Arameic name, Yeshua, is a form of Joshua, the warrior leader who secured the promised land.⁹  Therefore it is not difficult to see why Joshua is referenced as “high priest,” since Yeshua/Jesus is the spiritual warrior leader who will secure the true Promised Land, Father’s Kingdom on earth (Revelation 19:11-16), where Jesus will rule as eternal King/High Priest (Psalms 110:4; Isaiah 9:6↔Revelation 19:16; Hebrews 7:21-28).  What we find here, then, is a symbolic correlation between angels [substance] and their human shadows.

   Following this logic, we can at least suggest an informed opinion.  In the scheme of things, Yahweh Father gave His name to Yahweh Son Angel God (Exodus 23:21). In fact the name “Yahweh” means “I AM,” the descriptor by which the Angel God inside the burning bush identified himself to Moses as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Exodus 3,2,4-6,14-15).¹⁰  It is also the descriptor by which said Angel identified himself to Samson’s father (Judges 13:9-11); and the descriptor Jesus repeatedly used to bring attention to his real identity (Matthew 14:27; Mark 14:62; John 18:5-6).

   We know that with respect to Father, Jesus occupies the same position that Joseph—another of his early symbols—had with respect to Pharaoh (Genesis 41:40).  So back to Zechariah, we find Moses standing before Yahweh’s Angel with Satan standing to the right (3:1).  The “Yahweh” in verse 3:2 is not Yahweh Son, for Jude tells us [or rather, the Holy Spirit through him] it was Michael [↔Jude 1:9]. Why Michael is called “Yahweh” in verse 3:2 has to be a function of some symbolic interplay; for later in verses 3:6-7, we see Yahweh/Michael admonishing Joshua/Moses as to what Yahweh Son “of hosts,” the Commander-in-Chief, expects Moses to do. It is obvious, then, that Michael is being called “Yahweh” for some reason; and what comes to our mind is that Yahweh/Michael—like Yahweh Son with respect to Yahweh Father—was performing as Son’s proxy advocate [↔Isaiah 51:22] and spokesperson. Only while executing these roles exclusive to Son could the Holy Spirit through Zechariah reference Michael as Yahweh in much the same way Jesus portrayed himself and Father in John 10:30: Two distinct beings, but only one mind, one will, at work. Nowhere else in Scripture is Father‘s name applied to anyone but Son.

 A few words about the composition of the heavenly council.  As in other duties, Michael is a top ranking official; this much seems evident from Daniel 10:13,21, and Revelation 12:7.  Daniel 4:13,17,23 speak of “angelic watchers” who have jointly agreed to sentence Nebuchadnezzar for his overweening pride.  This is the sort of joint deliberation that took place in 1Kings 22:19-22:  “I saw Yahweh [Son] sitting on his throne [Michael does not sit on thrones], and all the army of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left.  Yahweh said, ‘Who shall entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead?’  One [angel] said one thing; and another [angel] said another.  A spirit [obviously adept at deception↔Satan?] came out and stood before Yahweh, and said, ‘I will entice him.’  Yahweh said to him, ‘How?’  He [Satan?] said, ‘I will go out and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ He [Yahweh Son] said, ‘You will entice him, and will also prevail. Go out and do so.’”  Naturally, Satan[?] was successful (1Kings 22:23).

   How do we know Father was not the God sitting on the throne?  Easy: He cannot be tempted or manipulated (Deuteronomy 6:16; Luke 4:12; James 1:13); the very reason why we know that the Yahweh of Job 1 and 2 was Son and not Father.  Job provides a further clue about Satan’s ‘protecting’ duties [↔Ezekiel 28:14,16):  He roamed the earth as some sort of surveyor; for in Job 1:6-7 he joins other angels before Yahweh Son to report on what he has seen.  Note that whereas Job 1:7-9 identify “Yahweh” as Satan’s interlocutor, this Yahweh [Son] calls Job his servant; yet the criterion for Job’s righteousness is that he fears a God [Father] other than the Yahweh [Son] talking to Satan, for it is not Yahweh Son who Job fears.  This way of speaking about Father in third person is also evident in Exodus 34:5-7, specifically verse 5, where Yahweh Son exalts Yahweh Father, not himself.  The fact that no man has seen Father‘s “form” (John 5:37) plays a role here, since Moses did see Yahweh Son’s back (Exodus 33:23).

   To summarize, Satan was tasked with duties while in Heaven; as per Ezekiel 28:14, he was “an anointed guardian cherub,” whatever that entailed.  Whether he was counted amongst Daniel’s “watchers” is unclear.  Revelation 4:5 speaks of the “seven spirits of God”; and these spirits must be the angels overseeing the seven churches of Revelation 2:1,8,12,18 and 3:1,7,14. If these self-same angels were the “watchers” Daniel alluded to, then the cast-out Satan could not have been one of them.¹¹ Let us also refer to Zechariah 4:2-14’s pointed vision [rephrased here for greater clarity]:  “There is a lampstand all of gold, with a bowl on its top and seven lamps with seven pipes to each of the lamps…Two olive trees, one on the right side of the bowl and one on the left, empty the golden oil out of themselves [into the bowl feeding the lamps]…These two are the anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth…[while the seven] are the eyes of Yahweh, which run back and forth through the whole earth.”

   Please note that the seven spirits do exactly what Satan was doing back in Job 12.  Was Satan one of the seven back then, later replaced like Judas was amongst the original twelve apostles (Acts 1:20-26)?  There is no way of telling. 

Absolute power:  Satan’s ultimate aphrodisiac

   No timetable is given between Satan’s creation and the moment his vanity made him evil (Ezekiel 28:15,17). Yahweh Son proxy Creator had made him “the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty” (Ezekiel 28:12).  So endowed, Satan must have thought himself suited to resemble Father in terms of wielding authority (Isaiah 14:14).  Since there was not the slightest chance of moving up in Father‘s angelic hierarchy, Satan instituted the strategy that has become the norm in political circles:  He manipulated human beings to grab power.

   Thus he seduced Woman with notions of equality with and independence from Father (Genesis 3:1-5).  This narrative may sound simplistic; yet like many others in the Bible, it is shadow to the substance of larger truths.  Just as Adam prefigured Jesus (1Corinthians 15:21-22,45-49), so did Woman prefigured Jesus’ wife, the Church, since in both cases male and female entities shared common flesh and bones (Genesis 2:23↔Ephesians 5:23,29-32).  Please note that Genesis 3:14-15 prophesies the perennial enmity between Woman’s seed and Satan’s (Genesis 3:15; Psalms 91:13; Revelation 12:1); that Woman’s pregnancies, both mortal and spiritual, would yield great pain [labor pangs/persecutions (Genesis 3:16; 2Timothy 3:12)]; and that Adam was saddled with the task of sowing the “field” while getting mixed results (Genesis 3:17-19; Ezekiel 2:5-7; Matthew 13:37-42; Hebrews 12:3; 1Peter 2:20-23).  You connect the dots.

   What Genesis 3:1 is showing us is that Satan would rely on female entities/institutions to spread adulterated versions of Father’s true Gospel with the objective of damning Eve’s issue—i.e., mankind (Genesis 3:20).  This is the precedent Paul relied on to discourage women from preaching in churches (1Corinthians 14:34; 1Timothy 2:13-14); plus the rationale behind all those warnings about “adulterous” women [synagogues/churches/cities] ensnaring the souls of men (Proverbs 5:1-14 6:23-26, 7:19-27↔ verse 19 alluding to Jesus, 23:26-28; Ecclesiastes 7:25-29; Jeremiah 5:7; Ezekiel 13:17-23; Revelation 17:5, 18:2-4,13).  The “adultery,” obviously, was consorting with the false gods Satan mass-produced (Deuteronomy 31:20).

   Just as John the Baptist was deemed to be possessed and Jesus a bon vivant to discredit their preaching (Matthew 11:18-19), so have Satan’s minions leveled charges of misogyny against Paul.  Name-calling and bearing false witness are as innate to evildoers as poison glands are to vipers.¹²   As prophesied, Eve’s ‘daughters’ have joined evangelical ranks to disseminate Satan’s deceptions the world over.¹³  Though instructed to cease and desist, women will not stop until the tide turns against them (Isaiah 4:1-4, 32:9-15).¹⁴

 Eve’s transgression led to a division of world-stewardship between Yahweh Son and Satan (Isaiah 22:15-25); revised and upgraded following Jesus’ resurrection, when he was given complete control over angels, humans, and satanic powers (Matthew 28:18; Revelation 1:18).  This is evident from Revelation 9:1-6, where Satan is given the key “to the pit in the abyss” where all fallen angels have been imprisoned (2Peter 2:4; Jude 1:6) to torment Satan’s human enablers and abettors.¹⁵ Whenever he is referenced after Jesus’ second empowerment as Interim proxy God, Satan’s inability to do anything on his own is shown by his dependence on heavenly permission to vent his homicidal tendencies (Revelation 6:8, 9:1, 20:7-8).

 Notwithstanding his persona non grata re-classification, no precise duration of Satan’s tenure in Heaven is given from the moment evil was found in him (Ezekiel 28:15) until he was unceremoniously booted out (Revelation 12:7-9).  In that interim he is portrayed in dialogue with Yahweh Son over Job’s worthiness (Job 1:6, 2:1); in the debate over Moses’ assumption into Heaven (Zechariah 3:1-2; Jude 1:9); during Jesus’ temptation in the desert (Luke 4:2-13); and factually possessing Judas (Luke 22:3). All the while, Father endured Satan’s endless, ill-spirited accusations against “brothers” in faith (Revelation 12:10).

 When Satan officially became “god of this age” [↔2Corinthians 4:4; Revelation 1:18] is again uncertain; but both Isaiah 22:15-19 [pre-Jesus symbolically] Revelation 6:8 [post-Jesus literally↔Hebrews 2:14] chronicle his empowerments. His boast in Luke 4:6 tells us all worldly kingdoms were subjected to his authority; the reason why John declares the world to be “in the power of the Evil one” (1John 5:19) and Scripture corroborates John by talking about Satan’s actions through human rulers (Isaiah 14:16-17,20; Revelation 13:2,7,11-14).

 Who gave him this power?  The only Being in position to do so: Father (Job 12:17-25; Psalms 33:10; Isaiah 45:7; Daniel 4:17,35, 5:21).  Even Jesus acknowledged that Pilate could do nothing against him unless authorized from above (John 19:11), his suffering being the “cup” Father expected him to drink (John 18:11↔Isaiah 53:10).

The power broker

 Because Scripture unfolds like a stream of consciousness, verses referencing unnamed rulers—Pharaoh, the King of Babylon, the King of Assyria, the King of Tyre—gives us the scoop about Satan.  Ezekiel 31 is a good example of this methodology.

   Verses 3-7 and 10-15 refer to some unnamed ruler of the Assyrian Empire; but verses 8-10 and 16 focus on Satan in Eden.  Ezekiel 31:8 alludes to Satan’s singular beauty [↔Ezekiel 28:12]; verse 31:9 suggests he dazzled other angels with his majestic presence, perhaps those who fell with him after his failed putsch for power (2Peter 2:4; Revelation 12:4, 20:2-3); and verse 31:10 correlates with Isaiah 14:14.  Verses 16-18 echo Isaiah 14:5-10 and Jude 1:6; and the very last sentence, “you shall lie in the midst of the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword [the word of God?↔Hebrews 4:12; Ephesians 6:17]. This is Pharaoh [↔Ezekiel 29:3] and all his multitude, says the Lord Yahweh,” refer to the Millennium of Rest during which Satan will be chained atop the dead unrighteous, their maggots crawling over him (Isaiah 14:11,15-20; Jeremiah 25:33; Ezekiel 29:5; Revelation 20:1-3).

   Note also that Ezekiel 31:2-3,18 reference Pharaoh, the dragon/serpent of Ezekiel 29:3/Revelation 20:2; so that this intermixing of Egyptian and Assyrian Empires points to the one entity who wielded the real power behind both:  Satan.  If we go back to Exodus, Moses’ appeals were not to the unnamed Pharaoh sitting on the throne,¹⁶ but to Satan.  Exodus 7:1 is particularly telling, since in the persons of Moses and Aaron, Yahweh Son replicated the synergy between him and Father:  “Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Behold, I have made you as god to Pharaoh; and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet.’”  Did not Moses predict the coming of Jesus (Deuteronomy 18:15; Acts 3:22-26); and is not Jesus Father’s last prophet amongst men (Luke 16:16; John 7:16, 16:13)?  Thus in as far as Moses, the Lawgiver, was an early symbol for the Jesus who had been Israel’s Lawgiving Angel proxy God in antiquity (Genesis 48:15-16; Exodus 3:2-6; Isaiah 37:16, 43:1,3, 44:6, 46:4, 51:15,22, 52:6; John 20:28; Acts 27:23; Revelation 1:8), so did Aaron prefigure the role Jesus would/will play as head of the Church/High Priest in Father’s Kingdom on earth (Matthew 23:8; Colossians 1:18; Hebrews 4:14, 5:5-10, 7:11-28).

   Therefore, when Moses confronted Satan through the person of the Egyptian ruler, he was acting as Yahweh Son’s stand-in demanding the release of his people.  Exodus 7:3 gives the impression that Father “hardened” Satan’s heart; but this is Father’s typical way of assuming personal responsibility for what He allows Satan to do. Father wanted His people set free; the Egyptian ruler refused to do so because his mindset matched Satan’s [↔John 8:44]. Which is not to say the Egyptian ruler had no choice in the matter, but that keeping the Israelites subjugated safeguarded his political interests (Exodus 1:8-11, 5:5-18).

 In summary, whenever Scripture speaks of rulers without naming them, Satan is being referenced; when a specific, historical figure is meant, either his name will be given—as for example, in Ezekiel 29:18-19 and Daniel 2,3,4 [Nebuchadnezzar]; 5,7,8 [Belshazzar];  and 6,9 [Darius]; or enough information supplied to identify him [Alexander the Great↔Daniel 8:21).  That these rulers supporters and enablers share their unrighteousness is evident from Judges 9:4, Proverbs 29:12, Ezekiel 22:6-12.  There will always be ‘dogs’ willing to do leaders’ dirty work for lucre, vested interests, or irrational loyalty.

   To paraphrase the title from the well-known Oldie Goldie, the ‘cheat’ still goes on (1Timothy 4:1-3; 2Timothy 3:1-5; 2Thessalonians 2:3).

¹ See series On the Divinity of Jesus.

² As he was in Job 1:11-12, 2:5-7.

³ Satan was conceived perfect in all his ways and remained so until the day Father foreknew he would turn evil (Ezekiel 28:12,14-15). It was from this point in time that Jesus judged Satan to be both homicide and liar (John 8:44).

⁴ It is interesting to note that when Satan is no more, the moon over Father‘s Kingdom will shine as strongly as the sun does now, and the latter’s light will increase seven-fold (Isaiah 30:26). Upon the Heavenly City, however, no celestial lights will shine (Revelation 21:23).

⁵ Standard behavior amongst powers that be fearing public exposure.

⁶ To accept the link with Roman mythology—i.e., Lucifer as son of Aurora, goddess of dawn, is to taint Scripture with the fables of men.  As Paul said, let God be true and every man a liar (Romans 3:4).

⁷ Abaddon or Apollyon means “destroyer” (Revelation 9:11).

⁸ It was Michael who booted Satan and his minions out of Heaven while Jesus witnessed the fall from earth (Luke 10:18; Revelation 12:7-9).  This contradicts the notion that Jesus and Michael are one and the same person—a misunderstanding probably rooted in Zechariah 3:1-2↔Jude 1:9.

⁹ In order to unequivocally establish the connection, Hoshea son of Nun was renamed Joshua (Numbers 13:16).

¹⁰ Jacob, who had fought the Angel God face to face at Peniel, credited him for his protection (Genesis 32:30, 48:15-16). Once again the Yahweh who could be seen, heard, and touched as well.

¹¹ Satan had been banished to earth during Jesus’ ministry (Luke 10:18; John 14:30; Revelation 12:9); Revelation 2 and 3 address enclaves that had become evangelized after Jesus’ death.

¹² One of the “unclean” animals symbolizing the unrighteous (Leviticus 11:42; Matthew 3:7, 12:34, 23:33).

¹³ As have done the mother-daughter churches Woman foreshadowed (Revelation 17:5).

¹⁴ A possible connection between the seven women of Isaiah 4:1 and the seven churches of Revelation 1 and 2?

¹⁵ The “abyss” is Scripturese (sic) for the divide between Heaven and earth, its bottom being the world itself (Genesis 1:2, 7:11; Isaiah 14:15; Luke 16:26; Revelation 20:2-3).

¹⁶ Reputed to have been Ramses II, but not identified as such by Scripture.