Realization of Prophetic Visions
By Philip Mark Ames
Stars of Heaven
As John watched the dragon,
he saw its tail dragging a third of the stars of heaven. Then it threw them
into the earth. These "stars of heaven" would be spirit beings with certain
heavenly positions assigned to them by God. They were not part of the original
dragon-like rebellion against God. At the time of earth's creation, they were
among the "morning stars" who sang together, the "sons of
God" who shouted for joy. (Job 38;7) The interest that the angelic stars
have in the affairs of man is indicated in the victory song of the ancient
prophetess Deborah. In her song commemorating the defeat of certain enemies of Israel,
she said: "They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought
against Cisera." (Judges 5:20)
However, long before the
Israelites became a nation, yes, even before the great flood of Noah's time,
certain of the star-like sons of God were seduced by Satan the dragon. In
effect, his tail dragged them from their appointed positions in heaven and
diverted their attention to tempting earthly pursuits. Even as the serpent
directed Eve's attention to the forbidden fruit, thereby whetting her appetite
so that "she saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant
to the eyes, and a tree to be desired" (Gen. 3:6); so, also, did the
dragon entice as many as he could of the "stars of heaven", the
angelic "sons of God." He thus dragged them from their
Divinely-ordained stations and hurled them into the earth, into close proximity
with the daughters of men. But, why were women a temptation to angels?
To appreciate this, it is
necessary to realize that there is as much variety in the spirit world as there
is in the physical world. There are various levels of intelligence, strength,
and capabilities among the conscious creatures of earth; the same is true of
the conscious creatures of the third heaven, the spirit world. Many of the
spirit beings are comparable to the lower animals; though by their very nature
they are more powerful than man, yet demons do not have the mental capacity
that man has. There are other spirit beings that are very similar to man. Man
is the highest of the earthly creatures. The Bible speaks of the first man Adam
as "the son of God." It also calls certain of the angels the
"sons of God." These are among the highest of God's heavenly
creatures. They have a special affinity for man. But there are no female
angels; there is no marriage or sexual capacity bestowed upon the heavenly spirits.
However, they were at one time able to transform themselves to appear as men
with all the physical abilities of men.
When God said, "Let us
make man in our image, after our likeness," the heavenly sons of God,
"the morning years", rejoiced. But later, when Satan dragged some of
them down to man's earthly, physical level, they envied the men for the
pleasures of women. A third of the angelic stars of heaven, the spirit sons of
God, succumbed to such physical temptation. Of these the Bible record says:
"And it came to pass,
when men began to multiply or the face of the earth, and daughters were born
unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair;
and they took them wives of all which they chose."
"There were giants in the
earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the
daughters of men, and they bare children to them. The same became mighty men
which were of old, men of renown." (Gen. 6:1, 2, 4)
God put an end to such
perversion at the time of Noah's flood. Centuries later, the Apostle Peter
revealed that those angels that sinned during the time of Noah were cast into
prison-like pits of gloom called Tartarus, where they are awaiting judgment. (I
Pet. 3:19, 20; II Pet. 2:4) The Christian writer Jude corroborates Peter's
testimony. (Jude 6)
Those angelic sons of God,
having been ensnared by the temptations into which the Satanic dragon lured
them, have never been permitted to return to their heavenly positions. They
were confined somewhere beneath the earth's surface, there to await release for
the coming great day of Judgment. So, when John says the great fiery dragon in
heaven, he was being shown scenes from the ancient vast. He was permitted to
observe the devil in action. He watched the serpent's deceptive tail weaving
its way among the star-like angels of God. He saw a third of those stars of
heaven being caught off guard. They, being entrapped by temptation, rushed to
the earth to fulfill their unrighteous desires. They followed the step-by-step
path to sin which is described at James 1:13-15. Thus, temptation, which is the
powerful tail of the Satanic dragon, dragged them from their God-given
assignments and hurled them to the earth.
That was one of the major
acts of the Satanic, dragon- like organization of spirits who are opposed to
God and all righteousness. In this brief vision, the Apostle John is not shown
every act perpetrated by the seven-headed, ten-horned devil. But what he did
see, he wrote down for our benefit. John's attention is focused primarily on
the drag- on versus God's woman.
Written by: Philip Mark Ames - - -
© 1975 Philip Mark Ames. All rights reserved.