Sagitta - THE ARROW
"The LORD’s arrow of victory"
"But God will shoot at them with an arrow; Suddenly they will be wounded."
(Psa. 64: 7)
"And he said, “Open the window eastward,” and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot,” and he shot. And he said, “The LORD’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Syria! For you shall fight the Syrians in Aphek until you have made an end of them.” (2 Kings 13:17)
There can be no victory for the Lord and for his people without defeating the enemies of the Lord and his people. A winner implies a loser, and vise versa. The same divine act that delivers the Israelites and gives them victory destroys the enemies of Israel. The victory of the Lord and his people is defeat for the enemies of God and righteousness.
Peace results from the firing of this swift and mighty arrow of wonderful victory. There can be no peace while there are enemies seeking to destroy you and it. To have peace, those enemies of God and peace must be destroyed. When peace is not desired by an enemy, and when an enemy wants only to kill you, you can only have peace and safety when that enemy is destroyed. Said the Psalmist:
"My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace. I am for peace: but when I speak, they are for war." (Psa 120: 6-7)
The devil will not ever make peace with God or confess his sin, and the same is it with sinful fallen man who lives under the power of "the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience" (Eph. 2: 2), i.e. the spirit of Satan. Sinners do not want to make peace with God nor turn away from their sinful passions and world philosophy. They hate true peace.
So too in the Apocalypse and "final conflict" between heaven's forces and the forces of evil, peace comes (Rev. 20-22), but only after the evil world has been destroyed by the arrival of God's arrows of end time judgment.
Some translations give "arrow of deliverance" (or salvation) or "arrow of victory" (or triumph). God's "arrow of victory" denotes an "arrow of death," an "arrow of justice," an "arrow of destruction" in relation to those who are its target. The same arrow that delivers one destroys another so that it is both an arrow of salvation to one class and an arrow of destruction to another.
These arrows of coming wrath and judgment are "targeted," and not simply shot randomly ("at a venture"; I Kings 22: 34). God's arrows are "seek and destroy" missiles.
Wrote the prophet Zechariah:
"Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth: for every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it. I will bring it forth, saith the LORD of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name: and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof." (Zec 5: 3-4)
If we view "the curse" metaphorically as "arrows of the Almighty," then indeed they will "seek and destroy" those against whom they are aimed. That arrow will hunt for and find its target! God does not miss the mark. Interesting is the fact that the Greek word for "sin" is "hamartia" which means to miss the mark! It is used in Judges 20: 16 (Septuagint) to describe stone throwers who did "not miss" their mark.
"Thine hand (or arrow) shall find out all thine enemies: thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee. Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger: the LORD shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them. Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth, and their seed from among the children of men." (Psa 21: 8-10)
Like God's "hand," so his arrows of justice will "find out," or "seek and destroy," all his enemies, all those under his wrath. And, upon whom does the "wrath of God" abide? John wrote:
"He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” (John 3: 36)
These are they who are destroyed when Christ returns to "judge the living and the dead." Wrote Paul:
"And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day." (II Thess. 1: 7-10)
Satan is said to shoot his "fiery darts" (Eph. 6:16), or "the flaming missiles" (Amplified) or "every burning missile the enemy hurls at you" (Phillips).
"Fiery darts" or "arrows" is from the Greek "belos" and "is literally something thrown (pointed weapon, arrow, dart). This is the only NT use of belos which is found 34 times in the Septuagint (LXX)."
The flaming missiles of Satan are deflected by those who have and use "the shield of faith" (Eph. 6:16). Certainly they do not compare to the missiles of Jehovah! The enemy of God has no shield that can stop those missiles!
Swift Justice
"He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth: his word runneth very swiftly." (Psa. 147:15)
In Sagitta, we see the invisible God's "arrow of victory and salvation" in the heavens, reminding us of the reign of God's justice and righteousness. That heavenly arrow is associated with power and authority, with majesty and sovereignty, and with swiftness of execution. When God gives the order to his angels or messengers of Providence to execute sentence, or carry out his orders, then those agents act quickly in apprehending (seizing or nabbing) the rebels, and "executing the judgment written" (Psa. 149: 9) Wrote Solomon:
"Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." (Ecc. 8: 11)
The fact that the day of wrath, though threatened in the long ago, has not yet occurred, has led sinful man to think that he may never be arrested by God. So, today, after about six thousand years since the fall of Adam, men's hearts are indeed "fully set in them to do evil." God's longsuffering and forbearance with sinners will one day end and then the "sentence against" the sinner and his "evil work" will be "executed speedily." So said Jesus too.
"And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily." (Luke 18: 7-8)
God's time of longsuffering is a reason for the seeming delay in God's speedy execution of just vengeance and retribution (for his not yet bending his bow) upon the wicked, and the purpose behind that forbearance is twofold. First, God's delay in execution, or his waiting, is so that the wicked might turn from his sin, and seek peace, reconciliation, and forgiveness with his Creator. Second, it is so that the wicked world may reach that point, in their sins and rebellion against God, "of no return." To use the language of scripture, it will be when the iniquity of the world is "full" or "filled to the brim" with rebellion against the Lord and his word. (See Gen. 15: 16 and Matt. 23: 32)
Said the prophet Jeremiah: "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not." (Lam. 3: 22) Each day that passes shows that God is now "reserving" his execution and being merciful and compassionate.
Who or what are the targets of the arrows of the Apocalypse, shot from the toxon of the mighty victorious warrior on the war steed? Who suffers the judgments that follow the first seal's opening? They are these:
Unbelievers
Persecutors of Believers
Ungodly people
Wicked rulers
Antichrist
False Prophet
Satan
Also, even earth itself, with its animals and vegetation, become targets as the seals following the first are opened.
The arrow of Sagitta is viewed as naked and alone, without bow, archer, or quiver. Yet, they are implied. The arrow does not seem to be pointed at anyone particular star or constellation, in other words, against no specific target. It seems as though its presence in the starry heavens, as such, does not mean that it is not directed (shot at random) but may simply denote that it is prepared to be directed and redirected, like today's "guided missiles."
The shooter of this arrow is invisible. Yet, the nature of the arrow itself reveals the identity of the shooter. He is not Apollo nor Cupid. He is rather "the invisible God."
SAGITTA (Ltn) “the arrow”; Sham (Hbrw) “destroying, desolate”
Wrote Seiss in "Gospel of the Stars":
"The first is Sagitta, the shot and killing arrow. It appears naked and alone. It has left the bow, and is speeding to its aim. It is a heavenly arrow, and He who shoots it is invisible. There is a majesty and a mystery about it which startles and awes. It is the death-arrow of almighty justice, which goes forth from the throne against all unrighteousness and sin. It is that death-inflicting instrument which comes with resistless force and sharpness against a world that lieth in sin, and which pierces the spotless Son of God as found in the place of guilty and condemned man. The execution it does is shown in the fallen and dying goat. It is the arrow of divine justice and condemnation upon sin piercing through the body and soul of the meek Lamb of God, who agreed to bear our sins and answer for them.
But this Arrow doubtless covers a further idea. There is a spiritual piercing and slaying in the case of those who come to new life in Christ, akin to the piercing and slaying of Christ himself. Sharp and hurtful words are compared to arrows. And of this character are the words of God as pronounced upon the wicked, judging and condemning them for their sins, bringing them down from their lofty self security, and killing out of them the vain imaginings in which they live. Isaiah speaks of this sort of shaft or arrow in the Lord's quiver — the arrow of the Word — the arrow of conviction of sin, righteousness, and judgment — a wounding and killing arrow which enters into men's souls, and makes humble penitents of them, that they may come to life in Christ."
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