Good morning and welcome back to the 5MC’s study of the Book of Revelation. Today we will be looking at chapter 12. Chapter 12 is full of everything. Vivid imagery, colorful characters, war, symbolism, victory, defeat and of course literal descriptions. Chapter 12 can seem a little daunting in its topics and pacing, but remember, we attack it just like eating an elephant, one bite at a time. The chapter is a little long but I could find no logical place to split it, it needs to be discussed at once to keep the topical relevance, so bear with me as we tackle the entire chapter together. Let’s dive right in.
“And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. 2 She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. 3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. 4 His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. 5 She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne,6 and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days.
7 Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, 8 but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. 11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. 12 Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”
13 And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. 14 But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time. 15 The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood. 16 But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth. 17 Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea.
12:1-2 – “And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. 2 She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth.”
There has been much speculation about the identity of the woman here in chapter 12. Most will take the chapter out of context when trying to identify or place identity upon the characters in Revelation but remember that in God’s Word, context is king. It’s like a big jigsaw puzzle, if you take out one piece it has little or no meaning, but when placed correctly within the puzzle it is an essential part of the bigger picture. The woman here is not a physical woman but is believed by most commentators to represent Israel. I agree with this line of logic. We see her described as “clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” This description is from Joseph’s dream in Genesis 37:9, “Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” The woman cries out in birth pains. This is Israel crying out in pain as they wait for their Messiah to come.
12:3-4 – “And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. 4 His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it.”
The dragon here is satan and it clearly tells us this later in Rev 20:2, “And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.” Red is the color of blood and death. Seven heads represent the seven consecutive world empires running their course under satan’s control. Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome and the antichrist’s empire we see right here in Revelation. The ten horns represent the 10 nation confederacy and it’s kings that will rule under the antichrist. We are told this in Rev 17:12, “And the ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour, together with the beast.” The seven crows (diadems) represent the shift of power from the 7 world empires to the 10 newly formed empires under the antichrist. What a vivid, horrific picture of satan and the world control God will allow him to wield for a span of time. But recall, all of this is at the behest of God, not satan. Never forget, God is in control.
Next, we see the dragon (satan) sweep down a third of the stars from heaven with his tail. This is a picture of the rebellion of satan against God that resulted in his fall (expulsion) from heaven. As that happened, he took a third of the angelic host with him. (Isa 14:12-15, Eze 28:12-17) We next see the dragon standing in front of the woman about to give birth so that when the child was born he could devour it. The child is Jesus Christ and satan’s goal has long been to eradicate the Savior from being able to save the world from the death of its sin.
12:5-6 – “She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne,6 and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days.”
In spite of satan’s relentless efforts to prevent it, the child is born. The male child birthed here is Jesus Christ, confirmed by Psalms 2:8-9. “"Ask of Me, and I shall give the nations for Your inheritance; and the uttermost parts of the earth for Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." The child was caught up to heaven is a picture of the death and resurrection and ascension of Christ. Through this man (Jesus Christ) is offered eternal life which infuriates satan. The woman (Israel) flees into the wilderness to escape the persecution of satan. As the nation of Israel seeks safety they will be protected by God and nourished by Him as well. Maybe with manna like He did for the Israel nation as they wandered in the wilderness in the OT. This will take place for 1260 days which is the last half of the great tribulation, 3 ½ years.
12:7-12 – “Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, 8 but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. 11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. 12 Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”
Satan takes his war to heaven and a mighty battle ensues. The arch angel Michael is the general of Heaven’s militant forces and they defeat satan (the dragon) and his army of demons. They were thrown out of heaven down to earth, satan along with his entire army, banished to the earth in defeat. Because of the great victory there is rejoicing in heaven, they have been defeated by the blood of the lamb which is the work done by Jesus upon the cross. But the assembly in heaven also issues a woe. A woe to the earth and sea for an angry devil is coming down to be amongst them. His wrath will be great due to his recent major defeat.
12:13-14 – “And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. 14 But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time.”
You can see here the relentless anger and rage within satan. He is being defeated at every turn. He tried to devour the child and was thwarted. He took the battle to heaven and was defeated. Now he has been cast down to earth and he continues his pursuit of Israel (the woman). We’re told that satan is a prowling lion just looking for someone to devour and that is what we see here. Satan’s goal is to steal, kill, or destroy, it doesn’t necessarily matter who it is. But God grants Israel wings to escape yet once again into the wilderness where God protects them and feeds them. The wings are not literal but represent strength, protection and speed in God’s Word.
12:15-16 – “The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood. 16 But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth.”
This passage can be understood in a few different ways. The water could be literal, floods were used to create destruction and death in God’s Word. God using the earth to derail satan’s flood could easily be understood as we have seen God part the Red Sea and the Jordan river in this way, allowing the earth to swallow up the waters. It could also be seen as the releasing of the great army of satan, coming forth like a flood across the land. God could also easily swallow up the satan’s army as he did numerous times in the book of Joshua as He defeated huge armies in the land of Canaan.
12:17 – “Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea.”
Yet again we see that when defeated the devil simply turns and looks for different prey. Since he could not kill the child or defeat heaven or defeat the nation of Israel, he now turns to individual believers (those that keep the commandments of God and hold the testimony of Jesus.)
Chapter 12 is a very valuable look at satan and how he operates, even today. Satan was real in the OT, he was real in the NT, and he is real today. His goal is to steal, kill and destroy. (John 10:10) He is our enemy and he roams about like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8) His names in the Bible are these: accuser, slanderer, opponent, adversary, enticer to sin, deceiver, evil, destructive, controller of unbelievers, ruler of this world, prince of the air. Folks, the devil is real and his goal is to destroy your life with sin and thus destroy the work of God that you could produce. We see here in chapter 12 that he is relentless. He will not give up or accept defeat. He will continue to battle and sow destruction anywhere he can.
Notice that when he met God’s armies he was defeated numerous times and where did he end up focusing at the end of the chapter? On individual believers. He ends up looking for weak prey, the spiritually sick, the spiritual loner, the believer that is separated from the flock. It’s been said that there is strength in numbers, and this is true for believers in Christ as well. Are you part of God’s army? Are you a part of a local body of believers? Does somebody in your church “have your back?” If not, you must. If you’re a believer and you think you don’t need to be a part of a local church, the devil loves your decision. He is prowling about and if you’re not a part of the flock that means you are standing off by yourself, easy pickings for his hunting preference. The devil will not stop hunting, the best we can do is make ourselves a hard target for him and take refuge in the safety of the flock.
Praise God that He will firmly and soundly defeat satan and his evil army in the end. Our God is indeed a mighty God and His truth and righteousness is absolute. I’m thankful for chapter 12 of Revelation and its ongoing message of the power of God. God will defeat evil in this world.
God bless.
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