Bible Study Library

Dear Disciples:

In the last lesson we identified the key characters in the story of Revelation 12.

Here they are again, briefly:

1. The Dragon: Satan
2. The Mother: “The Jerusalem that is above,” as Paul words it in Gal. 4:26.  This represents Salvation By Grace, everyone who is saved by grace and experiences the freedom in Christ. For the purpose of this lesson, I’ve simplified it to the word “Grace,” but it is really a much richer concept than that.
3. Her Male Child: Jesus Christ
4. Her Other Offspring: The church

In this lesson, our only task is to read the story of Revelation 12 with those identities in mind. What we find is that John is telling the story of salvation throughout history, from the beginning to the end.

Let’s read it section by section.

Verses 1-6

1 A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2 She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. 4 His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born. 5 She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. 6 The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days. 

There are two signs (symbols): a pregnant woman majestically clothed with the sun, moon, and stars (showing that she spans time and history) in v. 1; and a seven-headed red dragon with ten horns and seven crowns in v. 3.

The stage set:

• Satan (the dragon) opposes God’s grace (the pregnant mother).
• Grace cries out in pain because she is about to give birth.
• Satan stands there ready to devour her child as soon as He is born (v. 4).

The plot develops:

• Jesus Christ is born and then is snatched up to God and His throne.
• Grace is provided a refuge where she cannot be harmed for 1260 days.

Remember, as we discussed in our last lesson, that 1260 days is 3.5 years - a symbolic way of representing “part way, the end isn’t here yet” (3.5 is part way to 7, the number of completion or fullness).

Verses 7-9

7 And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9 The great dragon was hurled down–that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

As the plot continues,

• A heavenly war breaks out.
• Michael and his angels battle with Satan and his angels.
• Ultimately, Satan and his angels are kicked out of Heaven and hurled to the earth.

Verses 10-12

10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. 11 They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. 12 Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.”

The rest of the story takes place on earth.

Significantly, although the battle we read in the first 9 verses happened in Heaven, vv. 10-11 describe Christians defeating Satan on earth – by Jesus’ blood, by their own testimony, and by not loving their lives (that is, they were martyrs).

So, who defeated Satan then? Was it Michael and his angels in Heaven, or was it Christians on earth?

I believe John is directing our attention to the heavenly, spiritual battle that is always behind our earthly struggles. On earth we battle and win victory over evil through faithfulness to Christ. In the spiritual realm, however, Satan is really fighting against God, not against us.

“Heaven and those who dwell there” (the martyred Christians) can rejoice because Satan is no longer there. But woe to the earth and sea because Satan is there and he’s mad! He knows he’s about to be defeated and is going to go down fighting.

Verses 13-17

13 When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. 14 The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the desert, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach. 15 Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. 16 But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. 17 Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring–those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.

As we’ve pointed out several times before, apocalyptic literature doesn’t care much about logical or chronological consistency.

In these verses, the dragon — who tormented the mother in heaven but was then hurled to hearth — now pursues her on the earth; but nowhere does the story show the mother being transported to earth.

It seems, however, that she was already on earth when she gave birth because her son was “snatched up” to God. But this is difficult to reconcile with the moon being under her feet!

The point is, apocalyptic literature doesn’t worry about those kinds of details. We can understand the message regardless.

Verse 14 again describes the woman going to the desert for 3.5 years. Satan can’t touch her there.

Plugging the real characters into the story, Satan tried to destroy God’s salvation by killing Christians, but it didn’t work. God protected grace, and they were still saved.

Angrier still now, he went off to try to destroy the rest of the church — the church that is still on the earth.