Chapter 12 of Revelation is one of the most revealing chapters in the Bible. It rolls back the curtain between earth and heaven and shows what lies behind all the sin and evil and all the conflict of this world. It reveals a great spiritual struggle that is occurring behind the scenes of this world.
In the last days that spiritual struggle will be more intense. This intense spiritual struggle is what Jesus called the great tribulation. It will be the most intense and terrible tribulation the world has ever seen.
But why does the world have to suffer this tribulation? Why will there be such a terrible tribulation in the end time? This passage tells us. It will show us this great spiritual warfare that is waged behind the scenes of this world. The war that is being fought for the souls of men.
Tonight we are only going to look at the three principle characters who have been involved in the spiritual warfare. PRAYER
READ 1 & 2. We are introduced to the first character in the great tribulation—a woman with child. Notice how she bursts on the scene. She is said to be a wondrous sign. She is in heaven. This means that she is the heavenly representative of some earthly people. Who is the woman and what people does she represent?
First of all, she isn’t identified, but it is pretty clear who she is. She is clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her. This refers back to the OT dream that Joseph had. Have someone read Genesis 37: 9-11.
Jacob understood exactly what Joseph meant. The sun represented the father Jacob, the moon the mother, and the twelve stars the brothers. The dream was a picture of Israel. Joseph was dreaming that Israel would be saved from destruction through him.
This woman in our passage is pregnant and the child is pictured as being born. Note what is said about the child in verse 5. Read 5. This clearly refers to Jesus Christ. He was born to rule all nations and He alone was exalted to the throne of God.
So who is this woman? There are at least four main positions about who she is.
1. Some say she is Mary, the mother of Jesus. But there are just too many supernatural things said about this woman for her to be an earthly or human being.
2. Some say she is the church. But this is difficult to see, because the church didn’t give birth to Christ. Christ gave birth to the church.
3. Some say she is the ideal Zion, the ideal Jerusalem, the ideal Israel, the chosen people, the community of God from which Christ came. They say the mother represents all the true people of God, those before Jesus came and those after He came. This position is a possible identification of the woman. But again, this position doesn’t fill all the things said about the woman.
4. Some say that the woman represents Israel, the very people who gave birth to Jesus Christ. This seems to be the closest identification of the woman. As we progress through the passage, we will see that everything said about this woman fits Israel like a glove.
• Paul said in Romans 9:5 that Jesus Christ came out of Israel.
• Isaiah prophesied in Isaiah 66: 7-8 that Israel would have labor pains and bring forth a male child.
READ 3 & 4. Now we see the second character in the great tribulation—an enormous dragon, that is, the devil. Note that it says that the dragon is said to be a sign in heaven. Three things need to be mentioned about this sign.
1. First there is the description and authority of the dragon or the devil. The description is different from what most people think. When people think of the devil, they picture a fiery red serpent-like creature with two horns and a long pointed tail who holds a pitchfork in his hand. But this is a total misconception.
When Scripture speaks of Satan as a dragon, it is referring to the evil work he does, not to his looks or appearance. Scripture says that Satan is the highest and most glorious being ever created by God, that his being is so magnificent that he shines like the sun and actually possesses glory just like God. Note what this verse says about his description, and remember, this is not picturing what he looks like. It is describing his authority and power.
• Satan has seven heads. Seven is the number of completeness and fullness. Satan is complete in intelligence; he has full knowledge. He is not omniscient but his knowledge is complete and full.
• Satan has seven crowns. This symbolizes authority, rule, and dominion—a crowned king who has a kingdom that he rules over. Scripture tells us that Satan is a crowned ruler and that his authority is well beyond anything that man ever thinks.
• Satan has ten horns, which symbolize great power, but power that pierces, rips, and tears. It symbolizes that he uses his head and authority in an evil way.
• Satan is the god of this world who blinds men’s minds. (2 Cor. 4:4) Says, “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
• Satan is the prince of this world. (John 12, 14, 16 speaks of the Satan as the prince of this world.
• He’s the ruler of the kingdom of the air. Ephesians 2:2 refers to Satan as the ruler of the kingdom of the air.
• He is the king of a kingdom. When Jesus was in the wilderness and was tempted by Satan, Satan took Jesus to a high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and offered them to Jesus.
• Satan has his grip on the whole world. 1 John 5: 19 mentions that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.
2. Secondly we are given the origin of the dragon or devil. This tells us where Satan came from. You almost have to look at the Greek to see what is being said. In the original Greek text it says his tail “sweeps” (present tense) a third part of heaven. That is, Satan pulls and drags a third of the stars (meaning angels) of heaven.
He “flung” them down or threw them down. This is past tense, that is, it tells us what Saran did long ago.
The point is this: today, in the present moment, Satan has authority over one third of the stars or angels of heaven. How? Because in the past he flung them down with himself.
Where were Satan and the angels flung down from? Heaven. They were the stars of heaven, but they were cast down from heaven. Eons ago, sometime before Man ever began, God created an angel, the highest and most glorious being ever created.
His name is Lucifer, which means star of the morning. He was the anointed cherub who covered the very throne of God itself. He was the angel put in charge of the glory of God’s very own throne.
But something happened: he did what so many people do. He began to look at himself, and he began to want to live like he wanted instead of like God wanted. He wanted to do his own thing instead of doing like God said. So he rebelled against God, and in his rebellion he led one third of the angelic beings with him.
So God had no choice but to cast him down from his exalted position in heaven. From what we can glean from Scripture this is what happened to Lucifer, how he became the devil, the arch-enemy of God. (Isa. 14: 12-15; Ezek. 28: 11-19)
3. Back to our outline. The third significant thing about this sign in verses 3 & 4 is the aim of the dragon or devil. Satan’s aim is to devour the woman, to destroy Israel. Why? It’s always been his aim. He is out to hurt God. And the best way he can do this is to turn the hearts of people away from God and lead them to sin and to follow the way of evil.
Now, go back in history to the time when God promised to send the Savior to the world. When God first promised to send Christ to save the world, Satan knew it. He was listening.
He was the serpent who had tempted Adam and Eve and led them to sin and hurt God. But God loved Adam and Eve and wanted to save them from sin and death so in Gen. 3:15 he promised to send the seed, the Savior of the world, who would crush the head and power of Satan.
Satan heard the promise. So he was bound to do all he could to delay the coming of the Seed, the Savior. He knew what we know: no person can stop God’s plan and will. But Satan wanted to get as many people as he could to sin and to turn away from God so that God’s heart would be cut and hurt.
He wanted to delay his own defeat and the crushing of his head as long as he could. This is what is meant in verse 4 that says. READ 4. Satan has tried from the beginning to destroy the seed of woman.
This is how Satan has attempted to hurt God; by doing all he could to devour the woman, the line of Israel. He did all he could to keep Jesus from being born. Now that Christ has come, Satan does all he can to turn people away from judgment to come.
This is the battle, the combat, the struggle that is going on behind the scenes in the spiritual world. And the war will wage on and on until the world ends.
Although this passage is dealing primarily with the great tribulation, the same spiritual struggle is waged in every generation of history. Satan is out to turn every person he can away from God. He wants people to follow him instead of God. He wants the obedience of people instead of people giving their obedience and loyalty to God.
READ 5. Here is the third character in the great tribulation, Jesus Christ Himself. Two points about this and we are through for tonight.
1. Jesus Christ was born or sent into the world to rule the world. He was sent by God to bring godliness and righteousness to earth, to get rid of sin and ungodliness in the world.
• He did this by the cross. On the cross Jesus made it possible for men to be forgiven their sins and to stand before God.
• He will also us the iron scepter against the nations of the world—that is, the ungodly and evil of the world—in the end time. Jesus will rule all nations and bring righteousness and godliness to this earth by exerting all the authority and discipline of God. In other words, He will bring the kingdom of God to earth.
2. The second point is that Jesus Christ ascended and was exalted to the throne of God. This is proof that He shall rule and reign and bring righteousness to the earth.
This male child is Jesus Christ and he is snatched up to God and to His throne before Satan devours Him.
