The Prelude
The sounding of the seventh trumpet in Revelation 11 and its affects will not be seen again till Revelation 15-18. Chapters 6-11 describes the events of the Tribulation up to the sounding of the seventh trumpet; chapters 12-14 recapitulate that same period, describing events from Satan’s vantage point. In addition to this Chapter 12 takes the reader back to the rebellion of Satan which is found in 12:3-4 with the result that the chronological narrative of the Tribulation events will resume in chapter 15. Today we will thus examine Revelation 12 which I have broken into four parts but thus discuss mainly the same key issues which we will be identifying here shortly. First we will define whom the woman, the dragon and the male child are. We will then take a look at some thought surrounding Petra as well as events surrounding Michael (Archangel) and discuss Michael’s purpose and mission as defending Israel (Daniel 12:1) and the fact that the reference to Michael is one of only two mentions in Scripture to an Archangel the other being Christ in 1st Thessalonians. Finally we will conclude with a look at how the Anti-Christ’s domain is limited first here to the earth, his fury against Israel and finally with the fact that while all this is going on God is still Sovereign.
Satan’s initial onslaught began in heaven when he tried to take the place of the Most High God, and when he rebelled (Isaiah 14:12-15; Ezek 28:12-17), one third of the angels foolishly and wickedly cast their lots with him. When the now dark angels cast their lots with them it is hard to imagine that they new Satan’s sinister plans although they had to have known that they wanted to take over the position of the Most High but what I find hard for them to understand would be the fact that they would have in turn eternal consequences for what they had done. Wanting to become like God, they became instead as much unlike Him as possible. These fallen angels or demons became Satan’s soldiers doing the bidding of their evil general. Instead of doing the divine purpose they are against the divine purpose which as a result make worth with both the holy angles and the human race.
This same is true with the human race. Eve choose to eat of the apple and Adam choose not to take up his position as a man and thus the whole human race plummeted into rebellion through listening to Satan’s schemes and tricks much like the dark angels did. Thus we see the nature of choice is revealed in our obedience to Christ or in our obedience to the satanic forces of darkness. Remaining neutral is not a choice which Jesus addressed in Matthew 12:30 when he declared “He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with me scatters.”
These final battles have not yet begun. These battles will take place as we will be seeing here in Revelation 12 in the last half of the seven year tribulation period, the time Jesus called the Great Tribulation (Matthew 24:21). At this time Satan aided by the Raptured Church and the presence of the demon hordes (9:1-11), will mount his most devastating assaults against Gods purposes and His people. Despite Satan’s greatest efforts though Satan will lose, the Lord Jesus Christ will effortlessly crush Satan and his forces (19:11-21) and send him to the abyss for the duration of the millennial kingdom (20:1-2). Finally after leading a final rebellion at the close of the Millennium, Satan will be consigned to eternal punishment in the lake of fire (20:3, 7-10).
The sounding of the seventh trumpet then will proclaim the triumphant victory of the Lord Jesus Christ over Satan’s forces. There will be joy at this time because Satan’s time will thus be limited which we discussed at the close of Revelation 11. The Tribulation then will feature both the unprecedented judgments and desperate fury of Satan’s efforts to thwart both the unprecedented judgments against mankind and God’s eschatological wrath but despite Satan’s greatest attempts will not be able to thwart God’s sovereign involvement in this and in all history. All this deadly combination leads us to say that the Tribulation will be the most devastating time in human history (Matthew 24:21-22). During that time, horrifying events will take place caused both by God’s judgments and by Satan’s fury. Before describing the final war the Apostle here first introduces the main characters involved in it: the woman (Israel), the dragon (Satan), and the male child (Jesus Christ).
Revelation 12:1-2, “1Then I witnessed in heaven an event of great significance. I saw a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon beneath her feet, and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2She was pregnant, and she cried out in the pain of labor as she awaited her delivery.”
An event of great significance points out the fact that this is the first of seven signs in the last half of Revelation (c.3; 13:13, 14; 15:1; 16:14; 19:20) Great appears repeatedly in this vision (vv.3,,12,14); and everything John saw seemed to be huge either in size of in significance. Witnessed can also be translated sign which describes a symbol that points to a reality. The literal approach to intrepting Scripture allows for normal use of symbolic language, but understands that it points to a literal reality. In this case however it goes to show that the woman was not an actual woman which John saw. This position is further strengthened by vs.17 in this chapter which shows that the woman is a symbolic mother.
The woman here is the second of four symbolic woman listed in Revelation. The first was an actual woman but had symbolic name of Jezebel for her characteristics (2:20), whom represented the fact that she was a false teacher who symbolized paganism. Another woman appears in Revelation 17:1-7, there represents the apostate church. The fourth woman, described in 19:7-8 as the bride of the Lamb (2 Cr 11:2) represents the true church. Some say that this woman represents the church but this cannot be since in context (vs.5) we are speaking about Israel. So then the woman here represents Israel as the Old Testament also pictures Israel as a woman, the adulterous wife of the Lord (Jer 3:1; 20; Ezek 16:31-35; Hos 2:2) whom God will ultimately restore to Himself (Isa 50:1). Within the context further in Revelation 11:19 adds further support for this position that the woman is Israel.
This should not be surprising to us since Daniel’s seventieth week of prophecy (the tribulation) will primarily concern Israel, just as the first sixty-nine did (Dan 9:25-27). This is in fulfillment of His promise to Israel in Jer 31:35-37, 33:20-26; 46:28; Amos 9:8). God has promised Israel a kingdom (Isa 65:17-25; Ezek 37:21-28; Dan 2:44; Zech 8:1-13) and national salvation (Zech 12:10-13:1; 13:8-9; Romans 11:26). Satan knows how God cherishes Israel perhaps better than any of us It should come as no surprise then that Satan will seek to destroy Israel as the coming of his demise nears the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to end his kingdom.
I saw a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon beneath her feet, and a crown of twelve stars on her head this reflects Josephs’s dream recorded in Genesis 37:9-11. The sun in this vision represents Jacob, the moon Rachel, and the eleven stars Joseph’s brothers. The allusion to Joseph’s dream is fitting since his life parallels Israel’s history. Both endured the indignity of captivity in Gentile nations, yet were in the end delivered and exalted to a place of prominence in a kingdom. That the woman is clothed with the sun reflects Israel’s unique glory, brilliance and dignity as a result of her exalted status as God’s chosen nation (Deut 7:6; 14:2; 1 Kings 3:8; Pss 33:12; 106:5; Isa 43:20). This then would link to Israel’s existence as a nation (Genesis 12:1-2) which is linked in turn to the Abrahamic covenant which Israel’s status as a nation was bound into. This would have lead the people of Israel to remember the covenant that God had made with them and the moon was part of the cycle of Israel’s required times of worship (Numbers 29:5-6; Neh 10:33; Ps 81:3; Isa 1:13-15; Col 2:16). The crown here which is stephanos the crown associated with triumph in the midsts of suffering and struggle and of twelve stars which Joseph was the twelfth and on the woman’s head refers to the twelve tribes of Israel, which further leads us to see that God will protect Israel at any cost.
2She was pregnant, and she cried out in the pain of labor as she awaited her delivery.”
This is also familiar Old Testament imagery describing Israel (Isa 26:17-18; 66:7-9; Jer 4:31; 13:21; Mic 4:1-; 5:3) That she is pregnant gives further evidence that this idenity is Israel because the church cannot be a mother since she is not yet married (19:7-9; 2nd Cor 11:2). Like any pregnant woman in labor feels the pain so the nation of Israel is in pain awaiting the time of the return of the Messiah to come forth. The cause of some of the pain was persecution by Satan, who attemts to destroy the mother. The nation was in pain when the Messiah came the first time, and so will it be at His second coming. Ever since the first promise of a Redeemer in Genesis 3:15, Satan has attacked Israel. For centuries upon centuries Israel has agonized and suffered and longed as well for the Child who would come to destroy Satan, sin and death, and establish the promised kingdom. There has been no nation in the history of mankind that has suffered more than Israel some from God’s chastening, and also from Satan’s furious efforts to destroy the nation through whom the Messiah would come. Having thus introduced the woman’s agonizing labor pains we now turn to the cause of her suffering.
Revelation 12:3-4, “3Suddenly, I witnessed in heaven another significant event. I saw a large red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, with seven crowns on his heads. 4His tail dragged down one-third of the stars, which he threw to the earth. He stood before the woman as she was about to give birth to her child, ready to devour the baby as soon as it was born.”
Revelation 12:9, “This great dragon--the ancient serpent called the Devil, or Satan, the one deceiving the whole world--was thrown down to the earth with all his angels.”
This dragon is here identified as no other than Satan himself. The symbolic language used to describe him pictures the reality of his person and character. Only in Revelation is he mentioned as a dragon. In the Old Testament the same word in Hebrew translated dragon (Isaiah 27:1; 51;9) is also translated monster or sea monster (Gen 1:21; Job 7:12; Pss 74:13; 148:7; Jer 51:34; Ezek 29:3; 32:2). This picture then describes a large ferocious and terrifying animal. Red the color of fury which is a fitting description for the serpent stresses Satan’s vicious deadly, destructive nature. The Hebrew word for serpent (nachash) used in Genesis 3:1 is used interchangeable in some text with the Hebrew word for dragon (tannin) (Ex 7:9, 15). The animal described in the Garden of Eden was a reptile but one not yet cast down to its belly (Genesis 3:14). Likely though it was more upright a dragon standing upon two legs, cursed to walk on four legs closed to the ground or slither like a snake.
Seven heads and ten horns, with seven crowns on his heads shows that he rules the world. The seven heads with seven diadems (diadem; royal crowns symbolizing power and authority) represent seven consecutive world empires running their course under Satan’s dominion: Egypt; Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome and Antichrist’s future empire (17:9-10). The final kingdom however will be a kingdom ruled by the Antichrist, which will consist of a ten-nation confederacy; the ten horns represent the kings who will rule under he Antichrist (17:12; 13:1; Dan 7:23-25). The shifting from diadems from the dragon heads to the beast horns (13:1) represents the shift in power from the seven consecutive world empires to the ten kings under the final Antichrist.
4His tail dragged down one-third of the stars, which he threw to the earth. The stars of heaven are the dark angels which we discussed above in the introduction. We do not know how many forces Satan or how many angels Satan took with him other than the fact that the number of angles in Revelation 5:11 says myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands. Myriad in the Greek language is the highest number. All that we know is that one third of the angels fell and 9:16 reveals that two hundred million demons will be released from captivity near the Euphrates River, there must be at least four hundred million holy angels. Uncounted other demons will have already been released as was discussed in Revelation 9:1-3. In addition to these two groups of bound demons there are millions of other angels who are currently running free to roam the earth and the heavenly realm (Ephesians 6:12; Col 2:15). They along with the evil men under Satan’s command will add to both the numbers of unbound demons and holy angels to the calculations given above which leads us to not be sure of the exact numbers of the host both for and against the forces of darkness.
He stood before the woman as she was about to give birth to her child, ready to devour the baby as soon as it was born which points to the fact that Satan will stop at nothing to destroy the people of God and Israel as well. Exodus 1:8-9, 11:15-2:10 shows Satan’s great hatred towards Israel as well. From a human perspective Pharoah attempted to destroy the Israelites because he believed to be a threat to his power but in the end Phraoh was an operative of Satan who sought to wipe out the people from whom the Messiah would come. It is also true that Satan can act within the purposes of God for Israel. Satan knows God’s plans for God’s people as well as for His covenant nation Israel. God will use anyone who is willing who has a heart set upon Him to thwart Satan’s agenda.
] During the period of the judges, Satan used Israel’s pagan neighbors in an attempt to destroy them. Yet God preserved His people through all of those assaults, raising up judges to rescue them from their oppressors. Later, Satan tried to use Saul to murder David and thus eliminated the messianic line (1 Sam 18:10-11). During the days of the divided kingdom, the messianic line twice dwindled to one fragile child (2Chron 21:17,22 10-12). Still later, Satan inspired Haman to undertake his genocidal mission against the Jewish people (Est 3-9). But God used Esther to save her people from disaster. So throughout the history of Israel the devil incited the Israelites to murder their own children as sacrifices to idols (Lev 18:21; 2 Kings 16:3; 2 Chron 28:3; Ps 106:37-38l Ezek 16:20). This verse also could point towards the time before the birth of God the Son he Lord Jesus Christ when Satan also again tried to destroy the one who would redeem the world through His sacrifice on the Cross. Satan also tried to destroy Jesus in Matthew 2:13,16 at His birth which could show further support for the above position that this verse goes back to the birth of Christ or God the Son before the foundations of the world, but this is a weak argument since in view we are seeing the birth of the baby not the birth of God the Son and since God was not created He always was this argument is even further weakened. This birth was the heavenly reality of an earthly activity taking place.
At the outset of our Lord’s earthly ministry, Satan tempted Him to mistrust God Matthew 4:1-11). But the devil’s efforts to get Jesus to abandon His mission did not succeed. Satan tried to use the people of Nazareth to kill Jesus (Luke 4:28-30), but their enraged attempt to “throw Him down to cliff” (vs.29) ended in failure when He calmly “passed through their midst’s and went His way (vs.30). Satan’s other attempts to cut short Jesus’ earthly ministry also ended in failure, “because His hour had not yet come, “ (John 7:30; 8:20). Even the devil’s seeming victroy at the Cross was in reality his ultimate defeat (Col 2:15; Heb 2:14; 1 peter 3:18-20; 1 John 3:8). So here the dragon is clearly identified and the ministry of Satan totally exposed.
Revelation 12:5-6, “5She gave birth to a boy who was to rule all nations with an iron rod. And the child was snatched away from the dragon and was caught up to God and to his throne. 6And the woman fled into the wilderness, where God had prepared a place to give her care for 1,260 days.”
Despite Satan’s greatest attempts to thwart the Sovereign involvement of the Godhead the woman (Israel) gave birth to a boy. The birth of this male child the Lord Jesus Christ in fulfillment of the Messianic prophecies regarding Himself (Romans 1:3; Romans 9:5) was the fulfillment of prophecy (Genes s3:15; Isa 7:14; 9:5; Mich 5:2). Israel brought forth the Messiah. The Word of God stresses this concept here that Jesus was of Jewish lineage that He was the son of Abraham (Matthew 1:1), a member of the tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:10; Mic 5:2; Rev 5:5), and a descendant of David (Matthew 1:1; 2 Sam 7:12-16). Satan’s throne will be limited as his power even now but Christ will rule all the nations of the world with a rod of iron during His earthly millennial kingdom which is in reference to v.10; 2:26-27; 11:15-19:15). Psalm 2:709 indicates that this rule is a breaking, shattering work of judgments. In fact the very poimanio (rule) carries the connotation of “destroy”, as it does in 2:27. The Messiah will come and destroy all the nations as we have discussed already and His kingdom will have dominion over the nations that enter to populate that kingdom. An iron rod is also one that cannot be broken. The work of Christ will prevail and the phrase rod of iron speaks of the resoluteness of Christ’s rule; He will swiftly and immediately jjudge all sin and put down any rebellion.
Was caught up to God and to his throne at His ascension. Christ’s exaltation signified the Father’s acceptance of His work of redemption (Hebrews 1:3). Satan could not stop Christ from fulfilling His mission here on earth nor His mission now in the future because Satan’s power is limited in the palm of an all knowing sovereign God whose rule is eternal and forever. Peter expressed this in Acts 2:24, “God raised Christ up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.” Satan was the cause of the holocaust, and the massacre of the Jews throughout all history. During the Tribulation, Satan will increase his efforts to destroy the Jewish people so that the nation cannot be saved as the Bible promises (Zech 12:10-13:1; Romans 11:25-27). And so that there will be none left alive to enter the millennial kingdom, he will seek to kill believing Jews which we have already discussed will always be Satan’s prime target.
6And the woman fled into the wilderness, where God had prepared a place to give her care for 1,260 days.”
This here points what will be discussed further in verses 13-17 surrounding the retreat of Israel into the wilderness. The only place that would provide for such a massive amount of people would be Petra although this is not revealed within the Scriptures it is definitely the place. Some have suggested that this place would be east of the Jordon River and south of the Dead Sea in the territory formerly occupied by Moab, Ammon and Edom (Daniel 11:40-31). They will be nourished and defended by God (VVs.14-16), just as their ancestors were during the forty years of wandering in the wilderness. The mention to 1260 days harkens back to the two witnesses length of three and a half years in 11:2-3; 12:14; 13:5 as well give further support for this, corresponding to the last half of the Tribulation, the period Jesus called the Great Tribulation which we have already here discussed. Those Jews who remain behind in Jerusalem will come under the influence of the two witnesses, and many in that city will be redeemed (11:13). Eventually, in spite of Satan’s efforts, “all Israel will be saved” (Romans 11:26). We will be further discussing Petra in verses 13-14, “13And when the dragon realized that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the child. 14But she was given two wings like those of a great eagle. This allowed her to fly to a place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be cared for and protected from the dragon for a time, times, and half a time.” The great cosmic war thus the war of the ages between God and Satan will thus reach its climax and near its ending all at the same time. John here provides substantial background information that is important on that war and introduces its key figures. Then the vision here changes to a description of the war, both in the heavenly and earthly phases, and its inevitable outcome as well. This is part one of the War of the Ages which we have thus laid the Prelude to the War in heaven in verse 7-12and the war on earth in 13-17.
Pastor David
