Chapter BY Chapter

Revelation 12

The Woman and the Dragon

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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.  She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth.  And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems.  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.  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, 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.

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Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.  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.  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.  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.  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!”

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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.  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.  The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood.  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.  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.

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Chapter 9 got us to the sixth trumpet.  In chapter 10, we saw an interlude with the Mighty Angel and the little scroll.  At that point, John has yet to speak about many peoples, languages, tribes and kings, and there is only one trumpet left.  In chapter 11, we see that the seventh trumpet sounded and it is announced that the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of the Lord and his Christ.  Now, when we get to chapter 12, we find that there is no definite result from the sounding of the seventh trumpet yet.  There are no judgments poured out on the earth.   Instead, we find that we get another interlude that gives us a picture of what is going on over a span of time that includes the tribulation, but perhaps includes some things that happen long before the tribulation.

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The first 7 words in chapter 12 are, “And a great sign appeared in heaven.”  This is important to note, and there are a few other times some similar things are said to denote the visions.  What is seen is not the literal thing, but something that represents something else.  This does not take away from the idea that the visions are about actual events in the future.  This whole section is premised by the words that John is being shown what must take place, “After this.”

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You have the following characters in this vision:

1. A woman clothed with the sun

2. A great red dragon

3. The Male child of the woman

4. Michael, the great angel.

5. Michael’s angels.

6. The Christ

7. The brothers – those redeemed by Christ

8. The rest of the woman’s offspring

 

A Woman Clothed With The Sun

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The woman clothed with the sun has the moon beneath her feet and a crown of twelve stars.  The church often equated this character to Mary, the mother of Jesus because it says in verse 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.”  So, this male child can only be equated with Jesus Christ.  This is why the woman clothed with the sun has been equated with Mary.  But it also says of her in verse 17, “the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.”  So, the woman must be something broader than just one person.  Could it be a sign of:

1. All of womanhood.

2. All of God’s people – the bride of Christ.

3. Something else.

 

First of all, if it is something else, there is nothing here to allude it to something else.  Secondly, if it is all of womanhood, it misses the mark because Satan isn’t after killing all of mankind, just the believers.  So, the best possibility of what the woman represents, is that it is the entirety of God’s people, the bride of Christ.  Mary and Joseph were certainly a part of that because they believed God, and they believed his angel.  So, as a part of the bride of Christ, and the community of believers, the male child, the Christ was born.  It is also the bride of Christ, the community of believers that produces “those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.”

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There are 3 peculiar things about the woman:

1. Clothed with the sun – the woman is clothed with the sun because that is the best quality of clothing that could be had.She is the brightest and gets the most attention. This emphasizes her majesty.

2. The moon beneath her feet – the moon is a light.It is the lesser light of the night, yet it is a light.The fact that this nightly light is by her feet denotes that her path will always be lit no matter the time of day.

3. A crown of twelve stars – Stars were thought to be messengers, and likely represent the 12 apostles and the gospel that was spread by them.

 

Psalm 104:2

 

“He wraps Himself in light as with a garment; He stretches out the heavens like a tent,”

 

Song of Solomon 6:10

 

“Who is this who shines like the dawn, as fair as the moon, as bright as the sun, as majestic as the stars in procession?”

 

A Great Red Dragon

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“And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems.”

The Great Red Dragon can only be Satan because it is said of him in verse 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 is also called the devil in verse 12.  So, we don’t need to guess on this one.  The Great Red Dragon is Satan in this vision.

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The Great Red Dragon, which is Satan, has seven heads, ten horns, and seven diadems on his head.  In the next chapter, there will be a beast with seven heads and ten horns.  Perhaps this imagery is a forecast of what will happen.  Perhaps Satan will control the beast in the next chapter.  We will also see more about this beast in chapter 17.  Revelation 17:9-12 defines the heads and the horns as follows:

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“This calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated; 10 they are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he does come he must remain only a little while. 11 As for the beast that was and is not, it is an eighth but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction. 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.”

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The Male Child

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This can only be the Christ because it says in verse 5, “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.” 

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Psalm 2:9,

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“You will break them an iron scepter; You will shatter them like pottery."

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God

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We know who God is.  We don’t need to define that any further.

 

Michael

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This is apparently the archangel, Michael, as spoken about by Daniel and Jude. 

 

Daniel 12:1

 

"Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued.”

 

Jude 1:9

 

“But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!"

 

Daniel 12:1,

 

“At that time Michael, the great prince who stands watch over your people, will rise up. There will be a time of distress such as never has occurred from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people--everyone whose name is found written in the book--will be delivered.”

 

Michael’s Angels

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They are Michael’s angels, that is, angels under Michael’s command.

 

The Christ

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We know that is Jesus Christ.

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The brothers – those redeemed by Christ

 

These are fellow Christians.

 

The rest of the woman’s offspring

 

These are those that have yet to become Christians.

 

Now let’s talk about what happens in this vision.

 

First, we see that the woman is pregnant and about to give birth.

 

Second. we see that Satan has swept down a third of all the stars of heaven and cast them down to earth.  This signifies that Satan is so powerful that he controls a third of the universe.  He has brought his forces to earth to do his will on earth.

 

Then we see Satan tries to devour the child that the woman is giving birth to.  This can only refer to the time when Herod gave orders to kill all the male children in Israel under a certain age because he was jealous of the announcement of the birth of the Messiah.

 

Matthew 2:16,

 

“When Herod saw that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was filled with rage. Sending orders, he put to death all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, according to the time he had learned from the Magi.”

 

Notice that the vision has gone outside of the time from of the tribulation.  The reason is that God shows John what is going on behind the scenes, where John cannot normally see.  God puts the events that John sees in perspective to what is going on in heaven and throughout the whole universe. 

 

Then we see that the Male child, the Messiah, was taken up to heaven to God and his throne.  This could only be the resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ.

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After that we jump to future time again and see that the woman fled to the wilderness, where there was a place prepared by God in which she would be nourished for 1,260 days.

 

Meanwhile, we get a meanwhile right after this from the Greek words, “Kai Egeneto,” meaning “and there was.” 

 

Meanwhile, “war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.  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.”

 

So, while everything else is going on, there is war in heaven.  This would be going on right now.  Michael and his angels are fighting against Satan and his own angels.  So, Satan and his angels are thrown down to earth and we are back to tribulation time.

 

Verses 10 – 12:

 

“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.  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.  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!”

 

So, the devil knows that his time is short, so what is he going to do?

 

“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.”

 

Satan is going to go after the bride of Christ and try to destroy it.

 

So, what happens to the bride of Christ?

 

“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.”

 

All throughout this time about the tribulation, we keep seeing that God repeatedly delivers his people.  Much like those that had the blood of the Lamb over their lentils in the Exodus, so here, those that are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb are saved from the plague of the flying scorpions, and here from the wrath of Satan.  And once again:

 

“The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood.  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.”

 

So now, what is Satan going to do?

 

“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.”

 

So, in other words, Satan is going to try to keep other people from becoming Christians.  Isn’t that much like what Satan is doing right now?

 

Can you think of some ways that Satan is keeping people from becoming Christians right now?

1. Political correctness

2. Gender confusion

3. Sexual orientation confusion

4. False Religions

5. Anti-Christian policies such as no public prayer, and no display of the 10 commandments

6. Christians falling into sin

7. Anti-Christian alliances

8. Population warfare

9. Invasion warfare

10. Marxism being taught in the schools and colleges.

 

What should we do about these things?

 

Song: O Bride of Christ by Redemption City Church