The War Behind The World
Notes
Transcript
THE WAR BEHIND THE WORLD
THE WAR BEHIND THE WORLD
Revelation 12:1–17
Revelation 12:1–17
Big Idea
Big Idea
From Eden to the end, Satan has opposed God's plan of redemption, but every attack only proves that Christ's victory is certain.
Bottom Line
Bottom Line
The dragon may rage, but God still reigns.
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
Have you ever noticed that the world feels like a battlefield?
Not just the headlines.
Not just wars.
Not just politics.
But life itself.
You decide to follow Jesus, and suddenly temptation intensifies.
You commit to prayer, and distractions multiply.
You begin growing spiritually, and opposition appears.
You try to pursue purity, and the battle gets harder.
You decide to trust God, and fear starts screaming.
Why?
Why does following Jesus feel like a fight?
Why does evil seem so persistent?
Why does the world feel so broken?
Why does the Christian life sometimes feel like a war?
Because it is.
Revelation 12 pulls back the curtain and reveals something most people never see.
Behind every temptation...
Behind every lie...
Behind every accusation...
Behind every attack on truth...
There is a dragon.
And behind every promise...
Behind every act of preservation...
Behind every victory...
Behind every redeemed sinner...
There is a King.
Revelation 12 is not just about the future.
It is the story behind every story.
In fact, Revelation 12 begins long before Revelation.
Long before Bethlehem.
Long before Rome.
Long before John.
It begins in a garden.
Genesis 3.
A serpent.
A woman.
A promise.
God looked at the serpent and said:
And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
From that moment forward, history became a battlefield.
And Revelation 12 shows us that war.
The war between:
the serpent and the seed
the dragon and the child
darkness and the kingdom of God
But here's the good news:
The dragon keeps fighting, and the dragon keeps losing.
1. THE DRAGON COULD NOT STOP THE SAVIOR Revelation 12:1–6
1. THE DRAGON COULD NOT STOP THE SAVIOR Revelation 12:1–6
The first thing John saw in this vision was a great sign, the first of seven signs in the last half of Revelation (cf. v. 3; 13:13, 14; 15:1; 16:14; 19:20).
Mega (great) appears repeatedly in this vision (cf. vv. 3, 9, 12, 14); everything John saw seemed to be huge either in size or in significance.
Sēmeion (sign) describes a symbol that points to a reality.
The literal approach to interpreting Scripture allows for normal use of symbolic language, but understands that it points to a literal reality.
In this case, the description clearly shows that the woman John saw was not a real woman.
Also, the reference to “the rest of her children,” those “who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus” (v. 17), shows that this woman is a symbolic mother.
John introduces three characters:
The woman.
The dragon.
The child.
And immediately the tension begins.
God's Promise Was Revealed (vv. 1–2)
God's Promise Was Revealed (vv. 1–2)
A great 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. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth.
The woman appears:
clothed with the sun
moon beneath her feet
twelve stars on her head
The woman is the second of four symbolic women identified in Revelation.
The first, though an actual woman, had the symbolic name Jezebel (2:20). She was a false teacher and symbolizes paganism.
Another (third) symbolic woman, depicted as a harlot, appears in 17:1–7. She represents the apostate church.
The fourth woman, described in 19:7–8 as the bride of the Lamb (cf. 2 Cor. 11:2), represents the true church.
Some argue that the woman in this present vision represents the church, but as the context makes clear (cf. v. 5), she represents Israel.
The Old Testament also pictures Israel as a woman, the adulterous wife of the Lord (Jer. 3:1, 20; Ezek. 16:32–35; Hos. 2:2) whom God will ultimately restore to Himself (Isa. 50:1).
A reference to the ark of the covenant (11:19) adds further support for identifying the woman as Israel.
Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a severe hailstorm.
This takes us directly back to when John saw that the woman was clothed with the sun, and had the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.
That fascinating description reflects Joseph’s dream, recorded in Genesis 37:9-11:
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.”
When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?” His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.
Jacob.
The sun represents Jacob
Rachel.
The moon represents Rachel
Joseph’s brothers.
The eleven stars represent Joseph’s brothers
This is the eventual twelve tribes of Israel
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
This showcases that: The woman is Israel.
The woman was clothed with the sun reflects redeemed Israel’s unique glory, brilliance, and dignity because of her exalted status as God’s chosen nation (cf. Deut. 7:6; 14:2; 1 Kings 3:8; Pss. 33:12; 106:5; Isa. 43:20).
It also links her with Jacob (the sun in Joseph’s dream), an heir in the Abrahamic covenant; Israel’s continued existence as a nation reflects the ongoing fulfillment of that covenant (cf. Gen. 12:1–2).
The reference to the moon under her feet may be a further description of Israel’s exalted status.
It could also include the concept of God’s covenantal relationship with Israel, since the moon was part of the cycle of Israel’s required times of worship (cf. Num. 29:5–6; Neh. 10:33; Ps. 81:3; Isa. 1:13–14; Col. 2:16).
The crown (stephanos; the crown associated with triumph in the midst of suffering and struggle) of twelve stars (Joseph being the twelfth) on the woman’s head refers to the twelve tribes of Israel.
And notice:
She is pregnant.
Having described the woman’s attire, John noted her condition: she was with child. That also is familiar Old Testament imagery describing Israel (cf. Isa. 26:17–18; 66:7–9; Jer. 4:31; 13:21; Mic. 4:10; 5:3).
That the woman is pregnant further confirms her identity as Israel; the church cannot be a mother since she is not yet married (19:7–9; 2 Cor. 11:2).
She is suffering.
She is crying out in labor.
Being pregnant, the woman cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth. Just like a pregnant woman in labor feels pain, so the nation of Israel was in pain, waiting for Messiah to come forth.
The cause of some of the pain is the persecution by Satan, who attempts to destroy the mother.
The nation was in pain when the Messiah came the first time.
So will it be at His second coming.
Ever since the first promise of a Redeemer who would come to destroy him (Gen. 3:15), Satan has attacked Israel. For centuries, Israel agonized and suffered, longing for the Child who would come to destroy Satan, sin, and death, and establish the promised kingdom.
No nation in history has suffered as long or as severely as Israel has, both from God’s chastening, and also from Satan’s furious efforts to destroy the nation through whom the Messiah would come.
Why?
Because all of history has been waiting for this child.
Generation after generation asked:
Will the promised seed finally come?
Will the serpent crusher finally arrive?
Will God's promise stand?
Some of you are living in the tension between promise and fulfillment right now.
Some of you are living in the tension between promise and fulfillment right now.
God has spoken.
God has promised.
But all you see are labor pains.
Difficulty.
Waiting.
Confusion.
Revelation 12 reminds us:
Just because God is silent does not mean God is absent.
And just because fulfillment is delayed does not mean God's promise has failed.
God's greatest works often come through seasons of greatest pressure.
God's Messiah Was Targeted (vv. 3–4)
God's Messiah Was Targeted (vv. 3–4)
Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. Its 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 it might devour her child the moment he was born.
Then another sign, the second appears: A great red dragon, the women’s mortal enemy
Verse 9 clearly identifies the great red dragon as Satan (cf. 20:2).
Satan, of course, is not an actual dragon (any more than Israel is an actual woman) but a malevolent spirit being, a fallen angel.
The symbolic language used to describe him pictures the reality of his person and character. Only in Revelation is Satan referred to as a dragon; before that he is called (among other names) a serpent (Gen. 3:1ff.; 2 Cor. 11:3).
A dragon is a far more terrifying symbol. In the Old Testament the same Hebrew word translated dragon (Isa. 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).
It pictures a large, ferocious, and terrifying animal. Red, the color of fiery destruction and bloodshed, further stresses Satan’s vicious, deadly, destructive nature.
In the words of Jesus, “He was a murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44). The Hebrew word for “serpent” (nachash) used in Genesis 3:1 is used interchangeably in some texts with the Hebrew word for dragon (tannin) (cf. Ex. 7:9, 15).
So the animal Satan used in the Garden of Eden was a reptile, but one not yet cast down to its belly (Gen. 3:14). Likely, it was more upright—a dragon standing upon two legs, cursed to walk on four legs close to the ground, or slither like a snake.
Red is a fitting color for the dragon, since he attacks both the woman and her child.
You can read Ezekiel 29:1–5, which describes Pharaoh as the enemy of God, captures the essence of this frightening imagery used to describe Satan
The dragon is further described as having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven crowns.
He is depicted as a seven-headed monster that rules the world.
Satan has been allowed by God to rule the world since the Fall and will continue to do so until the seventh trumpet sounds (11:15).
The seven heads with their seven diadems (diadema; 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).
“This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits. They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for only a little while.
The final kingdom, ruled by Antichrist, will be a ten-nation confederacy; the ten horns represent the kings who will rule under Antichrist (17:12; cf. 13:1; Dan. 7:23–25).
The shifting of the crowns (diadems) from the dragon’s heads to the beast’s horns (13:1) reveals the shift in power from the seven consecutive world empires to the ten kings under the final Antichrist.
Satan’s pervasive, evil influence is not limited to the human realm, but extended first into the angelic realm. In the picturesque language of John’s vision, the dragon’s tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth.
The references to the dragon’s angels in verses 7 and 9 indicate that the stars of heaven are angels.
The genitive case offers further support for that interpretation: these are stars belonging to heaven; that is their proper abode.
Angels are depicted symbolically as stars elsewhere in Scripture (9:1; Job 38:7).
When Satan fell (Isa. 14:12–15; Ezek. 28:12–17), he swept away a third of the angelic host with him. Along with their defeated leader, those evil angels were cast from heaven to the earth. (It should be noted that although he was cast from his dwelling in heaven, Satan, in this present age, has access to God’s presence; see 12:10; Job 1, 2.
As noted in the discussion of 12:7–9 in chapter 2 of this volume, he will be permanently barred from heaven after his defeat by Michael and the holy angels during the Tribulation.)
The number of angels who joined Satan in his rebellion is not revealed, but is vast.
Revelation 5:11 says that the number of the angels around God’s throne numbered “many of many (myriads of myriads), and thousands of thousands.”
Myriad does not represent an exact number; it was the highest number the Greeks expressed in a word. Since 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 thousands of other demons will have already been released from the abyss earlier in the Tribulation (9:1–3). In addition to those two groups of bound demons, there are millions of others who are currently free to roam the earth and the heavenly realm (cf. Eph. 6:12; Col. 2:15).
They, along with evil men under his control, assist Satan in his unholy war against God. Adding the (unrevealed) number of these unbound demons to the calculations given above increases the numbers of both the holy angels and the demons.
As the next event in his dramatic vision unfolded, John noted that the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.
Throughout history, Satan has bent all of his efforts toward persecuting the people of God.
Abel was a righteous, obedient man; Satan prompted Cain to kill him. In his first epistle, John wrote, 1 John 3:12:
Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous.
Seeking to produce a mongrel, half-human half-demon and thus unredeemable race of men, Satan sent demons (“sons of God”; the same Hebrew phrase refers to angels in Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7; Pss. 29:1; 89:6) to cohabits with human women (Gen. 6:1–4).
Because they were the chosen people through whom the Messiah was to come, and by whom the good news of forgiveness was to be proclaimed, Satan reserved his special hatred for Israel.
After Joseph’s death, the Israelites became slaves in Egypt. In that place, the fates both of the nation and of its human deliverer hung by a slender thread.
Read Exodus 1:8-9, 1:15-2:10 to get better context on this
From a human perspective, Pharaoh attempted to destroy the Israelites because he believed them to be a threat to his power.
But in reality, Pharaoh was an operative of Satan, who sought to wipe out the people from whom the Messiah would come. It is also true to say that Satan was acting within the purposes of God for Israel. The courage of the Hebrew midwives and God’s sovereign protection of Moses, whom He would later use to deliver Israel from Egyptian bondage, thwarted Satan’s schemes.
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 eliminate the messianic line (cf. 1 Sam. 18:10–11).
During the days of the divided kingdom, the messianic line twice dwindled to one fragile child (2 Chron. 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. Throughout their history, the devil incited the Israelites to murder their own children as sacrifices to idols (cf. Lev. 18:21; 2 Kings 16:3; 2 Chron. 28:3; Ps. 106:37–38; Ezek. 16:20).
Having failed to wipe out the people of God and the messianic line, Satan desperately attempted to murder the Messiah Himself before He could do His saving work. John saw that the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child (Christ).
Satan attacked Jesus first through Herod, who attempted to kill the baby Jesus in Matthew 2:13, 16
When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”
When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.
And suddenly we realize something.
The dragon isn't just waiting for this child.
He's been waiting for thousands of years.
Think about it.
Why Cain and Abel?
Why Pharaoh?
Why Athaliah?
Why Haman?
Why Herod?
Different names.
Different centuries.
Same dragon.
Every attempt was aimed at one goal:
Stop the promised seed.
Destroy the Savior before He arrives.
Because Satan understands something many people miss.
This isn't merely about people.
This is about redemption.
If the child never comes, the cross never happens.
Salvation never comes.
The kingdom never arrives.
Imagine a sniper hiding for centuries waiting for one target.
Imagine a sniper hiding for centuries waiting for one target.
That's the dragon.
Generation after generation.
Watching.
Waiting.
Planning.
Hating.
But every shot misses, because God's promise cannot die.
God's Son Was Victorious (vv. 5–6)
God's Son Was Victorious (vv. 5–6)
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. The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.
In spite of all of Satan’s relentless efforts to prevent it, the woman (Israel) gave birth to a son.
The incarnation of the male child, the Lord Jesus Christ, “who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh” (Rom. 1:3; cf. Rom. 9:5), was the fulfillment of prophecy (cf. Gen. 3:15; Isa. 7:14; 9:6; Mic. 5:2). Israel brought forth the Messiah.
The Bible emphasizes that Jesus was of Jewish lineage. He was a son of Abraham (Matt. 1:1), a member of the tribe of Judah (Gen. 49:10; Mic. 5:2; Rev. 5:5), and a descendant of David (Matt. 1:1; cf. 2 Sam. 7:12–16).
And then verse 5 almost feels abrupt.
The child is born.
The child is caught up to God.
At His ascension.
Christ’s exaltation signifies the Father’s acceptance of His work of redemption (Heb. 1:3)
The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
Satan could not stop Christ from accomplishing redemption and therefore being exalted to the right hand of the Father as a perfect Savior. In his sermon on the Day of Pentecost, Peter declared in Acts 2:24:
But God raised him [Christ] from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.
The child will rule the nations.
Psalm 2:7–9 indicates that this rule is a breaking, shattering work of judgment. In fact, the verb poimainō (rule) carries the connotation of “destroy,” as it does in Revelation 2:27.
The Messiah will come and destroy all the nations (19:11–21) and in His kingdom have dominion over the nations that enter to populate that kingdom.
An iron rod is also one that cannot be broken. Just as all of Satan’s past efforts to hinder Christ have failed, so also will his future efforts fail (cf. 11:15). The phrase rod of iron speaks of the resoluteness of Christ’s rule; He will swiftly and immediately judge all sin and put down any rebellion.
Wait.
What about Bethlehem?
What about miracles?
What about Calvary?
What about the resurrection?
John skips all of it.
Why?
Because from heaven's perspective the outcome was never in doubt.
The dragon couldn't stop:
the incarnation
the cross
the empty tomb
the ascension
Jesus wins.
Again.
And then Israel is protected in the wilderness.
Notice this:
Before the woman flees, God already prepared a place.
Before the attack came, God already had provision.
Before the crisis arrive, God already had protection.
Some of you are terrified about what's coming next.
Some of you are terrified about what's coming next.
You don't know:
how the relationship will end
where the money will come from
what the diagnosis will be
what the future holds
Can I remind you of something?
Before your crisis arrives, God is already there.
The dragon couldn't stop the Savior.
The dragon couldn't stop the Savior.
So what happens next?
If he can't stop Christ, he turns his attention toward heaven itself.
And what follows is one of the most dramatic scenes in Revelation.
A war in heaven.
The great cosmic war of the ages between God and Satan that began with Satan’s rebellion is set to reach its climax.
In this passage John provided important background information on that war and introduced its key figures.
Then his vision turned to a description of the war, both in its heavenly and earthly phases, and its inevitable outcome.
2. THE DRAGON COULD NOT WIN THE WAR Revelation 12:7–12
2. THE DRAGON COULD NOT WIN THE WAR Revelation 12:7–12
Imagine this scene.
Michael.
Angels.
The dragon.
Demons.
War breaks out in heaven.
And for a moment the tension rises.
What happens?
Who wins?
John's answer is immediate.
The dragon loses. Again.
Satan Was Cast Down (vv. 7–9)
Satan Was Cast Down (vv. 7–9)
Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 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.
Notice what John doesn't say.
He doesn't say:
"The battle was close."
He doesn't say:
"Michael barely survived."
He doesn't say:
"The outcome hung in the balance."
Because it didn't.
Satan is powerful.
But he is not sovereign.
Satan is dangerous.
But he is not divine.
This is not:
good versus evil.
This is not:
God versus an equal rival.
This is Creator versus creature.
One of the most pervasive and persistent popular myths about Satan pictures him (complete with pitchfork, horns, and pointed tail) as being in charge of hell.
In reality, Satan is not in hell; in fact, he has never been there. He will not be sentenced to the lake of fire until after his final rebellion is crushed at the end of the Millennium (20:7–10). And when he does enter hell, Satan will not be in charge; he will be the lowest inmate there, the one undergoing the most horrible punishment ever inflicted on any created being.
Far from being in hell, Satan currently divides his time between roaming the earth “seeking someone to devour” (1 Pet. 5:8) and being in heaven, where he also engages in his doomed attempt to overthrow God’s Person, purposes, plans, and people.
One way he seeks to do that is by constantly accusing believers before God’s throne (cf. 12:10). Satan ceaselessly harangues God about the unworthiness of believers, hypocritically appealing to God’s righteousness to further his own unrighteous aims.
The unachievable goal of his accusations is to shatter the unbreakable bonds that inseparably link believers to the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:29–39). There is no possibility of that happening, however, since no one can snatch a believer out of the hands of Jesus or the Father (John 10:28–29).
Still, Satan works on earth to turn God’s children against Him and in heaven to turn God against His children. But, as John proves, saving faith and eternal life are unbreakable realities.
As part of their war against God, Satan and his demon hosts also battle the holy angels.
That is not surprising, since Scripture describes the devil as “the prince of the power of the air” (Eph. 2:2), as well as “the ruler of this world” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11).
His theater of operations thus includes both the heavens and the earth, and the war of the ages is being fought at every conceivable level—moral, ideological, philosophical, theological, and supernatural.
Satan’s battle plan for the earthly phase of the war of the ages is brutally simple: to eliminate all those who serve God.
If he could, he would kill them all. If not that, he would destroy their faith, if that were possible. Were he able to rid the earth of all those who serve God, the devil would achieve his goal of unifying the entire world under his rule.
It may be noted at this point that such a reality will occur when the believers on earth are raptured to heaven (John 14:1–6; 1 Cor. 15:51–54; 1 Thess. 4:13–18). The Rapture will be followed by the Tribulation, in which Satan does gain the fullest rule of the planet he will ever have (13:4–10).
Satan longs to be permanently what he is only temporarily, the god of an unrighteous world (cf. 2 Cor. 4:4), and to be worshiped by everyone (cf. Matt. 4:9). To achieve those goals, Satan desperately wants to prevent the Lord Jesus Christ from establishing His kingdom—both now spiritually in the hearts of men and in its future millennial and eternal forms. Satan’s evil plans will not succeed, however, for Scripture reveals that he is already a defeated foe.
Anticipating His victory over Satan at the Cross, Jesus said in John 12:31
Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out.
To the Romans Paul wrote in Rom. 16:20 (cf. Gen. 3:15):
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.
The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.
While the writer of Hebrews declared that through His death Jesus “render[ed] powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Heb. 2:14
Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—
In 1 John 4:4 the apostle John declared:
You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
Though Satan was defeated at the Cross, his sentence has not yet been fully carried out. And though he understands his destiny as revealed in Scripture, Satan nevertheless relentlessly continues to fight his losing battle against God. Thus, the war of the ages will continue until Satan is incarcerated temporarily in the abyss (20:1–3) and then permanently in hell (20:10).
Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon.
The grammatical construction of that phrase in the Greek text indicates that Satan (the dragon) will start this battle. It could be translated “Michael and his angels had to fight the dragon.” The Bible does not reveal how angels fight, nor does our limited knowledge of the heavenly realm permit us to speculate
While it is impossible to be dogmatic, this ultimate battle may be triggered by the Rapture of the church. Describing that event the apostle Paul wrote, 1 Thess. 4:16–17
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
Possibly, as the raptured believers pass through their realm, the prince of the power of the air and his demon hosts will try to hinder their passage. That may trigger the battle with Michael and the holy angels.
Michael and the dragon (Satan) have known each other since they were created, and the battle during the Tribulation will not be the first time they have opposed each other.
Michael is always seen in Scripture as the defender of God’s people against satanic destruction.
The New Testament also reveals Michael to be the defender of God’s people. Jude 9 describes his conflict with Satan over the body of Moses
After Moses’ death (Deut. 34:5–6), Michael contested Satan for possession of Moses’ body, which Satan apparently wanted to use for some pernicious purpose. In the Lord’s power, Michael won the battle and subsequently “[the Lord] buried [Moses] in the valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor; but no man knows his burial place to this day” (Deut. 34:6).
Significantly, Jude 9 describes Michael as an archangel.
The only other reference to an archangel in Scripture is in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, which reveals that at the Rapture “the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel.”
It is possible that the archangel in that passage is Michael and that he is shouting as he confronts Satan’s attempt to interfere with the Rapture.
The reference to the dragon and his angels reinforces the truth that the demon hosts are under Satan’s command—a principle stated by Jesus in Matthew 25:41
All of Satan’s attempts to oppose God throughout history have failed, and he will lose this final angelic battle as well.
The devil and his angels are not strong enough to defeat God, Michael, and the holy angels. Satan will suffer such a complete defeat that there will no longer be a place found for him and his demon hosts in heaven.
The outcome was never uncertain.
Satan Was Thrown Out (v. 10)
Satan Was Thrown Out (v. 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 Messiah.
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters,
who accuses them before our God day and night,
has been hurled down.
Now John reveals Satan's favorite weapon.
Not possession.
Not power.
Not miracles.
Accusation.
He is:
"the accuser of our brothers and sisters."
And here's why this matters.
Most of us don't hear Satan saying:
Worship me.
Most of us hear Satan saying:
Look at you.
You're filthy.
You're fake.
You're never going to change.
God is tired of you.
You're too far gone.
You call yourself a Christian?
Some of you walked into this room carrying those accusations.
Not because you don't love Jesus.
But because you know your failures.
You know your struggles.
You know your secrets.
And Satan does too.
But here's what Satan forgets.
The Courtroom
The Courtroom
Imagine a courtroom.
The prosecutor stands.
The evidence is overwhelming.
Every sin.
Every failure.
Every compromise.
Every secret.
Every accusation is true.
And then Jesus stands.
Not to deny the evidence.
Not to excuse the sin.
But to declare:
Paid in full.
The evidence remains.
But the penalty is gone.
Romans 8
Romans 8
Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.
Who can bring an accusation against God's elect?
No one.
Why?
Because the Judge is your Father.
The Advocate is your Savior.
And the payment has already been made.
Believers Overcome Through Christ (v. 11)
Believers Overcome Through Christ (v. 11)
They triumphed over 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.
This is the heart of the chapter.
This is the emotional center.
This is where Revelation 12 stops being about cosmic warfare and starts being about us.
How do the tribulation believers overcome?
Not by trying harder.
Not by becoming stronger.
Not by spiritual gimmicks.
Not by formulas.
Not by shouting at demons.
Three realities.
1. By The Blood Of The Lamb
1. By The Blood Of The Lamb
Like their martyred brethren already in heaven, they “washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev. 7:14).
“You were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers,” wrote Peter, “but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ” (1 Pet. 1:18–19).
These suffering believers knew the forgiveness that Paul wrote of in Romans 4:7–8: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will not take into account.”
The truth that “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1) applied to them.
No accusation against the suffering saints of the Great Tribulation will stand, just as no accusation against any believer in any age will stand, because the Lamb’s blood was shed for all their sins.
The first and most important key to defeating Satan’s assaults is to “take the helmet of salvation” (Eph. 6:17; cf. 1 Thess. 5:8). The unshakable foundation of all spiritual victory is Christ’s purchase of redemption at Calvary.
Not your record.
His record.
Not your righteousness.
His righteousness.
Not your performance.
His sacrifice.
The blood speaks louder than the accusation.
2. By The Word Of Their Testimony
2. By The Word Of Their Testimony
Despite all the persecution (and even martyrdom) they suffered, they will remain faithful witnesses to Jesus Christ; their testimony will never waver.
They refused to deny Christ.
Faith wasn't private.
Faith wasn't hidden.
Faith wasn't compartmentalized.
Jesus wasn't part of their life.
Jesus was their life.
A generation that won't speak about Jesus will never stand for Jesus.
A generation that won't speak about Jesus will never stand for Jesus.
3. By Loving Christ More Than Their Lives
3. By Loving Christ More Than Their Lives
The suffering Tribulation saints also were able to fend off Satan’s onslaught because they did not love their life even when faced with death.
Their faithfulness extended all the way to death; they willingly paid the ultimate price for their loyalty to Christ.
They knew that all martyrdom could do to them was usher them into the eternal bliss of Christ’s presence (Phil. 1:21, 23; cf. Matt. 10:38–39; Acts 20:24; Rom. 8:38–39).
Because their faith was genuine, it not only justified and sanctified them, but also enabled them to persevere all the way to glorification.
A sure mark of true believers is that they continue in the faith even to death (cf. 1 John 2:19). In the words of Jesus, “The one who endures to the end, he will be saved” (Matt. 24:13).
This is where the chapter gets uncomfortable.
These believers loved Jesus more than:
comfort
approval
safety
success
They would rather lose everything than lose Christ.
The question is not:
The question is not:
"Would I die for Jesus?"
The harder question is:
"Am I living for Jesus?"
Satan Knows His Time Is Short (v. 12)
Satan Knows His Time Is Short (v. 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.”
Why is the dragon raging?
Because he knows he loses.
Thumos (wrath/raging) refers to a violent outburst of rage.
The word depicts a turbulent, emotional fury rather than a rational anger.
His fury is not evidence of victory.
His fury is evidence of defeat.
A losing team becomes desperate.
A defeated enemy becomes reckless.
Satan rages because the clock is running out.
Transition
Transition
Cast from heaven.
Unable to stop Christ.
Unable to win the war.
The dragon now turns his fury toward God's people.
3. THE DRAGON CANNOT DESTROY GOD'S PEOPLE
3. THE DRAGON CANNOT DESTROY GOD'S PEOPLE
Revelation 12:13–17
Revelation 12:13–17
If Satan can't destroy the King, he attacks the King's people.
God Protects His People (vv. 13–14)
God Protects His People (vv. 13–14)
When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach.
The dragon pursues the woman.
But God gives her:
"the two wings of a great eagle."
The reason is now given for Israel’s flight, which was first mentioned in 12:6.
Following his defeat by Michael and the holy angels the dragon (Satan) was thrown down to the earth.
Frustrated and enraged by his ejection from heaven and desperate, “knowing that he has only a short time” (12:12) left to oppose God’s plans before he is incarcerated in the abyss (20:1–3), the devil furiously persecuted the woman (Israel; cf. 12:1), who gave birth (12:2) to the male child (Christ; cf. 12:5).
The Greek verb translated persecuted (diōkō) means “to pursue,” “to chase,” or “to hunt.”
It is used in the New Testament of pursuit with hostile intent (cf. Matt. 23:34; Acts 26:11) and thus, by implication, can mean “to persecute.”
Here it describes Satan’s hostile pursuit and persecution of the Jews as they flee into the wilderness (12:6; cf. 13:4–7).
The flight of the Jews from Satan’s forces should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with our Lord’s Olivet discourse. In that sermon on the end times, Jesus warned the Jewish people of the desperate danger they will face (Matthew 24:15-22)
This is figurative language that symbolically depicts Israel’s escape from Satan’s assault.
The striking imagery of the two wings of the great eagle is taken from Exodus 19:4
‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.
God will bring Israel to safety, just as He delivered the nation from bondage in Egypt.
Wings in Scripture symbolize strength (e.g., Isa. 40:31) and speed (e.g., 2 Sam. 22:11; Pss. 18:10; 104:3). Most commonly, however, wings speak of protection. In Deuteronomy 32:9–11 Moses exulted:
For the Lord’s portion is his people,
Jacob his allotted inheritance.
In a desert land he found him,
in a barren and howling waste.
He shielded him and cared for him;
he guarded him as the apple of his eye,
like an eagle that stirs up its nest
and hovers over its young,
that spreads its wings to catch them
and carries them aloft.
Eagle translates aetos, which can also refer to the griffon, or vulture (cf. Matt. 24:28; Luke 17:37).
These large birds with enormous wingspans serve as a fitting symbol for God’s protection and sheltering of Israel. This is not, of course, a reference to an actual eagle with literal wings; rather, it is picturesque language depicting God’s miraculous assistance of the woman, so that she could fly swiftly into the wilderness to her place of shelter and safety.
In her place of safety and refuge, Israel will be supernaturally nourished (fed) by God.
Cut off from the world system, and unable in any case to buy and sell (cf. 13:17), the Jews will need outside help to survive. God will supernaturally supply them with food, just as he did by providing their ancestors with manna and quail in the wilderness (Ex. 16:12ff.), and Elijah with food at the brook Cherith (1 Kings 17:1–6).
Certainly it is not incredible that, in a time of devastating miraculous judgments, God will miraculously provide provisions for His people.
This is Exodus language.
God protected Israel from Pharaoh.
God protects Israel from the dragon.
The same God.
The same faithfulness.
The same deliverance.
The duration of Israel’s hiding and God’s provision is defined as a time and times and half a time.
That phrase, drawn from Daniel 7:25 and 12:7, refers to the second half of the Tribulation (the three-and-a-half year period Jesus called the Great Tribulation; Matt. 24:21).
It is the same period defined in 12:6 as “one thousand two hundred and sixty days” (cf. 11:3) and in 13:5 as “forty-two months” (cf. 11:2). This period, initiated by the setting up of the abomination of desolation (Dan. 11:31; 12:11; Matt. 24:15; 2 Thess. 2:3–4), will mark the visibly, overtly evil career of Antichrist.
During that time God will protect Israel from the presence of the serpent. Although Satan may know where the Jews are hiding, he will be unable to get at them because of divine protection. Frustrated by this defeat of his first assault on the Jewish people, the devil will launch a second attack.
God's protection does not mean the absence of hardship.
God's protection does not mean the absence of hardship.
It means the presence of God in hardship.
It means the presence of God in hardship.
God Defeats The Enemy's Attacks (vv. 15–16)
God Defeats The Enemy's Attacks (vv. 15–16)
Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth.
The dragon sends a flood, which is his second attack
A picture of overwhelming destruction.
The water he spews like a river out of his mouth is likely symbolic as well. The imagery once again derives from the Old Testament, where floods symbolize trouble in general (cf. 2 Sam. 22:17; Job 27:20; Pss. 18:16; 32:6; 69:1–2, 13–14; 124:2–5; 144:7) and an invading, destroying army (cf. Jer. 46:8; 47:2; Dan. 11:26).
Satan’s attacking force will sweep toward the Jews’ hiding place like a great flood. The devil will seek to cause Israel to be swept away with the flood; to be drowned by it, to be consumed and destroyed.
But the earth swallows it.
The imagery is reminiscent of Moses’ description of God’s destruction of Pharaoh’s army in Exodus 15:12
“You stretch out your right hand,
and the earth swallows your enemies.
Again the dragon attacks.
Again God intervenes.
Again the dragon fails.
Notice the pattern of Revelation 12:
The dragon attacks.
God preserves.
The dragon attacks.
God protects.
The dragon attacks.
God wins.
Every single time.
God Preserves His Faithful Ones (v. 17)
God Preserves His Faithful Ones (v. 17)
Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.
The dragon turns against:
those who keep God's commands and hold firmly to the testimony of Jesus.
That's us, for the third attack
This is where the chapter lands.
The war continues.
The dragon still attacks.
The enemy still lies.
Temptation still comes.
Suffering still happens.
But God's people endure.
Not because they are strong.
Because Christ is.
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
Let's go back to the garden.
The serpent heard the promise.
A seed was coming.
One day a child would be born.
One day a King would arrive.
One day the serpent's head would be crushed.
And from that moment forward the dragon fought with everything he had.
He stood behind Pharaoh.
And failed.
He stood behind Haman.
And failed.
He stood behind Herod.
And failed.
He stood at Bethlehem.
And failed.
He stood at Calvary.
And thought he had won.
But three days later he failed again.
He stood before the empty tomb.
And failed.
He stood before the ascended King.
And failed.
He stands against the Church today.
And he will fail again.
Because Revelation 12 is not ultimately the story of a dragon:
It is the story of a King the dragon could not stop.
So if you're weary, look to Christ.
If you're accused, look to Christ.
If you're struggling, look to Christ.
If you're afraid, look to Christ.
Because from Eden to the end, Satan has opposed God's plan.
But every attack only proves what Revelation 12 has been declaring all along:
The dragon may rage, but God still reigns.
The dragon may rage, but God still reigns.
