Rev 12

Intro:

Revelation 12–14 is an interlude between the seventh trumpet (11:15) and the bowl judgments (ch. 15–16).

John steps back from the chronological sequence of judgment to show the spiritual conflict behind it.

Chapter 12 explains why the Tribulation is so violent: a defeated enemy, thrown out of heaven, is taking out his rage on God’s people.

The word sēmeion (“sign,” v. 1, 3) appears here for the first time in Revelation.

It tells the reader that what follows is symbolic and points beyond itself.

This is the first of seven signs that John relates, and is described as a great sign (mega semeion).

In Revelation chapters 12, 13, and 14 the main figures of the Great Tribulation are described, and this great sign introduces the first of the seven:

The woman, representing Israel.

The dragon, representing Satan.

The man-child, referring to Jesus.

The angel Michael, head of the angelic host.

The offspring of the woman, representing Gentiles who come to faith in the Tribulation.

The beast out of the sea, representing the antichrist

The beast out of the earth, representing the false prophet who promotes the antichrist.

The Woman vs. 1-2

Because John plainly said this is a sign, we don’t expect this woman to appear literally on the earth. God will use this sign to communicate something to John and to us.

Women often represent religious systems in Revelation.

Jezebel is associated with a religious system promoting false teaching

The Great Harlot is associated with false religion

The Bride is associated with the church

The woman clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet, and a garland of twelve stars draws directly on Joseph’s dream in Genesis 37:9–11, where sun, moon, and stars represent Jacob, Rachel, and the twelve tribes.

The woman is Israel.

The Old Testament often pictures Israel as a woman in labor (Isaiah 26:17; 66:7–8; Micah 4:10; 5:2–3), and Micah 5 links that labor to the birth of the ruler from Bethlehem.

Isaiah 26:17 ESV

Like a pregnant woman who writhes and cries out in her pangs when she is near to giving birth, so were we because of you, O Lord;

Paul makes the same point in Romans 9:5: from Israel “according to the flesh, Christ came.”

The Roman Catholic tradition identifies the woman as Mary, but Mary never fled into the wilderness for 1,260 days, and the twelve stars don’t fit her.

Amillennial interpreters often read the woman as the church or the people of God across both covenants. But the church didn’t give birth to Christ; Christ gave birth to the church.

The crown is a stephanos, a victor’s wreath. Hold onto that, because the dragon’s crowns are a different word.

Being with child: Later in the chapter, it is clear that this child born of Israel is Jesus

She cried out in labor and in pain to give birth: The pain described refers to the travail of Israel at the time of Jesus’ birth

The Dragon vs. 3-4

Again, we are reminded that this is a sign.

The creature here was not literally a great, fiery red dragon, but the dragon represented his nature and character.

His description “symbolically suggests his fierce power and murderous nature… a picture of the fullness of evil in all its hideous strength.”

The dragon is identified in verse 9 as Satan. His fiery red color fits Jesus’s description of him as “a murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44).

This dragon had great power (seven heads and ten horns) and claimed royal authority (seven diadems).

The crowns represent his presumptive claims of royal authority against the true King. He wants to be considered a king.

The seven heads and ten horns connect him to the fourth beast of Daniel 7:7 and to the beast of Revelation 13 and 17.

Daniel 7:7–8 ESV

After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.

Daniel 7:7–8 ESV

I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots. And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things.

“From the similar description given in Revelation 13:1 and the parallel references in Daniel 7:20, 24, it is clear that the revived Roman Empire is in view…

The seven heads and ten horns refer to the original ten kingdoms of which three were subdued by the little horn of Daniel 7:8, who is to be identified with the world ruler of the great tribulation who reigns over the revived Roman Empire.”

Satan is the power behind the final world empire.

His seven crowns are diadēmata, royal crowns of claimed authority.

The contrast is deliberate: the woman wears a victor’s wreath that was given to her, and the dragon wears crowns of rule that he usurped.

His tail drawing a third of the stars is commonly understood as the angels who joined his original rebellion

2 Peter 2:4 ESV

For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment;

This army of angelic beings in league with Satan makes up the world of demonic spirits.

Daniel 8:10 uses similar imagery for a persecuting power, so some interpreters see persecution rather than angelic fall.

The angelic reading fits better with the “dragon and his angels” in verse 7.

The dragon standing before the woman, ready to devour the child, sums up the whole of Old Testament history.

Satan repeatedly tried to cut off the messianic line:

Cain murdered Abel (Genesis 4).

Pharaoh ordered the Hebrew boys killed (Exodus 1).

Haman plotted the extermination of the Jews (Esther 3).

Athaliah murdered the royal seed of David, and only the infant Joash, hidden in the temple for six years, survived (2 Kings 11).

The Athaliah story is especially powerful. The entire Davidic promise hung on one hidden baby.

To devour her Child as soon as it was born: The attempt to devour her Child was initially fulfilled by Herod’s attempts to kill Jesus as a child (Matthew 2:16-18).

It was also fulfilled throughout Jesus’ life as Satan attacked Him (John 8:58-59 and Mark 4:35-41).

The Child & The Wilderness vs. 5-6

She bore a male Child: This refers to Jesus’ birth.

A male Child: This is obviously Jesus.

This means that the woman of Revelation 12:1 cannot be the church, because Jesus “gives birth” to the church, not the other way around. T

he woman must therefore either be Mary or Israel, the only two “women” who could have “given birth” to Jesus.

The rest of Revelation 12 will demonstrate that this woman is Israel, not Mary.

Rule all nations with a rod of iron refers to the triumphant return of Jesus.

By stating the starting point and ending point of Jesus’ earthly work, John alluded to all that stood in between.

The male child “who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron” is Jesus, quoting Psalm 2:9 (see also Revelation 19:15).

Psalm 2:9 ESV

You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”

Revelation 19:15 ESV

From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.

John compresses the whole earthly ministry into a single sentence, moving from birth straight to ascension.

The cross is not mentioned here, but it is the basis of the victory celebrated in verse 11.

“Caught up” is harpazō, the same verb Paul uses in 1 Thessalonians 4:17.

Some pre-tribulational teachers note the parallel: the Head was caught up, and the body will follow.

The woman’s flight into the wilderness for 1,260 days (three and a half years) places verse 6 in the second half of the Tribulation.

Persecuted by the dragon, the woman is protected by God in a prepared place for one thousand two hundred and sixty days

This fits Jesus’s warning in Matthew 24:15–21 that when the abomination of desolation appears, those in Judea should flee to the mountains.

The idea that the refuge will be Petra is a long-standing tradition among dispensational teachers, but it is speculative.

Reportedly, Christian businessmen have stocked the place with food and evangelistic tracts written in Hebrew.

Prepared in the wilderness: Prepared uses the same ancient Greek word Jesus used in I go to prepare a place for you (John 14:2-3). This demonstrates that God’s careful planning works on earth as well as in heaven.

War in Heaven vs. 7-9

War broke out in heaven: At the mid-point of the great tribulation, God will turn the tide against Satan – first in heaven, then on earth.

A battle will take place that will deny Satan access to heaven.

Michael and his angels: Some individuals and groups (such as the Seventh Day Adventists and Jehovah’s Witnesses) insist on saying that Michael is actually Jesus.

This is wrong on every count.

Some say Michael must be Jesus, because he has his angels. But if Satan – a fallen angelic being – has his angels (Revelation 12:7), can’t Michael – an unfallen angelic being – have his angels?

Michael is the archangel specifically connected to Israel.

Daniel calls him “the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people” (Daniel 12:1).

Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought: This is a dramatic scene of battle between good angels and bad angels.; faithful angels and fallen angels.

When is this battle fought? This battle occurs at the mid-point of the seven-year period, as described by Daniel. 

How is this battle fought? We know this is a real fight; but is it a material or a spiritual battle? Our battle with Satan and his demons is spiritual, fought on the battleground of truth and deception, of fear and faith

The dragon represents Satan (Revelation 12:9), and Satan is not the counterpart of God – God has no counterpart.

If anyone, Satan is the counterpart of Michael, who seems to be the chief angel opposite this chief of fallen angels.

That same verse speaks of “a time of trouble, such as never was,” which links Daniel 12 directly to this chapter. See also Daniel 10:13 and Jude 9.

t So the great dragon was cast out: These titles describe Satan as vicious, an accuser, an adversary, and a deceiver.

Verse 9 gives a full list of the enemy’s titles:

The great dragon: his ferocity.

That serpent of old: a deliberate echo of Genesis 3. The enemy in Eden is the enemy at the end.

The Devil (diabolos): slanderer.

Satan: adversary.

Who deceives the whole world:his primary method.

Until this point Satan still has some access to God’s presence as accuser (Job 1–2; Zechariah 3:1–2).

Here that access ends permanently. Many teachers trace a series of “falls” for Satan:

From his original position (Ezekiel 28; Isaiah 14)

From heavenly access to the earth (Revelation 12:9)

To the bottomless pit (Revelation 20:1–3)

To the lake of fire (Revelation 20:10)

Each step takes him further down, and none takes him back up.

His angels were cast out with him: This indicates that demonic spirits are indeed fallen angels, those who joined with Satan in His rebellion against God. These are “his angels.”

The Accuser & Overcomers vs. 10-12

“The accuser of our brethren” uses katēgoros, a courtroom word for a prosecuting attorney. He accuses “day and night.”

Against him stands our Advocate (paraklētos, 1 John 2:1), and Romans 8:33–34 asks, “Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect?”

Verse 11 is the heart of the chapter and a natural sermon centerpiece. They overcame (nikaō) him in three ways:

By the blood of the Lamb. The ground of victory is Christ’s finished work, not our performance. This is the answer to every accusation.

By the word of their testimony. They declared what was true about Jesus and what He had done.

They did not love their lives to the death. Their courage came from a settled allegiance.

The blood answers the accuser, the testimony answers the deceiver, and the surrendered life answers the murderer.

Verse 12 gives a striking reason for the Tribulation’s intensity: the devil “has great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.”

His fury is a sign of desperation, not strength.

The Persecution vs. 13-17

The “two wings of a great eagle” echo Exodus 19:4 (“I bore you on eagles’ wings”) and Deuteronomy 32:11.

God’s protection of Israel in the last days is a new Exodus. “A time and times and half a time” is the Aramaic-style expression from Daniel 7:25 and 12:7, again three and a half years.

The flood from the serpent’s mouth may picture an overwhelming army or campaign of destruction.

Floods represent invading armies in Daniel 9:26, Jeremiah 46:7–8, and Isaiah 8:7–8.

The earth opening its mouth recalls Korah in Numbers 16 and the Red Sea swallowing Pharaoh’s army (Exodus 15:12).

God has done this before.

Thwarted, the dragon turns on “the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”

In a futurist reading, these are believers during the Tribulation, likely including both Jewish and Gentile believers who are not in the place of refuge.

This sets up chapter 13, where the dragon raises up his beast.