A Brief History of Time: The Victory of Christ over Evil

Introduction

We are living in strange times where the desire to eliminate offense has become coincident with erasing history. Yet I fear that those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it. The idea behind that statement is that we need to learn from the mistakes of prior generations so that this generation does not make the same mistakes again. There is a Biblical truth to that as well.

In 1 Corinthians 10:11 Paul writes, “Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.” (1 Corinthians 10:11, NASB95PARA) In other words, Paul expected us to be able to look to Israelite history and learn lessons for the church. Today we’re in luck then as we break into Revelation chapter 12 and begin working towards chapter 14 we’ll be stepping backwards in what I’ll call a brief history of time.

First up is a speedy journey through history all the way up to the Messiah, and eventually all the way through to the end. Or perhaps another way to look at today’s text is to recognize it as a telling of the behind the scenes reality of our day to day battles.

The imagery - almost impossible to believe - gets even wilder and more outrageous. Yet nevertheless it is still tied to the Old Testament for deciphering.

Stand with me if you will and read with me today in Revelation Chapter 12. While our primary text is Revelation 12:1-6 this morning I would like us to read the whole chapter.

Revelation 12:1–17 NASB95PARA

A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; and she was with child; and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems. And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child. And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne. Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days. And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. Then 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 brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death. For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.” And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood. But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth. So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.

The Woman VV 1-2

We have been seeing, what John sees thus far - largely a perspective that shows us what is happening in heaven (for the most part) during the final seven years of Earth’s (yet future) History. God, through a series of increasingly intense judgments is calling out for repentance to the people of earth. After all, everyone must eventually die and face judgement; and yet it seems that so many will not repent. We have seen Christ move in and among his churches, calling the church to repentance and encouraging her to stay steadfast (Chapter 1-5). We have seen the juxtaposition between disaster and the hard heartedness of mankind. We have seen Christians Martyred and yet kept in the holy place of the altar of God.

But what is happening on earth? Chapter 12 is going to begin to introduce us to the perspective of the earth yet still in a Spiritual Realm. It is time for us to see the truth behind Ephesians 6:10-18, our battle really is not against flesh and blood humanity. It is against Satan.

As the chapter opens we are met with a great sign in heaven. There is a radiant woman, a child, and a dragon. A new bit of information released here is that we can see the great source of evil is the devil himself.

He begins by saying a great sign appears in heaven. Right away that terminology tells us that what we are seeing is more than the vision - but the meaning behind it is what matters. A sign is never the destination. A sign points to something. The location of the sign is in heaven - that is to say that it is not earthbound. That the sign is in heaven points to God’s domain being over all of this. It is not limited to Jerusalem, Rome, or anywhere else. It is in heaven where all of earth is visible.

The first part of this sign is a woman… The symbolism is drawn right from Genesis 37:9-11.

Genesis 37:9–11 NASB95PARA

Now he had still another dream, and related it to his brothers, and said, “Lo, I have had still another dream; and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” He related it to his father and to his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have had? Shall I and your mother and your brothers actually come to bow ourselves down before you to the ground?” His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind.

There, Joseph has a dream; and in his dream he sees the sun, the moon, and eleven stars bowing down to him. Now, to us it is a very enigmatic dream. But it wasn’t difficult for his family to understand. In the tenth verse both his father, as well as his brothers rebuke him for the dream not because it was silly, but because of what it clearly meant they were the stars, the sun and moon his parents and all would bow down to him. His father asks him, “What is this dream that you have had? Shall I and your mother and your brothers actually come to bow ourselves down before you to the ground?” While his brothers stay angry and jealous, dad keeps it in mind.

Now you have a woman pictured here who is thus representative not of Rachel, but a woman representing both the tribes of and the foundation of the Jewish people. This woman is first the embodiment of Israel.

Now, some have seen here other identifications. The Catholic church in particular sees Mary here. I would say she is included as a true Israelite and the mother of Jesus. But that is unnecessarily precise, and doesn’t permit us to look at the vision and understand the symbolism, particularly as the rest of the chapter paints her. It is more in line with all of the images used to understand this woman simply as Israel, from whom came the Messiah.

Others would like to see the church here, but that is putting the cart before the horse so to speak. This woman – faithful Israel – gives birth to Messiah. I think we do need to point out that she is clothed and representative of FAITHFUL Israel - the true Israel who stands before God in faith. Even as Rachel was a woman of faith, even as Mary the mother of Jesus was a woman of faith, so also the faithfulness of believers is in view here. We have to hold both together. Believing Israel is key here especially as the chapter progresses.

Look in verse 2 as John sees her in the vision as pregnant and crying out in labor prepared to give birth.

Isaiah 26:17-18 and others describe Israel as pregnant and focuses on the labor pains which symbolize her suffering under foreign exile. But we are not yet given any indication yet as to what it means. This is the first image that would form in their mind though, the pains of labor being representative of suffering. But sometimes it pays to look ahead and note that she gives birth to the savior.

The point here for us is to see that the messiah comes from Israel.

Particularly in our own day and age it is worth noting that I do not think the text was written to combat anti-semitism. Nevertheless this text reminds us that the messiah came from Israel. In light of that, there is no conceivably honest way to hold anti-semitic views. Our messiah was Jewish, from the Jewish people. It is another opportunity to be reminded that to look upon another people group with disdain whether for nationality or skin color is sinful.

Back here in our text the stage is set Israel is ready to give birth, so what shall happen?

The Dragon VV 3-4

Another sign appears – This one is a great red dragon. Skipping ahead quickly, the dragon is identified very clearly in verse 9 as Satan - so there’s no need to guess what this symbolize.

But the symbolism is intriguing - at least for me nothing quite captures my imagination like a dragon. Most cultures, if not all of them, from around the world have some kind of a story or many stories involving dragons. Mexico had Quetzalcoatl, many Eastern nations venerate dragons, even Babylon in the Old Testament had symbols of Dragons decorating their buildings.

Robert Mounce writes about this:

“Ancient mythology is replete with references to dragons. In Canaanitish lore the great monster of the deep was known as Leviathan. Closely associated was Rahab (alias Tiamat?), the female monster of chaos. Allusions to these dragons are not uncommon in the OT. More often than not they refer metaphorically to Israel’s enemies. In Ps 74:14 Leviathan is Egypt. In Isaiah 27:1 he is Assyria and Babylon. Elsewhere we read of Pharaoh as the “great monster lying among [his] streams” (Ezek 29:3) and of Behemoth, a great beast whose limbs are like rods of iron (Job 40:18). Against this background the dragon of John’s vision would immediately be understood as the archenemy of God and his people.”[1]

So the dragon is a symbol drawn out of the Old Testament Culture representing wicked nations that were oppressing God’s people. Even Job in chapter 26 talks about God piercing the serpent - a retelling of his defeat of Satan. The Old Testament background here serves as a guide to take us through this twelfth chapter which itself is a brief history of time.

The dragon is described as having seven heads, seven diadems or crowns, and ten horns. We will see more of this image with slightly different details in chapter 13 and 17.

If seven is a representation of completeness or fullness than the seven heads and seven crowns seems to indicate absolute power while the ten horns remind us of Daniel 7:7 and Daniel 7:24. This fourth beast of Daniel - as we’ve already seen is representative of a global power more terrifying than anything that has gone before it. One commentator (Ladd) declares that this is symbolic of Satan’s great might (See 2 Corinthians 4:4). I tend to agree.

Old Testament Background: The devil behind the kingdoms

There is a remarkable similarity here to the idea of two texts in particular. Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28.

Isaiah 14 begins with a taunt against the king of Babylon; but which in a few verses seems to go behind the man to the evil demonic or satanic being who empowers the man. This devil wanted equality with God and yet was cast down. “How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations! “But you said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north. ‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ “Nevertheless you will be thrust down to Sheol, To the recesses of the pit.” (Isaiah 14:12–15, NASB95PARA)

Ezekiel 28 does much the same. It begins as a taunt against the king of Tyre, “You are a man and not God...” (Ezek 28:2). But very soon the chapter turns at verse 11 with a lament of the king of Tyre speaking of his being in Eden, covered in precious jewels and being called the anointed cherub who covers. We seem once again to have shifted from talking about the human king of Tyre to the demonic, or rather Satanic power behind him. This one - this Spiritual being begins blameless (Ezek 28:15) but becomes filled with pride and subsequently violence and overthrow become the goal of this Spiritual power. But again God casts him down: “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I put you before kings, That they may see you.” (Ezekiel 28:17, NASB95PARA)

So what we see in Revelation 12 is like looking at the view behind the mirror as it were. The power behind the nations of the earth in all of their fullness (seven) is the ancient serpent - the devil (Revelation 12:9). We already know who this dragon is, and we’ll probably see more next week.

Not only does the devil stand as the power behind the nations, he also seeks to destroy God’s host in verse 4.

The dragon’s tail sweeps away 1/3 of the stars of heaven. It is imagery taken again from Daniel 8:10 in which the “little horn” which is the Antichrist in the Old Testament throws down and tramples the stars of heaven (the saints) and sets himself up to be equal to the “commander of the host” who is God.

If we gaze backwards at the early trumpets we see 1/3 once again appearing to be symbolic number indicating many, but not most; and this appears to be the casting down of perhaps 1/3 of the angels who joined Lucifer in his rebellion at the beginning of this world’s troubles. Alternatively as we look back at the opening chapter of Revelation and see the stars represent angels who stand in for humans. And of course, Christians are also compared to the stars in Genesis 15:5. When Abraham looked up at the stars to hear God say that he would have more descendants than he could count – even as you can’t count all the stars. He was counting you dear Christian. So we have a potential for two meanings here which are, in some ways combined. 1/3 of the stars are swept from heaven certainly envisioning the angelic host that followed Satan, but Daniel 8 also adding a trampling of the stars which would indicate his persecution of the people of God: the church made of believing Jews and Gentiles.

But then look, while his tail is doing one thing, his gaping maw is doing another. He stands ready to devour the child of the woman who is about to give birth.

Again can we not see here the connection with Herod the Great - A sadistic man driven by power and the fear of losing it - empowered by the Devil to murder babies and toddlers in Bethlehem in order to destroy the King of the Jews?

But Herod is only a shadow of the Evil to come. This evil one hated the coming of the Messiah and sought his destruction at birth, and throughout his life.

Now you might expect as the child is born for the great red dragon to swoop in and devour, but that is not what happens.

The Child V 5

She gives birth to a son, his identity of a male child is repeated because this is the language of kings! His destiny is one of absolute power. The text says he will rule all the nations with a rod of iron. The language comes directly from Psalm 2:9 and Revelation 2:27. It also comes from Numbers 24:17 where Christ is said to rule over the enemies of Israel - in that small instance personified in Moab. But the range of his rule here is clearly boundless.

He will rule all of the nations. He will not merely rule Israel. He will not merely rule a small kingdom of Judah. He will not simply defeat Iraq or Afghanistan. He will not merely rule the middle east and bring peace there at last. He will rule America, Mexico, Peru, and Canada. Even the state of Texas - the only state in the country that has the right of secession built into its charter will bow before Him as King. He will rule Russia. He will dominate and rule over China. Cuba will kneel and Haiti will bow before Him, and Egypt will submit before His throne. There is no nation or people that will not bow and confess before Him: That’s my king!

As the child emerges, will the dragon win? No. For then her child is caught up to God and to His throne.

We must see Jesus here and the thirty plus years of his life on this earth taking place in the space between the semicolon and the next word “and”.

He was born of a virgin, a descendant of the line of King David, and his life, ministry, death, burial, and resurrection all take place here in the gap. For forty days after his resurrection he will teach his disciples all that they could not comprehend earlier, and then he will ascend to his Father and to His throne victorious over Satan.

But it is more than Jesus’ location that makes him unreachable by the dragon. It is what happened in the gap.

The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus destroyed the power of Satan upon the earth.

Hebrews 2:14 tells us that Jesus, through his death, rendered the devil powerless and freed those held captive by fear of death.

Colossians 2:15 tells us that when Jesus died upon the cross he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authority making a public display of them. They lost the ability to accuse .

Ephesians 4:8 tells us that he took the spiritual rulers captive.

The power of the enemy upon this earth is broken, and as we will see it is also limited in time.

The People of God V 6

The woman flees into the wilderness where God has prepared for her a place. There she will be nourished (a rather interesting choice of words) for 1260 days = 3.5 years. Again the imagery of time points to half of the tribulation period. Daniel 9:27 talks about the antichrist making a seven year covenant but then breaking it half way through and seeking to destroy. So we’re looking now at the second half of the great tribulation period.

The image of the woman fleeing into the wilderness should remind you of Israel leaving Egypt and fleeing into the wilderness and then actually living in the wilderness for the next forty years while God took care of them. Every morning God would provide them the nourishment of the manna. He also kept their shoes and clothing from wearing out during that journey; a sign that God was continually taking care of them - even in the mist of the hardship of wandering the deserted areas.

Conclusion

So What’s the message?

The woman - being the true Israel that is the church comprised of believing Israelites and believing Gentiles will be nourished during the tribulation period. And nourished is an interesting word. It does not mean shielded from all external harm. Even as the Israelites were not shielded from all harm in their desert wanderings. They were being purified during that time, even as I believe the church in all of her trials through all of the years is being purified in generation after generation.

But the tribulation period the great trial of the world is also a great trial for the church. This is especially true we’ll see in the coming section how the devil makes war against the church.

Overall what are we seeing here?

In a blink we see a grand overview of history - a brief history of time if you will in which God brings his Messiah into the world through Israel, even as Satan tries to destroy him - but inevitably fails to do so. The Messiah, following his resurrection is brought back to Heaven’s throne room. All the while the woman symbolizing true-faithful Israel which in a mystery includes believing Gentiles is nourished by God even towards the end of the tribulation period.

What it shows for us is God’s eternal plan in shorthand. Our own present struggles are part of the great epic Spiritual struggle of the ages. War in heaven is happening, and chapter 12 enables us to see it in symbolic form.

It also encourages us with God’s promise of nourishment.

The question of chapter 12 is this: What will happen in the grand history of time itself? Will the devil win?

This is the question that hangs in the air for the church.

2000 years ago and 6000 miles away the great question was about the power of Rome to destroy and devastate the church. Will the enemy of our souls manage to disrupt and destroy the church? They were at risk of death for being Christians - their very existence a threat of life or death. False teachers abounded and led as many as possible astray, some basing their claims on visions, dreams, and angels (Galatians 1:8, Col 2:18). They were surrounded by the worship of idols which had behind them the power of demons (1 Corinthians 10:20). They did not know if they would survive their current crisis, never-mind the future which seemed too far away to consider.

What about today?

Has much changed at all. Persecution is increasing around the globe - especially in Muslim dominated regions where being a Christian by daily existence is a question of life and death. False teachers are everywhere and Biblical knowledge is so weak that many are easily led astray without even understanding that the person who says Christian sounding words doesn’t mean the same thing and never speaks the gospel. Society has no place anymore for a claim to truth, and the worship of anything and everything that isn’t God is so very little different from what the worship of idols and their demons once was. The climate for Christians around the world is essentially unknown. The present is uncertain. The future is more so.

But not really. The future is not altogether uncertain. For we know this: That God will nourish his church.

Here the words of Paul are very encouraging:

Romans 8:36–39 NASB95PARA

Just as it is written, “For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Amen.

Come quickly Lord Jesus.

[1] Robert H. Mounce, The Book of Revelation, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1997), 232–233.