This chapter in Revelation is another parenthesis in the progression of the judgments and God’s dealing with mankind. This chapter will span thousands of years from Genesis through Revelation. We will look into the past and look into the future. There is much symbolism in our text for this week and we will carefully look and see how those symbols or signs fit into the picture John is giving us as revealed by God to him. There are three main players in this chapter: the woman, the dragon, and the child. These three represent Israel, Satan, and Jesus. You must see the role of all three to get the understanding of this book. So let’s take a deep breath and read and see what God reveals to us tonight.
Vs 1 A great and wondrous 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.
This is the first of 2 signs and that John describes. He says it is a great and wondrous sign. This is a huge symbol. He describes a woman but we know that this is not an actual woman but rather a symbol. She is magnificent in that she is clothed with the sun – that is brightness, the moon us under her feet – that is greatness, and she has a crown of twelve stars on her head – that is royalty. This woman is not Mary or any other human. She is the nation of Israel. God’s chosen possession. She was a nation that God chose to reveal Himself through. The sun represents Jacob, the moon Rachel, the crown of twelve stars indicated the 12 tribes of Jacob. Remember Joseph’s dream for the OT.
Vs 2 She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth.
The woman was with child. Israel had always been with child since the day God gave Abraham the promise that he would be a father to a multitude. He carried the seed from which the Messiah would come. The seed was narrowed down to one little child in 2 Kings 11:1-3 but God kept his promise. Down through the years, thousands of years, that seed was passed on until one day a little Israelite girl was greeted by an angel and told that the seed would end up in her. She would birth the Christ. And it has been a painful birth. No other country has suffered as much as the nation of Israel. Pause here until we read verse 5.
Vs 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven; and enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads.
Now we have another sign. This one is an enormous red dragon. He is huge. The red depicts death and bloodshed. He has seven heads with seven crowns depict seven consecutive world empires running their course under Satan’s dominion: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome and Antichrist’s future empire. The final kingdom will be a ten nation confederacy under the rule of the Antichrist. The sign appeared in heaven. At this point Satan has access to heaven. Even though he sinned in millennia past, he has access to heaven. In fact he must give account to God. Read Job 1 and 2. He also is the accuser who brings accusation against believers before God. So Satan currently divides his time between the two; roaming the earth seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8) and coming before God as our accuser.
Vs 4 His 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 he might devour her child the moment it was born.
When Satan rebelled against God he convinced a third of the angels to join him. Since heaven is no longer their domain to freely cause destruction they were flung to earth where they can deceive and destroy. Satan has always tried to rob God of His glory. He first started by deceiving Eve and causing sin to enter mankind. Cain was born and he went the way of destruction. Fortunately God gave another son to Adam so that His redemptive plan would work. Then Pharaoh tried to kill all the Hebrew baby boys but Moses was divinely saved. Then Herod under Satan’s influence tried to kill the infant Jesus by having all the baby boys 2 years and under killed. He has always been about destruction and he is still at it today.
Vs 5 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 male child is Jesus. He was born a Jew of the nation of Israel. Jesus is the King of Kings and He will rule the nations. The word for rule in this passage is “poimaino” and it carries the connotation of “destroy”. Jesus will come in ruling power over the nations, destroying the nations as He sets up His kingdom. He will have an iron rod that cannot be broken but one which will break the powers that have set themselves up against him. Jesus was taken to heaven after His resurrection. Satan’s attempt to keep man from being redeemed was lost at the cross but he hasn’t relented. He will take all he can to eternal hell.
Vs 6 The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1260 days.
Now we are going into the future. At the mid-point of the tribulation the anti-christ will renege on his covenant with Israel and will turn on them with a vengeance. They will flee to a place that God has prepared for them. The desert or wilderness is the area east of the Jordan River. We don’t know exactly where it is. Some have speculated that it could be Petra and it could be. Or it could be a place no one knows but God. He will protect the inhabitants for 3 ½ years. As He provided manna and water to the Israelites in the Exodus, so He will provide for them in this time.
“Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house. Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath. For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will.” Matthew 24:15-21
Vs 7 And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.
Michael and Satan have known each other since they were created. Satan or Lucifer as he was once called, was the anointed cherub in the presence of God. Michael is an archangel who defends God’s people against satanic destruction. They have fought before. Once such fight was over the body of Moses when he died (Deut. 34:5-6). For this particular battle one thought is that this war will be heralded by the Rapture of the church. “The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel,” 1 Thess. 4:16. Satan is called the prince of the power of the air. As the church is called forth by Michael, Satan and his minions will attack but we are safely in the presence of the Lord before he knows what happened. No one can snatch the believer from the hand of God. See John 10:28-29. Michael and his angels will fight the demonic army for Satan will not give up easy.
Vs 8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven.
God’s angel army will win and Satan will be cast out of heaven permanently. He and his evil band will not be allowed to interrupt heaven’s gates again. Michael has battled Satan before but this will be the defeat that is the final throw-down between the two.
Vs 9 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.
This is Satan’s second and final expulsion from heaven. He was kicked out in Genesis but had access and in fact had to give account before God on occasion. However, after this battle with Michael and the holy angels, he is banned from heaven. He is hurled down – thrown out like a rotten tomato. The ancient serpent – the serpent was originally an upright animal and smart. Satan possessed the serpent in the Garden of Eden to get to Eve. Apparently it was not the disgusting, hideous snake that we see today. It must have seemed harmless and yet appealing. After God cursed the serpent it would forever crawl on its belly. It is no wonder that it is one of the most repulsive creatures on the earth. Devil means ‘accuser’ and Satan means ‘adversary’. Our enemy not only deceives, tricks, schemes, and plans our downfall, he is the chief accuser before God when we do fall. That is his game.
Vs 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 Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.
Heaven is rejoicing because the accuser has been kicked out of the courtroom. The authority of Christ has expelled the accuser from before the Throne.
Vs 11 They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.
John is seeing ahead to the redeemed tribulation saints worshipping in heaven. They overcame the devil and his antichrist by the blood of the Lamb – that is their power source and ours too. The word of their testimony was their faith in action. They faced death for the love of Christ. They are faithful witnesses.
Vs 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.”
Heaven rejoices but woe to the earth! The evil one is filled with fury and he is working under pressure – time pressure and that adds to his demonic destruction. The word for wrath is ‘thumos’ and it means a violent outburst of rage. It is a turbulent, emotional fury rather than rational anger.
Vs 13 When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child.
Since he cannot accuse the saints before God, he goes after God’s people on earth – Israel. He pulls out all stops and seeks her total destruction. But then Satan has been attacking Israel since her conception. Anti-Semitism has been present in every age and the Jews have been the most hated people on the planet. We can look back at history and see that. But there is coming a time that will cause all of those other events to pale in comparison. Jeremiah 30:7 calls it ‘the time of Jacob’s distress.’ But in this immense time of darkness and trial for Israel, will come a ray of light. They ‘will look on the One whom they have pierced; and mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.’ Zech 12:20. The believing remnant of Israel will be saved – Romans 11:25-29.
Vs 14 The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the desert, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach.
But Israel, that is believing Israel – those who have come to accept the Messiah Jesus, are divinely rescued by the God and are being nurtured and cared for. The devil will seek to destroy her but can’t get to her. Wings in scripture depict strength and speed but they also are frequently used to show protection. In this case it is most likely both.
“You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to Myself.” Exodus 19:4
Vs 15 Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent.
He will spew destruction like a flood. What this destruction will be we are not sure. It could be actual water or it could be any kind of attack that is comes on like a torrent. This can be actual or symbolic.
Vs 16 But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth.
God who is Sovereign Creator and Sustainer, will cause the earth to open up and swallow the destructing forces. Earthquakes were divinely used in the Old Testament and they can be here as well. He caused the Red Sea to destroy Pharaoh’s army so he can use any act of natural events to stop this attack.
Vs 17 Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring – those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.
Seeing that he cannot get to the protected of Israel, he will turn his rage on all of the other believers on planet earth at that time. This will be a terrible time and many will pay with their lives.
