12:1 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman
clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon
her
head a crown of twelve stars:
The woman represents Israel, and her child is Christ; the
Messiah
(12:5; Isaiah 7:14; 9:6; 66:7.8; Micah 5:2; Romans. 9:4,5)
The woman is not the church, since the church did not bring
forth
Christ, But rather He brought forth the church.
The sun reflects redeemed Israel's unique glory, brilliance
and
dignity because of her exulted status and shows her as God's
chosen nation.
and the crown of twelve stars pictures royalty and relates
to the 12
tribes of Israel. Go to Genesis 37 verses 9 - 11 and read
about the
dream Joseph had about the sun, moon and 11 stars which were
bowing down to Joseph. (who was the 12th)
In this look toward heaven by John, we are taken to a
different
aspect of the battle that has gone on through all ages
between
Jesus and Satan. If Jesus is in warfare with Satan, then His
people
are in battle as well.
12:2 And she being with child cried, travailing in birth,
and pained
to be delivered.
Women, who have had children, know that there is pain
involved in
birth. This Scripture is spiritually speaking of the birth
of Jesus
and of Christianity.
The birth pains refer to the period before the birth of
Christ when
Israel was waiting for redemption by the Messiah (Rom. 8:22,
23).
12:3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold
a
great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and
seven
crowns upon his heads.
We see here this "red dragon". This is the devil, and he is shown
red all over to show his murderous and destructive
personality.
This is the only place in the New Testament that dragon is
used.
Here it is not a literal "dragon", but a figure of
Satan. (Satan )
These seven are heads of evil governments. This world power,
through these earthly kingdoms, comes from Satan himself.
The
seven crowned heads mean universal rule, and the ten horns
mean
world power to the utmost.
Five emperors had come and gone by the Apostle John's time;
one
ruled during his time; and the seventh represents the
Antichrist to
come. We will get into more on this in a later chapter about
the 6
empires that have come which is most interesting.
His ten horns show Satan's connection with the fourth beast
of
Daniel 7 (verses 7 and 24) and with the Beast from the sea
in
Chapter 13 of Rev.
12:4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of
heaven, and
did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the
woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her
child as
soon as it was born.
When John tells us that the devils' tail drew a third of the
stars of
heaven and threw them to earth, he is describing the
original
demonic uprising against God.
Satan somehow managed to convince a third of all God's
angels to
join him in his rebellion; these beings we now call
"demons" or
"fallen angels." They serve Satan and play an
important role in the
judgments of the Tribulation.
We see here, also, the woman about to birth, and this is the
birth of
Jesus the Christ.
Satan used Herod to try to kill Jesus the moment He was
born.
That was not God's plan, so Jesus was protected until the
time of
the cross. This also indicates here the birth of the church,
which
the devil has tried to devour every way he could.
12:5 And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all
nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto
God,
and [to] his throne.
This is speaking of Jesus Christ. Jesus was caught up unto
God to
set on the right hand of God at the resurrection and is
setting at
the right hand of God. When He returns, Jesus will rule all
nations
as Lord of lords and King of kings.
During Jesus' earthly, millennium kingdom, this rule is a
breaking,
and shattering work of judgment.
An iron rod is one that cannot be broken and speaks of the
resoluteness of Christ's rule. He will swiftly and
immediately judge
all sin and put down any rebellion.
12:6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath
a
place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a
thousand
two hundred [and] threescore days.
The wilderness represents anywhere outside Palestine. During
the
last half of the Tribulation period (1260 days is three and
one half
years), Israel will take refuge among the Gentile nations,
where
God will care for her. (Perhaps through the Gentile
believers)
( Tribulation )
God will frustrate Satan's attempt to destroy Israel during
the
Tribulation and will hide His people just as Jesus stated in
Matthew chapter 24 verses 15 - 21.
12:7-8 "And there was war in heaven: Michael and his
angels
fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his
angels,"
"And prevailed not; neither was their place found any
more in
heaven."
The vision of war in heaven anticipates Satan's exclusion
from
"heaven" and his restriction to the earth during
the last half of the
Tribulation. Michael the archangel is the leader of God's
holy
angels (Dan 10:13,21; 12:1; Jude 9).
At some point of the Tribulation period, God will empower
Michael
and his forces to cast Satan and his forces out of access to
heaven, so that Satan must thereafter confine his activities
to the
earthly sphere.
I believe there is an order of command in heaven as there is
here
on the earth. We see here, that not only the church of the
Lord
Jesus Christ is being attacked here on the earth, but that
there is
war in heaven as well. Here we see defeat of Satan to such
an
extent that he is not allowed in heaven any more, not even
to
accuse the believers.
His defeat on the earth is complete as well. His doom was
sealed
when Jesus died on the cross and was resurrected.
12:9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent,
called
the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he
was
cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with
him.
The evil one is given four designations: (1) Dragon pictures
his
monstrous character as the enemy of God; (2) Serpent
connects
him with the clever deception of Eve in Genesis 3; (3) Devil
means
"slanderer" (v. 10); (4) Satan means
"Adversary" (1 Pet. 5:8). He
also deceiveth the whole world (20:8).
Notice we are told here, that the serpent that tricked Eve
was the
devil as well. You can call him by any name you want to. If
whatever you call him is evil, it is the devil or his handiwork.
Here we see that he deceiveth (is continually deceiving) the
whole
world. The devil runs to and fro throughout the earth
seeking
whom he may devour. The devil does not even bother the lost
at
all. He already has them. He is after the believer.
He comes to church regularly, trying to coax you away. He
brings
false doctrine and strife in the church. Check everyone and
everything they say by the Word of God. The deceiver will
come
dressed in sheep's clothing, Matt. 7:15 He plants doubt and
fear
wherever he goes.
The devil is the very one who brings in the "feel
good" religion.
Beware, he is a destroyer, he appealed to Eve's flesh and
destroyed her. The flesh is at war with the Spirit. DO NOT
LISTEN
TO THE FLESH.
12:10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come
salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the
power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast
down,
which accused them before our God day and night.
The words salvation, strength (Greek dunamis,
"power"), kingdom,
and power (Gr. exousia, "authority") all refer to
the coming of the
millennial kingdom of Christ. Kingdom
He (the devil) is tossed out once and for all time. His day
is over.
The last half of the Tribulation will be a time of terrible
trouble on
earth (Jer. 30:7; Dan 9:27; 12:1; Zeph. 1:15; Matt
24:15-22). It
will be Satan's final attempt to prevent the return and the
reign of
Christ. He has only a short time to try to prevent the
establishment
of Christ's kingdom so his wrath intensifies of his persecution
of
Israel, God's chosen nation.
12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by
the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives
unto the
death.
Victory is Theirs - Thank God that His Word does not leave
the
story of the Tribulation saints with their earthly demise,
but loudly
proclaims their ultimate victory through the blood of the
Lamb. The
"they" here are the Christians. When Jesus shed
his blood on
Calvary and became the perfect Lamb sacrifice once for all
time,
Satan was defeated.
You can see here the word of our testimony is when we open
our
mouths and declare that we believe Jesus Christ is Lord, and
also
believe He rose from the grave; we will be saved. We must
proclaim this, even if we know it will mean our life. We are
not to
regard life here on this earth as very valuable. The life
that is
important is in heaven. This world is not the Christian's
home. We
are just passing through.
12:12 Therefore rejoice, [ye] heavens, and ye that dwell in
them.
Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the
devil is
come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth
that he hath but a short time.
Here we Christians are told to look up and rejoice when we
see
terrible things happening, because our redemption draweth
nigh.
The devil, even now, is in an all out push to destroy the
church as
it used to be fifty years ago. He realizes his time is
running out,
and he is working on the believers, trying to convert them
to his
way. His scheme is to tell us not to be a radical Christian.
He is
trying to make us not take God real seriously. He doesn't
mind
going to most churches, because he hears very little pure
Word of
God and no sermons on the blood. Watering down Jesus is one
of
his favorite tools to destroy the church.
It will be Satan's final attempt to prevent the return and
the reign of
Christ. He has only a short time to try to prevent the
establishment
of Christ's kingdom. Therefore he has great wrath and
intensifies
his persecution of Israel, God's chosen nation, which
setting up his
own counterfeit kingdom through the Beast, the false
messiah.
12:13 And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the
earth,
he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man [child].
Satan's persecution of Israel is apparently an attempt to
exterminate God's chosen people, thereby preventing the
fulfillment of God's promises to Abraham and David in the
messianic from persecution.
12:14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great
eagle,
that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place,
where she is
nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the
face of
the serpent.
The wings of a great eagle represent swift escape from
persecution. The eagle in many instances in the Bible is
symbolic
of God. I believe, it means that God will protect us in the
midst of
the problems. This I believe is what the "sealing of
the believers"
is all about.
That phrase comes from Dan. 12 verse 11. This refers to the
second half of the Tribulation which begins by the
abomination of
desolation. In Matt. 24 verse 15 Jesus said "When ye
therefore
shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel
the
prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him
understand)." Abomination of Desolation
During this time, God protects Israel from the Satan who may
know
where the Jews are hiding, but will be unable to get at them
because of God's divine protection.
12:15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood
after
the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the
flood.
The flood symbolizes overwhelming evil and persecution.
This imagery symbolizes trouble in general. Satan's forces
will
sweep towards the Jew's hiding place like a great flood so
as to
be drown, killed or consumed by them.
12:16-17 "And the earth helped the woman, and the earth
opened
her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast
out
of his mouth." "And the dragon was wroth with the
woman, and
went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep
the
commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus
Christ."
This is liken to the army of Pharaoh's went all of his
chariots were
destroyed in Exodus 15. Verse 12 states: You stretched out
Your
right Hand, the earth swallowed them."
This really angers Satan. He cannot get to Jesus, as we said
before, so he is venting his anger on the followers of
Jesus. Notice
here that there is only a remnant left that has not fallen
for the
devils false doctrine. A remnant means a very small portion
that is
left.
You see here, that this small portion (remnant) of
Christians are
still keeping God's commandants, and even though the
opposition
has been great, they still have given the testimony of Jesus
Christ.
These two names (Jesus, Christ) together mean The Savior,
the
Anointed One.
The remnant may be a reference either to (1) Jewish
believers,
who have refused to worship Satan and his Beast or (2)
Gentile
Believers, who are the seed of Abraham through Christ.
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