Center for Biblical Theology and Eschatology

The Woman, The Dragon, And The Child - Revelation Chapter 12

by Rev. George Van Popta

Soli Deo Gloria

Liturgy:

Singing: Ps. 18:1,2; Psalm 19:6; Hy. 8:4,13; Hy. 27; Hy. 9

Reading and text: Revelation 12

Beloved congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ:

The Book of Revelation can be neatly divided in two parts: chapters 1-11 and 12-22.
In many ways these two parts mirror each other.
Whereas the first half describes how the church struggles in the world and against the world, the second half describes the deeper spiritual battle behind this struggle.
This second half of the book, which we start with today, teaches us to see that the conflict between the church and the world is but the outward manifestation of the spiritual battle between our Lord Jesus Christ and Satan, the dragon.
In this second half of the book we meet some fierce creatures: the dragon, the beast out of the sea, the beast out of the earth, Babylon, and those who bear the mark of the beast.
But although these creatures are fierce we need not and ought not be frightened.
For as we read through this second part of the book, we learn what happens to all these creatures.
Ultimately, they are all thrown into the lake of fire.

The theme of the first part (ch. 1-11) continues in the second part.
The theme is that Christ and his church have and will win the victory over Satan and his followers.
But in the 2nd main section (12-22) we will see the deeper spiritual realities behind the struggle and the triumph.
Rev. 12-22 proclaim the truth of what Paul wrote in Eph 6:12-
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Revelation 12 takes us back almost to the beginning of time.
This chapter could be a NT commentary on Gen 3:15 where God said to the deceiving serpent Satan: 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.
As this verse says, the devil fights against Christ, against the woman (i.e., the church), and against the offspring of the church.
But Christ has and will destroy the devil.

THE VICTORIOUS CHRIST PROTECTS HIS CHURCH DESPITE THE ATTACKS OF SATAN

Satan's attacks against: 1. The Christ-child; 2. The Woman; 3. Her Children.

1. In his vision John saw a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and crowned with twelve stars.
The woman is the church of the OT and the NT.
Behind this symbolic presentation of the church is Joseph's dream of Gen 37:9.
Joseph told his father and brothers about this dream,
He said, "I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me."
Father Jacob and the 11 brothers understood that the dream was of Jacob, Rachel, and the 11 brothers.
That was the church of that day.
Jacob's family was the church.

When John sees the church in his vision, it's in these OT terms.
As always, we need to keep going back to the OT to understand Revelation.
John's vision is a little different.
There are 12 stars.
The 12th is, then, Jacob.

The woman was about to give birth.
She was crying out in her labour and birth pangs.

As in the NT, the church is often described as a woman in the OT.
Sometimes the church, in the OT, is described as a woman labouring to give birth to a child.
In the OT, the church is a struggling church-struggling to bring forth the one who will redeem the church.
In Isa 26:17 we read, As a woman with child and about to give birth writhes and cries out in her pain, so were we (Israel) in your presence, O LORD.

During the whole OT period, the OT church laboured to bring forth the Saviour.
When the time was fully come, the church did produce the redeemer.
The eternal Son of God, conceived by the Holy Spirit, was born of the Virgin Mary.
Christ was born as the seed of the woman.
The eternal Son of God.
At the same time, the seed of the woman, the hope of all mankind.

No sooner was Christ born and the devil tried to kill him.
The devil is described as an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads.
In the OT, the enemy of God and his people is often described as a dragon, a great monster, often called "Rahab" (not to be confused with the woman of Jericho).
"Rahab" means something like "the huge raging one."
The name "Rahab" became a symbolic name for Egypt (Ps. 87 & 89).
Egypt, the raging oppressor of God's people.

Behind Egypt, and behind every enemy of God and the church in the OT described as a monster, was the devil.
His seven crowned heads indicates the fullness of power and lordship he has over the nations of the earth.
In Daniel, "heads" on beasts refer to various nations that arise one after the other.
You find the same back in Revelation.
The ten horns refer to his great power.
He is red-red, the colour of war and bloodshed.

His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to earth.
His power to wreak havoc in creation ought not to be underestimated.

He is waiting for the woman to give birth to the child.
He is going to devour it.
The child is born.
A male child.
It is Christ, the king who will rule over the nations with an iron scepter (like we sang in Ps. 2 last week).
No sooner was Christ born, and the dragon-devil tried to kill him.
He sent King Herod after the newborn king.
Herod did not succeed in killing the Christ-child.
The devil hounded Christ throughout his earthly ministry.
By way of demons.
By way of many of the Pharisees, chief priests and elders of Israel.
Finally, the dragon managed to get the Christ hanging on a cross.
He thought he had won, but it was the dragon's undoing.

Yes, Christ died, but he arose again and ascended into heaven.
He was snatched up to God and his throne.
As soon as Christ entered heaven and sat down at the right hand of God, the angels of heaven, with the Archangel Michael as their captain, fought against the dragon-against Satan-and threw him out of heaven.
The devil, the great deceiver, the ancient serpent who deceived our first parents, was cast out and his angels with him.

How much of that heavenly spiritual battle between Michael and Satan is literal and how much symbolic is hard to say.
But the point is clear: Satan has no more access to heaven.
If you read Job 1 & 2 you see that he used to have quite some access.
He could approach God to accuse the church.
He could point out the church's sins to God.
He used to be able, but no more.
No more because Christ died for our sins.
The grounds for accusation (and that's what the name "Satan" means-the Accuser) is gone.

Once he was hurled out, heaven broke out in song.
A song praising the salvation, power, kingdom and authority of Christ.
Rejoicing that the accuser has been cast out.

We as church share in that victory over Satan.
Verse 11 says that we overcame Satan by the blood of Christ and by the word of our testimony.
We need not fear Satan.
In Christ Jesus, we have overcome him.
First by the blood of Christ.
By faith we are one with Christ and his victory over Satan is ours.
And then by the word of our testimony.
As Christ drove Satan away by the Word of God when Satan tempted him, so we can drive him away when we testify-when we speak the Word of God.

With heaven, we rejoice in this victory.
As we will sing in Hymn 27: Who then will yet accuse those whom he has elected?
No one can accuse us.
The grounds for accusation have been blotted out with the blood of the Lamb.

We have every reason to rejoice, but we need also to take the warning of v. 12 to heart: "... 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."
The woe is spoken first to the unbelieving world, but we need to reckon with that we live in the midst of that world.
The devil knows his time is short, and he will attack anyone on earth he can with rage and fury.
He knows he is destined for the lake of fire, but he's not there yet.
He wants to take down with him as many as he can.

2. His attack of the Church.

He is enraged that he lost his access to heaven.
He lost the battle against Christ.
He lost the battle against Michael.
He's a loser.
But a dangerous loser.
He can't get at Christ anymore, so he goes after the woman, the church.
He pursued her.

The Lord warned us that after he had ascended to heaven, the dragon would persecute the church.
In many places, e.g., (Luke 21:12) "... they will lay hands on you and persecute you. They will deliver you to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name."
(John 15:20) Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.

In many places in the world today, the dragon is pursuing, persecuting, the church.
That has been going on since the time of the book of Acts.
How many times do you not read about persecution in Acts!
How often do not the apostles warn about it in their letters!
And then, of course, there is the book of Revelation itself that warns about persecution.

But in the midst of it all, God protects his church.
At times and places the church might look very small and perhaps gone, but God preserves his church.

In John's vision, the church was given the two wings of a great eagle so that she could fly out to a safe place.
It says that twice.
Verse 6 says: The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.
Verse 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.

Verses 6 & 14 are referring to the same escape.
They are referring to the same thing.

The desert was a place of safety for Israel.
It was a place of trial and testing, but also of safety.
God delivered the church from the monster Egypt (Rahab) and brought her to the desert.
There he took care of her.
He gave the church manna from heaven and water from the rock.
He led her through the wilderness by a pillar of cloud which became a protecting pillar of fire by night.

That's the OT background to what John sees in his vision.
The comforting message is that God protects his church from the rage of the dragon.
He lifts her up on eagle's wings.
In Exodus 19:4, shortly after the exodus from Egypt, God said to his people: 'You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself [in the desert].'
Moses wrote about that in one of his songs (Hy. 8).
He wrote: In a desert land God found his people, 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 on its pinions (Deut 32).
John sees the same in his vision.
God delivers his church from being pursued by the dragon-lifts the church up on eagle's wings, and delivers her to himself in the desert, a safe place.

He protects her in the desert for 1260 days (3 1/2 years) also called a time, times and half a time.
We saw a couple sermons back, in Rev. 11, that this refers to the time of persecution.
It refers to the whole NT age (the time between the ascension and 2nd advent of Christ), but it's only, symbolically, 3 1/2 years.
Half of seven.
Half of the time of fullness.
Time cut in half, cut short.
Cut short to usher in the end and the return of Christ.

As God is rescuing his church, the dragon-serpent opens its mouth and vomits out a torrent of water to try sweep the woman, the church, away.
In the OT, persecution of the church is sometimes described as a flood of water.
In Psalm 18, which David wrote after being pursued by King Saul, he wrote: "The roaring floods of wickedness attacked me."
In Psalm 124, again, David wrote:
If the LORD had not been on our side when men attacked us, when their anger flared against us, they would have swallowed us alive; the flood would have engulfed us, the torrent would have swept over us, the raging waters would have swept us away.
In Ps. 32 David prayed:
... let everyone who is godly pray to you while you may be found; surely when the mighty waters rise, they will not reach him. You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.

That flood waters spew from the devil's mouth means he tries to destroy us by deception and lies, false teaching.
He tries to deceive with a flood of words.

Think of the propaganda used in war time.
The conqueror will broadcast a constant and consistent message proclaiming how great they are and how they are the victors, and the people they beat are nothing.
They do this to demoralize those whom they have beaten.
And so Satan tries to demoralize us with words, lies, slander, accusation, deceit, false teachings.
In that way he tries to sweep us away.

But God will keep his church safe.
He will keep in a safe place those who have been washed with the blood of the lamb and who hold to the word of God.
The earth will swallow the filthy river.
You read about the earth swallowing up the enemy other times.
Exo 15:12 says that the earth swallowed up the Egyptians.
They were pursuing Israel, but they drowned in the Red Sea.
The earth swallowed them alive.

The earth split open to swallow Koran, Dathan and Abiram.
They were liars, deceivers, slanderers and accusers.
They were devils, satanic.
Through them the devil was causing major havoc in the church.
To rescue the church, the Lord caused the earth to come to its aid by opening up and swallowing them alive.

Satan is a loser.
Christ beats him.
Michael whips him.
The woman overcomes him.
The earth swallows his attempts to wipe out the church.

The stream of foul transgression the devil pukes out of his mouth has a heavenly counterpart (Rev. 22): the river of the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb, down the middle of the great city in the New Jerusalem.
That River will flow across the new earth.
We will drink from it.

3. Satan attacks the children of the woman.

As if the dragon were not angry enough already, enraged at the woman, he goes off to make war against the rest of the offspring of the woman.
Against the rest of her seed (cf. Greek).

In his vision, John now sees the individual member of the church.
When he saw the woman, he saw the holy catholic church from the beginning of the world to its end.
The church transcending time and space.

But then, at the end of this part of the vision, he saw the individual members of the church, of the congregation, in specific space and time.
At the end, we are to think here of each of us as individuals believers and members of the church.
Living right here and right now.

The dragon makes war against us.
Against us who obey God's commandments and who hold the testimony of Jesus.

He wages war against us by way of the world with its temptations to sin against God.
He wages war against us by inciting the desires of our own flesh to cause us to sin against God.
The only way to stand up to the dragon is to obey the commandments of God and to hold to the testimony of Jesus.

The testimony of Jesus is the gospel about him.
The good news that he shed his blood for sinners.
The wonderful truth that we have overcome the dragon by the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ.

Hold to that testimony.
Don't ever let it go.

And then, obey the commandments of God.
During the PM services lately we are going through the Ten Commandments once again.
Listen carefully to what they require of you to live in covenant faithfulness to the God who saved you.
Obey the commandments.
In that way show that you are a child of God, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb and renewed by the Holy Spirit.

You will be safe.
The dragon, the devil, the serpent, Satan, will not be able to reach you or harm you.

With Paul we will ask:

* Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
* No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
* For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

That's the way it is, beloved.
That's how it is.
Hold to the testimony about Jesus; obey God's commandments.
And everything will be OK.

The dragon may war against you, but you will be more than a conqueror against him.

The devil may persecute the church, but the Lord will rescue the church from all harm.

Satan may rage against Christ, but Christ is going to throw him into the lake of fire.

That's the way it is, beloved.
That's how it is.
Because Christ is the Victor.
And we are more than conquerors in Him. AMEN

Amen!

Copyright (c) 2003, George Philip van Popta - The Rev. George van Popta earned a BA at Trinity Western University, Langley, BC, and an MDiv at the Canadian Reformed Theological Seminary in Hamilton, Ontario. He started off his ministry at Jubilee Church in Ottawa in 1987. In 1992 he left to serve a church in Taber, Alberta from where he moved to Ancaster, Ontario in 1997. There he served a church for eleven years. In 2008, he was called back to Jubilee Church. He considered it a singular privilege and joy to be living again in Ottawa and serving the Jubilee congregation as pastor. In 2016 he retired from the active ministry because of health challenges and now lives in Hamilton, Ontario, together with Dora, his wife. He has written a number of books, which can be bought from http://www.vanpopta.ca, Amazon or other Christian nook outlets. He is also the general editor of New Genevan Psalter.