Revelation Ch.12
The Woman and the Dragon and War in heaven

This chapter begins the 3rd and final section of Revelation. It continues on a theme from the 2nd section: that of the victory of Jesus and His church over Rome! This section will reveal the deeper conflict. We will see that conflict between the Church and the world is nothing more than the outward manifestation of the conflict between Jesus and Satan. In Ch 12-22 the contents of the sweet and sour little scroll will be revealed and developed! The conflict is bitter and brutal, but God’s cause and His people will triumph!!!

In this Chapter John will show clearly that Jesus has already won against Satan! Let us now get into the word:

The Woman, Dragon and Baby

V1,2- There is great debate over who the woman is (some say the physical nation of Israel, some say the NT church only and still others say the Virgin Mary). Once again, I think it is not as important as the WHOLE PICTURE of what “she” represents. I think it represents the spiritual remnant of all of God’s people. Those, who by faith have kept to his promises and commands. She represent al of God’s people, for her children are “those which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ (12:17). She is representative of all the saved peoples of the world, the sum of all his faithful, both OT and NT!
Also note, SHE is not the primary point of emphasis in this passage (her son and the dragon are!)

The picture is of a woman about to give birth! The major emphasis should be on the fact that the child is born! This is clearly the birth of Jesus to and for God’s people!

V3- This is still a VISION being seen in heave…it is not actually taking place in the Throne room! Who do you think the dragon is? DUH! It is Satan. He is pictured as having “7 heads”. Any ideas on that? That shows great intelligence (which Satan does have). Ten Horns is symbolic for having great power!

It says that he is wearing 7 crowns. Any ideas what this means? Are they crowns of victory? Not at all!!! Satan is pictured not as victorious, but simply as one who has great power! He is not all-powerful, but his might should not be underestimated!

V4- Satan will try his best to destroy the child Jesus! John begins by describing the enormity of Satan. And his chief concern is destroying this child! Think about it, if Satan could have done that right then, if he could have prevented Jesus’ birth, he would have eliminated the conflict that began in gen. 3:15! God makes sure this does not happen. Satan is ALWAYS limited by God.

V5- ***VERY IMPORTANT- This verse covers the entire period of time from the verse of Jesus to his ascension back into heaven!

V6- The woman is revealed as God’s “spiritual Israel”, or his church as we spoke of in an earlier chapter. The wilderness represents a place of protection provided by God.. (just like the one provided for the literal Israel coming out of Egypt!) The picture here seems to be that God’s protection is always upon his followers. John assures us that God’s kingdom will always be preserved and protected by him!

The Great Spiritual War

It is imperative to remember this as a vision, and not a literal event! John never says Satan is in heaven. His picture is one of conflict where Satan is defeated and the cause of Jesus triumphs!

V7,8- I believe that the conflict being described here was already come to pass. Any ideas as to when? This battle came to a conclusion at the cross!!!!! It was in Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection that Satan’s “power over life and death” were broken (Rom. 8:2)!
Satan has been defeated and never again has ANY grounds for accusing the people of God!

V9,10, 11- There are 4 descriptions of our enemy stated here:
Dragon- suggests tremendous power
Serpent- suggests his cunning and seductive nature
Devil- literally means accuser, slanderer or liar
Satan- identifies him as our adversary or enemy
The vision depicts a spiritual warfare that had been going on since Gen. 3:15. But, however, Satan is still very active! He may have “lost the war”, but he can and will still “win many battles”. He will not beat God’s church as a whole, but he can win over us individually (hence the importance of a church )
Jesus’ defeat of Satan made it possible for us to be victorious finally!!!!

V12- The heavens are told to rejoice, for Satan has NO place there, but the Earth is warned….because we are now his dwelling place! What do you think it means that he is mad due to his knowledge of having such a short time? What is the significance of that? Satan knows he is limited and cannot accomplish all he wishes!

Satan Persecutes the Woman and her Children

V13,14- Since Jesus got away, Satan turns his attention to whom? The woman….God’s church!!! Us!!!! But once again (symbolized by an eagle’s wings) God provides protection for his church! (sounds like Ex. 19:4, Deut. 32:11)

V15- Floods threatening God’s folks is nothing new (Is 8:5-8, 43:2, Psalm 144:7, 32:6 etc.). Satan is trying to wash out the church. But think about the picture here. Why is this task impossible? You can never drown an eagle…they will simply fly above the water!!! Satan WILL NOT defeat God’s church!

V16- I LOVE this verse. To me, it is VERY symbolic. What do you interpret it to mean? I think this “river” from Satan’s mouth depicts all his lies and deceit! They are intended to drown the church, but the earth, or the “world” steps up and helps us out!!!  Mankind (the unsaved) swallows up his lies instead! God’s true people realize these lies for what they are!

V17- So Satan is now ticked! He has realized that he can’t beat the church (the woman) collectively as a whole, so he sets out to attack who? Her “seed”--- the individual members of the body! Sadly, he is STILL winning many of those battles!

Cool chapter huh? What did you think of it? How was it different from the last few?

Stay tuned next week……for more adventures from REVELATION!!!!