Revelation 12 – Chapter Study
Chapter 12 of Revelation has been
a serious bone of contention between
Bible scholars and students for years.
There
have been many questions over how to
interpret the visions John has in this chapter and how to place it in the
overall Outline & Chronology of the Book.
You’ll remember how we’ve
seen that God keeps His redemptive focus on one group at a time.
Right
now, that focus is on the Church.
But
God has several promises yet to fulfill to the Jewish people and nation, so He must needs shift His redemptive focus back to
Before
He can do that however, He must remove the Church; which is what the Rapture is
all about.
The Tribulation is a 7 year
period that follows the Rapture, in which God switches His redemptive focus
back to
Daniel 9 contains an
interesting timeline and timetable for God’s dealing with
As
we read Daniel 9:24-27, we see this timetable divided into two sections that
total 490 years.
Historically,
we know that the first section of 483 years has been fulfilled down to the very
day.
But
Daniel said that there would be a gap of undetermined length between the first
phase and the last phase of 7 years.
This
leaves us with the impression that the nation of Israel is rather like a
spiritual stopwatch with only 7 seconds left on it till it counts down to “0”
and the end is reached.
What’s interesting is that it
seems the devil sees it this way also.
He
knows that his fate is tied to the nation of
They
are his bane. So he has ever angled to try to wipe them
out.
Anti-Semitism
is a mystery that has troubled many
historians and sociologists.
There
seems no rational explanation for why the Jewish people have faced such
virulent and consistent hatred throughout their history by the other peoples of
the world.
At
its root, anti-semitism is demonic, inspired by Satan
to rally the people of the world against the Jews in the hopes of wiping them
out.
If
the Jews are eradicated then God’s word fails, and the end He has ordained is
in jeopardy – and maybe, just maybe, Satan’s bid at rebellion and usurping the
throne of God has a chance for success.
Now, of course, we know this
is absurd!
But
the devil has bought this lie and continues to resist the will of God.
This
is why Satan is such a good liar – he’s bought his own lie and propaganda.
His
convinced himself his destiny is to sit in the highest place as the Almighty.
Right now, there’s just one
thing that stands in his way –
My friends, this is the real explanation for why there’s trouble
in the
Satan
has stirred up the nations of the world to oppose and oppress
Why
does the
For
one simple reason – because this nation was built on the Bible – and
foundational to the Bible is the Abrahamic
Covenant which says that those who bless
Fortunately,
God has graced us to generally have
leaders who let this truth guide their foreign policy as it relates to
But woe to our nation if our leaders forsake it.
Ch. 12 is John’s vision of
the classic & age-old conflict between
The
reason he is given this vision at this point is because now that the mid-point
of the Tribulation has been reached and things are accelerating toward their
climax in the Return of Christ, two very important junctions are made in God’s
dealing with the nation of
So
while what John sees here speaks of the future, it begins with an image that is
deeply rooted in the past.
1Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed
with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve
stars.
John speaks of 7 “signs” in
Revelation – this is the first.
The
word refers to something supernatural that stands as an indicator of momentous
events to come.
This first sign is called a “great sign.”
And
there we have the word “mega” once
more.
I
ran a search and discovered that this word “mega” is used 75 times in Revelation, far more than any of the other books of the
NT.
John’s
repeated uses of this word points up the fact that his visions weren’t some
kind of cloudy dream or abstract montage of confusing images.
They
were clear visions granted him by God
in a cogent form so he could record them and pass them on to succeeding
generations.
The first sign John saw was a
woman clothed in the radiant light of the sun.
The
platform she stood on was the moon – and woven into her hair was a garland, or
ribbon, strung with 12 stars.
In
the midst of all the debate that’s ensued over the meaning of what John saw,
interpreting this vision really isn’t all that difficult because it’s a clear
allusion to well-know Biblical idioms and stories.
This
woman is clearly a picture of the nation of
First of all, in terms of
visions, women are consistently used of religious
systems. [1]
That’s
clear just by looking at Revelation itself.
·
Jezebel is
associated with a religious system of false teaching in
·
The Great Harlot is associated with false
religion in 17:2
·
The Bride is associated with the church in 19:7-8
Second, the reference to the
sun, moon, and 12 stars finds a clear reference to the dream of Joseph in Gen.
37:9-11 about his father Jacob, the sun, his mother Rachel, the moon, and the
12 stars, representing his brothers, the patriarchs of the tribes of Israel.
Third, the prophets regularly
referred to
Fourth, Isaiah said that
Isaiah 60:1-3
1 Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen
upon you.
2 For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness
the people; But the Lord
will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you.
3 The Gentiles shall come to your light, And
kings to the brightness of your rising.
2Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in
pain to give birth.
As we’ll see in v. 5, it’s
clear this child is Jesus.
The
pain she cries out in refers to the travail of
The
people were crying out to God for deliverance, very much as they had when in
bondage in
There
was a high level of expectation on the part of the common people that the
messiah was about to come – the problem was, what they were looking for was a
military and political conqueror, not the Lamb of God who had come to take away
the sins of the world.
Still,
they were in great distress and cried out in agony to be delivered.
3And another sign appeared in heaven: . . .
John now sees another –a different sign.
The
word “another” means of a different
kind.
The
woman of vs. 1 & 2 represents
She
is clothed with glory and is seen as the focus of God’s redemptive plan.
But
what John sees now is just as great a sign, only it speaks of horrific evil, not glory.
behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads
and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads.
V. 9 makes
it clear that the dragon is none other than Satan.
John
describes him as fiery red.
In
Rev. 6, fiery red is the color of the 2nd horse who
goes forth to take peace from the earth and to promote murder, war, and mayhem.
Red
is symbolic here of bloodshed, death, the destruction of life.
It
stands as a fitting color for the devil because as Jesus said, he is a murderer
and comes only to kill and destroy.
It’s interesting that the
image of the dragon is one that has permeated almost every ancient culture.
So
much so that some wonder if there wasn’t at one time
an animal that approximated the appearance and characteristics of the legendary
dragon.
Mythologically, the dragon is a sly, cunning, and intelligent
creature whose aim is to steal, kill and destroy what belongs to man.
Dragons
are universally held to be the epitome of
evil – and if not resisted steadfastly, will actually entangle men and
women in accomplishing their own
destruction.
John sees this dragon with 7
heads each head bearing a crown, and ten horns.
We
could chew up a lot of time at this point by doing some cross-referencing to
the Book of Daniel for he also speaks of a great & evil beast with heads
and horns.
Let
me summarize what all this points to.
From
comparing this verse to Rev. 13:1 and Dan. 7:7-8, 24, what we’re seeing is
Satan’s manifestation in the person of the Antichrist who will come to reign
over the ten-nation confederacy that comprises a revival of the Roman Empire,
as is foretold in Daniel 9.
But
in rising to power, the antichrist uproots and overthrows 3 of the 10 nations –
leaving 7, who then become his power base during the Tribulation.
Horns
are symbolic in scripture for earthly
powers – nations; governmental
systems. The 10 horns represent 10 nations.
But
in its final form, the Revived Roman
Empire, under the leadership of the antichrist, who will be possessed by
the devil, the dragon, will be comprised of 7 rulers, symbolized by the 7 heads
and 7 royal crowns.
Both Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28
show how Satan likes to stand behind the throne of earthly kingdoms.
During
the Tribulation, he’ll come out from the shadows to actually rule in the person
of the antichrist.
4His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw
them to the earth. . . .
Once again we see stars used as an idiom for angels.
In
v. 9 the dragon, who’s revealed as the devil, is
spoken of with his angels.
John
is referring here to the fall of Lucifer and those angels under his influence who joined him in his abortive rebellion against God.
They
lost their position among the heavenly host and were cast out, to become the
demons; Satan spiritual agents to continue the war with God by attacking those
who bear God’s image.
. . . And the dragon stood before the woman
who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born.
The devil knew that the
crucial and critical element in all God’s plan to liberate Earth from the Curse
of sin and to reverse the effects of the Fall, was to invade Earth in the
Person of the Messiah.
Abraham
was the man God originally singled out to be the one through whom a nation
would come which would prepare the stage for the Messiah.
It
was through Abraham’s descendants that the nation of
Satan
watched the development of God’s plan and sought to thwart it at every
opportunity.
·
He filled Cain
with envy and hatred for Abel and moved him to kill him, hopefully putting an
end to the promise of a Deliverer.
·
He polluted the
human race with such evil and violence that it led to the flood – and only 8
were deemed worthy to escape.
·
Satan tempted
Abraham to forgo God’s plan by having a kid with Hagar and then allowing his
wife Sarah to enter the harem of 2 pagan kings.
·
He motivated Esau
to kill Jacob, the son of the Promise.
·
Satan gave
Pharaoh the idea of killing all the Hebrew male babies.
·
The devil stirred
up King Saul to kill David, through whose descendants the promise of the
Messiah had been promised.
·
He inspired Haman to try to kill all of the Jews in the
·
In 2 Chr. 21-22 we learn that the devil almost pulled it off and
ended the Messianic line when the descendants of David were reduced down to one
little boy – Joash, who had to be kept in hiding for
6 years!
·
After Jesus was
born, Herod sent his troops to kill all the young children of
·
In Luke 4, the
people tried to kill Jesus, for doing good!
·
In Matthew 4, the
devil tried to kill him by convincing him to throw himself off the pinnacle of
the temple.
·
Then, at the
Cross, the devil thought he’d accomplished his objective. But his rejoicing was short for the Cross
proved to be the lodestone, the catalyst that began the unraveling of his
plans.
·
Unsuccessful in
his bid to kill Jesus, he’s reverted to his prior strategy of trying to wipe
out
·
If there’s no
o
So we have the
destruction of the nation in 70 AD at the hands of the Romans.
o
There’s the
renewal of that destruction in the mid 2nd Century.
o
There’s the
brutal treatment of the Jews in all the places they have wandered – general
anti-semitism.
o
The Inquisition,
Hitler’s Final Solution and the pogroms in
Today,
the knee-jerk hatred of the Jews and of
Yet despite all of the
devil’s hatred and clever strategies – God’s plan goes forward.
5She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with
a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne.
Interpreting this isn’t
difficult – this is clearly a reference to the Messiah.
Psalm
2:9 and Rev. 19:15 tell us He will rule the nations with a rod of iron.
The “she” here is the woman
of vs. 1 & 2 –
Jesus
was a Jew and was born as one of the nation of
Despite
the devil’s attempt to kill Him, Jesus was victorious and ascended into heaven.
But
what happens to the woman?
6Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has
a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two
hundred and sixty days.
V. 5 refers to the birth,
life, death, resurrection and ascension of Christ – and event that took place nearly 2000 years ago.
V. 6
speaks of something yet future.
Vast
spans of time between two sequential prophecies are common in the Bible.
One
of the most notable is in Daniel 9:24-27 – which refers to this very same set
of events; the birth of Christ, and God’s re-starting
of the prophetic clock for the last 7 years.
The 1260 days of v. 6 refers
to the last half of the Tribulation.
We
already saw the first half in ch. 11 and the career
of the two witnesses.
When
their 1260 days end, the last 1260 commence.
Their
witness for Christ has resulted in a remnant of
It
is this remnant that is in view here.
This
is believing
The
message of the two witnesses will accomplish it’s
God-intended purpose and they will come to faith in Christ.
Rejecting
the antichrist as an imposter, they will then have to flee his wrath at their
rejection.
This remnant of believing
Jews will find a place of refuge in the wilderness.
This
place will have been prepared for her by God.
She
will remain safe there for the duration of the Tribulation.
Because of what we find in Isaiah
16, many Bible students believe the place of refuge for this remnant is the
city of
1 Send the lamb
to the ruler of the land, From Sela to the
wilderness, To the mount of the daughter of
3 Make your
shadow like the night in the middle of the day; {This is a picture of great stealth] Hide the outcasts, Do not betray him who escapes.
4 Let My
outcasts dwell with you, O
It’s
buildings, which are over 2000 years old are still standing because they are carved
right into the stone of the hills.
If
this hiding place is meant to be a refuge against further attacks from the
antichrist, then it would be an excellent strategic choice.
While there’ve been rumors
over the last 20 years that some Christians were stock-piling food at Petra for
this event of the remnant’s flight, I’ve not been able to verify this and find
it unlikely since Petra lies in Jordan and is under the control of the
Jordanians.
They
would hardly allow such use of this well-know and well-visited tourist
destination.
It’s not necessary for there
to be stockpiles of food anyway.
V. 6
says that God has prepared this place for her.
The word
for prepared is the same one Jesus
used in John 14 when He said he was going to prepare a place for us in heaven.
If
God could provide manna and water for 40 years in the wilderness, He can supply
His people with the same for only 3½ years.
John now has a vision of why
7And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels
fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, 8but
they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer.
How are we to understand this
– when does this take place?
Does
this describe some past event, when Lucifer first rebelled and became Satan? Or is this yet future?
In Job 1 we read how the
devil appeared before God in heaven.
He
said he’d been walking around on the Earth and now stood before the Holy One to
present a challenge.
Satan
then went on to lay some heavy accusations against that righteous man Job.
So
even after his initial revolt and fall from his position as the “anointed
cherub who covers”, as it calls him in Eze 28:14, the
devil had access to heaven.
But there is coming a time
when Satan will no longer have access to heaven.
He
will no longer be able to stand before the throne of God and accuse God’s
people.
He
and all his demons will be locked out!
You see, as God is preparing
to now bring His Kingdom and rule to Earth in a visible way, He moves to purge
heaven of all presences of evil.
His
plan is to rid heaven for Satan, and then to rid Earth of him too.
The
noose is getting tighter & tighter round the devil’s neck.
Notice God’s agent in dealing
with the devil – Michael and the holy angels.
God
uses one of the chief or archangels
to lead the campaign of banishing the devil and his demons from heaven.
Let’s play a little game –
What’s
the opposite of Up? In? Black? Light? Good?
God?
God has NO opposite. The devil is certainly not the opposite of God.
Why
that is his very desire – to be like the Most High; if he were God’s opposite.
He would be like Him.
But
he’s not and never will be like God because Satan is a created being.
The
closest opposite we can find for him is Michael.
In Daniel 12:1 we read this –
At that time Michael shall
stand up, the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people; and
there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation,
even to that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered.
This
is the mid-point of the tribulation and marks the beginning of the final 3½
years.
9So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old,
called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the
earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
The dragon is here clearly
identified as none other than the devil, the serpent who slithered around in
the Garden of Eden and suggested to Eve an alternative to God’s good will.
He is also called, “the devil
& satan.”
The
word “devil” comes from the Greek word diabolos
and means slanderer, accuser; one who defames.
In
v. 10 we see that this is precisely what he does.
The
word “satan” means adversary.
The Bible refers to 4 different
falls for Satan. [3]
·
From his role as
anointed cherub to the adversary (Ezekiel 28:14-16)
·
From having
access to heaven to restriction to the earth (Here)
·
From the earth to
bondage in the bottomless pit for 1,000 years (Revelation 20)
·
From the bottomless
pit to the lake of fire in the final judgment (Revelation 20)
10Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now
salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His
Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our
God day and night, has been cast down. 11And they overcame him by
the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony,
and they did not love their lives to the death.
This loud voice has to be
from the redeemed because it refers to Satan as the accuser of “our brethren.”
That’s
a title reserved in scripture for those of the household of faith.
Of course, it’s not hard to
imagine the joy that will fill heaven with the devil’s been finally booted from
there for good.
If
you’ve every had a really nasty and oppressive
houseguest, you know how good it is when they finally leave.
Such
will be the rejoicing of heaven when the devil is finally banished.
Of course, the hosts of
heaven see this exile of the devil as the first
phase of confining him altogether and the prospect of that is just too
good.
Regarding this identification
of the devil as our accuser and how we overcome him, that will be my text for
Sunday, so I will leave more comment till then.
12Therefore rejoice, heavens, and you who dwell in them!
Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to
you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.”
Heaven may rejoice at Satan’s
eviction but heaven’s gain is the earth’s loss.
The
devil now sees the writing on the wall, if I may borrow another image from the
prophecy of Daniel.
Being
kicked out of heaven has dealt the devil a serious set-back to his plans of
usurping God’s throne.
He
knows his loss of place is tied directly to the victory of Christ at the Cross,
and that reminds him of his failed attempts to destroy
Once
more, he becomes enraged at her continuing existence and goes forth in great
anger to annihilate her.
Vs. 7-12 have
been kind of a parenthetical vision John was given to help explain what’s going
on in v. 6 – which he returns to now . . .
13Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the
earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. 14But
the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the
wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a
time, from the presence of the serpent.
This repeats and amplifies
what John saw and reported in v. 6.
The
“time and times and half a time,” of v. 14 equals
the 1260 days of v. 6 and helps us realize where talking, not about some symbolic period of time, as some
interpreters of Revelation want to say, but a literal period of 3½ years, the
last half of the Tribulation.
In
In Exodus
19:4, God said that during the Exodus from
Some modern Bible students
have proposed that this is a massive airlift by the Israeli airforce
or possible a collection Christian groups who band together to assist their
Jewish brothers and sisters at this crucial juncture of the Tribulation.
However
it’s accomplished, the point is, the devil attacks
15So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a
flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be
carried away by the flood. 16But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the
flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth.
It’s clear that the remnant
of
The reason for this
becomes clear when we take a look at what Jesus said in Matthew 24:15-25
15“Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of
desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the
prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), 16“then
let those who are in
23“Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the
Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. 24For false christs and false prophets will
rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25See,
I have told you beforehand.
These words will be well read
and understood during the Tribulation.
They
will be the constant message and counsel of the two witnesses who will oppose
the antichrist and his bid to be dictator of the world.
When
Satan is finally banished from heaven, he comes to Earth and possesses the
antichrist.
He
then marches into the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem, enters the holy of holies
and declares himself God, demanding everyone worship him and submit to his plan
for world domination; this is the abomination that brings desolation.
But
the two witnesses have urged the Jews to watch for this and to realize when
they see it that it’s proof the antichrist is a liar
and demon, not their Savior.
The
believers know this is the trigger to get out of Dodge and head for the hills –
literally!
Now, when you’re in
I
believe that this event of the abomination of desolation proves so powerful a
testimony to the Jewish people that there’s a mass conversion of virtually the entire nation in fulfillment of
God’s promise to reveal Himself to them and bring them
to faith.
In Romans
25For
I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest
you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to
Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26And so all
Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will
turn away ungodliness from Jacob.
The ministry of the 144,000
Jewish evangelists we read about in ch. 7 along with
the two witnesses will have prepared the soil well for this mass conversion
among their countrymen.
Therefore, when the
antichrist declares himself God, the Jews will see it
as a great betrayal, put their faith in Christ, and then jam out of town toward
the hills in the wilderness.
When
the antichrist emerges from the temple, he finds
He
understands this as their national rejection of him and pursues them to wipe
them out.
This passage in Revelation
describes the fury Jesus told the Jews to flee from.
Just how we’re to understand
this flood of water out of the
serpent’s mouth is uncertain.
But we may have a most
excellent clue in the words of Psalm 124
1 “If it had not
been the Lord who was on our
side,” Let
2 “If it had not
been the Lord who was on our
side, When men rose up against us,
3 Then they
would have swallowed us alive, When their wrath was
kindled against us;
4 Then the
waters would have overwhelmed us, The stream would
have gone over our soul;
5 Then the
swollen waters Would have gone over our soul.”
6 Blessed be
the Lord, Who has not given us as
prey to their teeth.
7 Our soul
has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers; The
snare is broken, and we have escaped.
8 Our help is in the name of the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.
It’s
probably best to take the flood of water out of the serpent’s mouth as a word
picture of the hatred, lies, and wave of anti-semitic
propaganda that will flow forth from his mouth to inflame the world against the
Jews.
Sitting
as he does in the seat of political and military power, he urges a quick
military strike to wipe out fleeing
But
by the time the attack is mobilized a full third of
The
rest were late in getting started, not taking the words and warning of Jesus
seriously until too late.
I say that because in Zech
13:8-9 we read this -
8 And it shall
come to pass in all the land,” Says the Lord,
“That two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die, But one-third shall be left in it:
9 I will bring the one-third through the fire, Will refine them as silver is refined, And test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, And I will answer them. I will say, ‘This is My people’; And each one will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’”
When
the nations seek to dislodge the last third of
This
could be an earthquake, a storm or some totally miraculous event.
As it says in Isaiah 59:19, “When the enemy comes in like a flood, the
Spirit of the Lord will lift up a
standard against him.”
The
point is, Satan knows it’s fruitless to persist in his
attack on the wilderness refuge of
17And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went
to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God
and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
This verse makes it pretty
clear that the remnant that makes it to the place of refuge is
believing
We
can conclude that because the rest of the
believers the devil persecutes are called her “offspring.”
They
are the spiritual fruit of their ministry for the previous 3½ years.
It’s this group that will make up the vast number of
Tribulation saints we encountered in chs 6 & 7.
In v. 12
we saw that when the devil is cast out of heaven, he knows he has a short time.
Why then
doesn’t he just give up?
Don’t forget that Satan is utterly depraved.
He
is insane.
Every
thing he has ever done, from the moment of his fall to this has been undone and
turned around and made into the means of promoting the glory of God –
everything!!!
Why
doesn’t he get a clue and give up?
Here’s the problem with
answering that question – we suppose there is some REASON – and there is none.
You
see, a reason implies something reasonable – something logical, something with
some basis in good sense.
And
that’s the problem with sin – all sin – there is no reason for it.
Sin
is the very essence of unreason.
Sin
is, to be blunt, stupid!
A better
question that “Why doesn’t Satan give up?” might be, “Why don’t I give up?”
Our
rebellion against God makes even less
sense than Satan’s rebellion does.