Revolution12:1-2, “Now a great sign appeared in heaven (we are looking at Heaven): a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. The women is heavenly Jerusalem, our spiritual mother in our “born again” life, explained in the introduction. Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth.” It is the time of Jesus coming to earth. Her pain may have been from knowing what Jesus would face.
Revelation 12:3-4, “And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth (Discussed after verse 7). And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born.”
The dragon is the enemy, the devil, Satan, carrying the symbols from Daniel. He is doing everything he can to keep Jesus from crushing his head as decreed in Genesis 3. Let’s look at Mathew 2:16, “Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men.” The enemy is behind Herod.
Our Abba Father thwarted the enemy in Mathew 2:13, “Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.”
Revelation 12:5, we are now in the parallel material, “She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. (Time jump here) And her Child was caught up to God and His throne. Then the woman fled into the wilderness (Jump back to bearing a child), where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days.” The 1260 days equals the same 1260 years the church was held captive, our Abba Father keeping it alive.)
Revelation 12:7-9, “And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So 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.” A war in Heaven. That goes back to Romans 12:4 when the Dragon’s tail swept a third of the angels and pre-incarnate Jesus would have still been there, fighting as “Michael” with the enemy and his angels. I am convinced Michael is also pre-incarnate Jesus as expressed in S4M2.
Isaiah prophesied the enemies fall in Isaiah 14:13, “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations!”
The enemy got a third of the angels to follow him. How is that possible? Let’s look at Ezekiel 28:12-15, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “You were the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The sardius, topaz, and diamond, Beryl, onyx, and jasper, Sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes Was prepared for you on the day you were created. “You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created.”
The enemy has amazing credentials. He is the creation of our Abba Father. But “iniquity was found in him.” Isaiah reveals his iniquity in 14:13-14, “For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.”
Revolution12:10, “Then 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 (the angels are speaking, their brethren are other angels in heavenly Jerusalem), who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.” That looks like the cleansing of the heavenly Jerusalem and the temple after Jesus went up to Heaven to receive his kingdom in Daniel.
Revolution12:11, “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they (fallen angles) did not love their lives to the death. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you (remaining angels) 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.” That is a clear transition from heavenly Jerusalem to earth. The third woe is coming.
Revolution12:13-14, “Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. But 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, (same amount of time again, 1260 years) from the presence of the serpent.” The woman is in Heaven, the enemy no longer there. We established that after the cross, our connection to Heaven through the Holy Spirit makes an attack on believers on earth, also an attack on Heaven.
Revolution12:15-16, “So 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. (Water is a symbol of people and nations, the church-state system.) But 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.” The French Revolution, the earthquake, swallowed up the church-state system.
Revolution12:17, “And 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.” Any doubt the enemy is after us?
What is John thinking here when he sees the enemy going after us? The power of the Holy Spirit as our helper. John 14:15-18, “If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.”
John 14:23-24, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him . . . If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father who sent Me.” We as believers have the whole story. But do we really believe it? Is this real to us? When you read the Great Tribulation at the end of this chapter, you see a more believable vision. But it only can be real if we embrace the supernatural world where it happens. That is the major theme of the Revelation.
