The Coming War – 23

What is your favorite holiday? This is our third week in this chapter, and so far we’ve seen two important holidays that we celebrate—Christmas and Easter. At Christmas, when Jesus came, God in the flesh, it was the declaration of war, and at Easter, with Jesus on the cross and the resurrection, it was the final blow to make certain the end of the war. Satan is still fighting though. But there’s no question how the battle is going to end. That’s a little glimpse of what these last few verses of chapter 12 will show us.

Revelation 12:1-17

Revelation 12:13 – And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child.

Satan seeks to destroy God’s people. We saw in verse 6 that the woman is the righteous remnant of Israel or the church. Either way, it is God’s people. The church is ingrafted into God’s covenant promises, and those who are his people by heritage can also not be children of the promise if they aren’t so in their heart (Rom 2:29; Rom 11). Either way, to be one of God’s people, you must have faith in Jesus. But here’s a thing you need to remind yourself. If you are one of God’s people, you are not exempt from hardship. You actually might even have more hardship than people of the world. But, you can have peace amidst any hardship, because you belong to God and God is with you.

“The word used to describe [Satan’s] pursuit of the woman is used elsewhere in the New Testament (Acts 7:52; 9:4; 22:4) to describe the persecution of the church, and that is probably what this pursuit symbolizes.”[1] It is interesting to note that Christianity is the number one most persecuted religion in the world.[2] That could be because there are far more Christians in the world than any other religion.[3] There are far less Jews in the world than there are Christians,[4] yet think about Israel’s history and Israel currently. There has always been someone trying to wipe out Israel. Always. And they were seemingly wiped out from 138AD until just 1948.[5] With how much Israel is mentioned not just in the Bible, but alluded to in Revelation, realizing this history of Israel and how it wasn’t until recently that they became a nation again, should perk you up! Even to this day Israel is constantly attacked. Other nations hate them and would love to see them wiped out. It’s been that way through Israel’s history. And it’s that way with the church right now as well. Satan seeks to destroy God’s people, and it will only get worse as the end approaches.

Revelation 12:14 – But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time.

God provides for and protects his people. Even though God’s people are persecuted, and many will die and have died at the hands of Satan and those who follow him, he can never and will never wipe out God’s people. There is a lot of Old Testament imagery here in this verse that adds tons of meaning for us.

“Wings often appear in the Bible as a sign of God’s protection.”[6] Just like the woman is flown in our verse into the wilderness, there is a parallel between the Israelites coming out of Egypt by the hand of God. Listen to Exodus 19:4, inwhich God says at Mt. Sinai, “You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.” Also, later on, Isaiah prophesied about the return from exile that would happen after the new Exodus in Isaiah 40:31, saying, “but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” Just like God provided for his people in the past, we see him doing it in the future. Even though they are hurting and face death, Satan cannot wipe them out.

I want you to think about what that means for