The Victorious Baby – 21

Revelation 12:1-17

Who is bummed that Christmas is over? I know it’s only been a few weeks since Christmas, but it feels so far away. If you know me at all, you know that I love Christmas. One of my farewell sayings to people throughout the year is, “Merry Christmas!” And anytime anyone says it’s not Christmas, I reply, “Every day is Christmas in my heart.” We usually think of Christmas just at Christmas time. We don’t usually study the beginning of the gospels except for in the month of December, but Christmas matters every day of the year. It matters for our salvation, and it matters for what happens at the end of time. We don’t have the cross of redemption without the cradle of the incarnation. We don’t have salvation if Jesus never came. But he did, and he came to wage war. That’s what we see here in Revelation 12. I love what my favorite pastor/theologian, Eugene Peterson, said about this chapter, “This is not the nativity story we grew up with, but it is the nativity story all the same.”[1]

This chapter we’re starting to study tonight gives us an epic overview of the grand redemptive story of the Bible and of history. It tells of salvation from the past, in the present, and into the future. Tonight, we’re going to look at the first part. Right off the bat we see a woman about to give birth, a baby boy to be born, and a powerful dragon. That makes for an exciting adventure story, huh?! Imagine if that is what we read at our Christmas eve services and sang carols about!

Revelation 12:1-2

God fulfills his promises. There is so much history in these verses that can be easy to overlook. The description of the woman in verse 1 comes directly from the dream Joseph had in Genesis 37:9-11. In his dream the sun represents his father Jacob, the moon Rachel, and the twelve stars are the twelve tribes of Israel.[2] The woman likely represents a righteous remnant of Israel, the people of God. We can see this a little more in verse 2, where the woman is crying out in birth pains, about to give birth. The Old Testament often refers to the nation of Israel as a mother giving birth.[3] Think of it this way, the nation of Israel suffered and agonized for centuries waiting for the Messiah to come, and how did he finally come? He was born. A baby boy. God fulfills his promises. And he always comes through, no matter what your situation seems like at the time. But a mother and baby about to be born are not all we see in these verses. There’s something more going on.

Revelation 12:3-4

Remember, we are reading a history of the past right here. The dragon is Satan. It tells us that in verse nine. How it describes him in verse 3 is like the fourth beast in Daniel 7, and it’s meant to show how powerful he is. Satan is more powerful than we know, and he is more active than we often think. Verse 4 reminds us of when and how Satan fell. There was a primordial war in heaven, and Satan rebelled against God. A third of the angels chose to follow him in his rebellion against God.[4] We can see this in Isaiah 14:12-15.

12 “How you are fallen from heaven,    O Day Star, son of Dawn!How you are cut down to the ground,    you who laid the nations low!13 You said in your heart,    ‘I will ascend to heaven;above the stars of God    I will set my throne on high;I will sit on the mount of assembly    in the far reaches of the north;14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;    I will make myself like the Most High.’15 But you are brought down to Sheol,    to the far reaches of the pit.

This war was waged in heaven before God ever created man. I don’t know if you’ve ever deeply thought about this, but Adam and Eve were not the first who were fallen. There was already a fallen serpent, Satan, in that perfect Eden. And that serpent hates God and the things of God and he will do whatever it takes to bring as many people down with him. Just like he deceived Adam and Eve and led them to sin, he does the same w