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Revelation 12 part II
December 3rd 2017
Meat
Okay we left off at verse 6 which said:
6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.
Now let’s read to verse 12:
7. And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought,
8. but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer.
9. 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.
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, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.
11. “And 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.
12. “Therefore rejoice, O 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.”
Alright, as a brief recap, the woman, (heavenly Jerusalem, represented as the “mother” of the New Covenant people), and she gives birth to the male Child (the Messiah, Jesus) who is the first born of the New Covenant.
This “birthing” happened at the resurrection when God raised Jesus from the dead (this is based on Paul’s verification of this fact in Acts 13:33).
Therefore we have some sense when John tells us here in Revelation that the male Child (after being born) is “caught up to God’s throne.”
At this moment in biblical history there is at this point a war in heaven and Satan is cast out.
He is cast out at this time because of what happened just prior to the resurrection, at the cross. It was at the cross that Satan was judged and defeated. We recall that Jesus, a few days before His death, spoke of this casting of Satan out of heaven, saying in John 12:31-32
“Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world shall be cast out, and I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.”
We also know that later, in John 16:5-11, that Jesus makes the point clear that Satan is about to be judged at the cross.
He tells His disciples that He is going back to the Father and would send the Holy Spirit. He tells how the Spirit would convict the world “of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” (John 16:8). And then He explains, saying:
John 16:9-11
9. of sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10. of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and you see Me no more; (ready) 11. of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
The phrase of this world suggests that what is, will continue to be forever more.
And remember, Jesus was saying all this THEN.
Verses 7-9
7. And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, 8. but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. 9. 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.
Remember, this occurred when Jesus had His victory at the cross. God does not have to get involved. Jesus has already defeated Satan at the cross through Jesus and so His angels execute the sentence and toss Satan and his angels right out!
With the throwing out of Satan, heaven is told to rejoice.
However, the earth is in for one heck of a time. This was the earth during the Roman siege of Jerusalem.
Verse 12 tells us that “that the Devil has great wrath knowing he only has a “short time” This short time (until the end of a time and times, and half a time Rev. 12:14) is until Satan is bound and cast into the abyss at the Second Coming of Jesus at AD 70 (which Revelation chapters 19 and 20 describe for us).
Saying that the Devil was cast out of heaven at the time of Jesus’ death and resurrection causes some real heartburn for people who see prophecy yet to be fulfilled.
If Satan was cast out at the cross, how could it be said that he only had a short time left?
Liberal theorists try to get around this problem by saying that John was writing his own ideas in the book of Revelation.
He thought that Jesus’ Second Coming was very near (as did the rest of the New Testament writers) and he was wrong.
This solution creates a problem because it undermines the inerrancy and authority of Scripture. To the Liberals this is no problem because they don’t believe in Scripture’s inerrancy or authority.
Some theorists who do believe in the inerrancy of Scripture try to get around the time problem by saying that Satan was indeed cast out at the cross. The short time, they would say, is relative to eternity.
Thus it has been almost 2,000 years since the cross but in terms of eternity this is a short time.
This solution runs into the problem of taking any meaning out of the time statements in the Bible.
Futurists try to get around the problem of Satan’s short time by contending that his casting out happens in the future right before the Second Coming.
Thus his short time is the 1260 days of Revelation 12:6 will happen in the future.
The problem with this is that to fit Satan having a short time here into their theoretical framework futurists put the casting out of Satan in the future.
This would mean that Satan is currently still in heaven, still accusing us “day and night before God” (Rev. 12:10).
To teach this should almost be heresy.
Satan being cast out of heaven to the earth around the time of the cross also creates problems for those who would propose that the millennium was the period between AD 30 and AD 70, as most full preterists do (but not this one).
Revelation 12 shows Satan being cast from heaven to the earth at the resurrection, not into the abyss.
He still had a “short time” (Revelation 12:12) until he was bound and cast into the abyss for the millennium (Revelation 20:1-3).
This short time was the “time and times and half a time” that the woman and her children were protected on earth from his presence (Revelation 12:14&17).
It was at the end of this time (when the power of the Jews was shattered in AD 70, Daniel 12:6&7) that the Second Coming happened, Satan was bound and the millennial reign began (Rev. 19 and 20).
With Satan being cast out at the cross the accuser is no longer accusing us before God. Instead we have a great high priest in Jesus (Hebrews 4:14-16) who having had the victory over all things is making intercession rather that battling the accuser in some way.
To me the Millennium was never to be a thousand years but the indefinite amount of spiritual peace that would reign over the spiritual kingdom, the New Jerusalem in heaven then and forever more as one thousand is representational of all years and not actual of just a thousand.
Going from having an accuser before the throne to a great high priest on the throne is a very nice turn of events indeed!
This causes John to write in verse 10
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.
Remember, Jesus, right after His resurrection, told his disciples that He now possessed all authority in both heaven and earth, saying:
“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” (Matthew 28:18).
A loud voice in heaven now declares this fact.
With Satan being cast out of heaven the salvation and authority of Jesus and His kingdom have come. The full reign of the kingdom is not yet however.
This was the “already but not yet” of the kingdom. The full reign of the kingdom would come at Jesus’ Second Coming in AD 70 (“the kingdom coming with power,” as Mark 9:1 and Matthew 16:27 say), when Satan was bound and thrown into the abyss or Lake of Fire (Revelation chapters 19 & 20).
This is what many are waiting for in our future. It was what Jesus apostles were asking Him about. It is what came and wrapped up the biblical, brick and mortar age entirely.
Then in verse 11 we read:
11. “And 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.
Here we are given the threefold way that the saints in that day overcame the accuser.
The first was they overcame him “by the blood of the Lamb.”
This of course speaks to the sacrifice of Jesus, the Lamb of God on the cross.
This is of course no mystery. John the Baptist, upon seeing Jesus in John 1:29 says:
“Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”
Referencing, of course the Old Testament sacrificial Lamb the Jews had appealed to over some 1500 years of animal blood propitiation.
This of course hearkens all the way back to God’s instructions to the Nation of Israel through Moses, who said:
Ex 12:3 Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:
4 And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.
5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:
6 And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.
7 And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.
8 And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
Shed blood, eating its flesh, killing it on the specific day . . . all types of Christ Jesus as the Lamb of God whose blood would save.
And it was through this very blood that Satan has been defeated.
“and by the word of their testimony,”
Remember, unlike today, to bear audible witness of the Christian faith in that day and age was treacherous business. Lives were lost, punishment and abandonment ensued.
But to bear faithful testimony of the truth served to encourage them and fortify their strength to overcome the one who wanted them to deny and stay silent.
Words are an amazing thing – powerful, life giving, light bearing, possessing an ability to give life or to help cause death.
The power and eternality of words cannot be denied – especially from a biblical perspective. To prove it all we need to do is remind ourselves that God spoke everything into existence.
Wow.
Apparently, to speak words of truth had the capacity to bring life and protection to those willing to speak.
All oppressive powers seek to silence those with testimonies of truth – they will go to great lengths to try and crush testimony.
But that willingness to bear witness in the face of such difficulty apparently bore some real power in the lives of the faithful saints during this blighted time.
The third way, here in the King James was “they did not love their lives to the death.”
This is awkward and perhaps reads better in then following manner:
Re 12:11 (RSV) And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.
In other words, they did not consider their lives so valuable that they would run from martyrdom.
They were willing to be martyred for the faith. In this they were able, John says, to “conquer him” (who had been cast down to earth).
Just as Jesus’ death on the cross was ultimately a victory over Satan, so too would be the death of those who were to die for the cause of Christ.
I love this devotion – to the right things, of course. But when a people are fearless in the face of personal loss for a principle there is nothing like it – nobody can touch them because they will do whatever is necessary to speak the truth.
At this point John adds:
12. “Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! (Why? Because Satan and his angels had been cast down losing to Christ on the cross forever more. And then the downside, saying)
“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.”
Got all that?
Let’s read on into some more verses 13-17
13. Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child.
14. 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, from the presence of the serpent.
15. 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.
16. 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.
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.
Okay, back to verse 13:
13. Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child.
So the dragon was thrown down to earth after the victory of Christ on the cross which victory was manifested in and through the resurrection.
So the dragon, freshly booted out of heaven, and ticked that he has limited time to continue to be an accuser of the brethren, comes down to persecute the woman (Jerusalem – as we proved last week) and the rest of her offspring – those who believe and follow Christ who has had the victory.
Satan being loose on the earth during the period between AD 30 and AD 70 is consistent with what the rest of the New Testament teaches.
Paul called Satan the god of that age (2nd Corinthians 4:4).
Peter said the devil was walking about “like a roaring lion” (1 Peter 5:8).
John said the whole world was under “the sway of the wicked one” during that time (30-70 AD) in 1st John 5:19.
The New Testament does not support the idea that Satan was bound in the abyss during the period of AD 30 to AD 70 but I would suggest taken contextually we clearly see that the accuser was not only bound but has been cast into the abyss forevermore today.
Then we read:
14. 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, from the presence of the serpent.
With them she flies into the wilderness where she is nourished for “a time and times and half a time” from the presence of the serpent or roaring lion.
This appears to be returning to the subject of verse 6 where the woman escapes from the serpent into the wilderness.
Looking back to God’s deliverance of His Old Covenant people from Egypt (and then their subsequent journey in the wilderness) Exodus 19:3-6 says:
3 And Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain, saying ‘Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the children of Israel: 4. ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagle’s wings, and brought you to Myself. 5 ‘Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people, for all the earth is Mine; 6 And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you shall speak to the children of Israel.’
Of course Passover is the commemoration of God’s deliverance of His people from the slavery of Egypt. Jesus, the Lamb of God, fulfilled this Passover in setting us free from Satan’s kingdom.
Just as God’s people under the Old Covenant experienced a wilderness period between being delivered from Egypt and entering the Promised Land, so to would God’s people under the New Covenant do the same.
I suggest that to the church in Apostolic days there would be a wilderness time of trial and testing between the time of the Cross (when they were delivered from Satan’s kingdom) and the time of the kingdom coming with power (the Second Coming) in AD 70.
In this view we are able to understand Jesus saying in Mark 9:1,
Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.
In this view the Second Coming of Jesus (Yeshua/Joshua) being analogous to the time when the Old Covenant people entered the Promised Land lead by Joshua too.
This wilderness time period is given as “1260” days in Revelation 12:6 and “a time and times and half a time” in Revelation 12:14.
As we mentioned last week, the ending of “a time, times and half a time” is given in the book of Daniel as when the power of the holy people had been completely shattered.
This happened in AD 70 with the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple with all of its genealogy and priesthood and glory was leveled to the ground.
Once again notice that Satan is loose on the earth up until AD 70 or to the end of the three and a half years or of “a time and times and half a time.”
We also can’t help but note that the COI wandered in the wilderness 40 years and that the span of time for the Children of Jerusalem was about 40 years too (from AD 30 to AD 70).
In Hebrews chapters 3 and 4 the author talks of a parallel between the Jews experience in the wilderness and what his readers were experiencing. Turn with me and let’s start reading at Hebrews 3:14 where the writer makes these same clear connections between the saints then and the COI in the past, saying:
14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;
15 While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. (meaning as in the day when our forefathers were in the wilderness)
16 For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.
17 But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?
18 And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?
19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
Then moving into the next chapter of Hebrews the writer picks the subject back up at verses 9-11 of chapter 4 and says:
9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
11 Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
It seems that the writer of Hebrews tying several things into the idea of entering into His rest and the people of his day.
First, the writer alludes to God entering into His rest – which amounted to Him ceasing from ceasing from His labors.
This the writer likens to the COI who, by faith, passed through their time of labors in the wilderness and entered into their rest when led by Joshua into the promised land.
Lastly, the saints in the apostolic age were being encouraged to do the same – to maintain their composure in the wilderness, when the Dragon was pursuing them hotly, and wait on the return of the Lord Joshua, to take them into His rest.
I personally believe this is the model all individuals have now (and ever since this age) when they come to know Christ by faith – we too are to sojourn through the wilderness of trials and temptations, waiting for Jesus to take us into the promised land (as it were) where we all learn to really overcome all of our enemies by faith.
We also note what John says here:
“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, from the presence of the serpent.
Again, she is taken to the wilderness (as the COI were, leaving the threat of Eygpt) and there she (true Jerusalem, comprised of real believers) would be nourished for three and a half years.
We note the picture of the COI and the pictures of actual nourishment they received when in the wilderness – and how often their bouts with God and faith were related to food and water.
Here we are told that the Apostolic church, fleeing to the wilderness from the dragon, would be nourished during their years in hiding.
I can personally attest to how in the individual life of a believer that God allows us to wander and worry too of our own abilities to find nourishment at His hand – wondering if we will have sustenance as we seek to truly follow Him into the respective wildernesses that He let’s us wander.
15. 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.
We have already talked about the symbolism of water and flood to war in scripture and so to me this speaks of any and all enemies in pursuit of the Church at that time – the Romans, the Jews, the Gnostics, whomever.
16. 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.
Do you all remember how we have described the imagery here in Revelation of the Sea and of the Land or earth?
How we have long maintained that the sea is the invading armies and that the Land or earth is Israel?
According to verse 16, the earth, representing the nation of Israel, swallows the river (or war) spewed out of the mouth of the dragon and saves the woman (true Jerusalem).
So, here we see that the earth, Israel, absorbs the flood (or Roman ravages) that would have fallen upon Spiritual Jerusalem had material Jerusalem not been in place.
In other words it is the earth (or fallen Israel) that absorbs this metaphorical flood in virtue of the fact that Israel had received the bulk of the Roman assault because a large number of Jewish Christians had fled to Pella before the war began and were thus largely, if not entirely, unmolested by the war.
Another angel to this, which we learn from Josephus, was that a drought he mentions may have allowed them to cross the river Jordan (on “dry land) in Fulfillment of v. 16 where it says:
“the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth.”
This is also possible because we know in the Bible prophecy as a whole there are often multiple applications.
According to the early church historian Eusebius, “the members of the Jerusalem church, by means of an oracle given by revelation to acceptable persons there, were ordered to leave the City before the war began and settle in a town in Peraea called Pella.”
Fleeing the imminent war, Jewish Christians (Mother Jerusalem) were flown on eagles wings to this destination.
Interestingly enough Pella had the favor of Rome and so to hide there from the dragon would have been perfect.
Nevertheless, the journey would not be easy – like it was not easy for the COI and like it is not easy to believer today. For the church then, in order to reach their sanctuary at Pell they had to cross the Jordan river.
But listen – in this verse, God seems to part the River Jordan allowing his people to pass just as he had done with the Israelites at the Red Sea. And in the same way that the Israelites were saved from the plagues of Exodus, the Christians in Israel were also saved from the seven plagues of Revelation, each of which resembles a different plague of Exodus!
Remarkable! Fitting! Fulfilled. (verse 17)
17 Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring—those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.
So, remembering recapitulation, the dragon, being cast down to earth and having failed to get the woman’s first born (Jesus) and being cast out of heaven the dragon goes off to war against the rest of her children (those made spiritually alive to God by way of the New Covenant).
Remember, Satan has already been defeated, which is why he is so angry. And he knows that it is just a short time (until the end of a time and times and half a time, AD 70) before he is first bound and then cast into the abyss (which we will read about in Revelation chapter 20).
In spite of this Satan still tries to win. It’s pure spite and venom. Most of the New Testament is the apostles trying to prepare the Saints for this onslaught from the angry dragon – especially in the later books.
They will have victory but some to the loss of their lives.
Let’s stop here.
Q and A
Prayer
(include Taylor Godfrey)
