The Woman and the Dragon
12:1 And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. 2 She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. 3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. 4 His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. 5 She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, 6 and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days.
Satan Thrown Down to Earth
7 Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, 8 but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. 11 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. 12 Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”
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. 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. 15 The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood. 16 But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth. 17 Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea. (ESV)
11 They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.
In addition to talking about Satan’s ultimate demise, this verse should be what every Christian is striving to have said about them. God has given us His Word to live by, and He sent His Son to die for our sins. Because of this, we can have victory over sin and the evil desires of this world. We need to be bold for Him, staying strong (and becoming even more bold) when we face persecution, and even death, and to never back down from the testimony of repentance and faith in Christ. Many who claim to be Christians either dont follow Him at all or shrink away from such tasks. But like Bobby has said, we need to be daily praying on our campuses for the earth-shaking boldness of Acts 4:31 sp that we can be lights in this ever-increasingly dark world.
11They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.
As Christians we can overcome sin, death, and the dragon (Satan) through Christ! Sometimes we tragicly forget this and fall into sin and the traps of Satan; we can not let this happen! We need to continualy die to ourselves so that Christ can be made complete in us; the more we live to satisfy ourselves we will eventualy fall victim to Satan’s desires and scemes that we think are our own desires. Christ lived and died for us so that we could live; He was not not afraid of death or Satan, Christ lives in us! In Him and through Him only will we overcome our desires and learn to follow the Father.
9The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
Satan’s a really evil dude. In this chapter he is refered to as a dragon. Dragons are scary looking and normally evil, so that’s probably why he is called one. We know that he was sent ot earth because he couldn’t stay in heaven because he was prideful. But remember what he was before he sinned. He was the top angel. He was Lucifer, the leader of the angels. But see what sin did to him. It turned a once beuatiful creation of God into an evil demonic being whose goal is to have everyone share his punishment. He leads the world astray. John nailed it when he said that, because he has bee nbehind every sin anyone has ever commited. He tempted Eve, and temps us today. That doesn’t mean I can shift the blame; it’s still our fault too when we sin. But then I realized the verse before it. 8But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. He may be powerful enough to make us want to sin, but he doesn’t even compare to all powerfull God. He doesn’t stand a chance. That’s why we have a chance at not sinning. God can help us overcome these temptations because He is flat-out stronger than them. That is why it is soo important we rely on God and not ourselves to overcome Satan. Cause he is out there, and only God can help us fight him.
7And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.
8But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven.
There will be a war in heaven, Satan against the Lord’s angels! Because nothing can compare to God’s power Satan is defeated and thrown down from heaven. Like Max said he does still have the power to tempt us and try to waver our walk with Christ but with the strenghth of Christ we can stand up to the devil’s schemes. In verse 12 it is warning the earth that when satan comes down from just being defeated and striped of any small amount of power or influence in heaven, he will be furious! As if Satan being already the horrible person that he is, deceitful, prideful, a liar, and a destroyer of the soul, with him filled with rage I personally wouldn’t want to be down on earth with him! But since we have Christ we do not need to be afraid of him or death because soon we will be with our heavenly Father once we are done with our mission on earth.
I thought this chapter was really cool because it was the whole story in a nutshell: From satan’s fall to the birth of Christ to Him giving Salvation thru His blood! But the way it was written was very interesting… it started out with satan’s fall, which happened before creation, then went straight to the dragon going after christ, then after he couldn’t catch the woman, he decided to go after her offspring…but here is where it gets intense.
Verse 17 says: “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.”
Woah wait, the dragon (devil or satan, whatever you want to call it) is not necessarily attacking the people of the world. He is attacking and making war on “…those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.” That is US! So, this might sounds kinda scary but, we should be living our lives in a way that satan would WANT to attack us. He is not gonna go after some “christian” who isn’t obeying God’s commands and living a sold out life for Christ. He will go after those who are Living Full Time for Christ, those who Live a Lifestyle of Worship, those who are Evangelizing, those who are making a Difference in the World For Christ. So yeah, we as Christians will be attacked, but we need to remember, we have the God of the entire universe on our side, who is gonna win that fight?
7 And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.
I don’t know about anyone else, but I totally envisioned a sweet montage of movie battle scenes where the good guys are just completely laying waste to the enemies (think 300, Braveheart, etc.). Yet, this is the real deal. Like a few people mentioned a few days ago, we cannot take angels lightly. Nor can we take the Devil lightly. This is spiritual conflict. As Christians here on Earth ministering to the wicked, we cannot even THINK about sinning because when we do, we cross the battlefield lines and line up against God (and with Satan…yikes!). No one likes a traitor, so imagine how God feels when we sin against him. Instead, we need to make sure we are assisting in the spiritual battle for Christ’s sake. I like to envision that I’m inflicting such damage to Satan’s forces by being a strong Christian that Satan knows me by name. That’s what I want. That’s my prayer for True North as well. I want Satan to know exactly what is going on in Aliso Viejo and that everyone there has their swords pointed at him saying “You are going down!” It’s an intense and high calling, but just think about the ending movie scenes where the victors rejoice. We too will soon be rejoicing with Christ for His eternal victory over Satan!!
Matt Richards (from Cleveland) Im with you all the way on the battle scene mental image!
17Then 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.
This verse is intense.. Satan is making war against God’s people, and it describes who God’s children really are those who obey His commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus. Which means anyone that doesn’t obey what God has said in scripture is with satan. They are being decieved 24/7 to follow their earthly father. They walk in darkness, they can’t see the truth it is foolishness to them. That’s why we need to fight back!
3For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:3
We need to fight back not as the world does quite the opposite. We have the word of God, and we need to know it so well that we can demolish arguments, everything that sets itself up against the knowledge of God we need to destroy.
11They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.
Wonderful comments everyone!! :) i especially liked the end of this verse.. “they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” AMAZAZING!! I find it soo interesting how we as christians have this passion, love, and faith that is soo strong, there is no fear of death, while many people who aren’t saved have death as their number one fear!! PRAISE TO JESUS CHRIST IN HEAVEN!! He has saved us from eternal torment, and has given us everlasting joy to share with Him in heaven!! MARANATHA!! :D
wow, great comments everyone! 14The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle,
How awesome would that be to have wings like that! AWESOME!! Anyways, I would like to follow up on Jacob. Right when I read this a year ago I automatically thought about Jesus, Mary, and King Herod. I know the dragon represented the devil but it also reminded me of King Herod. He wanted to basically kill Jesus when He was born just like the dragon which also reminded me of Mose’s time, but that is a different story. Mary, being the angel that gives birth, and the child, of course, being Jesus. The baby reminded me of innocence and having no reason to be killed just like our Lord. Who would want to kill an innocent child?, satan would. We need to watch out and check our hearts. see if we are sinning or if we have the right motives. Sure, Satan is after us, but who do we have on our side?, GOD!!! :)
12Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.”
If the devil knows his time is short and that he will eventually be crushed,you have to wonder why he still tries to rebel against God. But when we see this, we can rejoice in knowing that God is going to crush Satan and sin, and that it is coming soon! And not only will God one day do this, but through Christ we can also conquer the sin we face in our daily lives. Our desires for sin will become less and less and our desire for Christ will become more and more. But this doesn’t just magically happen. We have to commit ourselves to refusing temptation when we see it, and we know that this is possible because God says He will never tempt us beyond what we can bear.
great comment Chris! it is going to be a short time that the devil rules, and it will be a great day when the Lord Jesus Christ come back to earth! MARANATHA! i am so excited for hte day and i yearn for it, i cant wait!!!. likewise we are kept on this earth so that more people will be saved by God, because He wants everyone to be saved. but how will the people learn about Christ? throgu us! though it is an encouraging chapter, becasue the Lord is coming, and the devil’s time is short, we should see the earnestness of evangelism, becasue there are people who the Lord will save if we talk to them. that is our mission
Matt and Dillon, I thought the same thing about the battle scene recollections in your head.
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.
You would think that Satan, his demons, and all others who were left on earth would have realized by now that God is all-powerful, He is can do whatever He wants, and that their lives are under His control, there is no use resisting the God of all creation. The fact that Satan lost in the battle against the angels, and now is going to attack God’s people just shows how evil and stubborn he is; the almighty God will prevail.
4 His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born.
5 She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne.
Jesus full on owned Satan. His death on the cross was so we could be right with Him because He took the punishment for our sins himself. This should be encouraging for us to stay away from the world, to dominate our flesh, and live for the glory of God. It will be awesome to see God defeating Satan for the last time and throwing him in hell. Also remember what the last verse says in this passage. 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. Thats us Christians. Satan wages war against us which therefore means the world is against us because the world is of satan. If you are getting persecuted good job for following Gods commands. We will have war waged against us if we are christians, but take heart, we are fighting the good fight on the winning team.
For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.
It is definitely scary to think that Satan is accusing us day and night before God. Satan is mocking us, like he did to Job, “Does Job fear God for nothing?” (Job 1:9-11) I can picture Satan mocking me saying, “does Dan REALLY trust in you. I bet if I do ____to him or tempt him _____way I can make him wander away from your will. ” Like Matt, D$ and others this makes me want to fight sin. I don’t want to give in and let Satan tell God, “I told you so.”
Man I totally agree with Mike.
Through the blood of Jesus Christ we have the power to defeat evil desires and sin. Therefore we should put to death all sin in our lives so that we would not be found as hipocrites and luke-warm Christians. We have to live different lives than the world because our true home is in Heaven.
I completely agree with Jacob. I also thought this chapter gave an interesting perspective to the story of Satan’s fall, the birth of Christ, and salvation through Christ. The fact that Satan is most interested in tempting disciples of Christ makes our duty to stop sinning even more important.
11 They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.
This seems to be a pretty inspiring verse for everyone! As we’re told in this chapter, Satan came here to lead the whole world astray (and he’s pretty good at it). In v11, it says that the only way to truly overcome something is to do it through Christ. We need to go out of our way to make sure God’s will be done, and not the devil’s. I need to always remember that my life means absolutely nothing compared to God’s greatness and I should always be living for Him!
12 Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.”
This verse is warning us that the devil is angry so he is going to try and bring as many people as he can on the earth to him. We need to keep watcch for him.
11 They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.
This verse puts it right out there for us: We are only going to overcome the world and the devil by Christ! There is no other way.