TEACHING NOTES Part 15: The Woman & The Dragon Introduction In this session we begin the section of interludes between the 7th trumpet and the seven bowls. In this section of interludes John sees seven things that are connected to the rest of the visions and provides more detail/insight into various characters. The first interlude of this section contains signs in heaven of a woman and a great dragon. ​ Revelation 12:1–2 ESV 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. A great sign in heaven = The Greek word for “sign” used here is semeion, which refers to a visual symbol that points to something real. John also uses this word in his Gospel where he includes 7 signs of Jesus’ ministry. In Rev. 12, John is seeing a sign in the heavens that point to real events on earth. The woman = As we will see, the woman represents faithful Israel—Jewish followers of Jesus. Jesus was born from a faithful Israelite woman (Mary), and His followers are repeatedly described in the New Testament as faithful Israel—the new Israel or new people of God. The description of the sign = A woman is shining like the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She is pregnant and in labor. Since John is seeing this “in heaven” or “in the heavens” some scholars believe John is seeing literal constellations of stars. Ancient Jews (and ancient people in general) loved watching the stars. They believed that the heavens could teach us about events on earth. For example, the magi from Babylon came to worship Jesus after His birth because the stars indicated that a new king had been born (Matt. 2:1-2). ​ Revelation 12:3–4 ESV 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. Another sign—a great red dragon = This red dragon has seven heads, seven diadems (crowns), and ten horns. This will come up again in Rev. 13 when John sees a vision of the beast(s). Then in Rev. 17 we’re told the seven heads are seven mountains which represent seven kings. The ten horns represent ten kings/leaders who receive power for a short time. The point is that the dragon is driving force of the beasts. In Revelation, John is seeing the spiritual forces driving the events on earth. His tail swept down a third of the stars = In Revelation, stars usually refer to angels. So the dragon (Satan) is taking a third of the angels with him. A popular teaching is that before God created humans Satan took a third of angels with him when he rebelled and was cast out of heaven. This verse in Revelation is used to support that view. However, if we keep reading we will realize that John is not seeing the original fall of Satan. This is occuring at the birth of Jesus. The dragon wants to devour the child = Whoever this child is, the dragon wants to destroy it. The next verse tells us the identity of the child. ​ Revelation 12:5–6 ESV 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. One who is rule the nations = This is a messianic prophesy from Psalm 2:7-9 “7 I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. 8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. 9 You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”” The child being born is obviously Jesus the Messiah. John is seeing the birth of Christ from heaven’s perspective. Therefore, this is not a vision of the ancient fall of Satan, nor is it a vision of something in our future. Her child was caught up to God and to his throne = This refers to the ascension of Jesus to the right hand of the throne of God. After the resurrection of Jesus, He spends 40 days with His disciples reteaching them the Old Testament (Luke 24:13-53). In Acts 1:6-11 Jesus ascends to heaven and sits down at the right hand of God. The woman fled to the wilderness, nourished for 1,260 days = Again, a 3.5 year period is mentioned, which happens to be the same amount of time that Jerusalem was at war. Faithful Israel (Jewish followers of Jesus) would be protected from the destruction of Jerusalem. ​ Revelation 12:7–8 ESV 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. Michael = This is a Hebrew name mi-ka-el meaning “Who is like God?” In the Old Testament, the archangel Michael is only mentioned in the book of Daniel (Dan. 10:13, 21; 12:1). In Daniel, Michael is called “one of the chief princes” and “the great prince who has charge of your people.” This means that Michael had been put in charge of fighting for God’s people (Israel) against evil spiritual beings. The intertestamental writings (especially 1 Enoch) name several archangels. Those documents seem to follow what we read in Daniel about Michael. Although Michael is also charged with several other tasks. In the New Testament, Michael is only mentioned twice (Jude 9; Rev. 12:7). Jude is actually quoting from a book that is not in our Bible called The Assumption of Moses, where Michael is fighting against Satan for the body of Moses. Unfortunately, we only have one Latin manuscript of this document and it is missing the last third of the book where this story about Moses originally appeared. The dragon and his angels = As already seen, the dragon swept a third of the stars out of heaven and down to the earth. This war in heaven is a further description of how that happened. The dragon and his angels were defeated and cast out of heaven. Also, this may be what Jesus was referring to in Luke 10:18 “And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” ​ Revelation 12:9 ESV 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. The great dragon = Here were told that the serpent of Gen. 3 is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. This is the only place in the Bible that explicitly connects the serpent of Gen. 3 to the Satan of the New Testament. Thrown down to earth and his angels with him = This passage is teaching that at the birth of Christ Satan and his rebellious angels were exiled from heaven to the earth. This helps to explain why there were demons all over the land of Israel during the earthly ministry of Christ. Note: In the Old Testament, demons are rarely mentioned. The rebellious elohim (the sons of God) who were assigned to the nations in Gen. 10 are the highlighted enemy in the Old Testament. The only demon-like beings in the Old Testament are the disembodied spirits of the Nephilim. But once we get to the New Testament there is suddenly demons all over the place. Rev. 12 tells us where all these demons came from. They are rebellious angels who joined Satan to fight against Michael and his angels in heaven and lost the fight. ​ Revelation 12:10 ESV 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. Now the salvation, power, kingdom, authority of Christ have come = At the birth of Christ, and subsequent defeat of Satan, heaven declares that the kingdom of God has begun on earth. This brings salvation, power, and authority to those who follow Christ. The accuser of our brothers has been thrown down = From the time of Jesus’ birth Satan is no longer allowed in heaven to accuse God’s people. Before that event, Satan (whose name means adversary—devil means slanderer) accused humans before God out of jealousy that humans were entrusted with ruling the earth. But now that Jesus has come to forgive us and make us righteous, Satan no longer has an argument against us and is no longer allowed to approach God with accusations. ​ Revelation 12:11–12 ESV 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!” They conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and their testimony = Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, and our commitment to His word, conquers the devil. The Greek word for “testimony” here is martyria, which is the same word for witness or martyr. This verse makes that connection for us by stating, “they loved not their lives even unto death.” This is why early Christians viewed dying for their faith as a great victory over the enemy. To kill a Christian for their faith is to hand them victory. Rejoice O heavens, but woe to you O earth = Heaven can rejoice because the accuser has been thrown down. But now the devil is on earth and he is ticked. The devil will now do all he can to defeat God’s people, “because he knows that his time is short.” The devil has had all of human history (thousands of years) to patiently work against humanity. But now his time is short and he’s going to turn up the heat. ​ Revelation 12:13–14 ESV 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. He pursued the woman = This may have a double meaning. We know from the Gospels that Mary and Joseph had to flee from Herod to Egypt after Jesus was born. That could be one meaning. But we also know that the followers of Jesus fled Jerusalem before its destruction because Jesus told them to almost 40 years in advance. Jesus told His followers to flee to the wilderness and they would be protected. She is to be nourished for a time, times, half a time = Not only did Mary and Joseph take Jesus to Egypt for a few years, but also the followers of Jesus (faithful Israel) fled to the wilderness to Pella, Jordan for 3.5 years during the Jewish War. ​ Revelation 12:15–16 ESV 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. The serpent tries to sweep her away with a flood = When Jesus is warning His followers of the coming destruction of Jerusalem He said, “Pray that your flight (escape) may not be in winter or on a Sabbath” (Matt. 24:20). It was against the law to travel on the Sabbath in Israel. Winter is flood season in Israel and Pella is across the Jordan River. The earth came to the help of the woman = We know for a fact that several earthquakes occured during the war in Jerusalem. This is likely what Revelation is describing here. If the Christians were fleeing to Pella during winter, the Jordan river would be flooding. But an earthquake could have opened a place for the water to drain, allowing them to cross over to safety. ​ Revelation 12:17 ESV 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. The dragon went off to make war of the rest of her offspring = Now that the devil has lost a war in heaven, and can’t kill faithful Israel (Jewish followers of Jesus), he now turns his wrath on Gentile believers. As we have already seen in Rev. 7, the Jewish believers (144,000) are protected, but John also saw a multitude of martyrs from all nations who had been killed for their witness. Therefore, Rev. 7 tells us there will be a multitude of martyrs from all nations and Rev. 12-13 tells us who had them killed. And he stood on the sand of the sea = Some manuscripts say, “And I stood on the sand of the sea.” Either way, this connects chapter twelve to the next chapter where John sees a beast rising out of the sea. In the Bible, the sea is often connected to the Gentiles. The beast will come from a Gentile nation.