“Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads.” Revelation 12:1-3.
The above has been added for context. We will cover Revelation 12:4-6 in this study.
“His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born.” Revelation 12:4.
The tail of the dragon swept away one third of the stars of heaven. This is a reference to Satan’s great rebellion indicated in Isaiah 14:12-17 and Ezekiel 28:12-19 long before time began.
In the process of this rebellion one third of the angels (stars) followed him, and fell with him.
What kind of clunk-brained logic was he feeding them? “Hey guys! This heaven stuff is nothing. I can give you something better.”
This text is proof of something that I have been slowly becoming aware of; whether people or angels, there are those who just do not want anything to do with God or His authority.
This is not something that God programs into them, as in predestination, but free will in action.
Whatever you choose, Dylan was right, “You’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed you’re gonna have to serve somebody. Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord. But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.”
Satan has through the years done many things to stop the Child from being born, everything from polluting the race to trying to wipe the Israelites out completely, even to the point that the lineage of the Christ was down to one child, yet God carried them through.
You have undoubtedly read the Christmas story in Luke 2:1-20 and perhaps you have read the account in Matthew 2:1-18, so you will be familiar with this.
“Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men.” Matthew 2:16.
Herod’s vicious infant murders are a good example of the dragon’s attempts to “devour her Child”. No wonder he is called a fiery red dragon, a bloody dragon!
“And she bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and to His throne.” Revelation 12:5.
There can be little guesswork by even the most careless of readers that this Child is Christ, yet there are those who try to make this event out as something else, so a couple of proof texts are in order.
“Ask of Me [God the Father], and I will give You [Messiah/Christ] the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” Psalm 2:8-9.
“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.” Isaiah 9:6-7.
“Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.” Revelation 19:15.
Understand this, when it speaks of a rod of iron, it does not mean that the Lord will go forth daily during the millennium and wade into the crowds of His people and scream, “See here you rebels, you will obey!” Whack! Whack!
No, that would be the beast’s method of rule. There are two aspects of ruling with a rod of iron.
When the Lord returns to rule at the battle of Armageddon, He will indeed, as it says in the above Psalm 2, “dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel”. How else do you conquer a rebellious army, it is necessary.
However, during the millennium when He rules, the rod of iron refers to the application of justice in an even manner, something that does not happen today, nor ever has.
Today if a talented director sodomizes an underage girl then flees the country; he has only to wait a few years until the artistic community says that he should be allowed back, he has been punished enough. And after all, the girl is a woman now in good health.
Or if another talented artist molests his underage stepdaughter and after divorcing his wife he takes up with the stepdaughter; this is okay because he is a great talent. Oh, and he is also extremely rich, is this equal justice for all?
This is the meaning of a rod of iron; justice will be applied equally and fairly, the rich man, the director, and the man of little means will all receive a just punishment.
“And her Child was caught up to God and to His throne.” Satan sought to devour the Child, but He was caught up to God the Father. Satan may have failed to ruin God’s plans by devouring Jesus, but that does not mean that he did not chew Him up terribly.
“Behold, My servant [Jesus] shall deal prudently, He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high. Just as many were astonished at you, so His visage [appearance] was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men [He was unrecognizable]…” Isaiah 52:13-14.
When you read the gospels it becomes obvious that the tools of the devil were continually nattering at Him and baiting Him. The Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the lawyers were a continual burden.
At the trial, they judged, at the crucifixion, they mocked, and at His resurrection, they lied.
“Jesus said to him, ‘It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.’ Then the high priest tore his clothes, saying, ‘He has spoken blasphemy! What further need do we have of witnesses? Look, now you have heard His blasphemy!’” Matthew 26:64-65.
“And the people stood looking on. But even the rulers with them sneered, saying, ‘He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Christ, the chosen of God.’” Luke 23:35.
“When they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, saying, ‘Tell them, “His disciples came at night and stole Him away while we slept.”’” Matthew 28:12-13.
Revelation 12:1-5, are all history, while verse six flies some two thousand years into the future and begins to give us a picture of the second half of the tribulation, which is yet future still.
“Then the woman [Israel] fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days.” Revelation 12:6.
The one thousand two hundred and sixty days indicates to us that this is the second and last half of the tribulation.
It is a time when the beast desecrates the rebuilt Jewish temple and installs himself as God demanding that all the earth, including the Jews worship him. Those who do not he persecutes and attempts to annihilate the entire Jewish race. This murderous second half of the tribulation is called the time of Jacob’s trouble.
“Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it; and it is the time of Jacob’s trouble, but he [Israel] shall be saved out of it.” Jeremiah 30:7.
“For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.” Matthew 24:21-22.
“Therefore if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out; or ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms!’ do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.” Matthew 24:26-27.
“…since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed.” 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10.
Revelation 12:4-6 taken from godisrevealed.com updated on 1-2-17, reposted on 8-15-22.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.