Revelation 12:1–17

"A great sign appeared in heaven," not "wonder," as the older King James translation has it. A "wonder" is a surprise. A "sign" has a meaning, and points to a definite subject or object (Rev. 15:1). The word great is used six times in the chapter, and the chapter is one of great subjects. The first of them in order, though not in greatness, is a woman. The Man-Child is the chief subject of the chapter. The woman is not actually in heaven, but on earth. Only the sign is there. Why is it in "heaven," when her greatness and her sorrow are on earth? So that God's thoughts and purposes about her might be known in His dwelling-place, "heaven." It is history read and known in heaven, in the light of God's presence.

The woman is seen here wearing all the symbols of authority. She is neither the Church nor Mary, but Israel, seen from the standpoint of God's purposes. The proper calling of the nation is to govern and lead the peoples of the earth.

Who the woman is should be quite plain. The child she gives birth to is the One who is to rule all nations with a rod of iron. That is certainly Christ. And the mother of Christ is not the virgin Mary, as what follows makes clear. Still less is she the Church, of which Christ is in no sense born. She is Israel, and of Israel the apostle says, "from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ" (Rom. 9:5).

"Clothed with the sun" points to God's purpose for her in the Millennium, when she is clothed with the glory of "The Sun of Righteousness," the blessed Christ of God (Mal. 4:2). The moon under her feet stands for Israel as she has been through all her past history. That history is the night, set against the day of the coming kingdom. Her proper character was to reflect the sun, as the moon does, however poorly she has done it. The crown of twelve stars on her head stands for the twelve tribes, all intact in the day to come.

There are four representative women in Revelation, and each one stands for a body of people or a system… The lights of heaven — sun, moon and stars — are gathered here in all their glory. Together they present a complete system of government. All authority centres in the woman: supreme authority like the sun, derived and lower authority like the moon, lesser lights and rulers like the stars. She has royal dignity too, as the crown on her head shows. But why twelve stars? The reference is clearly to Joseph's dream (Gen. 37:9), which pictures the future glory of Israel, of the twelve tribes.

She wears a crown of stars, which speaks of full administrative power. The twelve may refer to the twelve apostles, who in the coming day will judge the twelve tribes of Israel.

The sign in heaven shows that the place of honour and the glory in government that will be hers come from God Himself. See the contrast in chapter 13. The two beasts that will claim world-wide rule, before God sets Israel in the place meant for her, come up out of the sand of the sea and out of the earth. Before they appear, God shows His purpose for Israel.

The woman has been before us as a queen; now we see her as a mother. Her glory and majesty belong to the first role, her suffering and pain to the second. Who is the woman? And who is the child? The woman is ISRAEL. The child is CHRIST. Most commentators apply the vision of the woman to the Church. Now both Israel and the Church stand closely related to Christ — Israel as the mother, the Church as the wife. Once you see that verse five applies to Christ, and in fact must refer to Him personally and to no one else, all argument is over.

This, I have no doubt, is the Jewish people, nothing else. Christ is not born of the church. Seen as reigning and glorious in the world, He was born of the Jews: "from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ." The idea of Christ being born of the church makes no sense at all.

The woman in labour with child brings to mind the sufferings the nation went through before Christ was born. All had failed — people, priests, and kings. Israel had gone into captivity through every kind of humiliation, suffering and sorrow. A remnant had been restored, only to sink into dead formality. When at last the time had come for the birth of Christ, only a sorrowing few were left in the middle of a conquered and downtrodden nation, looking for redemption in Jerusalem. In the middle of all these humiliations the cry at last goes out, "To us a child is born."

It may be hard to square the mother's anguish, applied to Israel, with what actually happened when Christ was born... The solution is contained in Isaiah 66: "Before she was in labour she gave birth; before her pain came upon her she delivered a son" (v. 7). The labour and pain refer to Israel's coming hour of trial, the Great Tribulation. But before that great event the Messiah, the Man-Child, is born. Micah confirms this: after speaking of the birth of the Messiah (Micah 5:2), he adds that God will give them up "until the time when she who is in labour has given birth" (Micah 5:3). The woman's labour is at least two thousand years after the birth of the Messiah, and refers to her sorrow in the coming Tribulation... Why then is the woman's labour put side by side with the birth of the Messiah?... It shows the deep interest the Messiah takes in His people... The nation is about to pass into its awful sorrow, and the point of going back to the birth of Christ is to connect Him with them in it.

This shows that the birth of the man child is not a literal reference to Christ's birth into the world. We are to take it in connection with the carrying out of God's purposes concerning Israel. Christ was born (Micah 5:2). Then comes His rejection. Then comes the calling of the church, which measures, as it were, His rejection on earth and His exaltation in heaven. But the prophecy here passes by everything to do with the church. It takes up Christ's birth as a figure, tying it to the unfolding of God's purposes, which is itself pictured as a birth.

The day for God to carry out His purpose in joy and triumph has not yet come. Isaiah announces that day to Israel in his last chapter: before Zion is in labour she is to give birth, and before her pain comes she is to give birth to a son. There is weakness and suffering yet, but all is secured, and the end pledged on high.

These heads and horns we shall soon find upon the fourth beast, or world-empire. But we are not left in doubt as to who the dragon is. Here is the first of those explanations, given here and there from now on through the book: the dragon is "that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world." So as dawn rises over the battlefield, we can make out who the fighters are. Satan here, as the "prince of this world," appears as if he had taken bodily form in the last world-empire. "Seven heads" show perfection of world-wisdom; and every one of these heads wears a diadem, or despotic crown.

Why is the dragon used as a symbol of Satan? Scripture calls Pharaoh, king of Egypt, "the great dragon" (Ezekiel 29:3-4), for his cruelty to God's people and his proud and haughty independence of God. It speaks of Nebuchadnezzar in the same way, for his violence and cruelty (Jeremiah 51:34). The Psalms and the first three of the greater prophets refer many times to the crocodile, the ruler of the seas, identified with the dragon. Put those references together, and insatiable cruelty seems to be the main feature… This is the first time in Scripture that Satan is directly called a dragon. At the time of our chapter he is the prince of the world, its virtual ruler, and the Roman power is the instrument through which he acts.

His colour, "red," shows how ready Satan is to shed the blood of God's saints.

What is said of the dragon here is also said of the Beast (Revelation 13:1). Only here the golden band, or diadem, encircles the heads. In the East that band is the emblem of arbitrary, despotic power. On the Beast, the crowns sit on the ten horns instead. The dragon and the Beast are distinct, however closely related. The first is a spiritual power, the second the historical world power… The dragon is the unseen force behind the empire, so the diadems sit on his heads, not on his horns.

The Roman beast is said to have "ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns" — the same things that we saw in Satan (Revelation 12:3). There he was regarded as the possessor of the power of the world, and especially of Rome. We may all remember what he said to the Lord Jesus, when showing Him all the kingdoms of the world: "To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will." Now here he gives it to the Roman beast. Satan was, of course, a usurper; but still he was in fact the prince of the world.

The dragon has seven heads — that is, the completeness of ruling authority. He also has ten horns. That is not exactly completeness, but at any rate a very wide distribution approaching it, in the instruments of the power he wields in the west. Man is never complete in this way. What God gave the woman we saw — twelve stars. The dragon has only ten horns.

Here we have the great usurper, Satan. What right has he to the diadem? "The last words of David," a man of long experience, were, "When one rules justly over men, ruling in the fear of God" (2 Samuel 23:3). How opposite to this is Satan's course! God may allow him to wear his diadems for a day or two ("a thousand years as one day" with God). But his triumph and power will be short-lived.

We have already had the dragon's power to plan and his wisdom in his "seven heads." Here in his tail we have the picture of his soul-destroying influence — in other words, his lies (Isa. 9:15). Scripture calls Satan a murderer and a liar. He murders the bodies of men and ruins their souls. His power is in his head. His evil influence, in false and damning teachings, is in his tail... Note the present tense, "his tail draws," not "drew." His work is going on now.

The "tail" points to the false prophet (Isa. 9:15). So what is meant here is a falling away from God among people who claim to be His. False teaching marks satanic power in every age, and it succeeds far better than open violence.

Does the "third part" not mean the specifically Roman side of the empire? We saw "the third part" in the earlier trumpet judgments, in the first four and in the sixth as well. It seems to stand for the western empire, the part that was Roman in the full sense. The Romans held a great deal that had belonged to Greece, for instance, and to Medo-Persia and Babylon, because they had conquered it. Babylon lay far east; the Roman part proper was western Europe. That is where the dragon's evil influence would be felt most, at least in those who held the place of rulers.

The third part stands for the Roman Empire. The dragon draws that third of the stars of heaven and casts them to the earth. As he tries to frustrate God's purposes, Satan's chief power lies in corrupting and controlling the Roman power.

The Scriptures make it just as plain that the sun, moon, and stars stand for ruling authorities. The sun is the supreme authority, the moon a borrowed one, and the stars lesser authorities under them. This meaning comes from the actual work God gave these lights in the sky.

We learn from this that Satan knew of the promised seed — the seed of the woman who would bruise the serpent's head. He knew of the expected coming of David's Son and David's Lord, the One who would reign until all enemies were subdued. And in his hatred of God and man, he lay in wait to destroy the true Heir as soon as He might appear... It looked as if the dragon had devoured the Child. But, as every believer knows, what seemed to be Satan's triumph became the means of his everlasting disgrace and defeat.

The special object of Satan's hatred was not the woman, and not Israel. It was not her, but her Seed, that he wanted to destroy... Matthew 2 shows that hatred. But there we see only the human agents. Now Revelation 12:4 shows us who set that attack on the woman's Seed in motion: Satan... Here the curtain is drawn back, and Satan, not Herod, stands revealed as the real murderous enemy of Christ.

This is the Jewish people, I have no doubt — nothing else. Christ is not born of the church. Seen as reigning and glorious in the world, He was born of the Jews: "from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ." The idea that Christ was born of the church makes no sense at all.

Everything here concerns the earth. You can see it from this: there is no mention at all of the church period. The verse names only the kingdom. If Christ is born, it is to rule all nations with a rod of iron, according to Psalm 2 and Psalm 110. The cross is not even mentioned, although we know it came before He was caught up to God and to His throne.

God is going back to His purpose in Christ, born as the heir of the world — not in connection with the calling of the church, but as the man of might, destined to govern all, and with no weak hand. Christ's death and resurrection are not mentioned here, but His birth and His being caught up (not His death) are given in brief summary. We see the woman in pain, about to give birth. The male child is born. Then He is taken away to the throne of God above. Of course this is not given as history. The Lord Jesus had been born and had died long before. If this were history, His all-important death would not, could not, have been left out.

The rod is the sign of power — "the rod of Your power" (Psalm 110:2) — and here it is in the shepherd's hands. The shepherd is the true pattern of kingship as God sees it. Even the iron rod that Christ will strike His enemies with is still shown in a shepherd's hands. In every passage it really reads, "He shall shepherd them with an iron rod." Hard as the blow may be, love guides it. How terrible for those whom everlasting love must strike in this way!

The child here is clearly Christ. He did not take the power — He took nothing, but was caught up to God.

Only the nation itself could pass the sentence that would destroy it, as far as man could do so. That sentence stood in Pilate's handwriting on the cross. But the woman's Seed escaped in victory from the cross and the guarded grave: "her child was caught up to God and to His throne."

To rule the nations with a rod of iron is the promise made to the overcomer in Thyatira. That is, the Lord associates His saints with Himself in the day when He takes His power and will rule and reign. When He does that, dear fellow-believer, you and I will be with Him, and therefore I take it that the taking up of the "man child" includes the church.

The subject of this chapter is not the church, but the history of those (Israel above all) who suffer under Satan and his great servant, the Man of Sin.

In the twelfth chapter we have a woman who gives birth to a man-child who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. Anyone would say that must be Christ. There is no one person to whom rule of this kind is given but Christ, though His saints may share it with Him. The woman, if the application is to Christ, can only be the Jewish nation. Nothing else is possible. Christ was not the offspring of the Church, not even of the Jewish Church, as is plain. As the apostle tells us in the ninth of Romans, and as is perfectly clear — of Israel Christ came according to the flesh.

There is a gap of thirty-three years between the birth of the Child and His catching up. In the same way, an interval of nearly two thousand years comes in between the catching up and the flight. In fact the whole history of Christianity bridges the time from the ascension of Christ until the woman flies into the wilderness.

The Child was caught away, but the woman was left behind, and, left behind, she is also exposed to Satan's hatred. So "she fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God." The woman, remember, is Israel — Israel as seen in the purposes of God. Satan, disappointed in his rage against Christ, turns all the more fiercely against God's beloved people. But God cares for Israel, just as He had cared for the Man-child.

The reign of the beast will, for this godly remnant, turn the world into a wilderness. They will find their refuge and blessing by taking a place outside the political and religious world of their day, with its terrible violence and corruption. To stand apart from the world system may involve suffering, but it will secure spiritual blessing. In the outside place that God has prepared, this remnant will be nourished for a thousand two hundred and sixty days. It is just as the Lord can say through the prophet Hosea: "I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her."

The repeated word is not a mere Hebrew redundancy, as one has said. It is meant to mark how definite the place prepared for her is, and where she is nourished or cared for. God provides for the woman both the place and the food for 1260 days… Here the careful numbering of the days shows the Lord's tender interest in His suffering saints. He counts them up one by one, so to speak.

The true Israel of God will not be called to resist the dragon, but to flee to a place of no human resources, where God will protect and care for her for the stated period. Elijah, we may remember, fled into the wilderness to a place appointed by God, and later to Zarephath. In both places God fed him by a miracle, and his time of trial lasted three and a half years. Now the 1,260 days of our verse is exactly 3½ years by Jewish reckoning. The same period appears again in verse 14 as "a time, and times, and half a time." Chapter 11 has already given it as 42 months and as 1,260 days.

The woman is the nation as God sees it. She is not all Israel, nor even all the saints in Israel, but those God has ordained to continue, and who therefore represent the nation before Him… Still God preserves a people to be the core of the nation in the coming kingdom, and this, of course, is what Satan most wants to destroy. God's own hand keeps them safe, though in the middle of trial — the kind of trial the word "wilderness" suggests. God means that trial to purify them.

These verses do not call the scene a sign. The presence of Satan in heaven is real. A war there between the armies of good and evil, under their leaders Michael and the Dragon, is certain. Many are surprised to hear that Satan has a place in "the Heaven," though not in the immediate presence of God. Others refuse to believe it.

Satan and his angels are in heaven; see Ephesians 6:12. Satan has access to the heavens that God created, where His throne stands. There he accused Job. But Satan cannot enter the light no one can approach… It is a great mistake to believe that Satan is in the lake of fire. He is with the angels in heavenly places. People will be in the lake of fire burning with sulfur before Satan is there.

Michael, the dragon's opponent, is "the great prince who has charge of" God's people. He is the only "archangel" named, and Scripture always mentions him in connection with Israel… So it seems that evil rulers and powers stand behind the nations that oppose Israel, and that Israel itself is under Michael's special guard… It is a sign, then, that God has taken up His purposes for Israel again: Michael, the great prince who has charge of the people, is the angel who here goes to war against the dragon, Israel's relentless persecutor and slanderer.

Who is Michael? We meet this great name in Jude, where he argues with the devil, and in Daniel, where he is the great prince who rises up as ruler of God's governing power, on behalf of the Jewish people… I do not see that Scripture reveals him to be Christ under a hidden name. But he is certainly the direct and higher agent of God's governing purposes.

The question of good and evil is one and the same everywhere, and it gets its answer for heaven as it does for earth. First in the work of Christ, which glorifies God about it all. Then, as the fruit of that work, in the winning back of what had been separated from Him… It sounds strange to us to hear of war in heaven — of armies drawn up on both sides, of resistance that fails, of a struggle left, it seems, to the strength of creatures, with God not stepping in directly.

But God has decreed that in the middle of the seven-year Tribulation Period, Michael and his angels will fight a decisive battle in heaven against Satan and his angels, and throw them down to earth… Michael is called Israel's prince, so his fighting will be on behalf of Israel, though Israel will suffer all the more after this time. But God will use Satan's hatred to drive Israel back to Himself through the sorrows of the Great Tribulation. So Satan's presence on earth will result in Israel's true blessing in the end… Verse 9 gives four names for this great enemy of God: the dragon (the one who terrifies), that old serpent (the deceiver), the devil (the accuser) and Satan (the adversary). Yet angels defeat all this hellish power, though certainly at God's direction.

Next comes war in heaven; Michael and his angels fight against the dragon. The devil is thrown out, and with that he loses his anti-priestly character. As the accuser of the brothers before God day and night, he was anti-priest. But he still keeps his anti-kingly and anti-prophet characters. His accusing is finished. There is no place for him any more in heaven, though he still has a place on earth.

No careful reader of Scripture will wonder at finding Satan in heaven. Our knowledge on the subject is limited. Still, we read of "the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." We see him as the devil, or slanderer, accusing God's people. We see him as Satan, the adversary, opposing Joshua the high priest, and Michael the archangel. Probably he cannot enter "the third heaven" where God dwells, but he clearly has some place in the heavens out of which he is driven by this war.

The dragon himself suffered a shameful defeat, and the whole company of sinful angelic beings is banished for ever from "the heaven." The seventy disciples came back from their mission full of joy that even the demons obeyed them through His name. But that was only the seed of full and final victory over the enemy and his power. The Lord announced that victory beforehand when He added at once, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven" (Luke 10:17-18). Whatever resistance he offers, his fall from heaven will be complete and instant, like a flash of lightning.

If it were not for the death of Christ, God would long ago have shown how He views the defilement the enemy has caused there. He bears with the rebellion of the world. He also bears with another rebellion: the boldness of Satan, who dares to push himself into His own presence and bring accusations against His people. But do not forget: if there is one who loves to accuse, there is another who intercedes, the Advocate, who never slumbers nor sleeps... In time, God will no longer allow Satan to taint the air of heaven.

The devil is cast out, and by that he loses his anti-priestly character. He accused God's people before God day and night, so he was anti-priest. But he still has his anti-kingly and anti-prophet characters. His accusing is over. There is no place for him any more in heaven, though he has a place on earth.

Michael and his angels threw the dragon and his angels out of heaven. It was not the spiritual victory of the saints. God's people overcame him this way while he was not yet cast down, and this is the warfare the Christian has to wage (Ephesians 6). But a quite different war casts him out of heaven. Not saints by faith, but angels, acting by divine power in judgment. When Revelation 12:8-9 comes true, Christian warfare will have no more place here than Satan and his angels will have a place above.

Notice that this naturally, if not necessarily, supposes the removal of the church to heaven before the change takes place. If the church were still on earth when the devil and his angels are cast out of heaven, it would no longer be true of us that we wrestle with wicked spirits in heavenly places.

God is still bearing with His enemies, angelic and human. But when His patience reaches its set limit, He will use His power and rid Himself of all who keep opposing His will. He will clear the heavens first. Revelation 12:7-9 describes that final conflict. The clearing of the earth will follow quickly. When judgment has purged the whole scene, above and below, new heavens and a new earth will appear, where righteousness will dwell for ever.

The first two titles describe character — cruelty and subtlety. The last two names, Devil and Satan, refer to the dragon as a person. The devil is an actual historical being, and New Testament Greek uses the word only in the singular. Where older translations say "devils," the word should be "demons." As the devil, he is the accuser, the slanderer, and tempter. As Satan, he is the open and declared adversary of Christ, the public enemy of God and of His people.

In the Genesis account, then, it is just the serpent, the visible agent of the mischief, that is mentioned. So also, in 2 Corinthians 11:3 we read, "the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning." Only in the last book of the Bible do we get the clearest identification of the serpent with the unseen actor working through it. There, twice over in almost the same words, we read, "that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan" (Rev. 12:9; 20:2). He is the originator and instigator of that dreadful thing, sin, which has invaded this fair creation.

Next comes Satan's special work, the one his tireless energy drives at. He "deceives the whole habitable world." … The prime mover in all is alone before us. By God's permission Satan deceives everyone caught in the prophetic scene. It does not matter who the people used are, or what the means are. Satan himself is the leader who lures the world on to its moral ruin. … Then, however, Satan keeps in the background; here in the light of Heaven he stands fully exposed.

No careful reader of Scripture will wonder at finding Satan in heaven. Our knowledge on the subject is limited. Still, we read of "spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." We see him as the devil, or slanderer, accusing the brothers. We see him as Satan, the adversary, opposing Joshua, the high priest, and Michael, the archangel. He probably cannot enter "the third heaven" where God dwells. But he clearly has some place in the heavens, and this war drives him out of it.

Repeating the verb cast out three times emphasises the shameful expulsion of Satan and his angels from Heaven. Who these angels are is a question shrouded in mystery. All we know is that they make up Satan's fighting host, and are cast out of Heaven with their chief. Satan can then no longer enter God's presence to accuse the saints to Him. His poisonous breath can never again infect the holy atmosphere of the heavenly places. The heavens have to be cleared of evil as well as the earth. The ground on which both are purified and reconciled is the sacrifice of Christ. How complete, therefore, and far-reaching in its results is the blood of Christ!

As the dragon he is the destroyer. As the ancient serpent he is the deceiver. As the devil, he is the accuser. As Satan, he is the adversary — the adversary of God, of all good, and of our souls. … If the devil is the destroyer, our Lord is the DELIVERER. If the devil is the deceiver, our Lord is the TRUTH — the Holy and the True. If the devil is the accuser, our Lord is the INTERCESSOR AND ADVOCATE. If the devil is the adversary, our Lord is THE FRIEND. You must choose, Christians, under whose control you will come.

The song does not say who sings it. But only saints in heaven could speak of the suffering remnant on earth as "our brothers." So this is not the song of angels. It is the song of glorified saints, represented by the elders. Driving Satan out of heaven was a necessary first step to "the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ." It was so necessary that, once it is done, the song already says these have come. Every obstacle in heaven is now removed, though there are still enemies to overcome on earth.

The salvation spoken of here does not seem to be the salvation of the body, as some think. The verse explains it as the rescue of people who are called "our brothers" from the accusation of Satan. So the voice seems to be that of the glorified saints. The "brothers" they speak of are the saints on earth. In the past those saints overcame these accusations by their own faithfulness, and now the accusations are ended forever.

Clearly the passage speaks of people in heaven at this time who feel deeply for their suffering brothers on earth. That is the undeniable fact. Who are they but those who are one with Christ, the mighty male child of this chapter? Because Satan has fallen, they look ahead to the full setting up of the kingdom, though three and a half times have yet to pass in fact.

Has there ever been a time in the church's past history when God stepped in so strikingly that it would match this? Is it really true that, when Constantine adopted Christianity, salvation came? Surely not.

God bears with the rebellion of the world. He also bears with another rebellion: the boldness of Satan, who dares to push his way even into God's own presence and bring accusations against His people before Him. But do not forget: if there is one who loves to accuse, there is another to intercede — the Advocate, who never sleeps. There may be the devil against the saints, but there is Christ for them, who always lives to make intercession.

There is in heaven an accuser of us also, who says things about us that are true. He knows our lives, and he reports our faults and failures in heaven. Another is there too, One not seen in this vision. "If anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" (1 John 2:1). So we need not fear what the accuser may say, true though the charges may be, because there is One there to plead His death.

Satan is completely beaten and overthrown in the very place and seat of his power. Never again will the court of Heaven listen to his accusations, just or unjust.

"Therefore be full of delight, you heavens" — that is, for this reason: Satan and his angels have been thrown out of heaven for ever. Rejoice, let gladness reign throughout the whole of the heavenly spheres. This is the only place in Revelation where the word "heavens" appears. Everywhere else the book uses the singular. But the heavens are not the only ones to share in the joy that follows Michael's victory. It adds, "and you that dwell (or tabernacle) in them." The whole company of the redeemed, and the angels too, share in the call to rejoice — for the heavens are their native region.

"Woe to the earth and to the sea." The Authorised Version wrongly adds "the inhabiters of the earth." The addition does not belong. This is not an outburst of anger. It is a prophetic announcement of coming judgment on the earth — that is, on all settled and stable governments and peoples. It announces judgment on the sea too — that is, the restless and revolutionary part of the world.

In verse 12 those in heaven rejoice that Satan is banished from there. But woe is pronounced on the inhabitants of the land (Israel) and the sea (the nations). The devil's bitter hatred will rise to a frenzy of action, because he knows his time is short. Satan wants to do all the harm he can, but God allows it in perfect wisdom, using the evil to teach people what comes of choosing Satan's authority instead of God's. Behind it all stands God's stern wrath against the piled-up wickedness of both Jews and Gentiles — a wrath that is calm, deliberate, and completely righteous.

This woe connects Satan's removal from his heavenly seat with the crisis of Jews and Gentiles at the end of the present age. Here we find the hidden reason. Why should there be such an extraordinary storm of persecution then? Why is Satan so active here below for that short time, the three and a half years before the close? Here it is explained. Satan can no longer accuse above, so he does his worst below, while he can.

The "great rage," or wrath, of Satan exceeds that of the nations (Rev. 11:18), because he is the prime mover and the invisible leader. His rage at being banished from his heavenly place for ever grows sharper, because he knows he has only a short career left on earth… God allows Satan, once cast down, to rage against and persecute His saints on earth for 1260 literal days… At the close of that time the Lord appears, and Satan is shut in the abyss for a thousand years. This is the second stage in the judgment of the devil. The first was his casting down from the heavens. Only the third remains — cast into the lake of fire at the close of the kingdom reign, his eternal doom.

Here we find that all the heavenly people are called to rejoice that the accuser of the brothers is cast down, and that they have overcome him. The heavenly people are the church of God, because our citizenship is in heaven and we are one with Christ there. At the very moment when these heavenly saints have overcome, Satan comes down to earth with great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time. So we get full rejoicing in what is heavenly, and at the same time the most desperate woe in what is earthly. This makes the contrast clear and definite between these heavenly ones and the dwellers on earth. All through Revelation they stand against those who are heirs of heaven.

He concentrates his whole strength against God's people, represented by the woman. This persecution is not a different one from the persecution named earlier. The account broke off to tell of the war in heaven, and to show how intense the dragon's present rage is. Now it picks up the story again: his persecution, the woman's flight, and her stay in the wilderness.

In verse 1 we saw the woman in heaven with the sun for a crown. That is how she stands according to God's thought and counsels: a vessel without strength, but clothed with supreme authority. Now, instead, we find her on the earth. Christ came from the woman, the Jews. The church is in no way the mother of Christ; she is His bride. When Satan is cast out of heaven, he begins to make war with the seed of the woman — the Jews. They are the only testimony of God left on earth at that time.

Notice this. When the dragon is cast to the earth, he cannot persecute the Church. She is rejoicing in heaven. So he brings his whole power to persecute the woman who brought forth the man child. That is the regathered Jews.

The dragon persecutes the woman who gave birth to the male child. That child is Jesus, "God over all, blessed forever." He is the Root and Offspring of David, David's Lord and David's Son, the Alpha and Omega. He will be the Conqueror over Satan. He knows it. In his dark malevolence he pursues with relentless fury everything that is Christ's. Israel gave birth to Christ, according to the flesh. Israel is now the object of God's interests and dealings. So Israel must be persecuted.

Why should there be then such an unusual storm of persecution? Why such tremendous doings of Satan here below for a short time, the three and a half years before the close? Here it is explained. Satan can no longer accuse above; so while he can, he does his worst below. He is cast down to earth, never to regain the heavens: a fact of deep meaning and heavy consequence.

How great is the mercy that provides for God's people during those three and a half years of unequalled tribulation still to come! Satan's rage is at its greatest, and he is arming the world-power against God's people. Yet he never invades the sanctuary of the soul. Is that not worthy of God? The fiery darts of the wicked one stop. He is no longer "prince of the power of the air." He is restricted to the earth alone, where he works through the passions of men, which he can inflame against God's people.

So God gives her power to escape, rapid means of flight from Satan's persecution. It is not power to withstand Satan and fight the battle out with him, but ample means to hide from his violence. The two wings of the great eagle convey this. They picture vigorous means of escape — the most energetic image of flight in nature, applied to the case in hand.

The woman is the nation as in the sight of God; not all Israel, nor even all the saints in Israel, but those whom God has appointed to continue, and who therefore stand for the nation before Him. Judgment cuts off the mass who have turned away from God. The martyred saints go up to heaven. Still God preserves a people to be the core of the nation in the coming kingdom. This is the very thing Satan most wants to destroy. God's hand keeps them safe, though in the middle of trial — which is what the word "wilderness" naturally suggests. God designs that trial to purify them.

The words plainly recall the deliverance from Egypt. The prophet calls Pharaoh king of Egypt "the great dragon that lies in the midst of his rivers" (Ezek. 29:3), and Pharaoh himself sums up all the hatred of the world-power. Meanwhile God says to the Israel He had delivered, at Sinai, "You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself" (Ex. 19:4). The reference here is clearly to this. It is not "a" great eagle, in a general sense, as older English versions put it, but "the" great eagle — perhaps the griffon, a bird whose flight nothing can match for power and skill. These words point to divine power. In the deliverance out of Egypt God jealously shut out every other power.

So God gives power to escape, a fast way of flight from Satan's persecution. It is not power to stand against Satan and fight the battle out with him. It is the means to get away from his violence. This seems to be what the two wings of the great eagle mean: a picture of strong means of escape. Nature's most powerful image of flight is applied here to her case.

The strong man of God, Christ, does not yet exercise His power. The woman has nothing else to do but to flee for three years and a half, during which time Satan exercises his power on earth with great fury. The only resource of the woman is to flee. Jesus foretold this in Matthew 24:16.

But God cares for Israel, even as He had cared for the "Man-child"; and in His providence He watches over, protects, provides for, and sustains her. Like the prophet Elijah long ago, she is hidden from sight in a place God prepared for her in the desert. And she is fed by the same kind of miracle for the whole time that Satan's rule goes unchecked.

In verse 6 her time alone in the wilderness is counted in days: 1260. Here it is put in vaguer terms as "a time (one year), and times (two years), and half a time" (six months) — three and a half years in all. This way of counting comes from Daniel 7:25. We have months (Rev. 11:2; 13:5), days (Rev. 11:3; 12:6), and times (v. 14). All these periods, worded differently, mean the same stretch of time: the last half week of sorrow that the prophet Daniel places in the middle of the week (Dan. 9:27).

In an earlier verse the time seems stretched out as long as possible. God's care for her was the main point there, as I understand it. She had a place God prepared for her. When His care and preparation are in view, He lengthens out the time as much as possible. But where the devil's power is the point, He shortens it. It appears to be the same period, only put in a different way.

The Child was caught away, but the woman was left behind. Left there, she too is exposed to Satan's hatred... Remember that the woman is Israel — Israel as seen in the purposes of God. Satan's rage against Christ was disappointed, so he turns all the more fiercely against God's beloved people.

The dragon here takes the name of serpent, because he takes the form of subtlety, deceit, and malice — "that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan."... The serpent could not overcome the woman in war, for God preserved her, not by a mighty man, but by flight. There his direct power was stopped, because heavenly power came to her aid. Still he uses the resources he has, and pours out these waters, driven by his energy, as a flood.

The flood which the dragon casts out of his mouth is a mass of people; Isaiah 8:7-8. When the king of Assyria and all his glory come to lay Judea waste, they are pictured as a flood, as waters strong and many. The earth swallows the flood which the dragon casts out after the woman. God, in His providence, prevents these nations from devouring and destroying Israel.

Many a river is swallowed up in the sand, and so is this one that is now poured out of the dragon's mouth. If an army is what is pictured, the wilderness can absorb a nation's strength just as well. The river coming out of his mouth seems to show that it is by the power of his persuasion that men are stirred up to this flood of hatred against the people of God. That hatred is so completely defeated that the beaten adversary gives up any further effort in this direction. Those he was chasing are left completely unattacked after this.

The flood from the serpent's mouth (v. 15) is clearly the whirlwind attack of the King of the North. He will come as an overflowing flood (Daniel 11:40-41), also called "the overflowing scourge" (Isaiah 28:15-18). The land opens her mouth and swallows the flood. This shows that the land of Israel will take the brunt of the attack, and so the godly remnant whom God will preserve is spared.

The serpent, so called because of his cunning hatred, now tries a new device... This shows some providential means God uses to deliver His earthly people and His purpose from the instruments of the enemy, who are then thrown into great turmoil. Those instruments are the waters flowing out as a river from the dragon's mouth — people under the immediate influence of the devil. The earth helping the woman plainly means the more settled parts of the world, used by God's providence to resist Satan's efforts to overwhelm the Jews... God can create a diversion where He sees fit, and so bring to nothing what is designed to overwhelm His people.

The flood which the dragon casts out of his mouth is a mass of people; Isaiah 8:7-8. When the king of Assyria and all his glory come to lay Judea waste, the prophet pictures them as a flood, as waters strong and many. The earth swallows the flood which the dragon casts out after the woman. God, in His providence, prevents these nations from devouring and destroying Israel.

This shows some of the providential means God uses to rescue His earthly people, and His purpose for them, from the enemy's instruments, which are now thrown into great turmoil. Those instruments are the waters that pour like a river out of the dragon's mouth: people under the direct influence of the devil. The earth helping the woman clearly means the more settled parts of the world, which God uses in His providence to resist Satan's efforts to overwhelm the Jews. "The earth" in this book may have a guilty character of its own. But God can create a diversion where He sees fit, and so bring to nothing whatever threatens to overwhelm His people.

The settled governments of that day take the side of the Jews and, by God's providence (how, we do not know), they defeat the serpent's efforts. Satan's methods fail, not through war, but because his plans to destroy the people are blocked and turned aside. This, we gather, is what the earth swallowing the river means.

I do not think that "swallowed up" here should be taken literally. Instead, God's providence will make the dragon's efforts to destroy the woman — the Jewish remnant — fail. He does it through the action of the nations of the earth, in a way that is somewhat miraculous, yet providential. The men the dragon sends to destroy the woman are lost, as it were, among the population of the earth, and they do nothing.

Satan's rage is not calmed by their exile from Jerusalem. He still pursues them with his hatred, pouring out a flood to devour them. This probably means another persecution, as David says, "The floods of ungodly men made me afraid." (Ps. 18:4.) But whatever form his malice takes, God cares for His people, and a providential door of escape is opened — the earth swallows up the flood. Baffled, Satan turns away from the fleeing remnant. They are safe in the shelter God provides. So he spends his rage on any who were still unable to escape.

This whole scene seems to match, in some measure, what we are told about Israel in Revelation 12. There the serpent casts water out of his mouth like a flood — a flood of the nations under his influence — to swallow up and destroy the Messiah's people. But the earth, the scene of divine order in the world, opens its mouth and swallows the river. Is that not just what happens here? It is the nations that are swallowed up, and not the people of God — once the government is put into the hands of the only One worthy to hold it, as this mysterious book of Esther shows us.

The Child was caught away, but the woman was left behind, and being left behind she is also exposed to Satan's hatred... Remember, the woman is Israel — Israel as seen in the purposes of God. Satan was thwarted in his rage against Christ, so he turns all the more fiercely against God's beloved people. But God cares for Israel, just as He had cared for the "male Child". In His providence He watches over her, protects her, provides for her, and sustains her.

He went to make war with the remnant of her seed — the godly Jews who might remain within his reach, who obeyed God's commandments and had received the testimony of Jesus Christ... The dragon (here he is not described by his cunning schemes, but shown again in his character and action as open power) was enraged with the woman whom he could not touch. He went to make war on the remnant of the seed — that is, to use violence against them.

These are the Jews of that day who are known for obedience to God and a definite witness of Jesus. If the woman represents a more general state of Israel, the remnant of her seed are the witnessing portion. The mass, or "the many" of the future as Daniel calls them, will have turned away from God completely... Even among the godly, some will be much more energetic and intelligent than others, as we see in Daniel 12. So Satan hurries, and sets himself to put down those chosen instruments in the testimony of Jesus.

These faithful individual witnesses have two marks. First, "they keep the commandments of God" — the great and distinguishing mark of a godly life, and one common to all believers at all times. Second, they "have the testimony of Jesus." This one is special, and refers to His coming in His kingdom. "The testimony of Jesus" in this book is prophetic in character. In the Gospels it is of a different nature — one of grace and moral display.

The godly remnant of Judah in the coming crisis "have the testimony of Jesus." With the Psalms in our hands, we cannot fail to understand the character of that testimony, which in their circumstances is prophetic. They long, and sigh, and pray for the open and direct intervention of God on their behalf.

In the Revelation an expression occurs that has often been misunderstood. "The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." It does not mean that all prophecy refers to the Lord Jesus Christ, though in one sense that may be true. It means that the witness of Jesus which this book contains — what Jesus testifies in Revelation — is the spirit of prophecy. This is the Holy Spirit as the book shows Him to us throughout: not bringing us into present communion with the Lord Jesus in heaven, but telling us what He is going to do later on.

It is clear, then, that at the time of the end, during the reign of Antichrist, a godly remnant will live in the middle of a nation that has turned away from God. They confess Jesus Christ and keep the commandments of God. Such will be very precious to the Lord, and, like the remnant of Malachi's day, will have their names inscribed in God's book of remembrance (Mal. 3:16).