Last week in the first part of Revelation 12, we were introduced to the woman who was about to give birth and the fiery red dragon anticipating the birth so that he could devour the child.
We identified the woman as Israel, the child as Jesus, and the dragon as Satan.
It was also mentioned that this chapter must be read differently than what we’ve been studying in Revelation. This doesn’t fall chronologically with the rest of Revelation. Chapter 12 goes back to the very beginning. It’s the backstory of spiritual warfare. This chapter and the following chapter highlight the major players or characters from the beginning through the Tribulation and possibly help us clear up some misconceptions.
After Satan falls from Heaven, we know that he introduced sin in the Garden of Eden. When we think of the first sin, we think of Adam, Eve, the serpent, and the fruit and we attribute this to the freewill that God gives us. But free will already existed.
As difficult as it may be to understand, sin originated in Heaven. “Unfortunately, the creatures that God created chose to rebel against him. The first rebellion happened in heaven. By considering Ezekiel 28:11-19 and other passages, it is clear that Satan was originally a beautiful angel with an exalted position at the throne of God. However, Satan became prideful—wanting to be like God (Is 14:12-14). Therefore, he rebelled, and one-third of the angels rebelled with him. Consequently, Satan and his followers were cast out of heaven (Rev 12:3-4). This was the beginning of sin.”[i]
When sin caused the fall of man, God, at that time, promised consequences. And we know that God always keeps His promises.
Genesis 3:15 CEV “You and this woman
will hate each other;
your descendants and hers
will always be enemies.
One of hers will strike you
on the head,
and you will strike him
on the heel.”
From that moment on, Satan made it his mission to destroy that seed of Eve that would be his enemy and who would eventually strike and crush Satan.
In Genesis, in the beginning, we have the serpent, the woman, and her offspring. In Revelation, in the end, we have the dragon (or serpent), the woman, and her child. It’s all full circle.
Revelation 12 serves as a refresher of why the Rapture occurs, and why the Tribulation and the horrifying events must occur.
One other component of this chapter is the style of writing. It’s known as chiasmus and it is where points are made and then repeated in the opposite order. It’s mirror writing. It’s named for the Greek letter “chi” which is represented by an “X” because words or phrases are written in such a way that they are crisscrossed. An example would be “when the going gets tough, the tough get going.” You can see how the same words are used but in the opposite order. The purpose of Scripture being written like this was for people to be able to memorize these verses. It’s also a great tool for emphasizing important information.
There are many examples of this used in the Bible. Some are contained in one verse. One example is Mark 2:27 “Jesus said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” Other times, like here in Revelation, the chiasmus is carried throughout multiple verses. And we’re going to see the prevailing message that needs our focus.
Revelation 12: 7 NKJV “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.”
Did you happen to catch that first sentence? War breaks out. And where does it break out? In Heaven.
This goes against the perception that most people have. If there’s any place that should be free from war, it must be Heaven, right? But this is part of some of our misconceptions, especially when it comes to the devil.
Some have a hard time believing that Satan is real and not just a symbol of evil or sin, but Scripture assures us that he is real, alive, and active.
Others picture him in hell dishing out orders and commands to his demons here on Earth, but that’s not true. In fact, not only does Satan not reside in hell, he’s never even been there and won’t go there until the end of the tribulation period!
Satan is also not the ruler of hell; he’s not in charge. We’ll read in Revelation 20 that he’ll be thrown into the lake of fire, not to torment others, but to be tormented himself. We picture Satan has the Grand Master of hell, but he is anything but!
One of the biggest things about Satan that we overlook is his access to God and Heaven. This is where it gets tricky and a bit hard to comprehend because we think of Heaven as a sin-free or evil-free zone. And it is for the most part. Let’s take a look at the book of Job.
“6 One day the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. 7 The Lord asked Satan, “Where have you come from?”
“From roaming through the earth,” Satan answered Him, “and walking around on it.” (Job 1:6 HCSB)
In Luke 22, Jesus tells Peter that Satan has asked about him. Talk about getting the heebie jeebies!
From this we learn that Satan still has some access to God. He certainly doesn’t have a hall pass in which he can use to go before the throne anytime he chooses. He can approach God only when he is summoned by God and only for as long as God chooses. God is always, always, always in control! Even when it doesn’t seem like it. Make no mistake. “ In no way is the purity of heaven tainted by the brief, God-ordained presence of a sinful being, “quarantined,” as it were, by God’s regulatory power.”[ii]
The war described here in Revelation 12 is not referring to Lucifer’s fall from Heaven that occurred in the beginning, but rather his final invitation to Heaven. After this, neither Satan nor the fallen angels will be allowed access to Heaven anymore.
You’ll notice that Satan doesn’t fight God. He doesn’t fight Jesus. Satan, along with his fallen angels, fights against Michael and his angels. Why Michael?
Daniel 10 gives us the answer. “Only Michael, the angel who guards your people Israel will be there to help me.” (Daniel 10:21 TLB)
The archangel Michael is thought to be a defender of Israel.
And remember, Israel is represented here in Revelation 12 as the woman giving birth to the child who is Jesus, Who is in the dragon’s (Satan’s) crosshairs. When Jesus died on the cross and was resurrected, Satan knew his battle with Jesus had been lost. But that doesn’t stop him from retaliating against God’s chosen people – the Israelites.
This war in heaven will take place at some point in the future and as a result, Satan’s access to Heaven will be forever cut off.
Our next few verses bring in a proclamation.
Revelation 12:10 NKJV “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.”
There is great rejoicing in Heaven when a loud voice proclaims salvation, strength, the kingdom of God, and the power of Christ have come. To understand this a little better, let’s break it down.
The salvation isn’t that of a person’s soul or even the church, but rather “the overthrow of the enemy and the deliverance of creation from its present thraldom” [thralldom, meaning domination] “and agony (Romans 8:21).”[iii]i
The strength or power refers to the capacity of overcoming “all opposing authority – whether satanic in the heavens or human on the earth.”ii
This is signifying the beginning of the end of Satan’s days and that is certainly something to be celebrated by all Christians.
Satan is called something there in verse 10 that affects us. Did you catch that? He is tagged as “the accuser”. Satan, being God’s enemy, is also our enemy. Satan uses his accusatory weapon in a number of ways. And, quite honestly, we’ve probably experienced all of them.
You know how it is when you realize you’ve sinned, and you feel remorse and repentant? You go to God in prayer, sincerely sorrowful for what you’ve done and ask for His forgiveness. You feel that overwhelming peace that your relationship with Him is restored because of the cross and the fact that Jesus died so that you can be forgiven. Life goes on, but every once in a while, the memory of that sinful act or that sinful habit pops into your head. You start to slump back into shame and grief. You question whether you’re really forgiven and if you’ve really changed. You see, Satan often uses accusations to remind us of our past and to keep us in a state of remorse and regret. When we are in this mode, it’s difficult for us to feel worthy to pray and to serve Him. We feel useless and undeserving of anything God has to offer.
What often happens to us is like what happens when a child starts playing in the mud. When a child gets their hands muddy, we might wipe them off to make them clean. But when a child has mud on their hands, their face, and their feet, we reason, “They’re already dirty. They might as well get filthy and have fun. They can get cleaned up later.” We do the same thing when we think we have unforgiven sin. “I’ve done something so bad that I know God can’t forgive me or won’t forgive me. I might as well enjoy myself.”
Satan is the one who tries to convince us that we are unworthy of God’s forgiveness or that Jesus’ death on the cross wasn’t enough. He also uses his accusations as a means to get us to look on others in judgment. We hear some gossip and put a label on a person or a family. We see someone who doesn’t do things the way we think they should, dress the way that we approve of, or behaves in a way that we deem unacceptable. And we, like the Pharisees, accuse them of not fitting our mold. We keep our supply of grace under lock and key because we don’t find others worthy of receiving it. Satan loves for people, especially God’s people to be at odds with one another. This isn’t news to us. We know that and yet still fail to resist him when the arrows accusations are flying.
But what we may not realize is that Satan is a bully. He’s an instigator. He’s a problem child. He’s a tattletale.
Zechariah 3:1 CEV “I was given another vision. This time Joshua the high priest was standing in front of the LORD’s angel. And there was Satan, standing at Joshua’s right side, ready to accuse him.”
Satan, still having access, albeit limited access to God, often uses that time to point out our missteps and our failings. He puts himself in the role of a prosecutor to convict us and to convince God of our unworthiness. But Jesus, our Defense Counsel, steps up on our behalf. What a friend we have in Jesus!
1 John 2:1 TLB “My little children, I am telling you this so that you will stay away from sin. But if you sin, there is someone to plead for you before the Father. His name is Jesus Christ, the one who is all that is good and who pleases God completely.”
“Satan the accuser stands before God in an attempt to somehow lessen God’s love or diminish God’s mercy. Fortunately, his accusations against us fall on deaf ears: “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies” (Romans 8:33). Salvation belongs to the Lord, and His justification cannot be reversed. God is greater than our accuser.”[iv] And Jesus greatly sacrificed in our place!
Isaiah 53:5 CSB “But he was pierced because of our rebellion,
crushed because of our iniquities;
punishment for our peace was on him,
and we are healed by his wounds.”
Verse 12 of Revelation 12 is two sides of the same coin.
“So be happy, everyone who lives in heaven!
But terrible trouble will happen to the earth and the sea.
The Devil has come down to you now and he is very angry.
He knows that he has only a short time to hurt people.’” (Revelation 12:12 EASY)
You see, after losing the war in Heaven with Michael, Satan and his wrath are bound on earth. This is cause for great celebration in Heaven. But this is also the beginning of the second half of the Tribulation, known as the Great Tribulation.
Now those on Earth will experience the wrath of the Lamb as well as the wrath of Satan. Think back to the end of Revelation 6.
“15 Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 16 They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?” (Revelation 6:15 NIV)
Who can withstand it? Well, the answer to that is given to us in the next chapter. It’s the 144,000 Jews who are sealed!
And now, in Revelation 12, Satan hasn’t forgotten about the Jews.
Revelation 12:13 HCSB “13 When the dragon saw that he had been thrown to earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. 14 The woman was given two wings of a great eagle, so that she could fly from the serpent’s presence to her place in the wilderness, where she was fed for a time, times, and half a time. 15 From his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river flowing after the woman, to sweep her away in a torrent. 16 But the earth helped the woman. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the river that the dragon had spewed from his mouth. 17 So the dragon was furious with the woman and left to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and have the testimony about Jesus. 18 He stood on the sand of the sea.”
In his final days, Satan targets Israel. Tony Evans says, “During the same three and a half years – a time, times, and half a time – to which Satan comes against Israel with wild fury, God will protect Israel supernaturally.”[v]
Verse 14 tells us the woman (Israel) is given two wings of a great so that she can flee to the wilderness. This is reminiscent of the description used in earlier deliverances of the Jews. In Exodus 19, after their escape from Egypt, God says to Moses, “4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.” (Exodus 19:4 NIV) “Their return from Babylonian captivity was like ‘mounting up with wings as eagles’ (Isaiah 40:31).”[vi]
We don’t know the specifics as to how the Israelites will be rescued (aircrafts, perhaps) and where they’ll be taken (maybe Petra?) but we know that God will have a place prepared for them where they’ll be protected. In verse 15, the image of a flowing river or a flood spewing from the mouth of the dragon could be literally a flood of water. But most Biblical scholars believe this is a metaphor for either poisonous lies (like a snake’s venom), or most likely, military forces. In Ezekiel, God has a message for the prophet Ezekiel to give to Gog.
“14 “Son of man, speak to Gog for me. Tell him that this is what the Lord God says: ‘You will come to attack my people while they are living in peace and safety. 15 You will come from your place out of the far north, and you will bring many people with you. All of them will ride on horses. You will be a large and a powerful army.” (Ezekiel 38:14 ERV)
“18 The Lord God said, “At that time Gog will come to fight against the land of Israel. I will show my anger. 19 In my anger and strong emotions, I make this promise: I promise that there will be a strong earthquake in the land of Israel. 20 At that time all living things will shake with fear. The fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the wild animals in the fields, and all the little creatures crawling on the ground will shake with fear. The mountains will fall down and the cliffs will break apart. Every wall will fall to the ground!”
21 The Lord God says, “On the mountains of Israel, I will call for every kind of terror against Gog. His soldiers will be so afraid that they will attack each other and kill each other with their swords. 22 I will punish Gog with diseases and death. I will cause hailstones, fire, and sulfur to rain down on Gog and his groups of soldiers from many nations. 23 Then I will show how great I am. I will prove that I am holy. Many nations will see me do these things, and they will learn who I am. Then they will know that I am the Lord.” (Ezekiel 38:18 ERV)
That may not seem significant or that it has anything to do with this, but take a quick look at Revelation 20. “7 When the 1,000 years have finished, God will let Satan go free out of his prison. 8 Satan will then go and deceive people in nations everywhere in the world. He will make them believe him. Those nations are God’s enemies, Gog and Magog.” (Revelation 20:7 EASY)
Gog makes a reappearance in Revelation, so it does seem reasonable that the flood or the flowing river from the dragon’s mouth is most likely military forces from the north and based on Ezekiel 38:19 and Revelation 12:16, it makes sense that the “earth opening up its mouth and swallowing the river” sent by the dragon is actually a great earthquake.
Satan will be furious and desperate and out for revenge.
Verse 17 tells us that the dragon (Satan) is furious that he cannot destroy the woman (Israel) so he goes after who? Her offspring.
Here’s where our chiasmus comes into play. This is an ABCXCBA chiasmus in which the “X” is the most important part to remember.
In the beginning of the chapter, the dragon pursues the woman and her child. (A) (Rev. 12:4)
The woman fled into the wilderness for protection. (B) (Rev. 12:6)
There is then a great war that takes place in Heaven. (C) (Rev. 12:7)
Once the dragon is cast out of Heaven, the devil’s war moves to Earth. (C) (Rev. 12:12)
The woman is given the wings of an eagle to fly into the wilderness for protection. (B) (Rev. 12:14)
The dragon is furious with the woman, and as a result, pursues the woman’s offspring. (A) (Rev. 12:17)
ABC CBA and the “X” of this chiasmus, the most important, and the focal point of it all is found in verses 10 & 11. The proclamation. It’s the very description of the “heavenly conquest of Satan” which “gives reassurance to Christ’s people on earth that they too are conquerors of Satan. They share in the glorious victory of Christ’s kingdom, and the basis of that victory is Christ’s death.”[i]
The ultimate victory is ours because of the blood of Jesus Christ! 1 Corinthians 15:57 NLT “But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
I can’t speak for you, but I oftentimes need reminding that I’m on the winning team. i need to be reminded that no matter what’s being said on the 6 o’clock news, the headlines, and social media that God is the victor! And we are His! We don’t have to wait to have victory over our sin. God is, has always been, and will always be greater.
“It is apparent that the shorter the Devil’s time becomes the more furious his rage against God’s people grows. Revelation 12:17 concludes with a glimpse of the dragon standing on the sand of the Mediterranean Sea. This is the region from which the first beast of the next chapter emerges.”[ii]
We’ll meet the beast next week in Revelation 13.
[i] Revelation 12:11 – Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary – StudyLight.org
[ii] What does Revelation 12:17 mean? | BibleRef.com
[i] 2. The Origin of Sin | Bible.org
[ii] Does Satan still have access to Heaven? Why does God allow Satan to enter Heaven, as recorded in the Bible? | GotQuestions.org
[iii] Revelation by Lehman Strauss
[iv] What does it mean that Satan is the accuser? | GotQuestions.org
[v] Tony Evans Bible Commentary
[vi] Be Victorious by Warren W. Wiersbe
Beacons of Light 
thanks so much for posting the lesson! We must be watchful and know Satan is alive and a liar and accuser but as you have said “praise God for His mercy”, grace and love for us.
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