The Dragon And The Male Child

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Revelation 12:1-17                                                                                                                        Lesson 13

Key verse 12:5                                                                                      Kevin Jesmer 9-19-10

^“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.”

This passage is quite involved and volumes of books have been written about these 17 verses. In my own Bible note preparation, I came up with 16 pages of notes and I just had to draw the line somewhere. Last week, I decided to split this message into two parts. We focused mostly on the victorious song of the believers in verses 10-12. The message was called, “Victory Through The Blood Of The Lamb.” The key verse was verse 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.”  We learned that the believers were victorious for three reasons, the blood of Jesus, the testimony of their witness and their decision to offer up their lives without reservation. From the text we derived ways that we could live as victorious Christians in today’s world.

This time around we are going to take a closer look at the three main actors in this passage. They are the dragon, the woman and the child.  This chapter describes the eternal conflict between God and the devil and the church and the devil. It is good to know who the devil is so that we can recognize our enemy and be able to make the necessary defensive and offense actions to thwart his dastardly plans. We will also see how God protects his people and keeps them safe spiritually even unto eternal life. God is with you all and he is keeping you safe in so many ways. We need to know that and dwell in the shelter of his wings. May God bless you abundantly.

Part l: The Woman Gives Birth To A Son (1-6)

First, the woman. Let’s read verses 1-3, “A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. ²She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth.” And also verse 5, “⁵She 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.” There are many different ideas about this woman. Some say it is Eve, based on Genesis 3:15, which reads, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”  Some say it is Mary, the mother of Jesus. Some say the woman is the body of believers, the church and also the nation of Israel. I believe the identity of the woman is found in verse 2. Let’s look at that verse again. “a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.” The first reference to the sun, moon and stars are first found in Genesis with Joseph. He had a dream in which the sun, moon and the eleven stars were bowing down to him. (Gen 39:7) The sun corresponds to Jacob, the moon to Rachel, and the twelve stars to Israel’s twelve sons. Thus the sun, moon, and stars, became an ancient symbol of the nation of Israel.

In this passage the nation of Israel gave birth to a male child.  It is quiet obvious that the male child is Jesus, our Messiah and the Savior of the world. Jesus came from the house and line of Judah. He came from the Jews. He was prophesied about, in over 300 places in the Old Testament, the Jewish Scripture.

The woman was crying out in pain as she was giving birth to this child. As we know child birth is very painful. Some know about this more than others. Julie went through it five times. She is a great woman. The nation of Israel did suffer greatly to bring forth the Messiah. To remain as a people of God they endured invasions and civil war, exiles and the constant pressure to give up their faith and be engulfed by other cultures and other religions. The Jewish prophets suffered immeasurably to bring us the prophecies concerning Jesus and maintain the Scriptures. Isaiah the prophet was sawed in two. But God used him to bring us one of the most vivid prophecies about Jesus, Isaiah 53. You should all read that chapter slowly and prayerfully on your own. At the time of Jesus’ birth, the nation of Israel was crying out in pain. They had been under Roman occupation for 40 years. They were poor and oppressed. They were torn politically with constant squabbles between the Sadducees and the Pharisees. They had not heard the word of God through the prophets for 400 years. The people were groping in the darkness. But God was creating the perfect scenario for the Savior to be born. And the time came for Jesus to be born as a tiny baby in the manger. Jesus’ earthly ministry also caused much turmoil among the Jews. At the time of Jesus’ crucifixion the people were on the verge of rioting and the Romans were poised to snuff out the unrest. There was a lot of pain in bringing Jesus into the world as our Savior.

The woman can also be the church itself. Paul says in the book of Romans that not all of Israel is Israel. Listen to what he says in Romans 9:6b-7a, “…For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. ⁷Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children…” He goes on to tell us that those who walk in the faith of Abraham are the true Israel. If we think this way then we can think of the woman representing the body of believers who ever walked by faith. They did suffer a lot also to see the Messiah Jesus born in the world.

Mary brings this all together in a spiritual amalgam. She was a devout Jew. She was also a sincere believer. She suffered a lot to bring Jesus into this world. She was 16 years old. She conceived out of wedlock. She was willing to endure the scorn and the derision of her family, community and even her fiancée, Joseph. But what did she say about her mission to be the mother of the Messiah? “I am the Lord’s servant…May it be to me as you have said.” (Lk 1:38)  The birth itself was painful. She had to ride to Bethlehem on a donkey, in full bloom. She never had a nice hospital birthing suite. There was no room for her in the Inn and she had to give birth in a stable. Her cries pierced the still night air. But through all that suffering and pain she became the mother of Jesus. And so, in this way Mary served as a living symbol of the woman in this chapter of Revelation.

The whole purpose of the church is to bring Jesus into the world and it suffers so much to do so. In fact for the first 300 years of Church history the church underwent great persecutions. Thousands of believers were martyred laying down their lives in humble service, so that Jesus may be born in the hearts of those who did not know their Savior. Even today the church, the true Israel, is under much pain and travail. In some parts of the word people are getting martyred but not so much in America. In America Christians are being ignored to death. There is a lot of psychological suffering and the pressure of everyday life that causes much pain in our attempt to see Jesus born in the hearts of our young people.

But despite of the hardships, what do we know about birth pains? For those who don’t know, the pains of child birth go away when the mother sees and holds her newborn child. Her heart is full of love and joy. The pains are forgotten. Who can testify to this? Though it takes a lot of pain and sacrifice to see Jesus born in one person’s heart, it is all worth it when you see that person coming to Jesus and even accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior. All the sacrifices in the past don’t even come to mind. And so what do you think? Who is the woman? Israel? The church? Mary? You are all right!

Part ll: The Dragon (3, 4, 7-10)

The dragon is clearly the devil. The devil is not a symbol or a legend. He is very real. The Bible contains a lot of material on the devil. We will not get into all the material, but we will stay focused on this passage. Let’s start in verse 3, “Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads.” This dragon is red. What could red represent? It could be blood. This serpent is indeed responsible for the shedding of much blood and taking of many lives. I also have seen people’s faces turn red because they are so furious. The serpent is furious, furious at God and furious at God’s children. The devil has ten heads, meaning that he is full of wisdom, worldly wisdom. He also has ten horns. In the Bible horn means strength. The ten horns could simply be symbolic of the dragon’s mighty strength.

The dragon has great influence. Look at verse 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.” His tail swept a third of the stars from sky. In the past Satan used to freely approach the throne of God and accuse people before God, like he did to Job. The Bible says that he was a beautiful angel. But he became proud and wanted to take the place of God. (Ez 28:11-19) His rebellious heart made him get others to follow. There was a civil war in heaven. Look at verses 7-9, “And 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. 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.” A look at Ezekiel 28:15-17 will explained further, “¹⁵ You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you. ¹⁶ Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones. ¹⁷ Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings.” This is a prophecy about the king of Tyre, but many Biblical scholars also feel that it is reference to the devil himself. Satan was flung to the earth and he took 1/3 of the angels with him and now his is steaming mad, so mad that his face turned red. (lol) He really wants to get back at God, but he knows that he can’t and that his time is short and so he gets at the ones whom God loves…God’s children…you and I. He leads the whole world astray so as to keep us from our God and from eternal life.  How does he lead the whole world astray? He does it through deceptive philosophies, lies, through human wisdom, half truths, false religion and other deceptions and various temptations. If we are following our own emotions and feelings and reasonable sounding philosophies of life, or what other people are telling us, then guess what? We are being led astray. We need to come to Jesus, the shepherd of our souls and be led by him. John 14:6 is a verse we can hold onto: “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” You can trust Jesus to show you the way.

What else does this passage say about the devil?  Verse 6 reads, “The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.” The devil pursed this woman in hopes to kill her child. Satan is relentless. The Bible says, “…enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”(1 Peter 5:8) He actively looks for people to attack (1 Pe 5:8-9). Satan likes to pursue believers who are vulnerable in their faith, who are spiritually weak, or who are isolated from other believers.  He hounds and pursues and does not let up. In life, we have wave after wave of temptations pounding against our life boat. If we are not in Christ, each wave causes us to get weaker, we become fearful. We despair. We get sorrowful and bitter and we just want to give up life and even our spiritual life. We need to recognize what is happening. Our enemy the devil is pursing us as he is pursing the woman in this passage. He will not give up until we are eternally separated from God. But this passage tells us how to overcome through lasts week’s message. Do you remember? Let’s read verse 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.” There is also a clue nestled within 1 Peter 5: 9, says, “Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.” Though the devil may nip at our heels and hound us, Jesus is with us. God provides a place of shelter and protection for us. He has won the victory and we are more than conquers through him who loved us. (Rom 8:37)

Have you heard enough of the devil? Yes of course…but there is some more in this passage. Let’s read verse 10,“Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: ‘Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.’” Satan is the great accuser. The name “Satan” means “accuser” He engages in psychological warfare accusing the believers night and day. “You are not a Christian? How could God love you? You sin too much.? You have failed God. You will never bear fruit with your life.”  That is how he tears you down and renders you powerless. But praise be to God, that though the devil tries his best to accuse us, Jesus tries his best to plant faith and God’s love into our hearts. Think about the famous verse, John 1:12, “¹²Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” God loves you unconditionally. When you repented of your sins and came to Jesus by faith you are a child of God, with a rich inheritance in the kingdom of God. This is absolutely true. Though we may stumble and fall we are still God’s child. No one can take these facts away from us. Never let the Accuser get the better of you.

We need to really know who are enemy is. Eph 6:11-12 reads, “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹²For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”  It is a spiritual battle that we can not win on our own. We need Jesus’ help. We must remember that Christ is victorious. Even though God permits the devil to do his work in this world, God is still in control. Jesus defeated the power of the devil when he died and rose again for the sins of mankind. One day Satan will be bound forever, never again to do his evil work again.

Part lll: The Child (4b-5)

Now here comes the most important part of the passage, the child. Look at verses 4b-5, “…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. ⁵She 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.” This child is Jesus. We all have seen nice nativity scenes and saw a young couple holding a newborn baby in their arms with angels and shepherds and cute animals smiling around the baby. But was this the entire picture? I don’t think so. Also in this picture is the devil waiting to devour the child. You are not going to put that reality in any nativity scene but if you are going to be Biblically correct maybe you should.  Satan desperately did not want the Savior of the world to be born. He tried his best to confuse the Jews as to true identity of the Messiah and how he would come into the world. When Jesus did come he worked in Herod’s heart to try to kill the newborn Jesus. Do you remember? Herod ordered all the boys born in Bethlehem who were two years old and younger to be killed. (Matt 2:16) God protected Jesus. He sent them to the desert of Egypt until Herod died. Satan tried to destroy Jesus all the way to the cross. But he could not. After Jesus’ death and resurrection, the devil tried to pursue the church, through endless persecution but God always protected his people by sending them into “the desert.”  Look it up and you will find that it is true. The desert represents a place of spiritual fortification from Satan. Just as God aided the woman’s escape into the desert, we can be sure that God offers security to all true believers. Satan always attacks God’s people, but God keeps them spiritually secure. Some will experience physical harm, but all will be protected from spiritual harm. Trust God.

Why did the devil hate this child so much? Look at Verse 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.” Though the devil tried his best to stop Jesus but he could not. God protected Jesus and through his suffering, death and resurrection he was exalted by God to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name. (Phi 2:9)  Jesus became King of kings and Lord of Lords who is the ruler of all nations. Is your ruler?

    Though Jesus was crowned king though his death and resurrection, the devil does not stop his relentless pursuit. Let’s read verse 13-17, “When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. ¹⁴The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the desert, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach. ¹⁵Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. ¹⁶But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. 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.” Paul tells us that we are in a spiritual battle. (Eph 6:10-12) John says that the war is still being waged. But the outcome is has already been determined. Satan and his followers have been defeated and will be destroyed. Nevertheless Satan is battling everyday to bring more into his ranks and keep his own from defecting to God’s side. It is a loosing battle. God has guaranteed us victory as we stand on Jesus’ side, by faith. God will not lose the war. He will even use the forces of nature to aid us in our battle. Continue to obey Jesus’ commands from the Bible and continue to hold onto the testimony about Jesus as you share it with the world. When you do Satan’s kingdom will crumble and you can get others to defect to Jesus’ side. Never, ever waver in your commitment to Christ.

In this passage we learned that we must never think that our present trials and sufferings are unusual. They are simply birth pains as Jesus is being born newly in your hearts and lives. Sure it may be painful, but you will forget the pain as you enter into a new relationship with your Savior. All the sufferings that you are enduring to help someone else meet Jesus will be worth it all when Jesus is born in their hearts too. We also learned that we are in a spiritual battle and we have a spiritual enemy, the devil. We can overcome him with the blood of the Lamb, the testimony of our witness and not shrinking from death. Resist the devil and he will surely flee. Finally we learned that Jesus is the ruler of all nations. May he be the ruler of your hearts today. God bless.

Part l: The Woman Gives Birth To A Son (1-6)

1. The two great signs appeared in heaven that expose the main actors in this cosmic struggle. Who are they? Who do the woman and the child represent? (1,5, 17,Gen 37:9; Lk 1:26-33; Gen 3:15) What is God’s relationship with the nation of Israel? (Rom 9:4)

1. Who is the devil? (12:10; Jn 8:44; Gen 3:1; 1 Peter 5:8-9) How did the dragon attempt to devour the child? (4, Mt 2:13-20) What was the motivation behind Herod’s evil actions? (Eph 6:10-12) Is Satan real to you?

1. How did God save the woman and her child? (5,6) What was God’s plan for this child? But how has the son come to rule the nations? (5, Phil 2:9; Ps 2)

Part 11: War In Heaven (7-9)

1. How has the dragon lost the battle and been thrown out of heaven to the earth? (7-9,20:2, Job 1:9-11) Why was he denied access to heaven? (Ez 28:11-19)What can we learn from this?

 Part lll: Overcome By The Blood Of The Lamb (10-17)

1. What has come to reality due to this victory? (10) How can we overcome the devil? (11)

1. How does the dragon attack the woman and her offspring? (15)  Why? How does God protect them? (14,16, Ex 19:4) What does it symbolize by “a time, times and half a time” or 1,260 days? (6, 14, 11:3; Da 9:27,12:7)