The Great War
For Meditation
One of the themes we keep returning to in our study of the book of Revelation is “things are not what they seem.” Revelation is an apocalypse, which means that through the message of this book, God is revealing or disclosing a new, more accurate perspective on the world. This book wants to radically disrupt our normal way of viewing the world by giving us a different perspective on reality.
In chapter 12, John begins a new series of disclosures about the nature of evil. He is telling us: there is an unseen spiritual war behind everything. Up to this point, we have certainly seen supernatural evil at work in the timeline of history, most notably in the four horsemen of the apocalypse. But in chapter 12, we are introduced to a new terrible character that has been behind all the disasters and catastrophes we have witnessed: the great red seven-headed dragon. The dragon is a “sign” or a symbol, and this is one of the only times John explicitly tells us what the symbol signifies: “that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray” (12:9). This chapter is about the “great war,” the enormous spiritual battle that wages behind the scenes, all the time, between the devil and the powers of God.
So this week we’ll grapple with this unseen reality on multiple levels: first, that we live in the midst of a war, and how that should change our perspective on life. We’ll look at the enemy himself, and the weapons he uses to try to undermine God’s people. We’ll also look at the defense we have against Satan, who as we will learn has already been defeated and is just counting the days until his total destruction. The child who rules the nations (12:5) will once and for all conquer the enemy who stands against us.
In preparation for this Sunday, read and meditate on Ephesians 6:10-20, and pray for all the saints in the spiritual battle we wage.
Revelation 12
1 A great 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. 2 She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. 4 Its 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 it might devour her child the moment he was born. 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. 6 The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.
7 Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9 The 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.
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 Messiah.
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters,
who accuses them before our God day and night,
has been hurled down.
11 They triumphed over 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.
12 Therefore rejoice, you heavens
and you who dwell in them!
But woe to the earth and the sea,
because the devil has gone down to you!
He is filled with fury,
because he knows that his time is short.”
13 When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. 14 The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach. 15 Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. 16 But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. 17 Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.