Studies in Revelation: The Third Interlude, Battle in Heaven (Revelation 12)

To say that chapter 12 does not forward the timeline of judgment on earth and the return of Christ to earth is generally true, but it does give us some tangential elements to the timeline.

^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. (Revelation 12:1-6, NIV)

To unravel the “timeline” of this passage is hard. It is most natural to identify the woman clothed with the sun and pregnant, with Israel, not an individual Israelite like Mary, Jesus’ mother, since she is said to flee into the wilderness after the birth of her son, which, of course, Mary did not do. It is Israel who gives birth to the one who will rule the nations with a rod of iron (Psalm 2), the Messiah who was snatched up to heaven after his resurrection.

Satan, the dragon, who is identified as the serpent who tempted Adam and Eve, did desire to devour Jesus, most markedly at his birth, when Herod killed all the boys two years and under (Matthew 2:16) and again at his crucifixion. Though he did get Jesus killed at Calvary, Jesus was not successfully devoured. Satan was successful, prior to this, however, at leading a third of the stars, most likely angels, to follow him in rebellion against God.

The woman’s flight into the wilderness shifts our timeline quite a bit, from the time of Jesus’ birth, death, resurrection and ascension, to the period of the Great Tribulation, with mention of her being taken care of by God for 1,260 days (three and a half years). It seems most reasonable to see this as the Jews who get saved at the witness of the 144,000 from the tribes of Israel. This cannot be all believers because we’re told in the next section that Satan goes after the rest of her offspring when he can’t get at her (12:17), and we know that there are many believers who are martyred. They are not all protected as these are.

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. (Revelation 12:7-17, NIV)

We should understand that the war in heaven has yet to take place, but rather takes place right before the three and a half year tribulation, since when Satan and his angels are “hurled” to the earth, Satan knows his time is short (indeed, is only three and a half years) to accomplish his mission (12:12) and that up until then he has had access to heaven where he now accuses us before our God day and night (12:10). His restriction to earth cannot yet have happened.

Satan’s objective seems to be to destroy the woman, and lacking her destruction, destroy all her offspring, hence the large number of believers martyred during this time of tribulation. Believers triumph not by escaping persecution, but by salvation in the blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony, and by not loving their lives. We’ll see in the next interlude that Satan’s other objective is to gain rule over all the earth, the very thing Jesus will accomplish when he returns. Satan will seek to do it through war and conquering in the person of the beast or the antichrist.