The fate of the world rested on the child the woman was carrying. This devotional reading looks at opposition to the child.
Nuggets
- The great red dragon is definitely Satan.
- Satan wanted a great conflict to be waged.
- In the last devotion, we talked about the child being the Church.
- We know Jesus is going to rule.
- Oops – Satan lost out.
- The woman is seen as frail, but she isn’t.
In the last devotion, we talked about the woman who was with child. The problem was she had an audience.
The audience wasn’t there to help the woman. Let’s dig in.
Let's Put It into Context
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Devotions in the Opening the Seals series
Let's Put It into Context #2
Satan started out as an angel in Heaven. That didn’t last as he sinned against God.
Meaning adversary, that is what Satan became.
- “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them” (Job 1: 6 ESV).
- “Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. And the Lord said to Satan, ‘The Lord rebuke you, O Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?’” (Zech. 3: 1-2 ESV).
- “Then Satan stood against Israel and incited David to number Israel” (I Chron. 21: 1 ESV).
Salvation has never been offered to the angels that fell. Robinson said it this way. He wrote, “No atonement was ever made or offered in their behalf. Here was therefore a subject never before celebrated in the songs of God’s house.”
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Robinson made a good point. These angels really didn’t know what it meant to be a child of God. They may have thought they did. They may have not what they wanted and weren’t getting.
But they didn’t know the true God.
Instead of atonement, Satan and his demons were cursed. “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Gen. 3: 15 ESV).
The Dragon
“And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it” (Rev. 12: 3-4 ESV)
Great Red Dragon
The great red dragon is definitely Satan.
The dragon that appeared next is not really described. We know it has a tail.
It may have had wings. Bailey cautioned, though, that these wings were but an imitation of truth. They were not real truth.
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That is logical. Clarke reminded us that the dragon has long been the symbol of heathen worship. He wrote, “The very foundation of the heathen religious system is mostly built upon fable; and it is very difficult to trace many of their superstitions to any authentic original; and even those which appear to derive their origin from the sacred writings are so disguised in fable as literally to bear no more resemblance to the truth than the dragon of the ancients does to any animal with which we are acquainted.”
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We may think that the dragon represented the Romans. It didn’t. It represents Satan.
Yes, Satan wanted to devour Jesus. He also wants to devour us, trying to sow disobedience into our hearts.
Satan had tried to tempt Jesus (Mt. 4: 1-11). I always wondered if that was the only time Satan tempted Jesus.
I figured it wasn’t. John said not everything that happened was recorded in God’s Word. “Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written” (Jn. 21: 25 ESV).
We know that Satan is a formidable adversary. “… a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems” (Rev. 12: 3 ESV).
We know the number seven signifies completeness. In this instance, it is perverted completeness.
The horns signify power. “After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots. And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things” (Dan. 7: 7-8 ESV).
There is a crown (called a diadem) that, Bailey said, reflect heavenly truths. Again, these truths are perverted and shallow. It is more of an outward display than an inward transformation.
Satan has the intellect to oppose God. He can carry out his plans with precision because he is organized. Thomas said he could because he has an empire.
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Satan has set himself up to counter God in every way he can.
Devour It
Satan wanted a great conflict to be waged.
Good fought evil. Seiss told us it is more than that. He wrote,
“It is the great and far-reaching conflict between good and evil, between truth and falsehood, between right and usurpation, between the kingdom of God and the empire of Satan, between heaven and hell — the great war of a divided universe, coming to final issue upon this little world of ours! It is largely silent and invisible. Though raging round us every hour, we perceive so little of it, that many doubt its reality.”
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Yes, Satan did want to devour the early Church — and still wants to do so today. He is still the dragon wanting to devour what the Church produces.
But Satan wasn’t able to defeat Jesus when He was here on earth — even when He was weak from beatings and the crucifixion. Neither can he defeat God’s Will now.
We may only be on Chapter 12, but we know how the story ends. We know Satan will be defeated for eternity.
Happy Birthday
“She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days” (Rev. 12: 5-6 ESV)
In the last devotion, we talked about the child being the Church.
Gave Birth
That makes sense to me. The Apostles and their successors struggled greatly to establish the early Church after Christ’s ascension. I bet it felt like birth pains.
Why is it symbolized by one man instead of the many diverse people that make up the Church? “There is one body and one Spirit — just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call — one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Eph. 4: 4-6 ESV).
Rule All the Nations with a Rod of Iron
We know Jesus is going to rule.
“I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, ‘You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel’” (Ps. 2: 7-9 ESV).
We know Jesus will rule in the end.
- “So that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2: 10-11 ESV).
- “For it is written, ‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God’” (Rom. 14: 11 ESV).
- “By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: ‘To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance’” (Isa. 45: 23 ESV).
But this is supposed to be about the Church, right? How is the Church going to rule?
Well, we’ve already talked about that a little bit – and tabled it for future discussion.
“The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father” (Rev. 2: 26-27 ESV).
Child Caught Up to God
Oops – Satan lost out.
The child was caught up to God. He got away.
No, Satan is never going to win over God.
Guild used a verse as support of this. “He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision” (Ps 2: 4 ESV).
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We can say it is taken out of context because the verses before it show that the verses are actually talking about kings of earth.
Well, maybe it isn’t such a step. Satan is the ruler of the earth.
- “We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one” (I Jn. 5: 19 ESV).
- “In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (II Cor. 4: 4 ESV).
- “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (I Pet. 5: 8 ESV).
- “In which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience” (Eph. 2: 2 ESV).
- “I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me” (Jn. 14: 30 ESV).
- “Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out” (Jn. 12: 31 ESV).
Regardless, God always wins. Satan may think he wins battles now, but it is only because God allows it.
Still, Satan tries to win over the Church – and he loses time and again. That is why God laughs.
The Woman Fled
The woman is seen as frail, but she isn’t.
Now, we all know of strong women. That isn’t the issue here.
The issue is everyone – men and women – are frail when fighting against sin.
- “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned” (Rom. 5: 12 ESV).
- “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3: 23 ESV).
It is good for us that God has provided the Plan of Salvation to restore us. He nourishes us.
Hmmmm. There is that number again — 1,260. That is the number of days the witnesses prophesied (Rev. 11: 3).
What is significant is that the woman’s tribulation has a set end. God is in control and will end it.
Some have interpreted the woman fleeing to the wilderness as God sheltering the remnant during the Great Tribulation. I don’t think He is waiting until then.
God is going to take care of His children now as well as then.
Making the Connections #1
The struggle between good and evil has been raging for a long time. Bailey described it this way. He wrote,
“Ever since wrong commenced, there has been a bitter antagonism between it and right. Though varying with varied circumstances, all moral wrong and all falsehood have their deep origin in selfishness. This monster-evil displays itself in ten thousand ways, but in essence it is always the same, the substitute of man’s individual will for the will of God. Every new unfolding of truth and goodness from heaven finds the state of society previously formed by selfishness and mystery ready to assail it, and if possible to destroy.”
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This hasn’t been a halfhearted skirmish. This has been an all-out battle.
I can see why Bailey said that all sin stemmed from selfishness. It is our choice to sin. We choose to disobey God.
If we are making a conscious decision to disobey God, we are telling Him that we want things our way instead of His. We do or don’t want to do something He said to not or to do.
Oh, yes. That can take on many different forms. However, the bottom line is the same.
We want to substitute our individual will for God Will.
Making the Connections #2
Satan just like for us to pretend at religion. He definitely does not want us to establish a relationship with God.
God requires us to have a relationship with Him. Lip service isn’t going to cut it. Community service isn’t a substitute. A ritualistic service isn’t what He is looking for.
God wants us to talk to Him. He wants us to read His Word, study it, meditate on it, and make appropriate changes in our lives so we are more like Him.
How Do We Apply This?
Win the victory over self-love with the help of God.
Become humble, gentle, and considerate.
Show others God’s joy in us.
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Father God. We thank You that You sent Your Son to be our Savior. While Satan still works to tempt us to disobey You, we focus solely on You and Your Son. Amen.
What do you think?
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