In today's reading from Revelation there's a shift in perspective. The previous few chapters have all been about God's judgement upon the unbelievers, still with the purpose of relationship restoration.
But what's going on, at the same time, is Satan's wrath and fury against believers.
No wonder it's a time of destruction like never seen before.
The woman represents Israel; the sun, moon and 12 stars represent Jacob, Rachel and the 12 tribes of Israel (Joseph's dream from Genesis 37). And the woman is pregnant and crying out in pain, longing to give birth - just like Israel had been longing for the coming of the Messiah. Israel has suffered throughout their entire existence it seems, because of God's discipline and because of Satan's efforts to destroy them so the kingdom couldn't come.
The audacity of that, really! As though Satan can somehow stop God from carrying out His plan! But he tries, oh how he tries. And in this passage he is symbolized as a red dragon which is a picture of how fierce, destructive and frightening Satan is, and the red also indicates bloodshed. He is a seven headed monster who rules over the worldly kingdoms, with horns representing power, strength and weaponry.
Over and over again, Satan has tried to destroy the Jews and therefore the Messianic line....
From MacArthur...
Satan had already tried to prevent Abraham from having a son of promise. He tried to destroy Jacob. Tried to kill the line of Judah. Tried to take Israel captive and eliminate ten tribes later on in the divided kingdom and failed. Though the captives from the north never returned, representatives from all ten tribes had filtered into the south and so all twelve tribes are still in tact. The archenemy of Israel tried to destroy the Jews through pagan kings and God used judges to deliver them. The dragon tried to get Saul to murder David and end all messianic hope through the line of David, and he could never succeed. Haman became Satan's tool to attempt genocide, but the nation was saved by Esther and Haman was executed on his own gallows.
He references 2 Chronicles 21 and 22 where, in two cases, the Messianic line had dwindled to only one child. Only one left before the Messianic line would be destroyed. (Jehoram slaughtered all his brothers so only he remained, and then all his sons, other than Ahaziah, were killed by raiders).
Revelation 12 then takes us back all the way to the beginning, when Satan rebelled against God and was thrown out of heaven along with a third of the angels. There are two thirds remaining, which means the forces of God are twice as many as the forces of Satan.
And now, as we remember the birth of Christ, Satan once again is making war against God and His redemptive plan. He tried to destroy Jesus through Herod. He tries to get Jesus to throw himself off a cliff, he tries to have him stoned - but he is unable to kill the Promise.
And our passage confirms that the child was born, despite Satan's best efforts, and that He is the Ruler of all nations.
But Satan is relentless and he doesn't give up. Throughout history he has continued to attack the Israelites. But he has not been able to succeed in destroying them, and he never will.
And during the tribulation, God will provide a refuge and protection from Satan for His people (v6) - for 3 1/2 yrs they will be cared for by God in the wilderness.
Satan's attacks are relentless. And his attacks are not limited just to the Jews. He's perfectly happy attacking Gentile Christians as well. And so we do suffer on this earth. We suffer from many things - from God's discipline (done in love to restore relationship), from Satan's wrath and fury, and from the consequences of our own sinful choices.
But we have this amazing hope.
We know that Christ came and He is coming again.
We know that Satan does not win. Really, he knows this too and it makes him desperate. Which means we suffer even more. But throughout that suffering we need to cling to the hope, to the knowledge that God will be victorious. And it won't just be a little victory. It will be definitive. It will be widespread, total and complete annihilation.
Tomorrow's passage: Esther 3-5, Revelation 13
1 comment:
Great post, Tammy! Thanks for the explanation of the woman and the dragon. I was wondering about that as I read.
By the way, LOVE LOVE LOVE the story of Esther. More every time I read it, I think.
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