Revelation 12:7-17
In this section, the fourth person, Michael the Archangel is introduced. We will also explore the fact that Satan is cast out of heaven.
Satan Is Cast Out of Heaven by Michael the Archangel
,v.7, “And there was war in heaven; Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. And the dragon and his angels waged war, 8 and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. v.9 And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth and his angels were thrown down with him”:
· Though the conflict of the end of the age is primarily on earth, here, John gives his attention to the war, which will be waged “in heaven.”
· Michael and his angels (the holy angels) fight against the dragon (identified in v.9 as the devil, Satan) and the wicked angels (demons) associated with him, with the result that Satan and his demons are cast out of heaven.
· The description of Satan in v.9 is quite significant because all of his titles are given:
o He is described as “the great dragon,” a term which also applies to the empire which he dominates in the end time.
o He is referred to as “that old serpent,” a reference to the Garden of Eden and the temptation of Eve.
o The title, “Devil” is from the Greek diabolos, which has the meaning of “defaming” or “slandering.” He is the great accuser of the brethren.
· The name “Satan,” from the Hebrew, has the meaning of “adversary”:
o The name is mentioned 14 times in the book of Job, and occasionally elsewhere (1 Chron. 21:1; Psalm 109:6; Zechariah 3:1-2).
· C.A. Coates observes that Satan is seen in three characterizations in opposition to Christ:
1. As accuser of the brethren, he is in opposition to Christ as priest.
2. As the one who brings forth the first beast, he is in opposition to Christ as King.
3. As bringing forth the second beast, the false prophet, he is opposed to Christ as prophet.
· The concept that there is spiritual warfare in the very presence of God in heaven has been resisted by expositors, preferring to regard this war as being fought in the atmospheric, or starry, heaven rather than in the presence of God:
o However, this event was prophesied by Daniel in Daniel 12:1, where it is recorded that Michael “At that time Michael shall stand up, the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people.”
· This event marks the beginning of the “Great Tribulation” defined in Daniel 12:1. It is undoubtedly the same event as in Revelation 12.
Announcement of the Coming Day of Wrath and the Ultimate Victory of the Saints
v.10, “And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, ‘Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them before our God day and night. 11 And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even to death. 12 For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.”
· As John watches Satan and his angels being cast from heaven, he hears a loud voice described as saying in heaven, ”Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come.”
· The “loud voice” is not identified and probably cannot be with any degree of certainty:
o Some believe this voice is the voice of God Himself; some believe it’s the angels; some the twenty-four elders; some the martyred saints in heaven mentioned in 6:10, because they also cried with a loud voice.
o Support for the latter view is given in that in the same verse, the loud voice mentions “the accuser of our brethren.”
o This would seem to eliminate angels and indicate the saints in heaven.
· The “loud voice” may very well be the shout of triumph of the Tribulation saints longing for and anticipating their ultimate victory and triumph.
· The salvation mentioned as pending, refers not to salvation from the guilt of sin, but to salvation in the sense of deliverance and completion of the God’s Divine program.
· The reference to strength implies that, now God is going to strengthen His own people and display His own strength.
· The declaration that the kingdom of our God is now at hand refers to the Millennial Kingdom when Christ will reign on earth.
· The expression “His Christ” (also mentioned in 11:15), parallels “His anointed” in Psalm 2:2, against whom the kings of the earth rebel, but under whose control they are certain to fall.
· The victory of the saints in that hour is revealed in verse 11, where it is declared that they overcome Satan “by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of their testimony,” and by the fact that “they loved not their lives unto death.”
· The accusations of Satan are nullified by the blood of the Lamb, which renders the believer pure and makes possible his/her spiritual victory.
· The words of the “their testimony” opposes the deceiving work of Satan in that the preaching of the gospel is “the power of God unto salvation” (Romans 1:16).
· The saints’ dedication to their task, in which many of them died as martyrs, is recognized by the statement “They loved not their lives unto the death”:
o The word for “love” is the word for profound love (agape). Though they do not seek a martyr’s death, neither did they regard their own lives as precious.
o They follow the instructions given to the church in Smyrna (Rev. 2:10) of being faithful unto death just as their Savior, who laid down His life for the sheep (John 10:11, 15; Matthew 16:25).
· The voice from heaven continues, exhorting the listeners, especially those in the heavens, to “rejoice O heavens and you who dwell in them” because of this great victory.
· At the same time, the voice pronounces a solemn “Woe” upon the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea:
o The awfulness of the time ahead is attributed to the fact that the devil has been cast to the earth and has great wrath because he knows his hour of confinement is near.
o The word for “wrath” (not orge, but thymos in the Greek) means a strong passion or emotion, but carries less weight than orge. It is an emotional rather than a rational state of mind and it stems from his own awareness that his days are numbered.
· The short time, or season (Greek, kairos), refers to the time of the Great Tribulation after which Satan will be bound for the duration of the Millennial Kingdom of one thousand years.
· Though many of the judgments of God inflicted on the earth during the Great Tribulation originate in Divine power rather than Satanic influence, the afflictions of the inhabitants of the earth come largely from the activities of Satan, resulting in the martyrdom of countless saints and widespread human suffering of every kind, as we’ll see starting in verse 13.
The Persecution of Israel In the Great Tribulation
v.13, “And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. 14 And the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, in order that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. 15 And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood. 16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth.”
· The immediate aftermath of Satan’s being cast out of heaven is his persecution of the woman, who brought forth the man-child. This apparently is the beginning of the “Great Tribulation” of which Christ warned Israel in Matthew 24:15-22:
o This had it’s foreshadowing in Herod’s slaughter of the infants following the birth of Christ (Matthew 2:16).
o It seems here to refer specifically to the Great Tribulation, which is yet future.
o The persecution of Israel is a part of the satanic program to hinder the work of God.
o As far as Israel’s concerned, this had it’s beginning in the delay of the birth of Isaac, which was overcome by the miraculous intervention of God.
o This hindrance continued in the delay of the birth of Jacob and in countless means used thereafter to persecute the descendants of Jacob, including the effort, in the time of Esther, to blot them out completely.
o Israel is hated by Satan not because of any of its own characteristics but because she is the chosen of God and is essential to the overall purpose of God for time and eternity.
· Into this scene of satanic persecution is brought the Divine intervention of God:
o The woman is described as being given two wings of a great eagle in order to enable her to fly into the wilderness into her place.
o This figure of speech seems to be derived from Exodus 19:4 and Deuteronomy 32:11-12 and similar passages where God uses the strength of an eagle to illustrate His faithfulness in caring for Israel.
o The same flight is indicated in Matthew 24:16, where Christ exhorts those in Judea to flee to the mountains.
o Some have felt that the reference, here, is to some specific place such as Petra, where at least a portion of Israel might be safe from her persecutors.
· Verse 14 implies that there is some supernatural care of Israel during this period similar to that which Elijah experienced by the brook of Cherith, or that which Israel experienced during the 40 years she lived on the manna in the wilderness:
o Whether natural or supernatural means are used, it is clear that God will preserve a godly remnant, though according to Zechariah 13:8, two thirds of Israel will perish.
· The time element of Israel’s suffering is described as “a time, and times, and half a time”:
o This again seems to be a reference to the 3 ½ years, the mention of “time” being one unit, the second reference “times,” being two units, which the addition of one “half a time” would make 3 ½ units, or 3 ½ years.
o A parallel reference is found in Daniel 7:25 and 12:7 referring to the same period of Great Tribulation.
· The dragon, here, is called a “serpent” (Greek, ophis; Revelation 12:9, 14-15; 20:2 where the “serpent” is also used in connection with the devil).
· In the persecution of Israel, the serpent is described in verse 15 as casting water as a flood out of his mouth that’s a woman might be carried away:
o Verse 16 reveals that the earth helps the woman by swallowing the flood.
o Various interpretations have been given to this description. Some prefer to take this literally as a flood of water let loose to sweep away Israel down some valley.
o In this case, the earth would be either naturally or supernaturally enabled to swallow the water to prevent it from overtaking the Israelites.
o However, the contour of the holy land, and the fact that Israel would probably not all flee in the same direction combined to make a physical interpretation, improbable.
o It is more plausible that this passage should be understood in a symbolic way.
o The flood cast after Israel is the total effort of Satan to exterminate the nation and the resistance of earth is the natural difficulty of executing such a massive program.
o The nature of the terrain in the Middle East, including many areas not heavily populated, provides countless places of refuge for a fleeing people.
· Weather the exact meaning of these two verses can be determined with certainty, the implication is that Satan strives, with all his power, to persecute and exterminate the people of Israel.
· By Divine intervention, both natural and supernatural means are used to avoid his program and to carry a remnant of Israel safely through their time of Great Tribulation.
The Persecution of the Godly Remnant of Israel
v.17, “And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.”
· The last verse of chapter 12 states that the dragon is especially angry with those within the nation of Israel who “keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”
· While the program of Satan is against the Jewish race as such, anti-Semitism as a whole will reach its peak against Jewish believers during this period.
· There is a double antagonism against those in Israel who turn to Christ as their Messiah and Savior in those critical days and maintain a faithful witness:
o Undoubtedly many of them will suffer a martyr’s death, but others will survive that. Including 144,000 sealed in chapter 7.
· The remnant mentioned here (Greek, ton loipon), literally “the rest,” is not the same term for remnant used elsewhere as in Romans 9:27 (Greek, hypoleimma) and in Romans 11:5 (Greek, leimma). However, all these words come from the verb leipo, but normally when used as a remnant the prefix hypo is added:
o Though the word is in a different form, the similarity is such that there is no good reason for denying that this is indeed a godly remnant.
· Taken as a whole, chapter 12 is a fitting introduction to the important revelations given in chapter 13.
· Here are the principal actors of the great tribulation with a historic background, which provides so much additional information:
o Israel, Satan, Christ, the archangel Michael, and the godly remnant figure largely in the closing scenes of the age.
Next, the two principal human actors are introduced: the beast out of the sea and the beast out of the earth, the human instruments, which Satan uses to direct his program during the Great Tribulation.
We’ll take a look at them next time.
May the Lord bless you as you continue to grow in His grace and the knowledge of Him.
By His Grace,
Gary T. Dromi, Ph.D., D.Min.
