Memory Text: “And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 12:17, NKJV).
Revelation 12 is the Great Controversy in miniature, starting when Lucifer’s sin caused a war in heaven and ending when the saints are eternally victorious.
And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Rev. 12:7-9
And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. Rev. 12:3-4.
Two weeks ago, I noted that, “in Genesis, the serpent is just a talking animal; it isn’t until Revelation, at the whole other end of the Bible, written well over a thousand years later, that we are told that the serpent was the devil, Satan.” When I wrote that, I had not seen the next quarter’s lessons, but as Providence would have it, here we are, at the very spot where the serpent is identified as the Devil, Satan.
Here, we are given what screenwriters call the “backstory,” the history of that old serpent, the devil or Satan, before he showed up in the Garden of Eden to tempt Eve. As it turns out he came from heaven. He had been a heavenly creature. But not just any heavenly creature, the greatest being God had ever created—until wickedness was found in him:
You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: carnelian, chrysolite and emerald, topaz, onyx and jasper, lapis lazuli, turquoise and beryl. Your settings and mountings were made of gold on the day you were created they were prepared. You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones.
You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you. Through your widespread trade you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones.
Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings. Ezek. 28:12-17.
Once iniquity was found in Lucifer, he went about tempting the angels to join his rebellion. Sadly, he was successful in convincing a third of the angels, “a third of the stars of heaven,” (Rev. 12:4) to join him. This led inevitably to war in heaven, because God’s government and Satan’s government cannot coexist. One must be victorious, the other vanquished:
And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Rev. 12:7-9
Satan and the third of the angels who followed him were cast out of heaven.
When the seventy-two returned with joy to Christ, they said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in Your name.” As if to say, “that’s nothing, I prevailed over the chief demon in heaven,” Jesus replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” “Nevertheless, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” Luke 10:17-20.
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. Isa. 14:12-15.
Satan is a defeated foe. He has already lost the cosmic battle with Christ.
“Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth.” Rev. 12:1-2.
Who is the woman? The church of Jesus Christ is always depicted as a woman, a pure bride wearing white, so to speak. Gal. 4:21-31; Eph. 5:23-32; 2 Cor. 11:2; Rev. 19:7-8. The fallen or false church is depicted as a woman of easy virtue, or a prostitute. Rev. 17.
Why is she clothed with the sun, having the moon at her feet? Uriah Smith suggests it is because the Church basks in the bright sunlight of the gospel era, the experience of having had Jesus Christ on earth, whereas the church of the Old Testament had only the pale reflection in the moon, the reflection of the gospel in types and shadows. The New Testament church is standing on that moon, symbolizing that she is grounded upon the Mosaic revelation and the Old Testament, but is clothed with the bright sunlight of the gospels’ revelation of Jesus Christ, God incarnate.
In reality, Christ gave birth to his church, but in this symbolic passage, the woman--the church—is depicted as giving birth to Christ. But there is an immediate threat to the Christ child:
“And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born.” Rev. 12:4
There is that old dragon called the devil and Satan, up to no good, as usual. The symbol of the dragon does triple duty in Revelation 12, primarily symbolizing Satan, as in verses 7 to 9, but also symbolizing entities that Satan worked through: Rome in its pagan phase (v. 4) and also Rome’s papal phase (v. 14).
King Herod, a Jewish king but a client of the pagan Roman Empire, which had conquered Judea and Samaria over 60 years before, tries to kill Jesus immediately, to “devour him as soon as he was born.” Mat. 2. But the wise men from the East foil his plans.
She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne. Rev. 12:5
The iron scepter symbolizes the fact that the kingdom of God’s Son, Jesus Christ’s eternal kingdom, will be unbreakable. Daniel 7:13-14; Psalm 2. Sin and rebellion will never arise again. Nahum 1:9. And of course Jesus was caught up to heaven (Acts 1:11) after once again gaining victory—through his perfect, sinless life and substitutionary death--over that old serpent called the devil and the adversary.
Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days. Rev. 12:6
But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. Rev. 12:14
These verses refer to a time when God’s true church is forced underground, “into the wilderness,” by Satan and the red dragon of Rome, during its papal phase. Pursuant to the day-year principle, the 1,260 days are not literal days but symbolic days and literal years. The time, times and half a time are the same prophetic period; a “time” was a year, hence the latter description refers to three and a half prophetic years, or 1,260 prophetic days, which is 1,260 literal years.
Adventists traditionally date this prophetic period from 538 A.D. to 1798.
Why 538? The Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian had decreed in 533 that the bishop of Rome was to be the unquestioned head of all Christian churches, but with the Goths dominating the Italian peninsula, that decree was ineffectual. In 538, Belisarius won a victory over the Ostrogoths, breaking the siege of Rome and beginning the downfall of the Goths in Italy. This allowed the bishop of Rome to rule in fact as well as in theory.
It also allowed Justinian to concentrate on theology, ruling on doctrinal minutia and using religion to try to re-unify the old Roman Empire, which was long gone. Justinian ultimately failed at political re-unification, but he did greatly help the bishopric of Rome, which effectively assumed the mantle of pagan Rome, taking “its power, its seat, and great authority” (Rev. 13:2), and one of the titles of the Roman emperors, “Pontifex Maximus,” the great bridge-builder.
1798 was the year when the post-revolution French General, Louis-Alexandre Berthier, later Napoleon’s chief of staff, arrested Pope Pius VI (Count Giovanni Angelo Braschi) and imprisoned him at Valence, where he soon died. This symbolically ended the pope’s temporal, or earthly, power which had been waning since the Reformation in the 16th Century, and administered a “deadly wound” which will later be healed. Rev. 13:2
“And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Rev. 12:17.
Elsewhere we are told that “the testimony of Jesus Christ is the Spirit of Prophecy.” Rev. 19:10. Here is a hint that Satan is not yet finished persecuting God’s true church, those who keep the commandments and who listen obediently to what Jesus Christ would tell us through His prophets, and rely on Him for pardon, power, and ultimate salvation. The gift of prophecy enrages the dragon; he wants to destroy all prophets and prophecy.
So it will get worse before it gets better, but we are promised that we can overcome by the blood of Jesus Christ, and by sealing our testimony and witness with our lives:
“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.” Rev. 12:11-12.
We might yet have to bear witness with our lives. Are you ready for the coming test?