Today’s reading is Revelation 12.
The Serpent Of Old
John wants to make sure we know exactly who the dragon is:
And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the world (Revelation 12:9, ESV).
While many of the commentators will lead us to the myths of the Ancient Near East world, speaking of chaos monsters, world serpents, and cosmic battles, I still think the best notion for figuring out what John is talking about is staying within the Bible. John wants us to know this dragon is the same snake who deceived Eve and distorted the entire world by his deception.
He is the one to whom God said:
Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 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 (Genesis 3:14-15, ESV).
The battle we see in Revelation 12 is cosmic. However, understand, the dragon is actually doing nothing more than nipping at the heels of the seed of woman.
This is a Vision, Not History
Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven (Revelation 12:7-8, ESV).
The big question everyone asks is, “When did this heavenly battle take place?” We ask the question as if we are reading about a literal battle that happened between the dragon and Michael in heaven. But please reread Revelation 12:1-6. Was there literally a woman in heaven giving birth to a child with a dragon waiting to eat the child? No. Why then do we think there was literally a battle in heaven between Michael and the dragon?
This is a vision, not history. No doubt, the battle represents some truth. However, I do not believe it represents a heavenly war between angelic beings dressed up in battle armor, carrying swords and spears, laying siege at the gates of heaven. Recall when Jesus taught His disciples to pray, they were to pray God’s kingdom come and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10). Are we to believe that literally in heaven His kingdom is embattled by rebellious angels and His will is challenged by a mutinous crew? Are we to pray for God’s kingdom and will be on earth like that? Oh, I know there was some point at which some angels left their position of authority and are now kept in “eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day” (Jude 6, ESV). But how can we remotely pray in the manner Jesus taught if we also hold that the dragon is a head angel of the Lord leading a cosmic rebellion in which he somehow convinced half or a third or even a tenth of the angels of the Lord to take up arms against God? How can we presently pray in the manner Jesus taught if we think we are awaiting some future day in which Satan will be thrown down to earth?
This is a vision. It is not history. We don’t think a white horse literally rode out of a scroll, nor a red one, nor black or pale ones. We don’t think souls are literally restricted to live under an altar in heaven. We don’t think a woman literally gave birth in heaven. We know those were visions from which John and his readers were to garner meaning, draw conclusions, find direction. We do not have to think a war literally took place in heaven.
What Does it Mean Then?
What then does this vision of a heavenly war mean? What is God communicating to the seven churches of Asia by this part of the vision?
First, recall Jesus sending the seventy (seventy-two in some translations) in Luke 10 on the limited commission. When they returned to report their travels to Jesus, they declared, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” Jesus responded, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:17-20, ESV). This sentence is not quite “apocalyptic,” however, it sure sounds a great deal like the kind of thing we’ve been reading in Revelation, doesn’t it? I trust we realize Jesus didn’t literally watch Satan fall from heaven as the seventy cast out demons. Rather, this was a dramatic way to say Satan was being defeated by their work.
In the same way, the vision of battle in Revelation 12 is not telling us of some historical event in the spiritual realm in which Satan took up arms against Michael, but Michael threw him down to the earth. Rather, the vision gives us an apocalyptic picture of the victory of Jesus and His people. In fact, a loud voice of heaven actually tells us what this vision of war means:
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 brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death” (Revelation 12:10-11, ESV).
Wait! What? Did Michael the archangel beat Satan in a heavenly battle by using the blood of Jesus and the word of His testimony? That doesn’t sound right at all. The angel’s in heaven need the blood of Jesus? Of course not. In other words, this vision of battle isn’t about angels and demons crossing swords, it is about God’s people living like the two witnesses in the sixth trumpet (Revelation 11:3-13). It is about Jesus’s disciples being victorious because they live like Antipas (Revelation 2:13) and like the souls under the altar (Revelation 6:9-11). It is about the victory of Christ’s kingdom saints when we live in precisely the way Jesus called the Smyrnan saints to live–faithful unto death (Revelation 2:8-11).
The point of the vision is to show us how Satan is defeated. In much the same way that the work of the seventy was causing the defeat of Satan in Luke 10, the seven churches (and all modern churches) need to understand Satan will not be defeated by compromise. In Luke 10, when the disciples entered cities that would not hear the teaching, they were not to compromise with the cities, but shake the dust of the city off their feet. The seven churches in Asia needed to understand they would not defeat Satan by compromising with Satan. They would not defeat Satan by compromising with the idol’s temples. They would not defeat Satan by compromising with the cities around them. They needed to “come out from among them” even as they were still living in those cities. And in so doing, Satan will fall like lightning from heaven and be thrown down to earth.
In this way, Satan will be defeated.
Praise the Lord!
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PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family
How does Revelation 12 admonish you?
Read the Bible 