In Revelation 12:1-2 (NIV) the apostle John is shown a series of signs. Ofthe signs we might expect, with the text coinciding with Mother’s Day, the image we are given is of a pregnant mother in throes of childbirth. Every mother is special and every child that is born is special. But I dare say that this is an extraordinary mother and an extraordinary pregnancy.
A courageous mother.
In Revelation 12:1-2 (NIV) we read, "A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth." The identity of this mother couldn’t be more unmistakable. This description of her as being clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and having a crown of twelve stars isn’t an incidental detail.
You may remember as detailed in Genesis that Jacob had twelve sons. God had promised to make Jacob’s ancestors into a great nation. These twelve sons would form the twelve tribes of the nation of Israel. And from these tribes would come the promised child, the Christ, the Messiah. The youngest of Jacob’s twelve sons was Joseph. Joseph was a dreamer. God would show him a vision and he’d blurt it out to his brothers. Maybe you remember the dream that got Joseph in deep trouble with his brothers, caused them to resent him, stage his death, lie to their father, and sell him into slavery.
In Genesis 37:9 (NIV) Joseph has this dream in which, "… the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me (Joseph)." The eleven stars are his eleven brothers. The sun and the moon are a statement of his greatness and power. So inRevelation 12notice that the woman is clothed with the sun. The moon is under her feet. She is wearing a crown of twelve stars. Clearly, the woman represents the historic nation of Israel and the twelve tribes of Israel. And her extraordinary pregnancy is about to change the course of history.
An opportunistic dragon.
But standing over this expectant mother is a second sign. I call it an opportunistic dragon. In Revelation 12:3-4 (NIV) it says, "Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born." Here is this innocent mother, full of hope and expectation for what her child will become. And yet right there at the foot of the bed is the evil one waiting to devour the child. This child, this new life, is posing a threat to Satan and his kingdom.
There is nothing more exciting than the birth of a child. But then there is nothing more terrifying than the birth of a child. Mothers and parents, you know all too well that your children have been born into an evil world, a world influenced by Satan. There is great wickedness in this world including lying, blasphemy, sexual immorality, murder, suffering, and pain. When you send your kids off to play, when you send them off to school, you're haunted by this realization that they are like sheep among wolves. You can only do so much to protect them. It's only a matter of time and their sinful nature is fed. What is a mother to do in the face of an evil one just waiting to devour her child?
A child snatched up by God.
In Revelation 12:5-6 (NIV) the moment has finally arrived for her child’s birth. "She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days." Notice thatthis male child was snatched up to God and to his throne. His mother was protected in the desert in a place prepared for her by God. This mother’s only hope was to put her very life and the life of her child in the hand of God. She was powerless against the dragon.
Clearly, Revelation 12 is talking about the birth of Jesus. He was destined to rule all the nations with an iron scepter. He is the Christ, the Lord of lords, the King of kings. When Christ was born King Herod attempted to snatch Christ from the cradle. But Mary trusted her child to God. And God proved trustworthy. She fled to the desert until that time God would have her return.
There is a message here about a mother’s helplessness apart from God. No mother can adequately protect her child from Satan. She must trust God to do what she cannot. A mother’s prayer is that God will snatch her child up to be used of God for his purposes. All of this is just the tip of the iceberg, of course. Something of extraordinary, cosmic magnitude is unfolding. The Christ child is snatched up to God and protected.
A decisive victory.
But then with no further reference to this child’s childhood, for the gospels mention virtually nothing about Christ’s childhood, a war in heaven breaks out for which there is a decisive victory. Revelation 12:7-12 (NIV) tells us, "And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: 'Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.' "
The decisive victory is that on the cross Satan and his angels were defeated. On the cross the power of sin and death was broken and Satan’s dominion was defeated.
Mark 3:27 tells us that Satan, the strong man, would be bound by the power of Christ. John 12:31 (NIV) tells us that Satan, "the prince of this world", would be driven out. John 16:11 tells us that Satan now stands condemned. Romans 16:20 tells us that Satan will be bruised and crushed under the feet of God’s people. Matthew 25:41 tells us that Satan and his angels are assigned to the eternal fire that God has prepared for them as a judgment against evil. It's just as the old hymn exclaims, "Oh, victory in Jesus!"
These verses are a reminder that apart from Christ there is no hope of victory. Apart from Christ the world and everything in it is devoured by the evil one.
The war against the saints.
Incidentally, the next verses in Revelation 12 describe how Satan, though defeated, continues to wage war against the God’s people. Revelation 12:13-18 (NIV) says, "When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the desert, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach. Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring—those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus."
I wonder how many mothers and fathers understand the reality of spiritual conflict we're in? 1 Peter 2:11 (NIV) tells us that we should, "abstain from sinful desires which war against your soul." In Ephesians 6:12-18 (NIV) Paul writes, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints."
Even though he is defeated, Satan is still at work in our world.
Satan has been bound, condemned, defeated, and assigned to eternal fire. But make no mistake about it! He is still at work in our world. He is still at war against us. Part of the reason Revelation 12 was written was to instruct us not to be naïve. Satan is waging a battle against our minds, our hearts, our flesh, our bodies, and our souls. He has many of us exactly where he wants us; immersed in our culture, not evaluating our beliefs, not abstaining from evil, not praying, not seeking truth, and not trusting God.
Two incarnations of Satan.
InRevelation 13the apostle John sees two incarnations of Satan. He sees two beasts. The signs of these beasts is a warning to the Church in all ages. It’s a warning to mothers, to fathers, to children, to youth, and to individual Christians. How quickly we are dissuaded from Christ and find ourselves worshiping the beasts.
Revelation 13:1-18 (NIV) says, "And the dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. He had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was astonished and followed the beast. Men worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, 'Who is like the beast? Who can make war against him?' "
"The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for forty-two months. He opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world. He who has an ear, let him hear. If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity he will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword he will be killed. This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints."
"Then I saw another beast, coming out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon. He exercised all the authority of the first beast on his behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. And he performed great and miraculous signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to earth in full view of men. Because of the signs he was given power to do on behalf of the first beast, he deceived the inhabitants of the earth. He ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. He was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that it could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name. This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man’s number. His number is 666."
Satan is a real force in our world and he is waging war against us.
It's not for me to speculate the identity of these beasts. You can speculate all day and night about who they represent or about who they might be. But such speculations miss the point of this text altogether. The point is that Satan is a real force in our world. He is waging war against us. He is seducing us through our music, through our entertainment, through our wealth, through pornography and sexual immorality, through our appetites, our desires, our passions, our drive for independence, our drive for self-esteem, and through our hunger for acceptance from others.
We can ignore it or we can face it. We can live under the illusion that the beasts can be tamed or we can flee their danger. I pity those parents whose children are being snatched up by the evil one. I pity those naïve parents whose kids are immersed in a culture of violence, sexual immorality, carousing, or substance abuse. Your children will not outgrow these things. They will be destroyed by them. You must wage war for their hearts, minds, bodies, and very souls, trusting them to God.
The end of the story.
A note of hope for this Mother’s Day. The battle can and will be won. Revelation 14:1-5 (NIV) reassures us, "Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps. And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they kept themselves pure. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among men and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb. No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless."
What is your relationship to the lamb of God, Jesus Christ? This really is the most important question of all.