The Tribulation People
8. The Woman and the Red Dragon
Revelation 12:1-17
1 ¶ 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.
2 Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth.
3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads.
4 His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born.
5 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.
6 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.
Who is this woman? Mary? Eve? Israel? The church - Mid Trib rapture?
The scenario
I see John (via the Holy Spirit) giving us a big picture, a scope of time. The time covers from the birth of Jesus all the way to the end of the tribulation. Actually, everything in between is skipped right over.
But the enmity between the dragon and the woman started much earlier than that.
Moses says in Genesis, 3:14 ¶ The LORD God said to the serpent, "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.
15 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."
The enmity between the dragon, Satan and God has existed since his rebellion. Prior to his fall, Satan connived a mission to replace God and it failed resulting in his being put out of the rank of the good angels. Jesus said that the lake of fire was prepared for the Devil and his angels. His current existence is one of hatred for God, with a present desire to hurt God in any way that he can. He may have a shred of hope that one day he will indeed replace God, but that seems like a pretty big stretch.
Satan presently ‘goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he might devour.’ (I Peter 5:8)
But Satan has more than an ‘earthbound’ purpose. He seems to have a present function in heaven.
Job 1:6 ¶ Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them.
7 The LORD said to Satan, "From where have you come?" Satan answered the LORD and said, "From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it."
8 And the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?"
9 Then Satan answered the LORD and said, "Does Job fear God for no reason? reason?
10 Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.
11 But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face."
12 And the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand." So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.
Satan has access to the throne of God, in spite of his demotion. And Satan has his ‘own’ angels. They are his in the sense that he convinced them to join him in his effort to dethrone God. As a result they are condemned along with him.
It would appear that they too, have access to heaven.
I KIngs 22:19-22 And Micaiah said, "Therefore hear the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing beside him on his right hand and on his left;
20 and the LORD said, ‘Who will entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said one thing, and another said another.
21 Then a spirit came forward and stood before the LORD, saying, ‘I will entice him.’
22 And the LORD said to him, ‘By what means?’ And he said, ‘I will go out, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And he said, ‘You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so.’
This ‘lying’ spirit, was he a good angel? It would seem to me that, since it is impossible for God to lie, it is highly unlikely that his good angels would be able to lie without becoming sinful angels. Is it possible that Satan’s third of the angels are still able to access heaven along with him?
The following scripture has been taken a number of different ways, but it is worth looking at in connection with the present work of Satan and his angels.
Psalm 82:1-7 God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:
2 "How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Selah
3 Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.
4 Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked."
5 They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
6 ¶ I said, "You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you;
7 Nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince."
This is a very unusual passage, to say the least. If we take this literally it would appear that God continues to use, command and direct all of the angels, even the fallen ones. But included in this passage is the promise of their demise. At any rate, in the revelation (Rev. 12:7-12) we have an indication that both Satan and his angels presently have access to the throne room of God.
In verse 4 we read that Satan’s tail cast a third of the stars to earth, but in verses 7-10 we see that they are still able to access heaven.
My understanding is that the Woman represents Israel, from whom the Son of Man was born.
Israel has always held a very special place in the heart of God. These passages illustrate that.
Isaiah 41:8-9
“But you, Israel, My servant,
Jacob whom I have chosen,
Descendant of Abraham My friend,
You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth,
And called from its remotest parts
Exodus 19:4-6
‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to Myself. Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among (above) all the
peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.”
And said to you, ‘You are My servant,
I have chosen you and not rejected you.
And finally,
Jer 30:22 And you shall be my people, and I will be your God."
This last statement is quite significant. It is repeated (with a bit of variation) about ten times in scripture.
And in the plan of God, Israel gave birth to the Savior.
We know from scripture that the dragon, Satan, attempted to kill Him shortly after HIs birth. We discover in other passages that Satan tried to have Jesus cast off of a cliff. He also tried to drown HIm by creating a storm while Jesus was sleeping in a boat. Even though he failed to prevent Jesus from going to the cross, the crucifixion took place. And it seems very likely to me that Satan cannot take credit for the cross.
But this passage goes on to say And her Child was caught up to God and His throne.
Now fast forward to the tribulation period.
6 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.
Satan attacks the woman. She runs to find protection. Jesus said, (Mt 24)15 “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand),
16 “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
17 “Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house.
18 “And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes.
19 “But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days!
20 “And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath.
21 “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.
Jesus says that the Jews are to flee to the mountains. Rev 12.6 states that they are going to be safe in a place that God himself has arranged. This protection is to last for 1260 days. This is the same 1260 days, by the way, that the two witnesses are performing their ministry. Where is this place? In which mountains, exactly? I think we are not told on purpose, even though some have conjectured that it will be in the city of Petra, accessible only through a very narrow pass through the mountain. It would also be accessible through the air by helicopter, but it is somewhat likely that much of that technology may be lost by then. So, this is called ‘the time of Jacob’s trouble’, but in a sense it is not a time of slaughter and persecution, as they are totally protected there for three and a half years. Daniel says that Jacob will be ‘saved out of it’.
The Bible teachers who claim ‘the time of Jacob’s trouble’ is to punish Jacob (Israel) and teach them a good lesson, once and for all, are wrong. The real ‘trouble’ happens to the tribulation gentile believers.
The next few verses of Rev 12 take place right before the 1260 days.
7 And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, 8 but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer.
9 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.
10 Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.
This is another title for Satan. He is called the accuser. Day and Night he accuses us before the Father. How wonderful if the Father could say, ‘Have you seen my servant Richard? There is not a man like him in the whole earth!’ Right. That won’t happen.
Sadly, many modern bible teachers are teaching that all our sins were forgiven on Calvary’s cross. That God looks at us and sees us sinless. That is not quite true. When God looks at us He does so in two totally different ways. These are best described as our ‘standing’ and our ‘walk’. As far as our standing goes, We are washed, clean, spotless, dressed in the righteousness of Christ. We are ‘accepted in the Beloved’. Eph 1:6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved.
Regarding our ‘standing’ Satan can do nothing. We have been accepted. But regarding our daily walk as believers, (I Jn 1:9-10) 7 if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another (we have fellowship between ourself and God), and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
8 ¶ If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
In our day-to-day walk we fail to do what we should and we do what we should not. Jesus illustrated that in John 13 3-16 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God,
4 rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist.
5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, do you wash my feet?"
7 Jesus answered him, "What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you but afterward you will understand."
8 Peter said to him, "You shall never wash my feet." Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no share with me."
9 Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!"
10 Jesus said to him, "The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you."
11 For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, "Not all of you are clean."
12 When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, "Do you understand what I have done to you?
13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am.
14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.
16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.
Jesus said to Peter that all those who have had ‘the bath’, that is, have been washed in the blood of Jesus, are completely clean … except for the dirt we pick up in our daily walk.
It is that dirt that, if left unconfessed, Satan can use against us.
By the way, Jesus is also teaching us that we ought to wash one another’s feet. Literally? I am not so sure that He meant ‘literally’. I believe what he is saying is that we often disappoint, hurt, offend and even insult one another. When we do so, we go and apologize. The one we have hurt can say, “That’s ok. I forgive you.” And with that, one person has just washed the feet of the other. And now there is one less thing for the Accuser to bring up to the Father.
But one day soon the Accuser will be cast out of heaven.
That will be a great day in heaven. But that will be a difficult day for believers on the earth. Satan will come down with great wrath and will take it out on the believers for 1260 days. How will they stand up to such wrath from Satan? John tells us that they actually will overpower Satan. Look at the following verses.
11 “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.
Satan can kill the believers … but he still does not win, Jesus said, Mt 10:28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
Satan and his angels will be cast out. Heaven will rejoice on that day!
12 ¶ “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.”
13 Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the
woman who gave birth to the male Child.
14 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.
15 So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood.
16 But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth.
It appears that several notable miracles will be taking place on earth at that time. The woman ‘flies’ to her place? How literally do we take that? And the earth swallows a flood that is cast out of the dragon's mouth? I wonder if this is a flood of ‘soldiers’? And I wonder if the earth splits open as it did during the Jew’s wandering in the desert, and literally swallows the whole army?
God has made a solemn promise to Israel. He said, Zec 13:9 And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.
Hidden away like on a three and a half year ‘camp-out’ Israel has time to think. They thought the antichrist was their Messiah. They learned differently. They have time to think that perhaps Jesus, who their ancestors put to death … perhaps He is the Messiah after all. They can seriously consider their sin of unbelief. And consider these marvelous and exciting words from Isa 66:8 Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? Shall a nation be brought forth in one moment? For as soon as Zion was in labor she brought forth her children.
Re 1:7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen. They will look upon Him whom they have pierced. Not they, themselves, but their nation and they acknowledge that He is the Christ, the Messiah, and they become ‘born again’ believers. But too late for the rapture. They will inherit the kingdom and dwell with their Saviour for a thousand years.
But during the three and a half years that the remnant of Jews is hiding, Satan is attacking the gentile believers. We read,
17 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.
This will be a great trial for the tribulation believers. We will consider them in a separate session. For now we are encouraged to know that each believer who dies for Jesus wins the war. Look at this scene in heaven.
Rev. 14:9-17 After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
10 And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.
11 And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshiped God,
12 Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.
13 ¶ And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?
14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
15 Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.
16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.
17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
1 ¶ 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.
2 Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth.
3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads.
4 His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born.
5 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.
6 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.
Who is this woman? Mary? Eve? Israel? The church - Mid Trib rapture?
- Clothed with the sun
- Moon under her feet
- Headband of 12 stars - Tribes? Apostles?
- Pregnant
The scenario
- The woman delivers a male child who is destined to rule the nations
- A red dragon with 7 heads, 10 horns and 10 crowns attempts to kill the boy
- The male child is caught up to heaven
- The dragon attacks the woman
- The woman flees to a hiding place where she is protected for 3 ½ years.
- The earth helps the woman to be invulnerable to the dragon.
- The frustrated, angry dragon makes war with the ‘rest of her seed’.
- Red dragon was responsible for having cast ⅓ of the stars to earth
- Stars … who are now fallen angels? Demons?
I see John (via the Holy Spirit) giving us a big picture, a scope of time. The time covers from the birth of Jesus all the way to the end of the tribulation. Actually, everything in between is skipped right over.
But the enmity between the dragon and the woman started much earlier than that.
Moses says in Genesis, 3:14 ¶ The LORD God said to the serpent, "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.
15 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."
The enmity between the dragon, Satan and God has existed since his rebellion. Prior to his fall, Satan connived a mission to replace God and it failed resulting in his being put out of the rank of the good angels. Jesus said that the lake of fire was prepared for the Devil and his angels. His current existence is one of hatred for God, with a present desire to hurt God in any way that he can. He may have a shred of hope that one day he will indeed replace God, but that seems like a pretty big stretch.
Satan presently ‘goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he might devour.’ (I Peter 5:8)
But Satan has more than an ‘earthbound’ purpose. He seems to have a present function in heaven.
Job 1:6 ¶ Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them.
7 The LORD said to Satan, "From where have you come?" Satan answered the LORD and said, "From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it."
8 And the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?"
9 Then Satan answered the LORD and said, "Does Job fear God for no reason? reason?
10 Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.
11 But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face."
12 And the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand." So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.
Satan has access to the throne of God, in spite of his demotion. And Satan has his ‘own’ angels. They are his in the sense that he convinced them to join him in his effort to dethrone God. As a result they are condemned along with him.
It would appear that they too, have access to heaven.
I KIngs 22:19-22 And Micaiah said, "Therefore hear the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing beside him on his right hand and on his left;
20 and the LORD said, ‘Who will entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said one thing, and another said another.
21 Then a spirit came forward and stood before the LORD, saying, ‘I will entice him.’
22 And the LORD said to him, ‘By what means?’ And he said, ‘I will go out, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And he said, ‘You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so.’
This ‘lying’ spirit, was he a good angel? It would seem to me that, since it is impossible for God to lie, it is highly unlikely that his good angels would be able to lie without becoming sinful angels. Is it possible that Satan’s third of the angels are still able to access heaven along with him?
The following scripture has been taken a number of different ways, but it is worth looking at in connection with the present work of Satan and his angels.
Psalm 82:1-7 God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:
2 "How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Selah
3 Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.
4 Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked."
5 They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
6 ¶ I said, "You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you;
7 Nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince."
This is a very unusual passage, to say the least. If we take this literally it would appear that God continues to use, command and direct all of the angels, even the fallen ones. But included in this passage is the promise of their demise. At any rate, in the revelation (Rev. 12:7-12) we have an indication that both Satan and his angels presently have access to the throne room of God.
In verse 4 we read that Satan’s tail cast a third of the stars to earth, but in verses 7-10 we see that they are still able to access heaven.
My understanding is that the Woman represents Israel, from whom the Son of Man was born.
Israel has always held a very special place in the heart of God. These passages illustrate that.
Isaiah 41:8-9
“But you, Israel, My servant,
Jacob whom I have chosen,
Descendant of Abraham My friend,
You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth,
And called from its remotest parts
Exodus 19:4-6
‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to Myself. Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among (above) all the
peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.”
And said to you, ‘You are My servant,
I have chosen you and not rejected you.
And finally,
Jer 30:22 And you shall be my people, and I will be your God."
This last statement is quite significant. It is repeated (with a bit of variation) about ten times in scripture.
And in the plan of God, Israel gave birth to the Savior.
We know from scripture that the dragon, Satan, attempted to kill Him shortly after HIs birth. We discover in other passages that Satan tried to have Jesus cast off of a cliff. He also tried to drown HIm by creating a storm while Jesus was sleeping in a boat. Even though he failed to prevent Jesus from going to the cross, the crucifixion took place. And it seems very likely to me that Satan cannot take credit for the cross.
But this passage goes on to say And her Child was caught up to God and His throne.
Now fast forward to the tribulation period.
6 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.
Satan attacks the woman. She runs to find protection. Jesus said, (Mt 24)15 “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand),
16 “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
17 “Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house.
18 “And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes.
19 “But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days!
20 “And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath.
21 “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.
Jesus says that the Jews are to flee to the mountains. Rev 12.6 states that they are going to be safe in a place that God himself has arranged. This protection is to last for 1260 days. This is the same 1260 days, by the way, that the two witnesses are performing their ministry. Where is this place? In which mountains, exactly? I think we are not told on purpose, even though some have conjectured that it will be in the city of Petra, accessible only through a very narrow pass through the mountain. It would also be accessible through the air by helicopter, but it is somewhat likely that much of that technology may be lost by then. So, this is called ‘the time of Jacob’s trouble’, but in a sense it is not a time of slaughter and persecution, as they are totally protected there for three and a half years. Daniel says that Jacob will be ‘saved out of it’.
The Bible teachers who claim ‘the time of Jacob’s trouble’ is to punish Jacob (Israel) and teach them a good lesson, once and for all, are wrong. The real ‘trouble’ happens to the tribulation gentile believers.
The next few verses of Rev 12 take place right before the 1260 days.
7 And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, 8 but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer.
9 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.
10 Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.
This is another title for Satan. He is called the accuser. Day and Night he accuses us before the Father. How wonderful if the Father could say, ‘Have you seen my servant Richard? There is not a man like him in the whole earth!’ Right. That won’t happen.
Sadly, many modern bible teachers are teaching that all our sins were forgiven on Calvary’s cross. That God looks at us and sees us sinless. That is not quite true. When God looks at us He does so in two totally different ways. These are best described as our ‘standing’ and our ‘walk’. As far as our standing goes, We are washed, clean, spotless, dressed in the righteousness of Christ. We are ‘accepted in the Beloved’. Eph 1:6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved.
Regarding our ‘standing’ Satan can do nothing. We have been accepted. But regarding our daily walk as believers, (I Jn 1:9-10) 7 if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another (we have fellowship between ourself and God), and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
8 ¶ If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
In our day-to-day walk we fail to do what we should and we do what we should not. Jesus illustrated that in John 13 3-16 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God,
4 rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist.
5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, do you wash my feet?"
7 Jesus answered him, "What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you but afterward you will understand."
8 Peter said to him, "You shall never wash my feet." Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no share with me."
9 Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!"
10 Jesus said to him, "The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you."
11 For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, "Not all of you are clean."
12 When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, "Do you understand what I have done to you?
13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am.
14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.
16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.
Jesus said to Peter that all those who have had ‘the bath’, that is, have been washed in the blood of Jesus, are completely clean … except for the dirt we pick up in our daily walk.
It is that dirt that, if left unconfessed, Satan can use against us.
By the way, Jesus is also teaching us that we ought to wash one another’s feet. Literally? I am not so sure that He meant ‘literally’. I believe what he is saying is that we often disappoint, hurt, offend and even insult one another. When we do so, we go and apologize. The one we have hurt can say, “That’s ok. I forgive you.” And with that, one person has just washed the feet of the other. And now there is one less thing for the Accuser to bring up to the Father.
But one day soon the Accuser will be cast out of heaven.
That will be a great day in heaven. But that will be a difficult day for believers on the earth. Satan will come down with great wrath and will take it out on the believers for 1260 days. How will they stand up to such wrath from Satan? John tells us that they actually will overpower Satan. Look at the following verses.
11 “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.
Satan can kill the believers … but he still does not win, Jesus said, Mt 10:28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
Satan and his angels will be cast out. Heaven will rejoice on that day!
12 ¶ “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.”
13 Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the
woman who gave birth to the male Child.
14 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.
15 So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood.
16 But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth.
It appears that several notable miracles will be taking place on earth at that time. The woman ‘flies’ to her place? How literally do we take that? And the earth swallows a flood that is cast out of the dragon's mouth? I wonder if this is a flood of ‘soldiers’? And I wonder if the earth splits open as it did during the Jew’s wandering in the desert, and literally swallows the whole army?
God has made a solemn promise to Israel. He said, Zec 13:9 And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.
Hidden away like on a three and a half year ‘camp-out’ Israel has time to think. They thought the antichrist was their Messiah. They learned differently. They have time to think that perhaps Jesus, who their ancestors put to death … perhaps He is the Messiah after all. They can seriously consider their sin of unbelief. And consider these marvelous and exciting words from Isa 66:8 Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? Shall a nation be brought forth in one moment? For as soon as Zion was in labor she brought forth her children.
Re 1:7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen. They will look upon Him whom they have pierced. Not they, themselves, but their nation and they acknowledge that He is the Christ, the Messiah, and they become ‘born again’ believers. But too late for the rapture. They will inherit the kingdom and dwell with their Saviour for a thousand years.
But during the three and a half years that the remnant of Jews is hiding, Satan is attacking the gentile believers. We read,
17 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.
This will be a great trial for the tribulation believers. We will consider them in a separate session. For now we are encouraged to know that each believer who dies for Jesus wins the war. Look at this scene in heaven.
Rev. 14:9-17 After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
10 And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.
11 And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshiped God,
12 Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.
13 ¶ And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?
14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
15 Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.
16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.
17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.