By the time of Rev. 12, Satan has become old; hence, he becomes the ancient serpent.
By the time of Rev. 12, Satan has become old; hence, he becomes the ancient serpent.
See note Rev. 2:101c.
The word Satan means adversary. Satan is not only God's enemy outside God's kingdom but also God's adversary from within God's kingdom, rebelling against God.
Satan, the enemy of God, was judged by the Lord Jesus on the cross (John 12:31; 16:11). After that, the overcoming believers are needed for the carrying out of that judgment, for the executing of that sentence. The war waged by the overcoming believers against Satan is actually the executing of the Lord's judgment upon him. Eventually, through their fighting, he is cast out of heaven. See note Rev. 9:11a.
These angels must be the fallen angels, who follow Satan to rebel against God (Matt. 25:41). See note 41.
Dan. 10:13, 21; 12:1; Jude 1:9
Immediately after the man-child is raptured to heaven, Michael and his angels begin to war against Satan. This indicates that the man-child, the stronger part of God's people, is always engaged in fighting God's enemy, Satan. They have been fighting Satan continually on earth. Heaven is waiting for them to arrive that a war may be waged to cast Satan out of heaven.
After the rapture of the man-child, the woman is left on earth to suffer persecution (v. 13). During the time of the great tribulation, God will prepare a place where she can be nourished for a thousand two hundred and sixty days before He brings His people into the millennial kingdom. (This is similar to the time when Pharaoh persecuted the children of Israel and God brought His people to the wilderness, where He nourished them before bringing them into the good land.) That the woman (the remaining and living majority of the believers) will be preserved and nourished by God for a thousand two hundred and sixty days during the great tribulation is a strong proof that their rapture will take place on the last day of the three and a half years of the great tribulation, that is, the last day of the one thousand two hundred and sixty days.
See note 1 Thes. 4:171a. To be caught up is to be raptured. The rapture of the man-child differs from that of the majority of the believers, which is mentioned in 1 Thes. 4:17. There, the majority of the believers are raptured
1) to the air,
2) at the last trumpet (1 Cor. 15:52; 1 Thes. 4:16), which is the seventh trumpet (Rev. 11:15).
But here, the man-child is raptured
1) to the throne of God,
2) before the one thousand two hundred and sixty days, which is the time of the great tribulation of three and a half years (forty-two months, v. 14; 13:5; 11:2), beginning from the sixth seal, before the fifth trumpet (Rev. 9:1).
In the Bible, woman signifies the weaker one and man the stronger one (1 Pet. 3:7). Hence, the man-child here signifies the stronger part of God's people. That the man-child is to shepherd all the nations with an iron rod indicates that the man-child consists of the overcomers, as mentioned in Rev. 2:26-27.
Brought forth here signifies resurrection, as in Acts 13:33-34. The man-child is composed of the overcoming saints who have died and been resurrected. This is proved by the words unto death in v. 11.
That the dragon stood before the woman signifies that Satan is always against the people of God, opposing them. From the time of Gen. 3:15 to this day, Satan, the ancient serpent, has been fighting continually against the woman with the intention of devouring her child.
The stars of heaven here signify the angels (Job 38:7; Isa. 14:12). The third part of the stars of heaven must be the fallen angels, who followed Satan in his rebellion against God. Satan drags all of them away, and as the angels of Satan they will be cast to the earth with Satan (v. 9). Hence, at that time the earth will be filled with these fallen angels, who will damage the dwelling place of the people who rebel against God. The earth will thus become a dreadful place.
cf. Rev. 13:1
The seven diadems indicate the glory of the seven Caesars' extraordinary kingship. Since each of these seven Caesars was one with Satan, each assumed deity, claimed to be God, and forced the people to worship him as God.
The seven heads and ten horns are those of the beast, Antichrist (13:1). This indicates that the dragon and the beast are one and shows that Antichrist is the embodiment of Satan.
Travailing in birth and being in pain to bring forth signifies that throughout all generations God's people have been suffering the travail of delivery (Isa. 26:17-18; Jer. 6:24; 13:21; 30:6; Micah 4:9-10; 5:3; Gal. 4:19) to bring forth the man-child that he may fight for God's kingdom.
To cry out here is to pray.
The child here, being a man-child (v. 5), signifies the stronger part of God's people. Throughout all generations there are some stronger ones among God's people. These are considered in the Bible a collective unit fighting the battle for God and bringing God's kingdom down to earth.
The first section of this book, composed of the first eleven chapters, covers all things that occur from Christ's ascension to eternity. The second section, composed of the last eleven chapters, gives details of the important things and crucial matters occurring from the last three and a half years of the present age, which will be the period of the great tribulation, to the eternal age of the new heaven and new earth. The first of the important things and crucial matters revealed in this section is a woman who brought forth a man-child.
This woman is "clothed with the sun, and the moon underneath her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars." In Gen. 37:9, Joseph in his dream saw the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars, signifying his father, his mother, and his eleven brothers. There the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars, plus Joseph himself, signified the totality of God's people on the earth. Based on the principle of that dream, the sun, the moon, and the twelve stars here must signify the totality of God's people on earth, which is symbolized here by a woman. Most of her being is clothed with the sun. The sun signifies God's people in the New Testament age. Before Christ came to the world, it was the dark night of the Old Testament age. When Christ as the rising sun came from on high (Luke 1:78), the age of the sun came. Before that, it was the age of the moon, which signifies God's people in the Old Testament time. The moon is underneath the feet of the woman, for the age of the moon was the age of the law, which should not be exalted as the stars are. The stars, which signify the patriarchs, God's people before the law was given, are on her head as a crown. All God's people in these three ages, who together constitute this woman, are light bearers. Hence, she is the bright woman shining throughout all generations.
The overcoming believers fight against Satan to usher in God's kingdom. The Lord taught us to pray for the coming of the kingdom (Matt. 6:10). Along with our praying for the kingdom's coming, we need to fight for it. The coming of the kingdom has two aspects: the reality of the kingdom (Matt. 5:3), which is in the proper church life today (Rom. 14:17), and the manifestation of the kingdom in the millennium, which will be brought in through the overcoming believers.
When the manifestation of the kingdom comes, the salvation of God will come in full with the kingdom. God's salvation has already been manifested to us today, but it will come in full in the kingdom age. It is the same with the power of God and the authority of His Christ. We have participated in God's power and Christ's authority today, but our full enjoyment of them will be in the kingdom age.
The accuser is the devil, who accused Job (Job 1:9; 2:4-5) and Joshua (Zech. 3:1-2) and who is now accusing the believers before God, even day and night.
Referring to the overcoming believers who constitute the man-child in v. 5. These have been opposed and slandered by God's enemy, Satan, whom they overcame.
The blood of the Lamb, which is for our redemption, answers before God all the accusations of the devil against us and gives us the victory over him. We need to apply this blood whenever we sense the accusation of the devil.
The word of their testimony is their word that testifies that the devil has been judged by the Lord. Whenever we sense the devil's accusation, we should verbally testify how the Lord has already dealt with him. We must declare with the uttered word the Lord's victory over him.
Because of Adam's fall, Satan joined himself to man's soul-life — man's self (Matt. 16:23-24). Hence, to overcome Satan we must not love our soul-life; rather, we must hate it and deny it (Luke 14:26; 9:23).
Unto death indicates martyrdom. The overcoming believers who constitute the man-child do not love their soul-life even unto death.
Lit., tabernacle.
The dragon is angry because he has been cast down and limited to the earth, thereby losing his territory in the heavens and in the air.
He denotes the dragon.
The sea here is the same as that in Rev. 13:1, the Mediterranean Sea. The sand of the sea here should be the seashore of the Holy Land, where the nation of Israel is. That the dragon will stand on the sand of the sea and that the holy city, Jerusalem, will be trampled for forty-two months (Rev. 11:2) indicate that Satan's persecution during the great tribulation will be carried out mainly in the land of Israel.
Satan, the angry dragon, will concentrate his hatred upon God's people.
The great eagle signifies God, and the two wings signify His strength to rescue (Exo. 19:4; Deut. 32:11-12). As He brought the children of Israel out from Pharaoh's persecution, so He will bring His people away from Satan's persecution in the great tribulation.
A time and times and half a time denotes three and a half years, that is, one thousand two hundred and sixty days.
Water here signifies the armies (see marginal references) that will be sent by Satan to destroy the people of God.
The earth will open, just as in Num. 16:31-33, and swallow the armies sent by Satan.
cf. Rev. 13:7
The rest of her seed signifies the people of God other than the man-child; those people constitute the weaker part of the woman. Among them, some are the Jews, who keep the commandments of God, and some are the believers, who have the testimony of Jesus. Both will pass through the great tribulation and suffer the dragon's persecution and attack.