How to Fight A Dragon

Revelation 12:1-12

Revelation 12 gives us a spiritual view of the Nativity.

1. The radiant woman. (Revelation 12:1-2)

• The woman is Israel. The crown of 1w stars identifies her as being crowned with the 12 tribes. Stars representing the tribes makes sense, God told Abraham his children would be like the “stars.” It also calls back to Joseph’s dream of the stars bowing down to him, meaning Israel would bow down.
• The woman is pregnant with the Messiah. Out of Israel comes Messiah. That she cries out in pain indicates that the Messiah came the season of Israel’s suffering. Sometimes called, “The birth pains of the Messiah.”

2. There is an ancient war raging around us. (Revelation 12:3-4)

• The dragon is read, suggesting he is covered in blood from murdering the saints.
• Seven heads represents great power.
• Seven “diadems” indicates stolen authority. These are not the grass crowns that Romans sometimes wore, these are heavy crowns.
• The ten horns should remind us to the fourth beast in Daniel 7.

3. Dragon viciously opposed Jesus. (Revelation 12:4-5)

The birth of Jesus is depicted in apocalyptic imagery. As Israel prepares to bring forth the Messiah, the dragon stands between her legs ready to catch the child as it comes into the world to destroy him. But the child is greater than the dragon. Jesus’ life here is shown as battle between Satan and God, with the Christmas story being a spiritual D-Day.

4. There was a huge heavenly battle. (Revelation 12:7-9)

It’s interesting it does not say when this battle took place. We might best assume (if we need a timeline for this battle) that it happens at the death of Jesus. That is, Christ dies for sins, and the heavenly response is to cast Satan from heaven. However, Jesus said during his ministry that he saw Satan fall from heaven like “lightning.” Was he looking into the future or talking about another event?

5. Satan Attacks Israel who brought forth the Messiah. (Revelation 12:6-16)

• The woman goes into the wilderness. This is symbolic of the nation of Israel fleeing her homeland and going into the Gentile nations.
• In A.D. 70 Israel was destroyed as a nation, the religion torn apart with the destruction of the temple and the Holy City. The Jewish people spread out into the earth. Usually when a homeland is destroyed, the people lose their cultural identity and just mix into the nations until the original people group is all but lost. However, the Jewish people maintained their identity for centuries after Satan’s attack.
• Exodus 19:4 says that God saved Israel from Pharoah’s hand by lifting her up on eagles wings. The same God who saved Israel from the wicked king of Egypt, saved her again. He scattered is people all over the earth and hid them in plain sight.
• In Ezekiel 37, God prophesied the return of Israel as a nation. The valley of dry bones symbolized Israel as nothing more than a dead skeleton. Yet God’s promise was to return life to the bones.
• In 1948, over 2,000 years after the Jews had been dispersed from the land, the Jews returned to the homeland to establish a nation again. This fulfilled Ezekiel 37.
• Revelation 12:15: the serpent spews a river from his mouth to try and sweep the woman way with a flood of water. I think, a flood coming from Satan’s mouth represents the lies the Devil tells against Israel. He stirs antisemitism and deep racial hatred for the Jews.
• Revelation 12:16: The earth “came to the help of the woman.” While some nations turn on the Jewish people, some of the nations of the earth stand up for her in the last days. I think for many years recently, America has filled that role. People will ask, “Where is America in the Bible.” I wish we could stand as that nation that guards Israel in the last days against the vicious lies of the enemy and the attacks of Satan.

6. The Dragon Attacks Christians. Revelation 12:17

7. Victory Song. (Like after crossing Red Sea)

• Revelation 12:10, the voice is not the voice of God from the throne, but the voice of a human speaking loudly. Notice the wording, “The kingdom of our God” “the authority of his Christ” “the accuser of our brothers” all point to a human speaker.
• Revelation 12:12, rejoice heaven, woe to the earth… In Revelation “earth dwellers” refers to the lost, and “heaven dwellers” to the saved. So the earth dwellers mourn because they have no power over Satan, while the heaven dwellers can rejoice that we have victory; even if we are still on earth, we are citizens of heaven.

How do I fight a dragon:

1. The enemy will not have access to my

• Revelation 12 spiritualizes Christmas story. It’s war. God invaded the kingdom of darkness. Christmas is like a spiritual D-Day.
• Most big attacks from Satan started in someone’s heart or inner-self. Adam and Eve, Cain, Abraham, David, Judas… all these people had sins that affected others greatly, but it started in their own hearts.

2. The Enemy will have no access to my F

• Revelation 12:10, Satan is called the “accuser.” He wants to burden us with guilt. To shame us out of serving God.
• Revelation 12:9, Satan is also called the “deceiver.” His biggest lie is that God won’t forgive us.
• Revelation 12:11, they conquered by the blood of the lamb. Here’s a wonderful truth: Satan doesn’t get to deal with our sins. If he did, we would never be forgiven. But Satan doesn’t get to handle sin, God does. On the cross, Jesus dealt with our sins and declared the payment finished and “paid in full.”
• We are set free by the “blood of the lamb.” (Revelation 12:11)

3. The enemy will not have access to my

• Revelation 12:11, If Jesus set me free, Satan’s not going shut me up.
• Our testimony is overflows from what God has done for us.
• Every interaction I have with another person is a setup by the God head to share God’s love in some way.