DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- THE GREAT DRAGON

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – THE GREAT DRAGON

"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." (Revelation 12:17)

This chapter is a summary of the conflict between the dragon, Satan, and the nation of Israel, the descendants of Abraham and Jacob, and by extension, the spiritual offspring of Christ. Satan hates Israel and born again Christians.

Beginning in verse one, there is a woman who is in the labor of child-birth. I believe this is a picture of the nation of Israel because the woman has a garland of twelve stars on her head. Satan knew that God would send a Messiah because of the prophecy to the serpent in Genesis 3:14 that his head would be bruised. He did not know who that Messiah would be, but he knew that it would be of the seed of Abraham. In verse 4, the dragon is waiting for the birth of a child in order to destroy the Child as soon as it was born.

Satan has been thwarted in his attempts to eliminate the Messiah. After the birth of the Jesus, Satan knew that the Messiah had been born but he didn't know which baby it was, so he incited Herod to massacre a whole village of babies. Later, when Jesus began His ministry, Satan understood that Jesus was the promised Messiah, so he provoked people to try to stone Jesus. Finally, he got Jesus on a cross to die. But Jesus rose again and returned to Heaven. Satan's schemes to destroy the Messiah have been unsuccessful.

In our focus verse, we see that even though Satan was not successful in his attempt to destroy the Messiah, the battle continues. Only now the conflict is with the followers of Jesus -- the ones who keep God's commandments and have the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. You and I who have received Christ as our Savior are His spiritual offspring. We are the focus of Satan's rage. Satan hates anyone who gives witness to the Lord Jesus. He will not give up until the bitter end when Jesus will consign Satan to the pit. Then Jesus will He will reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

The comforting assurance is that battle is not ours, but God's. He is victorious and the Dragon is defeated. All praise belongs to God for His victory over Satan. We live in that victory.

Love, Dad