Read or listen The Book of Revelation, chapter 12 online (ESV, YouVersion)

The Woman and the Dragon 12:1-6

John sees a woman expecting a child. Who is she? Most likely, this is again about God's people, God's own, who live in this world. The temple and the two witnesses have been mentioned above. Perhaps these too were images of the Church of Christ fighting on earth.

And who is the dragon shown to John? Verse 9 says that he is the Devil who fights against God's own. The dragon is fiery red and has seven heads and ten horns. We have already noted that a horn in the book of Revelation represents power. The Devil has a lot of it—that is what the ten horns of the dragon remind us of.

In verses 2 and 5 John apparently sees a glimpse of one of the members of God's church, the mother of Jesus, the virgin Mary. She gave birth to a son, Jesus, the King of kings. Verse 4 may be a description of Herod the Great in the service of the Devil. Herod killed all the boys two years old and under in the area of ​​Bethlehem in order to kill the newborn Messiah. (Mt 2:16-18) Even then, the Devil showed that he was at war with God and his people.

The Holy Family, led by Joseph, fled through the desert to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. Verse 6 probably refers to this flight. God took care of His own Son, His mother, and Joseph, and the Devil did not succeed in killing the child. Again, the period of three and a half years describes the time when the Devil is especially allowed to attack God's own people (see Revelation 11:2 and its explanation).

War in Heaven 12:7-12

John sees another vision: There is a battle in heaven between God’s archangel Michael and the Devil. The battle ends with the Devil’s defeat and he and his angels being cast out of heaven. In heaven there is rejoicing over Michael’s victory. But on earth the archangel’s victory means disaster there. The devil has been cast here, and here he riots, causes evil, and persecutes God's own people. He works tirelessly in this work, and there is a simple reason for that: He knows that the time in which he is allowed to riot on earth is not much longer left.

It should not be difficult to see that the Devil has been cast down to the earth. His activities are evident in many ways: Much evil is happening in the world, nature is being polluted, wars are being fought, people are being led astray, and God’s church is being persecuted. There are many explanations for all of this. The Book of Revelation teaches the ultimate reason: It is because the Devil has been cast down to earth and is fighting among us.

In verse 10 the Devil is aptly called the Accuser. That is exactly what he is. He can accuse endlessly, especially God's own people, saying: "You are so bad that you are not God's. You fell into sin easily and yet you dare to claim to be among God's children." The one who speaks like this is the Devil. God's word assures us that we can only belong to God's people because of Jesus. We are sinners, but because of Jesus we are God's. Especially when the Devil accuses, it is important to remember this.

The devil is trying to destroy the Church 12:13-18

The devil has been cast down to earth and is here focused on attacking God's own people. Apparently, the vision now shown to John describes the same thing that was already told at the beginning of the chapter. John sees Mary fleeing to Egypt from Herod's wrath. The devil tried to use Herod as his help to kill the Son of God and his mother, but God did not allow his enemy to do so.

When Jesus entered heaven beyond the reach of the Devil, his anger changed targets. Now it was directed at other of God's people. The early Christians experienced this in a terrible way. They were persecuted, imprisoned, thrown into pits, and thrown to lions. And this happened only because the Christians held on to faith in the word of God and confessed their faith in Jesus, as the end of verse 17 says.

The end of the chapter speaks of frightening things. However, above all, there is the encouraging and comforting knowledge for God's people: The devil's actions depend on what God allows him to do. He does not act freely, especially when he attacks God's own. When we remember this, we know that there is no need to worry. God takes care of us. We only encounter what God allows to happen.