Revelation 12:3-6

This week, we continue defining the characters that have played a role in what we will call alongside many theologians “redemptive history.” We have already introduced, defined, and examined in some detail the pregnant woman with the stephanos of 12 stars. In this study, we look at two more of these characters, again, in symbolic and poetic language from this list.

We saw last time that the pregnant woman represented Israel, and we saw the first defining use of the symbolism from Genesis 37, and Joseph’s, His father and mother’s, and his brother’s interpretations of that symbolism, allowing them to define it in the text. The fact that some 2000 years before the birth of Christ, this symbolism was defined as Israel (Jacob) and his family has definitely been preserved and continued to this text in Rev. 12.

Tonight, we will consider two more of these characters and their meanings and places in this list of individuals involved in the redemptive history of mankind. I broke down the text like this:

KV5: And He Shall Reign with a Rod of Iron

5:And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne.

3-4: The Great Red Dragon

5-6: The Male Child of the Woman

Let’s just get into the text, there is a lot to look at.

KV5: And He Shall Reign with a Rod of Iron

5: And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne.

I chose this as the key verse here because the male child is the central character in all of redemptive history, but we will say more about that when we get there. Obviously, this is the Lord Jesus Christ in the hermeneutic we believe is correct, and it is prophesied that He will indeed rule with that rod of iron. He is the actual redeemer, again, the central character in this story here at the apex of redemptive history.

Let’s look and see what John has to tell us.

3-4: The Great Red Dragon

John begins this character description by telling us this is a sign in heaven, and this is a way we can know this again metaphorical, symbolic language, but the symbolism changes from the beauty of an expecting mother to that of a hellish monster. Let’s read the verse and see.

3: Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems.

This symbol appears in the heavens in a particular order that was chosen by God to show John. The main character here is the coming male child, but it appears after the vessel by which God created the hero that is coming. This is the story’s main villain. He is a great red dragon, meaning he is larger than life, he is hellish, and he is one bad dude.
There is more information also: He has seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns (διαδήματα), actual symbolic kingly authority, according to Vine. Vine, for the record, is citing this verse as an example of how the word should be used. This beast has real governmental authority.
Moreover, we have seen this beast before and will again. This is the beast we first meet in Daniel 7:7, which reads, “After this I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong; and it had large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet; and it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.” It is red, and from the description in the text, a seven-headed beast sounds to me more like a hydra, but I’ll leave that for now.
We will see this beast again, in Revelation 13:1, which reads, “And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names.” I know the dragon is standing on the shore and this beast is rising from the sea, but this beast could literally be his offspring, and that touches on the possibility that the dragon will actually spiritually possess this willing offspring himself. This is literally the son of the dragon, giving physical expression to this spiritual being. I won’t be dogmatic on this point, but it’s convincing to me.
Wherever we see this beast, it is clearly the bad guy. In fact, verse 9 of this chapter, which we should see next study, further defines who this character in our redemptive drama is: none other than Satan himself: “And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.” (12:9)
How do we know he is the villain? Let’s continue, it will become evident.

4: And his tail *swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.

In Rev.12:9, it may be referring to this very event, or perhaps this has already been accomplished, but this individual will sweep or has swept away a full third of the “stars of heaven,” which he will throw or has thrown already to the Earth. Whatever tense one views the verbs in, he has taken a full third of the angels in heaven with him is what this means. We can interpret this to mean angels because our Lord used stars in this kind of metaphor in chapter 1:20, which reads, “As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.” I’m just presenting the evidence if you do not agree. In either case, the Greek word is a form of aster, the Koine Greek word for “star.” I call that evidence. You may call it an opinion, but mine is informed by the Greek and historical use of that interpretation by Christ Himself. I am not the only theologian who has arrived at this as the truth as it is in Jesus. Drs. MacArthur, Barnhouse, Stearman, Gonzales, Brainerd, and MANY others have seen this as well if you need examples.
That Asterix in front of the word “swept” has a special meaning for readers of more modern translations of the scriptures. A common writing style of the first century was that everything was written in the present tense. This is a statement that the translators have rewritten the verb tense to make sense in English. It usually does not change the meaning of the text. Here, it maybe changes the time of the event to the past from the present, or is a future event, or perhaps will occur at both points of time, but it does not change the context and usage, which means he talked about a third of the angels in heaven to following him instead of the living God. “He drew them off” is the likely understanding, as opposed to “dragged kicking and screaming.” It is NOT the same word as in John 6:44 where Jesus says, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.” That’s a form of helko, and this is a form of suro. This is in the Greek text a singular present verb, surei. In English, it is past tense. Make of that what you will. I prefer to contextualize based on surrounding text for accuracy’s sake.
He threw those angels to the Earth. The word is ballō, and I think we get our English word “ball” from it. He tossed them, threw them, he cast them, or more gently, he brought them to the Earth. These are his minions here now, and they are still powerful intelligent beings, more so than we are. Yet our Lord is more powerful than their lord.
So take all that information for what you will. The very next thing we see is the Dragon attacking the seed of the woman. She’s about to give birth, and that dragon is waiting to devour that child. That’s a horrible picture. Why would this beast attack the child? Genesis 3:15 says, “And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.” That Dragon sees the child as an existential threat. And God the Father said that the seed of the woman would one day crush his head, that is, end him. The best he would do is cause injury. Painful but not fatal.

Who is this in our redemptive history? He is the villain, the bad guy. He is that serpent of old, the Great Red Dragon, Satan Himself. And he by this time will be both frustrated and angry. And bigger than us.

5-6: The Male Child of the Woman

Now we turn to another main character, and one with which any believer is intimately familiar. This, right at the start, we will identify as our Lord Jesus Christ, and the text identifies Him as well. Let’s look and see.

5: And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne.

This is a male child of the woman. It tells us that He is the One that will rule all the nations with a rod of iron. This is a specific phrase from the Old Testament. It comes from Psalm 2:7-9 and I have included verses 7 and 8 for context: “I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.'” This is clearly God the Father speaking to His Anointed One, the Messiah.” That’s the Hebrew Reference, which we all know translates to Christos in Greek. That’s our Lord Jesus, friends. And the Dragon stood by and waited to devour Him.
I personally think he got his chance. He energized those who crucified the Lord of Glory. As our Lord Jesus hung there on that Roman Cross, rejected by the earth beneath and by the heavens above as He bore our sins, He was offering Himself as an atonement vicariously. Through His death there, He both propitiated (atoned) our sins and expiated (wiped the slate clean) them from our record. God was so pleased with this act of sacrifice that He rose from the dead on the third day after this death. It was the dragon’s chance at victory, and he bit the heel of the seed of that woman. In that attack on the Savior, he doomed himself, and in that rising from the dead, our Lord Crushed the head of that serpent that had latched on to His heel. That was the shot. And as foretold, he missed, and now he is dead while he lives.
After that, God caught that Son up to the Throne of God, where He is currently seated and running the universe, waiting for the day that God the Father tells Him it is time to come and get His Bride, the Church, those who believe and follow Him. All of them. And the story continues in the next verse.

6: Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she *had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.

Believing Israel then fled the scene. She ran into the wilderness where she “has” (literally from the asterisk) a place prepared by God. This is where it ties into what I have to call current future history. Verb tenses in prophecy get a bit strange, right? Here, that group of believers will be nourished (provided for and protected) for 1260 days. In months, that’s 42. In years, that’s 3.5. That brings us back to that 3.5-year period in which people on earth will find themselves known as the Great Tribulation, the last half of the 7-year tribulation period. We have already looked at that, and we will see more events in that period that we do not know when it will occur.
Where is that place in the wilderness? I do not know. Many other theologians have suggested a place in the deserts of Jordan called Petra, which is carved right out of the rock. I’ve only ever seen pictures, but it is difficult to get to, and you have to go through the desert to get there, which is its own problem. This is the place that was identified in the fictional series Left Behind, but that is a fictional series. The truth is, it doesn’t say, probably to keep the location safe until it is needed.

I have used a phrase in this study that I have introduced this evening, I said “believing Israel.” At this point, the church is gone from the Earth. These are people who have become believers in Jesus since the church left, including members of the nation of Israel. I have heard this idea before, and should you want to accuse me of teaching replacement theology here, you would be wrong. This is a timing issue for a classic premillennial believer like myself. What do you call people who become Christians after that rescue called in Scripture, the “snatching away” or in Greek, harpazo? We call them Tribulation Saints. This group and those who turn to Christ from National Israel will all be believers. Scriptures tell us that the majority of these will be martyred for their decision to follow Christ by faith. What do we call the ones that live? We call them blessed, yes, but we call them Tribulation Saints. This isn’t a dispensational idea, it’s a necessary one that all premillennial theologians must deal with. This is what I think is the logical output of that idea. If you have a different idea, post it in the comments. We would love to hear the ideas and discuss them. Please don’t try if the chat is working, we’re all busy during the Bible Study and can’t pay attention. I’ve tried to turn off the live chat because we just can’t pay attention. You could also email me at Pa*******@Be**********.com. I’d be happy to have a discussion with you about that.

Anyway, that introduces us to more of the major players in this history of the end times. That’s what I saw this evening in the text.

Next time, We will deal with the rest of the chapter. We’ll be introduced to the Archangel Michael, who my son is named after, and the events that will unfold that involve more about that dragon and Michael himself.