A Study of Revelation 12:1-12

In Revelation 12 God summarizes the history of this world from the beginning of creation down to the beginning of the Final Tribulation Period.

The woman in Revelation 12:1 symbolizes the Body of Believers who brings forth the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One, and that the dragon in Revelation 12:3 represents Satan.

In this study we will see in this chapter a battle between Michael and the dragon.

We see from Daniel 12:1 that Michael is not an angel. Michael is the Lord Jesus Christ. One of the many names of Christ is Michael.



There Was War in Heaven (Revelation 12:1-12, Jude 9, Malachi 3:1)

Revelation 12:1
And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:

Revelation 12:2
And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.

Revelation 12:3
And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.

Revelation 12:4
And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.

Revelation 12:5
And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

Revelation 12:6
And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.

Revelation 12:7
And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,

Revelation 12:8
And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.

Revelation 12:9
And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Revelation 12:10
And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

Revelation 12:11
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

Revelation 12:12
Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.

The first battle of the dragon, in verse 4, was a battle of the Devil against the church on earth, to prevent that Christ would bring to realization the promise first given in paradise. But the battle in verse 7 speaks of another war, this time fought in heaven between the Devil and his fallen angels against Christ and all the angels that remained faithful to God. This is the record of a real spiritual battle in heaven.

Some people tend to minimize this battle as just being fought between good angels and bad angels. They point to Jude 9, to show that Michael was an archangel. It is a letter from Jude, the half-brother of the Lord Jesus, to all those in the church who are sanctified by God. Through the pen of Jude God warns us against evil men who have crept into the church, and who will lead people astray with their false doctrines. But “ye shall know them by their fruits”. Then we read in Jude 9:

Jude 9
Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.

The event in Jude 9 is the same event that we read about in Zechariah 3.

We will turn our attention to what we read in the LITV (Literal Version of the Bible) in order to gain more help as we look to uncover what these verses speak of.

Zechariah 3:1 (LITV)
And he made me see Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of Jehovah (the Lord Jesus), and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him.

Zechariah 3:2 (LITV)
And Jehovah said to Satan, Jehovah rebuke you, Satan! And, Jehovah who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked out of the fire?

Zechariah 3:3 (LITV)
And Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and he stood before the Angel.

Zechariah 3:4 (LITV)
And He answered and spoke to those who stood before Him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And He said to him, Behold, I have caused your iniquity to pass from you, and I will clothe you with ceremonial robes.

Notice in verse 2.

Zechariah 3:2
“And Jehovah (The Lord Jesus) said to Satan, “Jehovah (My Father) rebuke you Satan!”

Now let’s compare this with what we read in Jude.

Jude 9 (KJV)
Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.

“The body of Moses” is Moses’ teachings…the law.

Now what was this dispute over particularly in Zechariah 3 and Jude 9?

When you are reading in the book of Ephesians about the body of Chrtist are we talking about literally the body of Jesus Christ?

No. We are talking about His church, since the body is the church. It’s just used as an illustration. It’s like a human body because it functions like one. We’re not literally talking about Jesus’ body.

Well, the dispute here was over the body of Moses – The teachings of Moses.

Sometimes when we talk about someone we’re looking at the whole body of their teachings. The dispute with Michael over the body of Moses was over the teachings of Moses. And you know what some of the teachings of Moses were?

If you turn to the book of Leviticus chapter 16, there was an atonement made for the sins of the people by a High Priest and that was what the dispute was over, the Old Testament Law.

Do you know who wrote the first books of the bible?

Moses, that’s the body of Moses, that is what the dispute was over. The Old Testament Law was written by Moses and in the book of Moses sin demanded a sacrificial death and that was the dispute, that was the quarell. And this indeed is talking about the same thing that Zechariah 3 is speaking of. Both responses is the Lord rebuking.

But when the Devil disputed this action of God, Michael did not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, “The Lord rebuke thee”.

For a more detailed study of Jude 9 please read: Michael, Satan and the Body of Moses

Why was Michael so polite against the Devil?

It was not the time to cast the Devil out of heaven. The battle we read about in Revelation 12:7 was fought after Christ ascended into heaven and to His throne in Revelation 12:5. Until this time Satan was allowed to be in heaven and be the ruler on earth because he had conquered the rulership from Adam. We see clearly in the 1st chapter of Job that Satan was allowed to go in and out of heaven freely.

And Michael is not an archangel.

This is an interpretation by the translators of the KJ Bible. Literally the word “arch” means “chief”, and the word “angel” should have been translated “messenger”. Therefore in Jude 9 we should read, “Michael the Chief-Messenger”. And Christ is certainly a Messenger, for we read in Malachi 3:1 that Christ is “the Messenger of the Covenant”.



A Real Spiritual Battle (Revelation 12:7, Isaiah 65:25)

There are not always battles in heaven. This was a one time occurrence in AD 33. We read in Revelation:

Revelation 12:7
And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,

This was a real spiritual battle. It was a battle in heaven, in the abode of the good and holy angels, in the presence of God Almighty. We should not think of this battle as a lion who kills a mouse. That would not be a battle.

No! This was a battle where Satan thought that he had a chance of winning the battle. This was an enormously great battle. Think of it now: the Devil and his angels are so powerful that they dare to oppose God. That is how mighty Satan is.

How can anyone think that he can resist this powerful Devil by his own free will?

How can anyone think that he will not be deceived by Satan if even the angels were deceived by him?

How can anyone think that he can outwit Satan by just believing in the Lord Jesus Christ of his own supposed free-will?

This was an intense battle that was going on in heaven. But it was a purely spiritual battle. It was not fought with cleverly designed laser-guns, or with stun-guns, or with airborne battleships, like we can see in Star Wars. This battle was fought with spiritual weapons, with weapons of intellect, and shrewdness, and subtlety, with the spiritual weapons of Law and of truth, and of righteousness, and with the sword of the Spirit. Those who fought in this war are spirits pure and simple. Moreover they are immortal spirits, at least in the sense that they have no body, and therefore they cannot die a physical death, and they cannot be wounded physically. This was a spiritual battle that was fought with spiritual means, and therefore this battle also had a spiritual outcome. On one side we have Christ with all the holy angels. The reason He fights the Devil and his angels is because He stands for the people of God, and fights for them in a time of great trouble, when they are evidently in great danger. The accuser of our brethren must be removed out of heaven, for hundreds of years earlier God has declared in Isaiah 65:25:

Isaiah 65:25
They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain.

If this promise of God could be annulled, then none of God’s promises would be sure. On the other side are Satan and all his fallen angels, who also until that point in time were free to go in and out of heaven or roam on earth as often as they pleased. We have seen that the Devil is a most powerful monster, thirsting for man’s blood, with terrible hatred in his heart against Christ and against all those who are IN Christ, who has usurped the power of the Kingdom on earth, but who is limited in that power by the decree of God. He comes with his angels. No doubt he has a large following of fallen angels. And so, the Devil and his angels were cast out of heaven.
They were cast into the earth.

And what kind of battle is Satan waging here on earth?

It is:



A Spiritual Battle for the Souls of Men (Revelation 12:8, Matthew 24:24, Matthew 24:22)

Revelation 12:8
And (the Devil and his angels) prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.
What will he do to mankind?

Especially, what will he do to those who have declared themselves to be servants of Christ?

Will he cause them to be persecuted, and imprisoned, and tortured, and killed, and thrown to the lions?

O, that is what he did initially, but it had the wrong effect. All persecutions and physical killing of Christians only made the church grow more and more. But as we aproach and move into the Final Tribulation Period, the Devil’s approach is, “If you cannot fight them, then join them”.

We need to realize that the Devil is a spirit, and therefore spiritual warfare is his specialty. Satan does not crave silver or gold. Satan craves the souls of men.

And so, what will Satan do to the people in the church?

He will give them pastors and teachers who bring them gospels that are o-so-close to the true Gospel. The Lord Jesus said in Matthew 24:

Matthew 24:24
For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

And what will Satan do to those who are already in his clutches?

He will give them a million dollars, or he will give them a divorce and a beautiful new wife which they always coveted, or he will give them a pastor who promises them health, wealth, and freedom from their spouse, or freedom from financial responsibility. In this way he will keep them happy and quiet, and no desire to seek for God.

And what will he do with our young people?

He will give them a computer and a television. Yes, you heard me right. I am not against new technology. We are using the Internet to broadcast the truth worldwide. But I also realize what a trap the television and Internet can be for our young people who do not have the wisdom to choose what is right or what is wrong. Parents need to know that the television and the Internet expose our young people to the filth of this sex-crazy world. It used to be that parents worried about the influence of television on their children’s souls. But believe me the Internet is at least 10 times worse than TV. The Internet has a much greater influence on our children than all audio-visual media combined. And it comes roaring into our lives as an unstoppable bullet train. Our children can be called “the Internet generation”. Here are just a few facts, and these facts are already outdated since they have been collected in the year 2000 (and consider how that these figures increase by the year):

1. Over 10 billion dollars are spent on Internet pornography annually.

2. There are over 2 million known pornography websites.

3. There are 2,500 new porn websites coming online every week.

4. Nine out of 10 children between the ages of 8 and 16 have viewed pornography on the Internet.

5. 25 million Americans visit porn websites between 1 to 10 hours per week, and an additional 4.7 million watch it in excess of 11 hours per week.

And so on. The Internet is not an evil tool, but what they do with the Internet in the area of pornography, that is a great evil. It destroys minds, homes, marriages, children, and more. And it is at the fingertips of those who happen to have an Internet connection, and at the fingertips of our children.

These are the days we live in. We do not have to close our eyes to the reality of the new electronic world we live in.

Let us now continue in Revelation 12:9. What is the immediate object of this warfare?



Immediate Object of this Warfare (Revelation 12:9-10, Genesis 3:15)

Revelation 12:9
And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Revelation 12:10
And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

Who or what did Christ and the angels fight for?

They did not fight for themselves. The angels that remained faithful were not in danger of losing their blessed status. Christ was not in danger of losing His seat of authority. He was already tempted by the Devil at the beginning of His ministry, and He had been successful in resisting his temptations at the end of His ministry.

But who do Christ and the angels fight for?

Their joy is to fight for the people of God. The people of God are the object of the wrath of the Devil. The loud voice in heaven does not mention Michael or the angels, but the loud voice in heaven proclaims that deliverance and victory for the brethren has been won. And therefore, it is not likely that the object of Satan’s attack were the angels, or Christ, but rather the people of God who have already entered into glory. The Old Testament saints whose souls were already in heaven were the object of his wrath.

Why?

What has changed?

Why has God tolerated that Satan came in and out of heaven until this point in time?

The explanation is very logical. Christ had not yet come. It means that the debt of the sinners had not yet been paid. The sins of Abel, and Enoch, and Noah, and Abraham, and David, and all the prophets, had not yet been atoned for. These all died as saints, but that is not how they came into the world. They came into the world as enemies of God, and they committed sins until the moment of their salvation and after. But all their previous sins had not been fully atoned for. Christ had not yet crushed the head of the serpent, as God had promised in Genesis 3:15:

Genesis 3:15
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her Seed; He shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel.

And Christ had not yet assumed dominion over all things that He has made. The Devil was still sovereign, and all the world lay at his feet, because even one sin makes man a slave of Sin and Satan. This was true all throughout the Old Testament period of time. True, in God’s counsel it was different. In God’s counsel it was established that Christ was appointed head and mediator of His people, and all His people had been given to Him from before the foundation of the world. In that counsel all the elect from the Old Testament time as well as from the New Testament time period had been given to Christ.

They were IN Him. And because God’s counsel is absolutely sure, therefore these souls from the Old Testament did not have to wait for their salvation till all was finished. And being elect in the decree of God from all eternity, they entered into glory before Christ actually had come and paid for their sins. But Satan did not figure with this counsel of God. Nor could Satan imagine how certain that counsel of the Almighty was and that in the counsel of God they were given to Christ from all eternity. On the contrary. It was against that counsel that he fought the battle on earth. Satan had hoped in his devilish heart that he could so obstruct the purpose of the Almighty that the Messiah would never be born, would never be successful in paying the equivalent of an eternity in Hell for the sins of the people of God, and would never enter into eternal glory with them.

Therefore, according to Satan’s view of the matter, all these Old Testament saints entered into heaven as sinners upon whom he had a righteous claim, as sinners who deserved to go to Hell because their sins had not yet been atoned for. And as long as these sinners were in heaven, Satan also had a righteous claim to be in heaven. Now we can also understand why he is called:



The Accuser of Our Brethren (Revelation 12:10, Psalm 19:1)

Revelation 12:10
And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

Now we understand why he is called the old serpent, for he is the old deceiver from the Garden of Eden.

Now we understand why he is mentioned as the Devil, for he is the slanderer and accuser of the saints of God. He lies about them. He says that they have no right to enter into heaven because they are condemned sinners. But in the process of accusing them and slandering them, the Devil at the same time slanders the name and the righteousness of God, who converts sinners into saints and then takes them into everlasting glory.

Now we can also understand the nature of the battle to a certain extent. The focal point here is the cross of Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ has finished His task on earth, He ascended into heaven in the year AD 33, 40 days after He rose from the grave, and there He was crowned King of kings and Lord of lords. In God’s sight the souls of all the Old Testament saints in heaven were perfectly clean, free from the stain of sin.

But Satan could not see that. He still claimed that they were sinners; they sinned in paradise in Adam, and they have sinned all their lives, and therefore according to the righteousness of God they must go to Hell. But Christ showed to all who are in heaven that He has fully paid for all the sins of all those whose souls already are in heaven. And when the Father agrees that Christ has paid for all those sins the full price on the cross, the equivalent of an eternity in Hell, that is when it became clear to all that the saints in heaven are perfectly clean. This battle must end with the historical realization of the atonement of Christ. It has become plain, so plain that even the Devil cannot contradict it, that the saints of the Old Testament had a right to glory on the basis of the forgiveness of their sins and guilt. And therefore the conflict must end here. The Devil realizes that he is defeated and that he cannot continue. Christ can now point to the fact of the finished work of His Atonement, and that God was righteous in saving the saints of the Old Testament.

Now the Accuser of our brethren stands himself accused.

For if Christ, the sinless Son of God, had to pay for all the sins that God has imputed on Him, and had to suffer the equivalent of the torments of Hell according to the righteousness of God, how much more should the Devil and his angels suffer for their sins in Hell also according to the righteousness of God?

Moreover, since the Devil and his angels were now the only ones in heaven with the stain of sins on them, and since Christ was now crowned as King over heaven and earth, Christ ordered the Devil and his angels out of heaven. And so, the Devil, the Accuser of our brethren, was cast out of heaven, and he was cast into this earth. This also settles the matter of extraterrestrial beings on other planets in this universe. There are none. The Devil and his angels were not cast out into the universe, since there is nothing alive for them out there. It is all dead matter out there. We are all alone in this universe. God created this great universe to show His greatness to all mankind that, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth His handywork” (Psalm 19:1).



The Outcome of this Warfare (Revelation 12:10-11, Revelation 13:3, Luke 10:18, Jude 6, 2 Peter 2:4)

There was a loud voice in heaven. This voice tells us that NOW the salvation and the power of the Kingdom of God have come, and that the authority of Christ has appeared. These are things which surely could not be said immediately after the first rebellion of Satan and his angels in the Garden of Eden. All during the Old Testament history salvation had not yet appeared, in the sense that Christ had not yet come and put away the sins of His peple, and there was as yet no manifestation of the authority of Christ. And thus it fits that this battle in heaven occurred when the authority of Christ did appear, which was after His ascension into heaven. But there is more. The Devil is called “The Accuser of Our Brethren”, and by “brethren” is meant those who were saved in Christ and through Christ. It is also in that capacity of “The Accuser of Our Brethren” that he fought this spiritual battle, and it is also in that capacity that he was defeated; for the joy in heaven is caused especially by the fact that the accuser of the brethren is cast down.

The same loud voice in heaven speaks of the fact that there were saved in Christ who have overcome through the blood of the Lamb and the testimony which they gave. It means that the focal point of history is the Atonement of Christ on the cross. This is the turning point of all of this earth’s history. This is the hinge on which Old Testament time becomes New Testament time. It was the moment in time when the ceremonial law ended and the “last days” of this earth began. We read in:

Revelation 12:11
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

Now we can understand why in this song of victory, immediately after this battle is finished, no mention is made of the angels who worked so diligently to accomplish this victory. Only the brethren who were accused, but who had gained victory through the blood of the Lamb and their faith in Him, are mentioned. Now we can understand why this great voice sings, “Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ”. It is a death-blow to the serpent. God portrays this death-blow to the serpent when He shows us the beast that comes out of the sea. Please turn the page to Revelation 13:3, where we read, “And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death”.

Now is come, now has appeared, and now has been revealed the salvation and the power and the Kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ. All this was still hidden in the Old Testament days. And therefore there was room for argument on the part of the Devil, and he could wage this war. But now has come the realization of the whole thing. “Satan, you must go; you have no argument left. These souls belong to Christ; their sins have been atoned by Him. These souls have a right to His inheritance, and you do not. Therefore you do not belong into God’s holy heaven”.

And so, the accuser of the brethren was cast out of heaven and cast into the earth. The Lord Jesus referred to this event in a proleptical vision. You remember that a proleptical vision is a vision of a future action as if it was already accomplished. The Lord Jesus had sent out 70 of His disciples to preach the Gospel and heal the sick. And when the 70 returned they said, “Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name”. Then Jesus said in Luke 10:18…

Luke 10:18
And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.

It did not mean that at that time Satan was cast out of heaven, for this was a proleptical vision. But it does convey the message that the battle in heaven that Revelation 12:7 speaks about was not a long drawn out battle. God’s decision was made. Jude gives us examples of ungodly men, and ungodly angels who will inherit the wrath of God. He says here in Jude 6:

Jude 6
And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.

The fallen angels were cast out of heaven into this earth, and God adds here the information that they were “In everlasting chains under darkness”.

These were spiritual chains, and spiritual darkness.

Like Jude, the Apostle Peter gives us examples of ungodly men and ungodly angels who will inherit the wrath of God, and he says there in 2 Peter 2:4,

2 Peter 2:4
For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;

We see here the same emphasis, that the fallen angels are cast into chains of darkness. Satan and his angels were cast into this earth. Moreover, this earth is now called Hell.

Is this earth presently Hell?

To be in Hell means to be under the wrath of God. Hell can be a place, or it can be a condition. Presently this earth is under the condition of being under the wrath of God. But after the Judgment of the Last Day this earth will be done away, and there will be a place called Hell where the Devil and his angels and all unsaved mankind shall be cast into.

2 Corinthians 5:11
Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.

We must warn people that Satan and all his angels are presently roaming on earth, seeking whom they may devour, and that in joining them we may put ourselves in a condition called Hell.



Woe to the Inhabiters of the Earth (Revelation 12:12, Revelation 8:13, Isaiah 44:21-23)

After the first four trumpets have sounded an angel flying through the midst of heaven was saying, “Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth” (Revelation 8:13).

This marks the beginning of the Final Tribulation Period. But this is not the event that is described in Revelation 12:12, for in Revelation 12:12 Satan was cast out of heaven in the year AD 33. It is true that Satan was cast into the earth at that time, but he was struck with darkness for many centuries, until at the time of the Final Tribulation Period he will again be as powerful as before the cross. And so, we read in Revelation 12:12:

Revelation 12:12
Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! For the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.

The short time that God speaks about already lasted for almost 2000 years. In our timeframe that is not called a short time, but for a spirit being who compares time with eternity, that is a short time.

When we hear these warnings from the Lord about the wiles of the Devil, and the danger we are in, we know that we should be on our guard, and we should study our Bibles to arm ourselves with the sword of the Spirit and be ready for the attacks of Satan. But also remember that our God is merciful toward His people, His elect. If we see in our life that God has done a wonderful work of faith in our soul, then we must not be frightened by the woes that are sounded by the words of Revelation 8:13, or Revelation 12:12, but we must remember that our God preserves His people even unto the end of time. We read in Isaiah 44:

Isaiah 44:21
Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for thou art my servant: I have formed thee; thou art my servant: O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me.

Isaiah 44:22
I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.

Isaiah 44:23
Sing, O ye heavens; for the LORD hath done it: shout, ye lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.

Who is Israel here?

The Lord speaks to the Israel of God, His elect, the remnant from every nation and tribe and tongue on this earth. It is true that we are Israel, His servant. But in our walk on this earth we are not always heavenly minded, and sometimes we have committed big sins that we are still sorry for. That is why our Lord calls us Jacob, supplanter, or deceiver. And God says, “I have blotted out thy sins; return unto me, for I have redeemed thee”. O, this is music to our ears. We could break forth into singing and continue rejoicing, “For the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel”.

AMEN.

By Alfred Chompff