Revelation 12 DEVO: The Woman, The Male Child & The Dragon

Chapter 12:
The title almost sounds like it should be a CS Lewis book doesn’t it! What we read today is kinda’ like a sketch of the hidden forces behind the climax of the seven bowls to be poured out. It shows the initial rebellion of Satan (Isaiah 14:13-15) and the impact that has had throughout human history. First off, I’ll give my take on the characters: The woman = nation Israel, the male child = Jesus and the dragon = Satan.
The Woman is described as “clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.” Bible guys smarter than me say these are references to Jacob, Rachel and the 12 tribes. I get the 12 tribes thing. The idea of her about to give carries the idea that this Messiah came from the Jewish nation and the pain being the faithful who are suffering and/or the rejection of Jesus as their Messiah.
The Male Child represents Jesus, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter”, the foretold Messiah who was to come and did!
The Dragon is clearly Satan (vs 9) whose goal is to finish off this Messiah. The bell has been rung and the fight is about to begin!
Historically, the 1/3 stars that the dragon sweeps out of the sky & hurls to earth are the angels who joined Satan’s rebellion and became enemies of God, demons. This dragon’s plan is to kill this male child right after He is born, but God had other plans! This baby is swept up to heaven and the woman is sent into the wilderness for 1260 days (3 ½ years).
We then read that war breaks out in heaven between Michael & God’s angels and Satan & his demons. And of course, God wins and the description in 10-12 is awesome!
But, it’s not over. The dragon is ticked and what we read next would have made today’s special effects movies seem lame! It reads, “from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth.” Now this would have been cool to see! So then, yeah, he gets more tickled and decides to take his anger out on faithful believers.
SO WHAT?!
*The things we read here and in upcoming chapters are a bitter-sweet. Yes I want Jesus to finally come and conquer evil for good. At the same time, I’m still wanting my friends, family and neighbors to come to believe and receive Jesus Christ! So the question of the urgent is am I being intentional to Know Jesus & Make Him Known with my life? How about you?