Revelation 12:13–17

12:13 The dragon realizes he is expelled from heaven and restricted to earth. His accusations against the saints no longer have any warrant, and thus he pursues and persecutes the woman (symbolizing the people of God) who gave birth to the triumphant male child.

12:14 The dragon intends to utterly destroy the woman, but his insane pursuit does not succeed because the woman receives the wings of an eagle. The Lord rescued Israel from Egypt by bearing them on the wings of an eagle (Ex. 19:4), promising to catch them on his wings and bear them on his pinions (Deut. 32:11). Just as Israel was led by the Lord into the wilderness when the dragon Pharaoh tried to destroy them, so God preserves the church while it lives in the wilderness (cf. Isa. 51:9; Ezek. 29:3; 32:2) of exile (cf. Isa. 40:27–31). John reverts back to what was said in Revelation 12:6, again emphasizing that the church will be nourished and protected during its sojourn in the wilderness. Here he specifies how long the time in the wilderness will last: “a time, and times, and half a time.” The time period equals three and one-half years, matching the time of Antiochus IV Epiphanes’s (175–164 BC) persecution of Israel (Dan. 7:25). Three and one-half years is another way of speaking of 1,260 days (Rev. 12:6). As I argued in my comment on Revelation 11:2, the stretch of time here refers to the interval between Christ’s resurrection and his return. The Devil persecutes the church, but God protects and guards it.

12:15–16 The serpent tries to flood and overwhelm the woman, the people of God. Again the language is symbolic: the serpent uses persecution, deceit, false teachers, and moral depravity to overwhelm and engulf the church (cf. Pss. 18:4; 144:7–8, 11). The earth, however, opens up to swallow the flood emanating from the mouth of the dragon (cf. Num. 16:30, 32; Deut. 11:6). In other words, God provides means of escape for the church—just as he did when Israel was rescued from Egypt and the waters of the Red Sea—so that the church will not be destroyed by the serpent. The church may be rocked by false teaching and moral compromise, but it finally and ultimately stands erect and steadfast. The Devil cannot and will not win.

12:17 We could mistakenly read this verse chronologically as the next thing the dragon did. But John is shaking the kaleidoscope at different angles so his readers can understand the world in which they live. The Devil is enraged because God is protecting the woman, but his work is not done. He takes off to make war against the offspring of the woman—those who faithfully keep God’s commands and uphold the testimony of Jesus (14:12). The conflict that began at the beginning of history between the offspring of the woman and the serpent does not end quickly (cf. Gen. 3:15). The offspring of the woman here represents the people of God. Does this contradict my contention that the woman also represents the people of God (cf. Rev. 12:1)? How can the offspring and the woman be the same entity? We need to recognize the apocalyptic character of what John writes; he looks at the same entity from a variety of perspectives. Thus this is a literary device that should not be pressed. Designating both the woman and the children as the people of God fits with what John does elsewhere. For instance, in 2 John 1 the “elect lady” and “her children” refer to the same entity, representing the church and its members. So too here, the offspring are the individual members of the people of God.

The dragon does not cease attacking the church; the battle is unrelenting until the final day. The dragon strategizes and contemplates victory over the church. He stands on the seashore and looks to the sea—a place of chaos and evil in Hebrew thought (cf. Rev. 21:1)—and, as we shall see in the next chapter, he summons an ally. He calls a monster from the midst of the sea to attack the offspring of the woman (cf. 11:7; 13:7).