The Woman, the Dragon, and the War in Heaven

In this chapter

In this chapter, you’ll:

Read the text: Rev 12

Key takeaways

• The woman is God’s people, the child is Jesus, and the dragon is Satan — Revelation tells us the last one outright, and the Old Testament supplies the first two.
• Satan is thrown down, and heaven credits it to the Lamb’s blood: many readers, with Jesus’ own words in John 12:31, tie the dragon’s fall to the cross.
• The accuser has nothing left to say. Believers overcome him by the Lamb’s blood and their testimony — and some of them paid with their lives.
• The dragon makes war on the woman’s children, which is us. God’s protection is real, and it doesn’t mean the wilderness stops being a wilderness.

Reflect & discuss

• Read Revelation 12:1–6. What does John see, and which pictures does Revelation itself explain? Look at Genesis 37:9 and Psalm 2:9 for two more.
• Heaven says the accuser “has been thrown down” (12:10). How does knowing the accuser’s case is closed change the way you handle guilt, shame, and accusation?
• Verse 11 says they overcame “because of the Lamb’s blood, and because of the word of their testimony,” and that they “didn’t love their life, even to death.” What does that add to the picture of overcoming?
• The dragon can’t reach the child or destroy the woman, so he makes war on her children. Where do you feel that pressure?
• (Personal; feel free to pass.) What is the heart of your own testimony — not the whole story, the center of it?

The last question is personal — no one should be required to answer it.