by Hugh DeLong<\/p>\n
Chapter 12 of Revelation is like one of the old ‘Up Close and Personal’ segments on the sports show. We are given a historical overview of Satan as the adversary of God’s people. Again, remember that this is written in symbolic language, so it is hard to tell whether these events have any literal basis. As an example, Revelation 12:4 speaks of the ‘great red dragon’ having a tail large enough to sweep down a third of the stars of heaven upon the earth. Even a little understanding of the size and number of stars would have the story of Earth ending at that point, as it could not literally survive even one <\/b>star colliding with it, let alone one-third of the stars of heaven!<\/p>\n
So, my take is that this section gives us a brief history of the conflicts God’s people have faced. Satan’s adversarial work began in rebellion against God. He lost. He attempted to derail the plan of God throughout the history of mankind, leading up to the birth of Jesus, as seen in his persecution of ‘the woman who was about to give birth<\/em>.’ Israel was chosen to bring the Messiah and Savior-the ‘dragon’ with all of his power attempts to stop this from happening. Satan loses.<\/p>\n Recalling how God took Israel out of Egypt and into the desert, where He protected and provided for them, the woman flees into the wilderness and is protected from Satan’s onslaught.<\/p>\n John then writes of Satan’s ‘war in heaven<\/em>‘. Satan loses.<\/p>\n If you follow the ‘timing’ in this chapter, such a ‘war in heaven’ is not <\/b>at the beginning of time, but instead appears to refer to the battle that he faced with Jesus. Whatever the take on this,\u00a0again, he loses<\/strong>. Those with Christ conquer him not by might or power but by the word of their testimony (Revelation 12:11).<\/p>\n Satan then continues his ‘battle’ against the ‘woman’. This appears to be the early church and all of the resistance against it. He loses yet again. The woman is protected and given victory by the power of God, not <\/b>by her own power.<\/p>\n Satan continues the battle against ‘the offspring<\/em>‘ – identified as ‘those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.<\/em>‘ Guess what – He loses. God’s people overcome their enemy by their faithfulness to Jesus.<\/p>\n I hope you can back up, grasp the storyline without becoming entrapped with literalism, and see that Satan loses. Each and every time, he loses. No matter what he does, he loses. In the end, he loses and will be cast into hell, which was prepared for him and his angels (cp. Matthew 25:41).<\/p>\n We should not be surprised to experience pushback for our faith in Jesus. We are not to be intimidated by Satan and his war against us. We are to be faithful to Jesus. We are either on the side of Jesus, the victor, or Satan, the loser. Which will it be? Where are you standing? What side are you helping?<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Hugh DeLong Chapter 12 of Revelation is like one of the old ‘Up Close and Personal’ segments on the sports show. We are given a historical overview of Satan as the adversary of God’s people. Again, remember that this is written in symbolic language, so it is hard to tell whether these events have…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[102,235],"class_list":["post-92621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-revelation","tag-satan"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":33333,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-dont-believe-apollyon-is-satan\/","url_meta":{"origin":92621,"position":0},"title":"I don’t believe Apollyon is Satan","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 15, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In regards to Is Satan female? you said one of his names was Apollyon and cited Revelation 9:11. But read Revelation 9:1-11 and 20:1-2.\u00a0Apollyon binds Satan. Answer: \"They have as king over them, the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek he\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":56447,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/symbolism-in-revelation\/","url_meta":{"origin":92621,"position":1},"title":"Symbolism in Revelation","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 1, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Hugh DeLong As you are reading through Revelation, one of the things that should be abundantly evident is that the book is not about literal events. We see dragons with tails able to knock a third of the stars of heaven onto the earth (and yet the earth not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Revelation-12-300x250.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7929,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-do-people-call-satan-a-fallen-angel\/","url_meta":{"origin":92621,"position":2},"title":"Why do people call Satan a fallen angel?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 30, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Where in the Bible does the idea come that Satan is a fallen angel? It cannot be Isaiah 14:12 or Ezekiel 28:13-15; these refer to the kings of Babylon and Tyre. Doesn't the dragon in Revelation refer to the future? Also what is meant by \"spirits in prison?\" Answer:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16066,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-meant-by-a-new-heaven-and-a-new-earth\/","url_meta":{"origin":92621,"position":3},"title":"What is meant by a new heaven and a new earth?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 15, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What is meant by a new heaven and a new earth? And what is meant by a war in heaven? Answer: \"Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea\" (Revelation\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24964,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-is-both-the-king-of-babylon-and-jesus-called-the-morning-star\/","url_meta":{"origin":92621,"position":4},"title":"Why is both the king of Babylon and Jesus called the morning star?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 11, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Could you explain to me Isaiah 14:12-15? And then Revelation 22:16? Answer: \"How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, you who have weakened the nations! But you said in your heart, 'I will\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2386,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-could-satan-be-in-heaven\/","url_meta":{"origin":92621,"position":5},"title":"How could Satan be in heaven?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 6, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I know you get a lot of questions, but I'm hung up on this one. 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