Continued from previous post:
A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman…and she was with child…Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems…And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child. And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne. Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days. And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night.” Rev. 12:1-10
Here we see the birth of Jesus: the
birth of Christianity. Satan tried, and
failed, to kill Jesus through king Herod when Jesus was born (see Matt.
2:13-20). Prior to Jesus’ death, Satan
was the ruler of this world within limits set by God (see Job 1:6-12; 2:1-7;
Matt. 4:8, 9), but Jesus’ sacrificial death redeemed the world from Satan’s
control and Jesus became the absolute ruler of this world (see Rev. 5:9-13;
Rev. 12:5). Satan did not want to give
up control so a war broke out and he and his angels were thrown out of heaven
by force.
Satan is no longer allowed to come
before God in heaven and accuse us of anything.
We now belong to Jesus and he represents us before God as our redeemer,
our savior, and substitutes his perfection for our faults.
Satan is furious about losing to Jesus and decides to go after those who follow Jesus. The true followers of Jesus were forced to flee, many hiding in the mountains and forests where they were able to avoid the flood of people searching for them (see Appendix 2). Those who remained in the populated areas were less able to avoid persecution. The persecution lasted …a time and times and half a time…, which is the 1260 days, mentioned in verse 6. It is calculated this way: a time is one year, times is two years, and half a time is six months, giving a total of 1260 days (360 + 720 + 180 = 1260). This time period is also mention in Daniel 7
…out of this kingdom (Rome) ten kings will arise; and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will subdue three kings. He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One…and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time. Dan. 7:24, 25
