THE
TWO BEASTS OF REVELATION Part 1
Lesson 17
Review
From the earlier lessons
we have learned how Jesus will awaken the earth
to hear the everlasting gospel. We have
studied the purpose of the seven trumpets, their
chronological structure and effects. We
have considered the effectiveness of the Two
Witnesses as represented in the work of the Bible
and Holy Spirit during this time period.
It is interesting to know
that in Old Testament times, a person accused of
murder could not be put to death by one witness.
Notice the importance and responsibility of being
a witness: “On the testimony of two or three
witnesses a man shall be put to death, but no one
shall be put to death on the testimony of only
one witness. The hands of the witnesses
must be the first in putting him to death, and
then the hands of all the people.”
Deuteronomy 17:6,7
During the time-period of
the trumpets, the gospel goes as a
“testimony” to every nation and person.
Jesus said, “And this gospel of the kingdom
will be preached in the whole world as a
testimony to all nations, and then the end will
come.” Matthew 24:14 Who gives this life or
death testimony? God’s Two Witnesses
– the Bible and the Holy Spirit!
Isn’t it interesting
that in Revelation’s story, no one will be
condemned for rejecting the testimony of one
witness for there will be two!
The unpardonable sin
According to the Bible,
there are two types of sin! The first type
is accidental or sin that occurs without willful
intention. Hitting your finger with a
hammer and saying a bad word could be described
as an accidental sin. Sometimes we say
things that are untrue (or not altogether true)
without intending to do so. John was aware
of both types of sin when he wrote, “If
anyone sees his brother commit a sin that does
not lead to death, he should pray and God will
give him life. I refer to those whose sin
does not lead to death. I am not saying
that he should pray about that. All
wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not
lead to death.” 1 John 5:16,17
The second type of sin is
deadly and comes from persistent wrongdoing!
Paul wrote, “If we deliberately keep on
sinning after we have received the knowledge of
the truth, no sacrifice for sin is left, but only
a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging
fire that will consume the enemies of God.”
Hebrews 10:26,27
Jesus told the Pharisees,
“And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy
will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against
the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who
speaks a word against the Son of Man will be
forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy
Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age
or in the age to come.” Matthew
12:31,32
The unpardonable sin is
committed when a person persistently refuses to
follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. According
to Webster, the word blasphemy means,
“taking the prerogatives of God.”
The work of the Holy Spirit is to lead us into
all truth, but if we refuse to be led into the
knowledge of truth, we reject the work and
ministry of the Holy Spirit. Israel refused
to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and
their hearts and minds became as hard as stone.
Such hardness led them to kill Jesus and then to
justify their deed! Revelation says the
condition of the world will become like Sodom and
Egypt in Revelation 11:8 This implies the world
will ultimately commit the unpardon-able sin!
Those being led of the Spirit will receive the
gospel. Those refusing the Spirit will
receive the mark of the beast.
Satan’s plans
revealed
Thus far in our study,
Revelation’s story (chapters 4-11) tells us
what Jesus is presently doing or will soon do.
As we begin chapter 12, John stops the
progression and tells us about Satan. God
wants His people to be aware of this wicked foe.
We need to anticipate his actions and his plans
for the last days!
The story of chapter 12
- John
sees a pregnant woman about to give
birth. {V2}
- An
enormous red dragon having seven heads
and ten horns appears. {V3}
- His
tail swept a third of the stars out of
the sky and flung them to the earth. {V4}
- The
dragon stood in front of the woman and
attempted to devour the baby boy when he
was born. {V4}
- The
woman gives birth to a baby boy who will
rule all nations with an iron scepter.
This son was snatched up to God and to
his throne. {V5}
- The
woman runs to the desert for 1,260 days
for protection. {V6}
- There
is war in heaven; Michael and his angels
fight the dragon and his angels. Satan is
ultimately cast out. {V7-9}
- When
the dragon saw that he was hurled to the
earth, he pursued the woman for a time,
times and half a time (same time period
as the 1,260 days above). {V13, 14}
- The
dragon spewed water like a river out of
his mouth but the earth opened its mouth
and helped the woman. {V15, 16}
- The
dragon was then enraged at the woman and
went off (disappeared) to make war
against the rest of her offspring (the
remnant people) who keep the commandments
of God and hold to the testimony of
Jesus. {V17}
Chapter 12 interpreted
Some background
information about this story must be presented at
this point. However, the conclusions
presented here may be regarded as tentative since
all the details of the story must be included
before reaching a comprehensive result.
The language of this
story is clearly symbolic. The great red
dragon having seven heads and ten horns is
identified in verse 12:9 as the angel king,
Satan. The Bible clearly interprets the
symbol. John says that war broke out in
heaven between Michael and his angels and Satan
and his angels. John saw two kings at war!
One king is called “Michael”, the other
“Satan.”
The angel kings
Two interesting points
can be made here. First, Michael is the
name angel’s used for Jesus before He came
to earth as a man. (The name Jesus was not
applied to the Son of God until he was born of
woman.) The name Michael means, “One
who is like God.” The name Michael is
mentioned in the Bible four times. From
Jude 9, we learn that Michael is an archangel.
(In this text, Michael and Satan have a dispute
over the resurrection of Moses.) The term
“archangel” indicates ruler ship over
angels much like archbishop means ruler ship over
the bishops. In Daniel 10:13, Michael is
identified as “one of the chief
princes.” In this verse, Michael
comes to help Gabriel because Satan is causing a
major problem. So, while Gabriel is working
with King Cyrus to accomplish an important task,
Michael subdues Satan the “prince of this
world” so the task can be accomplished.
Perhaps the clearest text
demonstrating that Michael is Jesus is found in
Daniel 12:1. This verse indicates that,
“When Michael arises (“stands
up”KJV). There will be a time of trouble
that has never been.” We know that
Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father
as our high priest. The context of Daniel
12:1 favorably compares with the seventh trumpet
of Revelation 11:15-19 which describes the close
of mercy. So, when Jesus stands up, the
ministry of intercession is ended. The time
of trouble that has never been commences at this
time. This time of trouble is the
outpouring of the full wrath of God upon those
having the mark of the beast!
Some people don’t
accept the idea that Michael is another name for
Jesus. Usually, support for this is given
in Jude 9 where Michael says to the devil,
“The Lord rebuke you.” The idea
is that if Michael were Jesus, he would not refer
to “the Lord” as though he was another
person. But this is not uncommon practice!
Zechariah 3:2 says “The Lord said to Satan,
‘The Lord rebuke you, Satan!’ The
Lord who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you!
Here Jesus clearly uses the same language. Jesus
asserts His authority over the devil from time to
time by reminding the devil who He really is.
For example, when Jesus was tempted by the devil
in the wilderness, He quoted from the Old
Testament saying, “Do not put the Lord your
God to the test.” Jesus clearly knew
who He was and so did the devil. In this
conversation between Jesus and Satan, Satan was
reminded again that he was dealing with God.
Each time the term
Michael is used in the Bible, a controversy with
Satan is under way! The real beauty of
knowing that Michael is Jesus is that the Son of
God identified himself as one of the angels
before coming to earth in the same way he now
identifies himself as the son of man! He is
Michael, the archangel, to the angels and to us;
he is Jesus the incomparable Son of Man!
Personal opinion
It is my opinion that
Michael closely identified with the angels before
the fall of Lucifer; thus, they really
didn’t understand exactly who He was. Christ’s
identity in heaven as an angel, albeit an
archangel or “one of the chief
princes”, was perhaps one of the reasons
Lucifer became jealous of Christ. Lucifer,
the highest of the created angels, came to think
that he was equal to or better than Michael.
Such thinking led Lucifer to controversy and
eventually expulsion from heaven.
If this opinion is true,
the phrase, “the Revelation of Jesus”
really comes into sharp focus. The book of
Revelation is actually the conclusion of a long
process: the revelation of who Jesus really is!
This is not only true in heaven but to human
beings on earth! Everyone will know WHO
JESUS REALLY IS when the 7th seal is
opened! Then Michael/Jesus destroys
Lucifer/devil when the Creator destroys the
world.
Back to the angel kings
The second point found in
Revelations 12:4,7-9 is that Michael and Satan
are clearly recognized as “angel
kings.” The Bible says “Satan
and his angels fought against Michael and his
angels.” Knowing that Lucifer is an
angel king in Revelation 12 is very important
because the fifth trumpet marks the appearing of
an “angel king” from the Abyss. See
Revelation 9:11. In the Hebrew and in the
Greek, the angel king’s name from the Abyss
means destroyer! The angel king from the
Abyss that shall appear on earth is none less
than an apparition of the devil. The irony
of this is significant. Michael came to
earth as a man to save the world while Satan
appears upon the earth to destroy the world!
The women
The woman in chapter 12
symbolizes the body of Christ and/or his
children. In Old Testament times,
God’s people were likened to or symbolized
by women. For example, see Ezekiel 23.
In Revelation, the people of God are compared to
a bride! “Let us rejoice and be glad and
give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb
has come, and his bride has made herself
ready.” Revelation 19:7
The baby boy that was
born and snatched up to God and to his throne in
this chapter is Jesus. Satan attempted to
destroy baby Jesus at birth, but was unable.
John says the baby boy will rule all nations with
a rod of iron. An iron scepter indicates a
ruler ship that will never end – a rule that
cannot be broken! Notice what John says of
Jesus at the second coming. “The
armies of heaven were following him, riding on
white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and
clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword
with which to strike down the nations. He
will rule them with an iron scepter. He
treats the winepress of the fury of the wrath of
God Almighty.” Revelation 19:14,15
The woman is chased
It is clear from the
story that after Satan and his angels were cast
from heaven, he chased the woman in order to
destroy her. If he could not overcome
Jesus, he would destroy the people of Jesus.
John says, “The woman fled into the desert
to a place prepared for her by God, where she
might be taken care of for 1,260 days. The
woman was given the two wings of a great eagle,
so that she might fly to a place prepared for her
in the desert, where she would be taken care of
for a time, times and half a time, out of the
serpent’s reach.” Revelation 12:
6,14
These verses reveal two
important things. First, the two time
periods of the 1,260 days and, a time, times and
half a time are identical and thus
interchangeable. This is important for
Daniel saw the persecution of the saints for a
time, times and half a time. Daniel 7:25
John and Daniel saw the same time-period.
If these time periods are
the same, we can apply the day/year principle
used in Daniel 7 (See lesson 9) to Revelation 12.
Historically, this time period is known as the
“dark ages” and it represents the 1,260
years of Papal rule which began in 538 A.D. when
the Pope was given civil authority over portions
of Europe and ended in 1798 when Napoleon took
the Pope captive. John’s view of the
woman’s plight and Daniel’s view of the
persecuting little horn harmoniously combine!
However, don’t think the war against the
saints is over! Both Daniel and John saw a
second conflict. John clearly tells us the
dragon prepares for final war against the remnant
of God.
Secondly, we learn from
these verses that the candle of truth was not
extinguished even though the women had to flee
from the determined reach of the devil. Jesus
cared for the woman in the wilderness during her
time of torment. This point brings out a
very important truth about the plan of salvation.
Even though Satan has tormented and persecuted
the people of God through evil and wicked people
for a long time, JUSTICE IS COMING. PAYDAY
SOMEDAY! Every person will meet his or her
Maker – face to face – someday. Every
deed, action and thought will be revealed –
someday. Every wrong will be dealt with
– someday.
The war in heaven
When did the war in
heaven described in Revelation 12:4, 7-9, take
place? The war between Michael and Satan
began before the world was created and ended
during the time Jesus lived upon earth! From
Isaiah 14:12-17 and Ezekiel 28:12-19 we learn
that Satan was in heaven before the world was
created. According to Revelation 12:4, his
tail (perhaps tale would be appropriate too)
swept a third of the angels out of heaven. He
was cast out with the angels loyal to hum. Evidently,
Satan’s followers felt his arguments were
justified for they joined him in rebellion.
Even though they were
cast out of heaven, Satan and his angels were
allowed to live. This point distresses a
large number of people! But consider the
alternative. If God had immediately
destroyed Satan and his followers on the grounds
of disagreement or rebellion, what would the
faithful angels in heaven have thought? They
would have thought, “If you disagree with
God, you’re as good as dead!” They
would have had clear evidence that God is not
love and that He does not grant the power of
choice. The argument of Lucifer would have
been justified! Lucifer had accused God of
always wanting things His way. Lucifer said
that there were other ways, better ways of doing
things. So, in His infinite wisdom, Jesus
allowed Satan to live so that everyone might see
what righteousness and evil are all about.
For some time, Satan and
his angels could attend certain functions or
meetings in heaven as representatives of a new
government. One such meeting is described
in Job 1. As the consequences of sin began to
appear over time, the universe of God’s
creation began to understand what “the
knowledge of good and evil” really is.
When Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge
of good and evil, the entire universe became
spectators of a great drama that would last 7,000
years. Earth became the theater of the
universe.
When Jesus came to earth
as a baby, the heavenly host saw the full
malignity of sin exercised against their beloved
commander. Satan lost no time attempting
the destruction of Jesus! The holy angels
were livid with indignation. The real
nature of sin was fully exposes for what it is.
And when the universe observed the death of Jesus
on Calvary, whatever interest they had in
Satan’s claims against God was fully
terminated. They saw Satan for what he
really was; a self-centered liar, a murderer and
a thief.
The war against Satan and
his angels described in Revelation 12:7-9 was
concluded on resurrection Sunday. Remember
Jesus ascended to the Father that morning before
meeting with His disciples that evening. See
John 20:17,19. While Jesus was in heaven
that day, the war between Michael and Satan which
lasted some 4,000 years was concluded. Satan
could never again enter heaven.
War ends on resurrection
Sunday
There are three important
reasons for this conclusion:
- First,
just before his crucifixion, Jesus told
his disciples that he came into the world
to glorify the Father through death.
Jesus said, “Now my heart is
troubled, and what shall I say?
‘Father, save me from this
hour’? No, it was for this
very reason I came to this hour…Now
is the time for judgment on this world;
now the Prince of this world will be
driven out.’” John
12:27-31 Jesus knew that his death would
forever deprive Satan from access to
heaven.
- The
second evidence showing this war was
concluded at Calvary is found in the
actual context of Revelation 12. “Then
I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
‘now have come the salvation and the
power and the kingdom of our God, and the
authority of his Christ. For the
accuser of our brothers, who accuses them
before our God day and night has been
hurried down.’” Revelation
12:10 This verse clearly associates the
salvation of man and the casting out of
Satan as simultaneous events. Even
more, this verse clearly points out that
Satan, “the accuser of our brothers,
has been hurled down.” If the
war between Michael and Satan was
concluded before the world was created,
Satan could not be the accuser of the
human race (angels call us brothers
– Revelation 19:10) for no one
existed before the earth was created!
- The
last reason supporting this conclusion is
that the chronological structure of the
story in Revelation 12 supports it!
Revelation says, “When the dragon
saw that he had been hurled to the earth,
he pursued the woman who had given birth
to a male child.” Revelation 12:13
From the story we have a chronological
sequence of three events: the birth
of Jesus, the casting down of Satan, the
pursuit of the woman into the wilderness.
Consequently, the final eviction of Satan
from heaven has to follow the birth of
Jesus and be prior to the persecution
that began in 538 A.D.
1260 Years of Papal Rule
Birth
538
1500
1776 1798
1844 Today
Attempts
Chases
Spews water
America
Makes
war
To kill Jesus
woman
out of his
Established
on remnant
To desert mouth
The
Sequence of Revelation 12
What about the heads and
horns?
The seven heads and ten
horns and seven crowns are part of the red
dragon-like beast in the beginning of this story.
Even though the heads, horns, and crowns are not
mentioned again in chapter 12, their purpose and
function becomes very important as the story
progresses. We will see their function in
the next two lessons.
Important chronological
sequence
Revelation 12 presents a
broad four-part sequence by the dragon-like beast
that needs our attention.
- First,
the dragon intended to devour the
offspring of the woman as soon as her
child was born.
- The
dragon pursued the woman for a specified
time-period.
- The
dragon spewed water out of its mouth to
sweep the woman away.
- The
dragon becomes enraged at the woman and
prepares for war against the last of her
offspring.
We’ve already
studied the first two steps of this sequence.
But notice the third element. John sees the
dragon-beast spew water from his mouth to sweep
the woman away. What does this mean? Water
is used as a symbol in this prophecy. We
read in Revelation 17:15 “The waters you
saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples,
multitudes, nations and languages,” Knowing
this is symbolic and knowing the meaning of the
symbol, we can interpret what John saw. Satan
spewed peoples, multitudes, nations and languages
out of his mouth to sweep the woman away. In
other words, Satan flooded the wilderness church
with people to corrupt Truth. How and when
was this done?
Satan attempts to drown
the true church
Generally speaking, the
16th century marked the dawn of a new
age – the Renaissance. Scientific
thought and investigation gained attention.
Truth and light about the laws of nature,
medicine, geography, physics and theology began
to inch forward. Knowledge is power and
power controls the masses. As truth about
various subjects began to develop, the iron grip
of the Roman Church upon medieval life began to
slip. People throughout Europe were anxious
for more freedom (see any parallel today?) Church
control over society had reached a deplorable
level and many longed for liberty of conscience
and freedom of speech.
To hold the power
struggle in check, Roman clerics and their
political pawns resorted to torture and
persecution to hold back the tide of change.
Under the guise of righteousness and in the name
of God, the Church of Rome had millions put to
death! God raised up mighty men of valor to
lead the people toward more truth. One such
man was Martin Luther. It has been said
that he “broke the power of a hundred Roman
popes” with the simple truth that salvation
comes by faith!
The call for reformation
grew like wildfire across Europe. But like
many well-meaning movements the pendulum swung
too far. Pursuit of truth and freedom
destabilized Europe, and the chaos that followed
brought even greater ruin. The pursuit of
freedom became corrupted with the pursuit of
power.
As truth prospered, the
Church lost power and the Holy Roman Empire began
to collapse. A fearful struggle commenced
throughout Europe that would last two centuries.
For the most part, the men and women fighting for
political control were no better than their
predecessors. (In our day we often see the
same process in small countries. One
terrible dictator is overthrown only to be
succeeded by another just as bad.) After
two centuries of anarchy, Europe in general, and
France in particular, reached a point of
self-destruction. A reign of terror
occurred in France (1793-1796) and by historical
standards, is considered to be the world’s
bloodiest revolution.
Notice how Satan tried to
overpower the reformation with people. In
very simple terms, the reformation started with a
noble goal – the pursuit of freedom and
truth. This pursuit destabilized religious
and political powers. People seeking
control took advantage of the movement and the
call for spiritual reformation became lost in a
mad rush for power. Just as tiny leaks
breaks open an earthen dam, the quest for freedom
broke the bonds of church and government alike.
Anarchy reigned throughout Europe. Eventually,
France, the leading nation in Europe at the end
of the 18th century, convulsed in a
horrible revolution. At the end of the
holocaust, France, in legislative assembly
declared, “there is no God”, and crowds
celebrated by burning all the precious Bibles
(many were hand-written) that could be found.
Notice the thoroughness
of Satan’s work. He infiltrated the
Reformation movement with evil people and then
led the masses of Europe too not only reject the
teachings of the Papacy but to reject the Bible
as well! Europe today is still strangely
indifferent to spiritual matters. In France
and England, only 3% of the population regularly
attends church!
John tells us, “But
the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth
and swallowing the river that the dragon had
spewed out of his mouth.” Revelation
12:16 Jesus opened up a vast piece of real estate
to help the wilderness church. This verse
describes the emergence of a new world – a
continent called North America. This new
place became a haven for those seeking truth and
religious freedom. Since it was largely
uninhabited, those seeking political power were
not attracted, for without people, there is no
political power.
Millions of Europeans
followed the pilgrims to this great country in
search of a land where freedom of worship was an
inalienable right. It is for this very reason
that America has a constitution built on noble
and righteous principles. Our forefathers
were concerned more with truth and righteousness
than personal power!
The Declaration of
Independence in 1776 occurred right on time.
According to revelation 12:16, “the earth
helped the woman by opening its mouth.”
The third section of the four-part sequence of
Revelation 12 is clearly seen. Twenty-two
years later, in February, 1798, the 1,260 year
time period allotted to the Papacy ended as
Napoleon inflicted a deadly wound upon the Papacy
by putting the Pope in prison. The
Christian Church, like the Jewish Church 1800
years earlier, was brought down.
But Satan isn’t
finished
The last part of the
four-step sequence in Revelation 12 ends by
saying that Satan is really angry! “Then
the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off
to make war against the rest of her offspring
– those who obey God’s commandments and
hold to the testimony of Jesus.” Revelation
12:17 Why is Satan so enraged? Notice his
string of failures in this chapter: He
failed to snuff out baby Jesus. He failed
to destroy the truth through 1,260 years of
persecution and he failed to overcome the truth
with a flood of people.
But there is something
that really enrages the dragon. It is
something greater than his failures. The
Bible says, “The dragon was enraged.”
What is it? The devil is enraged about
1844! Satan knows that 1844 marks the
beginning of the appointed time of the end.
He knows that Jesus is concluding the plan of
salvation in heaven. He knows that he is
going to lose. He knows that his remaining
time is short. John said, “But woe to
the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone
down to you! He is filled with fury,
because he knows that his time is short.”
Revelation 12:12 So the devil is enraged knowing
that the end of time has come. His work and
existence are about over. He lost every battle
with Michael. Filled with rage, Satan
prepares for the final war upon the children of
God.
Two chronological points
Two points need to be
made: Remember, John tells a four-part
sequence in Revelation 12 that progresses
chronologically from the birth of Jesus to the
time of the remnant. In other words, the
story begins with the birth of Jesus and ends
with the dragon preparing for unrestrained
warfare on the last people or remnant of God!
The remnant is identified as obeying God’s
commandments and holding to the testimony of
Jesus! The gates of hell are about to swing
open to the remnant.
Secondly, we see that
revelation 13 clearly describes the warfare that
Satan is about to conduct on the remnant! It
will be global. It will intense and it will
affect every man, woman and child on earth.
You will be amazed at the forth-coming
achievements of Satan!
The purpose of Chapter 12
is quite simple. It chronologically
prepares the stage for the war described in
Chapter 13. This war affects the remnant
and the remnant need to know what Satan is about
to do!
Quiz
- What
is the unpardonable sin?
- Who
is Michael?
- What
does the idea, “the dragon chased
the woman to the wilderness for 1,260
days” mean?
- What
does the idea, “and the dragon
spewed water out of his mouth to sweep
the woman away” mean?
- What
is the purpose of Chapter 12?
Memory verse: “But
woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil
has gone down to you! He is filled with
fury, because he knows that his time is short.
Revelation 12:12
Notes:
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