September 14th, 2016
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

FEAR NO DRAGONS

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Opening Prayer

Loving Lord, reign in my heart. Open my eyes, quiet anger, dispel worry and spread Your light in my spirit.

Read REVELATION 12:1—13:1a

[1] A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. [2] She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. [3] Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. [4] Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born. [5] She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.” And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. [6] The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days. [7] Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. [8] But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. [9] The great dragon was hurled down-that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. [10] 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 Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. [11] They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. [12] Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! 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.” [13] When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. [14] The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach. [15] Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. [16] But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. [17] Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring-those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus. [1] The dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name.

Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Meditate

“What the New Testament affirms, in its own uninhibited way, is that at the Cross Jesus disarmed and triumphed over the devil” (John R. W. Stott).

Think Further

The open heaven produces another symbolic sign. The woman is not an individual, but Israel with the stars taken from Joseph’s dream (Gen. 37:9). We are looking at the Christmas story from an unusual perspective and we have the whole life and ministry of Jesus covered in one verse. The birth and ministry of Jesus is opposed by the dragon. This figure has many biblical associations, but his identity is firmly established in verse 9. This is the serpent who led Eve astray (Gen. 3) and Satan who accuses the people of God (Book of Job). He is the source of the power of Pharaoh (Ezek. 29:3) and Nebuchadnezzar (Jer. 51:34) and sometimes called Leviathan (Isa. 27:1). However, Satan, the devil, is hurled down to the earth for the final battle and his inevitable defeat.

 

The war in heaven is only a backdrop to the real conflict. Satan is defeated at the Cross of Jesus. Everything flows from this. Satan no longer has grounds to accuse the people of God, because Jesus has taken our sin and become the slain Lamb, our atoning sacrifice. He is interceding for us in heaven. Death has been conquered by his resurrection, so that the believers do not shrink from a witness that will lead to their deaths (Rom. 8:31–39 proclaims the same message).

 

The wounded dragon has failed to destroy the child of the woman. He tries to drown her as Pharaoh would have destroyed the children of Israel at the Red Sea, but she is kept safe for a season—the three and a half years that repeatedly occurs in various forms throughout the book. The only people left for him to attack are the faithful Christians. Their security is in the work of Jesus on the Cross, but they are still open to Satan’s attacks in this world.

Apply

How has the truth of this chapter encouraged you in the face of difficulty?

Closing prayer

Lord Jesus, praise You for Your victory over sin, evil and Satan. Release Your resurrection power in my life.

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