Who Was the Angel Addressing with these Words?
“ Therefore, rejoice, O heavens!
And you who live in the heavens, rejoice!
But terror will come on the earth and the sea,
for the devil has come down to you in great anger,
knowing that he has little time.”(evidently, those in the heavenly realms are free of the devil’s influence)
“When the dragon realized that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. But she was given two wings like those of a great eagle so she could fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness. There she would be cared for and protected from the dragon for a time, times, and half a time.” – Rev.12:12-14
Since the devil could not defeat Christ, his next choice was to destroy the church. So out of his mouth, he cast a tsunami of persecution. Commentators usually understand the woman to represent the experience of the church during the long years between the time of Jesus and the end. The church’s experience will not be a picnic. There is much persecution that befalls those who take the name of Jesus. This suffering seems in startling contrast to the assertions of victory and power made in chapter 5. It is even in contrast to verse 11 which talks about “overcoming through the blood of the Lamb.” Suffering in the context of the victory of God may seem to make no sense. While the enemy may “kill the body,” he cannot take away the eternal life that is ours through the victory that is ours in Christ.
While this may be little comfort to those in the throws of loss or suffering, nothing is ultimately wasted with God.
In His infinite wisdom, even the greatest of tragedies can lay the foundation for healing and recovery. While hurt people often hurt people themselves, many victims of tragedy find resources in God to become healers instead of hurters.
This time period of a ‘Time, Times and half a time’ equates to the 3 ½ yrs or 1260 days which is mentioned 7 times in the books of Daniel and Revelation. If something gets a 7 time mention it must have some significance. This will be explained in Chapter 13.
We have discussed before, of all the time prophecies in scripture, this one is repeated more than any other. This same time prophecy is mentioned 7 times in Daniel and Revelation. What is significant is the way these three terms are used, 42 months is only used in relationship to the wicked. 1260 days or 3 1/2 years is used in respect to the righteous and the term, ‘times, time and half a time’ is used to refer to the time of persecution. They all equate to the same time sequence.
The mention of this time period should help us assume that John intends his hearers and readers to at least be familiar with Daniel – just as Jesus referred three times to Daniel in His end time sermon in Matt 24. The original readers of this book would still have the raw understanding that Jesus’ ministry lasted 3 ½ years and was akin to Elijah’s 3 ½ years of drought, which led to the Mt Carmel confrontation. This conflict in turn broke the drought and the grip of evil on the nation.
In view of the dragon’s attempt to counterfeit everything God does or stands for will become a point that we will look at more closely in the following chapters.