Persecution can come in many forms.
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Revelation Unlocked #133. Persecution can come in many forms.
“Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for 1,260 days.” Revelation 12:6. NASB
Bible scholars generally agree that the woman of Revelation 12 represents the church suffering at the hands of satan, particularly after the resurrection of Jesus.
Revelation 12 depicts the transition from Israel to the church: she is clothed with the sun – the gospel which is shinning forth in all its glory and purity. The moon under her feet stands for the Old Testament times and ceremonial laws that were shadows of the cross and foreshadowed things to come. These things disappeared when the full light of the sun had risen through Jesus Christ. The crown of 12 stars is representative of the 12 tribes and 12 apostles.
Persecution, of course, can come in many forms, and this began with pagan Rome and then continued for 1260 years with Papal Rome. I remember a Christmas dinner at my Grand Parents house when I was 20 (over 50 years ago). For some unknown reason, one of my cousins decided to raise the “question” of my new found faith. My grand-father had already told me that if I joined “that church,” he would dis-inherit me. It was one of those moments when I felt more at home with Revelation than I did with my own family. Out of an extended family of 8 aunts and uncles and what seems like myriads of Cousins, I am the only one who professes faith in the saving work of Jesus.
John seems to understand my struggles with the world. He understands the forbidden attractions, the sense of being different, even weird. As I studied Revelation, I found he portrayed the kind of world I was living in. When I read about the woman in the desert, I felt she represented me. The Roman world as understood by Bible scholars was a lot like my world. Christians in Asia Minor, even if they weren’t persecuted, struggled with how to live as Christians in a pagan world.
Revelation has outlined the war that is going on between the forces of good. As we will find, in the chapters ahead of us; the devil wars against everything God stands for. He wars against His character, His truth, His church, and the individuals in the church. Lo- and-behold we find that the war is even going on inside us.
May God train you and I in the relatively easy times, to be faithful in the hard times that Revelation tells us are coming.
7 And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, 8 and they did not prevail, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. 9 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. 10 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 brothers and sisters has been thrown down, the one who accuses them before our God day and night. 11 And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.” Revelation 12:7-11.
The size of the known universe is dizzying. While planet Earth is a large place, it is small compared to other planets circling a very average star. Our solar system is located at the fringe of a very average galaxy, which contains at least a hundred million stars, many of these with solar systems of their own. We now know that there are billions and billions of galaxies in the known universe. This means that we are either very important or very unimportant.
When you see how easily this planet could be lost in the limitless realms of the universe, you begin to think we must be very unimportant. But when you read Revelation 12 you get a very different impression. You begin to realize that what is going on here may be of greater importance to the universe than anything going on anywhere else.
In Rev12:4 it tells us that the dragon threw down a third of the stars in heaven. In a cartoon-style story like this, these are clearly not literal stars or galaxies. In Rev 1:20 stars are interpreted as angels, suggesting that the dragon (satan) precipitated a conflict in heaven (the control centre of the universe, wherever that is) that resulted in a third of the heavenly inhabitants being exiled to this earth. So, this planet has become the ongoing location of an insurgency that began long ago in heaven.
This is the ultimate answer to the issue of evil, pain, and suffering on this earth. No doubt the angels who remained in Heaven wondered if satan’s rebellion had any merit. The cross settled all their doubts. There we behold the beauty of God’s character. A God who would die for His creatures can be trusted to do what is right and fair. While satan had some access to the heavenly courts before the cross (Job 1 and 2 e.g.), his viewpoint has been banished from heaven since then (Revelation 12:10-11).
I would invite you to view the YouTube I produced with Lois, my nephew, called “Star Wars and the Biblical Narrative” Based on this passage. Here’s the link;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pp57ZdzVtCM
John seems to understand my struggles with the world. He understands the forbidden attractions, the sense of being different, even weird.
As I studied Revelation, I found he portrayed the kind of world I was living in. When I read about the woman in the desert, I felt she represented me. The Roman world as understood by Bible scholars was a lot like my world. Christians in Asia Minor, even if they weren’t persecuted, struggled with how to live as Christians in a pagan world.
Revelation has outlined the war that is going on between the forces of good and evil. As we will find, in the chapters ahead of us; the devil wars against everything God stands for. He wars against His character, His truth, His church, and the individuals in the church. Lo- and-behold we find that the war is even going on inside us.
May God train and prepare you and I in the relatively easy times, to be faithful in the hard times that Revelation tells us are coming.
“And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, and they did not prevail, 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 brothers and sisters has been thrown down, the one who accuses them before our God day and night. And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.” – Revelation 12:7-11.
The size of the known universe is dizzying. While planet Earth is a large place, it is small compared to other planets circling a very average star. Our solar system is located at the fringe of a very average galaxy, which contains at least a hundred million stars, many of these with solar systems of their own. We now know that there are billions and billions of galaxies in the known universe. This means that we are either very important or very unimportant.
When you see how easily this planet could be lost in the limitless realms of the universe, you begin to think we must be very unimportant. But when you read Revelation 12 you get a very different impression. You begin to realize that what is going on here may be of greater importance to the universe than anything going on anywhere else.
In Rev12:4 it tells us that the dragon threw down a third of the stars in heaven. In a cartoon-style story like this, these are clearly not literal stars or galaxies. In Rev 1:20 stars are interpreted as angels, suggesting that the dragon (satan) precipitated a conflict in heaven (the control centre of the universe, wherever that is) that resulted in a third of the heavenly inhabitants being exiled to this earth. So, this planet has become the ongoing location of an insurgency that began long ago in heaven.
This is the ultimate answer to the issue of evil, pain, and suffering on this earth. No doubt the angels who remained in Heaven wondered if satan’s rebellion had any merit. The cross settled all their doubts. There we behold the beauty of God’s character. A God who would die for His creatures can be trusted to do what is right and fair. While satan had some access to the heavenly courts before the cross (Job 1 and 2 e.g.), his viewpoint has been banished from heaven since then (Revelation 12:10-11).
I would invite you to view the YouTube I produced with Lois, my nephew, called “Star Wars and the Biblical Narrative” Based on this passage. Here’s the link;