The Woman and the Dragon
1A great and wondrous 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. 2She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. 3Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. 4His 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 he might devour her child the moment it was born. 5She 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. 6The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.
7And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9The 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.
10Then 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 hurled down. 11They overcame 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. 12Therefore 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."
13When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. 14The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the 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. 15Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. 16But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. 17Then 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.
2 comments:
Rev 12
Must admit, hard to wrap your head around this sometimes. Faith, faith, faith. Certainly believe it is within God's power to bring all of this to fruition, but my scientific analytical mind keeps saying that this is metaphorical. In any event, I am confident that the Lord will prevail over satan and his army. How all that plays out and when, don't know.
Father, clear our (mine) doubts and make our faith stronger than ever. Give us a peace as we read Revelations and help us to grow our faith. Watch over these men and especially jws as he looks for a new career.
In Christ,
cas
Rev 12
It's probably good that we can't wrap our mind completely around some of these, because it seems as though this would be the closest we will get to actually seeing God while we are in the flesh. That might literally blow our minds, so we might be better off trying to understand it as a metaphor, to keep our sanities. This verse is particularly easy to understand:
17Then 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.
The whole world, the evil in the world, they are all enraged with those who follow Christ, who truly live his words. We have known since we took the leap into Christianity that we will be chased, scoffed, mocked and so forth for our faith. As my pastor put it once, when we ask to be more like Christ, be ready to really be more like Christ. While being more like Christ means loving, patient, and all of the virtues, it also means that we must endure suffering as well, and the closer we get to be like Christ, the more suffering we will endure, cause the Devil really doesn't like losing.
Father, thank you for these men, for their unwillingness to let you go. Help us continue to learn and grow closer to You, and guide us to doing only those things that You want us to be doing. Please watch over jws and direct him to Your mission for him.
In Jesus name
crb
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