Daily Scripture Reading Revelation 11:15 - 12:12

Many Christians have a tendency to blame Satan and spiritual warfare every time something bad happens in their life. Even something as innocuous as a bad day at work is counted as an attack from Satan.

There are several problems with this mentality. First, if Satan attacks someone, he is probably going to do a lot more than just give someone a bad day at work. Second, Satan has limited knowledge and resources. If you claim Satan is attacking you, then you are claiming that, at that particular time, out of 8 billion people on earth, Satan has nothing better to do than attack you. The third problem is the book of Revelation tells us what Satan actually does with his time. It might be surprising to learn that causing havoc on earth is not what he is doing.

Yesterday, we read about the two witnesses. They prophesied for 1,260 days, then they were killed. All the people of the earth rejoiced over their death, but after 3.5 days the prophets came back to life and went up to heaven. The people remaining on earth were terrified.

Rev. 11:15 ¶ Then the seventh angel sounded, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ¶ “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever.”

After the seventh trumpet there will be an announcement that Jesus is now ruler over the earth.

Rev. 11:16 And the twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God,

Rev. 11:17 saying, ¶ “We give You thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who is and who was, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign.

Rev. 11:18 And the nations were enraged, and Your rage came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and to give reward to Your slaves—the prophets and the saints and those who fear Your name, the small and the great—and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”

At the end God will render judgments and dispense rewards.

Rev. 11:19 ¶ And the sanctuary of God which is in heaven was opened, and the ark of His covenant appeared in His sanctuary, and there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder and an earthquake and a great hailstorm.

Rev. 12:1 ¶ And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.

Look at the word “sign”. The following verses are not recounting things in chronological order. The sign signifies something that happened previously.

The woman represents Israel. The crown of twelve stars represent the twelve tribes of Israel.

Rev. 12:2 And she was with child, and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth.

Rev. 12:3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems.

The dragon represents Satan.

Rev. 12:4 And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.

Sweeping away a third of the stars may represent Satan getting many angels to follow him and become his demons.

Rev. 12:5 And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne.

The male child represents Jesus. Jesus went back to heaven after his death and resurrection.

Rev. 12:6 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.

The woman, who represents Israel, will be protected during the tribulation for 1,260 days, which is about 3.5 years. This fits with Daniel 9:27 which tells us about Israel having a 7 year covenant of peace, a covenant which will be broken halfway through the 7 years.

Rev. 12:7 ¶ And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war,

Rev. 12:8 and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven.

Rev. 12:9 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.

After the seventh trumpet, Satan and his demons will be expelled from heaven.

Rev. 12:10 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 has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night.

This verse gives us insight into the activity of Satan. Satan stands before God day and night and accuses the brethren.

Many Christians have a tendency to blame Satan and spiritual warfare every time something bad happens in their life. Even something as innocuous as a bad day at work is counted as an attack from Satan. However, Satan cannot be in multiple places at the same time. He does not have unlimited knowledge. If Satan accuses the brethren before God day and night, then he is not roaming the earth causing havoc because he cannot be in heaven and on earth at the same time. He might be sending his demons out to do various things, but he himself is before God day and night lodging accusations.

Rev. 12:11 And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their witness, and they did not love their life even to death.

Rev. 12:12 For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.”

Notice the word “woe”. Chapters 9-11 describe the first two woes. The third woe will take place after Satan is expelled from heaven.

Many Christians have a tendency to blame Satan and spiritual warfare every time something bad happens in their life, even when they have a bad day at work. However, Satan cannot be in multiple places at the same time. Satan accuses the brethren before God day and night; therefore, he is not roaming the earth causing havoc because he cannot be in heaven and on earth at the same time.

Since Satan has limited knowledge, what are the chances he actually knows that you exist?

Since Satan has a limited number of demons, if he knows you exist, would he actually consider you enough of a threat that he would send demons to oppress you?

If Satan would decide to attack you, what would an attack from Satan actually look like?

If Satan would send demons to attack you, what might that look like?

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“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”