The Woman and the Dragon

A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth.

Then another sign appeared: a great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. The dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, ready to devour her child as soon as it was born.

She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. But her child was caught up to God and to His throne—a reference to Christ's ascension and ultimate victory. The woman fled into the wilderness, where God had prepared a place for her to be nourished for 1,260 days.

War broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, but they were defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. The great dragon was thrown down—that ancient serpent called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

Then a loud voice in heaven proclaimed, '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, who accuses them day and night before our God. They have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. Rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!'

When the dragon saw that he had been thrown to earth, he pursued the woman. But she was given the two wings of a great eagle so that she might fly to her place in the wilderness to be nourished for a time, times, and half a time. The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman to sweep her away, but the earth came to her aid.

Furious with the woman, the dragon went off to make war on the rest of her offspring—those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.

This cosmic drama revealed the spiritual reality behind earthly persecution. Satan, cast down from heaven, wars against God's people. But God protects them, and they overcome not by their own strength but by the blood of the Lamb and their faithful testimony.