Taking Up Arms Against the Dragon

Readying ourselves for battle in the season of Advent

Readying ourselves for battle in the season of Advent (A New Introduction for 2023)

When I first wrote this article two years ago, the idea of being at war was something that was barely spoken of. The pandemic has arrested the news cycle, and it was hard to see past that. Two years on, we’re in a world at war on multiple fronts, some close to home and some close to our hearts. It doesn’t change that fact, however, that as Christians, we are in a constant war zone ourselves, whether the world outside reflects that or not. In this article, I hope you’ll understand afresh why we are “at war”, what that has to do with the Nativity, and what you can do in your own life to take up arms and fight in that war.

Today we’ll look at the twelfth chapter of Revelation in which we read a retelling of the nativity story from a heavenly perspective¹. Before I begin, it’s worth remembering that just as a birds sees things differently than we do from down here, the shift in vantage point means that there are some details that look different, even strange. We often see this when prophets in the Bible are given “heavenly spectacles” so to speak, and so we shouldn’t be surprised by this but we often are. This can be perplexing, but should never be a reason to shy away from texts like this, I hope you’ll see why as we go through the text together.

The Woman, the Child, and the Dragon (12:1-6)

(v1-3) A great 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. She was pregnant and cried out in labour and agony as she was about to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven: There was a great fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on its heads were seven crowns.

A heavenly protagonist and a fiery antagonist appear from heaven. The Woman and the Dragon. These two players shouldn’t be new to us, in fact, they are as old as time itself. After the fall, enmity was placed between the woman and the serpent after God gave the serpent—the Dragon—this promise.

I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel. Genesis 3:15

What we see throughout the Old Testament, as a result, is value being placed by women on giving birth to a son, a promised son who would once and for all crush the serpent’s head. Eve rejoiced when she bore Seth, for instance, because she believed the promised son God had promised would come. That son of Eve, the offspring that would strike the serpents head, wouldn’t come immediately, however, but many generations later. This chapter in Revelation is not talking only of the Garden then, but also of the nativity, the woman in this story is also the mother who would bring that promised son, namely Mary.

(v4-6) Its tail swept away a third of the stars in heaven and hurled them to the earth. And the dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth so that when she did give birth it might devour her child. She gave birth to a Son, a male who is going to rule all nations with an iron rod. Her child was caught up to God and to his throne. The woman fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared by God, to be nourished there for 1,260 days.

Rushing to stop her, knowing the promise God had given him, the Dragon flies with haste to devour up the promised child. Working through Herod, he attempts to swallow up the Son of Man and kill him. We all know the story, generations of children have replayed the story of the nativity and we’ve heard countless Christmas sermons recounting the events. What we read here, seemingly in stark contrast to the purified disneyfied version of the story is the Hans Christian Anderson version with all of its gore and details left intact. We’re not left to sit bored again by a kids production complete with a few wise men with cardboard crowns and some tea-towel draped shepherds, but instead, we should be woken up by a dragon entering the picture to pursue a pregnant and vulnerable woman. What’s more, the dragon loses! The Son, Jesus, is born and rises up to sit at the throne of God. In the following verses, the Dragon is cast down out of heaven by God down to earth and, having been defeated, is now left to decide how to retaliate, knowing that all is lost.

(v13-17) When the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who had given birth to the male child. The woman was given two wings of a great eagle, so that she could fly from the serpent’s presence to her place in the wilderness, where she was nourished for a time, times, and half a time. From his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river flowing after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood. But the earth helped the woman. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the river that the dragon had spewed from his mouth. So the dragon was furious with the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep the commands of God and hold firmly to the testimony about Jesus.

Though we know that Mary was indeed persecuted, pursued, and exiled into Egypt, we’re meant to see more than just Mary in the face of “the woman”. Throughout the Old Testament, the primary way that God’s people were conceived and born was through childbirth and so, we can also see both the nation of Israel, and its daughters represented here. Following the Son’s departure into heaven, a second birth was required to bring God’s people to life. This was done in the context of a “third woman”, the bride of Christ, the Church. I believe each of these women and all of them are meant to be represented here, as they fly from harm on wings like eagles (Exodus 19:4) and are fed and nourished for a time, times, and half a time (Daniel 7:25) even during the time the Dragon is seeking her. Failing to do that, after failing to swallow up the Son(!!!), the Dragon becomes furious with the “rest of her offspring—those who keep the commands of God and hold firmly to the testimony about Jesus” in a deafening echo of the Lord’s words to the serpent in the garden “I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring” The serpent seems to return to a familiar friend and begins to persecute the Church, the people of the God.

In short, since the Garden, there has been a war between the people of God and the devil, the serpent, the Dragon. He was promised that he would be crushed, he did everything in his power to stop the inevitable and yet was defeated. Having failed completely and utterly, the Dragon now seeks to destroy us, attack us, and persecute us. Victorious, having completely and utterly won the battle, God now gives us the battle plan for the time ahead.

The War is Won, the Battle Rages On

I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel. Genesis 3:15

So the dragon was furious with the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep the commands of God and hold firmly to the testimony about Jesus. Revelation 12:17

From the Garden to the coming of Christ, the people of God were told in the promise to the serpent what to look out for, where their hope was, what the end would be signified by; the coming of a son and his crushing of the serpent’s head. Now, in verse seventeen what we read follows that same pattern—Hostility towards the woman, war against her offspring—but also gives us an understanding of we are now to respond. Jesus has come and we are now to place our hope in him, holding firm to the testimony we have about him.

Cyprian, a third-century bishop from North Africa, said this:

“Wherefore, if we wish to walk in the light of Christ, let us not depart from His precepts and [warnings], giving thanks that, while He instructs for the future what we ought to do, He pardons for the past wherein we in our simplicity have erred. And because already His second coming draws near to us, His benign and liberal condescension is more and more illuminating our hearts with the light of truth.”

In short, we are to do as commanded, “keep the commands of God and hold firmly to the testimony about Jesus”, we must continue to give thanks that he’s already told us what to do! In his word we have been given not only instruction but assurance that though we have done wrong, he has forgiven us. That protects us from one of the enemy’s fondest weapons, accusation. What’s more, with each day the second coming draws closer, whether that’s 2 days, 6 months, or 300 years away. Each day that we get is one which gives us even more opportunities to turn and praise his name and to fight on, knowing that the war has been won. The dragon will keep coming, he is kicking and screaming and taking down anyone he can before the final day, but our weapon is holding firmly to Jesus, to the Bible which testifies of him by the Holy Spirit within us.

Grace and Peace,

Adsum Try Ravenhill

1. This topic could easily fill a book, and so—given that this article needs to be shorter than that—I won’t be able to dig into every detail of this passage and I won’t try to.