A Revelation Invitation

And 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 was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, 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. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. 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, and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days. (Revelation 12:1-6 ESV)

A common Christmas sight whether on a church lawns, in a neighbor’s yard or your fireplace mantel is the traditional nativity scene: Wise men bearing gifts; shepherds gazing in wonder; angels in the rafters praising God; a cow, a sheep or two and a donkey grazing on hay. At the center are Mary and Joseph adoring their swaddled, infant son lying in a wooden, hay-filled manger. While these displays may vary in detail, without exception they lack one feature—a fierce, menacing, hideous red dragon hovering over the stable with teeth bared ready to snatch the baby boy from his parents’ grasp and devour him. Without the dragon the scene is truly incomplete. Revelation 12:1-6 is the nativity narrative that is never read at Christmas.

This scene is not simply a narrative of the birth of Christ but the full sweep of God’s redemptive story from the serpent’s deception of Eve to Jesus’ ascension to his throne in heaven. It illustrates just how high the stakes were for the devil when God sent his son into the world. Satan is a formidable adversary attacking the male child (Jesus) at his most vulnerable—as a human being. From the Gospel of Luke we know how Satan’s proxy, King Herod, ruthlessly slaughtered the young boys of Bethlehem to prevent the coronation of this King “who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron.” We see again how the dragon was thwarted in his attempt to derail God’s plan to redeem his creation. The devil incessantly harassed and tempted the male child believing he had foiled God’s plan at the cross only to be humiliated in defeat when Jesus rose from the dead to be “caught up to God and to his throne.”

This is the first of three defeats the dragon suffers in Revelation 12. Ironically, the very actions the dragon took to destroy the male child—having him crucified—actually brought about the devil’s defeat. With the victory over the dragon God prepared a place for the woman, that is, he did not forget his people even through the persecution that followed (symbolized by 1,260 days or 3½ years). As God’s people we should not be surprised when we suffer; we should expect it. We will suffer as God’s own son suffered knowing that we will be nourished during those difficulties. God did not abandon his son to the grave nor will he abandon his people in the wilderness.

This unseen confrontation with the dragon as well as the two that immediately follow are just as significant and consequential as the ones that we are engaged in on earth. Not only that, the outcomes of these heavenly encounters determine the success of our earthly ones. Regardless of the theater of war, whether in heaven or on earth, God always triumphs.

God in heaven, you are so wise. Your plans for your creation and your people cannot be undermined even by a being as powerful and crafty as the devil. You loved me enough to send your Son into this world as a vulnerable human child. You risked his well-being for the sake of mine. I thank you for the great care you show me. Give me the strength to persevere to the end. Amen.