Gloriographs by Rick Reynolds

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. 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 brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. 11 “And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death. 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.”

So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.  (Revelation 12:10-12, 17)

Some basic general knowledge of the biblical timeline helps in understanding these verses. And one must be brave enough to take a position on this from here on out. On one hand there is a focus on the end times, when all comes to a climax. On the other is our recall of what has already occurred. We know that Christ has already come and gone, that he conquered death. He’s operating from heaven, but has dispatched His Spirit to his children (the Church) to represent him on earth and do his bidding. At the same time there’s going to be a remnant of Israel (“the woman”) who seems destined for a dramatic end. She has not gone away, and she remains incomplete in the sense that she lacks the Savior, but a lot of promises have been made regarding her future. A long-suffering God has allowed her to hang around, and from all appearances, she is the focal point of the agitation we constantly sense in the world as we know it. He is a jealous persistent God, and he desires to see her saved. There is a rush in the final days to jerk “his people” (now only a remnant of a remnant) from the fire (see Jude), and an equal and opposite reaction by Satan to beat him to the punch.

Yet, while the focus will ultimately shift to a remnant of “the woman,” as if running in parallel, for now in this age, the Church must also contend with Satan. As the hornets do when flushed from their nest, Satan has angrily turned his attention to the children of God in a dizzying frenzy since the cross, who up to their removal from this earth, must contend with him. While his accusations are not directly delivered to the ear of God, depending on the timeline, if he has been “cast down,” even without direct access to the throne, he continues to launch accusations, hurl insults, and incite violence against believers. But alas, as they might say in the fairy tales, he has “only a short time,” because the woman “gave birth to a son, a male child,” who is slated “to rule all the nations with a rod of iron.” (Revelation 12:5) From the heavenly throne, for now, the Father with the Son controls all things, and through his Spirit, in you and me, causes “all things to work together for good.” As it relates to Satan, we are “more than conquerors.”

The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.  (Romans 16:20)

To somewhat prove Satan’s direct access has been eliminated, I recall what John witnessed and did not witness during his heavenly visit as described in Revelation 4-5. He saw only God the father and Jesus the son, twenty-four elders, four living creatures, angelic beings of the highest order, and other amazing things, but no semblance of Satan lurking about in the shadows. Since the “child” of the “woman” has already been crucified—Satan took his shot and failed—then conquered death, then following his resurrection and ascension, assumed his rightful position beside God the Father, it would seem that the “house has been cleaned.” In many respects, and in any case, Satan is resigned to rooting around the edges in this dimension, “seeking someone to devour,” which is granted only temporarily so that God can display his power and dominance over him. The “woman” catches the brunt of this persecution as the days grow nigh, if you believe the Church, the bride of Christ, has changed its zip code.

13 And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child.  (Revelation 12:13)

While Satan’s day job is to persecute the children of God, his obsession is to torment the “woman who gave birth to the male child.” Revelation tells of Satan’s final flailing blows as he crashes to the mat, particularly his failure to quash “the woman.” For Christians, as I understand it, we will observe this fight from a ringside seat above the fray in heaven, except “tribulation believers” who walk into the millennial kingdom “unscathed,” including a remnant of “the tribes of Judah,” at least 144,000 strong. At that time, there will be no distinction as to Jew or Gentile; but all will be simply Christians.

9 When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; 10 and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” 11 And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also.  (Revelation 6:9–11)

In the end, both Gentiles and Jews will run the post-rapture gauntlet by faith in Christ—with miraculous intervention—and walk into the literal millennium kingdom on their own two feet as believers, or they’ll be martyred for that belief and immediately transported to a place of safety and security under the altar of God. The journey that lasts seven years which may culminate as a “walk on” into God’s glory is in no way easy, complicated significantly by the reduction of the earth’s population as described in earlier posts, or by the sword. If there is any way to land on the settled belief that we’ll be gone when we hear the “midnight cry,” there will be so much more hope in this world! The alternative is a terrifying prospect, but at least there is a clear path forward, albeit more arduous than could ever be imagined, possibly with a gruesome end.

As an observation, when you read the many commenters on what Revelation means and says, the constant use of “is symbolic of” is indicative to me, at least, of a “cop out,” and a desire to the follow the herd. Another phrase that is often used is “it is more likely that.” The belief that the Book of Revelation is a masterful allegory that must be interpreted as such is pervasive, and is in my mind clearly indicative of the strategy of Satan to limit its scope and impact for self-serving but ultimately fruitless purposes. No one accepts the book of Revelation more literally than does Satan. If he can obfuscate its warnings and promulgations as intended by its author and messenger,¹ he conceivably buys more time to work his diabolical plan. This strategy, however, is doomed, not only because of the finite time allowed for him to operate when the “end times” begin (seven years), but of all creatures he is the most delusional. He is the literal incarnation of the definition of stupidity, expecting a different outcome to what has been proven over and over to be the truth, that God is omnipotent and omniscient, particularly as it relates to him.

“It will come about in all the land, declares the Lord, that two parts in it will be cut off and perish; but the third will be left in it. And I will bring the third part through the fire, refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, and I will answer them; I will say,‘They are My people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’ ”  (Zechariah 13:8-9)

Looking back to what is yet to fully unfold regarding the “woman’s” remnant, Satan throws everything he has at the “woman,” but she absorbs the blows. His attacks are not without success though, since Zechariah 13:8 indicates two-thirds of the people of the “woman” were lost, but a remnant was saved and moves on to the end. Zechariah and Revelation 12:17 attest to without question the remnant’s allegiance to the Lord Jesus, that they are True Believers and finally Christians. This is the only way to enter the Kingdom of God.

“They keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.” (Revelation 12:17)

There’s more to extract in chapter 12, which will come in the days ahead.

¹ The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John,  (Revelation 1:1)