Revelation 12:17 Commentary and Bible Study

In this passage the devil faces one failure after another, and is constantly having to adjust his goal. First he aimed at the highest possible target. He planned to be like God himself and even to overshadow the Lord. He was cast out of heaven. Next he tried to prevent the Messiah coming into the world, and then to destroy him once he had been born. He engaged in hand-to-hand combat and tempted Christ directly, but he was answered with the word of God. He tried to prevent Christ from making a perfect atonement for the sins of his people but he rose triumphant from the grave. There was war in heaven and he could not prevail and was cast out of heaven, losing any semblance of a claim to be there. The dragon knows he’s been defeated on Calvary. He knows that his time is short, and yet he’s determined to thrust it from his mind. His hatred and his fury and his rage cannot reach Christ. Remember the little verse of Isaac Watts: ‘With joy we tell this scoffing age, he that was dead, has left the tomb. He lives above their utmost rage, and we are waiting till he come.’ So Christ is safe and victorious, waiting for the final day. Realising that he has lost the most critical battle of all and must be ultimately defeated, he turns instead to take revenge on the terrestrial church. But God has prepared for this also and the church, represented by the woman, is sheltered in the wilderness so that she can continue to operate in Satan’s domain, and yet be shielded from his worst attacks. Satan realised that as he could not overcome God, he could not overcome the church either. He turns to the woman’s offspring, those won in subsequent generations by her witness. These he will constantly harass until the end of the world, but with no greater success. Not the church as a whole, nor even a single believer will be destroyed by all his malice.