The dragon stood before the woman, that he might devour her child.

Revelation 12 (NASB) from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

The Woman, Israel

A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; ² and she was with child; and she *cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth.

The Red Dragon, Satan

³ Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems. ⁴ And his tail *swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.

The Male Child, Christ

⁵ And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne. ⁶ Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she *had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.

The Angel, Michael

⁷ And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, ⁸ and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. 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.”

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. ¹⁴ But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she *was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. ¹⁵ And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood. ¹⁶ But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth. ¹⁷ 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.

Once again there is a lot of prophetic imagery in today’s text. Rather than to go too deeply into trying to interpret the meaning and the timing of the events, let’s look at a theme which we see here and throughout both the Bible and human history.  The text says: “And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.”      After the fall, when Adam and Eve were deceived by the serpent, the devil, God indicated that there would be a struggle between the devil and his seed and the seed of Eve. In Genesis 3:14-15 it says:

The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat
All the days of your life; ¹⁵ And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.”

From that point on and throughout history part of the devil’s scheme is to kill the seed of Adam and Eve. The first time we see this eternal struggle played out is in Genesis 4:8.     And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.   The devil enticed Cain to kill his brother Abel, causing Abel’s physical death and Cain’s spiritual death. In Genesis 4:25-26 we see the seed of Adam and Eve continued, and so the struggle with the devil.      Adam had relations with his wife again; and she gave birth to a son, and named him Seth, for, she said, “God has appointed me another offspring in place of Abel, for Cain killed him.” ²⁶ To Seth, to him also a son was born; and he called his name Enosh. Then men began to call upon the name of the Lord.

Let’s move forward to the time when Israel was captive in Egypt, Exodus 1:15-22 says:     Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other was named Puah; ¹⁶ and he said, “When you are helping the Hebrew women to give birth and see them upon the birthstool, if it is a son, then you shall put him to death; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.” ¹⁷ But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt had commanded them, but let the boys live. ¹⁸ So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this thing, and let the boys live?” ¹⁹ The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife can get to them.” ²⁰ So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied, and became very mighty. ²¹ Because the midwives feared God, He established households for them. ²² Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “Every son who is born you are to cast into the Nile, and every daughter you are to keep alive.”

The devil, knowing that the Messiah would come from God’s people, the nation of Israel tried to wipe out the Israelite people through Pharaoh’s decree. The struggle between the seed of Eve and the seed of the devil continued. We see in the story of Moses, that God’s plan is sustained.

As we move forward in history, we again see this struggle played out after the birth of Christ. In Matthew 2:7-16 , it says:             Then Herod secretly called the magi and determined from them the exact time the star appeared. ⁸ And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the Child; and when you have found Him, report to me, so that I too may come and worship Him.” ⁹ After hearing the king, they went their way; and the star, which they had seen in the east, went on before them until it came and stood over the place where the Child was. ¹⁰ When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. ¹¹ After coming into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. ¹² And having been warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod, the magi left for their own country by another way.

¹³ Now when they had gone, behold, an angel of the Lord *appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy Him.”

¹⁴ So ^]Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt. ¹⁵ He remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”

¹⁶ Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the magi.

The devil made one final attempt at derailing God’s plan for the redemption of man. The devil thought that he had finally won the struggle against the seed of Adam and Eve when he inspired the hatred which led to the crucifixion of Christ. Little did he know that what he thought was his greatest victory was his defeat. Through the cross of Christ and His resurrection, Jesus gained the victory over sin and death.

Still, though he, the devil is a defeated enemy, he still wages war against the seed of Adam and Eve. Jesus says:  ^“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”   We see the devil does continue to struggle against God’s people even though Christ has won the victory. The devil continues his assault inciting the evil in mankind, trying to wipe out entire generations of people through things like the holocaust, genocide and abortion. Though he has been defeated, the devil is a desperate enemy looking to kill and destroy as many as he can before the return of Christ.

In Revelation 22 we read:         ¹² “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done. ¹³ I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

¹⁴ Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city. ¹⁵ Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.

¹⁶ “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”

¹⁷ The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost…

²⁰ He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

²¹ The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.