Scripture Reading: Rev. 12:5, 7-11
Ⅰ
“She brought forth a son, a man-child, who is to shepherd all the nations with an iron rod; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne”—Rev. 12:5:
A
Brought forth here signifies resurrection, as in Acts 13:33-34:
１
The man-child is composed of the overcoming saints who have died and been resurrected.
２
This is proved by the words unto death in Revelation 12:11.
B
In the Bible, woman signifies the weaker one and man the stronger one—1 Pet. 3:7:
１
The man-child in Revelation 12 signifies the stronger part of God’s people.
２
That the man-child is to shepherd all the nations with an iron rod indicates that the man-child consists of the overcomers, as mentioned in 2:26-27.
C
To be caught up is to be raptured:
１
The rapture of the man-child differs from that of the majority of the believers, which is mentioned in 1 Thessalonians 4:17.
２
There, the majority of the believers are raptured to the air, and at the last trumpet (1 Cor. 15:52; 1 Thes. 4:16), which is the seventh trumpet (Rev. 11:15).
３
Here, the man-child is raptured to the throne of God, and before the one thousand two hundred and sixty days, which is the time of the great tribulation of three and a half years (forty-two months, 12:14; 13:5; 11:2), beginning from the sixth seal, before the fifth trumpet (9:1).
Ⅱ
“There was war in heaven”—12:7a:
A
Immediately after the man-child is raptured to heaven, Michael and his angels begin to war against Satan:
１
This indicates that the man-child, the stronger part of God’s people, is always engaged in fighting God’s enemy, Satan.
２
They have been fighting Satan continually on earth.
３
Heaven is waiting for them to arrive that a war may be waged to cast Satan out of heaven.
４
The Bible reveals the names of two angels—Michael and Gabriel.
５
Gabriel is a reporter bringing news to God’s people (Dan. 8:16; 9:21-22; Luke 1:19, 26), whereas Michael is a fighter contending for God’s people (Dan. 10:13, 21; 11:1; 12:1; Jude 9).
B
“The dragon warred and his angels” (Rev. 12:7b); these angels must be the fallen angels, who follow Satan to rebel against God (Matt. 25:41).
C
Satan, the enemy of God, was judged by the Lord Jesus on the cross—John 12:31; 16:11:
１
After that, the overcoming believers are needed for the carrying out of that judgment, for the executing of that sentence.
２
The war waged by the overcoming believers against Satan is actually the executing of the Lord’s judgment upon him.
３
Eventually, through their fighting, he is cast out of heaven—Rev. 12:7-9.
Ⅲ
“Now has come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ, for the accuser of our brothers has been cast down, who accuses them before our God day and night. And they overcame him [the devil] because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they loved not their soul-life even unto death”—vv. 10-11:
A
They overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb:
１
Satan may accuse us, but we can answer that the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanses us from every sin—1 John 1:7.
２
Any apparent condemnation that does not stop after we have confessed and applied the blood is not God’s enlightenment but Satan’s accusation—v. 9.
３
We must not only reject the accusations which are without cause, but we must also reject all the accusations which have cause.
４
When we commit sin, we do not glorify God, but when we do not trust the precious blood, we dishonor Him all the more—Matt. 26:28; cf. Heb. 10:29.
５
We must always apply the blood, telling the devil that although we are not perfect, we are under the precious blood—1 Pet. 1:18-19; Acts 20:28.
B
They overcame him because of the word of their testimony:
１
“Testimony” means to tell others what there is in Christ, and the word of testimony is something which must be spoken forth.
２
The overcomers must frequently proclaim the victory of Christ, testifying that the devil has been judged by the Lord—1 John 3:8; Heb. 2:14.
３
Satan does not fear when we try to reason with him, but he does fear when we proclaim the spiritual facts of Christ’s victory—cf. 2 Chron. 20:20-22:
ａ
That the name of Jesus is above every name is a spiritual fact which we must declare in faith, not only to men but also to Satan—Phil. 2:9-11; 1 Cor. 12:3b.
ｂ
We must proclaim to Satan and his demons that Jesus is Lord, that the Lord is victorious, and that Satan has been crushed under His feet—Gen. 3:15; John 14:30b; Rom. 16:20.
C
They loved not their soul-life even unto death:
１
Due to Adam’s fall, Satan joined himself to man’s soul-life—man’s self; to overcome him we must not love our soul-life; rather, we must hate it and deny it—Matt. 16:23-24; Luke 14:26; 9:23:
ａ
Satan wants us to act in our own strength and move in ourselves with the power of our soul, our natural ability.
ｂ
Natural ability is the ability which we originally had and which has never been dealt with by the operation of the cross.
ｃ
The failure of the church is due to man’s bringing in his natural ability.
ｄ
The purpose of the cross is to deal with our natural strength and ability so that we will not dare to move by ourselves, as seen in the cases of Moses and Peter—Acts 7:23-30; Luke 22:32-34; 1 Pet. 5:5-6.
ｅ
We should have the attitude that we will not live by our self in any way; we will not value our own ability or have any self-confidence—1 Cor. 2:2-4; Phil. 3:3; cf. Isa. 11:2b.
２
We must be self-sacrificing persons, a drink offering, allowing Christ as the heavenly wine to fill us and cause us to become wine to God—Phil. 2:17; 2 Tim. 4:6; Judg. 9:13:
ａ
The drink offering typifies Christ as the One poured out as the real wine before God for His satisfaction—Exo. 29:40-41.
ｂ
The apostle Paul became a drink offering that was poured out upon the sacrifice and service of the saints’ faith—Phil. 2:17; 2 Tim. 4:6.
ｃ
The drink offering typifies not only Christ Himself, but also Christ who saturates us with Himself as the heavenly wine until He and we become one to be poured out for God’s enjoyment and satisfaction and for God’s building—Matt. 9:17; Phil. 2:17; 2 Tim. 4:6.