Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #9 of Revelation, chapter 12, and we are going to be reading Revelation 12:6-9:

And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

I will stop reading there.  We have been going, verse by verse, through the Book of Revelation and we are now in chapter 12.  We have gone through some Scripture in which God has described the birth and ascension of Christ after his resurrection in a single verse.  Then the Lord immediately turned our attention to the “woman” who had brought forth the “man child” or “male son,” the Lord Jesus.  The woman fled into the wilderness, in verse 6, and this identifies with the churches, because she had a “place prepared of God.”  We read in Deuteronomy 16:16 that God spoke of the “place” that He would choose for each one of the three major feasts which Israel was to observe.  We saw that the Feast of Unleavened Bread, or Passover, identified with the “place” of Israel; the Feast of Pentecost, or Feast of Weeks, identified with the “place” of the New Testament churches and congregations; then the final Feast of Tabernacles, or Feast of Ingathering identified with the “place” of the world outside of the churches.  These are the places that God would spiritually fulfill these feasts.

So the time the woman fled into the wilderness was the time the church age was established and she would be fed or nourished there by God for this “thousand two hundred and threescore days.”  Now the “1,260 days” is a figure we should be familiar with because it said back in Revelation 11:3:

And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.

We spent a good amount of time going over this and we saw that the “1,260 days” is “three and one half years” of 30-day months and it represented the entire church age, from the time when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Day of Pentecost.  That was the official beginning of the church age and the “1,260 days” represents the entire 1,955 year period, until 1988, when the church age would come to an end.  The “two witnesses” prophesied over the course of that time for 1,955 years, or almost 2,000 years. 

In our chapter, it says further down in Revelation 12:13-14:

And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.

The word “nourished” is the same word as “feed” back in verse 6.  Here, the “time, and times, and half a time” (three and one half times) identifies with the “1,260 days.”  It is giving us the same information as verse 6 and, therefore, it is a reference to the “1,260 days.”  We would find that where we find reference to ““time, and times, and half a time,” its meaning is determined by the context.  Here, we can establish the context as the “1,260 days.”  It could be different in another verse, depending on the context: the context determines what the “three and a half” represents. 

In our verse in Revelation 12:6, God said He would feed her there for “a thousand two hundred and threescore days.”  We can safely understand that to mean the entire church age; she will have the “place” prepared by God within the churches and congregations; that is where God wanted His people to be during the course of the church age era.  That is where the Word of God was.  That is where the Spirit of Christ was in the midst and that is where God’s people would be spiritually nourished.  God prepared the churches for that purpose as He established churches all over the world.

Let us go on to Revelation 12:7:

And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,

There is war in heaven and then we read about the two sides of that war:  Michael and his angels and the dragon and his angels.  So these are the leaders of the battle or war that is taking place in heaven.  Michael heads up God’s kingdom and the dragon heads up the army of the enemies of God’s kingdom.  We know that the dragon is Satan.  Just as the dragon is given another name here, so, too, the Lord Jesus Christ is given another name.  He is not referred to as Jesus or as Lord, but He is called Michael.  Michael is one of the many names of God. 

The name Michael comes from the Hebrew and it literally means, “Who is God,” or “Who assuredly is God.”  That is what the name means and it is found a few times in the Book of Daniel and twice in Daniel, chapter 10.  It says in Daniel 10:13:

But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia.

Now if Michael is Christ, why would it say He is “one of the chief princes”?  Why would it not say, “chief prince”?  Princes indicate there is more than one that is ruling.  Of course, the answer is that God is a triune God.  Michael is a Prince and so, too, is the Father and so, too, is the Holy Spirit, so it is not a problem that Christ is said to be “one of the chief princes.”  Speaking of princes, it says in Acts 5:31:

Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.

Jesus is a “Prince.”  He is King of kings and Lord of lords and He is the Prince, according to Acts 5:31, and so is Michael, “one of the chief princes.”  It says in Daniel 10:21:

But I will shew thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth: and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince.

Michael is God and “your prince.”  Let us look at one other instance in the Old Testament in Daniel 12:1:

And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people…

There is one other reference to Michael in the Epistle of Jude, right before the Book of Revelation.  It says in Jude, verses 8-9:

Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.

This last verse is one of the reasons why there are so many theologians and other people that try to say that Michael is just an angel, the chief angel.  Of course, that does not fit with what we know of angels; they are ministering servants to the heirs of salvation.  They are not these mighty men of battle, like Michael.  They are not spoken of as “chief prince” or the “great prince that stands for his people.”  These things do not apply to any angelic being, but it does apply to the Lord Jesus Christ.  He is the one that does battle with Satan.  He is the Prince and the Saviour, the great Prince of His people, and He is the one being spoken of in Jude, as He contends with the devil.  It says, “Michael the archangel,” but “arch” just means “chief.”  He is the “chief messenger,” as the Greek word “angelos” should rightly be translated as “messenger,” in this case.  Christ is the “messenger of the covenant,” as it says in Malachi 3:1.  Therefore, He is the “chief messenger” of God.  He is the one that carries the message of God and came into the world to fulfill the will and purpose of God. 

Here, Michael was “contending with the devil.”  There was a dispute between them regarding the body of Moses.  We can be sure that Satan, the devil, was making accusation that it was not right that Moses’ body was resurrected.  Remember, we saw Moses in the Gospel accounts on the Mount of Transfiguration with Elijah and Christ.  They were all transfigured before the eyes of some of the apostles.  We know that Elijah never died, but was translated alive into heaven, so Satan did not accuse Christ concerning Elijah; we know that Enoch earlier had also been translated.  So there had been two people that had been translated out of this world directly to heaven and they had to have been (necessarily) equipped with new spiritual bodies as they were translated.  Perhaps, since they did not physically die, Satan is not trying to make any claim on them, but Moses physically died when he was on earth.  We can read about this in the Book of Deuteronomy; he died at the age of 120 and God buried him.  So since he had died and was buried, Satan is more than likely making an accusation that Moses should not have been resurrected and given a new spiritual body before the last day.  What is Moses doing in heaven in a resurrected body?  The Bible says when a child of God dies, their spirit goes to be with the Lord; in their soul existence they are with God.  But why was Moses’ body resurrected? 

Of course, Christ had died and been resurrected from the foundation of the world and, therefore, there was no wrongdoing here and there was no need that He answer to Satan.  Everything that was necessary for the resurrection of the people of God had been accomplished before the world began, as Christ died and rose again before the foundation of the world.  It was only a matter of God working out the different eras in which He would send forth His Word to find the lost sheep of the house of Israel and to bring the Gospel to their ears and to apply the blood of Christ to them.   The actions of going to the cross to die, going into the grave and then resurrecting on the third day were all a demonstration; it was all a tableau.  So, if Satan was trying to make an accusation related to that demonstration, he had no grounds for his charges.  Of course, this is typical of Satan.  He would never have grounds for the things he charges, as he also made charges against the saints of God.  He did this in the Book of Job and with many other saints of God.

Let us go back to Revelation 12:7: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels.”  Then it says in Revelation 12:8:

And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.

This speaks of the dragon, Satan.  We know it is because the next verse tells us, as it says in Revelation 12:9:

And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world…

Again, this is significant language as God first calls him the “great dragon,” “that old serpent,” “the Devil, and Satan.”  That reminds us of when Satan was bound, in Revelation 20:1-2:

And I saw an angel come down from heaven…

Remember, in the Book of Jude, Michael was called the “archangel” or “chief messenger,” and that is who this messenger is, in Revelation 20, verse 1.  Then it goes on to say in Revelation 20:1-2:

And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,

Notice he is called exactly the same names (the dragon, that old serpent, the devil and Satan) as our verse in Revelation 12:9.  This time of the casting out of Satan from heaven is related to his “binding” for that figurative 1,000 years.  The number “1,000” points to the completeness of whatever is in view and, in this case, it is the completeness of Satan’s binding during the church age; he was bound for the entire period of the church age.  Along with that is this language of him being cast out of heaven.

It is a little difficult to understand why Satan still had access to heaven at this point, since it had been 11,000 years since man’s fall into sin after being deceived by Satan in the Garden of Eden.  But, for whatever reason, God permitted Satan to have access to heaven and we have proof of that in Job 1:6:

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before JEHOVAH, and Satan came also among them.

This is another occasion when Satan was accusing one of God’s people and, here, he is making an accusation against Job.  He does the same thing in Job 2:1:

Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before JEHOVAH, and Satan came also among them to present himself before JEHOVAH.

This shows us that Satan had access to JEHOVAH and God is in heaven.  He could come before God and accuse the brethren, God’s people.  He could accuse God’s people and make accusations regarding the body of Moses, or the life of Job, or other matters.  I think in one place it said that Satan accused the brethren day and night – it was a constant problem that Satan had access to heaven and, yet, God permitted it until the time of the cross when he would be bound for that figurative “thousand years.”  We read in Luke 10:17-18:

And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.

Then Christ goes on give the disciples power to tread on “serpents and scorpions,” because Satan’s power was broken and the binding will limit him, as this looks ahead to the New Testament era and the sending forth of the Gospel.  Even though Christ is speaking in the “past tense,” He is really looking ahead to the New Testament church age. 

Satan fell because he was cast out.  It was a violent judgment of God, as the battle was raging and Christ won the battle and Satan and his forces “prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.”  Again, it goes on to say in Revelation 12:9:

And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world.  Then it goes on to say, “He was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”

Then it goes on to say in Revelation 12:10:

And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

We know from the context this is locked into the time after the cross.  This is when Satan will pursue the woman because he has been “cast out into the earth” and he will constantly go after her to destroy her, even as he tried to destroy the man child.  The Lord even says, “Woe to the inhabiters of the earth,” because of this.

When we get together in our next study, we will pick this up.  It is getting pretty interesting, as God reveals these things to us.  Who could write in this manner, but God?  Who could speak of these incredible things – things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth – and give us the entire picture?  It is all true.  It describes events that take place in time amongst men, but it also describes events that take place in heaven amongst spiritual beings.  The Bible is just amazing.  It is incredible how much information God possesses about all things and He can speak on any of these things in our world or things beyond this world in the spiritual realm.  He speaks with perfect accuracy, truthfulness and faithfulness.