Israel Wins; Her Persecutors Lose

December 27th, 2024
by Dr. D. Lance Waldie

Revelation 12:13-17 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.

When “the dragon” (Satan) is finally thrown out of heaven (cf. Eph. 2:2) at the outset of the Tribulation (Rev. 12:7), “down to the earth” (12:13), he will no longer have access to God to accuse His people (12:9). Now on the earth, he will persecute “the woman who gave birth to the male child” (12:13). That this woman is Israel, not the Virgin Mary is clear from the context. Interestingly, Israel gave birth to the Messiah, rejected Him, but will ultimately receive Him. Since Israel will live in peace for the first three and a half years of the Tribulation (Dan. 9:27), it is evident that Satan’s persecution of Israel will occur in the last half of the Tribulation beginning on the day that “the abomination of desolation” is set up in their temple (Matt. 24:15-28)—an image of the Antichrist the false prophet will promote to be worshiped (13:11-17).

Since the Tribulation is specifically for Israel (Jer. 30:7) for the purpose of bringing them to repentance and reception of their Messiah (Dan. 9:24), and in light of the preaching of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists (7:1-8) and of the two witnesses (11:3-13), it is clear that many Jews will come to know Christ during that time, along with Gentiles. These are the ones Satan will pursue during the last half of the Tribulation (v. 17). Whether in heaven or on earth Satan has always persecuted God’s people, from the time he successfully tempted the woman to eat the forbidden fruit (Gen. 3:15) to his unsuccessful attempt to kill Jesus at His birth (Matt. 2).

Verse 14 says that God will protect Israel “on the two wings of an eagle” given to the woman. In Exodus 19:4 God also used this figure of speech to denote His protection (cf. Deut. 32:11-12). Jesus told Israel at this time to “flee to the mountains” (Matt. 24:16), to a place where “she [will be] nourished for a time, times, and a half a time”—three and a half years (cf. Dan. 7:25; 12:7), protected from the “serpent.” So although God will preserve a godly remnant of Israel, according to Zechariah 13:8, only one-third of them will live through that Tribulation.

In reaction to Israel’s flight to the mountains, Satan is said to pour out water like a river out of his mouth…that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood (v. 15). Whether literal or symbolic, Satan is clearly in all-out persecution mode. Verse 16 speaks of the earth’s resistance to this “flood,” likely speaking of the multiple locations in that area of ancient Moab, Edom, and Ammon where Israel might hide (cf. Dan. 11:41). The whole point here is that Satan will persecute God’s people in the Tribulation, yet God will protect them. In reaction to this, Satan will turn “to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus” (v. 17), namely Gentile believers scattered all over the planet.

The dragon has always persecuted God’s people—from the Pharaoh of Egypt, called a dragon (Ezek. 29:3) to Nebuchadnezzar, called a “monster” (Jer. 51:34). At one critical point, the dragon had David’s royal line down to one child (2 Kings 11:1-3), yet he failed again. Then when Jesus was born, Satan tried to devour Him (Matt. 2). Later he failed with both Peter and Judas, ultimately being defeated at the cross of Christ. Clearly, in the end, God wins.

Food for Thought

Swindoll says, “During the Middle Ages, [the Jews] were looked on with suspicion and treated as outcasts in a world dominated by a form of political Christianity that viewed all Jews as Christ-killers. During World War II, the Nazis attempted to obliterate the Jewish people in a holocaust driven by absolute evil… Anti-Semitism has a long and sordid history. Satan has inspired countless attempts at destroying God’s special covenant people. Yet God has continued to fulfill His promise to preserve Israel even in her spiritually blind condition of rejecting Jesus as her Messiah (Rom. 11:28-29).”