May 12-18 (Week 7 of 12)
Dr. Robert Wall
Suggestions for Daily Readings
- 12:1-17 First time through – Focus on the characters (Who appears in this scene?)
- 12:1-17 Second time through – Focus on the vision (What does this scene look like?)
- 12:1-17 Third time through – Focus on the message (What are the characters saying?)
- 12:10-12Memorize &/or meditate on this hymn describing God’s heavenly defeat of Satan
This week’s reading is a mere 17 verses long, but these
verses are rich and deep. As Dr. Rob
Wall mentions in his commentary, this is an excellent opportunity to take a few
deep breaths. Like we mentioned last
week, reading Revelation is like riding a roller coaster, and we’re on a wild
ride!
It’s also a good opportunity to read the text closely – multiple
times – to know it well. The basic
message is that there will be a heavenly battle between God and Satan, and God
wins! But the defeated Satan is thrown
down to earth and goes after God’s faithful servants on earth in a futile but
violent last stand. But the images written
into the page at this point of the revelation are not so simply rendered. Here in chapter 17 we read about a “woman
clothed with the sun,” the male child she gives birth to, and a “great red
dragon.” Be sure to read Dr. Wall’s
commentary for scholarly insight on the symbolism of this chapter. But also be sure to simply read it! Get to know the flow of the plot and the
actions and interactions of its characters.
Don’t miss getting a sense of how God’s victories really “tick
off” Satan, making Satan all the more motivated to attack God’s people on
earth, perhaps because we’re both vulnerable and close to God’s heart. Here’s how Dr. Wall describes this dynamic:
- One last image in this passage that is easily missed carries forward a message for today’s Church. The dragon’s initial failure to defeat the woman only increases its resolve to take the battle to “the rest of her children” (12:17). A tension is provoked by this refrain. On the one hand, we hear the chorus celebrate the devil’s defeat in heaven and the securing of God’s eternal reign; we also hear its lamentation of coming horrors for God’s people on earth. But on the other hand, we are witnesses of the ineffectiveness of God’s enemies to win the ground war. But a ground war is often prolonged, and the woman’s children (That’s us, people!) are now engaged in the same spiritual and intellectual struggle that shaped our ancestors. The lyric of heaven’s chorus, sung loudly, is now the church’s battle song: “Now the salvation and power and kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ have come” (12:10).
Questions for Understanding
The Scene
-
What does the scene look like? What stands out to you visually?
- Revelation contains a strange mix of vision elements – some readily understood and others quite mysterious. What do you understand? What remains mysterious?
The Characters
- Who are the living characters who appear in this scene? What does the text tell you about them?
- How do they interact with one another…what is the dramatic action?
- What remains mysterious about them?
The Message
- What do the characters do or say or sing?
- If you were to summarize this in a word or phrase, how would you put it?
- What remains unclear or mysterious with regard to a message in the text?
Questions for Application
- How do you experience the “already” and the “not quite yet” of God’s victory over Satan?
- How does this impact the contemporary church and its worship, mission, and life together?
Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
“Now have come the salvation and the power
and
the kingdom of our God,
and
the authority of his Messiah.
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters,
who
accuses them before our God day and night,
has
been hurled down.
They triumphed over him
by
the blood of the Lamb
and
by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much
as
to shrink from death.
Therefore rejoice, you heavens
and you who dwell in them!
But woe to the earth and the sea,
because
the devil has gone down to you!
He is filled with fury,
because
he knows that his time is short.”
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