Revelation, Chapter 12 is a fascinating interlude in the description of events during the tribulation. You have a woman appearing who is pregnant. She cries out in pain, as she is about to give birth. Then you have an enormous red dragon confronting the woman intending to devour her child the moment it was born.
Verse 5 says, “She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.” The moment the child was born he was snatched up to God and to his throne and the woman fled into the desert hotly pursued by the dragon.
The woman in this chapter refers to Israel. The dragon is identified as the Devil. The son born is none other than Jesus Christ. This sounds different than the Christmas story found in the gospel of Luke, but it is what was really going on.
Herod, who tried to kill the infant Jesus, was merely a tool in the hands of the Devil. This archenemy of God stalked Jesus at every turn. But in the end he actually played into the hand of God. When he thought he had struck the fatal blow by having Jesus crucified; he actually witnessed Jesus Christ’s greatest triumph. Paul put it this way in Colossians 2:15, “Having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”
Yes, what we read in Revelation 12 is a depiction of what I would call the Cosmic Christmas. What we usually celebrate is the historical Christmas. But behind the scenes there was far more going on and it is that total picture that captures the real story of Christmas, and is the basis of our salvation and hope.
Praise God this Christmas for Christ’s total victory.
