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Chapter XII
The Past: the combat between the Woman and
the Dragon (12:1-17)
- God takes His stand by the side of the threatened life (12:1-6)
- The Dragon, expelled from heaven, comes down to earth (12:7-12)
- The persecution of the Church begins (12:13-17)
Though defeated the Dragon does not give up. He wants to get his revenge by persecuting the Woman who had given birth to the child (12:13). This means that he wants to persecute the Church but God protects the Church. Like in the Exodus (Ex. 19:4; Deut. 32:11), she receives the wings of an eagle and flies into the desert (12:14). The Dragon then vomits a stream of water behind her to kill her (12:15). This stream is the Roman empire. This empire is therefore the vomit of Satan. But the earth opens and swallows the vomit (12:16). History swallos the empire and comes to the defense of the persecuted people.
The Dragon still holds on and launches a new attack. "Enraged against the Woman, he went away to make war against the rest of her children" (12:17). We are now at the beginning of 95 AD, the time of Domitian's rule. In a new attempt to destroy the Church, Domitian persecutes those "who obey God's commandments and have in themselves the witness of Jesus" (12:17).
Thus ends the first stage of the plan. It teaches us that:
- the persecution of the communities is part of the struggle between life and death, between good and evil.
- the Dragon who encourages the persecution is already defeated. He has been routed by Jesus (12:4-5), but the archangel Michael (12:7-8), but all those who believe in Jesus (12:11) and even by the earth (12:16).
- the persecution is already a sign of the victory of Jesus over the Dragon.
- the persecution cannot overcome all the communities, that is the whole Church which is under God's protection.
- Domitian's persecution is a sign of power and weakness (12:12, 17). The Dragon's power is limited in time (12:6, 14). The persecution leads him to a fifth defeat.
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