Sound The Trumpet : Revelation 12:13

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“Revelation 12:13”
by Art Sadlier
June 21st, 2009

"And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child". Satan was not able to devour the man child, vs. 4, and he is not able to return to heaven, the only avenue left to him is to attack and persecute the children of God, in this case the children of Isarel. Satan in his blindness still holds out the hope of defeating God. If he can destroy Israel totally, he will have defeated God.

The final 1260 days or 42 months of the tribulation period have now begun. We know from Zechariah 13:8, that two thirds of all the Jews alive at that time will be destroyed by Satan. It will be an incredible time of death and destruction, Jesus foretold this time in Matthew 24:21,"For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of world to this time, no , nor ever shall be."

The chronology of verse 6 fits in at this point, "And the woman fled into the wilderness", this also fits into the chronology of Matthew 24:15-20. It also fits into the chronology of 2 Thess. 2:4. When we put all of this together we understand that at the mid-trib point antichrist will break the covenant he made with Israel and turn against her, and demand that the Jews and the rest of the world worship him. One third of the Jews will refuse and flee into the wilderness.

Satan and his man, the antichrist, have worked up to this point, to move Israel and help Israel to rebuild the Temple. We now understand that Satan and his man were motivated to rebuild the Temple not for Israel's sake but rather to enable Satan to be worshipped, through the worship of antichrist, in the very spot where God had designated Israel to worship Him. Satan is so bold as to seek to replace God as the object on the world's worship and not only to replace God but to be worshipped in the very spot where God was worshipped, the Temple, on the Temple mount in Jerusalem.

This now is the climax of the long war between God and Satan. God will now allow Satan freedom to do as he pleases in this final half of the tribulation period. Great destruction will come upon the world, it will be brought about largely by Satan, however it will come from the hand of God as he uses Satan to bring about this awful judgement. Satan is God's unwitting and unwilling servant, Luther said that Satan was God's dog.

As the devil carries out his wicked purposes we must always remember that God is in control and that His purposes are being worked. It is hard to have that perspective in the midst of the conflict, however we must have it if we are to be triumphant. "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that the are called according to his purpose".

Next week we will look more closely at this final attempt of satan to annihalate Israel.

Looking for His glorious appearing! Titus 2:13