Revelation 12:4 - Printer Friendly

ESV: His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it.

NIV: Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born.

NASB: And his tail *swept away a third of the stars of heaven and hurled them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her Child.

CSB: Its tail swept away a third of the stars in heaven and hurled them to the earth. And the dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she did give birth it might devour her child.

NLT: His tail swept away one-third of the stars in the sky, and he threw them to the earth. He stood in front of the woman as she was about to give birth, ready to devour her baby as soon as it was born.

KJV: And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.

NKJV: His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born.

Currently, the Devil has access to heaven. He does not reside there, but often he appears before God to accuse believers (Revelation 12:10). Job 1:6–12 pictures Satan at the throne of God with the accusation that Job reverenced God only because God prospered him.

In the middle of the tribulation, Satan will lose his access to heaven. Scholars differ on whether this specific reference to "a third of the stars of heaven" is a reference to Satan's work in corrupting one third of the angels of heaven, or a point about his immense earthly power at this time. Either way, Satan and all rebelling demons will be cast down and barred from their normal communication with God.

Revelation 12:4 depicts Satan standing before the woman so he might destroy the woman's child. Satan's opposition to God's plan to redeem fallen mankind is apparent from the dawn of human history and is abundantly clear in Herod's attempt to kill baby Jesus, whom he saw as a threat to his kingship (Matthew 2:7–13). Satan has always tried to destroy Israel, too, as is apparent in the longstanding evil of antisemitism. His hatred of Israel will reach an all-time high in the second half of the tribulation.

Revelation 12:1–6 opens a long stretch of Revelation which ''pauses'' the narrative of the end times. These events are highly symbolic and refer to varying times throughout both history and the future. This section points back to the fall of Satan and to the birth and ascension of Jesus. The passage concludes with an event in the middle of the tribulation period. Revelation 13 will describe the situation prompting the woman of Revelation 12:1–6 to flee into the wilderness.

This chapter relates several highly symbolic visions, which introduce figures critical to the end times. First is a woman, representative of Israel. Second is a red dragon, identified with Satan. Third is a male child, who is Jesus Christ. The red dragon seeks to devour the woman's male child, but God caught the child to His throne, referring to the ascension of Jesus after His resurrection. The passage then continues to describe a war in heaven between Michael and Satan—here Satan becomes the fourth key figure—which results in Satan's complete and total eviction from heaven. Satan attempts to destroy Israel, most likely through an armed invasion, which is supernaturally defeated by God through an earthquake. The fifth main figure is the collective ''offspring'' of the woman. These events are given further details in passages such as Ezekiel chapter 38.

Preceding verses have brought us to the middle of the tribulation, after the seal judgments and very near the end of the trumpet judgments. Now, the focus shifts to symbolically introduce a series of important figures. These are mentioned in various eras, not as part of the earlier chronology of Revelation. This passage relates to Matthew 24:15–26 and Isaiah 16:1–4. Ezekiel 38 and Joel 1 describe an invasion into Israel from the north, and Revelation 9 identifies the invading army as demon inspired. Revelation 13 continues to describe major end-times figures, focusing on ''the beast,'' also known as the Antichrist, and the False Prophet.

The word ''revelation'' means ''an unveiling or disclosure.'' This writing unveils future events such as the rapture, three series of judgments that will fall on the earth during the tribulation, the emergence of the Antichrist, the persecution of Israel and her amazing revival, as well as Jesus' second coming with His saints to the earth, the judgment of Satan and his followers, and finally, the eternal state. This content, combined with the original Greek term apokalypsis, is why we now refer to an end-of-the-world scenario as ''an apocalypse.''