Advent 2020: Christ (Christmas Eve)

Revelation 12.1-6

Introduction 

Silent night, holy night. All is calm, all is bright. 'Round yon virgin Mother and Child. Holy infant so tender and mild. Sleep in heavenly peace. This Christmas carol paints a quant picture of the nativity scene. But that’s not the picture we just read. Revelation 12 clues us in that Christmas isn’t so much about cute animals and a little baby, no crying he makes. Christmas is about vulnerable woman in the pain of childbirth but instead of an OBGYN at her feet there’s a dragon eager to devour her baby. Christmas is about good vs. evil. It’s about spiritual warfare. And it’s about the crushing of the evil dragon king by the baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.

One theologian said that Revelation 12 is at the theological heart of the book of Revelation. For Revelation is not about dating charts, world chaos, or 7 years of hell on earth. The book of Revelation is about the victory of Christ over Satan, and the resurrection of the fallen cosmos. What we see in Rev 12.1-6 is a snapshot of the saga of redemption. This is what the Bible is all about: the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight. 2020 may be the year of the rat but it’s felt more like the year of the serpent. 2020 has felt like it’s always winter and never Xmas. Tumultuous politics, global pandemics, family fights, and many have tried to connect these events to the end times. On this Xmas eve let’s look to the book of Revelation to see the most important truth about the end of time and what it has to do with Xmas.

The Woman (12.1-2)

We could trace a whole biblical theology of the woman starting with Eve, through Sarah, Rebekah, and Rachel, to Israel the unfaithful wife of YHWH, but one would be silly not to see this woman epitomized in the virgin Mary. She is the fulfillment of the promise to Eve. She is the one who carried and delivered the Spirit-conceived Christ. 

Mary then becomes a representative of the very people of God, the true Israel: the church. Verse 6 makes this fact undeniable. God’s people are called YHWH’s wife in the OT, and the bride of Christ in the NT. The seed that is promised in Genesis 3.15 develops through the kingdom of God, which is God’s people, in God’s place, under God’s rule.

John gives us a stunning word picture when he describes the clothes that the woman is wearing. She is dressed in the sun, the moon, her shoes, and on her head she has a crown of 12 stars. This vision is probably an allusion to Joseph’s dream in Genesis 37.9-11, where Jacob is the sun, Rebekah is the moon, and his 11 sons are the stars. The woman here is equated with Israel, and the New Testament makes it abundantly clear that Israel is fulfilled in the church. The 12 stars on the crown represent the 12 tribes of Israel, and the 12 Apostles. John is also linking the vision to Genesis 1-3, where the sun, moon, and stars were created. This child will be the one who redeems the whole creation (Rom 8), as we’ll see in ch. 21-22. The people of God, the church, will be used to restore the cosmos of God through the Son of God.

The Dragon (12.3-4)

What John sees next is horrifying. The woman is laboring in birth pains and a great red dragon is at her feet ready to devour her child. As we read this pericope, we have an inkling as to who this dragon is, but all doubt dissipates in verse 9:

And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world.

The dragon is Satan, the serpent of old. He’s the liar & murderer who deceived Eve. He’s the evil, scale-covered king who has waged war against God’s kingdom since the garden. As if a dragon is not scary enough in and of itself, this dragon has 7 heads, 10 horns, and 7 diadems. He is powerful. All of his heads, and crowns represent his power. He’s fiery red because he breathes murder. He has a tail that can sweep the stars out of heaven.

Satan did everything that he could to try and devour Christ when he was born. He had Herod order the death of all male Jewish children (Matt 2). Satan even thought that crucifying Jesus would do the trick. But the gospel irony is that what looks like weakness is actually power. This picture looks like a sure-fire TKO, doesn’t it? A woman in labor vs. a dragon with 7 heads. It’s like me challenging The Rock to an arm wrestling match. But what was weakness to the Jews, and foolishness to the Greeks is really the power of God unto salvation. Christmas reminds us God uses the weak things of this world to prove his strength.

The Son (12.5)

What child is this? The dragon-slaying hope of the world. He is the one who will rule the nations with a rod of iron. Jesus is the fulfillment of Ps 2. He has the true authority. It is not Satan who has the final authority; it is Jesus. It is not the nations that have the final authority; it is Christ. This is the central theme of the book of Revelation. In Rev 1, Jesus is the son of man whose eyes are like fire, hair is like wool, feet are like bronze, face is like the sun, and tongue is like a sword. In Rev 2-3, Jesus is the one who has the authority to command the churches. In Rev 5, Jesus is the lamb who is worthy to open the scroll. In Rev 6, Jesus opens the seals. In Rev 7, Jesus is the shepherd of the 144,000, which represent all believers for all time. In Rev 8-9, Jesus opens the 7th seal, and gives the trumpets to the angels. In Rev 11, Jesus breathes life into the 2 witnesses, which represents the church. In Rev 12, Jesus defeats Satan with his resurrection. In Rev 14, Jesus leads the 144,000 in a new song. In Rev 16, Jesus directs the angels to pour out the bowls of wrath. In Rev 19, Jesus defeats his enemies and marries his bride. In Rev 20, Jesus rules and finally destroys Satan. And in Rev 21-22, Jesus makes all things new.

John tells us that Jesus was caught up to God and to his throne before the dragon could devour him. This simple sentence is a summary of the conception, birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. What the dragon thinks is devouring the child, is actually his own defeat. Jesus crushed Satan with his obedient life, Substitutionary death, and resurrection. Now he is caught up at the right hand of his Father. This is the true message of Christmas. Jesus lived, died, and rose again so that we might experience the forgiveness of sin. Trust Christ on this Christmas Eve and you will be saved! 

It’s interesting to note that the word “caught up,” which is the Greek word, ἁρπάζω, is the Latin word, rapio. This is the same word used in 1 Thess 4.17, where some people get their theology of “the rapture.” The fact of the matter is that the only person that is “raptured” in the book of Revelation is Christ. He is caught up to God. God snatched him away before he was devoured, and now he rules at the Father’s right hand.

John ends this pericope by describing where we find ourselves now. The woman – which is the church – has fled to the wilderness where God nourishes her for a time period. Like Israel, we have experienced an exodus. Jesus has led out of the slavery of our sin, but we have not entered the Promised Land of the New Creation yet (Heb 4; Rev 21-22). We are now wandering in the wilderness for a time, and times, and half a time. These millennia between the advents of Christ are filled with trials and tribulations. COVID 19, politics, marriage issues, economic strife, racial tension, death of family or friends. 2020 reminds us that the battle still rages. It is in the midst of this pain that the book of Revelation gives us the declaration of victory: Jesus is victorious! 

Listen to Rev 20.10:

and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

The dragon may be hot on your neck, but take heart Jesus has crushed his head.

Conclusion

The word of hope from the Scriptures on this Christmas Eve is that the dragon will not devour the woman. Her son will not allow it. Jesus wins. When Jesus returns he will make everything sad untrue. CS Lewis captures this thought well at the end Narnia. The royal lion, Aslan is explaining to the children that they have died, and that they are now entering the New Creation:

“The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning. And as He spoke, He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them this was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.”

Church, the trials and tribulations of this life are only the preface to the great story of eternity in the new world with King Jesus where it is always Xmas and never winter.