Now we see the reason why the man child (144,000 Jews) is raptured. “Then there was war in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought. But they were defeated and they no longer had a place in heaven. And the great dragon was cast down, that old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, he who is the deceiver of the whole world. And he was cast down to the earth, and his angels were cast down with him.” (Revelation 12:7-9) These Jews had been sealed or marked for protection from the first six trumpet judgments; but now the seventh trumpet is about to be sounded and Satan is cast down to the earth, where he will join forces with the Antichrist to destroy the Jews. And in response, God does two things: He raptures the man child and prepares a sanctuary for Israel.
As for the war in heaven, that’s something that we can’t describe in any detail, as no information is given. Only the result is described. We do know that angels can be captured and confined (II Peter 2:4, Jude 6-7) and that Satan and his angels will be held in the Abyss during the Millennium (Revelation 20:1-3) and permanently confined to the Lake of Fire in eternity (Revelation 20:10). In our concept of war in this material realm we know that people die. But these wars in the supernatural realm involve immortal angels who cannot die. Instead, they are somehow overcome and confined. In this instance, the vanquished are cast out of heaven and temporarily confined to the earth.
Next comes the announcement of the fulfillment of the third woe (the seventh trumpet). “Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, now it has become a reality – the salvation and power and kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ; for the accuser of our brethren, the one who continually brings charges against them day and night, has finally been cast out! And they have overcome him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life, even when faced with death. Therefore be glad, O heavens and those who dwell there. But woe to you O earth and sea, for the Devil has come down to you in fierce anger, because he knows his time is short.” (Verses 10-12)
The third woe or seventh trumpet is the beginning of the end for Satan. This is the signal to those in heaven that the kingdom of God and the authority of His Christ are no longer just a promise. Definite things are happening to make it a reality! The one who has been the source of rebellion against God in the heavens and on the earth is finally being dealt with. He has lost forever and ever, the right to come before God to plead his case by accusing others of what he himself is guilty and what he has sponsored in the earth since his rebellion began. The warning in verse 12, “woe to you O earth and sea, for the Devil has come down to you in fierce anger” tells us that in spite of the previous devastation and suffering, as in the past, things are not going to get better, they’re going to be much worse.
So, when Satan realizes that he has failed to destroy the man child, he turns his attention to national Israel. “And when the dragon saw that he was cast down to the earth, he began to pursue the woman who had given birth to the man child. But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, so she could fly away from the serpent to the desert, to a sanctuary where she will be kept safe and be fed for three and one-half years.” (Revelation 12:13-14) Now, as for the “two wings of a great eagle”, if you look at Exodus 19:4 and Deuteronomy 32:9-12 you’ll see that this describes God’s provision and protection of Israel. This same illustration is used in Isaiah 40:31 of God’s care for the obedient believer. And in the last lesson in reference to Revelation 12:6, I mention that when the woman (Israel) flees into the desert where God had prepared a sanctuary for her, the “desert” mentioned is actually Edom and Moab. This is predicted in Isaiah 16:1-5 and Psalms 60:9-12.
“Then from his mouth the serpent spewed forth water like a flood after the woman, that she might be carried off by the flood. But the earth rescued the woman when the ground opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood of water that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth.” (Revelation 12:15-16) The “flood” here depicts the armies of Antichrist who, with the help of Satan and his angels, pursue Israel into the desert (Daniel 9:26 uses the same illustration of a flood for the army of Antichrist that comes into Jerusalem in the middle of the tribulation period when he breaks his agreement with Israel and makes the holy city his capital). Then we see another parallel from the Old Testament. The earth opens up and swallows the armies of the Antichrist just like it did to Korah and his company of rebels in Numbers 16:29-35.
This brings us to the last verse in chapter 12. “So the dragon was enraged at the woman, and he went away to wage war on rest of her descendants who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus.” (Revelation 12:17) When he fails to destroy those Jews who were wise enough to follow Jesus’ instructions found in Matthew 24 (to flee to Edom and Moab), Satan begins a campaign to destroy those who remained in Israel.
In the above translation “the rest of her descendants” is from “the remnant of her seed” in the KJV. I mention this because would-be prophets in religion use the word “remnant” a lot these days. They mostly use it to describe an end-time revival when God gathers his “remnant” of Gentile believers. I smile when I get emails predicting this event, because this word is never used in Scripture in reference to the church or Gentile believers. It always has to do with national Israel. Some have argued with me that God is free to use it in a different context when revealing truth today, but I’m just stubborn enough to believe that He didn’t use one vocabulary for revealing truth in the past and another for revealing truth today (Malachi 3:6, Hebrews 13:8).
Now these Jews that Satan wants to destroy are those “who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus”. As we’ll see later, there are plenty of Jews around who are not spiritually aware and are just trying to survive, probably by cooperating with the Antichrist in any way they have to. Satan wants to wipe out these believers who have come to Christ after seeing the 144,000 disappear from Israel (remember Revelation 12:5) and possibly hearing the testimony of the two witnesses (Revelation 11:3-12).