By Allen White
Then
I witnessed in heaven an event of great significance. I saw a woman clothed
with the sun, with the moon beneath her feet, and a crown of twelve stars on
her head. She was pregnant, and she cried out because of her labor pains and
the agony of giving birth.
Then I witnessed in heaven another significant
event. I saw a large red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, with seven
crowns on his heads. 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.
She
gave birth to a son who was to rule all nations with an iron rod. And her child
was snatched away from the dragon and was caught up to God and to his throne.
And the woman fled into the wilderness, where God had prepared a place to care
for her for 1,260 days.
Then
there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and
his angels. And the dragon lost the battle, and he and his angels were forced
out of heaven. This great dragon—the ancient serpent called the devil, or
Satan, the one deceiving the whole world—was thrown down to the earth with all
his angels.
Then
I heard a loud voice shouting across the heavens, “It has come at
last—salvation and power and the Kingdom of our God, and the authority of his
Christ. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down to
earth—the one who accuses them before our God day and night. Revelation
12:1-10 (NLT)
At this point, you probably think that I’ve made a
wrong turn in my Bible. This doesn’t sound like the Christmas story at all.
This sounds more like a Frank Peretti novel.
The book of Revelation was written at an important
time for the Church. At the end of the First century A.D., the Church was
suffering great persecution. For a new movement of God, they experienced
tremendous hardship and feared for their lives. In the middle of this
situation, God gave John a Revelation on the Isle of Patmos.
Revelation portrays a cosmic battle of good and
evil, just like other apocalyptic literature of the day. The Church needed a
powerful story. The Church needed to know that good would overcome evil,
because at that time the opposite seemed true.
Some preachers have made entire careers out of
what the Book of Revelation means and when everything is going to happen. I’m
not sure that is the purpose of the book. But, we can know two things for
certain: The end will come, and Good will win. That’s all I really need to
know.
Now, what about the Christmas story? Go back and
read this Revelation story again. I think you’ll see what Jesus’ coming stirred
up.
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