Dragon persecutes Israel !

Revelation 12:13-17

Dragon persecutes Israel!

Revelation 12:13-17, Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. ¹⁴ But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. ¹⁵ So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. 16 But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. ¹⁷ And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. As we have seen in our study of Revelation chapter 12, the nation of Israel has endured immense suffering throughout history.

This pattern of persecution isn’t confined to this single chapter it’s woven across the whole of Scripture. We see it in the historical records of the Old Testament, echoed in prophetic texts from both the Old and New Testaments, and even referenced in the Gospel accounts and the book of Acts, where the early Roman oppression of the Jewish people is apparent. While the Romans at times showed a degree of tolerance, mutual hostility remained deeply embedded.

Israel’s story is one of repeated occupation, judgment, and sorrow. This pattern of hardship will persist until the return of the Lord Jesus to establish His Kingdom. Revelation 12 brings us into the Great Tribulation. In this period, Israel will face its most intense suffering. Some of this suffering comes from God Himself.

From the beginning, God clearly warned that disobedience would bring judgment. True to His Word, He has carried out chastening throughout the ages as a call to repentance. A judgment driven by divine love, always intended to restore.

But Israel’s affliction has also come from another source: Satan. Unlike God’s corrective discipline, Satan’s attacks are purely destructive.

His aim is not redemption but annihilation death, deception, and damnation. His judgment is fuelled by hatred, not love. Thus, Israel stands in the crossfire between two cosmic powers: Almighty God and Satan. ➢ One seeks to purify.

➢ Other to destroy. Despite centuries of suffering, Scripture warns that the worst is yet to come.

Jeremiah 30:7, Alas! For that day is great, So that none is like it; And it is the time of Jacob’s trouble, But he shall be saved out of it. Describes this future season as “the time of Jacob’s trouble.” Jesus Himself said in Matthew 24:21, For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.

This coming tribulation will surpass anything in human history.

Why? Because it will mark the final outpouring of God’s wrath upon a rebellious world including unrepentant Israel. The climax of Satan’s rage against God's people.

The days ahead will bring unparalleled persecution and judgment. Although many may hope that the darkest days lie behind, Scripture makes it clear: they do not. God has judged His people for their disobedience but always with a view toward bringing them to repentance.

But on the other hand, the great persecution of Israel in the future will be led by the architect of all anti-Semitism and that is Satan himself. The holocaust to come in the time of tribulation will surpass all other persecutions of the Jews combined as the whole hosts of demons overrun the earth and aid in Satan’s destructive efforts.

Satan’s final rebellion during the Great Tribulation is a desperate attempt to derail God’s redemptive plan, the reign of Jesus Christ, the salvation of Israel, and the coming of the promised Kingdom. During this period, Satan will launch a ferocious assault against the Jewish nation. His aim will be to destroy both those Jews who have already come to faith in Christ, and those who may yet turn to Him during the Tribulation.

This satanic opposition targets every agent of God’s end-time gospel witness. He will attempt but fail to eliminate the ministry of the 144,000 sealed Jewish evangelists.

Though he longs to silence the angel flying through heaven proclaiming the everlasting gospel, he cannot stop it. He will also try to destroy the two witnesses of Revelation 11. But even when he is permitted to strike them down, their resurrection after three days will declare God's sovereignty in the face of satanic rage.

The enemy will attempt a mass slaughter of Israel. Yet he will again fall short. Zechariah's prophecy will come to fulfilment: the Jewish people will look on the One they have pierced, mourn in repentance, and experience cleansing and salvation.

What Satan dreads most is that Israel will be restored, and her Kingdom come to pass. God has allowed Satan’s persecution through history and will permit it even in the Tribulation not out of indifference, but as part of His divine refining process.

As the prophets foretold, two-thirds of Israel will be purged in judgment.

Zechariah 13:8, And it shall come to pass in all the land,” Says the Lord, “That two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die, But one-

third shall be left in it

But Satan seeks more that is total annihilation. God, however, will preserve a remnant. That remnant will survive and enter the Kingdom. Daniel foresaw this future in Daniel 12. He speaks of a time of unparalleled distress for Israel, but also of God’s promise to

protect the faithful

Daniel 12:1, “At that time Michael shall stand up, The great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people; And there shall be a time of trouble, Such as never was since there was a nation, Even to that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered, Every one who is found written in the book. Though many will perish, those whose names are written will be saved. V 2, declares that some will rise from death to everlasting life. V 7, this intense period of persecution will last for ³ ½ years

This echoes Revelation 12’s reference to a three-and-a-half- year period. At the end of this time, when the power of the holy people has been shattered, God’s prophetic purposes will be brought to completion including the establishment of His Kingdom.

Daniel 12:10-11, Many shall be purified, made white, and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand. ¹¹ “And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days. He adds thirty days to the ³ ½ years, which probably is associated with a mopping-up time.

This tells us that there is coming a terrible purging from God’s viewpoint, a refining and a purifying of His people. The pure will be protected, The wicked who act wickedly will be judged. It is all going to start at the abomination of desolation, which is at the midpoint of the tribulation, and will go on for 3 ½ years, this onslaught against the holy people, breaking and shattering their power.

All the while that God allows that purging to be done by Satan, at the same time He will protect the elect of Israel and even raise those martyrs who have been killed who are among the elect to enjoy the eternal life that they have been given.

Daniel looked at the very same scenario that John is now seeing back in Revelation 12.

Satan is going after Israel. He will be thrown out of heaven, as we saw in our last study, and he will be thrown down to the earth. It is reasonable to assume it begins at the beginning of the time of the tribulation. While the full-blown hostility doesn’t start until the midpoint, the first half of the tribulation, Satan is beginning to set up His power base through antichrist.

Satan starts to move into the place of political authority, which gives him the position to do what he does at the midpoint and then to take over his power throughout the earth. Satan wants to be aided in the world by a human force.

He needs a commander of all the forces of the world. He needs a world ruler, and it’s going to take him a little time to set it up. He along with his demons when he hits the earth is begun to establish the power base of antichrist. Brings along the false prophet, the proliferation of demons, not only those that have been cast out of heaven but those that have been belched up out of the pit and those that have been loosed from the river Euphrates and two hundred million more. All begin the major strike at the midpoint and after.

The goal of Satan is to destroy Israel and to abort the Kingdom and to stop the reign of Jesus Christ. But he will not succeed because God will protect His chosen people, His elect.

Hosea 2:14-23, “Therefore, behold, I will allure her, Will bring her into the wilderness, And speak comfort to her. ¹⁵ I will give her her vineyards from there, And the Valley of Achor as a door of hope; She shall sing there, As in the days of her youth, As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt. ¹⁶ “And it shall be, in that day,” Says the Lord, “That you will call Me ‘My Husband,’ And no longer call Me ‘My Master,’ ¹⁷ For I will take from her mouth the names of the Baals, And they shall be remembered by their name no more. ¹⁸ In that day I will make a covenant for them With the beasts of the field, With the birds of the air, And with the creeping things of the ground. Bow and sword of battle I will shatter from the earth, To make them lie down safely. ¹⁹ “I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me In righteousness and justice, In lovingkindness and mercy; ²⁰ I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, And you shall know the Lord. 21 “It shall come to pass in that day That I will answer,” says the Lord; “I will answer the heavens, And they shall answer the earth. ²² The earth shall answer With grain, With new wine, And with oil; They shall answer Jezreel. ²³ Then I will sow her for Myself in the earth, And I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; Then I will say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people!’ And they shall say, ‘You are my God!’ ” Hosea says there is a day coming when I will save you. Not only will I save you, but I will take you into the Kingdom. I will be a Kingdom on the earth, grain and oil and wine, all those kinds of things that exist in the world.

This indicates a salvation and a preservation of the nation Israel. Satan, then, is not going to be successful. In this text, three attacks are given. 1. First attack. We are now in the time of tribulation. We have already been there in chapter 6-11, only we viewed it from God’s side.

V 13, Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. When the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth. Michael and his angels waged war, and the dragon and his angels waged war. The indication is that the dragon and his angels started it.

They were not strong enough. There was no longer a place found for them in heaven. The great dragon was thrown down. The battle could have been initiated by the rapture as saints are moving up into glory and Satan and his hosts try to stop them.

The dragon is thrown down to earth, and he has amount of period, certainly by the midpoint he is here in full fury.

He has a period of years to unleash his final strategy. It does involve setting up a human leader so that he can get the human armies and the human forces that he needs to do the human killing that he wants done. He enters a covenant with Israel. At the midpoint he sets up the abomination desolation.

The midpoint is when it focuses on Israel. Up to that point, there is a treaty between antichrist and Israel, and that’s when the full-blown persecution really starts. But first, when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to earth he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child.

The male child is Christ, the Messiah, the One who will rule all the nations with a rod of iron. Here V 13 he persecutes the women. He goes after Israel. He pursues them to the death. Jesus Himself warned them about this first wave of attack back in Matthew 24.

Matthew 24:15-16, “Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the

holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), ¹⁶ “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let them flee to the mountains, don’t even go down into your house if you are up on the roof to get the things that are there.

If you are out in the field, don’t go back to get your cloak. If you have babies that you are trying to nurse, woe to you and pray that your flight’s not in the winter or on the Sabbath, because there is coming a great tribulation.

It is going to be so great that it’s never been so in the history of the world, and if the days weren’t cut short, nobody would survive. But for the sake of the elect, Israel and believers from the gentile nations, even the elect would be devastated.

Jesus says you have got to run because he is going to come after you. One of the ways Satan is going to try to woo these people back out of their security is false christs and false prophets and false signs and false wonders. He is going to try to lure these people back, believing that the Messiah is here, the Messiah has arrived. Don’t be fooled.

Jesus was not predicting the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. The destruction of Jerusalem took the lives of 1.1 million Jews. Now, without modern warfare, to slaughter a million one

hundred thousand Jews with hand weapons is some kind of massacre. Israel’s situation is going to be terrifying. It’s going to be tragic. They need to run because verse 12 says Satan is going to start to pursue. He has thrown down to the earth, and he goes after the woman.

But he goes after Israel.

Why? To destroy the purposes of God, the plan of God for the nation Israel, the salvation of that nation. Matthew 25 the Olivet Discourse, Jesus’ message on His second coming. He talks about the judgment of the sheep and the goats.

Matthew 25:31-34, “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. ³² All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. ³³ And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. ³⁴ Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the

foundation of the world

➢ You are the chosen. ➢ You are the redeemed. ➢ You are the saved. Not just Jews, but all who are saved and who are still around at that time.

Why are you saved?

• I was hungry you gave me something to eat,
• I was thirsty you gave me drink,
• I was a stranger you invited me in.
• I was naked you clothed me.
• I was sick you visited me.
• I was in prison you came and visited me.

This is the judgment of the nations. These are particularly sheep out of the gentile world. He is saying to them that the reason you are going into My Kingdom along with My elect nation, along with believing Jews who also will go into the Kingdom and, in a sense, are His sheep, but He is directing this judgment toward nations, gentile nations.

Gentile nations are going to come to the aid of Israel. In that end time, as the elect of God, the elect nation and some of the elect gentiles, of course, who will be mingled among the

believing Jews are going to become objects of protection by gentiles who also will believe. They demonstrate that they too have come to faith in Christ by the way they treat those who are being persecuted by Satan.

Matthew 25:41, “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire

prepared for the devil and his angels

Why?

• Because I was hungry you gave me nothing to eat,
• I was thirsty you didn’t give me drink,
• I was a stranger you didn’t invite me in.
• I was naked you didn’t cloth me.
• I was sick you didn’t visit me.
• I was in prison you came and didn’t visit me.

You were on the side of the persecuting force. So, everybody is going to wind up on one side, and the people who identify with the persecuted are going to identify with them at the cost of their life. They are going to be the ones who are saved, believe, confess Christ, and they are the ones who will receive the Kingdom.

The "Eagle's Wings"as a Metaphor for Divine Rescue V 14, "But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent."

• The dramatic apocalyptic vision of the "woman"(Israel or the believing remnant)
• The “dragon” (Satan) introduces a miraculous divine intervention.
• The "two wings of a great eagle"are not literal wings, but a vivid metaphor for God's swift, powerful, and decisive rescue.

This imagery directly echoes the historical deliverance from Egypt. The "wilderness"signifies a place of refuge and divine sustenance, where God supernaturally preserves His people from the Antichrist's pursuit for a specific period ("a time and times and half a time,"commonly understood as 3.5 years, the latter half of the Tribulation).

This speaks to God providing a secure, albeit isolated, sanctuary during intense persecution.

Exodus 19:4, "‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself.’"

This is the foundational passage for the "eagle's wings" metaphor. Spoken by God to Israel at Mount Sinai, it refers back to their miraculous deliverance from Egyptian bondage. The image conveys the idea of God personally and tenderly lifting His people out of danger, soaring them above their enemies to safety.

It emphasizes God's power, speed, and intimate care, demonstrating that He is capable of overcoming any threat to bring His chosen ones to Himself. This historical precedent provides assurance for future deliverances, including the one described in Revelation.

Deuteronomy 32:9-13, For the Lord’s portion is His people; Jacob is the place of His inheritance. ¹⁰ “He found him in a desert land And in the wasteland, a howling wilderness; He encircled him, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye. ¹¹ As an eagle stirs up its nest, Hovers over its young, Spreading out its wings, taking them up, Carrying them on its wings, 12 So the Lord alone led him, And there was no foreign god with him. 13 “He made him ride in the heights of the earth, That he

might eat the produce of the fields; He made him draw honey from the rock, And oil from the flinty rock; This poetic song of Moses beautifully expands on the eagle imagery. It portrays God as an attentive, nurturing parent figure, specifically an eagle caring for its young.

The description of God "stirring up its nest"suggests a divine prompting to move His people, perhaps even out of their comfort zone, for their ultimate good. He "hovers over its young,"indicating watchful, protective oversight.

Then, with majestic tenderness, "spreading out its wings, taking them up, carrying them on its pinions,"God demonstrates His active role in teaching, guiding, and safely transporting His people through perilous times. The phrase "He kept him as the apple of His eye"highlights the immense value and preciousness of His people to Him, implying meticulous and vigilant guardianship.

This passage speaks to God's patient instruction, vigilant watchfulness, and powerful transportation of His people to a place of security and abundance ("He made him ride in the heights of the earth").

Psalm 91:1-4, He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. ² I will say of

the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.” ³ Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler And from the perilous pestilence. ⁴ He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler.

This Psalm reinforces the theme of divine protection, using the imagery of a bird's wings as a place of shelter and safety. "Dwelling in the secret place of the Most High"speaks of an intimate relationship with God, a continuous reliance on Him.

The "shadow of the Almighty"signifies a place of ultimate security, where one is hidden and protected from all harm. The phrase "He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge"evokes the comforting image of a mother bird shielding her chicks from danger and harsh elements.

It emphasizes not just rescue from pursuit, but also constant, intimate protection and a sense of profound peace and security found in God's presence. It suggests a safe haven where fears are dispelled, and trust is paramount.

These scriptures, through the evocative metaphor of the eagle and its wings, collectively describe God's multi-faceted intervention for His people.

Swift and Decisive Rescue

He acts quickly and powerfully to extract them from immediate danger, even when facing overwhelming odds (Exodus, Revelation).

Tender and Nurturing Care

He guides, instructs, and carries them through desolate and dangerous circumstances, providing sustenance and protection (Deuteronomy).

Constant and Intimate Shelter

He offers a secure and comforting refuge, a place of peace and safety from all threats for those who trust in Him (Psalm 91). The great eagle, of course, is the largest bird known to them. These birds flew the highest and they flew the fastest.

Isaiah 40:31, But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.

The term “eagle” is probably referring not to what we know as a bald eagle or an American eagle but to a bird that in ancient times was called gryphon. A gryphon was a huge bird, a type of vulture that was four feet long and had a ten-foot wingspan. That was the grand and great imagery of the eagle who would come and take them away.

The Lord, then, is not only going to deliver them by the protection of believing gentiles, but the Lord Himself is going to provide some way of escape.

What does it mean?

Does it mean some kind of an airlift?

We don’t know.

It is an actual bird? No. The language is picturesque, but it is not a literal bird. Somehow God is not only from the help and care and sympathy and understanding and faith that comes from the gentile nations, but somehow miraculously, divinely, and explicably.

God is going to step in and fly them away, it says “In order that she might fly into the wilderness to her place.” V 6 it said the woman fled into the wilderness. Now we know why, because Satan was chasing. She fled into a wilderness where she had a place prepared by God. She was to be there 1260 days.

The heat comes at the midpoint. The Jews start to flee. They run for the wilderness. They are helped during that 3 ½ year period by believing gentiles who come to faith, but God Himself also comes to their rescue.

Where is their place?

Where is it that God hides them? We don’t know for certain.

Daniel 11:41, He shall also enter the Glorious Land, and many countries shall be overthrown; but these shall escape from his hand: Edom, Moab, and the prominent people of Ammon. Why would God spare Edom, Moab, and Ammon? Those countries, those are the ancient names of the countries directly across the Jordan Valley east of Israel. Could it be because they were the place where the Jews were protected? If the Arab nations became the protectors of believing Israel and therefore maybe themselves came to the knowledge of God in Christ. Won’t Satan know where they are? He will know where they are, but the antichrist won’t be able to do anything. They are going to have a place. In that place they are going to be protected by God.

The term “wilderness” generally referred to land east of Jerusalem as well. V 14, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent."

We have got this remnant of believing Jews and perhaps those who have not yet but will come to Christ, but God is going to protect those who are His own. Compared with Daniel passage God is going to protect the elect. He may be in the process of protecting a least a portion of the elect before they have even become believers.

Part of that coming to faith may be occurring out in this wilderness place. But they will be coming to the knowledge of their Lord and Messiah throughout the whole seven-year period under the influence of all those who have been preaching.

The Lord takes them out there and when He gets them out there. They are cut off from the whole world system. They have got a problem.

How are they going to live?

How are they going to survive?

How are they going to eat?

Revelation 13:17, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. You can’t get any supplies. You can’t get any resources.

Can’t get any food.

How about manna?

How about quail? God did it before, He could do it again.

Who knows what God will do? We don’t. But there have been miraculous judgments, why not miraculous provisions. This is going to last for a time and times and half a time. You have got to know that this is going to be one frustrating deal for Satan. He knows they are there, and he can’t get to them.

V 14, from the presence of the serpent." The Lord does spare them from the presence of the serpent. Satan can’t get to them. They are out there. God is nourishing them for this 3 ½ year period. Probably more and more are fleeing there all the time as they come to faith, and they are running from antichrist.

Some who haven’t yet come to faith are running with them because he wants to kill all the Jews.

Then there are gentiles helping and assisting them in the flight. No doubt they will be coming from all over the world. God is going to protect them. Satan can’t get near them.

2. Attack 2

V 15, So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. Apparently, Satan is so thwarted in his initial attempt, and he can’t get to this great multitude of elect that are in the place God has for them.

He can’t get to them, so he must resort to long-range war tactics. He himself can’t get there. Whether it’s Michael and his hosts preventing it or whatever, he can’t get there. Satan has got to operate through some long- range tactic.

The serpent then poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman. This imagery is quite interesting. It is not uncommon for those great animals that live in water to draw water in and then blow it back out of their mouths.

If you remember the crocodile, the alligator, they will do the same thing, take in water and blow it out and so does a great whale in the sea, ingesting a tremendous amount of water and spraying it back out. The serpent is cast in that same imagery as some monster who is blowing out this great river of water out of his mouth, pouring it out.

Again, that imagery is not uncommon in the Old Testament.

Jeremiah 46:8, Egypt rises up like a flood, And its waters move like the rivers; And he says, ‘I will go up and cover the earth, I will destroy the city and its inhabitants.’ Egypt rising like the Nile, like the rivers whose waters surge about. The Nile would rise up every year and just drown everybody.

Jeremiah 47:2, Thus says the Lord: “Behold, waters rise out of the north, And shall be an overflowing flood; They shall overflow the land and all that is in it, The city and those who dwell within;

Then the men shall cry, And all the inhabitants of the land shall wail. The waters are going to rise from the north and become an overflowing torrent, overflow the land and all its fullness.

Judgment and disaster have come like a flood. That is the imagery of that language. This could be and most likely does refer to some kind of army. The dragon is figurative. The serpent is figurative. We assume the mouth is figurative and therefore, if the mouth is figurative, it’s possible that the river is figurative.

Some great force comes like a flood, attacking the people of God in the place where they are being protected. V 15, So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood.

• They come after the woman.
• They want her to be swept away with the flood.
• They want her to be drowned in a flood and carried away by it.
• They want her to be completely consumed and destroyed.
• The goal of Satan.

Psalm 124:1-5, “If it had not been the Lord who was on our side,” Let Israel now say— ² “If it had not been the Lord who

was on our side, When men rose up against us, ³ Then they would have swallowed us alive, When their wrath was kindled against us; ⁴ Then the waters would have overwhelmed us, The stream would have gone over our soul; ⁵ Then the swollen waters Would have gone over our soul.”

Same imagery. Seeing the force of the enemy like some kind of drowning flood.

Isaiah 59:19, So shall they fear The name of the Lord from the west, And His glory from the rising of the sun; When the enemy comes in like a flood, The Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him.

What this tells us is that the frustrated dragon (devil) is going to put together a force of men and demons to come after the people of God. V 16, But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth.

The end of this army. The end of this host.

What happened to the army of Pharaoh? They were drowned, the water swallowed them up.

Korah, Dathan, and Abiram who had been behaving wickedly.

Numbers 16:28-34, And Moses said: “By this you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, for I have not done them of my own will. ²⁹ If these men die naturally like all men, or if they are visited by the common fate of all men, then the Lord has not sent me. ³⁰ But if the Lord creates a new thing, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the pit, then you will understand that these men have rejected the Lord.” ³¹ Now it came to pass, as he finished speaking all these words, that the ground split apart under them, ³² and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the men with Korah, with all their goods. ³³ So they and all those with them went down alive into the pit; the earth closed over them, and they perished from among the assembly. ³⁴ Then all Israel who were around them fled at their cry, for they said, “Lest the earth swallow us up also!”

We don’t know what’s going to happen, may be well could describe a similar situation, where the earth just opens up and this whole army is plunged into death instantaneously. After all, what common phenomenon goes on repeatedly during the time of the tribulation.

Jesus told about earthquakes in Matthew 24.

Revelation 6:12, a great earthquake comes in connection with the sixth seal, which puts it nearer to the end of the three-and- a-half-year period. Maybe it’s that great earthquake that splits the ground and swallows the force. Satan is relentless. He couldn’t get after Israel himself. ➢ Attack one was thwarted when the Lord delivered them to safety. ➢ Attack two is thwarted when the ground opens and swallows the force.

3. Attack 3

V 17, And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Satan has reached his absolute boiling point now.

He has not been able to destroy God’s people. He never has been able to do that. That is the history of Israel. God is going to have His remnant, and they are going to be saved, delivered and going to be alive into the Kingdom. They are going to be made up of Jews and gentiles.

But when he can’t get the woman and he can’t get that group of Israelites that are out there and whatever mingled, believing gentiles may be with them. They are dominantly Jews that are hidden away. He goes after the rest of her offspring.

Some would suggest it could be 144,000 Jews. They are out there preaching and preaching. It certainly could be them. It could also be the gentile believers who are by faith the sons of Israel. It would also include them.

All who are the sons of Abraham by faith. Anybody else who is naming the name of Jesus Christ all over the earth. Satan goes after every follower of the Lamb that he can find across the face of the earth. He goes after everybody who keeps the commandments of God and holds to the testimony of Jesus.

The commandments of God refer to just that, biblical law, biblical teaching. The testimony of Jesus means the testimony that Jesus gave, the Word of Christ, the revealed truth of Scripture. Anybody who obeys God and adheres to Scripture, he goes after them.

Does attack number three work? No, it doesn’t work. We already saw that in the seventh trumpet.

Revelation 11:15, Christ will reign, and He will reign forever and ever.

The saints are going to be triumphant. God is going to protect them and take them into the Kingdom. We know there will be many gentiles in the Kingdom. Because Christ rules the nations with a rod of iron, so the gentiles must be in there.

In the Millennium will develop people and people and people and repopulate the world. It is an incredible picture. From the standpoint of Israel, the worst is yet to come. Yet from the standpoint of Israel, the best is yet to come.

Will come their final judgment by God in the purging and refining, will come their final great holocaust at the hands and the power of Satan. But will also come their salvation and the promised Kingdom. In the end, Satan will be bound for the thousand years, and then at the end of the thousand years, cast into the lake of fire.

When we study repeatedly overwhelmed that God has saved me. He has chosen me. He has called me to Himself and redeemed me. All of this is something that I will never experience because He has planned for me eternal glory.