This verse is filled with symbolism: the dragon is the symbol of Satan, the woman is the church, and the male child is Christ. Unable to attack the exalted Lord in heaven, the devil on earth seeks to destroy the church, the body of Christ.
Satan has power on earth and is intent on destroying the church. But he does not seem to realize that, because God vigilantly protects his people as the apple of his eye, Satan doesn’t stand a chance and will be defeated in the end.
John relies here on Old Testament imagery. In Exodus 19:4 God told the Israelites at Mount Sinai that he had carried them on the wings of an eagle and brought them to himself.
The church has wings to fly away and safely escape from the attacks of the devil. It is obvious that, with all his resources in the world, Satan is unable to annihilate the church. God has given her a place and provides her with daily necessities much the same as he gave the Israelites manna, quail, and water during the wilderness journey.
This is now the third time in this chapter that John writes the word serpent. It attests to the craftiness of Satan, who has been losing the battle against God and the church. He is trying once more with trickery to overwhelm the woman and bring her to ruin. He does this by unleashing a stream of water in the desert where God placed her. Note that this water like a river comes forth from the mouth of the serpent, which can be interpreted to mean a flood of deceptive words.
God constantly encourages his people not to fear even when the floodwaters threaten to overwhelm them. He comforts them by saying, “When you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you” (Isa. 43:2).
God causes the earth to swallow up the waters that come forth out of the serpent’s mouth. His people sang the song of Moses in praise to God, “You stretched out your right hand and the earth swallowed them” (Exod. 15:12). Even though they may suffer physically in many ways, God protects his own and keeps their souls eternally secure.
Satan, called “the dragon,” never concedes defeat; every time he is vanquished, he returns with vengeance and fury. He is unable to reach the victorious Christ and thus turns his wrath on the church. He is unable to swallow the church as a whole and thus fights those who were keeping the commandments of God and held to the testimony of Jesus.
Satan faces a losing battle, which by itself is a source of comfort for those who feel the brunt of his anger in days of persecution and tribulation.
Two words stand out in this prophecy: son and children. The virgin gave birth to a son (Isa. 7:14) and Zion brought forth children; the son is the Messiah and the children are his followers. All along, but especially at the end of time, the dragon attacks not the woman but “the rest of her offspring.”
John describes the followers of Christ with the clause, “those who were keeping the commandments of God and held to the testimony of Jesus.”
THE BEAST FROM THE SEA AND THE LAND 13:1-18
The Beast from the Sea 13:1-10
It is accepted throughout the New Testament that in the last days there will be a special outbreak of the powers of evil. Sometimes this is associated with an individual who may be called the antichrist, or the “man of lawlessness.” It is this figure who is behind the opening vision of this chapter. John does not name him, but calls him “the beast.” The beast or antichrist is like an incarnation of Satan (Satan in the flesh).
The Beast from the Sea Described 13:1-4
In understanding what is meant here by the term “sea” we must go to John for help. John himself interprets the term seasymbolically in 17:15, where the angel told him, “The waters that you saw on which the prostitute sat, they are the peoples and the crowds and nations and languages.”
Alluding to the Daniel 7:3 passage, John observes not four beasts but one beast as a combination of four coming up out of the sea. This beast has ten horns and seven heads, but these numbers should not be taken literally to refer to seven kings but symbolically as figures of completeness and fullness, and to apply them to the combined forces of world governments set against the saints on earth.
The seven heads and the ten horns are those of Satan himself, who already has been described as the gigantic red dragon (12:3). Though staying in the background, Satan is using the beast—an image of world governments—to do the work for him.
The term blasphemous names displayed on the seven heads of the beast points to a slogan, or creed a government has adopted. In John’s day, Caesar was revered as (Lord and God), which no Christian could confess. For the Christian, only Jesus was Lord and God (1 Cor. 12:3).
Blasphemy is the ridiculing of all that is holy. John says that blasphemy is the slandering of God’s name, his dwelling place, and those who are in heaven (v. 6).
For his imagery it would seem that John relies on Daniel 7 where Daniel portrays four beasts, of which three are named—a lion, a bear, a leopard (vv. 4–6)—and the fourth is described as terrifying (v. 7). These beasts depict four successive world empires: Neo-Babylonia, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. But John combines them into one beast to denote all the world powers hostile to Jesus Christ.
The agent who inflicted the mortal wound is not mentioned, but the Scriptures relate how God pronounced a curse on the serpent in the Garden of Eden, whereby the seed of the woman would crush his head (Gen 3:15).
The “whole earth” here has to be qualified as the whole “unbelieving world” which marveled, following the beast (worshiping the beast).
The world worships the dragon. This is evident in that people believe the lie instead of the truth; they uphold the death of innocents instead of the sanctity of life; and they practice immorality instead of striving to live a moral and upright life.
John intends to make it clear that the worship of the dragon is the same as the worship of the beast, that is, the beast is the instrument in the hand of the dragon.
Satan, who wants to occupy God’s place, appears in the form of the beast. Audaciously he asks whether there is anyone like the beast. This question expects a negative answer, for with the authority the beast has received there is no one on earth who is able to oppose him.
Does the lie triumph over truth, evil over good, injustice over justice, dishonesty over honesty, vice over virtue? The answer is no, because God is in control. Through his Son, God establishes justice, truth, righteousness, and peace. The beast and ultimately Satan will face the wrath of God and be cast into the eternal lake that burns with fire along with all those who followed them.
