“His tail swept away a third of the stars in heaven and hurled them to the earth. And the dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she did give birth he might devour her child. But she gave birth to a Son–a male who is going to shepherd all nations with an iron scepter–and her child was caught up to God and to His throne” (Revelation 12:4-5 HCSB).
We’ve already identified two of the three figures that appear in the opening verses of Revelation chapter twelve. The woman spoken of here is representative of Israel, while the dragon represents Satan. Who then is the male child who is referenced in this passage? Well, we can associate this child with Jesus Himself.
As a human being, Jesus came forth from the nation of Israel, thus establishing His connection to the woman of Revelation 12:1. In addition, this reference to “an iron scepter” recalls a similar term used earlier in Psalm two where God the Father issues the following invitation to His Son…
“Ask of Me, and I will give You The nations for Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth for Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel” (Psalm 2:8-9).
We’re also told that “…the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child as soon as it was born” (NET). The Biblical Scriptures offer several historic examples that might fit this image. Consider the following excerpt from the book of Exodus…
“… Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, instructed the Hebrew midwives… to kill all Hebrew boys as soon as they were born, but to let the girls live. But the midwives feared God and didn’t obey the king- they let the boys live too… Then Pharaoh commanded all of his people to throw the newborn Hebrew boys into the Nile River. But the girls, he said, could live” (Exodus 1:15-16, 22 TLB).
The Old Testament books of 1 and 2 Samuel also detail several attempts on the life of king David, the ancestor of God’s promised Savior. Then we have the Biblical book of Esther, a work that chronicles the account of a man named Haman and his attempt to exterminate the Jewish people. Finally, we have the New Testament example of king Herod. Shortly after Jesus’ birth, Herod killed every male child aged two and younger in the city of Bethlehem and the surrounding areas in an attempt to eliminate Jesus as a rival king.
From a 21st century perspective, we can associate each of these events with the dragon’s attempts to “devour” Jesus before He had an opportunity to fulfill His role as Savior.