The Saints Attacked
THE SAINTS ATTACKED
REVELATION 12:13-17
Keeping the commandments of God and witnessing go together.
We have to distinguish between the willingness to suffer martyrdom (12:11) and the foolhardy challenging of death. Jesus himself commanded his disciples to flee to another city when they were persecuted (Matthew 10:23), implying that the message would be better spread that way. Here (12:14) we see the people of God going underground for the present time, something that has been more frequent and more fruitful than is often realized. The wings symbolize the speed at which it happens. There is always a danger, when the church becomes too anchored and hampered by physical things which restrict its mobility.
The symbolism in 12:15-16 is probably clear in general outline but difficult to apply in detail. The earth always stands symbolically for what is firm and steadfast, and therefore law-abiding. Sometimes, but hardly here, it represents Israel as the people under God’s law. The water floods, whether the sea, or as here a river in spate, represent the nations in their lawlessness and rebellion against God. So the picture is of Satan loosing mob violence against the church, as he has so often done. Indeed, in every age action by the State against the church has often been based on popular demand. Here, however, the forces of law and order react against the mob violence and foil it. But as chapter 13 shows us, this merely means that subtlety is substituted for force by the enemy.
Satan changes his attack from the church as such to its members. The description of them (12:17) precludes any interpretation that they are those left behind at the rapture. They are surely the male child unrecognized in their humble state.