Revelation 12: Jesus Overcomes the Dragon

Dragons in the Bible? Believe it or not, Revelation 12 presents one of Scripture's most vivid cosmic battles—a woman clothed with the sun, a child snatched to God's throne, and a seven-headed dragon cast from heaven. But what does this apocalyptic imagery actually mean for believers today?

Join Pastor Brandon as he unpacks this symbol-rich chapter, cutting through confusion to reveal its practical significance. Rather than getting lost in end-times speculation, we focus on how these ancient words would have encouraged persecuted first-century Christians and how they speak powerfully to us today.

The central message emerges with stunning clarity: our true enemy isn't our difficult spouse, unreasonable boss, or hostile neighbor—it's the devil himself. And here's the game-changing truth—we're fighting a defeated foe! "They defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony," reveals the secret to spiritual victory.

This episode reminds us that spiritual battles require spiritual weapons. While dragons and cosmic warfare might seem far removed from daily life, the principles revealed here transform how we navigate our struggles. We don't fight for victory; we fight from victory.

Whether you're facing personal battles, feeling spiritually attacked, or simply trying to make sense of Revelation's mysterious language, this breakdown provides the biblical perspective and practical encouragement you need. The spiritual realm is real, but so is Christ's triumph. As Pastor Brandon reminds us, "The goal is to see Jesus face to face."

Subscribe to Bible Breakdown, share with a friend who needs perspective in their spiritual battles, and join our Facebook discussion group to continue exploring God's Word together!

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The More We Dig. The More We Find.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Revelation 12
• 3:38 Reading the Dragon and Woman Story
• 6:33 The Heavenly War Explained
• 10:00 Our True Enemy is Spiritual
• 11:21 Closing Prayer and Encouragement

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:24

Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today. Revelation, chapter 12, and today's title is Jesus Overcomes the Dragon. Jesus Overcomes the Dragon. Yes, we talk about dragons. It's another one of those chapters where we're just scratching our heads and going thank goodness for Jesus. So, if you have your Bibles, want to open up with me to Revelation, chapter 12. While you're doing that, as always, if you're new around here, make sure you take just a second to like, share, subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast. Make sure you subscribe to the YouTube channel and let us know where you're coming from, because we love just figuring that out and just celebrating with people all over the world now who are listening to podcasts, watching the videos, and make sure you're going to the Bible Breakdown discussion on Facebook.

Speaker 1: 1:14

It is an amazing group of people working so hard to provide us devotions every day and, as always, the more we dig, the more we find, and that is definitely true with the book of Revelation. And so, if you are getting ready with me, we're going to jump into this, and it's just another one of those chapters where it's important to remember on the outset the goal, and the goal of this is that Jesus wins. Remember the goal of this and I say this every time because I want to make sure that we're on the same page and that is, I want to remember together that the goal of the book of Revelation was not to tell the future. Okay. Primarily, the goal of the book of Revelation was to celebrate Jesus, was to proclaim to an early church that be struggling, they're getting persecuted there are seven churches in Asia and they are just dealing with it from Rome and from Jerusalem and from all these other places. Man, they are just going through it and Jesus is inspiring John to write to them and to say I got you guys, it's going to be okay. There's bad things that are going to happen, but in the end, jesus always wins, and that's what we've been talking about throughout. All of these different chapters is different ways that Jesus wins, and chapter 12 is no different. Now, chapter 12 is going to be very interesting because there's a lot of symbology happening, a lot of things that are going on that make us scratch our head and go. I don't understand any of that. Well, that's okay, because it's symbology. And, once again, there are other great podcasts that are going to get into the probable future predictions of what all these things are. The purpose of this podcast is to not sit here and just go into you know, where's the Catholic Church involved and all these different things Like that's not the goal, right. The goal of this is to see how this would have encouraged the early church and see what it does to encourage us. So there's going to be some different things in here and we're going to try to stop along the way, but the main thing is to read this and then look and go okay, this is how it would have encouraged the early church. So, if you're ready, revelation 12, verse one says this.

Speaker 1: 3:14

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 12 stars on her head. She was pregnant and she cried out because of her labor pains and the agony of. Then I witnessed in heaven another significant event. I saw a large red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and with seven crowns on his head. 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 the baby as soon as it was born. As she was about to give birth, ready to devour the 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 Remember that throne part. Right there, the woman fled to the wilderness where God prepared a place to care for her for 1,260 days.

Speaker 1: 4:20

Then there was a 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 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 the earth, the one who accuses them before God, day and night, and they have defeated him by the blood of the lamb and by their testimony. They did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die. Therefore, oh rejoice, oh heavens and you who live in the earth rejoice. But terror will come upon the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you in great anger, knowing he has a little time.

Speaker 1: 5:23

Then the dragon realized that he had been thrown down to the earth and he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child, but she was given two wings, like those of a great eagle, so that she could fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness. There she would be cared for and protected from the dragon for a time, times and half a time. Then the dragon tried to drown the woman with a flood of water and flowed from his mouth, but the earth helped her by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that gushed out from the mouth of the dragon. Then the dragon was angry at the woman and declared war against the rest of her children and all who keep God's commands and maintain their testimony for Jesus. And then the dragon took his stand on the shore beside the sea. Mm-hmm. Well, there you go, there be that.

Speaker 1: 6:16

So there is a mountain of symbolism going on here, and that can you see now why, if you've never read the book of Revelation, are you scratching your head? I would be. Yeah, I mean, here's the thing. I have been studying at the book of Revelation for over 20 years, and the more I study it, the more I realize we're never going to understand, on this side of eternity, all the things that God wanted us to. Once again, I believe that prophecy best works when we look back at it and we go, oh, that's what God was doing. That's the way I think prophecy works the best. But can you see there's so much mystery and intrigue and interesting things that's going on that you can't help but sit there and go. Mystery and intrigue and interesting things that's going on that you can't help but sit there and go.

Speaker 1: 7:01

Huh, I wonder what this means. I wonder what that means. Well, here's one thing that we do know is that most scholars all believe that the woman in this probably means the church, and then the baby that was born is Jesus, because it says that God took the baby and took him to his throne in heaven and all this kind of stuff. And the dragon represents the devil and the devil is a loser and he's angry because he lost and all that stuff. But here's the thing I want us to catch in the middle of this what this would have meant to the early church is that this fight that we're in, this battle that we're in, is not a battle of flesh and blood, but it's a battle, as Paul said, against powers and principalities and evil rulers in this age, dark rulers, all these things. Therefore, our fight is not against people, our fight is against the devil. I say that again Our fight is not against our neighbor, our fight is against the devil. Now, the devil may be using our neighbor, but our fight is not against our neighbor. Our fight is against the devil. Now, the devil may be using our neighbor, but our fight is not with our neighbor, the fight is with the devil. And that the fight is a spiritual battle and that spiritual things are happening Because, you notice, right in the middle of all of that chaos, worship is going on in heaven, which means that, even when this symbology of a woman, you know, giving birth to a baby and the baby probably symbolizing Jesus and Jesus going up to heaven, and then there's this timeframe where God saves this lady from having to deal with any kind of issue, and then, all of a sudden issues come back again. And all this, like in the middle of all of that warfare and chaos in heaven, they're saying, at last, the time has come when salvation and power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of our Christ. So they're saying all of this is part of God's plan. And you know what I love too. It said this. It said they defeated him, the devil, by the blood of the lamb and by their testimony.

Speaker 1: 8:54

When we fight spiritual warfare, we don't fight with earthly weapons. We fight with the authority of Jesus, the blood of the Lamb, and we fight with the testimony that Jesus is good. Can I tell you that all of us in here, just like in the early church, all of us around that you can see, we're all in a spiritual battle, and we don't fight spiritual battles with physical weapons. The weapons of our warfare are mighty in God. And and we don't fight spiritual battles with physical weapons. The weapons of our warfare are mighty in God. And so what we need to do is put on the armor of God, the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth. We have on our feet the gospel of peace. We have on the shield of faith and the sword of the spirit so that we can walk in the victory that God has made for all of us.

Speaker 1: 9:38

And so the early church would have been looking at this and going, wow, there's so much more going on here. Then we realize we're not just being persecuted locally, the enemy is fighting the global church. But if, looking at this, he's lost and so can I encourage you, today we battle a defeated foe he's already lost. And so, right in the middle of the battle, jesus has already declared victory. Let's pray together right now. God, thank you so much that we are not in an epic war where we don't know what's going on.

Speaker 1: 10:14

Jesus, you've never lost your throne. Don't know what's going on, jesus, you've never lost your throne. Heavenly Father, you have never been in a situation where you weren't so sure if you were going to win or not. But it is from victory that we fight. I pray, god, that you will help us to realize, god, that our enemy is not our neighbor. Our enemy is not our difficult child or our hateful boss or our troublesome teenager. That's not our ultimate enemy. Our enemy is the devil. Our enemy is our own flesh. And we wage warfare in the spirit, by declaring victory, by walking in freedom and realizing, god, that in that spiritual battle you've already won the victory. We're thankful for that. Today, in Jesus' name, we pray Amen, amen. Well, god's Word says in Revelation 1, verse 7, it says Look, he comes with the clouds of heaven and everyone will see him. Let's never lose focus. The goal is to see Jesus face to face. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow. For Revelation, chapter 13.