When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach. Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.
Revelation 12:13-17
After being cast out of heaven, the Dragon is furious. He has utterly failed to destroy the woman’s “seed” the Christ, and now turns his rage against the woman, the people of God. God protects His Church, and she is taken off into the wilderness (remember, this is not intended to be taken literally). The dragon spews forth a torrent from his mouth that is intended to destroy the woman (the Church). Let’s stop right there…
What comes out of the mouth of Satan?
Lies, falsehoods, distortions, frauds, and they take the form of false teaching, false religion, false philosophies, false science, false lifestyles, false political utopias… and the earth swallows all of it, leaving the Church safe. There will be much more to say about what the earth represents in the next chapter, so for this passage, I’ll simply point out that those who are not followers of Christ have no problem soaking up all of Satan’s lies.
Seeing that God will not permit His Church to be destroyed, the dragon changes his tactics. Note verse 17: God’s protection of His Church enrages the dragon, so he begins to target individual Christians.
Notice in verse 14 that God would take care of the woman for a time, times and half a time, which parallels verse 6 where the woman was in the wilderness to be taken care of for 1,260 days. As we have seen earlier, “time, times and half a time”, “1,260 days”, 3 ½ years”, “3 ½ days” and 1,000” years all symbolize this present age, the gospel or “Church” age. This tells us that this attack that failed, resulted in Satan targeting individual Christians for this entre age, and that should give each of us a sobering thought…
You, me and every Christians who reads this is in the cross hairs of the Enemy: Beware!
…And rejoice, for greater is He who is in us, than he who is in the world! As we will see next time, the dragon has allies, and we must also be aware of them; see you then!
Life Project Blog 
Hi Don,
I have really enjoyed reading your posts on Revelation, however I have a question for you.
You have stated that the 1260 years are this present evil age, and that this is the same time period as the time, times, and dividing of times. When exactly did the 1260 years start? When will they end? Does this mean Christ is coming at the end of the 1260 years?
I have one last question. You mentioned today that these events in Revelation are symbolic and not to be taken literally. Does that mean these symbolic things and events are fulfilled in real life times and things or are they symbols and not to be taken seriously?
I look forward to your answer.
Denise
Hi Denise,
OK, your first question about the 1,260 “years”. That is actually 1,260 days not years. 1,260 days is 3 1/2 years, as is 42 months, which is also used by John. It’s the same as “time (year), times (2 years) and half a time (half a year)” and represents the entire period from the ascention of Christ until His return.
As for the second question, yes these things are symbols, and we should take them very seriously because they tell us what is going on in the world around us and in the heavenly realm during our lives. If we understand them better, we will understand our world better, and be less likely to be taken in by the schemes of the Enemy of our Lord.
I hope that helps!