In our nativity crèches, wise men and adoring shepherds kneel before a manger as various livestock placidly look on.
But according to the last book of the Bible, a startling drama was taking place behind that manger scene. In Revelation 12, John saw a woman “clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.” This resplendent woman “was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth.”
Then John saw a disturbing sight: An “enormous red dragon … stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth so that it might devour her child the moment he was born.”
The woman “gave birth to a son, a male child, who ‘will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.’” And immediately “her child was snatched up to God and to his throne.” After that, the dragon “went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring.” John heard a loud voice from heaven declare, “He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.”
This is Christmas?
This is Christmas.
It’s about shepherds and Magi and a baby in a manger. It’s also about a dragon who knows his remaining time is short because the Messiah has come.
A missionary once told of an enormous anaconda that slithered right through the front door of his home. His wife ran outside screaming and a machete-wielding neighbor calmly walked into her kitchen, and he sliced off the head of the serpent.
But a headless snake will continue to writhe. So, for hours, the missionary couple stood outside while the body of the snake smashed furniture and windows and beautiful decorations.
In Revelation 12, John said Satan’s behavior is like that today. Amid sickness and sorrow and death, it’s disturbing to see what damage a serpent can do who is “filled with fury.” But the child who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter” has been born, and the countdown to the dragon’s defeat has begun!
We’ll dive deep into Revelation 12 at Hillcrest this Sunday at 10am. See you on campus or online.
--Tom
Sign up here to receive Tom Goodman’s weekly devotional in your email inbox. Tom serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas. His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter.