Wednesday 14th December
Read Revelation 11:19-12:6
“Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a severe hailstorm. 12 1A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2 She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. 4 Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The 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. 5 She gave birth to a son, a male child, who ‘will rule all the nations with an iron sceptre.’ And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. 6 The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.” (NIVUK)
The woman about to give birth (v2), with the dragon waiting to devour the child (v4b), gives birth to a son and rather than being devoured by the dragon the child is snatched up to God and his throne (v5). It is clear who this son is. This male child is the promised son of the king – the Messiah – the Christ promised in Psalm 2.
“I will proclaim the Lord’s decree:
He said to me, ‘You are my son;
today I have become your father.
8 Ask me,
and I will make the nations your inheritance,
the ends of the earth your possession.
9 You will break them with a rod of iron;
you will dash them to pieces like pottery.’” (Psalm 2:7-9) (NIVUK)
The Greek translation of Psalm 2 (the Septuagint) reads ‘will rule them with an iron sceptre’ (v9a).
Why does this Christmas story leave out the ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus entirely? It jumps from His birth to His heavenly reign. This makes sense if the series of seven Visions John is setting the scene for reveal where ultimate authority lies. If one is tempted to trust in the false and deceptive authority of the world then the Christmas story undermines that authority completely. The victory of God’s Messiah is sure. It mirrors what the loud voice from heaven proclaims, “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God,and the authority of his Messiah.” (Revelation 12:10a) (NIVUK).
We often focus down and in when we consider the Christmas story, highlighting the vulnerability and humanity of Jesus. When we draw back and out though, the entrance of God into history, at that moment in time, is when authority is transferred. Yes, it is through suffering and humiliation and death that the victory is won. John is not contradicting that in any way. But what he wants us to see is that the incarnation itself is the victory that provides hope and much-needed perspective to all who follow Jesus. When the promised Son comes, the nations will all, eventually, bow down (cf Psalm 2:10-12; Philippians 2:5-11). Something the magi did at His birth.
