countermeasures

A lot of Revelation is hard. The visions are grim and dark, and the scale of death and destruction is epic. It isn’t fun reading, and on top of that it’s hard to understand.

But when I read for concepts, there’s a lot that reassures me.

One great example is chapter 12, the story of the dragon’s fight with God over the pregnant woman and her son. The dragon (Satan, we’re told) waits by the woman for her to give birth, intending to kill her son. God snatches the baby up, and throws the dragon down. 

And then this, from Revelation 12:13-17: “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.”

Here’s what reassures me in all this: for everything Satan tried to do, God had an effective countermeasure. He gave the woman wings, and swallowed the torrent into the earth. He foiled every part of the dragon’s plan.

As intimidating as the dragon is in this story, and as fearsome as he is described, he is largely impotent. He can’t have what he wants, and he fails at the things he tries. Oh, he continues to wage war, and do damage, but he is thwarted. 

That’s the reassurance we have as Jesus-followers: there’s nothing Satan will try that God can’t counter, no card he will ever play that God can’t trump. There’s no way he can win, and no way we can lose.