Good Versus Evil: Act 1

SUNDAY January 18

Good Versus Evil: Act 1

Read Revelation 12:1–6. What’s happening here?

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Revelation 12 introduces the great controversy between Christ and Satan in symbolic form, and describes its progress from the time of Christ to the time of the end. In verse 1 John sees a dazzling sight—a pregnant woman, “clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet” (NKJV), and wearing a crown of 12 stars. He calls the appearance a “great sign” (NKJV), indicating that the woman is more than a mere woman. She is a symbol for the church, or for God’s faithful people (see Isa. 54:5, 6; 2 Cor. 11:2). The woman's dazzling appearance links her to Jesus, the Sun of righteousness (Mal. 4:2, Rev. 1:16).

According to Revelation 12:6, the woman flees from the dragon into the wilderness, where she is taken care of by God for 1,260 days. What is this talking about, and what do the 1,260 days symbolize? Dan. 7:25, Rev. 12:14, 13:5.

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Until the nineteenth century, most students of prophecy used the year-day principle here, and so they understood the 1,260 days to refer to the time of persecution of the church during the Middle Ages, a period of 1,260 years.

And with good reason, too. First, the whole section is filled with symbols that aren’t taken literally, so why should the time element be taken literally, as well? Second, the various time phrases used in Daniel and Revelation—“time and times and half a time” (Dan. 7:25, 12:7, Rev. 12:14, NKJV), “forty-two months” (Rev. 11:2, 13:5, NKJV), and “one thousand two hundred and sixty days” (Rev. 11:3, 12:6, NKJV)—are not the natural way of expressing a literal three and a half years (see Luke 4:25 and James 5:17). For these reasons and others, Seventh-day Adventists (in contrast to most other Christians today) interpret the 1,260 days as 1,260 years, and see it as a reference to the period of papal supremacy from the sixth to the end of the eighteenth century.

What are some of the common symbols prevalent in your own society and culture? What purpose do they serve? What’s the advantage (and disadvantage) of them? How do you use symbols in your everyday life? How does the way symbols are used around you help you better understand the way the Bible uses symbols?