Revelation 12:13 – 17

13 Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. 14 But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. 15 So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. 16 But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. 17 And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

After being cast out of heaven, the only territory Satan had to do much damage to God is the earth. He placed his entire effort into trying to destroy the true church. His persecution was aimed at the church so that the scripture which gave mankind the hope of salvation and the truth that man and only man can make his own decision as to whether he accepts Jesus as his Savior.

The two wings of the great eagle are symbols representing the Old and New Testaments because it is only the word of God which can sustain the church during the trying times of the world. The woman(church) was to be nourished with spiritual food during the Dark Ages(wilderness).

The timespan which is given in verse 14 means 1260 years, it comes from the Book of Daniel. (Daniel 4:16, Daniel 7:25, Daniel 12:7) (time, times, and half a time) it sums up to three and a half times or years, multiply 360 by three and a half and the result is 1260 years, the period of the Dark Ages.

Satan tried to flood the Christian world with temptations to defeat the church. He was losing his battle with God and knew it. In desperation instead of a few persecutions such as burning one at the stake or nailing a disciple to a cross, the Roman-Catholic empire would use wholesale persecutions of Christians to try to defeat the church.

In the case of a flood it appears there is no avenue of escape, then God gave the church (woman) a miracle ( hole in the earth) caused most of the persecutions from having any effect on the church. It is like this today for us, when it seems there is more than we can bear, God will give us an escape. (No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.) 1 Corinthians 10:13

The devil could not destroy the church, God had protected and sustained her during this trying period. Given the description of her “offspring” it can only mean the individual Christians who make up the church. The apostle Paul tells us (“ Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.”) 1 Corinthians 12:27. When he could not destroy the church he turned to the individual members to try to destroy. He was trying to destroy the church one member at a time.