Mid-Tribulation: Revelation 12-13; Daniel 7; 9

What is mid-tribulation?

In Daniel 9, Daniel is praying to God for the nation of Israel, that God would relent from His punishment of exile.

During this prayer, the angel Gabriel comes to Daniel and tells him of several things:

1. Seventy "Sevens": Gabriel tells Daniel that there are "seventy sevens" or 490 years that God will use to "finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place."

2. The Anointed One: Gabriel explains that 69 of the 70 sevens (or 483 years) from the rebuilding of Jersalem the "Anointed One" will be put to death.

   Historical Context: In 457 BC, King of Persia Artaxerxes I gave a decree for Jerusalem to be rebuilt. If we add 483 years to that, it would put us at 26AD. Which puts us in the range of the crucifixion.

3. One Seven Left: However, there’s still one group of 7 years left in the plan, which means there’s more to come after the death of the Anointed One.

4. The Ruler: During the final seven, a "ruler" will come and destroy Jerusalem and make a covenant. In the middle of the seven it he will set up "an abomination that causes desolation" in the temple.

This passage leaves us with a final seven-year period to: "finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place." 

This is the tribulation. And what this passage speaks of shortly is a midpoint.

• This midpoint, as we will see, is where many dynamics changes occur during the tribulation.

• Luckily, Scripture makes it pretty clear when it is talking about an event in mid-tribulation.

Key words to know when Scripture is talking about Mid-Tribulation:

1. A Time, Times and Half a Time

2. 3 1/2 Years

3. 42 Months

4. 1,260 Days

An example from two weeks ago: The Two Witnesses are Killed by the Beast (Revelation 11)

Revelation 11:3
“And I will appoint my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”

Now understanding what Mid-Tribulation is, we can now dive into Revelation 12.
However, what we begin with here is not mid-trib. So avoid that lens for a moment.

Revelation 12:1-2
"A 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. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth."

• Notice the word "sign."

  • This is John telling us, "this isn't meant to be taken literally, it is a metaphor."

• So is the woman a literal woman? No.

We see a very similar sign way back in Genesis in one of Joseph's dreams...

Genesis 37:9
"Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”

• Who do the 11 stars represent? The sons of Israel.

  • Why not 12? Well the 12th is Joseph himself.

So in the case of the woman, who is crowned with all twelve stars, what can we assume?This woman is Israel.

• This is not a new metaphor, Israel is regularly depicted as a woman throughout the Old Testament.

So, now with the lens of the woman being Israel, what is happening?

• Israel is about to give birth.

Revelation 12:3-4
"Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. 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."

• "Another sign." So are we going to take this literally? No. Is it a metaphor? Yes.

So who is the red dragon?

• Most of us would assume the red dragon is Satan, that is correct.

• Now if this is a sign, what does this mean? Will there be a literal dragon we will see? Likely not.

What about the seven heads, ten horns, and seven crowns?

• Well we need to get to chapter 13 before we can get into that.

What about the stars?

• The stars it swept are fallen angels.

Satan desired to destroy Israel's child.

Who is this child?

Revelation 12:5-6
"She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.” And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. 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."

• The male child who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter,” is a prophecy from Psalms 2:9 of Jesus. Jesus also outright quotes this statement about himself in Revelation 2:26-27.

There is not much debate against this being Jesus.

• And the child being snatched up would be Jesus' ascension.

Israel now flees to the wilderness for 1260 days.

• This should stick out to us, it is a mid-trib event.

Revelation 12:7-9
"Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him."

Verse 9 confirms the dragon being Satan.

• Satan is thrown out of Heaven by Michael and his angels.

• Satan no longer has access to Heaven like he did in places like Job.

• Him and his angels are now locked to Earth.

Verses 10-11 tell us there is rejoicing because Satan has been removed from Heaven.

Revelation 12:12
"Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.”

• However, woe to the Earth because Satan is not happy about this, and all his wrath is about to come out in one final swing.

Revelation 12:13-14
"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."

• The first thing Satan does when he is hurled down is he goes for God's people. These are the jews (the believing ones at least).

• Israel is able to flee the same way we see described in Exodus.

Exodus 19:4
"You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself."

• Israel will be protected for the 3 1/2 years as mentioned earlier.

• Matthew 24 talks about this day. Jesus says that this moment will come so quick, that even going back for a coat will lead to death.

Revelation 12:15-16
"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."

• Satan will send water to flood this hiding place, but the Earth will open up to prevent this from happening.

Revelation 12:17
"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."

• Satan recognizes he cannot reach them/hurt them, so he goes for the Jews following the mosaic law and Christians.

Time for Revelation 13

Revelation 13:1-2
"The dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority."

What is this new beast that Satan is giving his power to?

• There is a ton of symbolism here, and much of it is not explained in this chapter.

However, it is explained in two places: Daniel 7 and Revelation 17

• Today, we are going to cover what Daniel 7 tells us about this beast.

Synopsis of Daniel 7:

1. Daniel has a Dream: Daniel had a vision of four beasts that stood for four powerful kingdoms that would rule the world.

2. The Four Beasts:

   1. The first beast looked like a lion and represented Babylon.

   2. The second beast looked like a bear and represented Persia.

   3. The third beast looked like a leopard and represented Greece.

   4. The fourth beast was the scariest, with huge teeth and ten horns.

3. The Ten Horns: Through the final beast 10 Horns or 10 Kings will arise. Among the 10, one king/horn will come out of the ten.

4. The 11th King: This 11th king will remove/kill 3 of the original 10 kings and "speak against the Most High and oppress his holy people and try to change the set times and the laws. The holy people will be delivered into his hands for a time, times and half a time." Daniel 7:24-25

   This is the same person Daniel 9 references when it talked about the "ruler" that would come and speak blasphemously.

In the end, Daniel is encouraged by God telling him that He will destroy this king, and will establish His kingdom forever.

Let's connect the dots:

• Notice how the beast we see in revelation is a combination of the beasts we see in Daniel 7.

• This is the fourth beast, a nation worse that all before it.

  • This is also an explanation of the 10 horns we see on both Satan and the beast.

    • For the explanation of the crowns, we will have to wait until Revelation 17.

• This nation will have 10 kings, with one king coming out of them to lead in mid-trib.

Who are these 10 kings who will rise?

• What is important is not who they are, but what they contribute. They are just part of the beast.

Now, for this to make sense going forward, we must understand that the beast represents not only this future nation, but it also represents the person leading it (the 11th king).

• So, when it says Satan gives all his authority and power to the beast, yes it is given to the nation, but by the work of this 11th king.

Let's continue in Revelation 13...
Revelation 13:3-4
“One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast. People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, “Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?”

What we will see confirmed further in the passage is that this fatal wound will be an event where the 11th king will be killed, and then brought back to life.

• By this resurrection, the whole Earth will worship the beast.

  • I use the term resurrection, because in the greek, it is the same term used earlier in Revelation to reference Jesus' resurrection.

  • They will see how great he is because of the power given by Satan and will pledge their allegiance to him.

What we are beginning to see is a false Trinity forming.

• Satan trying to be God, giving his power to one man.

• This one man was killed but is brought back to life.

• So in a sense we have the "father" as Satan, the son as the 11th king (this is where we get anti-Christ from). But we are missing one figure, don't worry we will get there.

Revelation 13:5-7
"The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months. It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation."

• This is how we know the Beast is a specific person.

• This is also how we know it is speaking of the ruler from Revelation 9.

Revelation 13:8-10
"All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world. Whoever has ears, let them hear. “If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity they will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword they will be killed." This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of God’s people."

• It's either worship Satan and live or worship Jesus and die.

• Those in the Tribulation must accept this fate.

Last chunk, be prepared it is going to tell us a lot...
Revelation 13:11-17
"Then I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people. Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth. It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666."

Lets break this down:

1. There is a second beast, who, I will go ahead and tell you is a person called the false prophet (Revelation 19:19-20)

2. The False Prophet will have the appearance of a prophet (like a lamb), but it will speak the words of Satan and will be able to preform miraculous signs, which will deceive the Earth.

3. The False Prophet will create a statue/image of the 11th King/Anti-Christ and it will be animated. All those that do not worship its image shall be killed.

4. The False prophet will introduce the mark of the beast to be put on all that comply's right hand or on their forehead.

5. The mark of the beast will be the name/number of the beast

   1. The number is its identification.

   2. A possible interpretation of this is in the Hebrew language each letter is assigned a number. Therefore, names have numerical values. It could be that whoever the 11th king/anti-christ is, their name will add up to 666 in Hebrew.

   3. The reason John says this calls for wisdom is because one would need to understand Hebrew to see this.

That is Revelation 12-13. It is a lot to take in. What I have done is I have created a timeline of everything so far.

A TIMELINE OF EVENTS DEPICTED IN REVELATION 1-13:

1. Jesus appears to John to tell him "what is now and what will take place later." (Ch.1)

2.  Jesus gives seven messages to seven churches about what was presently happening. (Ch.2-3)

3.  John is invited into Heaven to be told of what is to come. (Ch.4)

4. John sees angels and elders surrounding God's throne and praising Him. (Ch.4)

5. There is a scroll that no one worthy to open except Jesus. (Ch.5)

6.  Jesus is praised for being worthy and is about to open the scroll's seals. (Ch.5)

7. The six seals are opened. Each with a consequence. (Ch.6)

8. John sees servants of God sealed and protected, praising the name of the Lord. (Ch.7)

9.  The final seventh seal is opened, which ushers in the seven trumpets.

10.  Six trumpets are sounded. Each with a consequence. (Ch.8-11)

11.  John is told to eat the "little scroll" and tell the world of what is to come. (Ch.10)

12.  John is told of two witnesses that will perform miracles, be killed during mid-tribulation, and be raised to heaven. (Ch.11)

13.  The final trumpet prepares the way for God's full reign on earth and the coming final judgement. (Ch.11)

14. John sees a sign of Satan trying to destroy Israel’s “child” Jesus. (Ch.12)

15.  At mid-tribulation, Satan and his demons are thrown out of Heaven. (Ch.12)

16. Satan will then attack Israel, which God will protect. So, Satan will go after Christians. (Ch.12)

17. Satan gives power to an evil nation with ten kings, giving specific power to one who will have appeared to die, but will be come back to life. (Ch.13)

18. This king/anti-Christ will wage war against Israel and will conquer them. (Ch.13)

19.  The entire world will submit to the anti-Christ and anyone who does not will be killed. (Ch.13)

20.  The false prophet will come forward to lift up the name of the anti-Christ and will perform signs in his name. (Ch.13)

21.  The false prophet will create an image/statue of the king and it will appear to have life. Anyone who does not worship it will be killed. (Ch.13)

22.  The false prophet will establish the “mark of the beast” and all that do not have it on their right hand or head will not be able to buy or sell. (Ch.13)

23. John tells the reader the way to identify the king/anti-Christ is by his number “666.” (Ch.13)