Revelation 12-14 is again directed at the persecuted church. The past, present and future are certainly mixed together here. They contain what might be called "seven significant signs". Their purpose is to bring encouragement and promote perseverance. Satan is still menacingly active, but he is a totally defeated foe. The church will have her martyrs, but ultimate victory is assured.

The "woman clothed with the sun" (12:1) stands in complete contrast to the "the great prostitute" (17:1; 14:8) who wars against her. The woman symbolizes Israel who is about to give birth to the Messiah. But in the latter part of the same chapter she is to be identified as the church. Doctrine should not be formulated from apocalyptic writings. They should not be too precisely interpreted. They should be seen as illustrating what is clearly taught in other parts of the New Testament; they surely also need to be relevant to every generation, from the incarnation to the second coming. 

The enormous and powerful red dragon is Satan. The beast on which the great prostitute sits is also scarlet. The beast is the devil's chief henchman. Some believe the third of the stars flung to earth are angels that became demons (12:4). Satan himself was a highly ranked angel (Ez. 28:12-17; Isa. 14:12-15). We must always remember he is a created being. The son the woman bore is Jesus. He is God in human form. "He will rule all the nations with an iron sceptre."  

The war in heaven was not between God and Satan, but between Michael and his angels and the dragon and his angels. "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" (12:7-9).

"Now have come the salvation and the power  and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death." Yet Satan's persecution of the church continued and his final doom isn't recorded until the end of Chapter 20.

Satan accuses; the Holy Spirit brings conviction that leads to willing repentance. Satan judges and condemns; Jesus forgives and affirms. Satan uses deception, vagueness and mixes lies with enough truth to confuse us; the Holy Spirit speaks clearly, convincingly and with loving kindness. Satan never stops his accusations; the Father always looks for our faith and our love, not our faults.

We overcome the devil by the blood of the Lamb (Christ's death on the cross for us), by the word of our testimony (confessing with our mouth that Jesus is Lord while believing in our hearts that God raised him from the dead) and by not cherishing life even in the face of death (by carrying our own cross, dying to self, and following in the footsteps of Jesus).