Sunday October 12, 2025 | Greg Boyd
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. 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. 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.
In this sermon Greg Boyd introduces a new series entitled Dragon Slayers. A myriad of symbols tell about a woman who gives birth to a Messiah, while Satan seeks to destroy him. Then the woman goes into the wilderness. The focus of this sermon lies on the meaning of going into the wilderness and our calling to bring God’s love to those mired in a wilderness life.
This is the first sermon in a new series on Revelation 12 and 13. These chapters lie at the center of Revelation and the images found within hold the interpretive key to the entire book. In the first part of the sermon, Greg explains the meaning of Revelation 12:1-5. Then he highlights verse six, which is the primary focus of this sermon.
In verse one, we read about a “great sign” which is a reference to a grand unveiling. This unveiling is a radiant woman who is arrayed in cosmic symbols. This is about the grandeur of God’s people who are called to shine out into a world of darkness and despair. This woman is pregnant, an image of creation groaning and Israel’s longing for the Messiah.
Then there is another sign, a red dragon that refers to Satan, the ultimate force of evil behind all evil. The dragon swept away a third of the stars. One-third is the opposite of the perfect number of three, which is used to describe God. Satan is a three wannabe. He tries to rise to the level of God, but falls short. The dragon is a grim parody of a midwife, seeking to snuff out God’s people and God’s plans before they get off the ground.
Verse five quotes Psalm 2:9, the coronation psalm in which God promises his anointed king dominion over all the nations. John uses this psalm to fuse the birth, suffering, resurrection and exaltation of Jesus into one verse. John is ironically subverting its meaning, because the one who owns the iron scepter is the once-slain little lamb, whose way is the exact opposite of imperial top-down rule of fear.
Now we turn to verse six. The woman flees to the wilderness for three and one half years, a symbol for a season in which God’s people, and sometimes the world, go through a period of intense tribulation. Throughout the Bible, a “wilderness” is viewed as a wasteland, a realm of death and an abode of demons. Most of the time, we want to flee such experiences, but the woman goes to the wilderness which is prepared by God.
Followers of the Lamb are not only to expect to endure tribulations in the wilderness, we’re supposed to flee towards it, knowing this is where God wants us and takes care of us. Many Christians are waiting for Jesus to come and rescue us from the painful wilderness of this world. Our actual call is to run toward the wilderness that is our world. That’s the place God has prepared for us. The church is to storm the gates of hell as dragon slayers. We are not running from situations that need God’s love. We are bringing God’s love into those situations. This is the way of the Lamb.