Woman and a Dragon  

     John writes, "A great and wondrous 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 about to give birth."

     "Then another sign appeared: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. The dragon stood in front of the woman so that he might devour her child the moment it 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 desert, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days."

     "And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The great dragon was hurled down - that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray."

     John hears a voice saying, "Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers...has been hurled down. They overcame 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." 

     After a failed attempt to destroy the woman, "the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring - those who obey God's commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus." 

Tomorrow: Final seven years