Daily Devotional For August 8, 2025
And the serpent spewed water like a flooding river out of its mouth as it pursued the woman, in order that he might cause her to be swept away by the flood. And the earth helped the woman. It opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon spewed out of his mouth. Rev 12:15-16.
In Revelation, water can be used in three different ways: it can represent 1) nourishment; 2) cleansing; and 3) flooding, destructive power. The image of a great flood of water swallowed by the earth is unknown in geography. This very thing occurs in the Kalahari Desert in Southern Africa. It is a huge place called the Okavango Delta. There a large river pours into one of the driest deserts in the world. The water splits up into a delta full of plant and animal life, but the land is so dry that as the water continues flowing it dries up and disappears into the desert. Beyond the delta the land remains as dry as a bone.
The mouth of the serpent seems to be an allusion to the serpent’s deceptive words in the Garden of Eden. If that is the case, the flooding waters here may mean powerfully deceptive words as much as persecuting force. The flooding waters contain both deception and threat.
Satan has two main methods of persuading people away from God: 1) deception and persuasion on the one hand; and 2) force, threats, and persecution on the other.
Flooding rivers and winged dragons are actually parallel images in the ancient world. From an airplane, most rivers look a lot like snakes, meandering back and forth across the countryside. Now imagine that the river is overflowing its banks. From the airplane that same river would now look like a snake with wings. That is the root concept behind the ancient idea of a dragon. So ancient readers would see the flood of waters as a natural way for the dragon to attack the woman in this story.
Many students of the Bible believe that this scene anticipated the situation of Europe in the Middle Ages. Faithful followers of God, like the Waldenses in northern Italy and southern France, copied and studied the scriptures. They often faced threats and destruction from armies sent out by the dominant Christian church. They were persecuted because the scriptures were too great a threat to the prevailing belief system.
In the final days of earth’s history, prayer will be a vital protection when God’s people are in distress. “Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you while you may be found; surely when the mighty waters rise, they will not reach him. You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance (Psalm 32:6-7, NIV).”
Lord, I know that I haven‘t persevered in prayer the way I need to. Energize my heart and soul to reach out to You more fervently than ever.