Day 210

¹⁵ And the serpent hurled water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood. ^{16 ]}But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon had hurled out of his mouth.” Rev.12:15,16.(NASB)

In Revelation, water can be used in three different ways: it can represent 1) nourishment; 2) cleansing; and 3) flooding, destructive power. Flooding rivers and winged dragons are actually parallel images in the ancient world. 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. 
Rivers resemble snakes as they meander across the landscape. Flooding rivers resemble snakes with wings. The earth swallowing a flood is a known phenomenon. In the Kalahari Desert, the Okavango Delta is swallowed by the desert as this large river pours into one of the driest places on earth and disappears.

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. 
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 the mountains of 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. The Women, (The church in Europe persecuted by the Beast/ Dragon, see Daniel 7:25. C.f. Revelation 13:5-9) fled to the New World. The earth literally opened and swallowed the persecuting flood from the Roman Church.

The other event that swallowed the flood was the reformation. Through the work of great men like Wycliffe, Knox, Luther, Calvin and many other reformers the message of Righteousness by faith and the freedom of religion were heralded across the myriad countries of Europe and the New World. The ‘free world’ was based on the double premise of a church without a Pope and a country with out a king. Protestantism and democracy. This double premise will be challenged in the last days.

In the final days of earth’s history, prayer will be 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).”