1. Revelation 12:13 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

What function does the phrase “thrown down to the earth” have?

Revelation 12:13 (ESV)

13 And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child.

This is the fifth time that the word “thrown” is used in relation to the dragon in this chapter (Revelation 12:9 (3x), Revelation 12:10). In the eye of our mind we are meant to see the dragon tossed aside, a miserable entanglement of legs and heads, thoroughly humiliated. He is now scrambling to get his legs under him again to continue the fight. But his expulsion from heaven meant he cannot continue the fight against Michael and his angels; he is now limited in his terrain to the earth, where also the woman lives who gave birth to the child. So this phrase connects the events of Revelation 12:7–12 with Revelation 12:13–17.