Woe to the Inhabiters of the Earth After Christ’s Atonement
Revelation 12:12
John Cassinat
December 18, 2025
Woe to the Inhabiters of the Earth After Christ’s Atonement
The Voice of Woe
Rejoicing accompanied the war that ended in heaven in Revelation 12:12.
In that same verse, a voice declares:
“Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.”
Woe expresses deep sorrow, grief, suffering, and affliction.
Most scholars believe the woe in Revelation 12:12 coincides with the end of the war in heaven, when Satan was cast down to earth at the time of the earth’s physical creation.
That is not the case.
There were no inhabiters on earth at the time of the physical creation to receive the woe. For this, and other reasons discussed in my podcast on December 14, 2025, the woe in Revelation 12:12 was pronounced long after the physical creation, when Satan knoweth that he hath but a short time.
The Timing of the Woe
The inhabiters of the earth metaphorically refer to the world known to John as the Roman Empire.
Jesus pronounced the same woe upon the Jews on the evening before His crucifixion.
In Matthew 23:38, He said:
“Your house is left unto you desolate.”
When the disciples asked what He meant,
“Jesus said unto them… There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” (Matt 24:2)
By these words, Jesus predicted the Roman Abomination of Desolation in 70 AD, which destroyed Herod’s Temple and the Jewish nation.
Jesus also said this was just “the beginning of sorrows” for the Jews. (Matt 24:8)
Satan’s Wrath After the Atonement
The Abomination of Desolation was an outward sign of Satan’s wrath after the devil is come down unto you.
This refers to Satan’s defeat by the atonement of Jesus Christ, when Satan was spiritually defeated and cast down to a new earthly low.
D&C 19:2–3 records this event:
“I, having accomplished and finished the will of him whose I am… that I might subdue all things unto myself—retaining all power, even to the destroying of Satan and his works at the end of the world.”
No event in history could have filled Satan with greater wrath than the atonement of Jesus Christ.
After the atonement, Satan lashed out against the inhabiters of the earth, exactly as described in the woe of Revelation 12:12.
The Dragon Persecuted the Woman
Revelation 12:13 states that when Christ’s atonement brought Satan down to defeat:
“The dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, and he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.”
Albert Barnes explains:
“That is, when Satan saw that he was doomed to discomfiture and overthrow, as if he had been cast out of heaven; when he saw that his efforts must be confined to the earth, and that only for a limited time, he persecuted the woman, and was more violently enraged against the church on earth.”
(Albert Barnes, Barnes Notes, Vol. 14, 313)
The Woman and the Man Child
The man child represents Jesus Christ, but He was not brought forth by the woman (the ancient church) in verse 13.
The church did not give birth to Christ.
Christ gave birth to the church.
John mentions the man child in verse 13 to identify the woman (the earthly church) as the same woman who represented the premortal church of God at the time of the grand council.
In that premortal setting, the church gave birth to Christ as the members voted by common consent to Christ’s elevation as Savior, Redeemer, and ruler of nations in Revelation 12:5.
Learn More
For more on the woe and the dragon’s wrath in Revelation 12:12, and his persecution of the woman in Revelation 12:13, check out my podcasts from:
🎧 December 14, 2025 – Listen here
🎧 December 16, 2025 – Listen here
(Also available wherever you get your podcasts)
John Cassinat
Unveiling Jesus Christ
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