Rev 12:15 says And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the women, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.
Doctrinally, in the Tribulation, the devil will be trying to destroy Israel once and for all. In Rev 12:15 he will try to carry her away with a flood. Here, the phrase carry away means to cause the death of or to demolish. The flood is probably metaphorical for the “flood” of nations that will conspire to destroy Israel. We won’t run those cross-references in this study.
In this passage, we also see a great spiritual application in the phrase “carried away of the flood”. Carry away in this sense means to drive or draw out of the control of reason and judgment. We commonly use this expression in statements like “He just got carried away with her”. Today, many Christians are being carried away by their emotions.
I have noticed a very strong trend in the world toward emotionalism. Emotionalism affects nearly every area of our lives. Modern churches appeal to your emotions. Sports appeal to the emotions of the athletes and the spectators. News commentators appeal to your emotions. They’ll scare you or make you mad. Mobs get stirred up by their emotions. Relationships are built on and disintegrate over emotions. And so forth. And people get carried away in the flood of their emotions.
While we are all emotional beings, we are also rational beings. Yet, as a result of all this emotionalism, there is little to no rational Biblical thinking these days. When people talk about current events or family situations, they aren’t quoting Bible. They have followed the trend Paul warned about. People have turned away their ears from sound doctrine, 2 Tim 4:3. They are running on feelings.
When the river of emotions is raging nearby, you must be careful to not jump in or fall into the flood. Because once you’re in that river, you’ll be carried away. Like David wrote in Ps 124:4-5 “Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul: Then the proud waters had gone over our soul”.
On the national scene, strong feelings about politics, vaccinations, international affairs, conspiracy theories, governmental plots, immigration, and so forth are raging. Christians have gotten carried away with their feelings about these matters. They no longer have any concern for God’s thoughts about these topics from the Bible. People have been swept away in the current of their feelings. They speak with strong emotional convictions based upon the information they have been reading, watching, and hearing. But since they haven’t been reading and studying their Bibles on these topics, they don’t have a clue where God stands.
In their individual lives, Christians are being carried away by their emotions of fear, anger, depression, despair, worldly love, bitterness, and so forth. They have jumped into the river of their emotions and they are so far downstream they may never get back. They have no solid footing with the Lord.
In many cases, the children have turned to sin and their parents are being spiritually carried away from God by their emotions. Some have even compromised the doctrines of the Bible to accommodate their love for their children. They no longer see anything wrong with their children’s abominations.
In some cases, young Christians are dating lost boy friends or girl friends and getting carried away from the Lord and sound doctrine by their love. Because of their love for their friends, they no longer believe much of what they used to believe from the Bible and they no longer love God like they used to. The proud waters have gone over their souls.
If you agree that being carried away by your emotions is dangerous, then you’ll take precautions to protect yourself. The way to keep from being carried away by this flood of emotions is found in Luke’s gospel. In Lk 6:47-48 Jesus said, “Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: He is like a man which builded an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock; and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock”.
When the flood arises and beats vehemently upon your house, it cannot shake it when your house is founded upon a rock. The rock foundation is laid in a person who first comes to Jesus, then hears his sayings, and after he hears them, he does them. You need to do all three of these.
First, come to Jesus in in salvation, prayer, and continual fellowship. You hear him through his words. And you do what he says when you obey his words. When you do all three things, the floods of emotions will still arise in your life. The difference is that they will not shake your house and carry you away downstream.
For more on the subject of emotions, see Control Your Emotions.