“Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne. Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days“
Chapters 12-15 view prophecy from the viewpoint of the people in the Great Tribulation (the last half of the seven years).
Seven personages appear in chapters 12-13 — a woman clothed with the sun, the red dragon, the male Child, Michael the archangel, the offspring of the woman, the beast out of the sea (the world dictator), and the beast out of the earth (the false prophet). These two chapters do not advance the chronological sequence of the book of Revelation. The chronology resumes in chapter sixteen.
12:1
Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars.
We meet the first of seven personages in chapters 12-13 in verse one, a woman clothed with the sun. This woman is a “sign.” This is the first of a series of signs (Re 12:3; 13:13-14; 15:1; 16:14; 19:20). A sign is a symbol of what God is about to reveal. It carries the idea of wonder. Usually, these signs are a warning of something ominous on the horizon. Though this sign appeared in heaven, the events take place on earth.
This woman symbolizes Israel (Genesis 37:9-11) who produced the Messiah. The “twelve stars” may allude to Joseph and his eleven brothers, the twelve patriarchs of tIsrael’stwelve tribes. The focus is still on Israel.
12:2
Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth.
Israel birthed Jesus in His first coming (Romans 9:5). Satan has always attacked the line of Judah, the line of the Messiah. The Devil did everything in his power to prevent the first coming of Christ. The main point is not the birth of Christ but a focus on Israel as the context from which Christ came.
Now Jesus is about to arrive in His Second Coming. Though Israel rejected Him in the first coming but His Second Coming, they will accept Him as Messiah.
12:3
And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads.
The second “sign” is the fiery red dragon. This dragon tried to thwart the first coming of Christ 2000 years ago. This is the Devil himself acting through a world-ruler. At 12:9, John calls him Satan.
The “seven heads” represent seven empires that will rule over Israel. The 10 horns represent a 10 nation confederation with 10 kings (Daniel 2:41-45; 7:20-21, 24). These kings reign concurrently with the world ruler (Daniel 7:7; 13:1). Daniel has similar descriptions of this person (Daniel 7:7-8,24). The “diadems” represent regal power. He rules over world governments. This is a picture of a revival of the Roman Empire (13:1), representing 10 European governments.
12:4
His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth.
The “stars of heaven” are probably false religious leaders of Israel, “The prophets who teach lies are the tail…” (Isaiah 9). The “tail” of Satan represents his power that throws false teachers into the world scene. These false prophets are Satan’s mouthpieces for spreading his lies. Satan draws world civil leaders into his confederacy of 10 nations by deception.
And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born.
Satan attempts to destroy the messianic line and thus negate the influence of the newborn Child (Revelation 12:4). Herod tried to destroy the Messiah when he was born by murdering babies two years and under. Joseph and Mary fled to Egypt to protect Jesus from Herod (Matthew 2:16-18). Satan again attempts to thwart Jesus in His Second Coming.
12:5
She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron.
Israel brings forth a “male Child” who will rule the nations of the world with a “rod of iron.” This is Jesus Christ (Psalm 2:9; Revelation 19:15).
And her Child was caught up to God and His throne.
The catching up of the Child to heaven is an allusion to Jesus’ ascension. John goes from the birth of Jesus to His ascension in two short verses. God puts assurances in place that the Second Coming of Christ will occur.
12:6
Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days.
The woman fled into the wilderness where God protected her for three and a half years. Israel will flee into the wilderness at the beginning of the Great Tribulation (Matthew 24:16). God supernaturally protects Israel by a special power for these three and a half years.
Principle:
God providentially protects His own.
Application:
Even in the face of Satanic attempts to destroy her, Israel will always exist, for God keeps His unqualified and unilateral covenants (contracts). Satan is in the business of waging war with Jesus. Satan failed to destroy Him during His first coming because He ascended to heaven. The ascension is proof of his failure to destroy Jesus. Because he failed to destroy Christ, he turns to destroy Israel, but God gives special supernatural protection to Israel.
If God protects Israel, He will do the same for the church. Christians wage war on three fronts: the world, the flesh, and the Devil. The Devil’s objective is to get us to act independently of God.
“Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ, lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices” (2 Corinthians 2:10-11).
Satan’s strategy is to accuse Christians (Job 1:6-11), but our defense attorney, Jesus Christ, personally defends us (1 John 2:1,2). Satan wants Christians to experience anxiety, for anxious people do not trust a sovereign God (1 Peter 5:7-9). Satan willingly “gulps down” Christians who worry (1 Peter 5:8).
could the 144,000 be the manchild if not when were they raptured,they were in heaven in 14:1-5 before God’s throne. thank you T.Waid
Terry, the Child is singular, the 144,000 are many so the Child could not be the same as the 144,000. Chapter 14 occurs on earth in time in Israel, so they were not raptured but on earth.
not even close. Don’t get me wrong. I understand how you got to your conclusions, but they are not correct. Rev 12:1 is a sign in the heavens. I’m not a date setter by any means. Don’t believe in it. But Science is science. As we speak the planet Jupiter, (in its orbit), has (from the view of earth) gone into retrograde, (not is a mysticism sense- check out N.A.S.A. for yourself), and has began its 9 month journey through the “womb” of the woman clothed by the sun. The woman is the constellation Virgo, the constellation is in direct shot of the sun (clothed in the sun), the moon will appear to by her feet in the sky, and she is crown by 12 ‘stars’ as John would have understood it. Actually, we now know that is 9 stars, and 3 planets that appear like stars. The 9 stars make up the constellation of Leo, the Lion. Jupiter is birthed from Virgo on September 23, 2017 at the feast of tabernacles. The approximate date of Christ’s actual birth, (6 Months after John the Baptist who was born in the first weeks of Nisan.) Don’t for one minute discount Jesus was born under the constellation of Leo, as he is of course the Lion of Judah. This will be the first time in 7,000 years of human history that this constellation had EVER taken place as described exactly in Revelation, and it will not happen again for many a thousands of years.
I know modern Christianity discounts science, and anything to do with stars or constellation as heavenly signs out of hand. It’s disheartening to see the blind and deaf all around you. In any case, Jesus himself used a lot of constellation imagery when he was trying to explain what we should be looking for, and in his timing of events during his ministry. His birth was even marked by a rare celestial alignment, the star of Bethlehem. Jesus was born in the celestial age of Pisces. Ever wonder why the fish and fisherman were so heavily used as symbols? Just before our lord, Jesus Christ, entered Jerusalem he sent his apostles to find a man pouring out water from a pitcher to secure a donkey and a colt. The man pouring out water from pitcher is the symbol of Aquarius. The age we’re actually entering, also known as the 7th millennia. Jesus rode a donkey as he entered Jerusalem as a servant. The white colt, (that fact it was a young horse is important foreshadowing. God loves to Foreshadow everything he does.) he also led into Jerusalem was a sign that his time to enter the city as a conqueror was not yet. When Jesus returns in Revelation he shown on a White Horse (an adult). I could go on forever. God is so amazing, and the timeline he weaves is incredibly beautiful.
Something else to look into is the dragon that wipes out a 3rd of the stars. Rev 12 is a description of several events happening simultaneously. I’ll let you look further into that if you’d like. Last Hint: it also has a ‘heavenly signs’ component. One last thing, Spoiler Alert!! The Assyrian, the man of perdition, the Anti-Christ…..it’s Tayyip Erdagon soon to be supreme leader of Turkey (after the referendum next week), the recently declared defender of Islam, and in fact (believe it or not) declared to be to Allah incarnate by a very large number of Muslim clerics and academics just last summer after the Turkish coup attempt. It’s in the Newspapers from around that time. I’m sure you could confirm it with Google. The child is the church. It would be destroyed by “the dragon” if not taken out of the way. Could be Pre-trib rapture, or it could just be God shielding the church during the first part of the tribulation. (no man knows the day nor hour…but you know the season and see the signs that it’s time to look up) (there are more than one rapture event). The woman is hidden away for 1260 days (3.5 years) Likely marking the 3.5 years until the ‘world leader’ is imbued with the spirit of Satan himself, and takes on his full role in the last act of final 3.5 years of Modern history. Side Note, as we the church are the grafted branch of Israel, the church is viewed as part of the Jewish family and/or Bride of Christ. There is no biblical precedent for God taking his people out of the way at the beginning of troubles. (i.e. Israel suffered the first 5 plagues in Egypt and were spared the last 5.) I believe that the church will also likely bare the burden of the bowl judgement and excused from the harsher trumpets.
God Bless.
Feel to reach out if you like to discuss.
Chris
Searlsinc@icloud.com
@ Twaid: the 144,000 you speak of is the chosen 12,000 of the 12 tribes of Israel commissioned to minister the Jewish people, and help them finally recognize and understand that Jesus is their messiah!
chris, agreed
chris, I am afraid that you have a case of inferential logic and interpolation in hermeneutics. Good hermeneutics rests on objective exegesis, not reading into Scripture some theory of the cosmos. To attempt to read into Rev 12 a scientific theory is unabashed interpolation and subjectivism. Church history is filled with this kind of eisegesis.
im currently experiencing a very strange phenomenon in which i can not explain my eyes are changing color but im not sure how its happening or whats causing it the sun is too my right and the moon is to my left my eyes are half blue and its a half moon and their brown in the middle idk how their changing or what is changing them i am a scorpio and this revelation is the only explanation tht i can find that makes sense although i do not want to believe that because its scary
britt, this passage has nothing to do with your concerns. It appears that you may be struggling mentally. I would suggest that you go for counseling to a local pastor or professional. I will pray for you today.
Am very much pleased with the interpretation of rev 12 because my former religion ( Catholic) derives the issue of Mary the mother of Jesus as a queen of heaven from this chapter.but I was wondering how she goes into the wilderness and yet she has a throne in heaven.
Maxmus, thank you.