Revelation 12:1-6
The Woman, the dragon
and the Male Child
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Introduction
√ Chapters 12-14 introduce us to the main participants in the Tribulation period.
It's been pointed out that they are 7 in number.
The Woman
The Dragon
The Male Child
Michael
The Beast from the Sea
The Beast from the Earth
Around these 7 swirl the activity of the great conflict during the Tribulation period.
√ Symbols
What makes this section difficult for most people to understand is that it is characterized by heavy use of symbols.
Additionally the interpretation of the symbols is not restricted to just the Tribulation period, but in some instances show us scenes from past as well as the future!
Remember that as we look at prophecy we are getting a glimpse from God's perspective - and He is not limited by space and time.
God transcends Time - looking at the Past, Present, and Future all at once!
Ap. So, to understand this part of the Revelation requires patient and careful study if we are to grasp the message God has sent to us.
The Woman (vs. 1-2)
Rev 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.
Rev 12:2 Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth.
√ The Woman
The first person to whom we are introduced is a Woman, the question of course is…
“Who is she?”
Note that John gives us a clue to help us identify her…
"...great sign appeared in heaven"
...this is our key to understanding how to interpret what John is describing.
That is, it is a "sign" – so we are to understand this Woman as a symbol rather than as a literal woman.
√ A symbol of what?
Let's begin by looking at what we know about her from John's description of the sign.
She's got a great wardrobe (clothed with the sun, moon to stand on and a crown of stars – vs. 1)
She's pregnant (vs. 2)
Gives birth to a Male Child who will rule the world (vs. 5)
The Dragon hates her (vs. 4 & 6)
Though we aren't told here in Revelation the identity of the Woman, we do have a clue in Genesis regarding her most excellent wardrobe.
Look at Gen. 37:9-10
Gen 37:9 Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, "Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me."
Gen 37:10 So he told it to his father and his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, "What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you?"
Jacob (
Sun = Jacob
Moon = Rachel
Stars = Sons of Jacob
The dream was literally fulfilled 22 years later when Jacob
and his sons came to
Back to the sign in Revelation 12…
Adding Joseph we have 12 sons, or 12 stars.
Taken as a whole, the Sun, Moon and 12 Stars represent
…and from who the Messiah would come.
√ Prophecy
It's important to understand that in God's prophetic plan the bringing forth of a Savior is the corner stone of all Bible prophecy.
That is why we have the long and laborious genealogies throughout the Old Testament - to follow the human ancestry of the Christ.
Ex. The Biblical genealogical records were never meant to be a complete record of all the peoples on the earth; rather, it is a specific record that takes us from Adam to Jesus.
In fact, that is the central purpose of the nation
Concerning Israel Paul said...
Rom 9:4 who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises;
Rom 9:5 of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.
So, the Woman is a symbol of the nation of Israel.
The Dragon (vs. 3-4)
Rev 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.
Rev 12:4 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.
√ The Dragon
Once again John is clear in his description that this dragon is a "sign" (vs. 3).
So we understand that John is not describing a literal dragon, but is using the term symbolically to communicate truth to the reader.
Concerning the dragon we're told...
He is "fiery red"
Has 7 heads and 10 horns
Has 7 diadems (crowns)
He pulled a third of the stars of heaven to the earth
He wants to "devour" the Male Child
Regarding the dragon we're not left on our own to discern his identify as we are told in Rev. 12:9...
Rev 12:9 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
The dragon then is
none other than the Devil.
We're given some interesting insight from the description of the Devil as the symbols reveal both his nature and the way in which he operates in his war against God.
√ Fiery red; speaks of wanton bloodshed as we saw with the Red Horse of Rev. 6. That is, Satan is a murderer.
Joh 8:44 "You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.
Satan's desire is to destroy the people of God. He invented murder and he uses it as a tool until he is cast into the Lake of Fire.
Here in Rev. 12 we find that much of his activity during the Great Tribulation is centered around the killing of the Tribulation saints.
√ 7 heads & 10 horns; once again this is symbolic and is a reference not to Satan himself…
…but to the nation through which the Devil will conduct his warfare.
That is, Satan doesn't actually attack the saints himself, rather he works through the agency of humans to accomplish his evil purposes.
Ex. Judas Iscariot - according to the Gospel account Satan entered and possessed Judas through whom Jesus was betrayed. (John 13:26-27)
The same is true here in the Revelation - Satan works through humans to fight against God.
In Rev. 12 the dragon described represents a nation through which Satan will work during the Great Tribulation.
This is made clear in Daniel's vision of the history of Man's nations from the first world ruling empire of Babylon to the last world ruling nation of Antichrist.
Let's look at Daniel's
vision...
Dan 7:7 "After
this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had
huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the
residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before
it, and it had ten horns.
Dan 7:8 "I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots. And there, in this horn, were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words.
The interpretation...
Dan 7:23 "Thus he said: 'The fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom on earth, which shall be different from all other kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, trample it and break it in pieces.
Dan 7:24 The ten horns are ten kings who shall arise
from this kingdom. And another shall rise after them; he shall be different
from the first ones, and shall subdue three kings.
The literal fulfillment of this vision is found in the nation of Rome which destroyed Europe, Asia, North Africa and the Middle East with the iron clad sandals of the Roman Legions.
However, the ancient Roman empire never completely matched the vision in Daniel 7 of the 4th kingdom, or of the Dragon in Revelation 12.
God doesn't leave us without insight into this mystery.
Back to Daniel…
Dan 2:40 "And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters all things; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others.
Dan 2:41 "Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay.
Dan 2:42 "And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile.
Dan 2:43 "As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay.
Dan 2:44 "And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.
So, the complete fulfillment will be through a revived Roman empire in the Last Days that will serve as the kingdom of the Antichrist through which Satan will work his evil plans.
Ex. Perhaps the EEC will be that nation.
German Chancellor Helmut Kohl...
"The United States of Europe will form the core of a peaceful world order...the age prophesied of old, when all shall dwell secure and none shale make them afraid"
The understanding of this Last Days kingdom represented by the Dragon in Revelation 12 is that the feet and toes of the giant image in Daniel 2 are the same kingdom.
√ Notice what the Dragon does.
Rev 12:4 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.
First the Dragon takes a third of the stars of heaven and casts them to earth.
As we've already seen in the Revelation stars represent angels.
The understanding of this verse is that Satan appears to be gathering together his demonic (fallen angles) forces for his attack against the saints.
Secondly the Dragon stands before the Woman so that he can destroy her child as soon as it's born.
It's interesting to note that there has always been a dragon waiting to destroy Israel - the people through which God was to bring Messiah.
Ex. Pharaoh (Eze. 29:3) & Nebuchadnezzar (Jer. 51:34)
In fact at one point in Israel’s history the royal family was down to one little boy (Joash - II Kings 11:1-3)!!!
So the sign that John sees is a picture of when Jesus was born and how Satan used King Herod (a Roman appointee) to try and destroy Him when he had all the male children in Bethlehem killed.
√ Special hatred
Satan has always reserved a special hatred for the people of Israel and worked to destroy them as he realized that if he could he would derail God's promise to Abraham to bring Messiah through his descendants.
Thus, whether the evil Haman, or Herod, or Hitler, Satan has been the power behind anti-Semitism.
That hatred will find it's greatest expression during the last half of the Tribulation when Satan releases all of his power to destroy Israel (next week vs. 13-17).
The Male Child (vs. 5)
Rev 12:5 And 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 to His throne.
√ The Male Child
We've already identified the Male Child as Jesus Christ but here we are given additional information that makes it even more clear.
The description of Him ruling all nations is a reference to Psalm 2 which declares the Messiah as...
…God’s Son who will rule the World with a rod of iron
Let's look.
Psa 2:7 "I will declare the decree: The LORD has said to Me, 'You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.
Psa 2:8 Ask of Me, and I will give You The nations for Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth for Your possession.
Psa 2:9 You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.' "
This too has not yet been fulfilled - there is a day coming when Jesus will rule the World in peace and justice after His 2nd Advent!
√ Caught up!
We're also told that Jesus would be caught up to God and His throne - a reference to His Ascension.
A place to hide! (vs. 6)
Rev 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.
√ A place to hide
As we leave our study of these first three participants in the Great Tribulation we're told that the Woman (Israel) will flee from the Devil into the wilderness for 1,260 days.
Exactly 3 and a half years!
This would be the second half of the Tribulation after the Antichrist has shown his true colors and the Jews rebel against him.
Jesus spoke of this in Matthew 24...
Mat 24:15 "Therefore when you see the 'abomination of desolation,' spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place" (whoever reads, let him understand),
Mat 24:16 "then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
Mat 24:17 "Let him who is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house.
Mat 24:18 "And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes.
Mat 24:19 "But woe to those who are pregnant and to those with nursing babies in those days!
Mat 24:20 "And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath.
Mat 24:21 "For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.
Mat 24:22 "And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elects sake those days will be shortened.
We're not told where Israel (the Godly remnant) will go…
…but they will be cared for by the Lord during the final portion of the Tribulation.
However, we may have a clue in a little known prophecy in the book of Micah!
√ Hidden in “the fold”…
Mic 2:12 “I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob, I will surely
gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together like sheep of the fold, Like a flock in the
midst of their pasture; They shall make a loud noise because of so many people.
The word “the fold” (NKJV, NIV, NLT, etc.) is the Hebrew…
“Bozrah”
…and is so translated in very other occurrence in the Old Testament and is identified as an city of ancient Edom.
Many folks believe that this reference in Micah speaks of the narrow valley leading into rock city of Petra.
Close
Ap. For the Christian this section reminds us…
Israel – has a special place in God’s plan. We have a duty to pray for Israel and to support her people as an expression of Christian love.
Satan – make no mistake, his only desire is to kill you! Don’t fall for his traps.
Jesus – He will one day rule the world – does He rule in your heart today?