Study – Grow – Know

Revelation 12: Woman, Child and Dragon

November 14, 2022 at 10:09 AM 1 comment

Video for this article/teaching is here: SermonAudio.com/StudyGrowKnow

Revelation 12 highlights what I believe turns out to be a brief overview and history of the nation of Israel. Though there are many interpretations of the verses in this chapter, it seems best to understand the “woman” as referring to Israel. Let’s look at the opening verses.

1 And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. 2 She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. 3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. 4 His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. 5 She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, 6 and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days. – Revelation 12:1-6 (ESV)

In Revelation 12, we are introduced to the following: a woman, who is pregnant, a red dragon with numerous heads and horns along with a crown on each head. As far as the dragon is concerned, we also learn that this same dragon is one who swept 1/3 of the stars of heaven (angels), so this is an obvious reference to Satan himself. We will learn more about Satan in the latter portion of Revelation 12 next time.

Satan stands before the woman who is about to give birth because Satan’s intent is to totally destroy this child. He clearly understood who this child was to be so he intended to stop Him who would eventually become the King of kings and who would reign with a rod of iron, a reference to the coming Millennial Kingdom.

The woman would give birth to this ultimate king, who also escaped Satan’s murderous attempts and was caught up to heaven after His earthly ministry was accomplished and fulfilled. The woman also flees into the wilderness where she will be protected and fed for 1,260 days (42 months, 3 1/2 years). All of this is the first sign of this chapter. This, I believe is a reference to the last half of the coming Tribulation, which Jesus specifically refers to as “great tribulation” in Matthew 24’s Olivet Discourse. He points out there that the world will experience such tremendous wrath that has never been nor will ever be again (Matthew 24:21). Most of the Matthew 24 chapter outlines severe situations that visit the earth, including:

• false prophets/false christs (24:4-5)
• wars and rumors of wars (24:6-7a)
• famines and earthquakes (24:7b)
• tribulation, death (martyrdom), hatred toward believers (24:9)
• a great falling away within Christendom (24:10; see also 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3)
• more false prophets (24:11)
• lawlessness will dramatically increase (24:12)
• love of many will grow cold (24:12)

None of these things are things that people actively want or seek. Jesus simply tells us this is how the very end portion of the end times will be characterized. Why? It is likely due to more of Satan being allowed to do what he will. What we learn in the latter portion of Revelation 12, which we will get to is how he reacts to being eternally evicted from heaven so that he can no longer go there to accuse believers before God. Moreover, he is is literally thrown to the earth where he will spend the remainder of his time prior to being tossed into the bottomless pit for 1,000 years upon Jesus’ return to this earth.

In effect then, Satan’s efforts will be localized to this earth and due to his great wrath, will do everything he can to attack the “woman” and when that fails, will turn his attention to the remaining believers on the earth. He will do this through the coming Antichrist, who will be Satan’s point man in this realm since we cannot see Satan himself or his fallen angels. The Antichrist and Satan will be of one mind and Satan will imbue supernatural powers and ability to the Antichrist as his (Satan’s) representative on earth. It will occur after Antichrist desolates the Holy of Holies in the rebuilt Jewish Temple (however large it will be to house the Holy of Holies then). Once Antichrist desolates the Temple, the second half of the Tribulation (the Great Tribulation), will begin and evil will have its day.

But continuing with the first portion of our study in Revelation 12, then a second sign of Revelation 12:3 appears:

–And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems.

–The “dragon” – Satan – is the power and one who influences the “beast” that John sees throughout this book. This beast has 7 heads, 10 horns, and 7 diadems or crowns. In every way, Satan has always tried to stop God’s plan of salvation. He tried to destroy Creation. He tried to keep Israel from becoming a nation and he has consistently tried to destroy the nation of Israel after the nation came into being. Beyond this, he tried to cause Jesus to sin during His earthly life and then tried to kill Jesus on several occasions. Whatever Satan could try to do to eliminate the Son of God was what he tried and he failed every time.

In all this, John is seeing –Word pictures; an allegorical view of literal facts as presented to him from God.

5 And her Child was caught up to God and His throne. 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” (Remnant of Jews from Israel), flees into wilderness. –This occurs once Antichrist is revealed (2 Thessalonians 2), to the world and declares himself God by sitting inside Holy of Holies. Jesus WILL rule all nations with a rod of iron (refers to the Millennial Kingdom/1,000 year reign of Jesus on earth) and the child was caught up to heaven in preparation for that, following His death, resurrection and ascension. As an aside, this is not a reference to any Rapture of the Church here. The Jews flee to the hills during the last 3 ½ years of the Tribulation (or 42 months, or 1,260 days). This is exactly what Jesus meant when He spoke of this in Matthew 24:15-22 – Jews will FLEE out of Jerusalem.

Jews who flee go to a place prepared by God, and will be fed and taken care of for the remainder of (Great) Tribulation (1,260 days). Revelation 12 says nothing about the Rapture, or
the start of the Tribulation. Revelation 12:1-6 is a very brief overview of Israel’s history to the birth, death and ascension of Jesus and looks ahead to His rule over the world in the Millennial Kingdom (1,000 years).

Next time, we will complete our study in Revelation 12: Satan Out, Woman Persecuted as it moves into the second half of the Great Tribulation.

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