The Woman and Child

THE WOMAN AND CHILD

Revelation 12

When you study the book of Revelation it is extremely difficult and perhaps impossible to know for sure what the imagery found in the book is speaking about.

Each “sign” or “image” that John speaks of is part of a vision…and since it is a vision…it is impossible to pinpoint what each image is referring too.

But it is not difficult to understand the overall meaning of what John sees…and what happens in that vision.

And I believe that is true of this chapter.
We may not be able to know exactly what each detail of the vision found here in chapter 12 is referring too…but we can understand the overall meaning of what God is saying in the vision.

So, let’s begin…verse 1. Now, keep in mind what takes place here is still part of the 7^th trumpet found in chapter 11:15.

Trumpets are used to sound an alarm…a warning…
And in this chapter I believe the warning is sounded against the wicked….and any Christians who may not be as faithful to Christ as they need to be.
The warning to them is, “Leave Christ…and you lose.”

Start in verse 1:

And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; 2 and she was with child; and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth.

Now, there are some clues here in this verse as well as this chapter that give us some indication as to who this woman is.

First of all notice that she is clothed with the sun….and the moon is under her feet.
Both of those give light to the earth…and since she has both it indicates that she is a continuous light to the earth.

Second, she has on her head a “crown” of 12 stars.

The “crown” here is the Greek word “stephanos” which speaks of the victor’s crown.
And 12 speaks of “the whole of God’s people.”…there were 12 apostles…12 tribes.

So the woman here is the “whole” of God’s people…not just Christians because she is in existence before the child comes….and not just O.T people because she is persecuted after the child is born.

The imagery here indicates that the woman here is “the whole of God’s people throughout time.”
All of those who have “beamed forth light to a dark world.”

Now, verse 2 says that she was with child…more than likely this is Jesus.

The reason being, in verse 4 the “dragon” or Satan opposed His birth.
In verse 5 the child is to rule all nations with a rod of iron.
And in verse 5, He will ascend to God and to His throne.

So what you have here is the woman, “God’s people through out time”…giving birth to a child…or to the Christ.

It was because of God’s people that Christ came and He came to deliver His people.
Also, Jesus descended through the seed-line of God’s people.

So here you have the image of God’s people through out time….and the Christ child.

Now, verse 3:

3 And another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems. 4 And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven, and threw them to the earth.

Now, let me tell you something here quickly.

Pre-millenialists believe that the things written in this book must be fulfilled literally…that they will actually come to pass.
That means that at some point in time a dragon is going to come forth so big that his tail will sweep away a third of the stars of heaven…and throw them to the earth.

They fail to remember that this is a vision…and you cannot take everything written in this book literally.

Much of the language of this book is intended to express a theme…a message that God wanted His people at the time to understand…and you cannot insist that this must be fulfilled literally.
Because they do that….we have in the world today a false doctrine that says that the “Lord will come back and establish his kingdom here on earth and reign a thousand years.”
- We must look more for the message…the lesson that God wants us to learn…than insisting that these things must literally take place.

Now, notice in verse 3…”Another sign appeared in heaven: and behold a great dragon…”

Do not conclude that the dragon was actually in heaven.
This is a vision.
Even down in verse 7…it is a vision.
The scriptures do not indicate anywhere that Satan was ever in heaven.
- That is another study…but the main thing here is, this is a vision so do not conclude that Satan was ever in heaven.

Now, notice the dragon…notice the descriptive terms…it was a “great red dragon…and his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth.”

These terms speak of “great staggering power…force…strength.”

And I want you to notice down in verse 9…in verse 9 there are 5 terms used for this dragon: dragon, Satan, serpent, Devil, and Deceiver.

So, there is no doubt who the dragon is.

And notice also…the dragon had 7 heads, 10 horns, and on his head were 7 diadems.

The horns and heads, and diadems speak of kings and rulers….and what you have here is Satan manifested in Rome. ( 13:1; 17: 17)
Rome was the tool…but it was Satan who was at work with the tool.

So now, look at what this dragon does in verse 4: Rev 12:4-5

And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.

Sounds a lot like what happened in Exodus 1 when Pharaoh tried to kill Moses.
And also in Matthew 3 when Herod tries to kill the baby Jesus.
Both times Satan failed.

And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne.

If the devil was ever going to win, he should have done so when the child was vulnerable.
But the devil lost then and he is still a loser.

6 And the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she might be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.

Now, if you remember from chapter 11:3 the two things that are always present when you see this 1260 days is hardship and protection.
The hardship here is the “wilderness” and yet in the midst of the wilderness the woman is protected.
So, God’s people, even though they will go through a time of hardship…God will protect them.

Rev 12:7-8 And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. And the dragon and his angels waged war, 8 and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

Now, this is not a literal war.

If this is a historical war where would we place it chronologically?
Before the cross?
If so, then devil was whipped before the work of Jesus on the cross…and there would have been no need for Jesus to have died there.

What about after Christ’s ascension?

If so, then devil was not defeated by Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.

Also, notice who the devil’s war was with…Michael and his angels.

If this was a literal historic war then it wasn’t the work of Jesus that destroyed Satan’s power.
Instead, it was the angel Michael after Jesus had done all He could do.

This is not speaking of a literal war….this is a vision which embodies truth.

And here is the truth.
Notice that the dragon fights against Michael and his angels.
These are representatives of Christ…and the devil is defeated.
If you cannot defeat the representatives…then you sure can’t beat the Son.

The point, the devil is a loser….in fact, he is a three time loser…he lost on earth…he lost in heaven…and he loses again on earth.

And notice verse 9 again. Verse 9 indicates that the devils defeat is decisive.

The warning here in these verses…if you are on the devil’s side…you are following a loser and you too will lose.

The thing to do…come to Christ and be victorious.

Now, verse 10…and remember, this is a vision which embodies a truth.

And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying,

“Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them before our God day and night.

Now, verse 11…this verse will tell you when the battle was fought…and notice the weapons.

11 “And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb(here is the reason they won. The devil had no claim on them because of His blood)

“And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even to death.

Just like these people we have a story to tell about Christ…and we need to tell it.

When we tell it, we drive the devil wild…while at the same time saving those who hear and obey.

This passage tells us not to be afraid to preach about Christ because the devil has already been defeated.

Rev 12:12-17

12 “For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them ( this would be God’s people. Even though we are here on earth…this is ultimately where we live).

12 “For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.”

Those who dwell on the earth and sea have cause to worry for the devil will use them for his purposes…and he doesn’t care about their welfare.
And also, they have reason to worry because they follow a loser.

13 And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child.

This doesn’t change the fact that he has already lost.
He is going to keep trying…and he wants to take as many as he can with him.

14 And the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, in order that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.

God preserves His people…
And one of the best ways to render the devil helpless is to “flee”. See 1 Tim. 6:11; 2 Tim. 2: 22; 1 Cor. 6:18.

15 And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood.

Here the serpent is trying to imitate God…but the serpent is not God.

16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth.

The devil loses again.

17 And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.

He can’t defeat God’s people collectively…so he goes after them individually.
Still, he cannot win.