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Revelation 12:1-6 (NET)
Then a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and with the moon under her feet, and on her head was a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and was screaming in labor pains, struggling to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven: a huge red dragon that had seven heads and ten horns, and on its heads were seven diadem crowns. Now the dragon’s tail swept away a third of the stars in heaven and hurled them to the earth. Then the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child as soon as it was born. So the woman gave birth to a son, a male child, who is going to “rule over all the nations with an iron rod.” Her child was suddenly caught up to God and to his throne, and she fled into the wilderness where a place had been prepared for her by God, so she could be taken care of for 1,260 days.
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Next God showed John a vision of a woman and a great and fearsome beast that opposes her. In this vision, God intentionally referred back to the vision he had given to Daniel in Daneiel 7: 7. In that vision, Daniel had been shown a succession of kingdoms symbolized by fantastic animals, the same succession of kingdoms symbolized by Nebuchadnezzar’s grand statue (Daniel 2:29-45).
In that vision, the final beast, a terrifying dragon-like creature with iron teeth and ten horns, symbolized the powerful Roman Empire. In Revelation 20:2, the dragon is also identified as “the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan”. This showed, as clearly as it could be shown, that Satan himself was at the root of the Roman rule and of the persecution of the Church.
The woman has been variously identified as the Jewish nation and the Church. She is the symbol of God’s true people, first the people of the Jewish nation who clung faithfully to God and His commands while the rest slid into paganism, crowned by the twelve stars representing the twelve patriarchs. Then she represents the Church, crowned by the twelve apostles. There is no break between these two groups. The faithful Jews became early followers of Jesus, the Messiah, and the twelve Apostles were all direct descendants of the sons of Jacob. It was from the faithful Jewish people that God brought forth his Messiah.
At the time of his birth, the enemy, Satan, the dragon, working through the representative of Rome in Israel, Herod the Great, tried to kill the Messiah as a baby. But God rescued him. And Jesus grew into the one foreshadowed in Psalm 2:9, who would not only save those who turned to Him in faith, but who also is the King of kings and Lord of lords.
The child of the woman, Jesus, was caught up to heaven when His earthly mission was completed, leaving behind the Church, the final incarnation of the people of God. But since the child was out of his reach, the dragon pursued the woman in an attempt to pursue and consume her. This was the “story behind the scenes” of the persecution that was now taking place. But John was also shown that, even though the Church had largely been driven underground, God was protecting her during this “wilderness time”, and would keep her safe for the whole duration of the persecution.
Pray with Me
Father, it is vital that we as “New Testament believers”, remember that the Bible of the first century Church was the Old Testament, and that those first believers were steeped in its teaching and its imagery. So, when You used the same symbols as you showed to Daniel, Ezekiel, and Zechariah in the visions You gave to them, You were using a language that the early believers were fluent in. Thus, they understood very clearly what You were telling them, and they drew comfort and strength from these peeks behind the curtain that You gave them. Help us today, Lord, to look to You for wisdom and guidance in troubling times, so that we are able to gain that same kind of comfort and wisdom, and not rely on our own ideas as to what is happening and what to do about it. Amen.