Revelation chapter 12 is a highly controversial chapter in the book of Revelation. Whether the woman clothed in the sun signifies the nation of Israel or the Virgin Mary is debatable. However, three things are not up for debate: Revelation 12 pertains to Israel, Christ Jesus and to believers.
Because it’s easiest to break Revelation 12 down and examine the chapter verse by verse in order to understand what each means, that’s what we’ll do here.
In verse 12:1, a woman is depicted wearing a crown of twelve stars. The stars are in reference to the nation of Israel. More specifically, the stars are the twelve tribes of Israel. If we look in Genesis 37, we can read the account of Joseph telling his family about a dream he had involving the sun, the moon and eleven stars, which pertained to the nation of Israel.
The fact that the woman is wearing the sun and standing on the moon, which is only a mere reflection of the sun, means that Jesus will rule from Zion during the Millennial Reign. During this time, the nation of Israel will finally be what they were meant to be from the beginning: glorified. In Jeremiah 3:17, it says that Jerusalem will be “the throne of the Lord”; Jerusalem will be covered with God’s Holy splendor during the thousand years and in the ever after. As it says in Isaiah 2:2-5, Jerusalem will forevermore be above all other nations.
Verses 2-4 tell us that as the woman was prepared to give birth, a great red dragon was waiting to devour the child as soon as it was born. The dragon is none other than Satan himself and Daniel 7:20-21 confirms his identity. Matthew 2 gives the account of how Satan used King Herod to try to kill Christ Jesus when He was born, but upon discovering that his plan was thwarted, the king gave the order to kill all children that were age two and under in the vicinity of Bethlehem. An interesting parallel can be drawn between Revelation 12:4 and Matthew 13 where Jesus describes new believers who are excited upon hearing the Word, but shortly after, their fire is snuffed out by the cares of this world.
In verse 4, when it says that this dragon tail cast a third of the stars down to earth, this gives us further confirmation that the dragon is none other than Satan for when he rebelled, he took a third of the angels with him. The stars in this verse are angels. In Luke 10:18, Jesus said that he saw Satan fall from heaven, and Isaiah 14:12 proclaims that Lucifer was cast down to the earth.
Verse 5 is referring to Jesus. He was caught up to heaven when he was killed on the cross. It has been prophesied that Jesus will rule the nations with an iron rod and Psalm 2 speaks about the Lord breaking the nations with a rod of iron. Read Revelation 2:27 for more.
Verse six means that God will protect Christianity; there will always be believers to spread the truth, it will never die. Another interesting to note is that Jesus’ ministry only lasted three and a half years, which corresponds with the “thousand two hundred and threescore days” mentioned in this verse.
Verses 7-9 are talking about the devil and his followers again. Only this verse describes a war between Michael and his angels against the devil and his cronies and verse 10 tells us that the devil will never be allowed to accuse believers day and night before the throne of God again.
Verses 11-12 are about the believers who defeated the devil by following after Christ. They gave their lives for Him and they will be rewarded with eternal life.
Even Satan knows the scriptures. The next verse says that because Satan knows that after he’s permanently cast out of the presence of God, because he’ll only have three and a half years to do what he can to destroy God’s creation, he’ll really turn the heat up. So many people will be killed during this time that it’s impossible to number them all.
However, God will protect the Jewish remnant—AKA the woman—from the devil for three and a half years as it says in verse 14. It’s commonly believed that the place in the wilderness that God has prepared for the Jewish remnant will be Petra. Also, since the woman who brought for the man child could possibly be referring to Christianity, some people believe that God will also protect Christians from Satan during this time. Either way, the devil will be so angry that he’ll go after the Jews and Christians like never before.
In verses 15-16, the devil will send a flood after the woman, which means that he’ll send a lot of people after her. What happens after that promises to be fascinating: more likely than not, when the earth swallows up an entire contingent from the army of the antichrist, it will make front-page news.
And verse 17 reiterates the fact that the antichrist will go after Christians.***Please do not take any of this lightly. The Lord promised that all of these things will happen. If you haven’t turned to Christ Jesus, please do so now before it’s too late.***
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