REVELATION 12:1-6

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.

SOME BACKGROUND

Here are a few key points:

• The time descriptors of “1,260 days” or “42 months” or “a time, times, and half a time” are all key apocalyptic numbers which refer to the same time period: the period of the Church’s persecution and opposition.

• Therefore, any time those terms appear you should understand that John is describing some aspect of the Church’s persecution as it patiently endures until The Second Coming.

• The message of Revelation (as shown in the parable of the two witnesses—Revelation 11:3-13) is that, though it will appear from an earthly perspective that the Church is defeated by the enemies of God, in the heavenly/spiritual perspective the Church is actually conquering through its faithful witness, even to the point of death.

THE WOMAN AND THE DRAGON

What was it that led the Wise Men to Bethlehem? Matthew tells us that it was a star (Matthew 2), but he doesn’t give us any other info about exactly what it was that the Wise Men saw. Whatever it was, it was a significant enough movement in the constellations that the pagan magi were able to understand it signified a Jewish king was being born.

In John’s vision, this movement in the constellations is brought alive. Not only is the woman supposed to make us think of Mary, the Mother of Christ, but also Eve from Genesis 3:

14 The Lord God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
cursed are you above all livestock
and above all beasts of the field;
on your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”

Fortunately, we don’t have to wonder who the dragon is, because in the next passage John tells us that he is “that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world” (Revelation 12:9).

The dragon tries to kill the child, but he is rescued by God—it is a symbol of the resurrection of Jesus.

And the woman becomes the church, protected by God for 1,260 days—the key apocalyptic number.