1And 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)
Chapter 12 of Revelation marks a major division in the book. This section reexamines (recapitulates) the previous history and looks at it seeing the underlying deeper conflict that was developed in Revelation 1-11. Chapter 12 is divided into four sections, an introduction of the woman (12:1-2), the dragon’s war with the woman and her offspring (12:3-9), an interpretation of the vision (12:10-12), and the continued conflict of the dragon with the woman and her offspring (12:13-17).
Chapter 12 is the beginning of a larger segment in Revelation, from 12:1 through 15:4. If we trace the phrases, “And I saw” and “Behold,” we see there are seven sections or signs:
1. The conflict of the dragon with the woman and her offspring. (Revelation 12)
2. The persecution from the sea beast. (Revelation 13:1-10)
3. Persecution from the earth beast. (Revelation 13:11-18)
4. The Lamb and the 144,000 standing on Mount Zion. (Revelation 14:1-5)
5. The gospel proclaimed and the judgment from the three angels. (Revelation 14:6-13)
6. The Son of Man’s harvest of the earth. (Revelation 14:14-20)
7. The saint’s victory over the sea beast. (Revelation 15:2-4)
This section of Revelation 12-15:4 is also part of a bigger section, Revelation 12-20, which forms a chiasm. A chiasm is a structure that introduces topics or items in an order ABC … CBA so that the first thing that comes up is also the last, the second thing is the second to last, etc. So, we see: (1) the dragon, (2) the sea beast, (3) the earth beast (false prophet), (4) the whore of Babylon, followed by their demise is reverse order.
One of the themes of this section of Revelation is Satan is bound by the rule of God. He and his minions can only persecute within the prescribed time limits God sets for them. Satan attacks the saints because he is furious over Christ’s victorious death and resurrection and that his period is limited. Another theme is that Christians should not compromise with the world because they are battling Satan himself. A further theme is that Satan’s time is limited and short, and Satan is already defeated. Satan can do damage, but he cannot prevail against God’s people. Christians have God’s mighty power behind them and thus will be able to withstand attacks from Satan.
A theme throughout literature, ancient and modern, is the story of an evil usurper who is going to be conquered by a yet unborn prince. The usurper knows the prophecy and attempts to defeat his doom by killing the prince at his birth. The prince is mysteriously snatched away from danger until he matures enough to meet and defeat the usurper.
One of the most famous versions of this story is the story of the Greek and Roman god Apollo. The goddess Leto was pregnant with Apollo and Artemis when the dragon Python attacked Leto, because Python knew that her offspring was destined to kill him. Leto was carried away to a safe island by winds generated by Zeus. The god Poseidon hid the island under water so that Python could not find Leto and kill her or her offspring. Four days after Apollo was born, he found Python and killed him.
The story in Revelation 12 parallels the story of Apollo, but the story in Revelation comes via an Old Testament background. We can view the ancient mythological stories as echoes from Satan corrupting the original true stories. The whole mythological system of Rome and Greece are corruptions produced by Satan, including the Roman emperor’s claims to deity. In this way, Revelation gives a true perspective of the ancient pagan myths.
Verse 1-2: A great sign appeared in heaven. This follows upon the end of chapter 11, where heaven was opened up. John sees “a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” The stars, sun, and moon allude back to Genesis 37:9 to Joseph’s dream. The stars, moon, and sun symbolized Joseph’s family, and the twelve tribes of Israel. The woman with the moon, sun, and twelve stars has come to represent the Old Testament Israel. That the twelve tribes are represented as stars, many old Jewish commentators interpreted as speaking of the tribes being indestructible, their eternality before God, just as the twelve zodiac constellations are eternal and indestructible. Given that the seven stars in Revelation 1 represent the eternal angelic representatives of the church, so the twelve stars could represent twelve angels of the twelve tribes of Israel. The stars form a crown, which brings to mind other references of crowns in Revelation (Revelation 2:10; 3:11; 4:4, 10; 14:14). The images show Christ’s kingship is shared with God’s saints, and the reward of those throughout the ages that remain steadfast and overcome. The imagery of the sun and moon also speaks in ancient Jewish literature of the woman’s purity and faithfulness, which cannot be destroyed during her wandering in the wilderness in the last days (seen in v. 6, 13-17). Images of the restored Israel are seen in Isaiah 60:19-20, Isaiah 61:10, and Isaiah 62:3, 5. There are similarities in these passages to Revelation 12, but as with most Old Testament allusions, they are suggestive and not exact. The woman’s appearance may also suggest a priestly character, because of the resemblance to Exodus 28 and 39.
The woman was crying out in the agony of birth pangs probably represents the Old Testament Israel in travail, waiting in anticipation of the birth of the messiah. Roman Catholic commentators often argue that the woman represents Mary, the mother of Jesus. There is an allusion to Mary that is readily seen, but it is not the primary thought in this passage, because the woman is persecuted, flees into the wilderness, remains in the wilderness for the time prophesized in Daniel for the duration of Israel’s persecution, and has other children, who are steadfast Christians.
The woman is being persecuted, evident from the Greek word, “basanizo,” which means torment, is used in describing the woman’s condition (see other NT uses of the word). This word is used nowhere else in the Bible or in extra biblical literature to describe a woman’s pains of childbirth. The word usually indicates torture by persecution.
The passage of the suffering woman does not have Christ’s suffering primarily in mind. Jesus compares the grief of his disciples over his coming death in John 16:19-22 to that of the sorrow of a woman at childbirth. Both John 16:19-22 and Revelation 12:2 allude to prophesies in Isaiah 26 and 66 where a woman in labor and in great pain gives birth to a new Israel, an Israel released from foreign captivity that is given salvation. Jesus represents the true Israel and the disciples represent the mother, the covenant community, and “brings” Jesus into the world and present Jesus to the world. In the remainder of chapter 12, the woman gives birth to others, not only Christ, but also followers of Christ. In this way the woman represents the entire believing community of the Old Testament, New Testament, and the church age.
Isaiah 51:2-3, 9-11 also provides a very strong backdrop to this section of Revelation. Sarah is described as giving birth in pain, of God comforting her in the wilderness, and piercing the dragon. John being steeped in the Old Testament, seeing the vision he must have seen the connection between the two.
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