Revelation 12 describes a woman clothed with all the lights of heaven. She has a crown of 12 stars, is clothed with the sun and has the moon under her feet. She is confronted by a fiery red dragon with 7 heads and 10 horns.
The LAND OF 7 & 10
The Beast of Revelation 13 also has 7 heads and 10 horns – a common factor. They are both talking about powers who rule over the same area.
The difference between the crowns on the 7 heads or the 10 horns is in timing. The dragon has 7 crowns on it’s horns, meaning he has rule over the land of ‘7 Nations’. The Beast has 10 crowns, meaning he has rule over the land of ’10 nations’.
Abraham was promised the land of 10 nations from the Nile to Euphrates (Gen 15:18). Israel possessed a land of 7 nations (Deut 7:1) Revelation 12 is about the days when the area had 7 crowns – the days of Herod who ruled the land of 7 nations previously ruled by Israel.
Revelation 13 applies to the time when the ten horns are given authority to rule – the days of the ’10 toe kings’. The ‘Partitioning of Palestine’ came into effect and the Arab nations surrounding Israel were no longer ruled by the Ottoman Turks but allocated their own land – present time frame.
Compare the land of ‘7 nations’ which the Israelites were told they were to occupy (Num 34:2-12) and the land ruled by Herod the Great –
The ‘Great Sign of the Woman in Heaven’ is about the first coming of Jesus. When He comes the second time it will be the ‘Sign of the Son of Man in Heaven’ Matt. 24:30 (see Revelation 13 interpretation)
Revelation 12 follows the pattern of the book of Daniel in telling the story then repeating it in greater detail. Thus the 1260 days are the same event as the ‘time, times and dividing of time’ when the woman flees into the wilderness.
Compare the coloured areas which correspond to the same event –
| A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth.Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born. She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.” And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.
And war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.” |
When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach. Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus. |
The woman in heaven (who begins as Mary then morphs into the church) – wasn’t deceived by the red dragon/ serpent (that’s why she’s in heaven). Her Son Jesus (the second Adam) gave the serpent a blow on the head.
One can speculate that Mary herself wasn’t part of the Herodian system – though she could have been – she wasn’t deceived by it but chose to dwell in Galilee and fled the corruption of Herodian Jerusalem.
| REVELATION 12 | INTERPRETATION |
| A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.
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The Woman of Revelation 12 is the second Eve – Mother of all ‘Truly LIVING’ – Mary who morphs into the church. She encounters the RED DRAGON/Serpent but is not deceived by it. She is clothed with all the lights of heaven.
Clothed with the sun – “Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ.” Rom 13:14 New Jerusalem shines Rev 22 12 stars a symbol of Spiritual Israel |
| She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. | Allusion to Gen.3 “in pain you will bring forth children”.
“My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you” Gal. 4:19 |
| 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads.
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Red dragon = false worship – see v 9, the ancient serpent called the devil who deceives
The heads and crowns give us the TIME & PLACE 7 heads = PLACE – land of Israel – Deut 7:1 When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations–the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, 7 nations larger and stronger than you– 10 horns = the land surrounding Israel promised to Abraham (not 10 crowns at this stage) 7 crowns = Herod is ruling Israel – THE TIME |
| Its tail swept a third of the stars out of heaven and flung them to the earth. | Herod killed many in high places who threatened his throne, even his own sons.
He is spoken of in Dan.11:44 – and he shall go forth with great fury to exterminate and utterly destroy many. See Daniel 11 explained |
| The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born. | Herod tried to kill Jesus |
| She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.” | Psalm 2:7 “You are my son; today I have become your father. 8 Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. 9 You will break them with a rod of iron.” The male child = Jesus |
| And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. | Jesus in heaven and heavenly places. |
| 6 The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.
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A ‘type’ – similar to Israel in the wilderness. Allusion to the witness of Elijah for 3.5 years in wilderness, fed by Ravens and woman with oil. The woman – the church – flees into the wilderness away from persecution of Judaisers. |
| Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
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Herod morphs into the Judaisers and Jews who lose their place in heaven as custodians of God’s word
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| Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. 11 They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. 12 Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.” |
Judaisers who persecute Christians
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| When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. 14 The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach. | The woman is given wings to escape. Christians leave Jerusalem and take the gospel to all the world. The red dragon (Herod) has morphed into other ‘serpents’ who persecute Christians. In Rev 2:13 The dragon/satan has a throne in Pergamum – I know where you live—where Satan has his throne. . You did not renounce your faith in me, not even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city—where Satan lives.
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| Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. 16 But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. 17 Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus. | Judaisers pursued the Christians but were subdued by the Romans who destroyed the temple and banned Jews from Jerusalem. However the spirit of the serpent/dragon continues in those who persecute the followers of Jesus.
In Rev 13:2 the ‘anti-Christ’ spirit of the dragon is passed to the beast – The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority
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Chapter 12 flows into chapter 13…
The dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion.
This describes the days of the ten toe kings with 10 crowned horns… the days we are in – See Revelation – The Time is at Hand
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It is important to remember that the Revelation to John was not a revealing of the past but a revealing of things that “must shortly come to pass”, future events. The symbols John was shown would have had signicance to many believers as most came out of two oppressive systems. The overly rule based Jewish and the Greco Roman world. Greek mythology has the woman with a crown of twelve stars as Europa who was carried away on the back of Zeus who had taken on the form of a Bull (beast). Interestingly the Catholic Church often portray Mary as having a crown of twelve stars. The nativity scenes set up near the Vatican at Christmas, had mother Mary with twelve stars and lot of other pagan symbols incorporated yet completely overlooked by most who visited it. But on a positive note Revelation shows us that our God will always care for His children and help them in adversity, no matter which system they came out from to honour Him. Thankfully the predicted persecutions in Revelation will be defeated by our Lord Jesus and the Angels of God.