Revelation 12: The Dragon and the Woman

Revelation 12:1-2

1 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:

2 And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.

In his first vision after the seventh trumpet sounded, John saw a dragon and a woman in labor. As we identified with Mystery Babylon, a woman in prophecy represents the church. While Mystery Babylon—a false church—was a prostitute, this woman has no defined sexual exploits, so she represents followers of God. In the ancient past, before the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God’s chosen people were the Jews. Today, she represents the faithful followers of Christ—the Christian church. This woman personifies a continuum of God’s people throughout time. She was seen with a crown of twelve stars representing the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve original disciples of Jesus—the foundations on which the Jewish and Christian faiths were built.

The early Christian faith went through incredible pain. The woman in labor is travailing, representing the many saints who were martyred, tortured, and persecuted. This woman’s representation of the church will be reinforced in the last verse of the chapter, where we learn that Satan attacks the remnant of the woman’s seed following the death of Christ. The original disciples of Jesus and later believers spread the gospel and created new Christians—the seed of the woman.

Revelation 12:3-5

3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.

4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.

5 And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

However, this woman is not alone. Next, we are introduced to Satan as a great red dragon. In verse four, he throws one-third of the stars in Heaven down to earth to try to kill the woman’s son once she gives birth. Many of the metaphors in Revelation 12 have dual meanings. The first interpretation of the chapter is a retelling of the story of the life of Jesus. Satan’s attempt to devour the infant child refers to Herod’s effort to kill Jesus by slaughtering Bethlehem’s male infants, an incident commonly called the “Massacre of the Innocents.”[1] In the figurative second reading, the woman represents God’s followers, first the Jews and then the Christians. The infant is again Jesus, who was born to a woman in the lineage of faithful Jews, while the “remnant of the woman’s seed” represents the Christians who would follow him.

The dragon’s seven heads and ten horns allude to the role Rome played in Satan’s efforts to destroy both the infant Jesus and, later, the early church. The iron rod Jesus will use to rule the nations is a reference to scripture, just as Paul compared God’s Word to a sword in Ephesians 6:17.[2]

Revelation 12:6

6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.

In the first interpretation, the parallels between the woman and Mary continue. Just as God helped Mary, Joseph, and Jesus flee to Egypt to avoid Herod’s decree, the woman flees the dragon by escaping to the wilderness.[3] This flight to Egypt—a pagan spiritual wilderness—protects the Christian faith by saving the infant Jesus. The second, figurative meaning centers around the Tribulation. The allusion to 1,260 days suggests the Christian faith would find refuge and survive the persecution and turmoil that had yet to come.

Revelation 12:7-9

7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,

8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.

9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

However, God was not going to permit Satan’s attempt to kill his church to succeed. In verse seven, the archangel Michael commands a force of angels into battle against Satan and his angels. Satan loses the war, resulting in his expulsion from Heaven. He is forced down to earth, where he “deceiveth the whole world.” This is another indication that Satan would establish a false religion disguised as Christianity to fool those who follow it.

Revelation 12:10-12

10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

12 Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.

After Satan is cast down to earth, John hears a loud voice from Heaven summarizing what has taken place in this classic battle between good and evil. This voice celebrates after seeing that Satan has been defeated in the battle. Verses nine and twelve tell us that Satan and his angels were not expelled to Hell directly. While the imagery of Satan inhabiting Hell while simultaneously tormenting those of us on earth has been romanticized, this chapter calls that depiction into question. In actuality, the Bible does not say Satan is exiled to Hell until much later, in Revelation 20:10. Until then, Satan resides on earth, wreaking havoc from among us.

Revelation 12:11 is a reference to Jesus’ crucifixion. It identifies his death as the deciding factor in the struggle between Michael and Satan. After giving Jesus’ sacrifice credit for the resiliency and strength of Christianity, the voice tells Heaven to celebrate their hard-won spiritual victory over Satan, while warning the inhabitants of earth that things were about to get much worse.

Revelation 12:13-14

13 And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.

14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.

When Satan realizes he is on earth, he immediately starts persecuting the Christian community. However, the woman receives two wings to fly to the wilderness and escape this persecution. The phrase “time, and times, and half a time” is interpreted in the same way as in Daniel 7:25, as three and a half prophetic years, or 1,260 calendar years. The reference to 1,260 years is not a reference to the length of this suffering, as Satan did not limit Christian persecution to the years 538-1798 AD. The reference is an acknowledgment of the continued perseverance of Christianity through the worst persecution it would face, and an indication that it would survive the Great Tribulation.

The persecution of the early Christians by the Romans and Jewish leaders was so great that it forced many of the early believers to abandon Judea and evangelize elsewhere. Even during this early period of persecution, God fed and nurtured the Christian church through a time of great danger, preserving it for the future.

Revelation 12:15-16

15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.

16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.

Satan’s assault on Christianity accelerates like a flood in verse fifteen. The flood metaphor alludes to an overwhelming persecution. Before Christianity could be submerged and drowned, the earth opens its mouth and swallows the flood, rescuing the woman. The swallowing of the flood echoes Jesus’ Olivet Discourse when he predicted the days of the Great Tribulation would be “shortened.”[4] When General Berthier deposed Pope Pius VI in 1798 and ended papal temporal power, the flood of the Tribulation vanished.

Revelation 12:17

17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Satan did not abandon his war against Christianity after the end of the Tribulation. When the papacy lost temporal power, it also lost the ability to use force against Christians. The Catholic Church needed to change its tactics if it was going to destroy Christianity successfully. One strategy was to use the Jesuits, who fought Satan’s war on Christianity covertly. Another was to utilize the temptations of secular pleasures until the believers’ faith became lukewarm.[5] After the Reformation, the Philadelphian church era was on fire for God, spreading the gospel worldwide. Satan was losing his battle against the Christian faith, and he knew it. He became desperate in Revelation 12:17, which indicates Satan went to war with the “remnant of the woman’s seed”—the rest of the true Christian church. The church age after Philadelphia was today’s Laodicean church, about which Jesus had nothing positive to say. He warned our faith would be unenthusiastic, which seems to be evidence of the effectiveness of Satan’s clandestine war.

Before Revelation was written, Peter and Paul each wrote similar things about the last days, and both were remarkably accurate in their descriptions of the twenty-first-century church. In II Peter 3, Peter wrote that the last days would bring a society fixated on personal pleasure and lust—selfish people who want to do what is best for them without thinking of others.[6]

Peter also warned that many who professed to be Christian would lose faith in Jesus’ return to earth, asking, “Where is the promise of his coming?” Peter seems to foreshadow Futurism, as many alive today believe we have not experienced any of the signs of Revelation. The Christians who do not recognize the fulfillment of Revelation’s prophecies could easily lose hope that Jesus will ever return. However, Historicists see the events that fulfilled these prophecies as “the promise of his coming” that the Futurists still seek.

In II Timothy 3, Paul wrote his own end-times prophecy. Calling the last days “perilous times,” he warned that we would be “lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.” His words seem to describe our era, as we certainly live in perilous times for Christianity, and Paul’s portrayal of lukewarm Christians mirrors the same type of selfishness described by Peter. People today may attend church and profess to be Christian, but do their actions match their words? Do they share God’s Word with others? Do they help those in need?[7]

By examining the behaviors of today’s Christians, a reasonable inference can be made that Satan was finally successful in his war against Christianity. The self-centered, “live your best life” attitudes of today’s Christians suggest they have lost focus on saving non-believers. Christians have forgotten Jesus’ commandment in Matthew 6 to focus on accumulating spiritual treasures in Heaven rather than living the materialistic life that II Timothy 3:1-5, II Peter 3:3-4, and Revelation 3:16-17 all warn against.[8]

Matthew 6:19-21

19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Summary

The Dragon and the Woman (Revelation 12:1-17)

The dragon represents Satan
The woman represents God’s followers, first Jews, then Christians
The dragon attempts to kill the infant Jesus, which would have also killed Christianity in its infancy
God protects the woman in the wilderness, just as he protected Mary, Joseph, and Jesus in Egypt and Christianity during the Tribulation
After losing the spiritual battle in Heaven, Satan is cast down to earth, where he persecutes Christians
Christians overcome Satan by the blood of Christ
After the end of the Tribulation, Satan makes war with the remnant of the woman’s seed—the remaining Christians

[1] Matthew 2:16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men.

[2] Ephesians 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

[3] Matthew 2:13 And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.

[4] Matthew 24:22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.

[5] Revelation 3:15-16 15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

[6] II Peter 3:3-4 3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, 4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.

[7] II Timothy 3:1-5 1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

[8] Revelation 3:16-17 16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. 17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: