CHAPTER TWELVE - A HISTORY LESSON OF AGES PAST PREPARES US FOR TRIBULATION

I believe this is the point where God is gathering His army in heaven. He is reviewing with them history up until this point in time. He is rallying His troops and encouraging them by reminding them of all that has gone on throughout eternity past.

12:1-2 A great wonder of a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet wearing a crown with 12 stars appears in heaven. She is with child and travails in birth to be delivered.

This is God reviewing the history of His people the children of Israel. They are founded on the prophets and 12 apostles (12 stars in crown). Salvation is of the Jews (John 4:22) which is the woman - the child to be birthed is Jesus and those who will follow Him--the church.

Here is how early church father Hippolytus (AD 170-236) describes the woman: The woman is the church, endued with the Father’s word, whose brightness is above the sun. The “moon under her feet” he referred to her being adorned, like the moon, with heavenly glory. He says the crown of twelve stars are the apostles who founded the church. Her being with child and crying as she travails in birth and is pained to be delivered, is “the church not ceasing to bear from her heart the Word that is persecuted by the unbelieving world.” The man-child that she brings forth is the church ruling and reigning in the millennium with Christ. Hippolytus believed the church will go through the tribulation as did Irenaeus, another early church father, (AD 120-202).The man-child taken up to heaven is our Lord. The woman is the church carrying on the work and being persecuted.

Another interesting fact about this woman is the story in the stars. The constellation Virgo represents the woman, the sun clothing her is the sun in the middle of the constellation, and the moon at her feet is the moon at the bottom of the constellation. If we calculate back in time, scientists can prove that this constellation was in this very position on 9/11
of 3 BC! This would have been on the exact date of the Feast of Trumpets that year and is very likely the time of Yeshua’s birth! This has tremendous prophetic meaning when we understand the meaning of the Feast of Trumpets. (Discuss)

12:3-5 The next wonder is the dragon being cast down to earth with a third of the angels when he rebelled. The dragon is standing before the woman waiting for the birth of the man child, Jesus. He is born, to rule the nations with a rod of iron, and immediately caught up into heaven to God’s throne.

This is Jesus being born and carrying out His ministry on earth. After His crucifixion and defeat of Satan He ascended up to the Father where He is seated at God’s right hand.

12:6 The woman flees into the wilderness where she is fed for 3.5 years.

Since the woman has birthed Jesus and the New Covenant she now represents saved believers (many who may be of Jewish descent) of the Lord’s church (Rev 12:17). They are hidden or protected in some way for 3.5 years. This may also be the church ministering to Jewish refugees after Jerusalem is attacked and divided in two parts. Zechariah 14.2 This is merely my reading. There are many other opinions about this.

Hippolytus sees this time as the “church being persecuted and moving from city to city, seeking concealment in the wilderness and mountains, with no protection other than the defense of the two great wings of the great eagle, that is to say, the faith of Jesus Christ, who in stretching forth his holy hands on the holy tree, unfolded like two great wings, the right and the left, and called to Him all who believed upon Him, and covered them as a hen covers her chickens.”

In his treatise on Christ and the Anti-Christ, Hippolytus connects these scriptures: 2 Thessalonians 2.1-12; Malachi 3 and 4; Matt 24; Dan 12, and Rev 11.

12:7-9 There is war in heaven with Michael and his angels verses Satan and his angels. Satan is cast down from heaven to the earth along with his angels.

This is God reviewing history with His Heavenly Host prior to them entering the final battle which is about to come. Satan and 1/3 of the angels where cast out of heaven when they rebelled against God. God’s will is first done in heaven, as on earth. It is also meant to encourage us. This history lesson is for us today. (Compare to Deut 20.1-4)

12:10-11 A loud voice proclaims that salvation, strength, the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ has cast the accuser of the brethren down. The accuser is defeated by the blood of the Lamb and the word of His testimony. These overcomers loved not their lives unto death, they have battled through tribulation.

In our walk we proclaim the word and the promises of our God. We over come by the blood of the Lamb and the testimony of His word. Some even unto death. The armies of God are hearing it to encourage them. Proclaim victory!

12:12-17 The heavens rejoice at hearing this history. Woe to the earth for Satan is the spirit of the world and he is angry because he knows his time is short. He persecutes the woman which brought forth the man child Jesus. The woman flies into the wilderness where she is nourished for 3.5 years. The serpent casts water out of his mouth to swallow her up but the earth opens her mouth to swallow up the flood. The dragon is wroth and continues to make war against her.

The woman is in the wilderness. A very difficult time. The wilderness can represent a difficult period for the church. The church may be assisting persecuted Jews who have been expulsed from Jerusalem and the state of Israel. The water from the dragon can represent many peoples/nations who are persecuting the woman/church because they are assisting and standing with the Jewish people in their time of need.. God provides strength and some protection and victory--the earth swallowing up the flood. Perhaps wars and other conflict in the earth weaken the attacks and persecution as the church ministers to those Jews and gentiles who are turning to the Lord. Jews are seeing Jesus in the sacrificial deeds of the gentile church.
The wilderness can also represent or be a special hiding place for those who are truly obeying the Lord. This may represent the safe haven of Bozrah as described in Isaiah 63, Jeremiah 49, and Micah 2. The Lord rescues His people in Bozrah. In Micah 2.12-13 we see the Lord as the “Breaker” leading His people out.

This may be the beginning of the final 3.5 year period of the tribulation as the Antichrist is about to be revealed. Daniel 11:38, 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4