Revelation Chapter 12
Part 13 of the Two Witnesses Series
Revelation Chapter 12 has to be one of the most improperly interpreted chapters in the Bible. Virtually every commentary and study on this chapter says that the woman is Israel and the child is Jesus. This error is primarily due to three things.
First, not understanding the context of the chapter.
Second, a failure to realize that the overcomers rule the nations with Jesus during the Millennium.
Third, a failure to understand what ‘caught up to God and to His throne’ means.
Context of Chapter 12
Context is the starting point for any Bible interpretation. Taking scripture out of context has resulted in all kinds of wrongful interpretation and we have all been victims of it one time or another.
Remember from Part I, the entire book of Revelation is written to the churches and for the churches. Also remember in Daniel that the prophecies are sealed up until the end times. The misinterpretations of the Two Witnesses in chapter 11 and the Woman and Child in chapter 12 were done before these prophecies were revealed to us who are living in the last days.
The context of chapter 12 is the three-and-a-half-year tribulation. Two times in the chapter the three and a half year time period is mentioned. Also, the chapter says the devil is enraged because he knows he has only a short time. That short time is the three-and-a-half-year tribulation. Not the birth of baby Jesus in Bethlehem two millennium earlier.
The great sign in heaven is a woman about to give birth. Jesus and Paul both describe this scenario when teaching about the last days. More on this in a moment.
All the commentaries that say that the woman is Israel and the child is Jesus ignore the context of this chapter. What does the birth of the baby Jesus in Bethlehem have to do with the tribulation? Absolutely nothing! What does the birth of baby Jesus in Bethlehem have to do with the last days? Absolutely nothing! Let’s read the first six verses.
The Woman Gives Birth
Rev 12:1 A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; 2 and she was with child; and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems. 4 And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth, he might devour her child. 5 And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne. 6 Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.
The great sign which appeared in heaven is a picture of the last day events that take place during the great tribulation. The woman is the last day church. She is in pain to give birth. The great red dragon, Satan, stands before her so he can devour her child. She gives birth to a son who is to rule the nations with a rod of iron. Her son is caught up to God and to His throne. Then the woman flees into the wilderness.
Did the nation of Israel flee into the wilderness for three and a half years after Jesus was born? Of course not. Later in the chapter it says the dragon was enraged with the woman and went off to make war with the rest of her children who keep the testimony of Jesus. Israel, for the most part is either secular or Torah observant. All of my Jewish friends in Israel are Torah observant and they are persecuted for befriending me because I am Christian. Israel does not keep the testimony of Jesus. Remember, Revelation is written to the church and for the church. The woman is the last day church.
In Matthew 24, when Jesus is asked about His coming and the end of the age, He mentions the beginning of birth pangs. Revelation chapter 12 is the end of the birth pangs, the giving of birth, at the end of the age.
Matt 24:8 But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. 9 “Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name.
Paul continues the picture of the church being a woman with child in the last days.
I Thess 5:1 Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. 2For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. 3 While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. 4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief;
Paul warns the church that when people are saying, “Peace and safety!”, then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child. Those who are saying peace and safety are the teachers who are misleading their people with the pre-tribulation rapture theology. The catching up takes place at the end of the tribulation, not the beginning. Paul is describing the church in the last days. The sign of the woman with child, written by John, is referencing these verses from Matthew and I Thessalonians. The woman is the church that is in pain to give birth. She is the Laodicea church. That day will overtake her as a thief. She will not escape. Paul then says to those who are not in darkness, that day will not overtake them like a thief. This is the overcomers that the woman gives birth to. This is the Philadelphia church. They are kept from the hour of testing.
II Tim 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, 4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.
Paul is warning Timothy about the last days. The church will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires. Teachers who will tell them what they want to hear instead of teachers who will tell them what they need to hear. The church in Laodicea will turn away from the truth and embrace myths. One of the greatest myths in the last days is the pre-tribulation rapture teaching.
Ezek 13:10 It is definitely because they have misled My people by saying, ‘Peace!’ when there is no peace. And when anyone builds a wall, behold, they plaster it over with whitewash; 11 so tell those who plaster it over with whitewash, that it will fall. A flooding rain will come, and you, O hailstones, will fall; and a violent wind will break out. 12 Behold, when the wall has fallen, will you not be asked, ‘Where is the plaster with which you plastered it?’”
The prophet Ezekiel had to deal with the same deception. Remember from Part I, Jesus said in Matthew 24 that many teachers would come and say Jesus is the Messiah and mislead many. The false teachers and prophets that Jesus warns us about were around way back then. Same story. They said peace when there was no peace. When the woman is in the tribulation, she will ask the same question that Israel asked, where is the plaster? Where is the pre-tribulation rapture?
Jesus talked about birth pangs in the last days. Paul describes the church in the last days as a woman in pain to give birth. John continues this same picture in Revelation chapter 12.
The Child
Now for the child. The woman gives birth to a son who is to rule the nations with a rod of iron. Everyone says this must be Jesus because He rules the nations with a rod of iron. However, does He rule alone? No, the overcomers rule with Him. This is in the letter to the church in Thyatira.
Rev 2:26 He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations; 27 and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces, as I also have received authority from My Father;
The woman gives birth to a son who is to rule the nations with a rod of iron. The overcomers rule the nations with a rod of iron during the Millennium. The child is born at the beginning of the tribulation. This is when the overcomers, the two witness company of believers, burst onto the scene.
Going back to chapter 11, we have the overcomers who are granted authority, and the rest of the church who are disciplined and reproved during the three-and-a-half-year tribulation.
Here is what the great sign in heaven at the beginning of chapter 12 means. The woman, the last day church, is in pain due to the pressure being put on her to compromise the Word of God and to deny His name. This pain gives birth to the overcomers, those who do not compromise the Word of God and do not deny His name. They will rule the nations with Jesus. The dragon cannot devour the child because he is caught up to God and to His throne. The woman, however, is not caught up to God and the dragon attempts to persecute her for the three-and-a-half-year tribulation.
Going back to the letters to the seven churches at the beginning of Revelation, the child is the church in Philadelphia, who is kept from the time of testing during the tribulation. The woman is the church in Laodicea which is disciplined and reproved during the tribulation. Going back to chapter 11, the child is the worshipers in the sanctuary. The woman is in the outer court which is to be trodden under foot during the tribulation.
