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. 2She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth.
First let’s look at what John is telling us or what we can glean from this particular chapter
This is another sort of interlude that is placed in between the judgments
John seems to take a very different approach in this chapter as well as chapter 11, if they can be tied together
Some say that the chapter doesn’t start in the right place and claim that the end of chapter 11 is where this chapter should begin so let’s just look at that first
Revelation 11:19
19Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings,c peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.
Revelation 12
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.
So then we could say that the Ark being seen in the heavenly Temple was the first sign in heaven
If we tie chapters 11 and 12 together in astrological terms, then I could see how one see the two witnesses representing ethnic and spiritual Israel or Old and New Testaments
Some scholars see these two as the people of God
Resisting the defilement of the nations
Resisting the overrunning of this outer court for 1260 days by prophesying
They see the present future mirroring the past in Daniel 8-11, the intertestamental National Jewish Maccabean revolt against defilement
Against paganism, against the persecution of the Temple, and protecting sacred space
They see the same thing going on except this time they see the Church involved
They see the body of Christ
I could see that working
In this chapter we have a few characters who we deal with
First we have the woman but we are not told who she is at first
Secondly we are introduced to the red dragon and eventually his angels
We are given his name
Then we meet the male child born to the woman
We see Michael and his angels
Then the rest of the woman’s offspring
We can insinuate who most of the nameless characters are from their descriptions and what they do
First let’s take a look at the male child who was born to the woman and why He was born in the first place
If you ask most people “Why is this world so wicked?”
The majority of Christians and some non believers will probably agree that it was the fall of Adam and Eve
If you asked a first century Jewish person you would get a different response
The fall of mankind is partly the true reason but it’s not the full story
Now we know that the male child from the description given is the Messiah
Israel is still looking for that male
We believe (know) beyond doubt that it is Jesus Christ, Yeshua, the Anointed One
The Messianic profile for what the Jews are looking for and what is evident in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus is partly the reversal of the transgression of not just the fall of mankind but of all beings spiritual and mortal
Actually the fall is one of three elements
Sadly we are only taught the one element of rebellion
The second element (or really the first in timing) is the rebellion of Genesis 6 and the belief that there was a rebellion there that started actually before the fall
There are those who disagree with this view and see this all as a particularly human thing
This idea makes most completely oblivious to the Babel event in Genesis 11 and how Deuteronomy 32:8-9 fits in but it’s right there in the text
Ancient Jews and Christians looked up to the heavens and considered what was going on there as signs from God working out His will
Christians and Jews had negative views towards astrology especially as we see it today, especially in terms of astral religion
They were offended by the foreign gods concept and the pagan belief that the movements of heavenly objects controlled the fates and destinies of mankind
All this was God’s territory
That’s not to say that this concept was real to them because we see it all throughout the prophets and in the Gospels
These foreign powers were real
For example, God defeated the gods of Egypt but if they were not real then God defeated nothing more than Superman and His defeat of nothing means nothing
In Mesopotamia and Egypt the notion of astrology and astronomy were blended into a very religious belief and they knew what they were doing in regards to how they used and understood it
Even Paul preached on it
Romans 10
5For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them.6But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down)7“or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
14How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?c And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” 16But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?”17So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
18But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for
“Their voice has gone out to all the earth,
and their words to the ends of the world.”
Paul tells us of the necessity of calling on the name of the Lord for salvation
And he immediately follows this with a question:
“How are people supposed to do that if they have never heard the Gospel? For them to hear there must be someone there to physically preach and that’s why we evangelize”
But then he asks the question:
“But I ask, have they not heard?”
And you would expect that he would say “They have not heard! That’s why we need to preach!”
But he doesn’t say that
He says the opposite:
He says “Indeed they have”
And to strengthen his case he quotes Psalms 19 from the Septuagint
Psalms 19
“Their voice has gone out to all the earth,
and their words to the ends of the world.”
Whose voice is Paul talking about?
Psalm 19
1The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky abovea proclaims his handiwork.
2Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.
3There is no speech, nor are there words,
whose voice is not heard.
4Their voiceb goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.
In them he has set a tent for the sun,
The heavens and the sky
Heavenly objects
Some bibles follow the Masoretic text which says:
19:4 Their line 6957 is gone out 3318 z8804 through allx3605 the earth, 776 and their words 4405 to the end 7097 of the world. 8398 In them hath he set 7760 z8804 a tabernacle168 for the sun, 8121
This all gives us the idea that the heavens communicate information and this message goes out to all the earth so that all have heard the speech and they have seen the wonders
How did Paul think the heavens communicated the coming of Jesus?
Now some believe that the starry sky, specifically the zodiac, tells the whole story of Gods plan
I believe that there is enough evidence to make that claim
But, we don’t have enough evidence that the disciples, or Paul, expressly used this as an example
Paul is talking about the stars communicating the arrival of the divine King so much so that everyone should have known because the heavens declare it
This is the great mystery that Paul mentions so often
The plan of salvation for the Jew and Gentile, united in the same Savior
But there are those who don’t agree with the theory of the constellations telling the salvation story
Mainly because Jesus sent His disciples to preach and spread the gospel
Why the need for preaching if the stars could tell the story for you
The disciples weren’t teaching how to read the stars and the stars don’t tell the story of the cross
I do believe that they tell us a story but this story, about Jesus, is for mankind to tell
It’s a story we must share
If the mystery of Christ was told in the heavens then the disciples would have understood what He undertook on the cross
We have examples to show that they really didn’t understand until after the ascension
Luke 24
1But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. 2And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. 5And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” 8And they remembered his words, 9and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, 11but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.
Paul is evidently thinking of the star, or planet in Matthew chapter 2
1Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise mena from the east came to Jerusalem,2saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it roseb and have come to worship him.”
Most astronomers say that what they saw was Jupiter’s retrograde motion
We wouldn’t get that
But the audience of that time would
The Magi also got it because they studied that kind of thing
They followed the heavenly objects and could track their movements even during the day
Where we fall short is noticing the same kind of context in the rest of the Bible
And that is where we currently are in Revelation
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. 2She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth.
We have the same idea from John here as signs that told all who could see that the birth of the Messiah had come
The only connection with the Old Testament is from Isaiah
Isaiah 7
10Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz: 11“Ask a sign of the LORD yourf God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” 12But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test.” 13And heg said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? 14Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.h
Some scholars claim that the Israelites were just as interested in astral deities and prophecy as their Gentile counterparts in the Hellenistic world
The way the ancients in various eras understood the happenings in the heavens was complex with various regions in the sky where different “beings,” the constellations, stars, planets, comets, and meteors were known to “act”
None of the “happenings” in this chapter were Old Testament Messianic prophecies
John is seeing what the Magi saw and this was not a vision of current events
This was what happened before the birth of Christ
Of course, this is purely speculation, because I have no way of knowing what or how this information is given to John
Looking at this from the text indicates that he is seeing it in real time although it appears to have happened in the past
John could have had a source from which he used for this chapter
But that doesn’t mean that he didn’t see it in his vision
Who is the woman?
Astral prophecy:
The woman is what we know of as the constellation of Virgo
To the ancient reader Virgo once lived on earth but left for her present place in the sky to avoid the wickedness of the world
Here in chapter 12, she is pregnant, other astrological concepts of this constellation understand her to be nursing a child like Isis with Horus
She is clothed with the sun
The moon is under her feet
On her head is a crown with 12 stars
She is pregnant and about to give birth
Her being pregnant brings Mary to mind
These other descriptions of the woman cause us to think more broadly
The sun, moon, and crown of stars, along with Genesis 37 and the dream of Joseph, concludes that this must be Israel
Genesis 37
9Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers and said, “Behold, I have dreamed another dream. Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” 10But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?” 11And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind.
This is the faithful community of Israel, the “Virgin of Zion”
How do we know that this is Israel and not just Mary?
5She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rulea all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne,
We see that she clearly gives birth to the Messiah from the quote from Psalms 2
We also see a representation of the ascension of Jesus, as the Messiah is taken up to be with God
Here is the reason why this must be Israel
6and 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.
Mary’s circumstances would have been unknown to the Jews in that regard and she would never have had to flee into the wilderness but Israel will
So this must reference, not the believing community, but ethnic Judaism, before the Messiah’s birth and well after His ascension
The meaning of the virgin and the twelve stars around her head would be known through Second Temple literature as well as rabbinic texts
We can see it mentioned in the Testament of Naphtali chapter 5 just as the Old Testament contains a picture of Israel as Jacob, his wife, and the 12 tribes
This depiction can also be a reference to Abraham and his descendants as well
Testament of Abraham B 7:4–16
These heavenly objects were seen as indestructible because they were so far away from the earth
This makes Israel indestructible
Midr. Rab. Gen. 9
The woman’s appearance may have also reflected Israel’s priestly character
Philo’s and Josephus’s explanations of Exodus 28 and 39 use the imagery of a crown, the sun, the moon, and twelve stars to describe the vestments of the Israelite high priests
The priests represented the twelve tribes before Yahweh in the temple service
Josephus, Ant. 3.164–72, 179–87; Philo, Vit. Mos. 2.111–12, 122–24;
As far as the sky is concerned, the idea that the woman is a constellation is right in the text
Virgo, the woman, is clothed with the sun
In astronomical speak, the sun is adorning the woman or is in the midst of the constellation
The moon is at her feet
For this to occur, the constellation of the woman must be on the ecliptic, the imaginary line that both the sun and moon follow in the sky through the zodiac constellations
We see it in the masoretic text of Psalms 19 that Paul quotes
It says: “their line goes out through all the earth.”
The line is the ecliptic
The interesting part about this scene is that “clothing” of the woman indicates that the sun was located somewhere midway to the woman
Between her neck and knees
Where a pregnant woman would carry her child
Somewhere between about 150 to 170 degrees along the ecliptic
If it had been situated anywhere else, it wouldn’t be said to clothe her
This “clothing” by the sun occurs for a 20 day period each year
This 20 degree spread and what John is seeing would have indicated the general time when the Messiah was born and what the Magi would have seen when Jesus was born
Especially had they known Isaiah 7
Isaiah 7
10Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz: 11“Ask a sign of the LORD yourf God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” 12But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test.” 13And heg said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? 14Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.h
The Magi were from Babylon where there would have been plenty of Jews from the exile
Daniel himself was rumored to have taught many of them
The very fact that they went to Bethlehem shows that they had some knowledge of Scripture
The moon, being located under the feet of the woman, must have been simultaneous with the clothing of the sun
This would narrow the 20 day window to a roughly 90 minute window in which to pinpoint the birth of the child here in chapter 12
So let’s look at the virgin again
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. 2She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. 3And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. 4His 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. 5She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rulea all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne
We know that this is what happened in the past
We see Satan’s attempts to destroy the Messiah
We see the birth, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus
6and 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.
So now the woman (Israel) flees into the wilderness where she will be nourished for 1,260 days
This seems to tie in with the two witnesses account because of the 1,260 days, but we will also have a reference to the same time frame that is another reference to the book of Daniel
Is this in the past or the future?
Are the two witnesses past or future?
Are each both?
We know that there are similarities between the past and probably the future is in view as well
This next section is definitely in Johns future
13And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child.14But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time. 15The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood. 16But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth.
Obviously, again, the woman is Israel
But is this all of ethnic Israel?
Is this just a reference to AD 70?
We know this from the reference of “eagles wings”
Exodus 19
4‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.
We then see the church in the rest of her (Israel’s) offspring
17Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus
Satan becomes furious when he can’t get his hands on the woman
So he goes after her offspring
They are described as:
Those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus
This is obviously Gentile and ethnic Jews who believe in Jesus
Does this mean he gives up on one group to pursue the other?
And to add to the confusion, most Western Christians have been taught that the “woman” is the church since it has replaced Israel in the plan of Yahweh
They are taught that the those who flee into the wilderness are strictly Gentile Christians
While others say they are Messianic Jews
I believe that the proper identification of these people is both Gentile and Jewish believers in Christ
It’s just that this phrase “those who keep the commandments of God” doesn’t always reflect Christianity
The term “God’s commandments” usually means the Law of Moses and for most Christians that law is dead and superseded by grace
Does this describe Christians who follow the Torah Law or who keep God’s commandments by being believers in Christ?
Is truly living in Christ the actual definition or is this living in Christ while obeying Torah?
Today, Israel is in the land, at least the tribes of Judah and Benjamin
But, I believe, that the Jewish people are in exile in their hearts, just as when they were in Babylon and when they rejected Jesus
Most follow the Talmud
But they are still in exile and God is not done dealing with their transgressions
At the same time, Christians are living like the world, claiming grace, and yet being light years away from what God expects
God is not done with either
Walking by Faith 