Chapter 12 begins the second half of Revelation. The first half provided general overviews of history. We saw the world’s opposition to the gospel, Christ’s judgments on the wicked nations, and our calling to persevere in faith. The second half of Revelation homes in on the chief characters in the spiritual warfare taking place behind the scenes. The primary enemy is Satan, the dragon. He is aided by two beasts, the harlot Babylon, and the people who bear the mark of the beast. One by one, these figures are introduces in chapters 12-15, and one by one their defeat and judgment is shown in chapters 16-20.

Located as it is in the center of the book, Revelation 12 is considered by many scholars as the central and key vision. It depicts the decisive conflict between the church, the devil, and the royal child, Jesus Christ. Here is provided the background of spiritual conflict behind Jesus’ words of great assurance, given on the night before His victory on the cross: “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

The first half of the book of Revelation concludes with the vision of the opening of God’s temple to reveal the Ark of the Covenant, symbolizing the believers’ access into God’s presence, accompanied with lightning, thunder, and hail. As the book was being read aloud to its first recipients, there would likely have been a pause. So with the previous vision still lingering in the air, John continues: “And 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 (v. 1). The previous vision’s having concluded with heaven opened, the new vision begins with a depiction of the glorious church.

John makes it clear that this is not an actual woman but rather a symbol, referring to her as a “sign” that he saw in heaven. John says in verse 17 that this woman’s children include all “who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.” The woman, therefore, is the covenant community of God’s faithful people, through whom God brought His Son, the long-promised Savior, into the world. She includes both Old Testament Israel and the New Testament church, the people of God living both before and after Christ’s coming. Thus, this glorious woman not only gives birth to the Messiah but continues having children after His ascension.

In a world scarred by mankind’s fall into sin, childbearing always involves painful travail. So it is for the covenant mother: “She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth” (v. 2). This statement summarizes the entire history of Israel, with all the travails, until finally the long-promised Messiah was born.

This vision of the heavenly woman also reminds us of the mission of the church. She is clothed in light, and we are to shine forth with the light of God’s Word. She is holy, and we are to be conformed not to the world but to the character of our Lord. Her mission is to deliver Christ, and our mission is to proclaim Him as Lord and Savior. The church does not exist to provide a variety of human services to the world but to cause Christ to be born in sinners’ hearts so that they may be saved. The church is the mother to God’s covenant children, and we are to raise them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. There were travails for Israel before Christ was born, and there are afflictions for the church in this present age. But we are precious to God, radiant in His redemptive purpose, and He is the strong, loving, and faithful Father who will keep the mother of all His children safe.

Chapter 12 presents what may be regarded as history’s primary explanation, a great spiritual conflict raging behind the scenes. Verse 3 presents a mighty and terrible monster at war with Christ. Beneath all the action on the surface of history is a great spiritual enemy seeking to destroy the church. John identifies him in verse 9 as “that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan.” John sees Satan as a great red dragon, the color evidently standing for bloodshed and murder. Jesus said, “He was a murder from the beginning” (John 8:44).

The dragon is further seen “with seven heads and ten horns and on his head seven diadems” (v. 3). In ancient mythology, the many headed dragon seemed impossible to defeat. Likewise, Satan has heads and fangs in many places of worldly influence, and he acts with shocking dexterity. To thwart him in one arena is to find him attacking in another. Along with the seven heads are “ten horns.” In the Bible, horns symbolize strength, and the ten horns speak of the strength of evil in this world under the devil’s power. The “seven diadems” on his heads are not like the laurel crown of victory worn by the woman but are crowns on his usurped earthly dominion. Paul thus described Satan as “the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience” (Eph. 2:2). Satan does not serve but only rules. His crowns are the iron crowns of tyranny.

John is told that the dragon’s “tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth” (v. 4). This vision symbolizes the arrogant aims of his warfare on earth against the church. This same language was used in Daniel 8:10 of Antiochus Epiphanes, the great persecutor of the Jews. The point seems to be that Satan intends for his malicious actions on earth to do damage in heaven. The dragon attacks God’s order and rule. He assaults heaven itself, symbolized by the effect on the heavenly bodies.

The third figure introduced in the vision is this all-important Savior (v. 5). In describing Christ, John alludes to Psalm 2, which says that though the nations rage against God’s anointed One; God enthrones His Son and grants Him possession of the nations. “You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel” (Ps. 2:9), God declares. Echoing this language, the woman bears a male child who “is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron” (Rev. 12:5). The nations belong to Christ as the field of His gospel harvest. We either submit adoringly to Him as Lord and Savior or fall under His rod of judgment; moreover, His rod protects the church as a shepherd defends his flock against the wild beasts.

In John’s vision, the woman’s “child was caught up to God and to his throne” (v. 5). At the very cusp of Satan’s apparent triumph, with Jesus lying dead in the grave, God raised His Son from Satan’s clutches and exalted Him in power, causing the devil’s strategy to collapse in defeat. John will elaborate further details of the holy war as the chapter continues, but the opening vision connects with us now by telling what happens to the woman after her child was born and taken up safely to God’s throne (v. 6).

Verse 6 makes three vital applications for us today. The first is that Christians must not think of this present world as home, for now is the time of our wilderness journey. This life is a time of testing in preparation for our true home when Christ returns. The world under the devil’s power is hostile to faithful Christians. Christians must therefore be spiritually strong and biblically wary, for behind earthly opposition and moral perversity stand spiritual forces of evil, led by Satan himself. Our spiritual warfare relies on the spiritual resources of prayer, God’s Word, and holy lives. Our calling from God is not to overthrow the spiritual powers of darkness, for we are not slayers of the dragon. Rather we are simply to stand against him.

Second, verse 6 emphasizes God’s care for the woman who fled into the desert. We have seen that 1,260 days, or forty-two months symbolizes a period of trial and tribulation. This duration depicts the church age, the limited period prescribed by God during which believers suffer affliction. But notice as well that the wilderness is designed by God as a place of safety for the woman. By stepping away from the ungodliness of the world, Christians are preserved from ravages of sin.

Finally, we are to remember that our enemy is a defeated foe. This knowledge makes a difference in our fight. The child of the woman has come. He has conquered sin and Satan on the cross and risen to heaven with the Father. He has promised to return and end the war in total victory. There are still battles, some of them bloody and painful, that God’s people must fight. You and I must take hard stands that may prove costly. But we stand for Jesus, not only grateful for His love but certain of His victory in the end.

How inspiring it is in the trials, failures, and sorrows of this life to be shown the glorious vision of how God sees the church, clothed in glory and crowned with stars! How wondrous it is to realize that history consists of the struggle of the child to be born and His victory over the terrible dragon; and how solemn it is to realize that we have a place in this titanic struggle. Christ, the Lamb, has conquered by His blood. What significance we find for our lives if we stand firm in faith and bear our testimony to the glory of His kingdom!

Revelation 12:1-6 Study Questions:

What two signs appear in heaven (vv. 1, 3)?

What clue does John give us in verse 5 about the identity of the woman’s child (see also Psalm 2:9)?

The dragon is a figure of considerable power. Why does he seek to devour the child?

How are the mother and child protected?

How are God’s people under attack from dark spiritual forces today?

How does this vision help us to better understand where God is in the midst of the chaos and suffering that so often afflict His people?