The woman with child

Background: A key image in the book of Revelation that borrows its symbolism from the Old Testament is the one of a woman in childbirth and of her child (Rev 12). Of all the images, this one leaves no room for doubtful interpretations: Being the 4th among 7 stanzas, it is placed at the center of Revelation as the preeminent sign pointing the way to the interpretation of all the others. In particular, by defining the 3.5 tribulation ‘years’ of Dan 9:26-27 as the era of the second Jewish diaspora and where Christ now reigns from heaven, it provides the “big picture” of Biblical eschatology, the framework in which all other riddles in Revelation must find their solution.

Read: Revelation 12:1-17

1) The vision includes John’s own explanation what the woman and her child represent: Who is the child, v5? cf Rev 2:27; Ps 2:9

  • Besides Psalm 2, what else shows that v5 is talking of the Messiah?
    • To readers unfamiliar with Psalm 2, how else did John remove all doubt that the child in this vision is Jesus? v10
    • Is the birth in v4 describing the incarnation of Christ at his first coming, or a metaphor for some future manifestation before a future tribulation? How can we know?* =>
  • The description “…caught up to God and to his throne” (v5) refers to Dan 7:13-14. Why did John want his readers to know that Daniel’s OT prophecy is fulfilled in Jesus now?
    • According to Dan 7, where will the Messiah rule: From a literal temple in Jerusalem, or from ‘heaven’?
    • How can we be sure that John did not mean an earthly messianic kingdom during a future ‘golden age’? vv9-12
  • v1: What makes the vision in Rev 12 a ‘great sign’, (gr. mega, => a mega sign), i.e. excelling all others in significance?
    • When you get lost during a mountain hike and then find a road sign, what makes it great? What if it were unreadable (unclear) instead?
    • Rev 15:1 calls one other sign great, but then adds that this one is amazing/marvelous (gr. thaumaston, astonishing beyond explanation, cf Jn 9:30). How clear is that sign in comparison to Rev 12?

2) v1: If the child means Christ, who must be the ‘woman’? [Mutually contradictory opinions have been surveyed on wikipedia]

  • Why can it not be e.g. the virgin Mary, or a constellation of stars such as the constellation Virgo? v6, v17
    • Hint: Have either of them fled into a desert, v6? Or did either of them have other offspring who had to face a ‘dragon’, v17?
  • How does John’s description of the woman further prove that she symbolizes the nation of Israel? Gen 37:9-10
    • Read Mi 5:3. To what end does Rev 12 use this image? => Who are “His brothers”? v17
    • Israel was also compared to a woman in childbirth by the OT prophet Isaiah (Isa 26:18): How did Isaiah’s vision differ from the one of John?

3) Read Isa 27:1. What did Isaiah predict to happen to the ‘dragon’? How does Rev 12:9 translate who that dragon symbolizes, and how he is defeated? vv7-9

  • The image that Satan once roamed in ‘heaven’ also comes from the OT (Job 1:6-9): Also in Job, heaven is not the sky, but an invisible spiritual realm where Satan was allowed to present himself alongside “sons of God”. What entitled him to accuse, and how was he stripped of the right to show up there? v10; cf Jn 12:31-32
    • Why is this change owed to the blood of Christ? v11
  • vv13-17 suggest that the defeat of Satan in heaven did not yet result in his complete destruction. What is he still allowed to do even under the reign of Christ? =>

4) How, and for how long, did Satan seek to destroy the nation of Israel, and ‘the rest of her offspring’?

  • Does history suggest he retired in the meantime? Why not?
    • Since Satan continues to persecute God’s people ever since Christ’s ascension (v5), what does that imply how we must interpret the 3.5 years (1260 days in v6, or ‘a time, times, and half a time’ in v14)? =>
  • The number of 3.5 years comes from the book of Daniel, where it describes the second half of a 70th week during which the people of God will face ‘desolation until the end that will come like a flood’ (Dan 9:26-27):
    • v15: While interpreting Daniel’s 70 week prophecy requires a separate study, what did the ‘flood of waters like rivers’ signify there? cf Dan 11:40-41
    • What can history tell us about the ‘3.5 year’ duration of this second Jewish diaspora among the nations which Daniel and the book of Revelation predicted?
  • v14: What will bring relief to Israel from such unrelenting hatred by the nations?
    • The metaphor of a ‘desert’ comes from the OT prophet Ezekiel, who used it to describe the Babylonian exile in his own lifetime, (Ez19:10-13). What did Ezekiel predict to happen after this first exile? Ez 20:34-35
      • Did he live to see a second exile which his prophecy predicted?
    • Rev 12 predicted that help for Israel will come from the ‘earth’: What could this mean, and where did that idea originate?
      • The Greek word translated ‘earth’ is γη (ge), whereas Hebrew has several words: Here, the reference is to adamah, Israel’s own land (Gen 28:15). Scripture foretold many times that Israel will be gathered there again as a nation ‘in the end’, e.g. Isa 14:1-2; Ez 11:17; Amo 9:15. What difference would it have made in world history if the Bible had made no such prediction?
      • Hardly a day goes by where the modern state of Israel does not feature in global news: How do you explain that this small country attracts more attention from all over the world than any other?
  • Who is the remaining offspring of the woman? cf Mi 5:3

5) Application

  • Satan opposes everything that points people to genuine salvation by faith in Jesus as the only true Messiah. Is there any way how to avoid becoming his target? Why is or is this not an option for you? v11
  • Facing Satan’s special hatred, God’s people have always been tempted to lose hope and give up. What aspect of the vision in Rev 12 gives you hope to hang in there and not draw back?
    • Do you expect God to use prophecy to make things happen and to make believers persevere against all odds?
  • Does it matter in this struggle against all forms of evil whether or not we consider Jesus to be our brother, v17? How so, i.e. what difference does that make to you?
    • What difference would it make if instead you regard Jesus as just another member of a heavenly police force, or as a chief therapist who only exists to indulge our “needs”?

* Some think that the ascended ‘Son of Man’ in Daniel 7 includes his body of believers, the church after its removal from the earth by a ‘rapture’. However, according to Dan 7:21 and Rev 12:12-17, no saints have been raptured yet at this point: The bible couldn’t say it more clearly that only by means of spiritual union with Christ, believers are in a sense already now seated with Him in heaven, Eph 2:6. Also according to Jesus himself, there is no ‘rapture’ until after a ‘great tribulation’, Mt 24:29-31. For the “brothers” of this “child”, it is a tribulation because they are persecuted and martyred for their faith at the instigation of Satan, “…filling up what is lacking in Christ’s own afflictions for his body”, Col 1:24.

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