Revelation 12:1-3
This chapter is again an informational chapter. John sees events that have already taken place, however many teachers have confused this information as being future events.
In verse 1 there appears a great wonder in Heaven. I suppose that if we had a vision of someone with this description, it surely would seem a wonder to us as well. This woman is clothed with the sun and the moon is under her feet, she is wearing a crown of 12 stars.
We find the story of Joseph in Genesis 37:9-11. Joseph dreamed about the sun, the moon and stars bowing before him. If we follow the story to its completion, we see that this dream was of a future event and Jacob, Joseph’s father understood that this dream represented himself, his wife and his sons.
Someone might say, “Joseph only had 11 brothers.” True, but Joseph is a brother as well so he represents one of the twelve stars in this passage in Revelation.
Later in Genesis, God changes Jacob’s name to Israel. The twelve brethren which represent twelve tribes is a reference to Israel throughout the Bible. It is possible this woman could represent God’s Bride. Just as the Church is the Bride of Christ, Israel is the Bride of God the Father according to Jeremiah 3:14.
In verse 2 this woman is Israel and this verse states that she is in travail and pain ready to give birth. She is going to give birth to Jesus; however there are those that hold to what is called ‘replacement theology’ and they claim this is the Church giving birth to Jesus.
For those that do not know what ‘replacement theology’ is, it is the belief that every place we see the word Israel in the Bible, we are to understand that this is a representation of the Church as a result of the cross.
First and foremost this cannot be correct. God made an everlasting covenant with Israel, He married her and He in no way is a covenant breaker. Some might say He did away with that covenant after the cross, however He did not do away with it, He fulfilled it through Jesus.
This is not the forum to go into detail about this, so we will move on with the understanding that this woman in verse 2 represents Israel. I like what one commentator stated; “Israel birthed Jesus and Jesus birthed the Church!”
In verse 3 there is another wonder; a great red dragon. This dragon is satan; there is another reference to him being the dragon in verse 9 of this same chapter. The description of this dragon has been the basis of much confusion, which is not surprising, yet in light of present day events and the fact that we are living in the “Last Days,” I believe more clarity has been given to understand what each part of this dragon represents.
Let me give you a quick history lesson concerning the devil. According to Ezekiel 28:14, he was an anointed Cherub before iniquity was found in him. As a result, he lost his position and his anointing and his name was changed from Lucifer to satan, which means adversary.
Before Lucifer sinned he ruled in the Earth and had a high place in Heaven. After he sinned he was cast down onto the Earth and when Adam committed treason against God in the Garden of Eden, satan was given back the authority of the Earth that God had given to Adam at the time of his creation. Again this is not the forum to go into great detail as to why this is.
Satan took the place of Adam having dominion and as time passed he worked through the different Empires that ruled the Earth up to the present time. This is all demonstrated in the book of Daniel if you would like to do the research.
The seven Empires are represented throughout history. Then there is a period of time of many years between the seventh and the eighth Empire which will rise next and actually is in the process to date. The seven Empires are:
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Egyptian 5. Greek
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Assyrian 6. Roman
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Babylonian 7. Ottoman
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Medo-Persian
The seven heads of the dragon found in verse 3 are representative of these Empires for this is how satan ruled and tried to stop the lineage of Jesus throughout the Old Testament. How do we know that satan ruled through these Empires? In Matthew 4:8-9 satan offers the kingdoms of the world to Jesus however, Jesus resisted this temptation. Some believe that it was not a temptation, however the Bible calls it such so let it be true and every man a liar.
The seven crowns represent the dominion of each one of these Empires. The ten horns represent the ten kings that the book of Daniel says is going to rise up in the last days.
When we discuss the Beast system in the next chapter we will go into a little more detail concerning what all this represents for today. However let’s be reminded that this is an overview and not a book on the subject.
