Revelation 12 Study Notes

12:1-14:20 This section functions as a prelude to the bowls-of-wrath sequence (15:1-19:5). During a “time-out” from the progress of the narrative, it provides a midstream orientation to some characters and content that are crucial to understanding the second half of the Apocalypse.

12:1-2 John used an important term he had used in the Fourth Gospel (Jn 20:30)—sign. It is first used for imagery that echoes Joseph’s vision in Gn 37:9, speaking of the people of Israel. More likely this sign refers to ethnic Israel or a believing remnant of Jews. The woman being pregnant and in labor and agony recalls Gn 3:15-16. The prophecy of the virgin birth (Is 7:14) of Christ may also be in view.

12:3 The second sign (see note at vv. 1-2), a great . . . dragon, is interpreted in v. 9 as referring to the devil and Satan. The description of the dragon having seven heads and ten horns is similar to that of the beast in 13:1, but different enough (“ten horns and seven heads”) to make clear that the two are separate characters.

12:4 It is possible that a third of the stars in heaven being swept away is related to the destruction of one-third during several of the trumpet judgments (8:7-10,12; 9:15,18), but since the dragon symbolizes Satan, these “stars” may stand for fallen angels who followed Satan in his rebellion (Mt 25:41). The phrase the dragon stood in front of the woman . . . so that . . . it might devour her child indicates that the attempt of King Herod the Great to kill the baby Jesus (Mt 2:1-16) was satanically inspired.

12:5 The words Son . . . all nations, and with an iron rod are allusions to Ps 2, which is replete with messianic prophecy. The narrative then leaps ahead all the way from the birth of Christ to his ascension (see Ac 1:9-11 and note there).

12:6 Some time after the ascension of the Son, the woman is supernaturally cared for by the Lord for 1,260 days (three and one-half years)—the exact words that describe the period of protection of the two witnesses (11:3). This probably takes place shortly after the two witnesses have ascended, near the beginning of the second half of a seven-year tribulation period. The woman fleeing likely is representative of Jewish converts who feared God (11:18) and glorified him (11:13) after the witnesses were resurrected and ascended (11:11-13). The imagery of the woman is a continuation from the faithful remnant of Israel, including Mary the mother of Jesus. The wilderness was the setting where the nation of Israel was protected by the Lord from Pharaoh’s army and was miraculously fed manna and quail (Ex 16).

12:7-10 Because it is mentioned immediately after the woman fleeing into the wilderness (v. 6) and because its outcome immediately affects the earth at the end of the age (vv. 12-13), the war . . . in heaven probably also takes place just after the midpoint of the tribulation period. The sense that the “woman” in Rv 12:6 is a believing remnant of Israel (see notes at 11:13; 12:6) is strengthened by the clash of the dragon (identified as the devil and Satan) with Michael the archangel (Jd 9), who is assigned to protect Israel (Dn 12:1).

12:11 Sometimes what looks like defeat is victory, as when believers die for their faith. Satan has killed them, but they are the ultimate victors because of the blood of the Lamb (Christ’s death on the cross) and the word of their testimony.

12:12 Because Satan has been banned from heaven (vv. 7-9), the heavens and those who dwell in them can rejoice. The “heaven dwellers” are the counterpart group in Revelation to the “earth dwellers” (see 3:10; 6:9-11; 8:13; 11:8-10; 13:8). The devil, having been cast down to earth, is enraged and will take out his great fury on the earth and the sea, because he knows his time is short.

12:13-14 Out of frustration for being cast out of heaven and thrown down to the earth (vv. 7-9), the dragon (Satan) persecuted the woman (believing Israel) for a period of three and one-half years. The phrase time, times, and half a time is a year, two years, and half a year—three and one-half years total. This phrase is taken from Dn 7:25 and 12:7, where it speaks of a period in which “the holy ones” are persecuted in the end times. That the woman was given two wings of a great eagle is the same imagery used of Israel escaping the Egyptian army in the wilderness (Ex 19:4).

12:15-16 There is no way of knowing if the onslaught of the serpent . . . dragon (Satan, see note at vv. 7-10) against the woman (believing Israel; see notes at v. 6; 11:13), as well as the description of the Lord’s protection (the earth . . . swallowed up the river), is meant to be taken literally. Perhaps a metaphorical interpretation is intended.

12:17 Unable to get at the woman, the devil (the dragon) turns aside to wage war against (i.e., kill, 11:7) the Gentile “saints” (13:7). The Gentiles are called the rest of her offspring because they are Christ’s “other sheep that are not from this [Jewish] sheep pen” (Jn 10:16). The other offspring, like John (Rv 1:9) and the martyrs seen under the heavenly altar (6:9), have kept the commands of God and the testimony about Jesus.