Revelation 12:1

And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: This episode (Revelation 12:1; Revelation 13:1; Revelation 14:1; Revelation 15:1) details the persecution of Israel and the elect by the beast, summarily noticed in Revelation 11:7, and the triumph of the faithful and torment of the unfaithful. So also...

1-6 The church, under the emblem of a woman, the mother of believers, was seen by the apostle in vision, in heaven. She was clothed with the sun, justified, sanctified, and shining by union with Christ, the Sun of Righteousness. The moon was under her feet; she was superior to the reflected and feebler light of the revelation made by Moses. Having on her head a crown of twelve stars; the doctrine of the gospel, preached by the twelve apostles, is a crown of glory to all true believers. As in pain to bring forth a holy family; desirous that the conviction of sinners might end in their conversion. A dragon is a known emblem of Satan, and his chief agents, or those who govern for him on earth, at that time the pagan empire of Rome, the city built upon seven hills. As having ten horns, divided into ten kingdoms. Having seven crowns, representing seven forms of government. As drawing with hi...

CHAPTER XII. _The woman clothed with the sun, and in travail_, 1, 2. _The great red dragon waiting to devour the child as soon as_ _born_, 3, 4. _The woman is delivered of a son, who is caught up unto God;_ _and she flees to the wilderness_, 5, 6. _The war in heaven between Michael and the dragon_, 7, 8. _The dragon and his angels are overcome and cast down to the_ _earth; whereupon the whole heavenly host give glory to God_, 9-11. _The dragon, full of wrath at his defeat, persecutes the woman_,...

AND THERE APPEARED A GREAT WONDER IN HEAVEN - In that heavenly world thus disclosed, in the very presence of God, he saw the impressive and remarkable symbol which he proceeds to describe. The word “wonder” - σημεῖον sēmeion - properly means something extraordinary, or miraculous, and is commonly rendered “sign.” See Matthew 12:38; Matthew 16:1, Matthew 16:3; Matthew 24:3, Matthew 24:24,...

EXPOSITION This chapter commences another series of revelations. Again St. John returns to the beginning, and traces the spiritual history of the Church and the Christian in their warfare with Satan. But the visions which now follow are somewhat different in character from those already related, inasmuch as the conflict is now described rather as between the powers of heaven and hell than between the individual Christian and his oppressors. As with the other visions, so here, the recital seems calculated to support the suffering Christian in his trials, since the overthrow of the powers of darkness is foretold; and the whole series culminates in an account of the final abasement of the devil, and the exaltation of the Church and the bliss of heaven. The following analysis will help to make clear the relation of the several parts of the vision. I. THE ORIGIN OF THE...

AND THERE APPEARED A GREAT WONDER IN HEAVEN,.... This vision begins a new account of things, and represents the church in the apostles' times, and purer ages of Christianity, and under the Heathen and Arian persecutions; after which an account is given of the beast, mentioned in Revelation 11:7, of his rise, power, and reign, and then of the victories of the saints over him and of the vials of God's wrath upon him, and of his utter ruin and destruction; when comes on the marriage of the Lamb, and after that the first resurrection, and the thousand years' reign; and the whole is closed with a most beautiful description of the new Jerusalem state, which is the grand point and utmost period this prophetic book leads unto. This vision was seen "in heavens", whither John was called up to, Revelation 4:1;

Revelation 12:1. _And there appeared a great wonder in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:_ This is that woman of whom the promise runs, «The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head.» John saw this in a vision in the heavenly places; he saw the Church of God, enthroned, made glorious, clothed with the sun, having the brightness of divine light about her, with all that is variable, changeable as «the moon under her feet, and upon her head the crown «that her Lord had given, her « twelve patriarchs, twelve prophets, twelve apostles, a complete number of glorious lights kindled from heaven. Revelation 12:2. _And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered._

REVELATION 12. THE VISION OF THE WOMAN, THE CHILD, AND THE DRAGON. This chapter has always presented difficulties to the student of Revelation. Two questions present themselves: (_a)_ What is the connexion of this chapter with the previous part of the book? (_b_) What interpretation did the writer intend his readers to put upon the vision? The first question has been answered in many ways. Some scholars regard this passage as a fresh interlude, and think that it is unconnected with the main movement of the drama. It is often explained as a fragment of a Jewish Apocalypse which the writer determined to utilise, though he failed altogether to weave it into the thread of the argument. The most probable explanation is as follows. The theme of the second part of the Apocalypse is the struggle against Antichrist, and this chapter forms the introduction. Antichrist is first introduced almost in...

The book of Revelation divides itself into two parts. There are two series of visions, one giving the fate of the world and ending with chapter 11:18; the other beginning with the next verse and extending to the close of the book. The first series has brought us to the fall of the great city of sin, the triumph of Christ, and the general Judgment; the second begins with the infancy of the Church and traces its career and struggles until the New Jerusalem is revealed from heaven. While the object of the second series is to outline the history of the true Church, at the same time it necessarily reveals the history and fate of. false Church,. great apostasy, which shall be the mightiest enemy of the truth. It is unfortunate that the last verse of the eleventh chapter has not been attached to the next chapter where it properly belongs, as it is the beginning of… A NEW VISION. The reader wil...

THE WOMAN AND THE BEAST (Revelation 12:1-17) It is necessary to read this chapter as a whole before we examine it in detail. A great sign appeared in the sky--a woman clothed with the sun, and with the moon beneath her feet, and with a crown of twelve stars on her head; and she was with child, and she cried aloud in her labour and in her agony to bear the child. And another sign appeared in heaven--lo! a great flame-coloured dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and with seven royal diadems upon its heads. Its tail swept a third part of the stars from the sky and cast them on to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to bear the child so that it might devour the child as soon as she bore him. She bore a man child who is destined to rule the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was snatched away to God, even to his throne....