Revelation 12:1

SECTION III

(Revelation 12:12 through Revelation 14)

REV:12

Here begins the second and final great division of Revelation. "In it we traverse the same ground once more."[1] Beginning with the Incarnation, we have the efforts of Satan to destroy Christ while he is on earth, and failing in this, to destroy the church, and failing in this, to wage war against the saints. The outline of the chapter is:

The drama of the woman and the dragon (Revelation 12:1-6).

A retrospective parenthesis to explain Satan's hatred of the woman and her seed (Revelation 12:7-9).

A heavenly proleptic doxology, but also including retrospective mention of past events (Revelation 12:10-12).

The war against the church by Satan (Revelation 12:13-17).

The vision which begins in this chapter has several parts, but, "It does not end until the judgment day has arrived (Revelation 14:14f)."[2] McDowell entitled this entire second division of Revelation as, "The Conflict of Sovereignties and the Victory of God."[3] We also agree with Ladd that Revelation 12-22 are: "A representation of the struggle in the spiritual world that lies behind history."[4] Although some of the visions are undoubtedly applicable as accurate predictions of events future from John's time, it does not appear that this was the primary purpose of the prophecy.

Regarding the apostle's alleged "sources" of the visions here revealed, we reject the nonsense of dragging up from the ash can of history all of the pagan mythology of Greece, Rome, Persian, Babylon, Egypt, etc., and "finding" any origin there of this New Testament Apocalypse. The truth is that the essential features of Revelation are found nowhere but here! The apostle gave his source in Revelation 1:1. It is amazing that some of the same scholars who speak of the "ignorance" of the apostles have attributed to John with reference to this prophecy an almost exhaustive knowledge of the entire field of ancient mythology! There is not the slightest proof that John had ever even heard of any of it. Where is the "scientific objectivity" of those bizarre theories regarding the "source" of these visions? Their source, the source of such critics, will be found in Revelation 12:15. A Christian commentary on Revelation should not read like an anthology of ancient pagan mythology.

And a great sign was seen in heaven: a woman arrayed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars; (Revelation 12:1)

A woman arrayed with the sun ... It simply is not true that there is anything very difficult about this chapter, despite there being several diverse views of what it means. Rist thought that these first six verses are "probably one of the most puzzling episodes in Revelation";[5] and no doubt for him it was, because he made the woman here to be the celestial mother who gave birth to the Messiah before creation began![6] Such interpretations come from reading too much mythology.

The woman, of course, is a symbol of the "whole family of God" (Ephesians 3:15 KJV), including especially the true Israel of both the Old Testament and the New Testament. It includes Christians, because later in the chapter, they are indicated as children of the woman; and it includes the Old Testament Israel, because through them the Messiah was born. This view, with modifications of it, is widely accepted:

She is the one church, the Una Sancta[7]

She is the church in both dispensations.[8]

She is the whole family of Israel.[9]

She is the messianic community, the ideal Israel.[10]

She is the body of the redeemed people of God.[11]

She is the people of God of both the old covenant and the new covenant.[12]

She is the Old Testament Israel and the New Testament church.[13]

The figure of God's people as a woman is extensive throughout the Bible, and no Christian of John's day could have had the slightest doubt of who is meant by this glorious woman. Only a very few writers have ever erred on this. Some have made her out to be Eve;[14] and as might have been expected, Roman Catholic scholars have identified her with the Virgin Mary.[15] This latter interpretation, however, is refuted by the fact that the New Testament nowhere refers to Christians as the children of Mary.

Mounce believed this figure was chosen deliberately as "an obvious contrast to the scarlet whore of Revelation 17."[16]

Arrayed with the sun, and the moon under her feet ... There is no reason to seek specific realities typified by such symbols, because it is the radiant glory of God's church, from the heavenly viewpoint, that is meant. On the earth, her state is one of lowliness, persecution, and hatred on the part of man; but her true beauty and splendor are represented here.

And upon her head a crown of twelve stars ... These suggest both the twelve patriarchs of Israel and the twelve apostles, supporting the identification of the woman as both Israels.

[1] R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. John's Revelation (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Augsburg Publishing House, 1943), p. 361.

[2] William Hendriksen, More Than Conquerors (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1956), p. 162.

[3] Edward A. McDowell, The Meaning and Message of Revelation (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1951), p. 127.

[4] George Eldon Ladd. A Commentary on the Revelation of John (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1972), p. 166.

[5] Martin Rist, The Interpreter's Bible, Vol. XII (New York and Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1957), p. 452.

[6] Ibid., p. 453.

[7] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 363.

[8] William Hendriksen, op. cit., p. 164.

[9] Michael Wilcock, I Saw Heaven Opened (Downers Grove, Illinois: Inter-Varsity Press, 1975), p. 119.

[10] Robert H. Mounce, Commentary on the New Testament Revelation (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1977), p. 236.

[11] Albertus Pieters, Studies in the Revelation of St. John (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1954), p. 154.

[12] Isbon T. Beckwith, The Apocalypse of John (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1919), p. 621.

[13] Vernard Eller, The Most Revealing Book in the Bible (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1974), p. 126.

[14] G. B. Caird, The Revelation of St. John the Divine (New York: Harper and Row, 1966), p. 160.

[15] George Eldon Ladd, op. cit., p. 167.

[16] Robert H. Mounce, op. cit., p. 236.