Verse 21
21. A woman… hath sorrow A brief illustrative parable. It is plain that the woman stands for the apostles; her travail sorrow for their grief at Christ’s death; and the man child for Christ revealed at his resurrection. The best commentary upon this parable is furnished by John himself in Revelation 12:1-5, where a woman brings forth a man child, who is caught up into the heaven to the throne of God; in which the woman represents the Church of God bringing forth a Saviour and ruler of the world. The literal basis of this figure is the birth of Christ from a pure virgin. Or, still farther back, it is Eve whose seed should bruise the serpent’s head. The woman thus symbolizing the Church is here represented by the apostles, who are the Church now in travail and overwhelmed with sorrow until the bringing forth of the glorified Christ. Then shall their very sorrow transform into joy.
Remembereth no more the anguish It is God’s great compensation that her sorrow shall be as if it never had been, and the whole thing becomes a joy.
A man is born A human being, according to the Greek, of either sex. In the midst of humiliation and sorrow, the birth of a human immortal is a most stupendous event. The creation of a material world bears no comparison with it; hence, to the view of Scripture, all the circumstances of generation and birth are divine and wonderful.
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