TOPIC:“The Woman and the Dragon”
by Rev. Dr. Reg Dunlap
TEXT:Revelation 12:1-17
“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” (12:1)
As we come to chapter 12 of this fascinating book we are still in somewhat of a parenthesis as John does not describe the seven bowl judgments which follow chronologically the sounding of the seventh trumpet. This does not happen until chapter 16 where the bowl judgments are poured out upon the earth. Instead from chapters 12 through 15 John directs our attention to persons, places and events, which are part and lead up to the second coming of Christ in glory, but not necessarily coming after the seventh trumpet.
John beholds special wonders in Heaven which deal with the end times. The word translated “wonder” is “semeion” and could better be rendered in this chapter “sign” as it represents some important truth to behold. Merrill C. Tenney has a comment worth noting: “A sign is an object which stands for or directs attention to something else…These signs depict the various forces in conflict with one another as the struggle between God and Satan for the rule of the world comes to its climax.” So John makes use of sign language to clarify God's dealings with Israel.
I.
Let's consider, first of all, the IDENTITY of the CHARACTERS. They are mentioned by John in the following verses: “And there appeared a great wonder in heaven - a WOMAN…And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a GREAT RED DRAGON…And she brought forth a MAN CHILD…And there was war in heaven; MICHAEL and HIS ANGELS…And the dragon was angry with the woman and went to make war with the REMNANT of her seed” (12:1, 3, 5, 7, 17).
In this chapter we have five of the seven actors in the drama of the great Tribulation - the woman, the dragon, the man-child, the Archangel and the remnant. The other two are the world ruler in 13:1-10 and the false prophet in 13:11-18. Let us capture the significance of these important characters of the great Tribulation.
The WOMAN - ISRAEL
“a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. And she, being with child, cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered” (12:1, 2).
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