Verse by Verse
Revelation 12: 1 The vision of revelation 12 was in the region of the sun,, moon and stars (starry heaven). A woman in prophecy means a church (2 Corinthians 11:2, revelation 19:7,8, Revelation 21:2, Ezekiel 16). The sun represents the sun of righteousness (Malachi 4:2) the moon reflects the light of the sun and is therefore a symbol of the reflection of Christ's righteousness in the church. The crown represents a kingdom and the number 12 is the kingdom/ subject number built upon the 12 apostles (Ephesians 2:19-22).
Revelation 12: 2 shows the chronology under consideration to the birth of Christ. The true people of God were desperately awaiting the birth Christ (Luke 1 and 2).
Revelation 12: 3 introduces the great red dragon who is the serpent, the devil or satan. Verse 3 shows the dragon with 7 heads, 10 horns and crowns upon the horns. Satan is called the God of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4) and the crowns indicate a political system of government.
Revelation 12: 4 the first part is related to verse 9 but the last part is the attempt by satan to kill the Christ child. Luke 2:! and 3:1 show that it was the pagan Roman Empire that made this attempt. The seven crowns on the heads are Imperialism. Revelation 2:10 shows how the pagan Roman Empire persecuted the true church.
Revelation 12: 5 Christ completed His work of redemption and ascended back to His Father. The pagan Roman empire persecuted the true church until 321 A.D. when Emperor Constantine declare Rome a Christian Empire. Therefore the formal "Christian system" became progressively more corrupt producing the Roman Catholic system or false Christianity. The true church was forced into hiding for most of the 1260 years of papal persecution from 538 - 1798 A.D.
Revelation 12: 6 mentions the 1260 years persecution.
Revelation 12: 7-9 shows the rebellion in heaven and the war between the dragon and the lamb (Isaiah 14:12, Ezekiel 28:12-16 Luke 10:18)
Revelation 12: 10-12 describes Christ victory over satan at Calvary. satan is furious with thte true church. That victory is available to all believers. The war has been transferred to earth where satan mounts his attacks.
Revelation 12: 13 satan is furious with the true church.
Revelation 12: 14 is linked to verse 6 which references the 1260 year papal persecution of the true church by the papal Roman Empire.
Revelation 12: 15 describes the cruel violence and destructive intentions of the papacy.
Revelation 12: 16 describes the escape of the true Christians to protestant America and the development of religious liberty between the year 1600-1798 A.D.
Revelation 12: 17 predicts the final religious political power that will attack God final commandment keeping people the final generation of living saints.
Important points
- Revelation 12 is a summary of the war between the dragon and the lamb.
- Revelation 12 begins what may be terms the "Apocalyptic War Line" (Revelation 12:17, 13:11-17, 16:13-16, 17:12-14, 19:19,20)
- A correct understanding of the symbols in Revelation 12 will avoid interpretive errors later on in the Apocalyptic War Line.
- The Dragon is primarily the devil, secondarily paganism and its end time application is aesthetic, communistic anti-God philosophies.