A Woman in the Sky
Revelation 12, Part 1
The woman
I suggest you stop and read the whole chapter in
your Bible to get an idea of the unfolding drama. It is
a conflict between the woman and the dragon. You
will notice that the story tends to cycle back to cover
the same events with additional information. Try to
imagine what is going on. And of course pray for
understanding.
“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”
(Rev. 12:1).
First we notice that this is a new scene and a new
vision. John's attention is drawn to the woman in the
sky. The scene is obviously symbolic. What might
this woman represent? Many women appear in Bible
history. Could it be one of them? Evidently not
because we don't find any who could be represented
as dressed in the sun and above the moon. However,
we do find one who is called, "the woman."
"And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is
this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The
serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. And the LORD
God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done
this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every
beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and
dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will
put enmity between thee and the woman, and
between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy
head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." (Gen. 3:13-15).
Eve
So is the woman Eve? We aren't ready to say. But
remember that Eve was wearing fig leaves, not the
sun, when she heard this sentence from God (Gen.
3:7). What else can we learn from our verse? Here is
another passage about a symbolic woman. God,
through Isaiah, is addressing His people in captivity.
"For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts
is his name. . . . For the LORD hath called thee as a
woman forsaken and grieved in spirit. . . .For a small
moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies
will I gather thee." (Isa. 52:5-7).
Also, "I have likened the daughter of Zion to a
comely and delicate woman." (Jer. 6:2, Isa. 5:6).
We'll see Eve again later.
Mary
Also we recall how Jesus once addressed His
mother, "Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to
do with thee? mine hour is not yet come." (John 2:4).
So Mary may be seen in the picture, too, but not as
"the mother of God." Pagans had goddesses which
were seen as "queen of heaven." The pure woman
pictured here is not queen of heaven any more than
the dragon is king. (We see both the woman and the
dragon (coming in verse 3) in the sky or "heaven.").
Here's a passage to clarify Mary's role or absence
thereof: "Then came to him [Jesus] his mother and
his brethren, and could not come at him for the press.
And it was told him by certain which said, Thy mother
and thy brethren stand without, desiring to see thee.
And he answered and said unto them, My mother
and my brethren are these which hear the word of
God, and do it." (Luke 18:19-21; cf. Matt. 12:46).
We'll see Mary again, too.
Clothed with the sun
We turn back to Isaiah. He is addressing Zion,
God's people, telling them about the coming
Redeemer. "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and
the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. For, behold,
the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross
darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon
thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the
Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the
brightness of thy rising." (Isa. 60:1-3)
Here the clothing of Zion would be the glory of the
Lord. What is the Lord's glory?
"And he [Moses] said, I beseech thee, shew me thy
glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass
before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the
LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will
be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will
shew mercy." (Ex. 33:18, 19).
Notice another passage about the clothing of Zion:
"I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be
joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the
garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the
robe of righteousness. . . ." (Isa. 61:10).
So the woman clothed with the sun is God's faithful
people who have taken on His glory or character,
which they receive constantly from the Sun of
righteousness (Mal. 4:2). God's people are His
church.
Twelve stars
“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:”
(Rev. 12:1).
From what source might the symbolism in the
twelve stars have been drawn?
"And he [Joseph] said unto them, Hear, I pray you,
this dream which I have dreamed: For, behold, we
were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf
arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your
sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to
my sheaf. . . . And he dreamed yet another dream,
and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have
dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the
moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me."
(Gen. 37:6-9).
The twelve stars here are the sons of Jacob. As
you remember, Joseph's brothers hated him and sold
him to be a slave in Egypt. When famine came to his
family, they got grain from Egypt, bowing before the
prime minister not knowing that it was Joseph. Thus
his dreams were fulfilled. The situation is a little
different in the woman's crown. We see no difference
among the stars. We'll see why in a minute.
The word translated "crown" is stephanos which is
a garland, a wreath of victory, in contrast to diadema
or "diadem" which is a crown of royalty. This
reinforces our idea that the woman is the victorious
and purified church.
Jacob had prevailed with God and was renamed,
Israel (Rev. 8:1). After the famine, Israel moved his
family to Egypt where they later became slaves.
God's people who left Egypt were the "children of
Israel" which are recognized as twelve distinct tribes,
one for each son. The conquered land of Canaan
was divided among the tribes which represented their
political relationship — the Israelite leadership of the
Old Testament.
Of course, the woman we see is in the New
Testament. After the rejection of Christ, the promises
of God have been inherited by a new Israel, (Rev.
7:5).
Another set of twelve
Our Lord took twelve disciples. That number was
not by chance. This symbol of leadership of the
church of the New Testament was different from that
of the past. In the Old Testament it was the twelve
tribes. Both are seen in the New Jerusalem See
(Rev. 21:12) or the whole page.
Why would she stand on the moon?
We have more to learn. Certainly the lady is not an
astronaut.
Moon below
We noticed the crown on the woman's head and
the moon under her feet. Sun, moon, and stars are all
in the picture. We have seen the sun as the source of
her righteousness and the stars in her crown as the
identify of her domain — all God's people before and
after the cross. What then is the moon?
We notice that it is "under her feet." This language
means subjection (1 Kings 5:3; Psalm 47:3). She has
the moon under control. Keeping this in mind, notice
the following passage about sun, moon, and stars:
"And God made two great lights; the greater light to
rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he
made the stars also. And God set them in the
firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
And to rule over the day and over the night, and to
divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that
it was good." (Gen. 1:16, 17).
Why would the woman want to subjugate the
moon? We saw that it ruled the night which is the
time of darkness. "Giving thanks unto the Father,
which hath made us meet [qualified us] to be
partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who
hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and
hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:"
See Col. 1:12, 13; Also Ps. 18:9. We are not saying
that the moon is bad. We only see it as a symbol of
evil when compared with the sun. See Ps. 8:5, 6.
God has delivered us from the Satan's domain of
sin. Paul was sent to the Gentiles "To open their
eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and
from the power of Satan unto God." (Acts 26:18). The
woman is living in victory over sin.
Later in the chapter we will see Satan described as
"that old serpent" or, in other translations, "the
serpent of old" (Rev. 12:9). What did God tell the
serpent soon after the beginning of life on this
planet?
"And the LORD God said unto the serpent,
Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above
all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy
belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the
days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee
and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed;
it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his
heel."
In the picture, the snake bites the woman and she
stamps on its head. Here she stands on the dragon's
domain, the moon. Thus we have her justification,
covered with the robe of Christ's righteousness and
her sanctification, victory over the powers of
darkness.
Who then is the woman?
The remainder of her offspring are seen in the final
verse in the chapter to be people who "keep the
commandments of God, and have the testimony of
Jesus Christ." The woman herself then represents
the faithful of all ages, the pure church of Christ made
up of faithful people since the beginning of time.