It is clear that the dragon is Satan. It is clear that the child born of her is Jesus, the Christ. What is not clear is who the woman is. And the story line is a bit confusing.
Let’s work with the story line. Remember that this is a vision that tells a story that is recursive throughout history but also has specific meaning and application to John’s readers, and to all of us later on.
Satan’s war against heaven has been going on since he rebelled and desired to be equal with God. And so he has tried to foil every plan God has executed. God’s plan for the earth is that Adam and Eve would have offspring to fill the earth and that God would pour his love and life into them in order to expand the limits of his love and fellowship, that he would live among them and share all that he has with them and that they would reflect His love back to Him throughout all eternity.
Such a plan filled Satan with jealous rage. And so, he becomes a snake in the grass and entices the woman to sin. Adam joins her and Satan begins to taste victory. But heaven fights back, and Satan finds out that the woman will have offspring, and He will war against Satan.
Eve has a son, Cain, whom she hopes will be the promised savior. Satan wars against Cain who ends up killing his own brother and is subsequently banished, but not killed.
Abraham is called by God to father a great nation by his wife Sarah. Sarah is beautiful and a king in the area desires her. To save his hide, Abraham passes her off as his sister and the king takes her. But God protects her and returns her to Abraham. Satan is after this woman who will be the mother of a great nation through whom the savior will be born.
Abraham’s son, Isaac, also passed off his wife, Rebekah, as his sister to protect himself. Again, God protected her, and she became the mother of Jacob whom God later named Israel. And Jacob had twelve sons whom we see here represented as twelve stars.
Out of Israel will come the man child who will rule the nations and finally usher in the Kingdom of God. So, Satan wars against Israel, enticing them to idolatry. They are conquered many times and finally exiled. But a few remain faithful to God, a remnant. They return from exile and become a nation again but are conquered by the Romans. But Israel is still the woman who is about to give birth.
When Jesus is born, the wicked Roman King Herod attempts to kill the child born of the woman, Mary. But God warns Joseph about the plot and the holy family escapes to Egypt until the danger passes. Herod then goes after the other male children in Bethlehem.
In the prime of his life, Jesus is executed, and the dragon celebrates. But the man child is only whisked away for a few days and then rises from the dead. At Pentecost, a new woman arrives on the scene. She is the Israel of God, made up of all believers, both Jew and Gentile. The twelve apostles are the twelve stars of this woman. Unable to extinguish the Son of Man, the dragon turns his attention to the rest of the offspring. And that’s where John’s readers come in. They are the ones being hunted and persecuted. The Romans are doing it, but the dragon is the architect, the impetus, behind all that is occurring.
And so it will be as long as the dragon is allowed to be on the earth. All pogroms against believers are the instrument of the dragon to war against the Kingdom of God. Wherever Christians are persecuted, the dragon is pulling the strings.
Let’s work with the story line. Remember that this is a vision that tells a story that is recursive throughout history but also has specific meaning and application to John’s readers, and to all of us later on.
Satan’s war against heaven has been going on since he rebelled and desired to be equal with God. And so he has tried to foil every plan God has executed. God’s plan for the earth is that Adam and Eve would have offspring to fill the earth and that God would pour his love and life into them in order to expand the limits of his love and fellowship, that he would live among them and share all that he has with them and that they would reflect His love back to Him throughout all eternity.
Such a plan filled Satan with jealous rage. And so, he becomes a snake in the grass and entices the woman to sin. Adam joins her and Satan begins to taste victory. But heaven fights back, and Satan finds out that the woman will have offspring, and He will war against Satan.
Eve has a son, Cain, whom she hopes will be the promised savior. Satan wars against Cain who ends up killing his own brother and is subsequently banished, but not killed.
Abraham is called by God to father a great nation by his wife Sarah. Sarah is beautiful and a king in the area desires her. To save his hide, Abraham passes her off as his sister and the king takes her. But God protects her and returns her to Abraham. Satan is after this woman who will be the mother of a great nation through whom the savior will be born.
Abraham’s son, Isaac, also passed off his wife, Rebekah, as his sister to protect himself. Again, God protected her, and she became the mother of Jacob whom God later named Israel. And Jacob had twelve sons whom we see here represented as twelve stars.
Out of Israel will come the man child who will rule the nations and finally usher in the Kingdom of God. So, Satan wars against Israel, enticing them to idolatry. They are conquered many times and finally exiled. But a few remain faithful to God, a remnant. They return from exile and become a nation again but are conquered by the Romans. But Israel is still the woman who is about to give birth.
When Jesus is born, the wicked Roman King Herod attempts to kill the child born of the woman, Mary. But God warns Joseph about the plot and the holy family escapes to Egypt until the danger passes. Herod then goes after the other male children in Bethlehem.
In the prime of his life, Jesus is executed, and the dragon celebrates. But the man child is only whisked away for a few days and then rises from the dead. At Pentecost, a new woman arrives on the scene. She is the Israel of God, made up of all believers, both Jew and Gentile. The twelve apostles are the twelve stars of this woman. Unable to extinguish the Son of Man, the dragon turns his attention to the rest of the offspring. And that’s where John’s readers come in. They are the ones being hunted and persecuted. The Romans are doing it, but the dragon is the architect, the impetus, behind all that is occurring.
And so it will be as long as the dragon is allowed to be on the earth. All pogroms against believers are the instrument of the dragon to war against the Kingdom of God. Wherever Christians are persecuted, the dragon is pulling the strings.
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