Chosen for God’s Glory

Revelation 12:1 ESV

1 And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.

Throughout the entire Bible, from the very first page until the very last page what we see is God setting out to accomplish one primary goal, and that goal is His own glorification.

And as you study the Bible you will see God accomplishing His goal of being supremely glorified through various different means.

Sometimes these means may seem a little strange to us, but when we read the sacred Scriptures, aided by the Spirit, we can sit back, contemplate on everything that God accomplishes and is accomplishing and we will be astonished that God is Who He is, and that He accomplishes what He accomplishes, and as we recognize these things, He is supremely glorified.

And that, I believe, is exactly what God desires to be accomplished as His people read His Word.

Throughout the Sunday services this month, which eventually will conclude on Christmas morning, it is my desire, with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, to present to you a series of four messages from the book of Revelation, chapter 12, verses 1-6.

And in this series, my desire is to highlight one of the main aspects of God’s glorification throughout the Holy Scriptures, and that is His determination to graciously save a people chosen by Him, the means in which He accomplishes this, the opposition that came against His determination to save this people chosen by Him, and His ultimate victory over the opposition in this regard.

What we will be looking at is God’s will to save His elect people through His Son, and how He accomplished this even among intense, desperate opposition from Satan. And the glory that God receives through it.

And if the Lord wills, we will not only make it through this series, but aided by the Spirit of God, we will be brought closer to Him in a much more intimate way in the process.

Now, the book of Revelation is a book that is unlike any other book in the Bible in that it consistently tells the same story over and over again, but from different vantage points.

I would say that the only thing that is comparable to it in the Bible are the Gospels in that all four Gospels essentially tell the same story, but from different vantage points.

The difference between the Gospels and Revelation though is that the Gospels are four different books, written by four different authors, while the book of Revelation is one book, but with the same story told over and over throughout it, but from a different perspective each time, and by a singular author.

And Revelation 12, I believe, is the beginning of this same story that is told repeatedly throughout this book, and the passage that we will be looking at this month, Revelation, chapter 12, verses 1-6 is a passage that like the book of Revelation as a whole has more opinions and interpretations than you can count.

And this month I will add my humble opinion and interpretation to the countless number of opinions and interpretations that are out there. So, let’s go ahead and jump into it.

We see in the very beginning of this first verse where John the Apostle writes:

Revelation 12:1a ESV

1a And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman

Now, the book of Revelation was written by John the Apostle when he was exiled and imprisoned on the island of Patmos. While there, it is written that he was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day when the Lord began to give him this revelation.

So, John was “in the Spirit” and this was a revelation given to him from the Lord… the kind of language that is being used here lets us know that what John is writing here isn’t just some ordinary work, but rather, it is given to him by the inspiration of God.

Hence, we read at the beginning of this verse that what John sees here, he sees “in Heaven”. Now, while this may literally mean that what John saw here was physically in Heaven, I personally believe that what he is saying to us here is that what he is writing has its origins in Heaven, that it comes by the inspiration of God Himself.

And what John says that he sees in Heaven is a woman… This woman I believe, is representative of the chosen people of God, who the Bible calls, the Bride of Christ, which of course, perfectly corresponds with the imagery of a woman.

You see, it was God’s will, for the accomplishment of His own glory, to choose a people to be His very own possession. This people would be God’s elect people whom He chose to save before the foundation of the world for His own glory.

And in every generation, from the beginning of time until now, there has been a remnant of people, saved purely by the grace of God. And these people are represented here in our reading as this woman.

So, the woman spoken of here is representative of the people of God. But let’s go ahead and take a further look at some of the characteristics of this woman. Let’s first look at what she wears here in our reading, where we see that she is:

Revelation 12:1b ESV

1b clothed with the sun,

This woman, who represents the chosen people of God, people like you and I who have been saved by the grace of God wears for her clothing, the sun… S-U-N.

That is kind of a strange observation, and it would indeed be a strange sight to see. But the sun spoken of here, I believe is the sun spoken of over in Malachi 4:2 where we read:

Malachi 4:2 ESV

2 But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.

Malachi describes here the sun, S-U-N of righteousness, which is none other than Jesus Himself. Thus, I believe that when John the Apostle says that this woman is clothed with the sun, he is saying that she is clothed with Jesus.

Now, once again, that makes us ask another question, how can a person be clothed with Jesus, or wear Jesus? Well, wearing Jesus means to be made righteous by and through Jesus through the substitutionary death that He died on the cross for His elect, chosen people, who our reading refers to as the woman.

So, what John is relaying to us here is that he sees a people, the elect people, and this includes all those who have been saved through the grace of God and made righteous by the blood of Christ being applied to them. And this is here being translated as a woman who is clothed with the sun.

So, this woman, who is in all actuality the chosen people of God is clothed with the sun, which in all actuality is the righteousness that God provides for His chosen people through the blood of Christ, shed in His substitutionary death.

And it is written here in the next part of this verse, that this woman stands:

Revelation 12:1c ESV

1c with the moon under her feet,

In the first chapter of the book of Genesis, we are told that God created the moon to be a lesser light, the light to rule the night.

But anyone who knows anything about astronomy knows that the moon does not give off any light that originates with itself. Instead, just like any other astronomical body, it derives its light from the sun. So, we know that the moon merely reflects the light that the sun shines on it.

And in our reading, it says that the woman, who is representative of the people of God stands with the moon under her feet.

The moon here, I believe, is representative of the spiritual world system which has no light to put off as it is naturally in spiritual darkness. But even in the midst of this spiritual darkness, it does reflect spiritual light in that God’s people, who, as our reading says, are clothed with Sun of righteousness live in the world.

We reflect the goodness and righteousness of God in a spiritually dark and evil world through Christ our righteousness shining through us.

And as the woman stands on the moon, so do we as the people of God live in the world. Yet as the woman is elevated above the moon, so are we as the people of God elevated above the world. We are in the world but not of the world. Having a higher, holier home.

As the people of God, we live for a higher purpose than those who are of the world. And that purpose is to love, to please, to serve, to glorify our God Who has made us righteous and Who is our righteousness.

And that brings us to the last descriptor found in our reading, and that is the crown that the woman wears upon her head. We see this at the end of this first verse, where we read:

Revelation 12:1d ESV

1d and on her head a crown of twelve stars.

The woman wore upon her head a crown… in biblical linguistics, the wearing of a crown signified that which you boast of, that which you are most proud of, that which displays what you glory in.

Now, those of the world wear an assortment of crowns. Sometimes their crown is financial success. For these people, that which they are most proud of, the legacy that they wish to leave is that they were good at making money, were very rich in a financial sense, and had many possessions.

For others, it may be that their crown is one of political success. For these people, that which they are most proud of and the legacy that they wish to leave is that they were influential big shots who wielded much political power and influence while on earth.

And there are also many in the world who may not wear a crown that the world would deem as impressive or successful, and so they long to wear a worldly crown, and all for their own glory.

But John says here that the woman, the chosen people of God, her crown is one of twelve stars.

The twelve here is representative of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ, and more specifically, the pure Gospel of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, for the glory of God alone which was preached and handed down to us today from the Apostles of Jesus Christ.

We, as the people of God have nothing to glory in of ourselves. Within ourselves as we naturally are there is nothing but darkness, evil, sin, and wretched enmity with God. Naturally, we are absolutely, completely depraved, cut off from God, and utterly helpless.

There is nothing originating from ourselves that we have to glory in, for everything originating from ourselves is at odds with God. So, what is it that we as Christians, the chosen people of God have to glory in? The Gospel that set us free.

That old, old story of Jesus and His love. That fact that when we were farthest from God, incapable of even knowing that we were far from God, God lovingly looked upon us with pity, with compassion, with love, and He made us His very own, against our will, for our good, and for His glory.

As that timeless hymn, Rock of Ages, Cleft For Me reads, so can we and should we reverently say:

Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling; naked, come to thee for dress; helpless, look to thee for grace; foul, I to the fountain fly; wash me, Savior, or I die.

While I draw this fleeting breath, when mine eyes shall close in death, when I soar to worlds unknown, see thee on thy judgment throne, Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee.

The only thing that I can boast of is my Savior Who died for me, Who graciously saved me, who is least deserving of this great salvation. And not you, not I, but God is supremely glorified in this! And in His vast, unsearchable wisdom, He saw fit to bring salvation to an undeserving wretched man such as myself. Not for me, but for Him, for His own glory!

Beloved, it is not about us, not even a little bit. It is about Him. From start to finish it is about Him.

And graciously and gloriously, He saved us, for Him…

Therefore, let us now reverently worship Him for Him.