Revelation 12
Revelation 12-14
The seven trumpets followed immediately on the opening of the seventh seal, and indeed the seventh seal leads into the trumpets. We might expect that similarly the seventh trumpet will lead into the seven last plagues. This proves not to be the case however. In between come another series of visions which we may call ‘seven significant signs’. There is no common factor like seals or trumpets or bowls and some prefer not to see them as a series. But it is unlikely that there should be just seven unrelated visions. It seems that John intends them to be seen as a series.
All of history concludes with the seventh trumpet and the third woe, but John steps back so that readers can survey history from another perspective
Revelation 12
The picture of the dragon’s tail sweeping away a third of the stars of heaven is an allusion to the prophecy of Dan. 8:10, according to which the end-time enemy of God will throw some of the stars down to the earth. The stars are identified in Dan. 12:3 with God’s people, and those being oppressed in the vision of Dan. 8:10 are identified as the “holy people” in 8:24. However, in Daniel, angels represent peoples in the heavenly realm (Dan. 10:20–21; 12:1). That stars can represent Israelite saints and not only angels is apparent from Dan. 12:3, where the righteous are compared to “the brightness of the expanse of heaven … like the stars forever and ever” (for this application of Dan. 12:3 see Matt. 13:43; cf. Gen. 15:5; 22:17). Dan. 8:11 (according to Theodotion and the Old Greek, two versions of the Greek OT) interprets the falling “to the earth [of] some of the host of heaven and of the stars” and their being “trampled” in 8:10 to represent “the captivity” of Israel which will be “delivered” in the future. Hence, we can understand the meaning as follows: Israelite saints have their true identity in heaven before the divine throne, so that when they are persecuted, the angels and God Himself are also seen as being attacked.
Exodus typology is woven throughout this entire episode. The pursuit of the woman is similar to Pharaoh’s pursuit of the children of Israel as they fled from Egypt (Exod 14:8). The two wings of the great eagle that made possible her escape echo the words of God from Sinai, “I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself” (Exod 19:4). The river of water that flows from the dragon’s mouth may reflect Pharaoh’s charge to drown the male children of the Israelites in the Nile (Exod 1:22). The opening of the earth is reminiscent of the destruction of the men of Korah when in the wilderness they were swallowed by the earth and went down alive into Sheol (Num 16:31–33).
The offspring of the woman here represents the people of God. Does this contradict my contention that the woman also represents the people of God (cf. Rev. 12:1)? How can the offspring and the woman be the same entity? We need to recognize the apocalyptic character of what John writes; he looks at the same entity from a variety of perspectives. Thus this is a literary device that should not be pressed. Designating both the woman and the children as the people of God fits with what John does elsewhere. For instance, in 2 John 1 the “elect lady” and “her children” refer to the same entity, representing the church and its members. So too here, the offspring are the individual members of the people of God
