The Women, The Child and the Dragon - Revelation 12
Intro:
Point #1: I Believe that Mary, Jesus and the Devil are in View Here; Others See the Jews that Produced the Christ!
At this point, two groups of preterists part company in their interpretation of the material. The two camps are as follows:
First, there are those, like David Chilton, Milton Terry, J. Stuart Russell, and Philip Carrington, who believe that the remaining chapters (through chapter 19) continue the prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem (identifying Babylon also with Jerusalem).
The second camp would consist of Moses Stuart, Jay Adams, David S. Clark, and others who believe that Babylon is the city of Rome and that the remaining chapters assume that the judgment on Jerusalem, the first great persecutor of the saints, is complete. The second great persecutor of the church, Imperial Rome, is thus to be conquered in the visions that lie ahead. On this assumption, chapter 12 makes an smooth transition between the two sections. Beginning with the flight of Jewish Christians from doomed Jerusalem, the chapter depicts the dragon’s continuing war against them, leading to his employment of the Roman emperors in the effort to destroy the church in chapter 13.
There is little disagreement among preterist expositors as to who the woman (v. 1), the dragon (v. 3), and the male Child (v. 5) are in the vision. The woman is usually identified with the faithful remnant of Old Testament Israel, since the male Child (understood as Christ) is born as the result of her labor and her pain (v. 2). This travailing of the woman is understood to refer to the centuries of affliction suffered by the faithful Jews as they awaited the coming of their Messiah.
The woman seen in this vision is the second of four women mentioned in the Book of Revelation (the others being Jezebel, 2:20; the harlot, 17:4; and the bride, 19:7). This woman has been taken by Roman Catholic expositors to represent Mary, the mother of Jesus, here seen in her post-assumption role as the exalted Queen of heaven. Understandably, not many Protestant writers have supported this identification. It is evident that the same woman is persecuted by the dragon while in wilderness exile later in this chapter, which does not encourage an identification with the Virgin Mary.
The majority of futurists take the woman (v. 1) to be Israel, and her Child (v. 5) to be Christ. This is the view of Gaebelein, Walvoord, Ryrie, Ironside, Moorehead, Lindsey, and most dispensationalists. The support for this identification of the woman is found in the description of her as being clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars (v. 1). This has obvious reference back to Joseph’s dream in Genesis 37:9, in which the sun and moon and twelve stars (eleven plus Joseph) represented the family of Jacob, the people of Israel. That the Child is Christ is supported by the fact that He is to rule all nations with a rod of iron (v. 5), a promise first made to Christ in Psalm 2:9 and repeated in Revelation 19:15.
There is little difficulty in identifying the dragon (v. 3) with Satan, since he is named in verse 9. However, the particular circumstance of his having seven heads and ten horns is thought by many to extend the identification in some way to the first beast of the next chapter—which is usually associated with the revived Roman Empire of the end times.
The attempt of the dragon to devour (v. 4) the Child at his birth is best understood as a reference to Satan’s plot to kill Christ in His infancy, revealed in Herod’s slaughter of the innocents in Bethlehem. From this early event, the narrative skips over the entire life of Christ to his ascension: her Child was caught up to God and His throne (v. 5).
Point #2: Dominion Transfers from the Devil to Jesus!
Citing the work of Hengstenberg and Carrington, Chilton makes an extensive case for the identification of Michael with Jesus Himself. Russell also affirms this as a probability. Conflicts with Jehovah’s Witnesses over this identification may incline some to avoid this suggestion. However, Chilton is not implying, as do the Jehovah’s Witnesses, that Jesus is a mere angel or a created being. The suggestion is simply that, as Christ has been symbolized previously as a “mighty angel” (cf. 10:1), so also here, the symbol of Christ is that of “the archangel” (as Michael is called in Jude 9).
Because the great dragon was cast out (v. 9) as a consequence of the battle, we can pinpoint the heavenly battle as being at the same time as the accomplishment of the atonement at the death and resurrection of Christ. One of several evidences of this is found in Jesus’ statement (recorded by the same author): “Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out” (John 12:31). Another evidence appears in the announcement that Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come (v. 10). This also coincides with the atonement. In addition, other New Testament authors confirm that a victory of this sort over Satan was accomplished by Christ in His death (cf. Col. 2:15; Heb. 2:14–15).
The scene shifts unexpectedly from earth to heaven. At some point in connection with the events of the previous verses, war broke out in heaven (v. 7) between God’s angels and the forces of Satan. The angels are seen as under the command of Michael, the only angel in Scripture that is called “the archangel” (Jude 9), and who is first introduced in Daniel. In fact, if Walvoord is correct, this scene is identical to one depicted in the Book of Daniel:
The event here prophesied was predicted by Daniel the prophet in Daniel 12:1, where it is recorded that Michael shall “stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people.” This event marks the beginning of the Great Tribulation defined in Daniel 12:1. It is undoubtedly the same event as in Revelation 12.
Point #3: Rejoice, for Satan’s Time is Short!
preterist commentators have traditionally seen this passage in terms of the escape of the Judean Church from the Edomite and Roman invasions during the Jewish War, when, in obedience to Christ’s commands (Matt. 24:15–28), the Christians escaped to shelter in the caves of the desert.
Point #4: By God’s Providence, God’s People are Protected.
In the earlier narrative of the chapter, Satan has always been “the dragon,” but now, having been cast down to earth, he is referred to as the serpent (in verses 14 and 15; though he is the dragon again in verses 16 and 17). David S. Clark sees a deliberate and emphatic contrast here: “The Devil is represented as a crawling serpent; but the church as flying on wings.”
The wings of a great eagle (v. 14) which carry the woman to safety are an echo of the Exodus, in which God told Israel that He had carried them out of Egypt on eagles’ wings (Ex. 19:4). Like the woman in this vision, Israel had been delivered from the dragon (cf. Ps. 74:13–14; Ezek. 32:2) and sustained by God in the wilderness.
In an attempt to destroy the woman, the serpent sent a flood out of his mouth, hoping she might thus be carried away by the flood (v. 15). This is a general reference to the devil’s campaigns against the church,
Mounce suggests that the woman’s flight in this section “may in part reflect the escape of the Palestinian church to Pella in A.D. 66,” but he spiritualizes the meaning of the preservation: “The intent of the verse, however, is not so much the flight of the church as the provision of God for her sustenance.” The passage demonstrates that God will provide “to those facing martyrdom a place of spiritual refuge and enablement to stand against Satan.”
It is more plausible that this passage should be understood in a symbolic way. The flood cast after Israel is the total effort of Satan to exterminate the nation, and the resistance of the earth is the natural difficulty in executing such a massive program. The nature of the terrain in the Middle East, including many areas not heavily populated, provides countless places of refuge for a fleeing people.