Revelation 12:1-4

The story of Christmas does not begin in Bethlehem, it begins in the Garden of Eden. There, immediately following the fall when Adam and Eve yielded to the cunning of the serpent God made a promise. Genesis 3:15 records God speaking to the serpent, “I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will crush your head, and you will strike His heel.” This is referred to as the first gospel. It is a promise of One to come and crush Satan. This is further promised to Abraham (Gen 12) and then to David (2 Sam 7).

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

This is the first of seven signs in Revelation. Who is the woman? The Catholic Church says she is Mary. Most other scholars believe she represents the Jewish nation of Israel. A further clarification is that she is the believing nation of Israel, that is, those who believe in Jesus as the Messiah.

In Genesis 37:9-10 we are told of a dream that Joseph, son of Jacob had: “9 Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” 10 When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?”

Using this reference, we can associate the sun as Jacob, the moon as Joseph’s mother Rachel (or it could be Leah the matriarch of Israel since Rachel had already died), and the 12 stars as the tribes of Israel.

You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. – Matthew 24:6-8

2 She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth.

The nation of Israel has agonized and suffered throughout centuries as it has longed for the promised Savior who was to come from Israel. God specifies in Isaiah 66 that He will deliver, even before the pains of labor.

3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. 4 Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment He was born.

This is the 2nd sign. The dragon will be defined in verse 9 as “the devil, or Satan”. He is fiery red describes his murderous character. Jesus describes him in John 8:44, “He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

The description resembles that of Daniel’s fourth beast in Daniel 7:7, “After that, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast—terrifying and frightening and very powerful. It had large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the former beasts, and it had ten horns.”

The description of the tail sweeping a third of the stars from heaven to earth is representative of a great war in heaven of Satan rebelling against God and these are the angelic hosts who chose to follow him in his rebellion. And so, this murderous spirit of evil stands eagerly around the nation of Israel looking for the Messiah so he can kill Him and prevent the plan of God for mankind. This has happened throughout the ages and is described in many places in the Word.

He moved Cain to kill Abel (1 John 3:12). He moved Pharaoh to kill Hebrew baby boys (Ex 1-2). He moved Saul to kill David (1 Sam 18:10-11). There are also references to Athaliah’s attempt to destroy the royal heirs of Judah (2 Chron 22:10) and Haman plotting genocide against all the Jews (Esther). And finally, he moved Herod to kill Jesus (Matt 2). In all of this he failed!