This chapter just may be the origin of the tales from folklore concerning brave knights rescuing maidens from fire breathing dragons.  It covers a lot of time, from the past, the present, and into the future.  It is like a synopsis of the struggle between good and evil.  The forces of righteousness against the forces of evil are pictured here as a virtuous woman and a red dragon respectively.  Do they actually exist like that?  No they don't, but the things that they represent are real even though here they are presented as signs in the heavens.  These wonders, or signs, have been around for a very long time, and you are probably familiar with them already.  Let's find out.

Rev. 12:1  And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:

What am I talking about?  Simply this, the signs of the zodiac once were a good thing.  Righteous men from antiquity used the heavens to preserve and to tell the story of the promised Messiah.  It probably started with Adam along with Seth and Enoch, who set it all up and passed it on to their progeny, who in turn passed it on to their children and grand children, and so on.  The written word did not exist in western civilization in very ancient times but knowledge that a Messiah was promised has been around since Adam was created.  Since there was no written word to preserve the story of Messiah, some other permanent method had to be devised so that His story and the promise of His coming would be preserved and passed on faithfully from generation to generation.  The stars and other heavenly bodies were easy to see and they were absolutely permanent, so the constellations were all named and the so-called zodiac was born but its interpretation and meaning were totally different then.  It told the story written in the sky of the coming Messiah and the battle with the evil one, which was passed on by oral tradition for generation after generation.

No wonder Satan wanted it corrupted, and corrupt it he did, with the help of unrighteous men.  Who really knows today to a certainty if the current signs of the zodiac and the names and configurations of the constellations are in agreement with the original?  I'm not certain that they are, in fact, it can probably be safely said that they are not, so let's proceed carefully.

So here John observed the sign of a woman, which is probably the constellation Virgo.  In the sign John saw the sun, which represents Christ, and he saw the moon which represents the evil one.  He saw only twelve stars in her crown even though Virgo is huge and has billions of stars within her approximately 3,000 galaxies.  In fact, incredible as it sounds, our own solar system is considered to be part of the constellation Virgo.  In John's time, men had only the naked eye to observe the heavens.  They had no telescopes or binoculars to see her vastness and the billions of stars within her.  In any case, keeping it in biblical perspective as John perceived it, the twelve stars of her crown are the twelve tribes of Israel.

Rev. 12:2  And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.

Rev. 12:3  And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.

Why a dragon, and what exactly is a dragon?  Let's discuss them a little.  They have appeared in legend, myth, and folklore throughout the ages and were always a danger, especially to maidens.  We of the West aren't really familiar with them anymore because they have all been exterminated in our part of the world, if they were here at all, but in John's day they may have still been around in his area.  Today they are still found in some parts of the world such as Asia and Africa.  The monitor lizards that live along the Nile river are said to be dragons.

A good example is also found on Komodo Island in Indonesia.  The Komodo dragons are fearless, powerful and quick, and their bite is absolutely deadly.  This mouth of this loathsome creature contains over thirty strains of bacteria including several deadly to man and other mammals.  One bite and even the largest mammal will die within a few days.  The dragon bites and then simply waits on the sideline until the bitten animal dies.  He then consumes voraciously and devours everything including the bones, horns and even the hide.  What a fitting description of the devil.

Rev. 12:4  And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.

Let me explain.  God created us a long, long time ago and we existed in the world age preceding this one in the spirit domain.  We were called the Children of God, and were in fact part of the Kingdom of God.  At some point along the way Lucifer rebelled against God and conned many of us into following him.  He undoubtedly had a better way of doing things, in his opinion of course.  Did he pretend to be a sweet Jesus then as he does now?  Who knows, but one third of us bought into his con, and most of the rest of us were indecisive and just stood around like spectators while only a handful stood firmly with God.  How sad it must have been for our Father to realize that only a few of His children truly loved Him enough to stand and fight on His behalf.  Something was seriously wrong and He had to correct it.

and did cast them to the earth:  This is the consequence of our stupidity in the world that then was.  We had eternal life at one time but proved unworthy of it, and now we are here on the Earth in the flesh being tested.  We must now requalify for eternal life, and the positions that we once held, through testing.  If we pass, we will be restored to our original position as Children of God through a procedure called resurrection.  That is, God will raise us back up to the status of Children of God, which is the truest meaning of the word resurrection when used within the context of giving us eternal life.

There is another less important temporary type of resurrection mentioned in the Bible a few times, and that is the raising the dead back up again in a physical body.  A good example of this was when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead in chapter 11 of the gospel of John.  Lazarus was indeed raised from the dead in that instance but he died again sometime after that.  He did not receive immortality in that resurrection.  It was a temporary revitalization that lasted only as long as he remained alive in the flesh.  The saints accounted worthy to rise in the first resurrection will be elevated back to the status of Children of God, in the Kingdom of God, and they will possess the gift of eternal life again for as long as they remain loyal to they loving Father.  It is as simple as that, this is not rocket science but the truth has been obscured by false religious beliefs over time.

Rev. 12:5  And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

Rev. 12:6  And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.

I believe that the wilderness, or waste place, is only allegorical.  We are in the world, but not of the world.  So, she doesn't flee in the sense of running away from the dragon through fear.  She worships the God of Heaven and Earth and the idea that she would run from the evil one through fear is ludicrous.  She hates the beast system that the tares have set up and simply shuns it.  She prefers to avoid the way of life which Antichrist and his children have devised and set up because she knows intuitively that it is a trap.  She knows the truth and it has set her free as Jesus promised.  Because she shuns the evil she is able to receive the truth of God and be nourished by it.  This is true of all the saints throughout time.  I hope that this explanation is understandable to you even though, like her very existence, it is an abstract concept.

One other thing.  Notice that her time in the wilderness is spoken of as days, as in the light of day, as opposed to night or darkness.  We are children of the light, not darkness.  When the time of the evil one is spoken of it is stated in months, and months are related to lunar cycles, or moon cycles, and the moon is generally associated with the darkness.

Verse 14 below mentions this woman flying into the wilderness for a time, times, and half a time.  Here in verse 6 she fled into the wilderness where her time there is given as 1,260 days which is approximately 3 and 1/2 years.  Are verse 6 and 14 related?  Are they describing the same event?  Are fleeing and flying synonymous terms in her case?  Maybe, maybe not.  More on this at verse 14.

Rev. 12:7  And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,

Rev. 12:8  And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.

Rev. 12:9  And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

He will not be alone.  The angels who come with him will undoubtedly be living among us incognito, probably already working on his behalf.  I'm not sure that we could recognize them, especially if they look like the rest of us.  They probably will hold high positions of authority and power within our society today, as he will also.  Don't be too surprised to learn that he, and they, are famous personages within our ranks.  Its possible, and highly probable.  Just remember that with all their power they won't last long after Antichrist is revealed to us.  Forty-two months is not a long time.  He will probably reveal himself and quickly ascend to power in the chaos that follows a deadly attack upon the United States (and possibly some of her allies) by a group of nations which includes Russia.

Rev. 12:10  And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

Rev. 12:11  And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

Rev. 12:12  Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.

How?  By deception!  He is the greatest actor in the universe and he will pretend to be Jesus.  He is going to be so kind, sweet and gentle that he will be irresistible if you are not aware of who he is beforehand.  Always remember that the first Jesus to appear is a fake.

Rev. 12:13  And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.

Rev. 12:14  And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.

The use of time, and times, and half a time here is interesting.  Time here has almost universally been interpreted by scholars to mean year, and if so then the statement could be 3 1/2 years.  That seems to agree with the 1,260 days in Rev. 12:6 above.  Related to this are Dan. 7:25 and 12:7.  See also Revelation 11:2 and 13:5.  All these verses seem to agree that it refers to a 3 1/2 year time span.  Perhaps so, but be aware that the Greek word used for time here in verse 14 is kairos (Strong's No. 2540) and it doesn't mean year.  It  means a period of time, as opposed to chronos which means time in general.  The Greek word for year is etos (Strong's No. 2094).  Remember these definitions as we continue.

Staying on point now, we find something else interesting here in Rev. 12:14.  It is the mention of eagles wings.  Curiously, we find them mentioned in another place.

Exodus 19:4  Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself.

Rev. 12:15  And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.

Rev. 12:16  And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.

Now, having said that, consider this carefully.  God is in charge and He controls all things including the size of populations.  I know that this statement seems suspect because there are over six billion people on Earth today but it is true because He was, and still is, the Creator.  Today the Earth can support this huge population because of advancements in technology, especially farming technology.  He is the One who has done this although man takes credit for it.

He controls all things within the cosmos.  Jesus said that God knows when even a little sparrow falls, and that even the very hair of our head is numbered.  He has absolute infinite control over everything including demographics, and the children of Cain are no exception.  Today, they are a small group (perhaps less than 20,000,000), but even so they have dominion over western civilization and to some degree the entire world.  What would it be like if they were a much larger group today?  It is unthinkable.  In any case, their population has been controlled, just as all others have been controlled, and their graves testify to the fact that the flood coming from the mouth of the serpent has been swallowed by the Earth.

Think I am reaching far out on this?  Maybe, maybe not.  But two things are certain here     the flood is a flood of lies and deception and the main purveyors of those things are his offspring who control every major institution within western civilization today.

Notice in this verse that Satan is again being characterized as the dragon after he is cast to the Earth. As the dragon, he is much more dangerous than the serpent, more powerful and much harder to kill.  The serpent hunts small animals that he can swallow and he will only strike larger animals when threatened by them.  The dragon, on the other hand, stalks both small and large prey, even the largest mammals.

Rev. 12:17  And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Daniel 11:32  And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.

God bless with understanding of His word.