Revelation 12

1. Who is this woman?
2. Who is this child?
3. Who is this dragon?
4. When was/is the war in heaven?
5. What persecution does this refer to?

*The Catholic Church views the woman as literal Mary, mother of Jesus
*The Christian Science Church views the woman as literal Mary Baker Eddy

Futurist-Prophecy yet to be fulfilled
1. The woman represents Israel (Gen. 37:9). Out of Israel came the Messiah.
2. The child is Jesus (Psalm 2:9, Revelation 19:15)
3. The dragon is Satan (12:9) who has, throughout history, made it his purpose to attack the ‘holy line’ (Gen. 3:15). He did this in the O.T. (Egypt/Babylon/etc). He did it at the birth of Christ (Herod). He continues to punish the woman throughout history (anti-Semitism) and will unleash his fury during the tribulation (greater anti-Semitism).
4. It is difficult to equate this ‘fall’ with the supposed original fall of Satan and a third of the angels b/c the timing seems off. Instead, most futurists see this as the middle of the 7year tribulation. Satan is once and for all defeated in the spiritual realm, but it takes 3.5 more years for God’s victory to be felt on Earth.
5. During the 2nd half of the tribulation, Satan (through the anti-christ) will make war with Israel. Israel will, however be protected by God (possibly via American airlifts).


Historicist-Prophecy fulfilled throughout the church age
*Chapters 4-11 covered secular developments that affected the church. Chapters 12-19 cover the same time period, but prophecy the internal affairs of the church.
1. The woman represents the true church in all her potential (300’s)
2. The child represents the fruit of the church through evangelism
3. The dragon is Satan working through imperial Rome. In 313 Maximim persecuted a third of the empire’s Christians while the rest enjoyed peace under Constantine.
4. This ‘war in heaven’ was actually a time of conflict with heathenism in the 360’s.
5. This may refer to a decline in true piety once Christianity became ‘safe.’ True Christianity was forced to hide under the leadership of the papacy for 1,260 years.

Preterist-Prophecy fulfilled in distant past
*At this point, Preterists split into two camps. Camp 1 says 12-19 continues to discuss the 1st Century fall of Jerusalem, only from a different perspective. Camp 2 says 12-19 transition to a description of the fall of Rome.
1. The woman is the faithful remnant of Old Testament Israel.
2. The male child is Christ. This passage skips His ministry and jumps to His ascension because its goal is to tell what happened after-word.
3. The dragon is Satan (a combination of the 4 beasts in Daniel 7). After being unable to destroy Christ, he desired to destroy Christians (via the destruction of Jerusalem), but they were warned to flee and protected by God for. 3.5 years.
4. The war in heaven is not told in chronological sequence, but as an explanation for why Christians had to flee. Satan had been defeated at the cross once and for all (John 12:31). The cross, therefore, ended Satan’s career as the accuser (Romans 8:33-34).
5. After the cross Satan could no longer accuse, so he made his mission one of stamping out the church via persecution before it could reach the world with the Gospel. But Satan failed here as well (Colossians 1:23, Romans 16:25-26). The devil has become a crawling serpent again, while the church is described as soaring on wings (14). After failing to destroy those sealed in AD70, Satan continued his attacks against the woman’s other offspring (gentile believers) through the Roman persecutions that followed.

Spiritualist-Prophecy fulfilled repeatedly throughout history
1. The woman is the faithful remnant of Israel, God’s true people who had endured affliction while awaiting the birth of the Messiah.
2. The child is Christ. We are told of His birth and ascension, skipping over His ministry because it is not the key to this passage.
3. The dragon is Satan seeking to devour the Messiah through political and military strength (12:3), but he fails as Jesus is born and later ascends to heaven fall.
4. The war in heaven mirrors verses 1-6, but from the perspective of heaven. Satan was defeated by the life, death & resurrection of Christ.
5. Satan is now left to accuse men’s consciences against themselves in order to bring condemnation. Our troubles/persecution are not because Satan is strong, but because he is beaten and knows his time is short.