REVELATION 12.1 A great sign was seen in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. 12.2 She was with child. She cried out in pain, laboring to give birth.
12.3 Another sign was seen in heaven. Behold, a great
red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven crowns.
12.4 His tail drew one third of the stars of the sky, and threw them to
the earth. The dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so
that when she gave birth he might devour her child. 12.5 She gave birth to
a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. Her
child was caught up to God, and to his throne. 12.6 The woman fled
into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that there they may
nourish her one thousand two hundred sixty days.
12.7 There was war in the sky. Michael and his angels
made war on the dragon. The dragon and his angels made war. 12.8 They
didn’t prevail, neither was a place found for him any more in heaven.
12.9 The great dragon was thrown down, the old serpent, he who is called
the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the
earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. -WEB Bible.
The woman with the crown of twelve stars is the
nation of Israel. The twelve stars represent the twelve tribes of Israel. Her
child is Jesus Christ, who was born a Jew. This vision is a brief summary of
who Israel is: the mother of the Messiah, whom they have failed to recognize up
to this point (although that is changing.)
When the dragon sees that he is thrown down to earth
and only has a short time left, he will try to destroy the woman with the crown
of stars. Hostility against Israel will intensify in the last days. The nations,
principalities and spiritual powers will all be obsessed with destroying
Israel, but God will miraculously preserve her.
JEREMIAH 31:35 Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for a
light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by
night, who divides the sea when the waves roar; The LORD of hosts is his name:
36 If those ordinances depart from before me, says the LORD, then the seed of
Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me forever. CSKJV
God promised in antiquity that the earth would remain as
long as Israel continues to exist. If Israel goes, so do we all. Israel
is the timeline for human history. Our
existence on earth is tied in with the nation of Israel.
It’s not because Israel deserves such an honor: it is simply
because God has chosen them to be the object lesson for us all. And, through
Israel the world has been blessed with our Savior Jesus Christ.
IMAGE CREDIT: The Virgin of the Apocalypse, by Miguel
Cabrera, 1760 A.D.