Charles Ellicott Commentary Revelation 12

And there appeared . . .—Better, And a great sign was seen in the heaven. The word sign is preferable to “wonder,” both in this verse and in Revelation 12:3. It is the same word that is rendered sign in Revelation 15:1. It is a sign that is seen: not a mere wonder, but something that has a meaning. It is not “a surprise ending with itself,” but a signal to arrest attention and possessing significance; there is “an idea concealed behind it.” (Compare to the note on John 2:11.)

A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.—All the lights of heaven are brought together here for a description that cannot fail to remind us of the picture of the Shulamite in the Canticles (Song of Solomon 6:10): “Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners (or, the heavenly host)?” It is the picture of the bride, the Church.

The beams of the divine glory clothe her; she has caught—like Moses—the radiance of her Lord, whose countenance was as the sun (Revelation 1:16).

The moon is beneath her feet. She rises superior to all change and makes all lesser lights of knowledge subservient to her.

She is crowned with a crown of twelve stars: the illustrious members of the Church (twelve being the representative number in Old Testament as well as New Testament times) form her crown of rejoicing in the day of Christ.

And she . . .—Better, And being with child, she cries, laboring, and is in anguish to give birth. All life dawns in anguish, according to the ancient decree (Genesis 3:16); but this is not all. There is an anguish of the Church which Christ laid upon her; it is the law of her life that she must bring forth Christ to the world. It is not simply that she must encounter pain, but that she cannot work deliverance without knowing suffering.

Thus the Apostles felt: the love of Christ constrained them; woe to them if they did not preach the Gospel; necessity was laid on them. They spoke of themselves as laboring in birth over their children until Christ was formed in them. This, then, is the picture: the Church fulfilling her destiny even in pain. The work was to bring forth Christ to men, and never to be satisfied until Christ was formed in them, that is, until the spirit of Christ, the teaching of Christ, and the example of Christ were received, loved, and obeyed, and men transformed to the same image, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

But there was to be opposition; the enemy is on the watch to destroy the likeness of Christ wherever it was seen.

And there appeared... — Better, And another sign was seen in heaven; and behold, a great red dragon. This, too, is a sign and has a meaning. The dragon stands for some dread and hostile power. “The dragon is that fabulous monster of whom ancient poets told, as large in size, coiled like a snake, blood-red in color...insatiable in voracity, and ever thirsty for human blood” — a fit emblem of him whom our Lord declared to be a murderer from the beginning; for the dragon is intended here to describe him who, in Revelation 12:9, is also said to be that old serpent, called the Devil and Satan.

The red color is the color of flame and blood, and the symbol of destruction and slaughter. The dragon is the emblem of the evil spirit, the devil, the perpetual antagonist of good, the persecutor of the Church in all ages : just as the dragon is sometimes employed to represent the Egyptian power, the ancient foe of Israel (Isaiah 51:9; Ezekiel 29:3).

Having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns (diadems) upon his heads. — This is the further description of the dragon. He is one, yet diverse; one, as an evil spirit; diverse, in the varieties of his power. The woman is but one: but her foe is multiform. She has one trust to keep, one work to do, and can only fulfill it in her Master’s way; evil is bound by no law, regards no scruple, and exerts its power through any channel and by every means.

Is there not also an assumption of divine likeness here in the use of the number seven? It is at least the representation of the great and worldwide power that he exercises as the prince of this world, whose kingdom is largely a parody of the true kingdom. The whole description should be compared with the account given of the beast in Revelation 17:3; Revelation 17:7; Revelation 17:10; Revelation 17:12.

There the seven heads are explained as seven kings, and the heads here are crowned; the ten horns are also explained as ten kings. The sevenfold kingship and the tenfold power of the world are thus described as belonging to the dragon.

The picture here, like the picture of the wild beast in Revelation 17:3, represents—as concentrated into a single hostile form—all the varying forces and successive empires that have opposed or oppressed the people of God and sought to destroy their efforts for good. This is because all evil has its root in a spirit at enmity with God. Consequently, the dragon appears armed with all the insignia of those sovereignties and powers that have been animated by this spirit.

And his tail . . .—Translate, And his tail drags (or, sweeps) away the third part of the stars of the heaven, and casts them to the earth. The stars are the light-bearers, the illustrious of the earth, whom God placed in high positions so that they might be burning and shining lights for Him.

A large proportion of these are drawn away in the current of evil. They are cast down from their high position of noble opportunities for good work and great work; they are dragged down from the height of the grandest possibilities for good to the low level of a life enslaved to evil.

And the dragon.—Translate, And the dragon stands (not “stood”) before the woman who is about to bring forth, so that when she has brought forth, he may devour her child. The spirit of evil is represented as always on the watch to destroy the first signs of better things.

Our minds go back to the hatred and fear of Pharaoh, setting a watch for the offspring of Israel and ordering their destruction. We are reminded even more of the jealous hatred of Herod seeking the life of the infant Christ.

It seems clear that the present vision is primarily built upon this last incident, but its meaning is much wider than this.

It shows us that continually, just as Herod waited to destroy Christ, the devil, the old spirit whose malignity worked through the fears of Pharaoh and Herod, is on the watch to destroy every sign of good and every resemblance to Christ in the world.

The mission of the Church is to bring forth this life of Christ in her members before others: the aim of the wicked spirit is to destroy that life. The same hostility which was shown to the infant Christ is active against His children: If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.

And she brought forth...—Translate: And she brought forth a man child, who is to shepherd all the nations with (literally, in) a rod of iron. There can be no doubt that this man child is Christ. The combination of features is too distinct to admit of doubt; He is the one who will feed His flock like a shepherd (Isaiah 40:12), who is to have, not His own people, but all nations as His inheritance (Psalms 2:7–9), and whose rule over them is to be supreme and irresistible.

But the fact that this child is Christ must not cause us to limit the meaning of the vision solely to the efforts of the evil one to destroy the infant Jesus. For it is also the Christ in the Church whom the wicked one hates. Wherever Christ dwells in any heart by faith, and wherever the preachers of the gospel in earnest labor for their Master seek to lift up Christ, there the foe will be found, like the fowls of the air, ready to carry away the good seed. Though the basis of the vision is in the historical fact, its power extends over a wider area. It forcibly reminds us that, just as there are irreconcilable principles at work in the world, so all these, when traced to their original forms, are the Spirit of Christ and the spirit of the devil.

And her child was caught up to God, and to His throne.—The efforts of the evil one to destroy are thwarted; the child is snatched away and placed out of the range of the dragon’s power. The prince of this world might instigate Israel to take Jesus Christ and with wicked hands crucify and kill Him. However, the eternal divine life of Him who had power to lay down His life and take it again, and whose years were forever and ever, was beyond the reach of every hostile power. After death and resurrection, Christ ascended to where He was before.

But the vision is designed to assure us that, precisely because of this, all life in Christ is beyond the power of the evil one. It also assures us that the forces hostile to good are powerless against that life which is hid with Christ in God. The Church may be as a weak, oppressed, and persecuted woman, but her faith rises up as a song from the lips of its members: God has raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. The contest is between the man child and the dragon. Those who in heart and mind ascend to where Christ is know that this contest is not one of mere ideas but a conflict between the Christ—who is with them always, though He has ascended—and all the powers of evil, which will be struck down by the rod of His power.