Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Revelation 12:2

"and she was the child; and she crieth out, travailing in birth, and in pain to be delivered." — Revelation 12:2 (ASV)

The woman is in the throes of childbirth. The emphasis on her pain and suffering, both physically and spiritually, signifies the suffering of the faithful messianic community as a prelude to the coming of the Messiah himself and the new age (Isaiah 26:17; Isaiah 66:7–8; Micah 4:10; Micah 5:3). The “birth” itself does not necessarily refer to the actual physical birth of Christ but denotes the travail of the community from which the Messiah has arisen.