⁷ “Before she was in labor
    she gave birth;
before her pain came upon her
    she delivered a son.
⁸ Who has heard such a thing?
    Who has seen such things?
Shall a land be born in one day?
    Shall a nation be brought forth in one moment?
For as soon as Zion was in labor
    she brought forth her children.
⁹ Shall I bring to the point of birth and not cause to bring forth?”
    says the Lord;
“shall I, who cause to bring forth, shut the womb?”
    says your God. – Isaiah 66:7-9 ESV

It was the nation of Israel that gave birth to Jesus, the Messiah. He was born as a descendant of Abraham. And Jesus’ Hebrew lineage is further portrayed by the reference to the woman being adorned with the sun, having the moon under her feet, and a crown of 12 stars. This imagery is reminiscent of the second dream that Joseph, the son of Jacob had.

⁹ Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers and said, “Behold, I have dreamed another dream. Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” ¹⁰ But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?” – Genesis 37:9-10 ESV

God gave Joseph a second dream that predicted events that were to come. Eventually, his father, mother and brothers did bow down to him. He would be sold into slavery by his brothers, out of jealousy, but he would end up the second-highest official in the land of Egypt. And his family would come to Egypt seeking relief from a famine in the land of Canaan, only to find that their long-lost son and brother was now in charge of their fate and their future.

It is clear that the sun is a reference to Jacob, the grandson of Abraham and one of the patriarch’s of the Jewish nation. The moon is a picture of his wife, Rachel. And the 12 stars are the 12 sons of Jacob, who would become the 12 tribes of Israel. So, the woman in the sign revealed to John is none other than the nation of Israel. As a Jew, all of this imagery would have been very familiar to John and unquestionable as to its meaning. And the woman’s obvious pain from childbirth is an indication of Israel’s pain and suffering before the first advent of Jesus. For more than 400 years the nation had suffered the loss of their sovereignty as a nation, having been destined to repeated subjugation at the hands of various nations, including that of the Romans at the time of Jesus’ incarnation. They had no king. They were powerless as a people. And as John revealed in his gospel, they were a people living in darkness.

¹⁹ And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. ²⁰ For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. – John 3:19-20 ESV

But there was another character revealed to John and, while this one would have been disturbing, it would have been no less obvious in terms of its meaning. He saw “a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems” (Revelation 12:3 ESV). And John will leave no question as to the identity of this dragon, because he spells it out in no uncertain terms in verse 9: “And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world.” The term “dragon” is found 12 times in the New Testament and in each case it occurs in the book of Revelation and always in relation to Satan. All the imagery associated with this character conveys his power and aggressive nature. He is pictured as having seven heads and ten horns, and upon each of his seven heads is a crown (diadema). Much of this imagery will be unpacked later on in John’s book. But the seven heads are thought to represent seven nations that are to come to power in the ends times. The ten horns, according to Revelation 17:12 “are ten kings who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour, together with the beast.” These ten kings will operate under the power and influence of Satan himself. And, according to Daniel, there will rise up one who will defeat three of the kings, leaving only seven remaining.

I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots… – Daniel 7:8 ESV

As for the ten horns,
out of this kingdom ten kings shall arise,
    and another shall arise after them;
he shall be different from the former ones,
    and shall put down three kings. – Daniel 7:24 ESV

John describes seeing this dragon using his tail to sweep a third of the stars from heaven, which then fell to earth. This is a picture of Satan’s rebellion against God and his eventual fall. This event is recorded for us in the book of Isaiah.

¹² “How you are fallen from heaven,
    O Day Star, son of Dawn!
How you are cut down to the ground,
    you who laid the nations low!
¹³ You said in your heart,
    ‘I will ascend to heaven;
above the stars of God
    I will set my throne on high;
I will sit on the mount of assembly
    in the far reaches of the north;
¹⁴ I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
    I will make myself like the Most High.’
¹⁵ But you are brought down to Sheol,
    to the far reaches of the pit.” – Isaiah 14:12-15 ESV

Satan attempted to overthrow God and somehow encouraged a third of the heavenly beings to join him in his rebellion. But he was defeated and cast down to earth, along with all those who chose to side with him. And verse 4 tells us that Satan attempted to “devour” the child born to the woman. This would seem to be a description of Satan’s repeated attempts to thwart the plan of God for the redemption of the world by trying to eliminate Jesus as the means by which that salvation came. First, he led Herod to try and kill Jesus while He was still an infant. Then he tried to sway Jesus from His mission by tempting Him. When that failed, Satan enticed the Jews to crucify Jesus, hoping to end any hopes of Him becoming Israel’s Messiah. But it all failed. And the woman’s “child was caught up to God and to his throne.” Jesus died, but rose again and returned to His Father’s side in heaven. And John is shown that the woman, Israel, will flee “into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days” (Revelation 12:6 ESV). The 1,260 days is 3-1/2 years, an indication that during the second half of the 7 years of tribulation, the nation of Israel will be protected by God and provided with some form of refuge from the attacks of Satan. We know that during the first half of the tribulation, Israel will experience relative peace because the Antichrist or world ruler will make a covenant or peace treaty with them, allowing them to rebuild the temple and re-institute the sacrificial system. But at the midway point, he will turn on them, persecuting and putting them to death. But God will protect His people.

With these signs, John is given a backdrop against which to view all that is about to happen. Satan and Israel will be major players in all that is to come. The chosen people of God, Israel, are prominently portrayed in the end times chronology. God is not done with them yet. And while they rejected their Messiah when He came the first time, there will be a remnant who turn to Him and are restored to a right relationship with God because of His second coming.