We’re still at the midway point of the Tribulation, which also happens to be the midway point in the book of Revelation, and we’re going to look at what happens immediately after the Abomination of Desolation when the believing remnant fleeing into the mountains outside of Judea while being pursued by… the Dragon.

Rev 12:1 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: Rev 12:2 And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. Rev 12:3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. Rev 12:4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. Rev 12:5 And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. Rev 12:6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.

I think these passages are brilliant. I think this whole chapter is brilliant. I think the structure is brilliant. You will never forget the dragon. You will never forget the woman in pain running into the wilderness, and you will never forget how God saves her.

In terms of narrative, not a lot happens in chapter 12. We’ll discover that Satan is cast down to the Earth. Big moment. Then he sends his armies to kill the believing remnant running into the wilderness and God saves them. In the great scheme of the entire 7 years of the Tribulation, this is just a blink-and-you-miss-it moment. In a movie, this would be one great little moment in an epic third act climax of the greatest story ever told. But here, the way God’s handles this moment in this chapter, is absolute genius.

First, it starts with this vision. I used to be in writing circles. A big storytelling mantra is “show, don’t tell.” Rather than have a massive exposition dump explaining stuff with a ton of words, God takes the more genius route of conveying everything He wants to say through visuals. That is why this section about the dragon and the woman is genius.

Rather than do a thousand words explaining Satan in the past vs. Satan in the present while also explaining Israel in the past vs. Israel in the present, and then explain the long-standing conflict between the two, which is why we’re seeing everything that’s happening right now, God, in only 6 verses, tells us everything we need to know through visuals. It’s absolute genius.

First, we have the dragon. He is no longer the old serpent we pictured in the Garden. He is now a massive dragon. Everything he has done in his distant past and in his recent past has made him look the way he looks. His tail and stars speak of his initial rebellion with a third of the angels at the dawn of creation. His seven heads and crowns speak of his recent acquisition of political power over the earth through the antichrist. Here, God connects the beginning to the end. Satan is no longer that serpent of old. He is a now a fearful dragon. But this massively powerful dragon has this crazy obsession about pursuing this woman who also has a long history. The dragon has everything, and yet, he’s focused on killing this woman.

Why?

Because she gave birth to the man child. He hates her for that. He wants her dead. He wants to pour out all his fury onto her because he knows that his own doom is right around the corner.

Shakespeare could only dream of a third act climax this brilliant.

And so this vision perfectly encapsulates this moment in time – the dragon vs. the woman, the past vs. the present, the powerful vs. the powerless, and all of this also represents the greater conflict between God and Satan. It’s the long past and the long history that made these two opposing forces appear as they are now in the present, as the dragon and the woman, and their recent past also now informs us of the present conflict we’re seeing.

In 6 verses, God gives us through images the history of Satan and the history of Israel, which has led to this present conflict of the dragon pursuing the woman. Not only that, this visual is also the great heading to this chapter, a big picture visual portrayal of everything that’s happening. It’s also a setup to a payoff later. In this vision we have the setup of that past informing the present. And this setup is paid off at the end of the chapter when God intervenes.

We’ll see that God’s past history with Israel informs us of why He will deliver them in the way that He does. In this chapter, the past informs us about the present. At the beginning of the chapter, the past informs us about why we’re seeing this present conflict, and at the end of the chapter, the past informs us about why God saves them the way He does.

Rev 12:1 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:

John first writes here And there appeared a great wonder in heaven. This is a vision not to be taken literally. I don’t think it’s very controversial to suggest that the woman is Israel, the dragon is Satan, and the man child is Christ.

This woman, Israel, is clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet, and she has a crown on her head of twelve stars. Israel in the OT at times has been described as a woman. “I will betroth thee unto me forever,” the Lord would say in Hos. 2:19. Isaiah would say in Isa. 54:5-6, “For thy Maker is thine husband… For the Lord hath called these as a woman forsaken and grieved in the spirit…”

When it comes to being clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet with a crown of twelve stars, everyone rightly refers to Gen. 37:9. There, Joseph told his brothers of a dream he had in which “the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.” This description of the woman is a clear representation of Israel. I loved what David O’Steen wrote about this. “God made the literal sun, moon, and stars for signs and to give light upon the earth (Gen. 1:14-19). Israel is the light of the world (Matt. 5:14). This woman stands in contrast with the great whore in chapter 17…. The woman is with child and is travailing in birth pains (Jer. 30:4-7; Jn. 16:16-22). In typology the sun represents Christ, the moon represents Satan (counterfeit light that rules the night), and the stars represent the kingdom saints (Dan. 12:3). In this [vision] Israel is seen clothed with the glory of Christ (Isa. 60:1-3), Satan (her great adversary) is under her feet, and her twelve tribes are reigning as kings. This is a sign of her salvation.” I’d also suggest that the moon under her feet gives us early hope for her deliverance later.

Rev 12:2 And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.

All throughout the OT, there were great trials and great pain for this woman, Israel, in trying to preserve that line of David and Abraham so the promised redeemer would be born into the world. The first example was in Gen. 6 with the corruption of the human race through Nephilim created by fallen angels. We also had in Exod. 1 the attempt to destroy all the male children at their birth. When Jehoshaphat died in 2 Chron. 21-22, his son Jehoram “slew all his brethren with the sword” (2 Ch. xxi. 4). So the Royal Line was reduced to himself — one life. But he had children, and of those, we read that the Arabians came up against Judah, and slew all his sons, “so that there was never a son left him, save Ahaziah, the youngest of his sons” (2 Chron. xxi. 17). Ahaziah was then the only descendant of the Royal Line of the seed of the woman, through David, and Abraham. Then Ahaziah grew up, had children. These were slain by the wicked Athaliah. She evidently left them all for dead. It said in 2 Chron. 22:10 she “destroyed all the seed royal of the house of Judah” except for the fact that God divinely intervened and rescued one child “from among the king’s sons that were slain” (2 Chron. 22:11).

For six years all the hopes of Israel rested upon that one child. All the faithfulness of God depended upon preserving the life of that one child. He lived. And carried on the line.

In Esther, we find another attempt to destroy the Royal Line of the nation of Israel, but it didn’t work. And, of course, we have Herod after Christ was born who tried to slaughter all the male babies in Bethlehem under two years of age. And again, God intervened. Little did Herod know that the baby Jesus was already in hiding in Egypt, which would be a fulfillment of prophecy, Hosea 11:1, Out of Egypt have I called my son…

This woman in this vision, Israel herself, experienced great pain, great trials in preserving the Royal Line to get Jesus Christ, and there was great pain in the birth itself. Satan was ready to destroy that child the moment he was born.

Rev 12:3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.

There’s no question that the dragon is Satan. The bible interprets itself. We will soon read in vs. 9, And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world… Not only that, Satan is referred to as “the dragon” thirteen times in Revelation. Why a dragon? In the Greek, drak-own, literally means “dragon.”

The way we visualize dragon today is, of course, this giant winged beast that shoots fire out of its mouth. The way we picture dragons, I think, came out of fantasy fiction from the Middle Ages. That period reshaped the way we imagine dragons. But before that, when the Bible was being written, “dragon” meant nothing more than a giant, reptilian, serpentine beast.

What was that old serpent in the Garden has now in the Tribulation morphed into this massive, uncontrollable, serpent-like monster. Why? Because of his freedom to do miracles, his freedom to deceive the world expertly, and also because of all the political power he’s now acquired through the antichrist evidenced here by the seven heads, ten horns, and seven crowns. That same description is given to the beast, or the antichrist, in Rev. 13:1, and I suspect this means that here at the midway point of the Tribulation, the dragon and the beast have now become one. Satan has possessed the antichrist, which I suspect happens after the death of the Two Witnesses, after he’s cast out of Heaven, and before the Abomination of Desolation. He’s possessed the antichrist and they now operate as one unit.

I loved the way Paul Sadler summed all of this up. He wrote, “The significance of the seven heads, ten horns, and the seven crowns is the dragon’s pursuit of world dominance, which will be given to the Antichrist (Rev. 13:4,5). The seven heads are seven kingdoms (represented by mountains in Rev. 17:9) ruled by seven kings that will align themselves with the Antichrist (Rev. 17:9,10). The ten horns are ten Middle Eastern kings that will be given authority for a brief period to solidify the power base of the Antichrist’s kingdom (Rev. 17:12,13), the heart of which will be located in Babylon. They will be wealthy, influential, and major power players behind the scenes. The seven crowns on the dragon’s head are seven diadems or kingly crowns; in contrast, the crown that graces the woman’s head is the stephanos, known as the victor’s crown of honor (Rev. 12:1b cf. 12:3b). The kingly crowns speak of absolute authority. What we have here is emperor worship! The world will be in awe of the Antichrist’s supremacy and worldview. As a result, they worship him as God and blindly follow the beast into perdition.”

Rev 12:4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. We first read here that his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth.

We’ve made the point many times in this series that stars are sometimes a reference to angels, the most famous example being Job 38:7. “When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” What’s brilliant about Rev. 12:4 is that we have in this one visual a portrait of Satan’s progression of rebellion from his initial rebellion in Heaven that brought down a third of the heavenly host with him, to his continual rebellion throughout the OT in trying desperately to destroy the Royal Line, to his rebellion at the very birth of Christ, in which he stood before the woman in opposition to devour her child as soon as it was born.

And now… he is this massive dragon with seven heads, ten horns, and seven crowns because of his great political capital through the antichrist by which he now controls massive armies. And now he is pursuing the woman to kill her as she flees into the wilderness outside of Judea. This visual explains the history of the dragon, which informs us why the dragon is now so powerful and also intent on killing the woman.

This is a visual that connects the beginning of all the troubles of man on the Earth to the present conflict and all the troubles to come in all the judgments in the last half of the Tribulation.

Rev 12:5 And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

Some say man child is Christ and the 144,000, which makes no sense to me. The verse says man child. One individual, which can only be Christ. The 144,000 are mere representatives of Christ, the nucleus of the new nation of Israel.

You also can’t help but notice the tenses in this verse. And she BROUGHT FORTH (past tense) a man child, who WAS to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child WAS caught up unto God, and to his throne. She delivered that child. He WAS to rule all nations, but that didn’t happen. Instead, He was crucified by His people and ascended into Heaven. I’d be remiss if I didn’t quote Isa. 66:7-8. “Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child. Who hath heard such a thing? Who hath seen such things?”

Rev 12:6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.

First, this reference to the woman fleeing into the wilderness into the mountains. This is true Israel, circumcised in the heart, the believing remnant who have placed their faith in Christ as the Messiah, who have also studied His Word. They’re familiar with all His warnings about fleeing into the mountains outside of Judea when they see the Gentile armies surround Jerusalem because they’d know the Abomination of Desolation draweth nigh.

Historically, the mountains in time past have provided a refuge for Israel. I can’t help but think of the story about Lot and his wife in Gen 19. When they fled Sodom before God consumed the city with fire, they were told to not look back. “Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.” They had to make a complete break from their former life in Sodom. They had to apprehend the danger of the condemnation of that life they lived there apart from God. They were not to loiter about but flee immediately from that life. They had to escape to the mountain, run towards Christ and the mountain, that place of refuge God had prepared for them. They were to forget those things that were behind them, and they were to run toward that mountain of refuge set before them.

In vs. 6 here, we’re told the woman is fleeing to where she hath a place prepared of God. God will have a place prepared in the mountains for His people! How do they know where that place is? They’ll all be filled with the Spirit, and I’ll bet you the Spirit will guide them to that prepared place. Of course, it could be that God already knows where they will all go, and all those places are already prepared for them. We’ll find out when the Tribulation happens.

Finally, the verse says, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. They will be fed in the mountains for the entirety of the last 3 ½ years. What are they being fed? The only cross-reference is manna from Heaven, and we’re going to find in the second half of the chapter phrasings that are clear cut references to Israel’s original exodus out of Egypt into the wilderness. This is our first clue that this chapter will be similar to Israel’s exodus from Egypt.

Also, interestingly, the verse says they should feed her there. Who are they? They have to be angels delivering all that manna in the mountains just like Israel’s exodus from Egypt.

I would also point outthat THIS is now the time that the saints of Israel will be praying “The Lord’s Prayer.” “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread…” (Matt. 6:9-11). They’ll be praying that for 3 ½ years.

Satan Thrown Down

Rev 12:7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, Rev 12:8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. Rev 12:9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. We covered this in the article on the Abomination of Desolation. I don’t see any need to go over it again. I would just highlight that I suspect it’s after the antichrist defeats the two witnesses and before the Abomination of Desolation, that there is war in Heaven.

We also made the point that Michael is the instigator of this war. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, Rev 12:8 And prevailed not... It’s not that the dragon attacked Michael and his angels in Heaven. It’s that Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. And the dragon fought back. And the dragon prevailed not, and they were cast down to the Earth. This war was started by Michael and his angels. This moment, like much of the Tribulation, is God going on the offensive, and here at the 3 ½ year mark, this is the appointed time in Heaven for Satan to be cast down to the Earth. Down to the ground. Michael, and all those angels, did a clean sweep of the first, second, and third heaven, and sent Satan and his angels packing to the Earth. Cast out of all heavenly places to the ground.

This is the moment when Satan becomes Prince of the Power of the Air no more.

Rev 12:10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

First, we read, I heard a loud voice saying in heaven… Who is the loud voice? Probably the strong angel in Rev. 5 who had earlier proclaimed with a loud voice in Rev. 5:2, “Who is worthy to open the book?” And this angel says, Now is come,and he lists four things: salvation, strength, the kingdom, and the power of Christ.

When he says “salvation” does he mean justification? There’s no way. Salvation is a deliverance. So what are they being delivered from? The context here is deliverance from the dragon who is pursuing them and trying to kill them. Once God has His people in their divinely appointed place of protection in the mountains, now is come their deliverance from their enemies, now is come their strengthening from within by the Holy Spirit, now is come the final stages, which ends with the ushering in of His kingdom, and the revelation of Christ to the world in all His glory and power.

These final stages begin with the casting down of the accuser of our brethren. This is the first domino that sets off the chain reaction that ends with the kingdom and the revelation of Christ.

Rev 12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

This is perhaps the most inspiring verse in this entire chapter. These saints may be on the run fleeing into the mountains, but they’ve already overcome Satan and they’re already victorious over the world! How? By the blood of the Lamb.

This again reinforces everything we’ve been saying about salvation during the Tribulation. How do you become an overcomer in the Tribulation? Faith in Christ, which makes your sins washed by the blood of the Lamb. We had oftentimes quoted 1 John 5:4-5. “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?” How do you become an overcomer? You get saved by having faith in Christ. Faith in the fact that Jesus is the Son of God. You have already overcome the world because of your faith in Christ, which got you saved, which gave you eternal life, which means you have eternal security, and all your sins have now been washed by the blood of the Lamb. You’re victorious no matter what happens to you!

So what then is expected of the believers during the Tribulation? Faith in Christ and obedience to His Word.

What is the gospel that will be preached during the Tribulation? The Lord told us in the Olivet Discourse. Mat 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations.

How did someone get saved under the gospel of the kingdom? Faith in Christ as the Son of God. Consider Joh 20:31, But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name. Consider also Joh 3:18, He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. They were to believe that Christ was all He said He was, the Messiah, the Son of God. That was the reality of their justification during the Lord’s time on the Earth. Their sin issue would be paid later when Christ dies on the cross. Salvation during the Tribulation is the same gospel. They are to believe that Christ is all He says He is, the Messiah, the Son of God, but now, their sin issue has already been paid by Christ on the cross. Whether we’re talking about the Gospel period or the Tribulation, the reality of their justification is the same – faith in name of Jesus Christ. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?

These people are on the run but they’re already victorious because their faith got them washed by the blood of the Lamb. Not only that, they overcome Satan by the word of their testimony. Their testimony of faith and salvation is a mighty counterattack against Satan and all his forces, because nothing that is done to them can rob them of their eternal life in Christ. Their sins have already been washed by the blood of the Lamb. Everyone who hears their testimony and embraces the gospel of the kingdom will defeat Satan and overcome this whole world filled with enemies.

This is why John writes at the end of this verse, and they loved not their lives unto the death. They loved what God did for them, how God made them victorious, but now, at this point in the Tribulation, it doesn’t matter to them anymore if they live or die. They’re not going out of their way to preserve their lives, because they know that in 3 ½ years, the Lord’s kingdom will be here. Life as everyone knows it will be forever changed. They don’t have to live to be in that kingdom. They only now have to obey the words of Christ, because whether they live or die, they’re saved. They’ll be in His kingdom no matter what, and they’ll be richly rewarded at His Second Coming for their faithfulness to Him. Faithfulness to His Word is all that matters now.

Rev 12:12 Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.

For this, I’ll just quote Sadler, who wrote, “When the archenemy no longer has access to God, the heavens and all who live there will rejoice. The prophetic/Kingdom saints, who wait to return to the earth with Christ, will rejoice together with the angelic host. What is the reason for this jubilation? Their nemesis that deceived them, accused them, tempted them, and opposed them… is cast out of the heavens forevermore. But what brings joy to their hearts will bring sorrow to those on earth, sorrow in the form of the third ‘woe’ of John’s revelation. ‘Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time’ (Rev. 12:12b). This particular passage helps us appreciate more fully why the last three and a half years of Jacob’s Trouble are called… Great Tribulation. There are a number of reasons, the primary one being that the devil is confined to the earth. An eerie presence of evil will pervade the boulevards of every city and the country lanes of every town in the world. The great conflict of the ages now shifts from heaven back to the earth. As it was in the time of the four Gospel accounts, demonic activity will again be commonplace (Rev. 16:13,14). Because Satan will be well aware that his time is short, he will unleash his fury on two fronts: He will attempt to destroy the woman (Israel); and he will require all to receive the mark of the beast, leaving them hopelessly condemned for eternity.”

Rev 12:13 And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. Rev 12:14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.

I think vs. 13 is pretty straightforward. When Satan is cast down to the Earth, he pursues the woman to kill her, and that persecution really begins at the Abomination of Desolation. It’s interesting to me that in the Olivet Discourse, the Lord expressed concern about their flight. You remember how He said, Mat 24:19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! Mat 24:20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day…

But here we learn something new. Here we learn they’ll be given divine help fleeing into the wilderness. The woman will be given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place. This is a callback to Israel’s flight into the wilderness when they left Egypt. Moses, in the last song he sang before his death, described their departure from Egypt into the wilderness as like being given eagle’s wings from God. He sang in Deu 32:11 As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: Deu 32:12 So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him. In the Tribulation, their departure from Judea will be similar but different to their departure from Egypt in time past. There will be divine assistance helping them escape into the wilderness.

Rev 12:15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. Rev 12:16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.

I think these verses are absolutely brilliant. You have this contrast between water and Earth, which was designed to be a contrast to the miracle at the Red Sea vs. the miracle that takes place here in the wilderness.

Vs. 15 says, the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman. This phrase, water as a flood, has to be a reference to the antichrist’s armies from his 10-nation alliance. After they wipe out everyone in Jerusalem at the Abomination of Desolation, they will go after the saints fleeing into the mountains.

This idea of water as a flood symbolizing armies is not new. The same thing was said of Egypt’s armies in Jer. 46:8. “Egypt riseth up like a flood, and his waters are moved like the rivers; and he saith, I will go up, and will cover the earth; I will destroy the city and the inhabitants thereof.”

What happened to Pharoah’s armies? They were swallowed up by the Red Sea. What will happen to the antichrist’s armies? They will be swallowed up by the Earth.

God brilliantly connects the beginning to the end. Just as He miraculously delivered His people from Pharoah, so too, He’ll miraculously deliver the remnant from the red dragon.

Imagine you’re one of them. You’re running into the mountains to get to that place God has prepared for you. And armies are chasing you. And just when you think all is lost, God opens up the Earth, and they’re all gone. Swallowed up by the Earth.

And I’m sure the believing remnant, just like Israel after they crossed the Red Sea, will stop and sing high praises to God. Bullinger wrote, “The sea helped the same woman when it swallowed up the armies of Pharaoh, and why should not the earth help the woman again by swallowing up the forces of Satan. It is to be again as it was at the Exodus.” Sadler wrote, “the earth is going to supernaturally open its mouth, much as it did to end the lives of Korah and Dathan (Num. 16:31-33), and the devil’s… army will plunge directly into the pit. Hades will enlarge itself in a moment of time. Like the Egyptian army that drowned in the Red Sea, Israel will look on in amazement as forces of evil vanish before their very eyes.”

And finally, we have in Rev 12:17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Conclusion

Rev. 12 is just a brilliant chapter. In the first six verses, we have this vision, a perfect encapsulation of the long-standing conflict between Satan and Israel, which also explains why the dragon looks the way he looks and why he is now doing what he’s doing. The woman’s long past and recent past helps to give us a picture of her in our mind – she’s given birth to the man child, Christ in His first coming, who was to rule the world, but He was crucified. She’s gone through enormous pain. Now she’s fleeing into the wilderness, and the dragon is pursuing her to kill her. It’s a visual that encapsulates the history of Satan and the history of Israel, which has led to this present conflict of the dragon pursuing the woman, and this visual is also the great heading to this entire chapter, a portrait of what’s happening in this moment. And then, when we get to vs. 7-17, we get into some of the details of what’s happening, which advances the narrative. Now that the Abomination of Desolation has taken place, the saints are fleeing into the wilderness, into the mountains outside of Judea, and Satan’s armies are chasing them, but God will miraculously deliver them as He did Israel in time past. In the first part of the chapter, in the vision, the past informed us of the present conflict. Then, in the last part of the chapter, the past informs us of how God will deliver the saints, just as He did when they were fleeing Egypt.