John is very specific. He tells us that he saw a "great sign," or symbol, in heaven. He then proceeds to describe this symbol, which was a woman arrayed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and with a crown of twelve stars upon her head.

Let us note carefully that this woman is called a sign, a symbol. This statement should cause us to keep our bearings as we study the Book of Revelation. Unfortunately, many commentators have explained that Revelation is a book of symbols. If this were true, there would be no necessity and no occasion of the Lord's speaking of this woman as a sign, or of His designating the red dragon also as a sign. Everything in the Book of Revelation should be taken at its literal face value unless the facts of the context and related passages indicate that it is used in a figurative, or symbolic, sense. When the facts indicate a departure from the literal meaning, that fact should be noted, and the interpretation that accords with the passage should be adopted.

Who is this symbolic woman? Some tell us that she is not a symbol, although the statement is made that she is a sign. These commentators tell us that this is none other than the Virgin Mary. If it referred to her, there would be no occasion for John's calling her a symbol. The fact that she is called a sign shows that a literal woman is not intended. There are others who say that the woman is the Church. As evidence that this position is correct, they call our attention to the fact that the Church is spoken of as a bride. Yes, it is true that the Church is spoken of as a woman, the bride of Christ. But this woman cannot symbolize the Church, because she gives birth to the man child "who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron." The Church does not give birth to this future Ruler. But in this connection, it should be asked, Who is this man child that is to rule the nations with a rod of iron? The answer is, the Christ, the Son of God, who enters the world by miraculous conception and virgin birth, and who is to break the nations to pieces and rule over them with a rod of iron justice (Ps. 2). In view of this fact, we cannot accept the position that the woman is the Church, because the Church did not give birth to the man child.

The correct interpretation, which is demanded by all the facts, is that this woman signifies Israel. It was the Hebrew race that produced the Christ, the man child. Isaiah sang, "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given" (Isa. 9:6). We therefore conclude that this man child who is to rule the nations with a rod of iron is the Christ, the Messiah of Israel.

When a person reads this passage in the light of related facts, he comes to the conclusion that this symbolic woman gives birth to the symbolic man child, who is to reign over the nations. If this man child is the Christ, how can this symbolize Him as a person? The New Testament speaks of the mystical Christ, consisting of Christ the head and the Church the body. Christ sprang forth from the loins of Israel. The Church likewise came out of Israel. The Church at first was purely a Jewish institution. So it is quite in keeping with all the facts to think of this man child, here symbolized, as the mystical Christ--Christ the head and the Church the body.

John states that the woman "was arrayed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars." Since this is a symbolic picture, we conclude that the sun and the moon and the stars have the natural significance of those celestial bodies. They give light. We conclude, therefore, that the Lord intended for us to understand that Israel is the torchbearer of the truth at this future time. There radiates from her a glorious spiritual light, like that of the sun, which shines forth unto every nook and corner of the world at that time. The moon, the lesser light, is under her feet and gives forth the light of truth. The crown of twelve stars are also functioning in the same manner.

This woman was with child, and the labor pains were coming upon her in order that she might be delivered (vs. 2). In verse 5 she is delivered of a son, "a man child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up unto God, and unto his throne."

Christ, as has been stated, is the man child--without a doubt. But since the Church is to reign along with Christ, and since this man child is to rule over all nations with a rod of iron, many excellent commentators understand that this man child is the mystical Christ. Christ, the head, was born into the world nineteen hundred years ago. As soon as He was born, Herod, inspired by Satan, made an attempt to destroy Him. But by the overruling providence of God all of Herod's machinations for evil were thwarted, and the Christ child was preserved and grew up to manhood and engaged in His public ministry. After He had completed His life's work, Christ allowed Himself to be crucified in order that He might offer Himself up as a sacrifice well pleasing to God to make atonement for the sins of the world. On the first Pentecost after the resurrection of Christ the Holy Spirit came and inspired the Apostles to give the message of redemption through the shed Blood of Christ. On that day there were approximately three thousand souls who accepted the gospel message, were regenerated and saved, and were added together into the body of Christ. Thus on this day the mystical Christ was formed, Christ the head, the Church the body. The Church had just been brought into existence a little while when the persecution of Satan was launched against it, and for the first three centuries of its existence Satan launched one attack after another in order to destroy the body of Christ. But it is needless to say that the blood of the martyrs was the seed of the kingdom. Satan's seeming triumph against the body of Christ proved to be in reality the means whereby the new faith was propagated and sent out to the ends of the earth.

But in the prediction in Revelation 12:1-6 we see that the man child "was caught up unto God, and unto his throne," away from the attempts of the dragon, the Devil, to destroy it. As stated above, Christ the head was caught up into heaven at the time of His ascension. The body, the Church of Christ, will be caught up at the time of the rapture, which occurs before the Tribulation. That this is true is seen from such a passage as I Thessalonians 1:9,10: "9 For they themselves report concerning us what manner of entering in we had unto you; and how ye turned unto God from idols, to serve a living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, who delivereth us from the wrath to come." We, the Church, are waiting for the Lord Jesus Christ who will deliver us from the wrath to come, from the Tribulation judgments.

In verse 8 John declares that he saw another sign, another symbol and then he describes it: "… and behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his heads seven diadems."

Since the dragon is a symbol, it signifies something, or someone. Who? The answer is found in 12:9: "And the great dragon was cast down, the old serpent, he that is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world; he was cast down to the earth, and his angels were cast down with him."

What is the significance of the heads and the horns of the dragon? This is a difficult question to answer. We are told that like begets like. All life springs from antecedent life. In Revelation 13:1,2 we see that the beast of the Book of Revelation had seven heads and ten horns--a duplicate of the red dragon that had seven heads and ten horns. When we study the beast, we see that the heads signify various types of governments that control the beast during its entire career. This beast, as all commentators recognize, is a symbol of the Roman Empire, the fourth of the series in Daniel, chapter 7. The head is the governing part of the body. This beast had seven heads--one at a time. Five of these had already come and passed away. One was in existence when John wrote the Book of Revelation, and there is to come a seventh head. Since the head is the governing part of the body, evidently, then, that special type of government which Rome had was signified by the head. A glance at the history of Rome shows that there were different changes in the specific policy and form of government, but it was the same old beast throughout its history. The horns are symbols of kings or governmental power. Since these heads and horns on the beast signify government, or types of government, it is quite likely that the seven heads on the old red dragon signify seven different types of administration of his kingdom that Satan has. The seven horns likewise may signify seven different individual spirits under Satan, whom he uses to carry out his diabolical plans and plots of the end time. (What I have just said is simply a conjecture and should not be proclaimed as the absolute interpretation of the significance of the heads and horns of the old red dragon. But the suggestions are at least worthy of consideration.)

In verse 4 we are told that the dragon draws one-third part of the stars of heaven and casts them down to the earth. Let us bear in mind that the dragon is the symbol of Satan. The stars are not literal in this connection, because that does not make good common sense. Stars, then, must be used in a symbolic sense. When they are thus used, as we see in Daniel 8:10, they signify intelligent beings. In the case of the passage in the Book of Daniel the stars are the prominent Jews of the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, to whose activities reference is made in the prophecy. But these stars of heaven that are mentioned in Revelation 12:4 are intelligent beings in heaven. When we recognize that Satan led a rebellion in heaven in the past, as is indicated in several passages of the Scriptures, it is most highly probable that this passage refers to his leading one-third of the celestial beings in a revolt against God.