Revelation 12:1 – 6

Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. 2 Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth.

3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. 4 His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. 5 She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne. 6 Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days.

We can see through the study of this chapter this woman is not the virgin Mary, nor the child, the baby Jesus. For one reason we see this does not fit Mary, verse six describes her as living through the Dark Ages on earth.

This woman is clothed with clothing that is bright as the sun. She is the true church, the church which came into existence on the Day of Pentecost the year of the Savior's crucifixion. The light symbolizes the light of the divine truth, the church is entrusted with it. (Ephesians 3:10) God's word is to be made known by the church and the church is to support and be the basis for the truth (1 Timothy 3:15).

The moon indicates there are those within the church who are also bearers of the truth, but in a lesser position than the apostles and the bible itself

The 12 stars represents the 12 apostles, many of the apostles were directly involved with the inspired development of the bible. Being in the position of the crown show the apostles were in a position to control and guide the church. (Matthew 19:18)

This verse describes the church in development of the Bible suffered in the preparation of it for delivery to the saints and the world.

Usually when a birth is to take place many of the relatives gather to witness the joyous occasion, however in this case there is an enemy (Satan) waiting to destroy the child (Bible) as soon as it is conceived.

The great red dragon, Satan, is waiting to destroy the Bible, he works in the guise and through agencies and organizations of this world. In this case the dragon is the Roman Catholic empire.

The seven heads represents the seven hills of Rome, seven heads symbolically also represent the power of the empire to attack and suppress the Bible.

The ten horns represent the same as the ten toes of the giant image in Nebuchadnezzar's dream (Daniel 7:7) the 10 kingdoms which make up the Roman-Catholic Empire.

The stars represents men of importance, probably pillars of the church who are attacked by the Roman-Catholic empire to attempt to destroy the true church. Satan is unable to eliminate the church because God protected the church from destruction and only allowed part or one third symbolically to be persecuted.

The Roman-Catholic empire wanted to destroy the bible to keep people from having the knowledge of thinking for themselves and deciding how to follow God's will and word instead of being told by a priest from the pulpit what to think and what to do, and how to do it. So it was just waiting the opportunity to take the Bible and destroy it upon delivery.

The Bible is able to show people their personal responsibility in determining their manner of conduct, it gives them truth and they can counter the lies of Rome and tell them to leave them alone. This is why the Catholic church did not want the people to have access to the word of God.

The bible was not intended by God to develop itself, God had the Holy Spirit inspire the men of the church to write the messages given to them, and before the church the men of God of Old Testament times, but the church of the New Testament times put it together to be broadcast to the world. So the church was needed and used for this purpose. It was the church as set up by Christ and the apostles, and controlled by Christ, not by Satan or the organizations he controlled.

The Bible gives us the messages to not call any man “father” on earth, (Matthew 23:9), it also tells us to look to the word of God for guidance (James 1:25), and it tells us to speak as the word of God instructs us. (1 Peter 4:11) This all means each person needs to be able to read and understand what the word of God tells and not let a man behind the pulpit dictate our beliefs and actions.

The Bible rules with an iron rod, not meaning harshly but rules as something which is strong and durable as iron.

This Bible was the stone cut from the mountain which destroyed the last world empire and keeps world empires from forming. (Daniel 2:44)

While the church was surviving during te Dark Ages, the Bible was being protected from the Roman-Catholics and Satan by God.

Verse six tells us the true church went into the wilderness for the period of the Dark Ages, she may have been underground as far as the Roman-Catholic empire was concerned because it was persecuting true Christians and trying to destroy the church, But God protected the church and helped her survive until the church could emerge to a more public role in society.