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She is introduced:
A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.—Revelation 12:1 (NIV)
Who is the woman referred to here? Is it Mary, the Church, the Jews, or someone else?
One of my favorite sayings in hermeneutics is:
The meaning of a word is determined by the context in which it is used.
As you indicated in your question, there are many "women" mentioned in the Bible, so to determine which "woman" is being referenced here, we need to look at the context. As we proceed, keep in mind that this is "a great sign in heaven", so the language is very symbolic. (If you don't want to read the whole thing, I suppose you could just skip to the bottom.)
The Child
and she was with child, and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth. -v. 2
And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne. -v. 5
We are given enough familiar language in verse 5 to identify the "child" as Jesus. The child being "caught up to God and to His throne", then, is referring to the ascension of Jesus after His crucifixion. (NOTE: This identification is further reinforced by careful consideration of verses 17 and 10.)
her child was caught up to God and to His throne. Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God -v. 5-6
After the ascension of Jesus, the "woman" flees into a place prepared by God, although it is not clear from this verse if she flees immediately after the ascension, or if some events transpire between the ascension and fleeing.
The Dragon
(Verses 3-4) describe another character: "a great red dragon". If we jump ahead a bit to verse 9, we learn that the "dragon" is Satan.
And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan -v. 9
And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child. -v. 4
So the picture in verse 4 is that Satan was waiting for the "woman" to give birth to Jesus so he could destroy Him.
The War In Heaven
Starting in verse 7 we see a war in heaven between Michael's army and Satan's army. Satan's army loses, and they are cast out of heaven, which results in a proclamation of the beginning of Christ's reign (in verse 10). Satan's army is cast down to the earth, where the proclamation continues:
"Woe to the earth... because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time." -v. 12
This "casting down of Satan" appears to happen at some point after the ascension of Christ based on the structure, supporting passages (examples), and the proclamation in verses 10-11 of Christ's resulting position as well as the reflection on the functional power of His blood. In fact, there appears to be some time between the two events, during which there is a period of "overcoming by the blood of the Lamb" during times of persecution. Based on all of these things, it seems unnatural to think Satan was kicked out of heaven prior to the ascension (or even simultaneous to it.)
The Persecution
As we saw previously, at some point after the ascension of Jesus the "woman" flees into the "wilderness".
Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days. -v. 6
God had a purpose in preparing a place for her in the "wilderness"; this is where she would be nourished for 1260 days. Why would she need a place of nourishment for 1260 days? Because Satan goes after the "woman" once he is thrown down to the earth! The "wilderness" is a place of refuge for the "woman" to flee the persecution of Satan.
And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. But [it was] given to the woman [to] fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. -v. 13-14
So the order of evens so far appears to be:
1) Satan waits for the "woman" to give birth to Jesus so he can destroy Him
2) The "woman" gives birth to Jesus
3) Jesus is caught up to God and to His throne
4) There is a period of time where:
The brethren overcome Satan by the blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony, etc.
There is a war in heaven, and Satan is overcome and cast out
5) There is a resulting proclamation in heaven that:
"Now" Christ will reign, and
"Woe to the earth" where Satan has been cast down to
6) Satan realizes he has been banished to earth and persecutes the "woman"
7) It is given to the "woman" to flee to the "wilderness" where she can take refuge from Satan's wrath.
8) The "woman" remains in the "wilderness" for 1260 days, or 3.5 "times" (i.e. 360-day years)
This "fleeing" doesn't stop Satan, though - he has a Plan B:
And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood. But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth. v. 13-16
Satan wanted to sweep her off the face of the planet (where he is at this point) with a flood of "water", but the "earth" helps her by consuming it all. (I'll forgo interpretation at this point, since it depends upon an understanding of the woman.)
The Other Children
The chapter ends with an explanation of the other children this woman has:
Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring —those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus. -v. 17
Identifying The Woman
NOTE: To avoid confusion due to semantics, I will use the word "Church" to refer to Christians who live after the time of Christ, I will use the term "Natural Israel" to refer to the nation of Israel, and I will use the term "Spiritual Israel" to refer to the people of God, regardless of when they lived. "Spiritual Israel" would be the olive tree which started with "Jewish" followers like Abraham, and has had gentile Christians like me grafted in.
1) The "woman" "gave birth" to Jesus. Based solely on this, our candidates would include Mary, Eve, Natural Israel, and Spiritual Israel. The most natural way to read this would be symbolically (given the context), which makes Mary an unlikely candidate, but let's consider all possible readings for now. (It wouldn't make much sense to consider any other "woman" as the mother of Jesus. I'll assume that is clear.)
2) The "woman's offspring" are "those who keep God's commandments and hold fast their testimony about Jesus." This rules out Natural Israel and Eve, and leaves Mary and Spiritual Israel as the sole candidates.
3) The "woman" is protected in the "wilderness" for 1260 days during the time of Satan's great wrath at having been cast out of heaven and given "a short time" on earth. It seems to be clear to most Bible teachers that this is "end-times speak", but either way, I'm pretty sure this wasn't fulfilled during the life of Mary.
CONCLUSION: The safe bet seems to be that the woman in Revelation 13 is "Spiritual Israel", as defined above.
Hope that helps!
I disagree with the answer given here. the Woman cannot be spiritual Israel without any connection to physical Israel, because spiritual Israel did not birth Yahuwshuwa (Jesus). No where in the Scriptures teaches that.
The woman cannot be Mary, because Rev 12:17 shows that the woman's children are the church.
So this leaves the third choice, which is physcial Israel. The scripure already interprets this woman for us and the hosts of heaven on her.
Genesis 37 9 And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.
10 And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?
So when we add Joseph to the 11 stars, we see that the Sun, moon , and stars represents Israel (Jacob) and the 12 tribes.
we see that a Woman represents a city according to the interpretation in Rev 17:18, the earthly whorish woman being Rome, while the pure heavenly woman representing Jerusalem , and since she is in heaven she represents Jerusalem which is "from above which is free, and the mother of us all" ( Galatians 4:26) Which also connects to Revelation 12:17.
This woman was clothed with the sun, which represents Jacob (Israel), and wore a crown of the stars representing the righteous from the 12 tribes who received their crowns and will reign with the Messiah. Here is scripture to support that:
Isaiah 63:2-3 2The nations will see your righteousness, And all kings your glory; And you will be called by a new name Which the mouth of the LORD will designate. 3You will also be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD, And a royal diadem in the hand of your God
When we put all this symbolism together, together with the context of being before the birth of the man child, we see this woman represents the righteous of the ancient congregation of fathers and prophets who labored through the torments and persecutions, as they groaned and longed for the promised seed to arrive. While they lived in faith in the coming messiah, and foresaw him through the shadows of the law and the prophecies.
This is what the Woman travailing in birth in verse 2 represents, its the righteous of physical Israel longing in pain for their coming Messiah. Here are some examples from scripture:
Micah 4:9 Now why dost thou cry out aloud? is there no king in thee? is thy counsellor perished? for pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail.
10 Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail: for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered; there the Lord shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies.
So here see that the daughter of Zion is travelling in pain because of persecution and judgemnt. Then in the next chapter it speaks of Zion bringing forth the messiah:
Micah 5 (KJV)
5 Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops: he hath laid siege against us: they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek.
2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
3 Therefore will he give them up, **until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel.
4 And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.**
"She which travaileth" is identified in the previous chapter as the daughter of Zion. And the man she brought forth is the Messiah that would cause the renment of Israel to return. Another separate verse to add is Isaiah 26:17:
Isaiah 26:17 Like as a woman with child, that draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs; so have we been in thy sight, O Lord.
18 We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.
19 Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.
Now lets continue. In verse 2-4 it shows the red dragon with 7 heads and 10 crowns, with crowns on its heads. This red dragon is satan manifesting through the pagan roman empire His tail drew a third part of the stars of heaven. and the dragon stood before the woman ready to devour her manchild as soon as he was born. This is fulfilled in Matthew 2:
13 And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.
14 When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt:
15 And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.
16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men
So satan worked through the Roman empire to try to kill Yahuwshuwa as soon as he was born, but failed.
Verse 5 shows the woman brought forth the Man child, again this cannot be simply Mary or spiritual Israel, this is physical Israel birth the messiah through the tribe of Judah. This man child is Yahuwshuwa who would rule all the nations with a rod of iron ( Psalm 2). then it says he was caught up to heaven, speaking about his ascension to the right hand if the Father after his Resurrection.
the wilderness represents a place of testing while being divinely protected ( Deuteronomy 8 and Luke 4). The woman was fed and nourished ( Rev 12:6,14) by the gospel after the ascension, eating the flesh and blood of Yahuwshuwa preached by the apostles. Nourished by the pure milk of the word, and the strong meat. Nourished by the word of faith as shown in 1 Timothy 4:6 :
1 Timothy 4:6 (KJV) If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained
The war in heaven represents the spiritual warfare the saints were going through at his time, which satan was defeated at the cross and was defeated by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony ( Rev 12:11). verse 10 declares the victory of the death, burial, and resurrection, but then warns the earth of the devils wrath because he knows his time is now short.
CH 12:17 doesn't contradict this woman representing physical Israel.
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.
we can see this in one of 2 ways. either its saying the remnant of her seed, meaning the remnant of the Hebrews who believed the gospel. or its talking about the gentiles too, who were birthed through the gospel which was preached by Israel.
1 Corinthians 4:15 " For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel"
Most commentaries identify the male child as Jesus Christ. However, there are various views as to the identity of the woman, including:
Below, we first discuss various indications of the identity of the woman and conclude with a summary:
The church came into existence after Christ. The church, therefore, did not give birth to Christ and cannot be the woman of Revelation 12.
The woman is beautiful in God’s sight. For example, she is “clothed with the sun” (Rev 12:1). Since Israel was not always beautiful, the woman does not seem to symbolize literal Israel.
The rest of the woman's children "keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus" (Rev 12:17). This seems to eliminate literal Israel, for it does not "hold to the testimony of Jesus."
Revelation is a book of symbols. The immediate context also indicates that this woman is a symbol. For example, she appears as “a great sign … in heaven,” stands on the moon, and is confronted by a “great red dragon” (Rev 12:1-3). Therefore, the woman should not be interpreted as a literal woman such as Mary.
The Old Testament symbolizes the relationship between God and His people as a marriage; God is the husband and Israel is His “wife.” And, when Israelites are unfaithful to Him, Israel is called an adulteress (e.g. Jer 3:8; Exo 34:15; Deut 31:16).
The New Testament describes the relationship between Christ and His church in the same way (e.g., 2 Cor 11:2).
The harlot and wife imagery of Revelation, therefore, must be interpreted accordingly:
Given that the Bible pervasively uses husband/wife symbolism for the relationship of God to people, the beautiful woman of Revelation 12 should be understood as symbolizing God’s true worshipers.
Jesus warned that the church will be persecuted (e.g., Matt 24:9). Therefore, the mere fact that the woman of Revelation 12 is persecuted, forcing her to flee into the wilderness (Rev 12:4, 6, 14-15), means that she symbolizes God’s people.
Furthermore, she hides in the wilderness for “a time, times, and half a time” (Rev 12:14) and for 1260 days (Rev 12:6). These two periods are the same and also the same as the 42 months mentioned elsewhere in Revelation. This period is mentioned several times in Daniel and Revelation and always is the period of persecution of God’s people, namely when:
Since, during this same period, the woman is hiding in the wilderness, it follows that the woman symbolizes the saints; the holy people. All of these symbols mean the same thing, namely that God’s people will be despised and persecuted.
In God’s judgments following Adam’s sin, as recorded in Genesis 3, we read:
14 The LORD God said to the serpent,
“… 15 … I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.”
16 To the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you will bring forth children …”
There are several links between this and Revelation 12:1-5:
Both mention a woman bearing a child.
Both mention the severe pain in childbirth (Gen 3:16; Rev 12:2).
The dragon of 12:3 is later explained as “the serpent of old” (Rev 12:9), which takes us back to the serpent in the garden of Eden (Gen 3:14).
God said that there would be “enmity” between the woman and the serpent. Similarly, in Revelation 12, “the dragon (the serpent) stood before the woman” (Rev 12:4).
Both passages refer to Jesus Christ; He is both the seed promised to Eve in Genesis 3:15 and the “male child” in Revelation 12:5.
These links imply that Revelation here converts the woman in Genesis 3 into a symbol. Consequently, the promise in Genesis 3 of a savior that will be born from the woman implies that the woman in Revelation 12:1-2, who is expecting a male child, symbolizes all people before the time of Christ who were hoping for the savior promised by God in Genesis 3, including all God's people who lived before Israel existed and also all non-Jews who lived after Israel came into existence.
Consequently, the woman of Revelation 12 cannot be limited to Mary or to literal Israel or to the New Testament church.
h) She is God’s people.
In several ways, a high-level analysis of the second half of Revelation (chapters 12-22) will show that the woman in Revelation 12 is a symbol of God’s people:
Who participates in the war?
Firstly, the second half of Revelation describes the war between Christ and Satan. It begins in chapter 12 with an overview of that war. In that overview, the war on earth is between the dragon and the woman. But the subsequent chapters explain that war in more detail, including that:
The dragon works through many allies, including the sea beast (Rev 13:1) and the land beast (Rev 13:11).
Through its allies, the dragon wage war against God’s people, for example, against the 144000 (Rev 14:1) and “those who had been victorious over the beast” (Rev 15:2).
So, in the subsequent explanation of Revelation 12, the woman symbolizes God’s people.
Begin and end with a woman
Secondly, the description of the war between Christ and Satan in the second half of Revelation (Rev 12-22) begins before the time of Christ (Rev 12:1-5) and ends at the end of the Millennium (Rev 20:7), a thousand years after Christ has returned. It describes various entities involved in that war but, at both the beginning and at the end, it describes both the dragon and a woman:
It begins with a woman and a dragon in Revelation 12.
It ends when the dragon (Satan) is destroyed in “the lake of fire and brimstone” (Rev 20:10) while “the bride, the wife of the Lamb” is received in “a new heaven and a new earth” (Rev 21:9, 1).
By implication, it is the same woman at both the beginning and the end. Therefore, since the woman at the end is explicitly Christ's bride (Rev 21:9), the woman at the beginning is also the bride, which is a familiar concept referring to the followers of Christ (e.g., 2 Cor 11:2; John 3:29; Luke 5:35).
In Revelation, there are two women who are also cities:
The harlot and the bride, therefore, are opposing counterparts. The previous section showed that the bride is the same as the woman in Revelation 12. Consequently, the woman in Revelation 12 and the harlot are opposing counterparts, meaning that they are the same type of thing, but in the opposing camps: What the harlot is in Satan’s army, the woman is in Christ’s army. Therefore, we are able to identify the woman by identifying the harlot.
Another article series shows that Babylon always exists. For example, she is guilty of the deaths of all of God’s people who died for their faith in all ages (Rev 18:24; cf. 17:6; 19:2). It also shows that Babylon is worldwide. For example, she sits on “peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues” (Rev 17:15).
The woman of Revelation 12, as the opposing counterpart of Babylon, therefore, presumably, also always exists and is also worldwide. Consequently, she cannot be limited to Israel or to the church or to Mary; the literal mother of Jesus.
The most important argument against the proposal that the faithful woman of Revelation 12 symbolizes literal Israel is that the Book of Revelation does not distinguish between Israel and the church. Rather, as discussed elsewhere, Revelation merges the church into Israel. For example:
Revelation uses one of the things in the Jewish temple, namely, the seven-fold lampstands, to symbolize the seven churches (Rev 1:20).
“The New Jerusalem” - a symbol of God's people (Rev 21:9-10) - has written on it the names of both the 12 apostles and the 12 tribes of Israel (Rev 21:12, 14).
Revelation, therefore, is consistent with Paul’s analogy of the olive tree, from which some natural Jews branches were cut off and some wild Gentiles branches were grafted in (Rom 11:16-24).
The table below summarizes the criteria to determine who the woman is by identifying which of the alternative interpretations are eliminated by which criteria. The four alternative interpretations are as follows:
The only alternative that fulfills all criteria is "God’s people." If God’s people are defined as the true believers from all times and places, it is a wider concept than Paul’s olive tree (Rom 11:16-24) because it also includes believers from before the time of Israel and believers outside Israel during the time of Israel.
The full article is available here.
Q: Who was the woman and her child in Revelation 12?
A: The woman was the Ministry of Jesus, and her child was the Church**
Verses regarding the woman (All verses below were taken from NIV version)
1 A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.
2 She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth.
5 She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.” And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne.
6 The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.
13 When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child.
14 The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach.
15 Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent.
16 But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth.
17 Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.
Explanation
Verse 1 – the sun is Jesus, the moon is the Holy Spirit, a crown of twelve stars is the twelve apostle of Jesus. In other words, “The ministry of Jesus was carry out by Jesus, aided by the Holy Spirit, with twelve apostles as leaders to carry on his mission.
Verse 2 – The Ministry of Jesus gave birth to the Church. But the path was difficult, as described in Isaiah 53:2b-4a
2b He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
4 Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering,
Verse 5 – The Church borned at time the twelve apostles was called. The Church will rule all the nations with an iron scepter, as Revelation 2:27 written
26 To the one who is victorious and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations—
27 that one ‘will rule them with an iron scepter and will dash them to pieces like pottery
The Church was hidden throughout the Ministry of Jesus, until the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost.
Verse 6 – Galilee was the wilderness spiritually, but it was the place God prepared. Isaiah 9:1 read
1 Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future, he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—
My explanation of 1260 days may be controversial, please read with care.
Jesus borned at around the Sukkot in 5BC, by His 30th years of age, He took His Baptism, marked the beginning of His Ministry. The Sukkot in 26AD was October 14-20 (Tishri 15-21, 3787). If Jesus Baptism was on Sunday, then it was October 20. Until the end of the year, there were 71 days. Jesus was crucified on the day of Passover Sacrifice (Pesach) in 30AD. The day was Nissan 14, 3790, corresponding to April 5, 30AD. From the beginning of the year to April 5, there were 95 days Therefore, the total number of day of Jesus’ Ministry, from 26AD to 30AD is 71+365+366+365+95 = 1262 days.
Verse 13 – Dragon was Satan. The Church borned by the time the twelve apostles were called, but the Church was hidden by God. So, Satan decided to wreck the Ministry of Jesus, but his hand via the Jewish leaders was far from reach in Galilee.
Verse 14 – The two wings of a great eagle is an allusion of God’s protection. Wilderness was Galilee, out of the serpent’s reach.
My explanation of “time, times and half a time may be controversial, please read with care.
“Time, times and half a time”, usually recognized as three and a half years, has a meaning much deeper than it appears. It indicates an escalation of trouble. When we read the Gospels, we might notice that the beginning of Jesus’ Ministry seemed quite peaceful, then the Pharisee and Jewish leaders observed Jesus as a threat to them. At the Sukkot of 29AD, Jesus returned to Jerusalem, in the last six months of His Ministry, Jesus confronted directly with the Jewish leaders. Finally, completed His mission by His crucifixion on the cross.
Verse 15-16 – Satan wanted to wreck the Ministry of Jesus but unsuccessful, as all his effort went in vain. For example, the Nazarene failed to push Jesus off the cliff (Luke 4:30), and Jesus rebuked Peter, at time Satan concealed in his mind (Matthew 16:23).
Verse 17 – The rest of her offspring were Christians.
Further reading to Revelation 12:10-12
10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.
11 They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.
12 Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.”
Here what it says: (vv10) the beginning of Jesus Ministry marked the beginning of the power of salvation, and the authority of the Messiah. (vv11) Satan will fail, because those who is victorious (the description in the letters to the seven churches) will be saved by the blood of the Lamb, and their submission to Jesus Christ. Death is no longer enslaved them. (vv12) Therefor rejoice, the victorious Christians. But woe to the one who didn’t hear, as Satan will be taking them as revenge.
This article explains why the woman doesn't necessarily have to mean only one thing, that is either one of Mary, or the church, or the Jews, but rather is an image that represents Mary, the Church, Israel and even Eve. The book of Revelation uses fusion imagery. For example, the 24 elders of Revelation 4:4 can be interpreted as symbolic of the 12 patriarchs and the 12 apostles, representing at once, the people of the Old Covenant and the New.
I will just demonstrate how, for example, the woman represents Mary -
Similar parallels can be made for the Church, Israel and even Eve, as the article shows.
