Sermon Tone Analysis

“A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.

She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth.

And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems.

His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth.

And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it.

She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days.

“Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon.

And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.

And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, ‘Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.

And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.

Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them!

But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!’

“And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child.

But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time.

The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood.

But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth.

Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.

And he stood on the sand of the sea.

“And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads.”[1]

There is one view of Christmas none of us have ever seen on a Christmas card.

Perhaps this is because no artist, not even William Blake, could do it justice.

In *Revelation** 12*, the Word of God graphically pulls back the curtain separating the present from the past giving us a glimpse of Christmas as it looked from somewhere far beyond Andromeda.

It is Christmas from God’s viewpoint.

Admittedly, the Book of Revelation is a peculiar place to find an Advent text.

Few people imagine that the book speaks of the birth of the Saviour.

However, even a casual reading of the Book does reveal that the Book addresses the birth of the Master, even as it points to God’s purpose in sending His Son.

The account in the text before us differs radically from the birth stories in the Gospels.

John fails to mention shepherds, wise men or an infanticidal king; rather, his account pictures a dragon leading a ferocious struggle in heaven.

A woman clothed with the sun and wearing a crown of twelve stars cries out in pain as she is about to give birth.

Suddenly, an enormous red dragon enters the picture, his tail sweeping a third of the stars out of the sky and flinging them to the earth.

He crouches hungrily before the woman, eager to devour her child the moment it is born.

At the last second, the infant is snatched away to safety, the woman flees into a desert, and all-out cosmic war begins.

Revelation is a strange book by any measure, and we need to understand its style to make sense of this extraordinary scene presented in the text before us.

In daily life, two parallel histories occur simultaneously—one on earth and one in heaven.

Revelation, however, views them together, allowing a look behind the scenes at the cosmic impact of what happens on earth.

On earth, a baby was born; a king learned of that birth and ordered an attempt on the child’s life.

In heaven, the Great Invasion had begun—a daring raid by the ruler of the forces of good into the universe’s seat of evil.

John Milton expressed this point of view majestically in “Paradise Lost” and again in “Paradise Regained,” poems that make heaven and hell the central focus, and Earth a mere battle ground for these cosmic clashes.

The battle began when the cherub assigned to attend the throne of God rebelled against the Lord.

Filled with pride, that guardian angel incited rebellion that resulted in one-third of the angels of God being cast out of Heaven.

That rebel angel would become known as “Satan,” from the Hebrew term meaning “Adversary” or “Enemy,” and hence, by implication, “Slanderer.”

Now, the war rages unseen, though we see the continuing impact of devilish activity and influence.

One of the central battles of this cosmic war was fought over a period of perhaps thirty-three years, beginning with the birth of the Master and concluding with His death.

Superficially, it appeared that evil had won, conquering righteousness.

Though the war continues to this day, the outcome of the battle was fixed when the Master rose from the tomb, conquering death and bringing life to all who look to Him.

The final skirmish lies at least one thousand seven years in the future, and the outcome of that engagement is certain.

*Identifying the Participants in the Drama* — In the text before us are a woman, a dragon and a child.

The woman is said to be a “great sign.”

Thus, we know that the woman is not to be understood as literal.

Though many have accepted that the woman speaks of Mary, the mother of Jesus our Lord, the fact that she is said to be a “great sign” precludes such a position.

Throughout history, other commentators have argued that the woman represents “the church,” or even a system of teaching.

There have even been women who have arrogated to themselves the identity of this woman.[2]

Nevertheless, the woman is to be understood as a sign.

Moreover, the sign John saw is “in heaven,” but it portrays a reality on earth.

We know this to be the case because shortly we will see the woman persecuted by the dragon during the Great Tribulation [*Revelation 12:13-17*].

If we will understand the meaning of the great sign that John gives, we should look to Scripture, discovering if any similar scenes have been presented elsewhere in the Word of God.

The woman John describes is “clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.”

Moreover, when she first appears, she is pregnant.

The fact that she is “crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth” informs us that she is at term.

In order to positively identify what John is picturing, study the clues that he provides.

First, the description of the woman is reminiscent of a dream that Joseph related to his father.

That dream is presented in *Genesis 37:9, 10*.

Joseph “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.’

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?’”

In the dream he told his father, Joseph saw the sun and the moon, which are identified as his father, Jacob, and his mother, Rachel, together with eleven stars, which are interpreted as his brothers.

John’s vision, however, speaks of twelve stars, linking the woman who serves as the great sign, to the twelve tribes of Israel or the twelve sons of Jacob, the patriarchs of Israel.

This woman gives birth to a child who is destined “to rule all the nations with a rod of iron” [*Revelation 12:5*].

The child can be none other than the Messiah, who as promised in Scripture was from the nation of Israel.[3]

Moreover, the fact that this woman will be persecuted during the last half of the Tribulation[4] tells us that she is Israel, and neither the church nor a mortal.

Therefore, we may be certain that the woman represents the nation Israel—the matrix and source of God’s Messiah.

There are other passages in Scripture that support this position.

For instance, we are told that Jesus the Messiah was from the race of the patriarchs [*Romans 9:5*] and that Messiah was born out of Israel [see *Romans 1:3*].

Moreover, when Isaiah presents the great prophecy concerning the coming Messiah, it is Israel whom he portrays as singing:

“For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given;

and the government shall be upon His shoulder,

and His Name shall be called

Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

[*Isaiah 9:6*]

The nation of Israel is frequently compared to a woman in Scripture,[5] and even as a woman travailing in birth to bring forth the Messiah.

Among the Scriptures are such well-known passages as that found in Micah’s prophecy.

“But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,

who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,

from you shall come forth for Me

one who is to be Ruler in Israel,

whose coming forth is from of old,

from ancient days.”

[*Micah 5:2*]

Again, writing of Israel, Isaiah pens these words:

“Before she was in labour

she gave birth;

before her pain came upon her

she delivered a son.”

[*Isaiah 66:7*].

The woman whom John described is presented in glorious terms: the reflected glory of the Old Covenant is compared to the reflected light of the moon, and the brilliance of the New Covenant in which she shall appear before God is compared to the sun.

All that we have as Christians found its origin in the nation Israel.