Index and summaries of all articles is here: https://www.worthychristianforums.com/blogs/entry/1403-index-and-summaries-of-articles/

Revelation 12

1) When does this happen?   2) Who is the woman?   3) Where is the wilderness?   4) What do clothed with the sun, moon under her feet, and crown of 12 stars mean?

5) What is meant by a thousand two hundred and threescore days?

1) When. Jesus told John,

Rev. 1:19 Write the things which you have seen [past], and the things which are [present], and the things which will take place after these [future].

“The things seen” (by John up to that point) are told in Rev. 1:9-20. “The things which are” – that is, that were taking place at the time of John’s visions – are told in Rev. 2-3, when Jesus tells each of the 7 churches, “I know your works.” Then, beginning in Rev. 4:1, we find:

Rev. 4:1 After this I looked and beheld a door standing open in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me, saying, Come up here, and I will show thee things which must take place after these [things].

Everything John was shown from Rev. 4:1 onward is future from – “after” – his day. This includes everything in chapter 12. The birth and ascent of the Manchild that John saw in Rev. 12:5 are future; although the birth and ascent of Jesus was of the same pattern and type. Jesus himself tells us who the Manchild shall be:

Rev. 2:26-27 The one overcoming, and the one keeping my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: and he shall shepherd/pastor them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to pieces: as I also have received from my Father.

Rev. 12:5 She bore a Manchild, who is about to shepherd/pastor all nations with a rod of iron.

Rev. 12:7-11 then reveals that this Manchild, a collective body, the elect-of-the-elect overcomers, will participate in the casting down of Satan and his angels out of heaven:

Rev. 12:7 And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the Dragon [Satan]… 11 And they overcame him [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their souls unto death.

The “they” of verse 11 cannot refer to any non-human angels, only to men, that is, to those ascended overcomers of the Manchild(ren) cleansed and empowered by the blood of Jesus.

These events take place “at the time of the end” (Dan. 11:40), the “time Michael shall stand up” (Dan. 12:1; Rev. 12:7), just prior to and during “a time of trouble such as never was” (Dan. 12:1; Matt. 24:21), that is, the Great Tribulation.

2) Who is the Woman? Like the Manchild, the Woman-with-child is a mystical body. Not the Church, which is a Virgin Bride. And not the race of Israel, which is flesh-and-blood.

Western left-brain Protestant Christianity has largely ignored any concept of the Feminine Divine, even though the Adamic race was “made in Elohim’s image, male and female.” Gen. 1:27 Catholicism has carnalized the Feminine Divine into the person of Mary. Only mystical Judaism, and to some extent mystical Christianity, have spoken of the Feminine Divine.

Hebraic teachings of old say that one of the attributes of the One God is the emotional desire to form, gestate, bring forth and nurture living creatures. This tradition also says that when Adam and Eve were driven out of God’s garden into the earthly wilderness, this Divine Feminine either went with them or regularly visited them, in order to nurture her children as any mother would. The most well-known name for her is the Shekhinah, the feminine Presence/form of the Divine.

This mystical Woman/mother – emotionally bound to the nurturing of her children, and to their upbringing in wisdom, righteousness, and maturity – is spoken of in Ezekiel:

Ezek. 19:2, 10-13 What is thy mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions. … Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood [the place of the soul, Lev. 17:11], planted by the waters: she was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters. And she had strong rods for the scepters of them that bore rule, and her stature was exalted among the thick branches, and she appeared in her height with the multitude of her branches. But she was plucked up in fury, she was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up her fruit: her strong rods were broken and withered; the fire consumed them. And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground.

In Revelation 12’s account of the End Times, the Woman again goes “into the wilderness” when her offspring are driven out once more. Rev. 12:6, 14-17; Luke 21:36

3) Where is the wilderness? The wilderness is always a place apart from the comforts and security of civilization, wherein God tries and tests his people. There he separates and rejects the rebels, and teaches the obedient his torah/doctrine/Way. The wilderness is an unpopulated or sparsely populated place, generally a desert and/or mountainous region.

In our land, many visionaries have foreseen it to be the Intermountain West, which is just such a place.

4) Clothed with the sun…

Rev. 1:16 …his [Jesus’] countenance was like the sun shining in its strength.

John 1:4, 9 In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. …the true Light, which gives light to every man…

Gal. 3:27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on [been clothed with] Christ.

Rom. 13:12 …let us put on the armor of light.

4) the moon under her feet… The moon is symbolic of the types and shadows of the Mosaic Law. All of the Old Testament feast days derive their times from the position of the moon.

“Under her feet”: the symbolism appears to be twofold. First, the Mosaic Law represents an earthly level of spirituality. Second, it represents a foundation/basis for upper levels of wisdom and sanctification. Although the Shekhinah is heavily involved in the earthly affairs of her children, she is still Divine, and therefore stands in authority over all created things.

4) on her head a crown/stephanos of 12 stars. In the New Testament, a stephanos invariably symbolizes the honors and authority achieved through overcoming, through gaining the victory:

1 Thes. 2:19 …our…crown/stephanos of rejoicing…

2 Tim. 4:8 …the crown/stephanos of righteousness…

James 1:12 …the crown/stephanos of life…

1 Pet. 5:4 …the crown/stephanos of glory.

This type of victory only became possible after the advent of Christ (and His victory over sin and death), through the reception of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the 12 stars in the stephanos represent Apostolic ability and authority to overcome the world, pride, and the flesh.

The other New Testament word for crown, diadema, refers to regal authority-by-descent. The Book of Revelation says that only Christ, Satan, and the Beast wear diadems. The Beast will receive his crowns and throne from Satan. Rev. 13:1-2 Satan gained his from Adam, to whom it was originally authorized (Gen. 1:26, 28), prior to Adam submitting himself to the serpent’s word. Christ overcame Satan’s lies and temptations, thereby earning back regal authority over Earth. (Only Christ is able to wear both stephanos and diadema.)

5) What is meant by 1260 days? 1260 literal days.

While there have been day-for-a-year fulfillments of this period in type, these are now past. The 1260 days/42 months/3½ times take place during the period of the 7 Trumpets, the Mouth of the Beast (Rev. 13:5) = Daniel’s Little Horn (Dan. 7:25), and the Two Witnesses (Rev. 11:3). Jeremiah 30:7 calls it “the time of Jacob’s trouble.” (This is “the remnant of Jacob” spoken of in many Old Testament prophecies.)

When Christ appears in the clouds to take up the elect/chosen of his Church, “every eye shall see him.” (Rev. 1:7 See the articles under that title.) At that time, all of earthly Israel will see their true Messiah. Many of them will undergo 1260 days of wilderness trials in order to become either submissive and sanctified, or else purged and separated. They will be shepherded by the 144,000 Israelites “sealed upon their foreheads” (Rev. 7:3; 14:1) at the heavenly appearance of Jesus. The 1260 days will conclude at the 7th Trumpet, and then Christ’s reign will be proclaimed “in heaven,” and he will begin to establish his earthly kingdom. Rev. 11:3, 7-18

Daniel 7:25-27 [During the 1260 days:] And he [the Little Horn] shall speak pompous words against the Most High, and shall afflict the [Israelite] saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and half a time [= 1260 days]. But the heavenly court shall have been seated, and [after the 7th Trumpet is blown] they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end. And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.

Micah 5:8-9 And [then] the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many peoples like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among the flocks of sheep: who, if he passes through, both treads down, and tears in pieces, and none can deliver. Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries, and all thine enemies shall be cut off.