Revelation 12:1; A Great Wonder in Heaven
Revelation 12:1 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:
We now come to the heart of Revelation. The stage is now set and the drama of the ages is about to begin. We are to witness the clash of heaven, human and hellish forces. [Herbert Lockyer, All About the Second Coming, Hendrickson, 2007, 95]
Feinberg observed well, “The great sign is something pointing to a definite subject or object. The woman is actually on earth, but the sign is seen in heaven, so that God’s purposes concerning may be made known from heaven. Two distinct features are indicated concerning her: her clothing and her condition. She is clothed brilliantly with heavenly bodies and a crown; she is a mother with child and in labour.”
The appearance of this woman clearly indicates her identity. She can be none other than Israel. She is clothed with the sun. The moon is under her feet. And the stars, twelve of them, make up the crown of her head. There is only one place in the Bible where similar imagery is used of anyone, and that appears in the description of a dream which Joseph had and which he related to his father Jacob. Both Joseph and Jacob recognized the meaning of this dream.
Genesis 37:5-11 And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more. And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed: For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf. And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words. 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. 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? And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying.
Feinberg further observed insightfully, “The son, moon and stars indicate a complete system of government and remind the reader of Genesis 39:7. God had caused royal dignity to rest in Israel in the line of David. The number twelve appears with the twelve patriarchs, twelve disciples, and twelve thrones (cf. Matthew 19:28). In verse 1 Israel is seen, not as she has been or is now, but as she will be. It is the nation as God had intended her to be, a condition that will be fulfilled in the reign of her Messiah.”
Philippians 2:15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;
Amen.