Revelation 12:6; The Woman Fled into the Wilderness

Revelation 12:6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. 

Through the Antichrist, Satan directs his wrath primarily against the Christ, whom he seeks to eliminate and whose place he wants to usurp. Before the birth of the Messiah, the devil had tried to destroy the line of believers out of which Jesus would be born, but he failed. Then he attacked Jesus, but realized that this assault also ended in failure. After that he began to persecute his followers who proclaimed and continue to proclaim the name of their Lord. All these efforts, too, result in failure because God protects his people.

The woman represents Christ’s church on earth whose members flee to a place that God has prepared for them: the desert. The image of the desert evokes the account of Israel’s forty-year stay in the Sinai peninsula (Deut. 8:2–4), Elijah’s flight to that same desert (1 Kings 19:3–8), and John the Baptist’s sojourn in the desert of Judea (Luke 1:80).

Deuteronomy 8:2-4 And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, andto prove thee, to know what wasin thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every wordthat proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live. Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years. 

1 Kings 19:3-8 And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongethto Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I amnot better than my fathers. And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise andeat. And he looked, and, behold, there wasa cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again. And the angel of the LORD came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise andeat; because the journey istoo great for thee. And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God. 

Luke 1:80 And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel. 

Paul also spent time in a desert, the one in Arabia (Gal. 1:17–18).

Galatians 1:17-18 Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days. 

Three factors emerge from spending time in a desert: a person is completely dependent on God to provide the material and spiritual necessities of life; the desert is always a temporary place; and last, the desert is a place where God trains his people spiritually and prepares them for service. Thus, the members of the church depend on God to be their provider and protector; they also realize that their stay on earth is but temporary; and they know that they are being trained for more extensive duties. Just as Israel’s time in the desert of Sinai was temporary while the Israelites longed for permanence in the Promised Land, so the church today waiting on earth longs to be with Christ forever (2 Cor 5:6–8).

2 Corinthians 5:6-8 Therefore we arealways confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. 

 Kistemaker, S. J., & Hendriksen, W. (1953–2001). Exposition of the Book of Revelation (Vol. 20, p. 359). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.