I connected Revelation 12:1 to the symbolism that was used at the time Joseph had his dream, and which was very clearly interpreted by Jacob as being a reference to him, to Joseph's mother, and to Joseph's brothers from whom the children of Israel sprang. Therefore, Revelation 12:1 is interpreted by the symbolism there—the sun, the moon, and the stars—as being Israel.
A further proof is in verse 4. This is why I read it. Everybody recognizes that Jesus Christ was born out of Israel. She [Israel] is the woman who is the subject of Revelation 12. I also connected this to prophecy. The promises that were made by God to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3 is just one example. There are many promises God gave to Abraham regarding those who would come from him.
The nation of Israel (as every one of us should very clearly understand) did not keep the commandments; yet the reference is made at the end of Revelation 12 that Satan was going to persecute those within Israel who do keep the commandments. That is the church! But a couple of verses before that we saw the woman fleeing. The woman that was fleeing was not the church. It was the nation of Israel. Verse 15 of Revelation 12 makes this exceedingly clear. Verses 15, 16, and 17 pertain to the same woman as do the beginning verses of chapter 12.
The nation Israel is by far the major subject of Revelation 12. This strikingly confirms that in the end-time God is still seeing Israel as a single nation, and as a woman, despite its present end-time scattered condition. It is the nation of Israel that is shown fleeing from the face of the Serpent, and the one the earth helps by swallowing up the flood.
In Revelation 12:1-6, Christ escapes Satan's plot by ascending into heaven, and the church similarly escapes the designs of Satan and the world by fleeing into the wilderness. Not by human impulse, but by the fore-determined counsel of God—the woman representing the church, fled into the wilderness.
The church will have to make an effort to flee, but it is God who rescues her. He will not just "rapture" His church off instantly. There is physical effort required by the church, just as there was for Noah and his family when they prepared to escape the Flood. Just as there was for Moses and the Israelites when they fled from Egypt, and Joseph, Mary, and Jesus when they fled to Egypt to escape Herod's edict of death to children.
The book of Revelation sums up the ambivalent image of woman found elsewhere in the Bible. On the one hand, woman is an emblem of evil in the form of the terrifying whore of Babylon—drunk with the blood of the saints and martyrs, defiant against Christ. On the other hand, woman is mother of the Messiah (according to Revelation 12:1-5) and the church (according to Revelation 12:17). What a contrast that is! She, as herself, is a type of the spotless church—the Bride of Christ.
I do not know that he has been fully cast down yet, but he drew a third of the stars with him. The number of these angels is around fifty million. This, brethren, is the enemy that we in the church today face, and they are all intent on our destruction. Do you understand that that is your destruction and my destruction?
