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?
