THE WOMAN CLOTHED WITH THE SUN

The Gospel – Verse 11 reminds us that the Gospel in Revelation is exactly the same as in the rest of the New Testament. Even though I picture Michael fighting Satan with medieval weapons, like a sword and spear, this was spiritual warfare. They won that battle with the “blood of the Lamb.” Never get lost in the maze of symbols and numbers in the Apocalypse and forget salvation came through the cross and resurrection.

Now let's look at the rest of the chapter.

The Woman – Either Israel or the Church, take your pick. A few, however, choose Mary and have this representing the birth of the Messiah. Some combine this having Israel give birth to the Messiah. Israel emerged as a nation from Egypt, and later Matthew has Jesus fleeing to Egypt as a child and coming back to Israel. Satan attacked both Israel and Jesus, but both were protected.

Satan thrown down – Frankly, I don't get this. Satan was wandering the earth in the days of Adam, Eve “getting” to meet him first. The event could have happened in heaven before creation, but the victory (v 11) was won at the cross. I suspect his being thrown down relates to the persecution the churches were undergoing. Though many were hurt and killed, still the church continued and even thrived.

Historical note – the Romans destroyed the temple in 70 AD. Two more rebellions were to happen after this book was written, one around 135 and the second about 150. After that, the temple and Jerusalem were reduced to rubble, rebuilt as a Roman city, and renamed. Since Jewish worship had been built around the temple until then, it had to change radically, thus strengthening synagogues and rabbis over sacrifice.

The numbers – Don't worry too much about the numbers in Revelation. I take all of them as symbolic. One speculation is that 12 represents Israel (12 tribes) or the church (12 disciples), 10  is completeness, thus 1000 is perhaps eternity. Seven is a favorite number, esp in Revelation, maybe from the days of the week, or the seven days of creation. So 144,000 may represent all the people of God (12x12 plus 10x10). Nero's name adds to 666 if you do it like high school girls adding their names and comparing the numbers to their boyfriends' names.

If numbers really interest you, the technical name is gematria. A good beginning, but not much more than that, is Wikipedia entry Gematria.

Praise follows – I recommend the Hallelujah Chorus or Beethoven's Hallelujah as the best “explanation.”

Finally, the devil is  prowling as a roaring lion seeking all he can devour reminds us to be on our guard against sin and evil, both inside ourselves and also from the world outside. Remember, the only power he has within us is what we allow! Check out the armor of God in Ephesians 6.