Dragon & Woman

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.

2 Corinthians 11:2 - For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

Isaiah 62:5 - For as a young man marries a virgin, So shall your sons marry you; And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, So shall your God rejoice over you.

A very beautiful image of the rimitive Church in a state of pregnancy, resplendent on all sides with the faith of Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, and treading under her feet the elements of the world, whether the shadows of the Law, or the darkness of Gentile superstition; glittering, with the insignia of apostolical origin - 12 stars.

Malachi 4:2 - But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and you shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.

Matthew 17:2 - And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.

Revelation 1:16 - He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength.

Psalms 84:11 - For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.

Galatians 3:27 - For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

Romans 13:14 - But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.

Isaiah 60:1-2 - Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people; But the Lord will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you.

Isaiah 61:10 - I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, My soul shall be joyful in my God; For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

Ephesians 5:26-27 - that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.

Like we put on Christ during baptism, the woman (The Primitive Church of Christ) is clothed with Christ and is illuminated with the Sun of Righteousness.

The woman (church) tramples under foot the moon or the power of darkness, the worship of idols, with a renunciation of Satan, his service, and his pomps.

Some say that this woman represents Israel. This argument does not hold good as the Church is represented as the Lamb's wife in Revelation 21:9. Israel's feast days are governed by the moon. Since the woman has the moon under her feet, she can't be Israel.

Revelation 21:9 - Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying, Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife.

Revelation 12:2 - And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.

Galatians 4:19 - My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.

Galatians 4:26 - but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all.

John 16:20 - Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.

John 16:21 - A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.

The Early Church was birthed out of much pain, as all of the disciples died from a violent death. Stephen was stoned to death. Paul was stoned, beaten, whipped & martyred.

The dragon raged with dire persecutions against the Church with child, and travailing to bring forth Christ as king over the Roman world, and for nearly 300 years waged war against the Spirit of Christ, powerfully operating in his servants.

Those pains and torments on account of which the woman (church) in childbirth cried out, were those severe persecutions which the primitive Church endured at the time of her delivery.

For it is well known that tribulations and distresses are compared to the pangs of childbirth.

Isaiah 66:7 - Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child.

Jeremiah 30:6-7 - Ask now, and see, Whether a man is ever in labor with child? So why do I see every man with his hands on his loins like a woman in labor, And all faces turned pale? 7 Alas! For that day is great, So that none is like it; And it is the time of Jacob's trouble, But he shall be saved out of it.

Matthew 24:8-9 - All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake.

Mark 13:8 - ...These are the beginning of sorrows.

In Diocletian's persecution (5th Seal), the Woman (The Primitive Church of Christ) cried, travailing in birth (Galatians 4:19), and pained to be delivered.

• Diocletianic Persecution
• Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire

But the woman (Church) at length, after birth pangs, and butcheries, gave birth to such a Christ, brought forth a King who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, and the dragon, being dispossessed of the Roman throne, there was in that world salvation and power, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ.

And in the end of that persecution, by the victory of Constantine over Maxentius in 312 AD, she (Church) brought forth a man child (Revelation 12:5), such a child was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, a Christian Roman Empire which succeeded the Pagan Roman Empire were Christian Empires). And her child, by the victory of Constantine over Licinius in 324 AD, was caught up unto God and to his throne (Revelation 12:5).

Revelation 12:5 - And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron

That is, the Church brought Jesus, or Jesus formed in his members, according to Paul.

Galatians 4:19 - My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.

Here the words are applied to the Christ, or the Christian man, the offspring of the church among the Gentiles, who is represented under the type of Christ his Head, and to whom Jesus promises that he would give power similar to his own.

Revelation 2:26-27 - And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations - He shall rule them with a rod of iron; They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter's vessels - as I also have received from My Father;

The Church without intermission, by those who are initiated in baptism, generates Christ, as to be formed in them, to the complete fulness of spiritual growth. The male child is the people of the church, by whom Jesus, rules the nations.

Revelation 12:5 - ...and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

Revelation 11:12 - And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, Come up here. And they ascended to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them.

The child was caught up to the throne of God, that is, was elevated to the Roman throne, with that power with which it was declared that he was about to rule and he did rule the nations. Now this was fulfilled, when the Christians under Constantine the Great, and his successors, became possessed of power, after the Dragon was cast out.

Victory of Constantine over Maxentius & Licinius

• Constantine the Great
• Battle of the Milvian Bridge
• Battle of Adrianople
• Maxentius
• Licinius

Revelation 12:3 - And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.

Beast = Kingdom

Daniel 7:23 - The fourth beast shall be A fourth kingdom on earth.

Dragon represents the Pagan Roman Empire.

This is the sign or image of the Pagan Roman empire worshipping the dragon; inasmuch as his emblems universally are seven heads and ten horns;

The representation of a dragon determines the worshipper of the dragon and the enemies of the woman's seed specifically, that is, as pagan, and the adversary of the Christian name; and since he is red likewise, it points him out as cruel, and crimson with the blood of the saints.

As Daniel foretold, the dragon (Pagan Roman Empire) was great and dreadful, as they conquered and crushed the nations; the red of course representing the bloodshed of war and persecution.

Revelation 13:2 - Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power (forces), his throne (Rome), and great authority.

Daniel 7:23 - Thus he said: The fourth beast shall be A fourth kingdom on earth...

Beast denotes a kingdom.

Daniel 2:1 - Now in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; and his spirit was so troubled that his sleep left him.

Daniel 2:31 - You, O king, were watching; and behold, a great image! This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you; and its form was awesome.

Daniel 2:32-33 - This image's head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.

Daniel 2:34 - You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces.

Daniel 2:35 - Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

Daniel 2:38 - ...You (Babylon) are this head of gold.

Daniel 8:20 - The ram which you saw, having the two horns--they are the kings of Media and Persia.

Daniel 8:21 - And the male goat is the kingdom of Greece. The large horn that is between its eyes is the first king.

Luke 2:1 - And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.

• Fourth Kingdom (Roman Empire) exists in some form until the Second Coming of Jesus - Dan 2:34

Daniel 2:34 - You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces.

• Fourth Kingdom (Roman Empire) initially exists as a Dragon (Pagan Roman Empire)

10 horns in Fourth Beast (Daniel 7:7), 10 horns in Dragon in Revelation 12:3

• Dragon (Pagan Roman Empire) gives its power to the First Beast (Second form of Roman Empire)

Revelation 13:2 - Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power (forces), his throne (Rome), and great authority.

• Second Beast (Third form of Roman Empire) exercises the power of the First Beast

Revelation 13:11 - Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon.

Revelation 13:12 - And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.

• First Beast & Second Beast are contemporaries

Revelation 19:20 - Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet (Rev 16:13) who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone.

Reference under the type of a dragon had been made to Pharaoh, the dire and malignant enemy of Israel, travailing in Egypt, as the Roman of the Christian Church in childbirth. For Pharaoh also, in a similar manner, is clothed with the image of a dragon.

Ezekiel 29:3 - Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself.

Psalm 74:13-14 - Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons (Egyptians) in the waters. Thou brakest the heads of leviathan (Pharaoh) in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.

Revelation 12:4 - And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.

Isaiah 9:15 - The elder and honorable, he is the head; The prophet who teaches lies, he is the tail.

Revelation 1:20 - The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches.

Malachi 2:7 - For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.

Revelation 12:4 - And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.

The dragon (Pagan Roman empire), is said to have drawn a third part of the stars of heaven with his tail, and cast them to the earth that is, to have corrupted a third part of the Gospel ministers.

That is, as Pharaoh did to the ancient Israel springing up in Egypt, and as afterwards Herod did to Jesus our Lord, so the Roman dragon laid wait for the Christ, whom the Church was about to bring forth (Gal 4:19), that he might oppress him immediately after his birth.

Exodus 1:16 - and he said, When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstools, if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.

Matthew 2:16 - Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men.

Revelation 12:6 - Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days.

1 Kings 17:3-6 - When Elijah faced persecution by Ahab, he was commanded by God to hide by the Brook Cherith

The 1,260 years of Great Tribulation shows how this represents 1,260 years of persecution of the Church of Christ by the Roman Catholic Church, which reigned from 538-1798 A.D.

Revelation 12:7-8 - And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.

This battle wasn't fought in heavenly realm of the Father. It was fought in the realm of what earthy kingdoms satan is allowed to have power over.

Satan had been in his glory in the powerful, vast Roman Empire, as they worshiped many pagan gods, which ultimately honored him (1 Cor 10:20, Rev 9:20). As the Lord caused the Roman Empire to collapse during the seal judgments, Satan lost his power over the Roman Empire.

Revelation 12:9 - And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceives the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

The whole world in prophecy is the Roman Empire, whom Satan had deceived into worshiping pagan gods. Now he was being kicked out of the Roman Empire, as it collapsed in 313 A.D.