THE WOMAN WITH CHILD (Chapter 12: l-2) It is generally agreed that the woman was a symbol of the church. In the Old Testament Israel was repeatedly characterized as a woman, as in Jeremiah 2:32. In the New Testament the church of Christ is presented in the figure of a pure woman, as in 1 Corinthians 11:1-34; 1 Corinthians 10:1-33; 1 Corinthians 9:1-27; 1 Corinthians 8:1-13; 1 Corinthians 7:1-40; 1 Corinthians 6:1-20; 1 Corinthians 5:1-13; 1 Corinthians 4:1-21; 1 Corinthians 3:1-23, Galatians 4:26 and II John 1. There can be no more fitting description of the church in holy relation to Christ, the Head, than that of the pure woman. True to this figure the vision describes in glowing symbols the character and attributes of the woman, as symbols of the apostolic church. In Revelation the word heaven was employed to denote governments and authorities. The Lord Himself so used the word in his own description of the destruction of Jerusalem in referring to “ great signs in the heavens,” and “ stars falling from heaven” - a symbolic reference to the casting down of the Jewish and Roman rulers and authorities. In Luke 10:18, Jesus said: “ I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.” In this language the Lord was forecasting Satan’ s complete downfall from his place and power of dominion, which would come as swiftly as lightning, as the result of Christ’ s victory over the hadean world by his death and resurrection. The sign in heaven meant the heaven of exalted dominion and rule--the heaven of the political dominion of the whole world. The “ great sign” seen in the realm of authorities and dominions referred to the symbolic attributes of splendor and grandeur which followed, in which the woman was adorned before the whole political world. The sign in heaven--12:1 1. And there appeared a great wonder in heaven. The word wonder here meant a sign--a sign was seen in heaven. There are numerous uses of the word heaven in the scriptures. Among the Hebrews it was used chiefly in three senses. First, the aerial heavens where the winds blow and the rains form and the birds fly; second, the firmament where the stars as pendant jewels adorn the sky, and where all the constellations and planets are in orbit; third, the highest heaven, the third heaven, the residence of God and Christ, the dwelling of angels and mansions of the blessed. There are scriptures that use the word heaven in all of these senses. 2. A woman clothed with the sun. The sun is the great luminary that God created and placed in the heavens to preside over the day. The sun being obscured and ceasing to shine were symbols of calamity and darkness settling over nations. In the same way the shining of the sun was used as a similitude of the glory of God. When the Spirit in John, the seer, needed a figure to adequately set forth the glory of the church represented by the woman, he selected the flaming orb of the day--the woman, the church, was arrayed with the sun, the very glory of God. 3. And the moon under her feet. Standing with the moon under her feet was symbol of the exaltation of the church--an extended description of the glorious and exalted position of the church among and in the midst of all the creations, institutions, and governments of man. The symbol picture was most espeoially significant in the Roman world where this glory and exaltation would in succeeding events become visibly manifest to all the authorities of Caesar’ s empire. Isaiah the prophet pictured the church (chapter 2:2) “ on top of the mountains, exalted above the hills.” The vision of the woman standing with the moon under her feet was the same imagery of exaltation. 4. And upon her head a crown of twelve stars. The stars are the glory of all the luminaries which adorn the heavens. No part of the visible creation exhibits the supreme glory of God so illustriously as the starry firmament. The crown of stars was the diadem of highest glory on the head of the woman-the glorious church. In royalty it was the ornament of queens. Ahasuerus “ loved Esther above all the women . . . so he set the royal crown upon her head.” (Esther 2:17) The stars were used in scripture to designate all luminaries of heaven, except the sun and moon. The twelve stars on the head of the woman is representative of totality, of completeness, of perfection. There were twelve tribes of Israel, representing the whole Old Testament church. There were twelve apostles for the New Testament church. The twelve stars in the diadem on the woman’ s head were a complete symbol of the whole church as typified in the Old Testament and fulfilled in the New Testament.