The Woman The Child and The Dragon
After the seventh trumpet there seems to be a break from the themes of sevens that last for the next three chapters. Chapter twelve concerns a woman about to give birth. This clearly concerns the birth of Jesus because the child that is born is a male child who will “rule all the nations with an iron scepter”.
The dragon is the devil because he is identified in the passage; however, spiritual realities are often mirrored in the natural. In this case we can also see Herod who tried to kill Jesus and ended up killing all of the male infants age two and under in the vicinity of Bethlehem. He didn’t kill Jesus because Joseph was warned in a dream to flee to Egypt, across the desert.
There is a remarkable documentary called The Star of Bethlehem that references this passage. A man named Fredrick Larson did an extensive study of the the Bethlehem star and through the aid of software which enables one to see the night sky from any vantage on earth at any point in history he uncovered some astonishing findings.
To cut straight to the chase he makes a pretty convincing case for a triple conjunction between Jupiter (the King planet) and Regulus (the King star) being the likely sign that first caught the attention of the magi. The connection between this finding and this passage is that while this triple conjunction was happening the constellation Virgo (the Virgin) happened to be situated in the sky in such a way that the Sun was square in the constellation (clothing it) and the moon was situated directly at its feet.
This isn’t about astrology. God put signs in the sky (the Bible makes this clear) not to control our personalities, lives, or destinies but to reveal His glory.
After the child was born the devil was cast to earth and his coming was a cause for woe. He knows his time is short because the child has come and has fulfilled His purpose in coming. So, what will he do next? What is his plan? The next chapter reveals...
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