[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: Revelation 12:1.

There can be no legitimate question as to who the “woman” in this Scripture represents – she is positively identified in the Old Testament as the nation of Israel.  It is from this nation that God has chosen His remnant, and God will select a remnant of 144,000 sealed Israelites to be carried unharmed up to the blowing of the seventh trumpet.

First of all, let us examine the symbols of this verse.  Here is a woman clothed with the sun, standing on the moon, with a crown of twelve stars on her head.  The sun is the Patriarch Jacob, the moon represents his wives that gave birth to his twelve sons, and the twelve stars are the twelve sons from which the nation of Israel descended. The woman represents the nation of Israel, and this interpretation is not based on opinion.  God revealed the key to this verse to Joseph long before John wrote it. 

[9] And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me. [10] And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth? [11] And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying. Genesis 37:9-11.

Here, in Joseph’s dream, are the same set of symbols, the sun, moon, and eleven stars, with Joseph himself being number twelve.  Jacob, his wives, and Joseph’s eleven brothers are made to bow down before Joseph at some future time.  This was to be fulfilled when all of Jacob’s large family came down to Egypt where Joseph had been made second in command to Pharaoh.  God only uses this set of symbols twice in his Word, and the first interprets the second.  The woman literally represents all the descendants of the twelve sons of Israel – what we identify today as the nation of Israel.

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

Over nineteen hundred years ago the nation of Israel gave birth to the flesh and blood Son of God – the sinless man, Christ Jesus, in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwelt.  God chose a virgin of the tribe of Israel as the one who would bear His Child in her womb, the blessed virgin Mary.

[30] And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. [31] And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. Luke 1: 30-31.

Our next Birth Pang Update, Part 2, will begin with Revelation 12:3, Lord willing.