Before we proceed, because this study is very important,
it is recommended that you be comfortable with the bible version being used.
If you would prefer to use a version other than the King James Version,
go to the top of this page and select one you trust.

The very first thing one has to do when examining prophecy,
is to decide whether it is Symbolic or Literal. It will NEVER be both.

If you are wondering why some prophecies are symbolic, there are several reasons why this is so.
Firstly, Jesus Himself said this:-

Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
Hover over the red bible reference for full passage. Matthew 13:10-13
There are other reasons as well.
Sometimes, God does not want us to understand the vision until a certain point in time.
For example, the book of Daniel had it’s meaning hidden from us until “the time of the end”:- Daniel 12:4
There are times when it was not possible to write prophecy any other way.
The book of Revelation is one of those times.
John was in exile on the Island of Patmos at the pleasure of the Roman military when he wrote the book of Revelation.
You may think it unusual that John was the only disciple that did not die a martyr's death. You would be wrong in thinking that.
John was forced to walk into a boiling cauldron of oil.
The only problem was, that he walked right through and out the other side.
They could not kill him. That is why he was exiled to Patmos. I guess "If you can't kill 'em, banish 'em"
This means that everything that John wrote was under scrutiny by the very powers he was writing about.
I can only imagine Revelation 12 brought comments from the guards like:-
"The old geezer has written another comic about red dragons chasing a pregnant woman around the moon. Doo dah, Doo dah"
Little did they know that he had just penned one of the most far reaching prophecies of all time.
There are some who claim that the woman on the moon is Mary, the mother of Jesus,
but unless she was really being chased around the moon by a red dragon, I don't think so.
The prophecy is either symbolic or literal, not both. It is SYMBOLIC.

And there appeared a great wonder in heaven;
a woman 		 A woman is symbolic for a church. A virgin is symbolic of a pure church, and a harlot represents an apostate church.
Pure Woman Jeremiah 6:2;
 2 Corinthians 11:2;
 Ephesians 5:23-27
Corrupt Woman Ezekiel 16:15-28; {      Excerpts Only       }
              29-38 {Read Ezekiel 16:15-58}
 Ezekiel 23:2-9;
 Hosea 3:1-5;
 
clothed with the sun,
 
The Sun and The Light of the World represent the Glory of Jesus. Psalm 84:11;
 Malachi 4:2;
 Matthew 17:2;
 John 8:12; 9:5

This church (woman) is clothed in the glory of Jesus.
This means it has the garment of righteousness, or if you like it has put on Christ. 		Isaiah 64:6
Galatians 3:27
Zechariah 3:3-4
Revelation 19:13
Revelation 3:4-5
Romans 13:14
 
and the moon under her feet,
 The Moon reflects light. This church is reflecting the light that is shining on her from Jesus ( The Sun of Righteousness )
 
and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:
 
A Star represents an angel. Revelation 1:16, 20;
Job 38:7
In the same way that God appoints a guardian angel to each of us, He also appoints an angel to oversee each of His churches. Revelation 1:20
These 12 stars are the 12 angels that have overseen the 12 tribes of Israel up to the time that Jesus came to the earth.
 
And she being with child cried,
travailing in birth,
and pained to be delivered. 		 If you study the Old Testament, the interwoven plot all the way through is about God protecting the seed of the Messiah Genesis 3:15 from the serpent (Dragon/satan) and satan trying to prevent the child Jesus from being born.
satan knew full well the meaning of Genesis 3:15 and he knew if he could stop the Messiah from being born, he had won the war.
The followers of Christ (before the fact) were crying out for the Messiah to be born, and so many of the hardships caused to their people were brought about by satan to try to kill the blood line leading to Jesus.
Even the great drought in the time of Joseph was caused by satan trying to kill the children of Abraham.
 
And there appeared another wonder in heaven;
and behold a great red dragon,
 
The dragon is satan. Verse 9
Isaiah 27:1;
Psalm 74:13-14;
 
having seven heads  These represent the kingdoms that satan worked through to oppress God's people.
If you read Daniel 7, he gives an account of these kingdoms as he looked forward into the future.
There were 7 heads, 1 on the Lion, 1 on the Bear, 4 on the leopard, and 1 on the Dragon-Beast, making a total of 7.
This is a symbolic passage, and 7 represents completeness so the 7 heads probably also stand for the entirety of all the kingdoms that persecuted God's people at the leading of satan. This would include Assyria and Egypt as well.
 
and ten horns,  I drew the 10 horns spread equally among the 7 heads, but probably I would have been more exact if I drew them all on the one head, because they represent the same 10 horns of Daniel 7.
They are the nations that grew out of the head of Rome.
 
and seven crowns upon his heads.  To work this part out, you need to be familiar with Daniel chapter 7. Of the 10 horns that proceeded from the head of Rome, 3 did not last very long. They were uprooted by the little horn that grew up amongst them. This left 7 that lasted down through the ages from there. These are the ones that were crowned, or if you like, the other 3 lost their crowns.
 
And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven,
and did cast them to the earth:
 As we have already seen, stars are angels, and these are the evil angels that satan convinced to rebel against God.
A tail follows. It does not lead. These angels followed like a tail their leader, satan.
Verse 9 also makes this clear.
When they agreed to follow satan, they were evicted from heaven, and came to the earth along with him.
 
and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.  Rome is also represented by the dragon because it is/was a pagan power directly manipulated by satan to do his bidding.
Daniel portrayed this in chapter 7, when he presented the dragon-beast as the Roman empire.
satan used the power of Rome in an attempt to devour her child when he had all the children in Bethlehem slaughtered in an attempt to kill the baby Jesus as soon as He was born.
 
And she brought forth a man child,
who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: 		 The male child was Jesus.
The Bible refers to the rule of Jesus as ruling with a rod of iron. Revelation 2:27;
Revelation 19:15
 
and her child was caught up unto God,
and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, 		 This has a double barrel meaning. The woman (true church) was forced to get away from the cruelty of the roman catholic church, which had grown out of the Roman Empire, and go into hiding.
God's message was in the hands of His faithful followers that were persecuted by catholicism. People, like the Waldenses, continued to be faithful to the true King of the universe. The wilderness here represents the areas that these people fled to, and it also represents the wilderness of knowledge also referred to as the Dark Ages
 
where she hath a place prepared of God,  God was ready for this to happen, and prepared the way for His faithful people.
 
that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.  This is the same period referred to by Daniel in chapter 7 as a time and times and the dividing of time, Daniel 7:25
 and this very chapter we are studying also makes that link in Verse 14
It is the period of time that the papacy ruled the world through the supersticious kings, and persecuted, tortured, slaughtered men, women, children and babies in their persuit of world domination.
The a thousand two hundred and threescore days translates to 1260 days, and in symbolic prophecy, a day represents a year. Ezekiel 4:6;
Numbers 14:34

So this translates to 1260 years, the period of time from 538AD to 1798AD when the papacy ruled the world.
Feed her there is a reference to God's provision for His church in the wilderness.
 
And there was war in heaven:
Michael and his angels fought against the dragon;
and the dragon fought and his angels,
 This is very hard to comprehend, and the picture I have drawn is the best I can come up with.
I can only imagine, knowing how much power there is in an angel, what that must have been like.
 
And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.  satan and his angels lost the battle and were removed from heaven.
The war was finally lost to satan when he failed to stop Jesus from being sacrificed.
 
And the great dragon was cast out,
that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan,
which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth,
and his angels were cast out with him. 		 satan and his evil angels have been removed from heaven, so now reside right here on earth with us.
 
And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation,  Jesus completed the sacrifice of the cross, and so salvation was paid for with His blood.
 
and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ:  The kingdom to be, the New Earth, will belong to God's faithful. Daniel 7:18, 22
 
which accused them before our God day and night.  satan is the great "accuser".
He tempts us into evil and then accuses us to our God.
He is like the spoilt child that runs to tell the teacher that you have done wrong, when he was part of the blame.
He is a low life deceiver and accuser.
 
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb,  The sacrifice made by Jesus gives us the power to win the battle against satan.
I can do ALL things ..... Philippians 4:13
 
and by the word of their testimony;  When we stand up for Jesus against the enemy, it actually gives us strength as well.
Jesus puts the power of heaven behind us, to give us the victory. Sometimes we lose a battle, but we WILL win the war.
I can tell you first hand, that the more you use your talents for God, the more talents He gives you.
 
and they loved not their lives unto the death.  Millions were slaughtered by the catholic church in the dark ages.
Something to ponder!
Have you ever put your hand on a hot stove element?
Can you imagine holding your hand there and singing beautiful hymns?
How do you think so many of the martyrs stood at the stake while it was burning and either quietly prayed, or sang beautiful hymns?
It is the same answer that allowed John to walk through the boiling cauldron of oil.
The answer lies here:- God supplies power to overcome ALL odds.
 
Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them.  There was great reason for heaven to rejoice, and also the rest of the ye heavens to rejoice as well.
Before the war between Christ and satan was won by Jesus, there was the ever present danger that satan's influence would have spread right through the universe, and it would have done so if Jesus had lost.
 
Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea!
for the devil is come down unto you, 		 He has now been restricted to the earth. There is no longer any danger of him infecting the universe.
However, this is bad news for us, the inhabiters of the earth, because he now concentrates his full attention on this planet.
 
having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.  This is the good news. Yes, he is really angry now, and more vile than he was, but we know his time is short. He is a beaten foe. The rest is only a matter of time.
 
And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth,
he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. 		 Having been confined to the earth, and unable to directly attack Jesus any more, he decided to do the next best thing, attack the object of Jesus' love, His church.
God's church has been far more persecuted since Jesus was here than it ever was before.
 
And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle,
 
Wings represent Speed, protection, and deliverance. In this case it stands for protection and deliverance. Matthew 23:37
 
that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place,
 We discussed this earlier in the chapter.
The true church moved into the wilderness.
 
where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time,
from the face of the serpent. 		 The time, and times, and half a time is the same 1260 years referred to above in Verse 6 and in Daniel 7:25.
It is the period of the Dark Ages when the papacy ruled.
A time is symbolic for a year. Daniel 4:16, 23, 25, 32; and times is plural. In the Hebrew, if there was no number qualifying the number of plurality, then the number was 2
The dividing of time is a fraction of a time and once again, in the Hebrew, if the ratio of the division was not specified, the the parts were equal.
So, we have:-
time 360 days
times 720 days
Dividing of time 180 days
Total 1260 days
However, in prophetic time, a prophetic day is a literal year. Ezekiel 4:6;
Numbers 14:34

So, the 1260 days becomes 1260 years.
In some places in scripture, this same period is referred to as 42 months.
A prophetic month is 30 days.
This is because before the flood there were 12 months x 30 days = 360 days in a year.
After the flood the earth increased it's spin slightly, so it fits an extra 5+ days into an orbit around the sun.
In symbolic prophecy, it keeps the original 30 day month, but that does not complicate things because 1 day still equals 1 year.
 
And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood  Water is symbolic of masses of people. Revelation 17:15
satan set about generating large numbers of heathen to overcome Christians.
Why do you think the heathen nations breed faster than Christian nations?
This is the real reason why the catholic church is against abortion.
It is not because of any decency. It is about numbers.
 
after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.  He wants to outnumber Christians, and so either persecute out or breed out, whichever way he can.
 
And the earth helped the woman,  As we have seen, water is symbolic of masses of people.
In exactly the same way, the earth represents no water and therefore no people.
This is referring to a place where there is no water(people).
It is an uninhabited area, or one that has almost no people enmass.
The area it is referring to is the New World, The United States of America.
 
and the earth opened her mouth,
and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. 		 Many Christians flocked to the New World and the United States to escape the persecution by the catholic church in Europe.
The U.S.A was set up with a constitution that guaranteed Religious Freedom and this is the very reason that the catholic church hates the constitution of the U.S.A.
This is also the reason why the jesuits are attacking the constitution through the back door.
This is the reason they are getting Obama to wipe his feet all over the constitution from every angle.
Obama is not qualified for the office according to the constitution.
He is vehemently attacking the first ammendment through Hate Speech laws.
He is attacking the second ammendment through Gun Control.
He is trying to nullify the power of Congress.
This is why western nations are having muslims forced on them.
They want them to rise up AGAINST Religious freedom, and when they do, the catholic church will be ready to take the reins once more.
All this is so they can be rid of the first ammendment, Religious Freedom.
 
And the dragon was wroth with the woman,  satan is directing the full power of his hate against the true church of God.
 
and went to make war with the remnant of her seed,  He lost the war with Jesus, so now he is at war with the remnant of her seed.
A remnant is a small quantity left from the major portion.
A remnant of cloth is that very small piece left after the whole roll is gone.
God's remnant is the small band of Christians left at the end of time.
 
which keep the commandments of God,  So many modern Christians make statements like "The law is done away with, nailed to the cross" but this is totally against what the bible says. These so-called Christians are going to pay for this folly with eternal loss. God's faithful few are keeping His commandments. YES! they fail, but trying and failing is a TOTALLY different thing to not bothering to try.
 
and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.  The testimony of Jesus Christ is the existence of a true prophet in the church. Revelation 19:10
The remnant church that is referred to in Revelation 12 is a church that will have a prophet or prophets of God in their midst.
I believe very strongly that this church exists today and that they already have a prophet and I have no doubt that more will follow.

Even so, Come Lord Jesus. Please. Amen.

It helps to reinforce what you have learned by taking the optional quiz,
or simply return to the menu and do the next study.