Revelation 12

The Woman and the Dragon

“Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant appeared in his temple. There were lightnings, voices, thunders, an earthquake, and a great hailstorm.

A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and cried out in labor and in the agony of giving birth.

Another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads.”

 

1. What is the meaning of the ark of the covenant?

2. Who is represented by the woman?

3. Who is represented by the dragon?

 

1. What is the meaning of the ark of the covenant?

As we have shown under the 'Israel' menu, Revelation 11:19 places us at the moment that the earthly ark was replaced by a heavenly one, when God gave up his earthly throne because of the sins of his earthly people, Israel. At that moment, the temple and the city were destroyed and the people were led into exile in Babylon. This is where Revelation 12 starts, with God's earthly people removed from their central place on the world stage. They were replaced by world empires, that came under control of the dragon. This is where Revelation 12 starts.

 

2. Who is represented by the woman?

The woman illustrates the channel of God's people through which Messiah came to the earth. 

In terms of content, the last verse of chapter 11 belongs to chapter 12. For that reason, it is discussed here. Revelation 11:19 is a very important verse because it allows the reader to view history from a new perspective, while also taking a step back in time. This is again evident from the verb tense, which often indicates a break on chronology. Until and including Revelation 11:18, it was the past tense. The twenty-four elders "fell on their faces and said..." What follows is indeed in the present tense: "We thank you..." However, that is because what they "said" is quoted verbatim.

In verse 19, the past tense suddenly switches to the passive voice in the past tense: "was opened – was seen – was seen – was seen." What was seen is then again in the past tense. But the passive voice John transitions to is new in the book.

Looking at what happens, the break in chronology is unavoidable. After all, given the blowing of the seventh trumpet and the worship of the elders, the coming of God and the fulfillment of all prophecies are imminent. Then there is no room for another period of "one thousand two hundred and sixty days" (Revelation 12:6), or "time, times, and half a time" (14).

The vision inevitably places us back in time. However, how far back? Are we placed again at the beginning of the final half-week of the year? The answer is twofold: on the one hand, no, and on the other, yes. It is crucial here to view Revelation 11:19 as the foundation upon which chapter 12 rests. But to understand this properly, we must return once more to chapters 10 and 11.

In Revelation 10, the mighty angel descended from heaven with an open book, the prophecies concerning the people of God, specifically concerning the people of Israel until the coming of Christ. This all seems to begin beautifully with a temple and a sacrificial service (sweet to the palate), but ultimately it degenerates into the greatest conceivable horrors of global idolatry (the stomach becomes bitter).

Revelation 11 then shows how this relates to the temple. The outer court and everything outside it are given to the nations for forty-two months, who will trample the holy city. The two witnesses block access to the temple and prophesy to the entire world for 1,260 days. They are then killed by the beast from the abyss, which, as indicated in Revelation 9, unfolds worldwide as the most cruel and totalitarian tyrant in human history. The death of the two witnesses opens the temple to this tyrant. But the two witnesses rise and ascend to heaven. An earthquake destroys a tenth of the city. The seventh trumpet blows, announcing the coming of God Himself.

Based on the events of Revelation 11, one might think that everything revolves around the temple. The beast from the abyss has defiled the temple, and therefore God comes with his judgment and his reckoning. But then Revelation 12 reveals a deeper layer of history. While God's earthly temple is important, there is something even more important. In the vision, John and his readers' gaze is directed from the earthly temple to the heavenly temple. "And the temple of God in heaven was opened." And what does John see there? "...and the ark of his covenant was seen in his temple."

It is the ark that was missing from the earthly temple. At the beginning of Revelation 11, only the temple, the altar, and those who worship there needed to be measured. The ark of the covenant has been missing since Jeremiah hid it from Nebuchadnezzar's armies, who captured Jerusalem and burned the temple with fire. Since then, no one has heard anything of it. There is much speculation about the whereabouts of the ark of the covenant, and books and films have been written about it. But no one knows for sure where the ark of the covenant is. For God, that chest and its contents have lost their meaning. Since the Babylonian exile, we read of no further reference to it in the Bible, except here.

But here, it is not about the earthly temple of God, but about the heavenly one. The eternal resting place of the ark is no longer in an earthly temple, but in a heavenly one. That is where it belongs from now on. The reason for this is twofold. (1) First, heaven is the "established place" of God's dwelling, as Solomon prays at the dedication of the temple. But even more importantly: (2) heaven is the place where the Savior brought his blood. "For Christ has not entered a sanctuary made with hands, a copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, to appear in the presence of God for us." “But Christ, having come as high priest of the good things to come, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands (that is, not of this creation), nor through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.”

Eternal redemption is connected to heaven. That is why God directs our gaze from the earthly temple to the heavenly temple. There stands the ark of the covenant. Do we see what lies upon it? The blood of Christ, as of an unblemished and spotless Lamb. And when it comes to the place where Christ shed his blood, God directs our gaze to a level that goes deeper than the temple, a level that goes all the way back to the beginning of creation, where all the problems began. We will return to this later in point (3).

In conclusion, Revelation 11:19 places us at the moment that the earthly ark was replaced by a heavenly one, when God gave up his earthly throne because of the sins of his earthly people, Israel. 

 

(2) Why do we read here again about lightning, voices, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and great hail?

(2) The lightning, voices, and peals of thunder are the usual manifestations emanating from God's throne, as we saw in Revelation 4:5. When a door is opened in the heavenly temple and the ark of God is seen there, as the throne of God, it is not surprising that we also see and hear the manifestations associated with that throne. However, there is more to come, namely: "earthquake and great hail." The earthquakes in Revelation display a symmetrical pattern, with the great earthquake of Revelation 11:13 taking center stage. After that earthquake, the seventh trumpet sounds, and the kingdom of the Lord and of his Christ is announced. The twenty-four elders, in worship, have described God's final appearance in the world, for which "the time has come."

What happens here can be seen as an introduction to what follows. However, it is also a response to what preceded it. God's coming and his final appearance in the world are based on the ark of the covenant upon which the blood of the Lord Jesus was sprinkled. Everything is based on his atoning work. He was slain and He has redeemed us for our God… and therefore He is worthy to take the scroll and break its seals. He has sprinkled his blood in the innermost sanctuary of heavenly reality, and that is the basis for God's final dealings with this world, both in rewarding all who sided with him and in dealing with those who sided with the adversary. The latter is further underscored by the earthquake and the great hail. It is a foreshadowing of all that is yet to come and which will definitively crush Satan's kingdom on earth. The seven bowl judgments are coming. The earthquake is the first shock, heralding the greatest earthquake in the history of the seventh bowl (16:18). The hail is a foreshadowing of the enormous hail that will fall upon the earth under that same seventh bowl.

 

(3) Who is represented by the woman?

After focusing on the blood of the Lamb on the ark in the heavenly temple—see point (1)—the deeper layer of history can be explored. And that is