Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.  Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. © Copyright 2010 - 2020   All rights reserved. Daniel 11 Explained (condensed ‘one page’ commentary) ‘Matthew 24’ Explained (must match Revelation) The ‘Seals’ Explained (Revelation timeline revealed) Seven Churches Explained (Past & Present Church Prophecy) Note: ‘Sitemap’ shows a complete list of all pages (by category). ‘Homepage’ gives 3 simple steps + timelines + summary. Current Events from Daniel 11 (matching the Middle East) The Abomination (Daniel 11:31) done Recent Events ISIS - Saudi - Turkey (Daniel 11: 24-27) Final Events to the Abomination (Daniel 11: 28-30) Shiites re-take Persia + America’s Role Begins (Daniel 11: 21-23) soon done done Re-written: 6-07-2020 Revelation 12   Basically, Revelation 12 is a ‘flashback’ that leads directly into Revelation 13, which is where Satan gives his authority to the beast, during end times.  The question is: Does the chapter flash back to Jesus’ birth or just to the rapture?  I have always thought that it was describing Jesus’ birth, since it says, “She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.” (Rev 12:3)  Of course, that corresponds perfectly to Jesus’ description during Armageddon, “Out of His mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron scepter.” (Rev 19:15)  The reference to an iron scepter even goes back farther to Psalms 2:4-9, which is clearly talking about Jesus.  Thus, I think Revelation 12 is simply a flashback to address some things that happened with Satan, when Jesus was born, which are not addressed elsewhere, and serve as an bridge to Satan’s actions supporting the beast, during end times, in Revelation 13.    Note: There was a lot of publicity surrounding the ‘Revelation 12 sign’, leading up to September 24, 2017, which was an alignment of planets above the constellation Virgo, along with certain placements of the sun, moon, and Jupiter, which Scottie Clark discovered and interpreted as ‘the sign’ in Rev 12:1.  He also interpreted the “snatching up” of the male child (v.5) as the rapture, which naturally had everyone excited.  He gave some logical arguments for why it could symbolically represent the rapture, so I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.  After all, I want the rapture to happen, the sooner the better, but since it has been almost 3-years since the sign passed, and the rapture hasn’t happened, I’m inclined to return to my original belief that Revelation 12 is describing Jesus’ birth.  Of course, that leaves the following verse to explain.  Revelation 12:5-6 She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.   In my opinion, I tend to think that the “snatching up” was more ‘spiritual’ than physical.  It could be compared to Paul being “caught up to the third heaven,” where he didn’t know if it was “in the body or out of the body.” (2 Cor 12:2)  John also visited heaven, when God told him, “Come up here,” but John says the trip took place “in the Spirit.” (Rev 4:1-2)  Likewise, I think Jesus was ‘snatched up in the Spirit,’ when He was born.  How long?  I don’t know, but His human body went along with His parents to Egypt for 1260-days, as the verse says.    Note: That’s one piece of information that Revelation 12 adds, which is not told elsewhere, because Matthew’s gospel just says they escaped to Egypt, and after Herod’s death, they returned to Nazareth. (Matt 2:13-23)  The gospels never say how long Jesus was there, but we can tell from Rev 12 that Jesus was 3.5 years old when He returned.    Some other information that Rev 12 adds is the whereabouts of Satan, during the last 2000-years, since the last we heard about him was from the temptation of Christ, after Jesus was baptized. (Matt 4:1-11)  We know that Satan, and many angels with him, were cast from heaven, after the Garden of Eden, for rebelling against God.  However, the Book of Job describes Satan as remaining free to visit heaven and talk to God. (Job 1:6-7)  According to Rev 12, that did not remain the case because there was “a war in heaven,” when Jesus was born, and Satan and his angels were “hurled to earth.” (Rev 12:7-9)    Plus, there’s obviously a lot of symbolism in Revelation 12, from which we can make certain assumptions.  Revelation 12:4  “His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born.”   From this verse, I gather that Satan was paying close attention to Jesus’ birth, which is probably why Jesus was snatched up for safety.  Satan could have literally been watching the birth, or the verse could refer symbolically to Herod’s desire to kill Jesus.  Also, a ‘star’ can refer to an ‘angel’, as in Rev 9:1, so “a third of the stars” could indicate that a ‘third of the total angels’ followed Satan and rebelled against God, which seems like a lot to me.  Of course, those angels were later bound with chains, and still await judgement. (Jude 1:6)    Of course, I can’t explain every verse of Revelation.  Some things must remain a theory, with no way to prove one way or the other.  Verses 15-16 (below) is one example of that.  Revelation 12:13-17 13 When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. 14 The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the desert, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent's reach. 15 Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. 16 But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. 17 Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring-those who obey God's commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.   Obviously, verses 13-14 (above) repeat the family’s flight to Egypt for 3.5 years, which was “out of the serpent’s reach,” but that doesn’t mean Satan stopped trying.  It seems to me that verses 15-16 could describe a real flood, which Satan intended to devour the family, but God miraculously opened the earth to “swallow” the flood waters.  That would not be unprecedented because God had the earth ‘open up and swallow’ the three opponents of Moses, including their families and followers, and then close again. (Numbers 16:31-33)    After that, verse 17 indicates that Satan turned his attention to the ‘followers of Jesus’, who are referred to as “her offspring,” probably because most of the early followers were Jews, although it generally means all Christians.  Revelation 12:12 But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you!  He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short."   Note: The fact that Satan was cast to earth and restricted, following Jesus’ birth, accounts for Seals 1-6 being referred to as the “great tribulation” (Rev 7:14), since Christianity actually started with the resurrection (Seal 1).  Seals 1-6 extend from the resurrection to the rapture, which is the only time Christians could have their ‘robes washed in the blood of the Lamb’, as Rev 7:14 says (in past tense).  In other words, Satan’s activity in the world got progressively worse, during the last 2000-years, and is growing exponentially as the rapture gets closer.  In fact, I think we are in the “hour of trial,” just before the rapture, when things are at their worse.  God’s command is to “endure patiently” and we will be shielded from the worse of it. (Rev 3:10)  Matthew 24:12-13 “Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,  but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.” Praise Jesus!