Okay, I was debating whether to start with this or not but decided to go ahead and begin this series with describing the 'personages' in Revelation. In Chapter 12, I refer to this as the 'Wonder Woman' of the Bible. You will find where I'm coming from by reading Revelation 12:1, "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."
I don't have to tell you about all the interpretations you may or have already heard concerning this. As I said before, you will find that the Bible interprets itself (remember 2 Peter 1:20). And one of the most fascinating things you will discover is we must go the very BEGINNING of the Bible to understand the END. But first, let me go ahead and tell you who this 'Wonder Woman' is. She is the nation of ISRAEL! Turn in your Bible to Genesis 37:9. In this verse, Joseph had a dream of "the SUN and MOON and the ELEVEN STARS" making obeisance to him (Joseph would have made up the twelfth star). This was a prophecy of one day that his brothers will bow down to him which is a long story to get into and would get off-topic.
When Joseph told this dream to his father in Genesis 37:10, his father (Jacob, who was named 'Israel' by God in Genesis 32:28) revealed the sun and moon as himself and his wife (Joseph's parents) and the stars represented Joseph's brethren. You see the comparisons with Revelation 12:1 with the sun and moon and the twelve stars (of course, representing the twelve tribes of Israel). The following verses in Revelation 12 show how Satan (described as a 'great red dragon' in verse 3) persecuted the 'woman' for giving birth to a man child who was to rule all the nations (verse 5) which is a picture of Jesus Christ.
But then it gives how the 'woman' (Israel) will flee into the wilderness which takes place during the middle of the 7 year tribulation period that started in Revelation 6. It gives the number of days where she will be preserved in verse 6 and the days are approximately three and a half years (the last half of 7 years). This goes along with the future warning Jesus gave the Jews when this happens in Matthew 24:16-21. I could go on forever describing this chapter but I'll let you chew on this for a while. Oh, there's something else I want to leave you with. You may notice in verse 14 that the 'woman' (Israel) was given 'two wings of a great eagle' that assisted her to go into hiding and be nourished.
Could this 'great eagle' represent a nation (such as America) who goes by that symbol? Well, who knows and but I do know this isn't the first time God used 'eagles wings' as a reference to deliver them. God used that symbolism to how he delivered Israel out of Egypt in Exodus 19:4 and I know America didn't exist at that time. I'll leave that subject to the 'spiritual daredevils.'
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