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From everything I have read, the celestial display that John saw in Revelation 12:1 will be visible this September 23, 2017. The sign includes the constellation Virgo with the sun visible on her body and the moon under her feet. Virgo will also be crowned with 12 stars, which are the 9 stars of the constellation Leo plus Mercury, Mars and Venus. It also has Jupiter, the king planet, in Virgo’s womb and over time it passes out past her feet as if giving birth. Clearly this display is presenting the virgin Mary pregnant and giving birth to Jesus, which is what verse 2, 4 and 5 describe. The question is, if this is the precise presentation of the stars that John saw (and all indications are that it is), then what does it mean?
Always, we must go to the Scriptures before we do anything else.
To understand the Revelation 12:1 sign (there is another sign in 12:3) we must consider the context. If you remove the chapter break, John is continuing his thoughts after describing events in the middle of the 7 year tribulation in Chapter 11.
The Book of Revelation is a chronological narrative with pauses to shed light in more detail on certain periods of the narrative. Chapters 11-12 is one of those pauses, or side-bar. These 2 chapters provide expansive details of prophecies focused on the middle of the 7 year tribulation.
We know from Daniel as well as Revelation that the 70th week of Daniel is referred to as two 3 1/2 year periods. Revelation 11:3 says that God is going to grant authority to His 2 witnesses for 1260 days or 3 1/2 years. This covers the first half. Then they are going to be killed. This will be right before the antichrist takes his seat in the Holy of Holies in the middle of the 7 year tribulation (Daniel 9:27, Matt. 24:15). Jesus tells the Jews that when you see this, flee Jerusalem into the hills (Matthew 24:15-18). These refugees will be a major part of the Jewish remnant that will be saved out of the Great Tribulation. (See my previous post on The Greatest Sign)
Nothing to do with the Church
Here we now come to Revelation 12. Revelation 12 describes what is going to happen during the last 3 1/2 years. The focus in this chapter is on the Jewish elect or remnant. It is NOT about the Church. The Church is gone! It was raptured before the 70th week began. (see my post on The Restrainer). It is exegetical malpractice to attempt to insert the Church into this passage.
The woman is Israel. She flees into the wilderness just as Jesus warned in advance in Matthew 24. There the Jews will be protected and cared for by God for the 2nd half of the tribulation – 1260 days (Rev. 12:6). It is at this time that Satan realizes his time is short and his rage explodes (Rev. 12:12). His focus now becomes exterminating the Jews, which he has been attempting to do throughout history. Why? Because of the promises to Abraham and David.
If there are no descendants of Abraham left then God will have failed in his promise regarding the land and the throne of David. If there are no Jews to welcome the coming Messiah, then there is no kingdom to restore. Remember, Jesus told the Jews right before He was killed, “You will not see me again until you say ‘blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord'”. If there is no one of the literal Abrahamic DNA, then Jesus seemingly would not return. Satan wants this domain for himself. If he can wipe out Israel once and for all, then the Son of David will not be able to restore the kingdom of God as promised.
So Satan goes all out against the Jews. Rev. 12:15 says that he will literally try to drown all the remnant in the wilderness with a great flood, but God will protect them by opening the ground and diverting the water. In Rev. 12:17, Satan then becomes even more enraged and goes to make war with all the other believing Jews. All of the unbelieving Jews will undoubtedly be killed, which is why Jesus warned the believing ones to flee when antichrist declares himself to be God (2 Thess 2:4) in the Holy of Holies of the coming rebuilt Temple.
I believe the significance of the sign being mentioned in Revelation 12:1 is simply to set the context for the rest of the chapter. I don’t believe the intent in this chapter was to say that this sign will appear as a herald of the immediate return of Jesus.
In other words, John uses the celestial picture to emphasize that he is summarizing the Gospel story and to preface what Satan is going to try to do to believing Israel after the ‘abomination of desolation’ takes place. Rev. 12:1-5 is the summary: Mary was with child, she gave birth, Satan (who rebelled with a large contingent of angels – verse 4) was waiting for the birth and tried to kill the child (Herod killed all the males 2 and under), Jesus died and was resurrected and taken up. Verse 6 fast forwards to mid-tribulation.
The Revelation 12:1 sign evidently was also visible when Jesus was born. My research says that it appears quite often in history, although perhaps not as precisely as it may this Sept. 23rd. What the constellation depicts has ALREADY HAPPENED!
So, my conclusion is that it IS a sign. David said ‘the heavens are telling of the glory of God’. I can confidently say it is a sign of God’s glory, majesty and wisdom. It is a sign that God fulfills everything in His Word down to the tiniest detail, which means it is a sign that Jesus is alive and will return to reign from Mt. Zion.
Dan Baker
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