1 AND A great sign (wonder)--[warning of future events of ominous significance] appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and with a crown like garland (tiara) of twelve stars on her head.
Remember that the Book of Revelation is not written just in chronological order. This chapter is simply Jesus showing John something further to clarify the vision of the end times.
The woman that John is shown here is the Church, 2 Corinthians 11:2 and Ephesians 5:23-27. The woman is not a depiction of Israel. Israel is Jacob, a man, masculine, the church though is often referred to as a woman in the Bible, the Bride of Christ. The Church’s power is Christ, which is the anointing of God and Jesus is the Sun. The moon is the Old Testament; the church came out of the Old Testament and the Old Covenant has been done away with, this is why John sees the moon under the woman’s feet. Then the Crown of stars represents the church’s authority, 12 Apostles, 12 Patriarchs. So the woman that is shown here is the Church, it is not Israel or Jesus, as was so often preached to me as a child.
2 She was pregnant and she cried out in her birth pangs, in the anguish of her delivery.
The church birthed Jesus. Jesus was the first begotten of many brethren, Revelation 1:5. Israel did not birth Jesus, the Holy Spirit birthed Him. Israel had sin, but since Jesus was born of the Holy Spirit, He was without any fault or sin. The strength of the Church is the Holy Spirit. Jesus was birthed in tribulation; He was hated and persecuted from the beginning of His life. The Church has been persecuted and hated from the very beginning as well. The Church is people who are born of the Holy Spirit and of a woman and Jesus was the first One of us born this way.
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