Who or what is the woman with the sun on her headin Revelation 12?

Question

what does this prophecy refer to? is it a kingdom or a religious power?what do these different lights she is wearing mean.is it about the end of time or time of the end?why purple apparel?

Answer 1

Revelation 12
The Woman and the Dragon
1A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. 3Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. 4His 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. 5She 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. 6The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.
7And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
10Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
"Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God,
and the authority of his Christ.
For the accuser of our brothers,
who accuses them before our God day and night,
has been hurled down.
11They overcame him
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much
as to shrink from death.
12Therefore rejoice, you heavens
and you who dwell in them!
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."
13When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. 14The 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. 15Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. 16But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. 17Then 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.


The woman is Israel and the moon and sun is reference to Jacob and Rachael the forbearer of Israel is pretty much allusions of Joseph’s dreams in Genesis 37:


9 Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. "Listen," he said, "I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me."
10 When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, "What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?" 11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.


Sounds similar to this:


Revelation 12
1A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.


Now Israel not Mary as some would think gives birth to a male child (Jesus) who is to rule with an Iron scepter. The Dragon is obviously Satan and the 7 heads and crowns are how long the Dragon is to rule for 7 years and 10 horns are the 10 Confederate Governments that shall rule with him and give the beast the power. The 1/3 of the stars fell from the sky is an allusion to when Satan persuaded 1/3 of the angels to follow him in revolt of the Lord God.


The woman (Israel) flees to the ancient ruins of Petra/Bozrah south of Jordan to be protected by God. During this time the raptured followers of Jesus are given their crown they are pestered by the Devil accusing them they are not worthy to be saved but his accusation (Satan) are in Vain. God having enough of his dribble and comments from the peanut gallery expels Satan out of the atmospheric heaven.

For the accuser of our brothers,
who accuses them before our God day and night,
has been hurled down.
11They overcame him
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much
as to shrink from death.


Satan angry at his expulsion from the atmospheric heaven persecutes Israel and those who follow God’s commandments. This will be the greatest holocaust of both Jews and Christians. Only the one that perseveres shall be blessed

Answer 2

Yes, it is. That's a prophecy related to the divine rejection of the Ten Tribes of the North, and re-anointing of the Tribe of Judah in the South, according to Psalms 78:67,68. It means that the woman, Israel, the Ten Tribes died of her pangs to give birth to a son, the new Israel, already a people, according to Isaiah 66:8,9. That's the new Israel, sprung from the stock of Judah, according to Isaiah 48:1. That's very difficult to understand without a thorough explanation of the steps delineated throughout the book of Isaiah. In short, the woman is an allegory to represent all the 12 Tribes. Ten giving birth to two: Benjamin and Judah, and dying at childbirth as a symbol for the renewal of the election of one of the Tribes: Judah

Answer 3

The term “woman” is used to represent the human race. Here John is presenting the “woman” as the church of God, or in other words, the group of people in mortality who wear “robes” (their works) filled with the light of “the sun” (the illumination of truth and righteousness). To guide the “footsteps of the woman” throughout mortality, the people have been given the prophets of God (“the moon under her feet”).

Because John was called as a Jewish prophet, and subsequently used Jewish symbolism and time frames in his expressions throughout Revelation, he presents here that the power and authority (“the crown”) of truth and righteousness was established through Abraham, whose lineage is the twelve tribes of Israel (“twelve stars”). However, this reference is purely figurative, as it has already been explained that the term “twelve tribes” represents all those in every culture and in every time period who keep the commandments of God.


This is the correct translation of the verse:

12:1 And there appeared a great sign in heaven showing those things as they are upon the earth. And I saw a woman clothed in a robe as if it were the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head there was a crown of twelve stars.

...The color “scarlet” is used by the prophets to signify wickedness, and is usually always referring to worldliness. Traditionally, “scarlet” is the color of flame, and may also refer to the color of “blood” (see commentary on Revelation 5:9).

...Isaiah describes sins as being “scarlet” (the color of blood); and tells the people that if they are willing and obedient in doing good (and the good is described as taking care of the needy, which is the true purpose of religion and the commandments of the Father), then they shall become as “white as snow” through these good works.

If you want to not only understand this, but ALL of Revelation, you can read the book at the site below. It is FREE, and explains every verse of every chapter in plainness.

Answer 4

And a great portent appeared in Heaven - a woman clothed with sun,with the moon under her feet,and on her head a crown of 12 stars The seed of Eve will bruise the serpent's head.Already in the beginning God had elected Mary to her unique vocation in the scheme of salvation.It is the obscure people whom God chooses for his work.Among them a special place belongs to Mary.We are not wrong in believing that long ago she was conceived in the womb of Anna.Mary was anthologically conceived and sanctified for the divine purpose,so that we could also apply to her work of the Lord ,which came to Jeremiah."Before i formed you in the womb - i knew you - and before you were born,i consecrated you"JER.1:5

EDIT...To Chris. What do you mean she is not a virgin anymore ? Anyway you have been outvoted so you must have the wrong Bible.

There seems to be a conflict going on about Mary, due to, i think, different versions of the Bible. See how dangerous it is having different translations of the Bible.Which one is the correct one out of the more than 50 versions in English alone?

Answer 5

The kingdom of heaven is at hand, peace be with your.
The woman clothed with the sun is Eve and it speaking of the first Age, the first seal, the white horse, The Christ is to rule the first 12 with an iron rod, but he is killed by the red dragon. This is the Age before "in the beginning" God the creator. God the Father, made man (spirits) in His image, than God made man "Male and Female" God the Father did not make "man and woman" but God made man (the spirits) "Male and Female" (Dinosaurs) who roamed the entire earth, for the earth was all one Continent lush and green, at that time.

God the Father sent the Christ to destroy the earth, and made the earth 2 continents, "Let there be light, and He separated the "light" from the "darkness" God the Father separated Himself from the red dragon.

2nd Age (2nd Seal)
God the Father than prepared a place for Eve, the Land of Nod for a thousand two hundred and threescore days.

3rd Age (3rd Seal)
LORD God (the Christ) than prepared a place for Eve, the Garden of Eden

4th Age (4th Seal)
LORD God warns Noah of a flood.

Revelation 13
5th Age (5th Seal)
tells of Abraham, and of Moses. Moses is Rev 13:10-18

God the Father does not need men to create children. He just need a woman to bring His children into the world. Eve was that first woman. Adam was born in the 2nd Age, and his son born of the red dragon, Cain killed Abel the first born of God the Father.

Answer 6

I agree with Pathofreason. Virgin or not, it is Mary.
Revelation 12:2-6 tells us the story of Mary's flit
in Egypt. She escaped from the Dragon that was in Herod the Great and she stayed there until his death in 4 BCE. She lived in Egypt exactly for 1260 days, like is said in the Revelation.

Answer 7

No other than the Virgin Mary, the new Eve.

[12:1-14:20] This central section of Rev portrays the power of evil, represented by a dragon, in opposition to God and his people. First, the dragon pursues the woman about to give birth, but her son is saved and "caught up to God and his throne" (Rev 12:5). Then Michael and his angels cast the dragon and his angels out of heaven (Rev 12:7-9). After this, the dragon tries to attack the boy indirectly by attacking members of his church (Rev 12:13-17). A beast, symbolizing the Roman empire, then becomes the dragon's agent, mortally wounded but restored to life and worshiped by all the world (Rev 13:1-10). A second beast arises from the land, symbolizing the antichrist, which leads people astray by its prodigies to idolize the first beast (Rev 13:11-18). This is followed by a vision of the Lamb and his faithful ones, and the proclamation of imminent judgment upon the world in terms of the wine of God's wrath (Rev 14:1-20).

2 [1] The woman adorned with the sun, the moon, and the stars (images taken from Genesis 37:9-10) symbolizes God's people in the Old and the New Testament. The Israel of old gave birth to the Messiah (Rev 12:5) and then became the new Israel, the church, which suffers persecution by the dragon (Rev 12:6, 13-17); cf Isaiah 50:1; 66:7; Jeremiah 50:12. This corresponds to a widespread myth throughout the ancient world that a goddess pregnant with a savior was pursued by a horrible monster; by miraculous intervention, she bore a son who then killed the monster.

3 [2] Because of Eve's sin, the woman gives birth in distress and pain (Genesis 3:16; cf Isaiah 66:7-14).

Added: Guys who say it is not the Virgin Mary: Where does you authority to interpret Scripture come from? Mine comes from the Church authorized by Jesus.

Answer 8

It refers to the Virgin Mary. This story is symbolic of Herod (The Devils) attempt to kill the messiah. The 12 stars represent the 12 tribes of Israel. The dragon the represents satan. It's basically a condensed/ Coded version of the Messianic prophesy in regards to Jesus.
John doesn't use a historic narrative here but rather he uses near eastern imagery. John borrows from old apocalyptic motifs, some have roots in Babylonian, Persian, Egyptian and Greek mythology. Purple was the color of Royalty .

Answer 9

It is NOT the "virgin Mary". She's not a virgin anymore anyhow.

It is the Jewish people, and the 12 stars are the 12 tribes of Israel.

And to a poster above me, no, Revelation is not about Nero.

Revelation is yet future, everything after chapter 3 will happen in the future.

Answer 10

Revelations itself is really a coded political statement about the state of Rome at the time it was written. Once you realize that the infamous number 666 refers to Nero, and learn a bit of the history of that time, Revelations reads a bit better.

To the poster above: Sorry mate, Herod died several years before the "year 1" that was picked as the point for the birth of the pseudomessiah, so that story kinda cancels itself out.