The Woman and the Dragon
A radiant woman appears in heaven clothed with the sun, standing over the moon, and crowned with twelve stars, imagery that marks her with covenantal and cosmic dignity. She is pregnant and crying out in the agony of birth. The vision presents the people of God as a mother in travail, poised on the edge of messianic fulfillment through pain.
A1nd a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed in the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2She was pregnant and crying out in the pain and agony of giving birth.
A great red dragon then appears with terrifying royal and beastly imagery, sweeping down a third of the stars and positioning himself to destroy the child as soon as he is born. But the woman gives birth to a son who is destined to rule the nations, and instead of being devoured he is caught up to God and to His throne. The woman herself flees into the wilderness, where God has prepared a place to nourish her for 1,260 days. The paragraph shows satanic hostility frustrated by God's sovereign protection and exaltation.
3Then another sign appeared in heaven: a huge red dragon with seven heads, ten horns, and seven royal crowns on his heads. 4His tail swept a third of the stars from the sky, hurling them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, ready to devour her child as soon as she gave birth. 5And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was caught up to God and to His throne. 6And the woman fled into the wilderness, where God had prepared a place for her to be nourished for 1,260 days.