Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
Politics and Religion
The Christ Child in Revelation

The Christ Child in Revelation

Last updated on: December 23, 2020 at 6:00 am by Gene Veith

0 Comments

The Christ Child in Revelation 2020-12-20T17:17:16-05:00 Gene Veith

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

What we know about the nativity of Jesus comes from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Mark starts his account of Christ with His baptism, and John goes back as far as possible for His origin: “ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). Then, like Mark, John jumps to John the Baptist.

But John does write about the Christ Child, not in his Gospel but in the Book of Revelation.

Like everything in that description of a vision, the account is enigmatic and mysterious. But it’s John’s Christmas story. And it’s also about us today:

And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. 2 She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. 3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. 4 His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. 5 She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, 6 and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days. (Rev. 12:1-6)

Most of the attention given to this passage has to do with the identity of the woman. We’ll discuss that controversy later. But most commentators agree that the child “who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron” is Jesus.

This passage describes the great hatred that the dragon, explicitly identified as Satan, has for Christ. How he sought to kill the child, recalling his servant Herod and the slaughter of the innocents. All through the child’s life, Satan tried to “devour him,” until Christ’s Ascension. Whereupon this “dragon” is defeated and “thrown down.”

Even though Satan is defeated and thwarted, he continues to persecute the woman and “the rest of her offspring”; namely, us Christians:

7 Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, 8 but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. . . .

13 And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. 14 But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time. 15 The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood. 16 But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth. 17 Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. (Rev. 7-9; 13-17)

So who is the woman who gives birth to the child? The Virgin Mary? Catholics certainly think so. They see in the “woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars” the Queen of Heaven, whom they portray in their iconography as standing on the crescent moon with stars in her hair. (I had heard that the medieval depictions of Mary with the moon under her feet derive from depictions of the pagan moon-goddess Diana, which is evidence that the veneration of the Virgin Mary is simply a displacement of early European goddess-worship. But the imagery clearly derives instead from this passage.)

And yet, this passage does not completely accord with Catholic Mariology. This woman “was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth.” Catholics believe that Mary had an “immaculate conception,” so that she was born without original sin. That means that she was not under the curse of Eve, which included “pain in childbearing” (Gen 3:16). Thus, Catholic piety insists that she experienced no pain in giving birth to Jesus.

A Protestant reading could also allow for the woman to be the Virgin Mary. We know that Jesus on the Cross entrusted His mother to John’s care (John 19:17). Revelation is said to have been written by John when he was at an advanced age. By then, Mary would have died–or, as Catholics believe, ascended into Heaven, since her lack of original sin meant that she was not under the sentence of death–and John would have surely thought of her as being in Heaven.

Yet the passage goes on to describe the dragon’s persecution of the woman in extended and elaborate conflicts. We don’t know how Satan might have tormented Mary after her Son’s Ascension, but what Revelation describes here sounds more universal. The dragon is also making war “on the rest of her offspring,” clearly identified as “those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus”; that is on Christians. I’m not sure that even Catholics would consider Christians to be “offspring” of Mary.

This leads to other interpretations of the woman’s identity. Some say she represents the Church. But the Book of Revelation depicts the Church as Christ’s bride, not His mother. And surely the Church doesn’t bring forth Christ; rather, He brings forth the Church. Others interpret the woman as Israel. Certainly, Satan has persecuted the Jews since Christ’s ascension, but, as a group, they have not been in league with Jesus.

The Lutheran Study Bible probably gives the best answer in saying that she represents “God’s People,” both in the Old Testament and in the age of the Church. The Jews did give birth to Christ, and the Church was being severely persecuted at the time of John’s vision and thereafter, including today. Then again, as Al Collver of the LCMS points out, the Virgin Mary is a type of the Church, the New Israel, so perhaps the symbols all come together.

At any rate, the message of Christmas is unambiguously given in John’s account:

10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers[b] has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. 11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. 12 Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! (Rev 12:10-12)

(This post revisits a topic from 10 years ago.)

Image: “The Virgin of the Apocalypse,” by Miguel Cabrera (1790), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Previous Post

December 22, 2020

Developments in the Sexual Revolution

Next Post

December 24, 2020 Eerie Christmas Songs

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"Archaeology: It's the case that we don't have to go back very far to discover ..."

DakotaLutheran

Luther on Tools

"Turns out, she wasn’t the right tool for the job."

1another

Luther on Tools

"You may have just given me my next sermon opening line."

1another

Luther on Tools

"So Katie Zacharia lasted only a demiScaramucci as press secretary......"

reg

Luther on Tools

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category America Apologetics Art baseball Bible Blog Christ Church crime Culture Economics Education Ethics Family Food Football Government History Holidays Holy Week Humor International Islam Language Law Life Issues Literature Media Medicine Movies Music Nature News Personal Philosophy Politics psychology Reformation Religions Sacraments Science sex Social Science Sports technology television terrorism Theology Uncategorized Vocation war

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What character trait is praised in the Parable of the Good Samaritan?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Compassion Deceit Selfishness Pride

Books by This Author Books by Gene Veith

See All Titles »