A possible interpretation of Rev 12.
Rev 12.1 A great 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.
The Woman appears to be Israel since she has 12 stars and has not yet given birth to her son, who is Christ. This refers, primarily, to believing Israel since her destiny is to be a nation of faith.
However, at the time Israel gave "birth" to Christ she was hardly godly. So, the emphasis is on the son, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.”
Rev 12.5 And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. 6 The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.
This scene is here looking forward from the time of Christ's ascension to the endtime period of Antichrist's rule, which is to be 1,260 days. But in the interim we are told that there is war in heaven among the angels.
Rev 12.7 Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9 The 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.
Satan has always opposed the people of God. However, now that Christ has ascended into heaven, and is destined to rule the earth, Satan wants to oppose the coming Kingdom on earth. We see this in Dan 7, where the "Little Horn," ie the Antichrist, persecutes God's people prior to the coming of the Son of Man from heaven to set up God's Kingdom.
Rev 12.12 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.”
The NT period is filled with Satanic fury, with many antichrists rising to oppose God's people, whether pagan barbarians, Muslim hordes, or Communist aggressors. It is all headed towards the final opposition of Antichrist for 3.5 years before the Son of Man returns with the clouds.
This time is called "short" for Satan. However, it is a long NT era. It is "short" relative to eternity, where Satan will be eternally separated from God's people.
Rev 12.13 When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. 14 The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach. 15 Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. 16 But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. 17 Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.
Note that the Woman, who seems to be Israel, had fled into the wilderness. This is similar to how Israel fled the ancient Egyptians into the Desert of Sinai. It is also similar to the NT escape of Jewish believers from the 70 AD judgment against Jerusalem. They fled into the wilderness at Pella.
But this appears to represent the Jewish Diaspora, since this period sits between the ascension of Christ and the 1260 days of Antichristian rule. Believing Jews are protected by the "two wings of a great eagle." Among the Christian nations there has been protection for the Jewish People that has preserved a place for faith among those people. Today, the US is a "great eagle" of sorts, protecting Israel in her "wilderness experience."
The "river" the serpent spews out appears to be antisemitism, in the form of political parties and armies that have sought to destroy both the Jews and the home of the Jews in Israel. But every time the Jews faced annihilation the "earth swallowed up the river." The persecutors were destroyed.
The "rest of the Woman's offspring" are those beyond Christ himself who are spiritual children of Israel, both Jew and non-Jew. These are they who in our time are opposed by Satan and who will ultimately triumph over the Antichrist.
