1A great sign was seen in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. 2She was with child. She cried out in pain, laboring to give birth.
3Another sign was seen in heaven. Behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven crowns. 4His tail drew one third of the stars of the sky, and threw them to the earth. The dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child. 5She gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. Her child was caught up to God and to his throne. 6The woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that there they may nourish her one thousand two hundred sixty days.
7There was war in the sky. Michael and his angels made war on the dragon. The dragon and his angels made war. 8They didn’t prevail. No place was found for them any more in heaven. 9The great dragon was thrown down, the old serpent, he 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.
10I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, the power, and the Kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ has come; for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them before our God day and night. 11They overcame him because of the Lamb’s blood, and because of the word of their testimony. They didn’t love their life, even to death. 12Therefore rejoice, heavens, and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and to the sea, because the devil has gone down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has but a short time.”
13When the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. 14Two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, so that she might be nourished for a time, times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. 15The serpent spewed water out of his mouth after the woman like a river, that he might cause her to be carried away by the stream. 16The earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the river which the dragon spewed out of his mouth. 17The dragon grew angry with the woman, and went away to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep God’s commandments and hold Jesus’ testimony.
The persecution of the woman by the dragon was thwarted by her flight into the wilderness and the earth’s swallowing the dragon’s river that flooded after her, and so he attacked her offspring instead. Satan is referred to once more as “the dragon.” This brings us back into the vision. The dragon turns his attention to the woman, indicating that Satan will turn his attention to Israel when he is cast out of heaven for the last time. The wings of an eagle picture swift flight. The indication is that God will provide a swift means of escape to His people, Israel, to go to a place of safety. Being nourished indicates that God will provide for His people as they flee from Satan’s servants, who will be introduced in the next two signs. The identification of “time, times, and half a time” connects this period to Daniel’s prophecy of the final week in his seventy-week prophecy (Dan 12:7).
The dragon spewing out a river from his mouth pictures the attempt of Satan to overwhelm and destroy all of Israel as they flee from him to God’s provided safety. The idea of the earth swallowing the river is that God will protect His people and enable them to reach safety despite Satan’s attempt. There will not be a literal river; this is figurative language. Satan will work through human agents to hunt down and kill all Jews. This will likely be initiated by the Antichrist, the Beast out of the Sea who will be introduced in the next sign.
“The rest of her offspring” refers to tribulation saints, Gentile believers who come to faith in Christ during the Tribulation. Keeping God’s commandments indicates their faithfulness to God and subsequent rejection of the moral and spiritual values of the Antichrist’s world system. Further, the “testimony of Jesus” indicates their faith in Christ. Thus, the indication is that when the Israelites are safely out of the Antichrist’s reach, Satan, through him, will seek to hunt down and destroy all those on the earth who believe in and obey Jesus.