It is difficult to understand the book of Revelation. If we would rightly interpret this book, we need all the other sixty-five books of the Bible. Hence, in order to understand who this woman is, we need the whole Bible. Some Christian teachers have held the concept that this woman is Mary, the mother of Jesus, and that the man-child is Jesus. This concept, however, does not suit the context of this chapter because Jesus ascended to the heavens nearly two thousand years ago. But in 12:5 and 6 we are told that the man-child will be raptured to the throne of God and that, following this, the woman will be nourished for “a thousand two hundred and sixty days” (v. 6). These twelve hundred sixty days are three and a half years or forty-two months (12:14; 11:2-3; 13:5), which will be the period of the great tribulation. This proves that the man-child is not the Lord Jesus and that the woman is not Mary. Mary was just a single woman on earth, but this woman is universally corporate and is revealed in heaven.
Others say that this woman is Israel, the Jewish race. Some of those who hold this view take Genesis 37:9 as their basis. According to this verse, Joseph had a dream in which “the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance” to him. Since the woman wears the sun and the twelve stars and stands upon the moon, apparently corresponding to Joseph’s dream concerning his family, it is said that the woman in Revelation 12 must signify Israel, the Jewish people. But 12:17 proves that this woman does not only comprise those who “keep the commandments of God,” but also those who “have the testimony of Jesus.” Those who “keep the commandments of God” are Jews. However, those who “have the testimony of Jesus” must be New Testament believers, not Jews. This is a strong proof that the woman is not only composed of Jews but of two classes of people: the Jews who keep the commandments of God and the believers who have the testimony of Jesus. Therefore, to say that this woman is merely Israel does not fit the whole context of this chapter.
The woman in this chapter is the totality of God’s people. According to the vision, this totality is in three sections: the section of her head with the twelve stars, the section of her body clothed with the sun, and the section of her feet on the moon. Hence, this woman is universal, composed of the twelve stars, the moon, and the sun. In Joseph’s dream, the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars plus Joseph himself signified the total composition of God’s people on earth. Based upon the principle of that dream, the sun, the moon, and the twelve stars here must signify the totality of God’s people on earth, which in this chapter is symbolized by a woman.
Most of her being is clothed with the sun. The sun signifies God’s people in the New Testament age. Before Christ came into the world, it was the dark night of the Old Testament age. When Christ came, it was the sunrising from on high (Luke 1:78 KJV, margin), the beginning of the age of the sun. Before that, it was the age of the moon, which signifies God’s people in the Old Testament time. The moon is under the feet of the woman, for the age of the moon was the age of the law, which should not be exalted as the stars. The stars, which signify the patriarchs, God’s people before the law was given, are on her head as a crown. All God’s people in these three ages, who together constitute this woman, are light bearers. Hence, she is the bright woman shining throughout all generations.
If we read the Bible carefully, we shall see that God’s people are grouped into three sections. Firstly, there are the patriarchs, who lived from the time of Adam until the time of Moses; secondly, there are the people under the law, from Moses until Christ’s first coming; thirdly, there are those from Christ’s first coming to His coming the second time, the believers who compose the church. Those in the third category are the majority of God’s people in the universe. The patriarchs are symbolized by the twelve stars (Dan. 12:3) shining individually in the night with heavenly light. All the patriarchs were individual stars. They dwelt in the nighttime because, in their age, Christ had not yet come and day had not dawned. As individual stars, they are a crown for this universal woman, symbolizing the glory of God’s grace and His economy exalted. The number twelve signifies completion in God’s eternal economy. The patriarchs, who are in the principle of God’s grace, were not under the law; hence, they were a crown exalted above the head of the woman. All the patriarchs, such as Abel, Enosh, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, are considered to be a crown.