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Revelation 12
1 A 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. 2 She was with child. She cried out in pain, laboring to give birth.
a woman clothed with the sun
Let us rejoice and be exceedingly glad, and let us give the glory to him. For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready." It was given to her that she would array herself in bright, pure, fine linen: for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. (Revelation 19:7-8)
How does the Bible define the meaning of a symbolic woman?
How the faithful city has become a prostitute! She was full of justice; righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers. (Isaiah 1:21)
The comely and delicate one, the daughter of Zion, will I cut off. (Jeremiah 6:2)
Now when I passed by you, and looked at you, behold, your time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over you, and covered your nakedness: yes, I swore to you, and entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord Yahweh, and you became mine. Then washed I you with water; yes, I thoroughly washed away your blood from you, and I anointed you with oil. I clothed you also with embroidered work, and shod you with sealskin, and I girded you about with fine linen, and covered you with silk. I decked you with ornaments, and I put bracelets on your hands, and a chain on your neck. I put a ring on your nose, and earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head. Thus you were decked with gold and silver; and your clothing was of fine linen, and silk, and embroidered work; you ate fine flour, and honey, and oil; and you were exceeding beautiful, and you prospered to royal estate. Your renown went forth among the nations for your beauty; for it was perfect, through my majesty which I had put on you, says the Lord Yahweh. (Ezekiel 16:8-14)
For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy. For I married you to one husband, that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:2)
But the Jerusalem that is above is free, which is the mother of us all. (Galatians 4:26)
This woman likely represents the people who are chosen to reflect God's glory on earth. Their description is in terms revealing the nature of the kingdom of heaven distinct and different from the character of God's opponent that we will soon see by contrast. Of course this symbolic woman can be seen throughout history under different human labels, but in essence she is composed of humans who respond to the leading of the Spirit of God in whatever age they live out their lives on earth.
My dove, my perfect one, is the only one, the darling of her mother, flawless to her that bore her. The maidens saw her and called her happy; the queens and concubines also, and they praised her. "Who is this that looks forth like the dawn, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible [awesome] as an army with banners?"
I went down to the nut orchard, to look at the blossoms of the valley, to see whether the vines had budded, whether the pomegranates were in bloom. Before I was aware, my fancy set me in a chariot beside my prince. Return, return, O Shulammite! Return, return, that we may look upon you. Why should you look upon the Shulammite, as upon a dance before two armies? (Song of Solomon 6:9-13 NRSV)
There are other potential meanings of this woman we might ponder for what they're worth. This woman gives birth to the man-child Jesus. While literally the woman who gave birth to Christ was Mary of Nazareth, Revelation is made up of symbols, so we should be reticent to jump to that conclusion directly. Another aspect seldom considered is that in the family unit of the Godhead, of which humans are created to reflect, the Holy Spirit fulfills best the role of Mother and nurturer, the One who brings to birth righteousness from within.
It was the Holy Spirit that hovered literally over and in the body of Mary, enabling her to receive the physicalized seed from the Heavenly Father that resulted in the human form of God's Son, Jesus the Christ. Thus in a very real sense the Holy Spirit was the Mother of Christ from heaven's perspective. That Spirit is the same Mother who infuses the seed of righteousness into the spirit of all who consent to be impregnated with the mind of Christ.
My little children, of whom I am again in travail until Christ is formed in you-- but I could wish to be present with you now, and to change my tone, for I am perplexed about you. (Galatians 4:19-20)
Jesus answered, "Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he can't enter into the Kingdom of God! That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Don't marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born anew.' The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don't know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit." (John 3:5-8)
This raises compelling implications when compared with the woman described in Revelation 17 who is called the mother of harlots. For instance, if this woman in chapter 12 might in part represent the Mother aspect of the Godhead called the Holy Spirit, then the woman riding the beast as the ultimate prostitute could also represent the opposite spirit who exploits others through seduction, intimidation and even violence. But that leads to another study.
a woman clothed with the sun
He had seven stars in his right hand. Out of his mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining at its brightest. (Revelation 1:16)
Bless Yahweh, my soul. Yahweh, my God, you are very great. You are clothed with honor and majesty. He covers himself with light as with a garment. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain. (Psalms 104:1-2)
Who is she who looks forth as the morning, beautiful as the moon, clear as the sun, and awesome as an army with banners? (Song of Solomon 6:10)
The sun shall be no more your light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light to you: but Yahweh will be to you an everlasting light, and your God your glory. Your sun shall no more go down, neither shall your moon withdraw itself; for Yahweh will be your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning shall be ended. (Isaiah 60:19-20)
Clothing represents character in Scripture. Clothes often convey messages related to identity, status or responsibility. What we wear often expresses important aspects of how we feel about ourselves.
I will greatly rejoice in Yahweh, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. (Isaiah 61:10)
He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his garments became as white as the light. (Matthew 17:2)
But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, for its lusts. (Romans 13:14)
Put on therefore, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, humility, and perseverance; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, if any man has a complaint against any; even as Christ forgave you, so you also do. Above all these things, walk in love, which is the bond of perfection. (Colossians 3:12-14)
But to you who fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in its wings [rays]. You will go out, and leap like calves of the stall. (Malachi 4:2)
This woman is clothed with the sun of righteousness. But note that this light is full of healing. We also read that the leaves of the Tree of Life in heaven are potent for healing.
He showed me a river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On this side of the river and on that was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruits, yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. (Revelation 22:1-2)
Significantly, at the beginning of history we find leaves also being used for clothing, but for very a different purpose. No sooner had our first parent's indulged in the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, they suddenly felt ashamed of their natural nakedness and felt desperate to cover up in more ways than one. They quickly began figuring out ways to hide their vulnerability, stitching together leaves (quite possible from the Tree they had just aligned with in their thinking) to mask over what they now believed to be shameful. This all because their entire way of valuing everything had been turned upside down and the deep emotional wounds of sin were being infected by dis-ease.
The eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. (Genesis 3:7)
There is good reason to believe that previous to the fall, our human bodies were clothed with light, not physical clothing. This is glimpsed in the stories of Moses as well as what was witnessed on the Mount of Transfiguration when Jesus was clothed with light like the sun. This light is not designed to hide but to reveal. Heaven's atmosphere is not about hiding everything like sin leads us to do, but living in full transparency and vulnerability without any trace of fear or shame. It was not until sin infected and warped our perceptions of value and distorted our thinking about vulnerability that the idea of covering up became popular. Because of this God's temporary remedy for His new human children was to cover them with animal skins*, not light. They could no longer stand the exposure of living in the transparency that light brings, so until their inner selves were restored to their original design, they and all of us throughout succeeding generations rely on substitute clothing to hide the shame of our nakedness until we are ready to return to living openly in the light once again.
This is the nature of judgment as Jesus defines it, for judgment is all about exposing through the natural effect of light coming close to us. This theme keeps reoccurring repeatedly throughout our study of this book.
This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light, and doesn't come to the light, lest his works would be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his works may be revealed, that they have been done in God. (John 3:19-21)
Given this perspective, this symbolic woman clothed with the sun could represent all who are being restored to the original design of humanity. They are willing to be fully exposed by the brilliant light of truth and love that has come into the world and consent to be so saturated by His Spirit that their lives reflect the same glory that the true Son reflected – the Sun of Righteousness. They choose to come to Jesus, the light of the world, so that the light will expose the amazing truth that everything they do is in God. This is what it means to be a human; it means to live as an imager of the glory of God who is the origin of all light, beauty, truth, love and power.
God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:" (Genesis 1:26)
Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:17-18)
* God did not clothe Adam with the skin of an animal because of a divine need to be appeased, but because of their unconditional love for Adam; they spoke the language of Adam’s own judgment: Adam, not God, was embarrassed about his nakedness.
The clothing was not to make God look at Adam differently, but to make Adam feel better about himself! And ultimately it was to prepare Adam for the unveiling of the mystery of mankind’s redemption in the incarnation.
Here, Deity would clothe themselves in human skin in a son, and the Lion of Judah, would become the Lamb of God, in order to free our minds to re discover his image and likeness in our skin!
Humankind is tailor-made for God!
[Francois du Toit. See 1 Peter 1:18-19 in the Mirror Study Bible]
