Revelation chapter 12: 1 to 6 - 'The Woman Clothed with the Sun'

1 A great and wondrous 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.
2 She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth.
3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads.
4 His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born.
5 She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron sceptre. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne.
6 The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.

This twelfth chapter of Revelation presents a picture of a woman in great pain and deep distress. She is clothed with the sun and has the moon under her feet. On her head she wears a crown of twelve stars.

Not only is she experiencing the pains of one about to give birth, but is terrified by an enormous seven-headed, ten-horned, red dragon. The woman recognises that the dragon's intention is to devour her child the moment that it is born. As the dragon awaits the birth of the child, it uses its tail to sweep a third of the stars of heaven and fling them to the earth.

The text does not provide any guidance concerning John's viewpoint within the vision. Therefore, for the sake of visual objectivity, I have selected a viewpoint somewhere out in space, with the woman, and therefore the sun, somewhat above the viewer, the moon on a similar level as the viewer, and with the earth beneath. Had I have opted for a view from the earth, the enormity of the dragon and the devastation being wreaked on the earth would not be so easily conveyed.

I have visualised one of the heads guiding the sweep of its tail through the heavens, and another observing the effectiveness of its actions in bringing devastation on the earth. The remaining five heads remain insidiously attentive to the woman.

Following repeated reading of the text, and with regard to the various observations of commentators, I am drawn to the conclusion that the ‘enormous red dragon’ that makes such a dramatic appearance in this twelfth chapter, and the ‘scarlet beast’ upon which - in chapter seventeen - the woman rides, is effectively the same entity - albeit in different phases of its life and in differing manifestations.

This appears to be inferred by Revelation 17:

‘The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and will come up out of the Abyss and go to his destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because he once was, now is not, and yet will come.

The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction. The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast.’
Revelation 17: 8,11&12

In addition, whereas the Authorised Version suggests that it is the Apostle John who, at the beginning of chapter thirteen, stands ‘… on the shore of the sea …’, most modern translations from the Revised Version of 1898 onward, state (either in the last verse of chapter twelve, or the first verse of chapter thirteen), that it is the enormous red dragon of chapter twelve which stands on the seashore, shortly to be confronted by the beast rising out of the sea. Within ‘modern translations’, I exclude the New King James Version which, in line with its policy of ‘equivalence’, has gone along with the AV translation.

The debate arises from the varying texts. Whereas the Sinaiticus Manuscript and the Alexandrinus (both in the British Library), give ‘it stood’, many other early sources give the reading, ‘I stood.’

When the Apostle refers to ‘horses’ and ‘men’, other than for the clothing of the latter, we have no difficulty in visualising their general form or appearance. Even when supplied with its colour and number of heads or horns, the same cannot be said when it comes to the anatomical form of that which is (at different times), described as either ‘a dragon’ or ‘a beast’.

Dragons are rife within Chinese mythology and will conjure up for most the picture of something resembling a reptile - albeit of giant proportions – and able to breathe out fire. Within Western art, the dragon frequently appears as an heraldic motif and appears in such contexts as being slain by Saint George.

Even so, in the Prophecy of Isaiah, there is a link between ‘the dragon’, ‘Egypt’ and ‘The Nile’. In most translations, this link may go unnoticed:

‘Awake, awake! Clothe yourself with strength,
O arm of the LORD;
awake, as in days gone by,
as in generations of old.
Was it not you who cut Rahab to pieces,
who pierced that monster through?’
Isaiah 51: 9

Although the NIV translation (above), and most other translations refer to ‘Rahab’, the New Living Translation translates this verse thus: 

‘Wake up, wake up, O Lord! Clothe yourself with strength!
Flex your mighty right arm!
Rouse yourself as in the days of old
when you slew Egypt, the dragon of the Nile.’
Isaiah 51: 9 (New Living Translation)

A footnote explains that Rahab is the name of a mythical sea monster that represents chaos in ancient literature. The name is used here as a poetic name for Egypt.

Since - along with other attempts at visualization – something resembling a reptile has achieved a consensus, I have based my visualization on an amalgam of reptilian-type creatures - including crocodiles, alligators, lizards and skulls of dinosaurs. Regarding the latter, I took photographs of such at the Natural History Museum of Bergen University, in Norway. Visually, the appearance of crocodiles and dinosaurs have clear similarities.