Revelation 12

The book is traditionally attributed to John the Apostle,[1][2] but the precise identity of the author remains a point of academic debate.

[4] William Robertson Nicoll, a Scottish Free Church minister, suggests that in this chapter the writer has created a Christianised version of a Jewish source which "described the birth of the Messiah in terms borrowed from ... cosmological myths [such as] that of the conflict between the sun-god and the dragon of darkness and the deep".

[14] Anglican biblical commentator William Boyd Carpenter writes that "the word sign is preferable to wonder, both in this verse and in Revelation 12:3.

It is a sign which is seen: not a mere wonder, but something which has a meaning; it is not 'a surprise ending with itself', but a signal to arrest attention, and possessing significance; there is 'an idea concealed behind it'.

Michael (Mikha'el in David H. Stern's translation of the Bible into English) appears in the Book of Daniel as "the special patron or guardian angel of the people of Israel".

The "woman" is traditionally believed to be the Blessed Virgin Mary whom the Early Church honored as the Queen of Heaven . Prior to the presentation of the woman, John saw a vision of the Ark of the Covenant in heaven. The early Church Fathers saw John's vision of the "woman" right afterward as an indication of Mary as the "Ark of the New Covenant". [ 10 ] Mary the Theotokos carried the holy presence of Christ the Word incarnate , the great High Priest, and the bread of life ––just as the old Ark of Israel carried the holy presence of God's word (Ten Commandments), Aaron's priestly staff, and the bread from heaven (manna).
Illustration of the woman of the Apocalypse in Hortus deliciarum (redrawing of an illustration dated c. 1180), depicting various events from the narrative in Revelations 12 in a single image.
Inscription quoting Revelation 12:1.
Der Engelsturz ("Fall of the rebel angels"), by Peter Paul Rubens , between 1621 and 1622.