Who is the Woman in Revelation 12? Clothed with the Sun, the Moon...

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The Woman is "the Jerusalem that is Above"

The woman with the crown of twelve stars appears in the twelfth chapter of the book of Revelation. This page is the abridged version of my chapter on that topic. Click here to read the unabridged version of this page. 

I submit to you the understandings I have come to through long periods of prayer. Here are the first and last verses of chapter twelve:

"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...  

¹⁷ The 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" (Revelation 12:1,17).

In Revelation 12:17 we read about the "offspring" of the woman. We see that the woman is the mother of those who keep God's commandments and testify of Jesus. In other words, she is the mother of Christians, God's children. That gives us a clue as to the identity of the mother. It would be helpful if there was a scripture which expressly stated just who is the mother of God's children. There is. Galatians 4:26. Galatians 4:26 tells us that "the Jerusalem that is above" is the mother of God's children.  

"But the Jerusalem that is above is free, which is the mother of us all" 

(Galatians 4:26).

“The Jerusalem that is above" is the mother of Christians.

So, "the Jerusalem that is above" is the woman in Revelation 12:1.

You have probably never heard that "the Jerusalem that is above" is our mother. But, if you had been a first century Christian you probably would have known. Christians of the day were very aware of the significance of Jerusalem as the city that crucified Jesus... and very aware of Jesus' prophecy of its destruction. They suffered from continuous persecution from the Jews who were headquartered in the then present Jerusalem.

The book of Galatians was written and circulated throughout the Roman empire many years before the book of Revelation was written. So, Christians of that era would have been very aware that the present Jerusalem killed Christ and persecuted them (Galatians 4:25). They would have been aware that their mother was "the Jerusalem that is above". 

As I explain in my unabridged chapter about the woman, "the Jerusalem that is above" is the heavenly city of God in the spiritual realm where God dwells now. The "new Jerusalem" is the name of that city when it comes down to earth for our eternal dwelling with God, after the great white throne judgement in chapter 21 of Revelation.

There are many details presented about the woman throughout chapter 12 of the book of Revelation: sun, moon, crown, twelve stars, persecution, nourishment and etc. 

The old covenant is symbolized by the moon. The "covenant" in Revelation 11:19, is clearly the old covenant, represented by the stone tablets of the ten commandments in the ark. The old covenant, the lesser light according to 2 Corinthians 3:5-14, was replaced by the new covenant (chapters 8-10 of Hebrews, especially10:9). So, the moon under the feet of "the Jerusalem above" shows that the moon, the lesser light, being the old covenant, has been superseded by the new covenant, with which she is clothed... She is clothed in the sun of the new covenant. So the old covenant (the moon) is under the feet of "the Jerusalem above", the woman. The "Jerusalem above" is clothed with the greater light of the sun, representing the greater glory of the new covenant (2 Corinthians 3:7-8 as explained in my chapter on the woman). 

The first offspring of the woman was Christ. So, the phrase, "the rest of her offspring" means all His spiritual brothers and sisters (Christians).

Could the Woman be Israel?

Some say the the woman represents Israel. They point to similarities between the woman of Revelation 12 and Joseph's dream in Genesis. In Joseph's dream, the sun represented Jacob and the moon represented Rachel. The sun is God's glorious, life giving, sight giving light, of which the moon is merely a reflector. If Joseph's dream from Genesis 37:9-11 was the key to the identity of the woman in Revelation 12:1, then the sign in 12:1 would reveal Israel as the mother, clothed in Jacob (the sun) with Rachel (the moon) at her feet. 

This not scriptural, doesn't make sense, is demeaning to God, Rachel and women in general. The place of women in God's design is not under Israel's feet. Regarding Jacob, Israel would not be presented as being clothed with Jacob. Surely, there is something more glorious than Jacob for the woman to be clothed with! 

The woman in Revelation 12 wears a crown, indicating that she is a queen. The book of Revelation reveals Jesus as the "King of Kings" and the new Jerusalem as the bride of the "King of Kings" (17:14, 19:16, 19:7, 21:2). Well, the future state of "the Jerusalem above" is the new Jerusalem. So, it is not speculation to deduct that the crown worn by the woman points to her future state as the new Jerusalem, as queen. If Israel were the queen in Revelation 12:1, then Revelation would have told us that Israel was the bride of Christ. But no, the new Jerusalem is the bride of Christ, the queen of the "King of Kings". 

So, Israel as a woman, wearing the crown of a queen, is inconsistent with these other passages within the book of Revelation. In other words, the fact that the woman is wearing a crown appears to disqualify Israel as God's intended meaning of "the woman" in Revelation 12:1. The new Jerusalem, not Israel, is the bride of the "King of Kings". And the new Jerusalem is the future state of "the Jerusalem above".

You may still wonder if the twelve stars in the woman's crown mean that the woman in Revelation 12:1 is Israel. Israel did have twelve tribes. The number twelve is used in the book of Revelation to represent the twelve tribes of spiritual Israel, saved Israel (7:2-8, 14:1). These will inhabitant the new Jerusalem. The number twelve is also used in the book of Revelation to represent:

• twelve kinds of fruit of the tree of life in the new Jerusalem
• the twelve angels at the twelve gates of the new Jerusalem
• the names of the twelve apostles which are written on the twelve foundation stones in the new Jerusalem

So, regarding the twelve stars in the woman's crown, we can see that the number twelve in the book of Revelation refers to much more than the twelve tribes of spiritual Israel. Never in the book of Revelation are the twelve genetic tribes of Israel mentioned.

Therefore, while one aspect of the number twelve in the woman's crown reminds us of Israel, the totality of the number twelve in the book of Revelation points to the new Jerusalem. And the new Jerusalem is the future state of "Jerusalem Above", which I believe is the woman of Revelation 12.

I have prayerfully searched for an understanding of this passage which would be compatible with the theory that the woman is Israel. I see three versions of Israel to address: 

• genetic Israel
• spiritual Israel
• nation of Israel

Remember that the offspring of the woman are Christians. Are any of those three versions of Israel synonymous with "Christians". Well, genetic Israel would be the physical ancestors of Jacob (who God renamed as Israel). Spiritual Israel would be the believing Israelites. Most of the early Christians were genetic Israelites who trusted Christ. By their faith, we know that they were spiritual Israel. Spiritual Israel would also include gentiles who became citizens of spiritual Israel by faith in Christ. 

I don't believe that the woman is genetic Israel or the nation of Israel. Genetic Israel did not and will not become Christian since scripture says "only the remnant will be saved" (Romans 9:27). The nation of Israel did not hold to Jesus' testimony although spiritual Israel did. So the woman as the nation of Israel does not fit Revelation 12 because the nation of Israel actually fulfills the role of the dragon when it attacks "the rest of her offspring" those who testify of Jesus (12:17).  So the nation of Israel does not appear to be the woman.  However, I believe that spiritual Israel refers to the same group of people which the woman represents, but spiritual Israel is not how God reveals "the woman" in the book of Revelation. He reveals her as "the Jerusalem above", the forerunner of "the new Jerusalem", to focus on the proper view of this group of people in the next age. I explain all of this in greater detail, from the scriptures in the unabridged chapter on the woman.

In much prayer I have seen the three great covenants in the sign of the woman:

• Old Covenant
• Holy Covenant
• New Covenant

Dig Deeper into the Woman of Revelation 12

If you will click here to read the unabridged chapter about the woman, you will see how these three covenants are interrelated with the passage in Galatians which presents "Jerusalem Above". In the unabridged chapter I also include a detailed explanation of Galatians 2:16-4:31, explanation of other details regarding persecution and nourishment from chapter 12, a correlation of Revelation 12 with the structure of the entire book of Revelation and a General exegesis of Revelation chapter 12.