Greetings! Welcome back to our series on Revelation chapter 12 where we are studying the scenario of the sun-clothed woman and the great red dragon. We are in the process of identifying the symbols in the scenario. So far, we’ve learned the sun-clothed woman is Jerusalem, and the sun, moon, and starts symbolize the children of Israel. In this post, we’re going to talk about the identity of the man child. Okay… let’s get into this!

Revelation Chapter 12

Third in an Eleven-Part Series
By Karen Thompson

The Dragon’s Assault on the Sun-Clothed Woman

Rev. 12:1 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. 2 And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. 3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. 4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. 5 And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. 6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.

The Sun-Clothed Woman Is Pregnant With a Man Child

In verse two, we see that the sun-clothed woman is pregnant: “She being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.” The woman is pregnant and about to give birth. This is yet another clue that tells us the identity of the woman is Jerusalem. Let’s look at all the different clues that gives us the identity of the man child.

First, the sun-clothed woman is Jerusalem; and as such, she symbolizes a group of people. Therefore, it stands to reason that if the woman symbolizes a group, then her offspring most certainly symbolizes a group as well. So we’re looking at the identity of the man child as being a group of people.

Second, the biblical law of reproduction in Genesis chapter one will help us identify what group of people the man child represents. Genesis 1:21 tells us every seed must bring forth its own kind. The seed of a tree doesn’t produce a flower. The seed of a cow doesn’t produce a cat. Therefore, the seed of the woman will produce after her own kind. The man child of a necessity will have the woman’s DNA. Simply put, according to the law of reproduction, the 144,000 servants we saw being sealed on their foreheads in chapter seven qualify as the woman’s seed. Remember, the 144,000 servants came from the 12 tribes of Israel: “Of the tribe of Juda were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Nephthalim were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Manasses were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand” (vv. 5–8). There is no other group of people in the book of Revelation that could symbolize the man child. The only group that qualifies as the seed of the woman are the 144,000 servants that are sealed during the first three and one-half years of the 70th week.

Third, as a confirmation that the 144,000 and the man child are one and the same, we see that both the man child and the 144,000 servants are destined to help rule the nations. When we see the 144,000 in heaven, it says about them that they follow the Lamb “whithersoever he goeth” (Rev. 14:4). They are always at His side, which tells us they assist Him in an administrative capacity, helping Him to rule His kingdom. Then in Revelation 12:15, it says about the man child, “And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron.”

Fourthly, notice how the woman’s offspring is referred to as a “man” child. The child is male in gender. Revelation 14:4 says about the 144,000 servants that they never had sexual relations with women, that they are virgins. That means there are no women in the group. All 144,000 servants from the 12 tribes of Israel are men, hence, a “man” child.

Lastly, let’s look at it from a common-sense perspective. In Revelation chapter 12, we see the man child, who symbolizes a group of people, being caught up to heaven, raptured out of earth: “and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne” (v. 5). The next two chapters describe the aftermath of what happens on earth and in heaven after the war in Revelation chapter 12. In chapter 14, John said he saw the 144,000 servants standing with Jesus in heaven. If the man child and the 144,000 servants are not one and the same, then we have a conundrum. We have two groups of people: the man child that is caught up to heaven in chapter 12 and the 144,000 men servants that we see in heaven in chapter 14. If they are not one and the same, then that means the group that the man child represents is caught up to heaven, yet we do not see them in heaven. And then we have the group of 144,000 men servants that we see in heaven, but we don’t know how they got to heaven. Common-sense deduction tells us that the group the man child symbolizes is the 144,000 servants.

Now let’s consider the prophetic words about Zion giving birth to a male child. John said the sun-clothed woman birthed a “man child.” Prophets have prophesied about Jerusalem in the end of days travailing in pain as a woman about to give birth. For instance, Isaiah chapter 66 prophesies about the end days and what happens when God’s plan for Israel is fulfilled; he says the rebels will be purged from among them, the millennial reign of the Lord will begin with a new heaven and the new earth, and the birth of a man child. Isaiah prophesied, “Before [Zion] travailed, she gave birth; before her pain came upon her, she was delivered of a male child”(Isa. 66:7 Amp.). Even the prophet Micah made mention of Jerusalem in travail: “…until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth…” (Micah 5:3). Since Isaiah was prophesying about the end times, we know the male child in Isaiah’s prophecy is not Jesus.

Isaiah goes on to confirm that the man child is, indeed, a collective group of people. Isaiah prophesied about Zion giving birth to a man child and then referred to it as bringing “forth her children”: “Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child. Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children” (Isa. 66:7–8).

Now let’s talk about who the man child is not. There are those that interpret the man child as being the Church, that the man child being caught up to God is the time of the rapture for the body of Christ. For the same reason the law of reproduction qualifies the man child as being the 144,000 male servants, it also disqualifies the man child as being the Church, because the Church overwhelmingly is made up of Gentile Christians. So the New Testament Church could not qualify as the seed of the woman.

Another reason the man child could not possibly be the New Testament Church is because the man child is alive when it is caught up to God. The man child is not dead. It clearly states that when the man child was born, the dragon made an attempt to kill it. But before it could kill the man child, it was caught up to God. We know the rapture of the Church is all about how the dead in Christ will rise from the dead. As it says in 1^st Thessalonians 4:16–17, “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” The dead in Christ rise first. The living follows after them in the rapture. Therefore, the rapture of the Church will include both the dead and the still living, and both men and women. The man child is alive, not dead. That is why the man child could not symbolize the Church.

In our next post, we’re going to identify the symbols of the dragon, the seven mountains, and the ten horns.  

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