The Woman and the Dragon

At this point John's view is once more from the heavens. He will now see the background story to explain why these judgments will happen.

¹ A great 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 its heads. ⁴ Its 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 it might devour her child the moment he was born. ⁵ She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.”^[a] And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. ⁶ The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.
 ⁷ Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. ⁸ But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. ⁹ The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
 ¹⁰ Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
   “Now have come the salvation and the power
   and the kingdom of our God,
   and the authority of his Messiah.
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters,
   who accuses them before our God day and night,
   has been hurled down.
¹¹ They triumphed over him
   by the blood of the Lamb
   and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much
   as to shrink from death.
¹² Therefore rejoice, you heavens
   and you who dwell in them!
But woe to the earth and the sea,
   because the devil has gone down to you!
He is filled with fury,
   because he knows that his time is short.”
 ¹³ When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child.¹⁴ The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach. ¹⁵ Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. ¹⁶ But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. ¹⁷ Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.


In the first verse, we see a woman clothed with the sun and moon with twelve stars on her head. This woman represents Israel, with the twelve stars representing the twelve tribes. 



⁹ Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”
 ¹⁰ When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?” ¹¹ His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind. Genesis 37:9-11


Joseph had a dream where the sun and moon represented his Mother and Father and the eleven stars were his brothers. 
The woman was pregnant and about to give birth, this would represent the birth of Jesus from the nation of Israel.
We are now introduced to the enemy, who is described as the red dragon. This dragon represents Satan who tried to stop God's plan for redemption by stopping the Messiah. The heads, horns and crowns represent his rule of the revived Roman Empire.

⁷ “After that, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast—terrifying and frightening and very powerful. It had large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the former beasts, and it had ten horns.
 ⁸ “While I was thinking about the horns, there before me was another horn, a little one, which came up among them; and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like the eyes of a human being and a mouth that spoke boastfully. Daniel 7:7-8
When the dragon sweeps one-third of the stars from the sky represents the time when Satan rebelled against God, and one-third of the angels followed him. 
The woman gave birth to a son, which represents Jesus being born through Israel. We know it is Jesus, because the verse says He “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.” The child is snatched up to God and to His throne. 

⁹ After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
 ¹⁰ They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them.¹¹ “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” Acts 1:9-11
The woman flees to the wilderness to a place where God will care for her for 1260 days. This is three and a half years, which is one half of the Tribulation period. 
 ¹⁴ “When you see ‘the abomination that causes desolation’^[a]standing where it^[b] does not belong—let the reader understand—then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Mark 13:14
Satan lost the war to take over Heaven, and is thrown down to the earth. He knows that he has only a short time to war with God's people. He enters the temple and declares himself to be god.
²⁷ He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’^[h] In the middle of the ‘seven’^[i] he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple^[j] he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.^[k]”^{[l]  Daniel 9:27}
He then tries to destroy Israel, but she flees into the wilderness to Petra (many people think this is the place), where God will protect her for three and a half years. The water that spews from Satan's mouth represents Satan's fury directed at Israel, and God will supernaturally protect her against Satan's fury.
Since Satan can't harm those people, he continues to persecute and martyr those followers of God that are not supernaturally protected in the wilderness.