Step of the model

The woman and the male child (Rev 12:1-5)

**Artist’s impression** The woman clothed with the sun facing the dragon; the child is caught up to heaven (Rev 12:1-5). Artist’s impression, woodcut by Albrecht Dürer (1498). — Albrecht Dürer (woodcut, 1498; impression from the National Gallery of Art, Washington), Wikimedia Commons · CC0

Historical landmark: c. 6–4 BC

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In short

The announcement. John, in the book of Revelation, toward the end of the 1st century, describes a great image in the sky: a woman about to give birth, a dragon ready to devour her child, then a son who is born and caught up to God.

What happened. This passage does not look toward the future: it goes back in time, to the birth of the Messiah, even though it is placed after scenes of the end of time. Only the Bible tells this scene, in the form of images.

What is still debated. this flashback shows that the order of the chapters of Revelation is not necessarily the order of events, which complicates any chronology drawn from the book.

The text (World English Bible)

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. She was with child. She cried out in pain, laboring to give birth. Another sign was seen in heaven. Behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven crowns. His tail drew one third of the stars of the sky, and threw them to the earth. The dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child. She gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. Her child was caught up to God and to his throne.
Rev 12:1-5