Revelation 12:6 - Printer Friendly

ESV: and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days.

NIV: 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.

NASB: Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she *had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for 1,260 days.

CSB: The woman fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared by God, to be nourished there for 1,260 days.

NLT: And the woman fled into the wilderness, where God had prepared a place to care for her for 1,260 days.

KJV: 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.

NKJV: Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days.

An indeterminate length of time separates the events described in verses 5 and 6. In the middle of the tribulation, the False Prophet in Jerusalem will erect an image to the beast who achieves enormous political power. The false prophet demands that everyone worship the image (Revelation 13:14–15). Failure to worship the image brings the death penalty.

Many Jews will understand this idolatrous act to be the abomination of desolation that Jesus referred to in Matthew 24:15. They will act upon his warning: "Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains" (Matthew 24:16). These Jews will escape to the mountains. By doing so they will escape the invasion of "the north"—most likely Russia—into Palestine (Ezekiel 38, Joel 1). The place God has prepared for the fleeing Jews may be Petra, also called Sela, the capital of Edom, in Isaiah 16:1. Whatever the place of safety is, it will provide sustenance for the escapees for 1,260 days. This is three and a half years, or the second half of the tribulation.

These locations are likely candidates due to their combination of terrain. Various biblical references to this event mention both "wilderness"—or "desert"—and mountains, both of which can be found in these regions.

Revelation 12:1–6 opens a long stretch of Revelation which ''pauses'' the narrative of the end times. These events are highly symbolic and refer to varying times throughout both history and the future. This section points back to the fall of Satan and to the birth and ascension of Jesus. The passage concludes with an event in the middle of the tribulation period. Revelation 13 will describe the situation prompting the woman of Revelation 12:1–6 to flee into the wilderness.

This chapter relates several highly symbolic visions, which introduce figures critical to the end times. First is a woman, representative of Israel. Second is a red dragon, identified with Satan. Third is a male child, who is Jesus Christ. The red dragon seeks to devour the woman's male child, but God caught the child to His throne, referring to the ascension of Jesus after His resurrection. The passage then continues to describe a war in heaven between Michael and Satan—here Satan becomes the fourth key figure—which results in Satan's complete and total eviction from heaven. Satan attempts to destroy Israel, most likely through an armed invasion, which is supernaturally defeated by God through an earthquake. The fifth main figure is the collective ''offspring'' of the woman. These events are given further details in passages such as Ezekiel chapter 38.

Preceding verses have brought us to the middle of the tribulation, after the seal judgments and very near the end of the trumpet judgments. Now, the focus shifts to symbolically introduce a series of important figures. These are mentioned in various eras, not as part of the earlier chronology of Revelation. This passage relates to Matthew 24:15–26 and Isaiah 16:1–4. Ezekiel 38 and Joel 1 describe an invasion into Israel from the north, and Revelation 9 identifies the invading army as demon inspired. Revelation 13 continues to describe major end-times figures, focusing on ''the beast,'' also known as the Antichrist, and the False Prophet.

The word ''revelation'' means ''an unveiling or disclosure.'' This writing unveils future events such as the rapture, three series of judgments that will fall on the earth during the tribulation, the emergence of the Antichrist, the persecution of Israel and her amazing revival, as well as Jesus' second coming with His saints to the earth, the judgment of Satan and his followers, and finally, the eternal state. This content, combined with the original Greek term apokalypsis, is why we now refer to an end-of-the-world scenario as ''an apocalypse.''