Revelation is the book 

of the Bible for looking into our future. Many people feel intimidated when they read it. But they shouldn’t be. God gave it to us to reveal the future to us so we could be aware of wickedness and righteousness and make the right choices. God gave John the revelation to "show His servants what must soon take place." "What you have seen, what is now and what will take place later." Revelation 1:1,19. That sums it up. From John's day to ours, it is to be a blessing to those who read, "hear it and take it to heart." Revelation 1:3

We learned how easy Revelation is to understand, let us continue with chapter 12. Revelation, like Daniel, is heavily steeped in symbolism. It is easy to understand when you let the Bible explain itself. Then like Daniel, just let history do its job.

We start with a woman clothed with the sun, moon and stars. "Woman" in the Bible is used to represent a church. The church can be a pure, virgin woman as the bride of Christ, or a wicked adulterous church who has rebelled against God.  Revelation 17:4-6

In verses three and four we see a red dragon standing in front of the woman ready to destroy the baby. The dragon is the devil. The color red symbolizes persecution and destruction that the devil is responsible for. The devil through the government of Rome was waiting to kill Christ. Matthew 2:13-18.