If you want to see how far off the Church can get when it comes to understanding the Word, just ask any Christian what they believe the "man child" in Revelation 12 represents. You will hear everything from "It was Jesus coming out of Mary," to some supernatural half man, half child that will rise up in the last days; take your pick, but you'll be wrong on both. The true interpretation as always is found in the pages of the Bible. Briefly, the Bible has always shown this situation of a child coming out of a woman from Eve in the garden, right down through Mary bringing forth Jesus approximately 2000 some years ago. Now since Revelation 1:1 tells us that at the time of John's writing none of the things mentioned in the book of Revelation had happed yet, we know this "man child" was not and is not Jesus. What is being depicted in Revelation 12 is the fulfillment of Isaiah 66:8. This can be described as a Church coming (being birthed) out of a Church. It's the "called out, of the called out, of the called out." It's the 100-fold Church being separated from all those that chose not to, or were not able to abide in Christ as gross darkness covered the people of the earth. There are a 100-ways I could explain this, but it's better to first let the Bible show you this situation in principle. As always, you will need to understand the symbologies of the Bible to understand these things.
"Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name's sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed. A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the LORD that rendereth recompence to his enemies. Before she [Rev 12:5] 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 [Mal 3:1]? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children [as in many, not one, not two]." Isaiah 66:5-8
"And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD'S." Obadiah 1:21
"Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee." Isaiah 60:1-2
You need to do some correlating here brethren. A major tool to help one understand prophecy, is to first understand biblical chronology. Just look for situations in the Bible that are describing like things in the Bible, then apply the types, and you will see another depth in the Word that was previously hid to you. Of course, there are many false interpretations out there in Christendom that will lead you down another path, because they were not founded within the pages of the Bible. Many errors and false doctrine come about through personal interpretation, something GOD condemned. The golden rule still applies here, The Bible must interpret the Bible, and that's where the types come into play (see link). This new knowledge of how GOD actually used the types in His Word, will set you on fire to search the Word of GOD a fresh, as you apply this new wisdom to otherwise previously obscure stories that had you wondering why they were even put in the Bible. Praise GOD!
"And the LORD said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men [symbolic number meaning: the witness of a remnant; 3+00] that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people go every man unto his place." Judges 7:7
"These be the names of the mighty men whom David had: The Tachmonite that sat in the seat, chief among the captains; the same was Adino the Eznite: he lift up his spear against eight hundred, whom he slew at one time. And after him was Eleazar the son of Dodo the Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David, when they defied the Philistines that were there gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away: He arose, and smote the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand clave unto the sword: and the LORD wrought a great victory that day; and the people returned after him only to spoil. And after him was Shammah the son of Agee the Hararite. And the Philistines were gathered together into a troop, where was a piece of ground full of lentiles: and the people fled from the Philistines. But he stood in the midst of the ground, and defended it, and slew the Philistines: and the LORD wrought a great victory." 2 Samuel 23:8-12
Again, here we see "three mighty men" that were above David's "thirty mighty men." These three were always set above the rest because of their feats of devotion. They are a type of the remnant overcomer. They are a type of Peter, James, and John. They are a type of the three Hebrews who were cast into the fiery furnace, who loved not their lives onto the death.
THE SEALING
"And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof [their own souls]." Ezekiel 9:4
"And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till [Isa 66:7] we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads [i.e., in their minds, Eze 9:4]." Revelation 7:1-3
"Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not [take the mark or] serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: therefore he spake, and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated [Mat 24:21]. And he commanded the most mighty men [types of principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world, and spiritual wickedness in high places.] that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Then these men were bound [the wise virgins will still be slumbering and need to be rid of that last bit of bondage in their lives] in their coats, their hosen, and their hats, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace." Daniel 3:16-21
"And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king's counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them. Then Nebuchadnezzar spake, and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who hath sent his angel, and delivered his servants that trusted in him, and have changed the king's word, and yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God." Daniel 3:27-28
Here again in Daniel 3 is a story in type. It shows a remnant people (the three Hebrews) who had already given the good testimony of faith and loved not their lives onto the death (type of the wise virgins), who were then cast into a fiery furnace seven times hotter than ever before. Just like in Daniel 12:1 where it was talking about the time of the end: "...and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time." Now it says they were "bound" before being cast in to the furnace, but when they came out the bondages were gone! Praise GOD!
"And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light." Matthew 17:1-2
Now let's talk about Revelation chapter 12, specifically that which is called the "man child." I'll just lay out what I know. The "woman" who brings forth the man child, is a certain segment of the body, or what could be called those of the "holy place" Church (60-fold Christians). These are the Christians that are not only waiting for their LORD'S return, they are pressing on toward the mark of the "high calling IN Christ Jesus." Out of this group of 60-fold born-again believers, will come those who have been tried and have been faithful in the things of GOD by doing His will; they are not building their own kingdoms on this Earth. Thus, the Spirit of Christ secretly returns to give these brethren a "double portion" of the power that's been previously loosed on this Earth. This, secret return, is found in verses like Isa 66:7-8; Mal 3:1; Oba 1:21; Mat 25:10; and in type in John 7:10-14, just to name a few.
We also need to address the "war in heaven" that takes place at this same time (Rev 1:1), because it directly correlates to when the man child brethren receive the "POWER" spoken of in Revelation 11:3 that the "two witnesses" (who are these same man child brethren) receive. Just like when the Prince of Persia withstood Gabriel 21-days, so shall Satan and his angels try to stop Michael and the angel's in his charge, from delivering what I believe to be that same double portion of power ("the greater works") onto those brethren, as their souls are caught up spiritually unto God and to His Throne. Keep in mind, this is not describing the time when Satan was cast out of the "Third Heaven" (Rev 1:1).
The logistics of this war goes like this: The man child brethren's souls are caught up to GOD'S Third Heaven, but first they must pass through the 2nd heaven (Eph 2:2; Job 1:7) and that's where this battle takes place. Satan then looses his base of operations in the 2nd heaven realm of spiritual existence, and must now operate down on the 1st heaven/Earth-ly realm, by possessing one man whom the Bible allegorically describes as the "False Prophet" and the "Beast with Two Horns like a Lamb," found in the book of Revelation chapters 13 & 16. Now I know you all want to call him the "Antichrist," and he will be thee Antichrist, but that allegoric title is never mentioned in the book of Revelation (KJV).
"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." Revelation 12:5
Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down [from the 2nd heaven realm] unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time [3.5-yrs]. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman [Church] which brought forth the man child. Revelation 12:12-13
I could go on and on with this list of symbolic overcomers who were a type of the remnant Church that GOD will anoint with the "double portion," with the "former and latter rain," with the "greater works" anointing of His power in the end-time who Daniel 11:32 calls, "they that know their GOD." GOD will do this to help the Church in the wilderness brethren that Daniel 11:33-35 calls, "they that [only] understand among the people..." (p.p. Mat 25:8; Rev 12:6). This will begin, or I could say finish, the last half of His prophesied ministry onto the un-blinded Jewish people (Dan 9:27; Mat 23:39). You should have by now realized this "man child" group is the same group of overcomers called the "two witnesses" in Revelation 11. This study also describes the two groups of virgins found in Matthew 25, who are the end-time wise & foolish types for Christians' that await the Groom's return to inseminate them (Mat 25:10) with the "power" spoken of in Revelation 11:3. One of the problems is, for there are many, is that only one group of believers' still had the anointed presence of the Holy Spirit working and moving within their souls/"vessels." Howbeit, even they, the wise, were "slumbering" and were not fully awake, the foolish were sleeping getting wrinkles in the garments. GOD will shake and awake them all, at what the Bible calls "midnight." These will all have to endure a certain amount of "travail" at "midnight," as they "trim their lamps" to burn brightly once again. The brethren who will have the "oil" in their "lamps"/vessels/souls when Christ secretly returns after the midnight announcement, are those who were already crying out to be changed as in Ezekiel 9. Again, the Bible always showed there was a remnant group of people who wanted more of GOD than did the rest of their brethren, and thus, were rewarded accordingly.