In Revelation 12, we see the woman as God's church. What happens to her
in symbols, would happen to the His faithful minority. re12.
One method of interpretation is by looking for allegory in the various stories. This sounds good, but as it has been practiced, meanings have been assigned independent of the meanings implied or stated in the context. The book of Revelation is mainly symbolic, so we expect the stories in John's visions to have special meaning. As we study the symbols we discover the Bible events or principles they were drawn from. This, with sincere prayer, helps us discover the meanings the Holy Spirit intended, 0105a.
We must also be ready to practice what we learn if we expect the Spirit to help us understand, 0103.
A primary motivation for working out the table which follows is the story of the church as it is seen in the symbols of Revelation 12. Rather than starting with that chapter, we will list significant events in the story of the journey of the Children of Israel. Chapter 12 uses the "wilderness" motif but develops symbols from other situations, too, so we do not have a complete outline of chapter 12 here. Also, variations could be made for the "Christian life" column because an event of the journey may offer more than one lesson.
