"And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. 2 She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. 3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. 4 His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. 5 She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, 6 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."
Revelation 12:1-6
In the last verses of chapter 11 we read that the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there may in fact be a slight suggestion that now we are going into that temple and going to see from the heavenly standpoint, as God Himself sees it, the nature of the conflict in which we are engaged. And, significantly, we are introduced to the personalities involved in opposition to Christ, the Dragon, the beast and the false prophet, and those having the mark of the beast (chapters 12-14). In subsequent sections we are told their final fate. In 15, 16, we see what happens to those having the mark of the beast; in 17-19, the fate of Babylon, and the beast and the false prophet; and finally in 20-22, the fate of the dragon himself. This is a useful outline to follow, as it preserves the sense of continuity in the study of the book, enabling us to thread our way through some of the most difficult and confusing symbolism, and helping us to a clearer understanding of John's central message, which is the victory of Christ and His Church over all the powers of evil in the world and in the heavenly places. With this in mind, it is now possible to turn in some detail to the chapter before us.