I put together a concise exposition on chapter 12 in where I tie it in with the Gospel accounts of the Nativity. Here it is
THE NATIVITY OF CHRIST
By John Litteral
In Revelation 11:19-12:1 John sees a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary as the Ark of the New Covenant and Queen of Heaven. And while describing that, he recalls some details about the Blessed Mother and the time when she was to give birth to the Lord.
First, John says, 12:2 And being with child, she cried travailing in birth, and was in pain to be delivered. Some Catholic theologians have avoided interpreting this as Mary because according to Catholic Tradition Mary was preserved from original sin (CCC 491) and did not suffer the pain of child birth, which became a curse at the Fall in Genesis (Gen 3:16). But Mary was not suffering from physical pain here, but emotional pain. Why was she in such emotional stress and pain? Two verses down is the answer, “*And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bear a child, that he might devour her child when she brought it forth *(v.4).” It is understandable why Mary was in anguish because she had all the powers of evil waiting to kill her Son. (John Paul II MULIERIS DIGNITATEM 30) For Scripture also says, “And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had borne the male child.” (v13) Satan being thrown down to earth is figurative of him falling from heavenly rank to an earthly rank, no longer having his great angelic status. (Oecumenius) The Incarnation of the Lord was just the beginning of Satan’s great fall, but the Crucifixion brought it more fully. The Lord mentions the fall of Satan’s rank when He said, “I was watching as Satan fell like lightning from heaven." (Lk 10:18)
So, at the birth of Christ, Satan is in the midst waiting to kill the baby Jesus, and Mary knows that the presence of evil is near, and that the Devil is going to make a great effort to prevent the Savior of the world from making it past childhood. The Devil, though close enough to have Mary very stressed in the stable where the Lord was born, he is not able to harm the Lord himself. The presence of so many heavenly angels in around Bethlehem was likely a deterrent to Satan, so Satan plots to have the Lord killed by the hands of Herod. He stirs up Herod so that he would be “in a furious rage” (Mt. 2:16) in order to try to kill the child Jesus.
As Satan plots to have the Lord killed by laying upon the heart of Herod to do so, “an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "**Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there till I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” (Mt. 2:13) This is what St. John was talking about when he said, “The woman was given the two wings of the great eagle that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time.” (Rev. 12:14) Mary was given two wings, that is reference to the angel or his message that led her and the Holy Family’s flee to Egypt for three and a half years, as they “remained there until the death of Herod.” (Mt. 2:15)
As they were safe in Egypt, Herod “sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time which he had ascertained from the magi.” (Mt. 2:16) This is what St. John meant in Revelation 12:15-16, “The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with the flood. 16 But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river which the dragon had poured from his mouth.” The serpent, that is Satan, through the hands of Herod poured forth water, which is symbolic language for danger (see Ps 18:16). The earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river means that those who suffered the great loss from the slaying of the children took that trial instead of Mary and Jesus, “Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: 18 "A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they were no more (Matt. 2:17-18).”
The Devil was not successful in killing the child Jesus, so he “was angry with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and bear testimony to Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea.” (Rev. 12:17) In other words, the Devil has set out to attack all those who follow Jesus. People who follow Jesus are considered to be the offspring of the Blessed Mother Mary because Jesus gave us his Mother when he said while on the cross to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother! (John 19:26-27)” The Devil has been behind all the persecution that Christians have suffered, and that war will continue until the Lord comes again.
