Under what figure was the Christian church represented to the apostle John?
Question 1
Answer
And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:
Revelation 12:1
NOTE - Frequently in the Scriptures a woman is used to represent the church. See Jer. 6:2; 2 Cor. 11:2. The sun represents the light of the gospel with which the church was clothed at the first advent (1 John 2:8); the moon under her feet, the waning light of the former dispensation; and the twelve stars, the twelve apostles.
"Woman in her innocence was attacked by 'that old serpent, called , the Devil, and Satan." ... At the end of that first crafty assault and speedy victory, the dragon met with his rebuff, in words like these: 'The seed of the woman shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel.' ... In the Revelation the scene is changed from Eden to the heavens. The woman is no longer a simple, childlike personage, but a wonder; she walks not among the trees and flowers, but amid the orbs of heaven. She is clothed with the sun, the moon is under her feet, and upon her head is a coronet of twelve stars. In her you see the great cause of truth and righteousness embodied - she is, in fact, the church of God in all ages, the woman whose Seed blesses all the nations of the earth."
- C. H. Spurgeon, in The Tabernacle Pulpit, March 15, 1886.