Rev 12 means many things to many people. No one knows all the true meanings, but it's an encouraging chapter for us. Is it one of the things guiding us towards creating a Christian Sanctuary?

Revelation 12 has a special meaning for us here at Santuario Cristiano. It lives in our hearts like the smile of a loved one, it echos through our minds like the wisdom of a great thinker. Yet we're not here to expose some great hidden meaning within those verses. Our main role is not that of Bible scholars. We know

that the meanings of the Book of Revelation are widely studied, analyzed and debated. We know that a Google search reveals a vast canon of interpretations of this chapter.

The Bible is like an especially delicious onion: behind one layer of meaning, we find yet another meaning, different yet complementary. The Lord is the perfect story teller; he conveys great meanings in a passage, but hides still more there, ready for later discovery.

The Book of Revelation is especially generous with it's layers. Whole ministries have sprung up, dedicated to parsing it’s text. And even after the constant study and exposition, we are left with a necessary conclusion: in summary, we don’t fully understand the meaning behind Revelation 12.

But we do know some things. The woman in Revelation is generally accepted to mean the people of God. This becomes quite explicit right at the end of the chapter: v.17 “Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.” The woman has produced those who testify of Jesus, she has produced Christians, she is the Church.

And the common theme through the passage is the Lord’s protection of the woman, of the Church. The Dragon, Satan, is desperate to attack the woman, yet the Lord takes her away.

Now here is a great mystery; what does it mean? And let’s think about the alternative, the Lord doesn’t defend her in a fight, which he could do. Instead, He empowers her, with ‘wings like a great eagle’ v.14, to make her own journey ‘to a place prepared for her in the wilderness’. There are so many questions here: where could she go that is out of reach of Satan? A place prepared by whom? Does it mean a real, physical place, or is it some kind of metaphor? Or neither? Or both?

One thing is for sure; the woman in the passage is empowered to make her own way to safety, she is not passive and without agency. Another thing to note is that a ‘wilderness’ in the Bible is not a barren, lifeless place. Instead it is merely a place without human habitation. A modern desert would be a Biblical wilderness, as could a jungle, a savannah, or unowned common pasture. I suppose one could even stretch it to mean the oceans and unoccupied islands.

For us at Santuario Cristiano, it’s not essential to fathom all the true meanings behind Revelation 12. We have been commanded by God to create a place of refuge and sanctuary for Christians who need it. If nothing else, the passage supplies much needed encouragement in our work. Time will tell if the Lord has something bigger in mind. We believe He has; we believe that Rev. 12 gives us cause to imagine a physical place, located in one of the World’s wild and remote places, set up to provide sanctuary for a least some of the people of God.

At the moment, there are Christians who need such places right now, often desperately. That’s what we are setting up to provide. But beyond that, there is the chance that the Lord has something much bigger in mind: at least one Christian Sanctuary, far from persecution, where us Christians will be free to practise our faith in safety and without hindrance. Persecution is increasing, and even in ‘free’ countries being a christian is getting more difficult. An independent place of Christian freedom would be desirable, perhaps even essential.

In the meantime, we have work to do. Christians are suffering, and we have a chance to find safe homes for them here in Spain. Do continue to follow our work here via this ‘site, or on Facebook or Twitter. Please share our content and let others know what we are doing, that will help us a lot. And please do consider sending a donation, because doing all this is going to take a lot of resources. There is a ‘donate’ button at the top of the page.

Right now there are Christians in Iraq and Syria who need places of safety. One day it could be you.