Revelation 12:5
And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.
The man child brought forth is Christ, whom Satan sought to destroy at His birth by moving Herod to kill Him. The dragon that stood ready to devour Him primarily means Satan, but in a secondary sense it also represents pagan Rome, because Rome was Satan's chief agent in warring against Christ and His people during the first centuries of the Christian era. The woman is God's holy people, and she and her children stand greatly in the minority against earthly governments that trample on God's law and persecute His people, carrying on that war until the close of time. The vision is associated with powers arising from the union of church and state that persecute and crush those who oppose them. The verse belongs to the portrayal of the last great conflict between the obedient and the disobedient, between those who stand under the bloodstained banner of Jesus Christ and those who stand under the black banner of rebellion, with those on Christ's side distinguished by obedience and bearing the sign of obedience.
The verse belongs to the revelation of the history of the Christian world to the very close of time, showing the position, dangers, conflicts and final deliverance of God's people and a closing message that ripens the harvest of the earth either as sheaves for the heavenly garner or as fagots for the fires of the last day. The verse belongs to the prophecies of chapters 12 to 18 that are being fulfilled as the last message of warning for all to hear, leading to the final call in chapter 18, followed by the capture of the beast and the false prophet and their casting into the lake of fire, the binding of the dragon who started the great rebellion against heaven and his casting into the bottomless pit for a thousand years, then the resurrection of the wicked and the final destruction of Satan and all the wicked, and the final triumph and reign of Christ on this earth. In the last days only a remnant of the woman's children still exists, those who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ, who gain the victory over the beast and over his image through unyielding firmness and endurance of trials for the sake of truth.