The flight of the persecuted.
"And the woman fled into the wilderness where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and three score days." Revelation 12v6
The woman of course is representative of a vast number of people, the Messianic Jews of the end times. This future event mirrors the flight into Egypt of Matthew 2v13 "the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream saying, arise, and take the young child and his mother and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him." What happened to Jesus shortly after His birth will happen to His people. Just as God miraculously preserved the baby Jesus and his family, so He will miraculously preserve His fleeing persecuted people in that future day. The promise of Psalm 27v5-6 appears to fit the circumstances here "in a time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion in the secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me. He shall set me up upon a rock. And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me." Such will be the persecution of that day that God must hide away a remnant of His people and feed them in a wilderness place. We know from Matthew chapter 24v15-22, and also Zechariah 13v8-9 that not all of God's people will be spared. This is at the beginning of what Jesus described as the great tribulation, a period of unparalled persecution for the people of God.
"She hath a place prepared by God". There has been endless speculation as to where this place might be, but if it were revealed then even the enemy would know. We know that it will be in the wilderness, and it is described as "her place where she is nourished." The flight is massive and miraculous; verse 14 says "to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle." Again speculation as to what this might mean, for me it is a supernatural removal (remember the flying angel of chapter 8&13 and also that one of the four living creatures before the throne of God was described as having the face of an eagle). The prophet Isaiah seems to express the idea in chapter 26v20-21 "come my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpassed. For behold the Lord cometh out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. "The time period of this is expressly stated, 1260 days (verse 6) and 3and a 1/2 years (verse 14). In that place prepared by God she is nourished every day, for all these days and she is protected from the face of the serpent (the details of which we shall see later).
Satan failed to stop Christ in His lifetime, He now turns to His people, first the church and then Israel in a coming day. The details are expanded in verses 13-17 . God fed a nation of approximately three million people in a desert for more than thirty eight years giving them manna in the morning and quails in the evening, every single day. In 1st Kings chapter 17 God uses ravens and then a widow woman to feed his servant Elijah in a time of drought. He sustained David's fugitive army while in exile from the wrath of Saul (2nd Samuel). God will finally feed and protect his beloved people from the wrath of Satan in the day to come.
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