Revelation 12:13 - Exposition

And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. (For an explanation of the characters here alluded to, see on the previous verses.) The devil, defeated in his attempts against God in heaven, and foiled in his attack upon the man child— Christ Jesus (see Revelation 12:5 ), now directs his efforts against the woman— the Church. The interpretation must not be confined to one peculiar form of evil which assails the Church, but must include all—the bodily persecutions with which those to whom St. John wrote were afflicted, the heresies which arose in the Church, the lukewarnmess of her members ( Revelation 3:16 ), and all others.