I am wanting to know who the man child and the woman in Revelation 12 are. If the man child is Christ then question comes up, is he a created being and has not always been. If he is the Anti-Christ then why was he taken to God's thrown.
Please don't respond with a symbolic answer such as he is symbolic of Israel.
Any help is appreciated.
Nice question! I have pondered, journaled, and drew these things a lot. Ready for an answer so crazy you will think I am smoking crack? (I can assure you I am not!)
Below is what I have concluded by allowing "anything to be possible" and forgetting all I know based on the natural realm and living in a body under natural laws.
I have studied the entire Bible a lot and have spent a lot of time in Genesis and Revelation. They are intimately related. Remember the words of Jesus when he said "I am the first
and the last"? If we see God's word from a natural human perspective, we will believe Jesus was a single natural, human man. Not true. He is a gigantic, and very powerful spiritual man who contains ALL of creation inside himself. He is both the "beginning" (Genesis 1:1) and "the end" (Revelation) all in one spiritual man that is divided up under law into smaller parts in lower "realms" or "partitions".
Now, if you go to the first time in the written word where we see "The woman", it is in Genesis 3:2 when "she" is talking to the serpent. It is later revealed in chapter 3 that she was
called "Eve". (Notice it doesn't say that was her name?) Please know this is not a single, physical, human woman like we think. Nor is it merely "symbolism" or a "metaphor". That is unbelief. "The Woman" is multiple things (and this what confuses us). Think of her as the (spiritual) mother of both creations, old and new who gave birth twice.
You can see this in Genesis when it tells us that: "She was/is the mother of ALL living (things)". She is "the woman" in Revelation 12. Her "seed" is the Son who is caught up to God's throne. "She" has "a crown of 12 stars" which is her "12 children" who are the "12 tribes" of (SPIRITUAL) Israel. Technically, there are 24 tribes, 12 "natural" and 12 "spiritual". The 12 "Earthly tribes" or "nations" or "gentiles" are Ishmaels "sons". Genesis 17:20
Both these together are ALL people both spiritual and "natural" who will ever exist but the natural always comes first, dies and then "gives birth" to the spiritual. 1 Cor 15:46 By Revelation, "The woman" has "the
moon under her feet". This is man's
natural soul (ruled by "the nations") that (when under law) appears to be separate from his body and spirit. This "moon" is the false natural soul that will be destroyed (and become "blood") at God appointed time for all people. This is when "the woman" as them and inside them gives birth to their new creation spiritual man who is "caught up with God". Eph 2:6, Col 3:1
You are very perceptive in how you narrowed it down and yet struggle with the conclusions. This requires a paradigm shift of who Jesus (the Son) really was and is.
God the son (who we know as Jesus Christ) actually appeared to us at least twice. Once in an outwardly visible way under and through the covering of law and darkness (sin) - our natural and spiritually dead body. This is the old covenant/testament. The second time he appeared and
is appearing is as his TRUE self (under grace and truth) but only in a hidden, spiritual way inside us for now. At the end, he will be revealed in truth to all people.
Anyone who is still "natural" will die immediately but then also be "born" spiritually. This is when Luke 3:6 becomes true in this realm and reality of the natural body.
Both times he was "born", however he ruled and rules with an "iron rod". "iron" means law. The first time it was harsh law that meant death to our outer man. This was because naturally, we lack any ability to fulfill this spiritual law. See Pauls POWERFUL words in Romans 7 how the law first kills us but then in Romans 8 gives us true, eternal life!. The second time he appears (second birth) it is with true and perfect, life-giving law (when he reveals true righteousness and eternal life as a complete gift). It will be by "God's law" (the highest law) because no one will be able to refuse it.
These are the "two births" of the "man-child" who would "rule the nations" with a "rod of iron". "The woman" is also our outer, natural man who is "hidden away" in the wilderness from the dragon (the law that will kill her). "The wilderness" is the spiritual location of our current fleshly (both spiritual and natural) bodies and God calls them "trees" (spiritual) and "grass" (natural). One has the "seed in the fruit" and one doesn't. God is going to have one HECK OF A GRASS-FIRE at the end of the ages when all flesh gets burned up and refined/reborn into a true spiritual nature.
I am sure this will sound absolutely insane to someone who never heard this before. But, in order to see what God is really saying, we have to realize that his words are spiritual and not natural. They are not confined or defined by space or time or anything on natural earth that we are familiar with (and have been conditioned to believe!). They can happen at ANY time and in ANY order. He decides! Parts of Genesis could (and I believe DOES) happen before (parts of) Revelation. And they are both happening right now inside and all around us in realms we can not currently see. It is man's natural mind he is born into that doesn't believe these things. God has GREAT and awesome things waiting once we leave the confines and FALSE view of the natural body (under law). The current form of all things will be totally destroyed as they "lack (true) form", when the "true substance" of Jesus Christ appears. See Genesis 1:2 and Hebrews 10:1 and 2 Peter 3:7.
(I could have a few of the specific details wrong as I am not a details person.)