Revelation 12 is part of the trumpet section of the book of Revelation (Revelation 8:1 – 15:8). After the blowing of the first four trumpets, an eagle had cried out the triple woe on earth’s inhabitants at the blasts of the remaining three trumpets (Revelation 8:13). The first woe was the fifth trumpet (Revelation 9:12), the second woe was the sixth (Revelation 11:14), the third woe is the seventh trumpet (Revelation 11:14; Revelation 12:12).

Within the actions initiated by the blowing of the seventh trumpet (Revelation 11:15 – 15:8), the present paragraph appears after the declaration of the heavenly voices in Revelation 11:15: The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. That declaration forms the glorious lens through which John and his readers may observe the confrontation between the woman and the dragon (and the struggles described in further paragraphs). In fact, the material of Revelation 12:1 – 13:18 expands on the words of the twenty-four elders in Revelation 11:18: The nations raged.  But that also means that Revelation 12:1 – 13:18 gives colour to what it really means that Satan’s opposition can ultimately not succeed—as the elders had also confessed with the words, But your wrath came (Revelation 11:18).