John had used the term great to describe the first sign in Revelation 12:1. In that context the term great had the sense of impressive. The second sign, Revelation 12:3, was not impressive (though John did use the word great to describe the dragon itself). This third sign, however, was again great, impressive. In fact, John adds another adjective in order to give his readers a more accurate sense of what he means with the word great; this third sign is amazing. John had used the same term in Revelation 13:3 to describe how the whole earth had responded to the hideous beast from the sea: people “marveled as they followed the beast.” The combination of the two words in relation to this third sign indicates that what John sees now forms the climax of the earlier signs, so that this sign is even better and richer than what he saw before.