The Other Birth Narrative

Ron Simkins – December 16, 2025 2 Comments

The Other Birth Narrative – the one almost never read at Christmas Time.

Before looking at the “Christmas Story” and “Birth of Jesus Narrative” that is rarely read in Churches during the Christmas Season, it seems important to focus on “how” the passage should be read. As we all have experienced, you read poetry differently than you read a novel. You read your newspaper differently than you read the instructions for your new coffee pot—if you ever read instructions! You read an allegory differently than you read a history book. 

I suggest that you try reading the 12th and 13th chapters of Revelation differently than you read the Gospel of Luke. In fact, preparing to wrestle with the imagery in the book of Revelation will be facilitated by thinking about how you interpret the imagery in good political cartoons. If you see a Bear, you think of Russia. If you see an Eagle, an Uncle Sam, or a Statue of Liberty, you think of the USA. If you see a rising sun on a flag you think of Japan. If you see the Pentagon, you think of the military. If you see an elf-like creature with a pitchfork, you think of demons. If you see a witch on a broomstick, you may think of Halloween.

Another good preparation for reading Revelation 12 and 13 is thinking about how you read C. S. Lewis’ Narnia series. It is filled with witches, fauns, beavers, children, a confused donkey named Puzzle, a special lion named Aslan, and another lion named Shift that is the anti-thesis of Aslan. And, as we read, we begin to realize that all of these characters stand for far more than Lewis spells out for us. The imagery points far beyond itself to everyday realities in real human society and daily life. 

I am not going to take up the space to reprint the text from Revelation 12-13. Just open your Bible and follow along if you wish. And, now to the Christmas Story that I have never heard read in any Christmas Service anywhere in my lifetime.

REVELATION 12

First a woman appears in the heavens. As we read, we begin to realize that this “queen of heaven imagery” is fluid. First, it seems to stand for Eve and the birth of our humanity, then Israel, then Mary, and then the New Israel (which through Jesus includes Gentiles). In each of these incarnations, the Queen of Heaven is pregnant, is in pain, and gives birth to humans.

Suddenly a huge red dragon appears with 7 heads, 7 crowns, and 10 horns. The dragon with 7 heads would definitely remind the Bible reader of Satan, as well as of Daniel’s vision of the great empires of the last half of the millennium BCE. The 7 heads and crowns would probably also remind John’s early readers of the city of Rome on 7 hills, and perhaps even the first 7 Emperors of the Roman Empire. The dragon sweeps away 1/3 of the stars—the imagery seems to reflect Daniel’s understanding that “angelic” forces are at war with one another just as the cultures they represent are at war with one another (Daniel 10:7-21; Jude 9). These dark-side angels are the spiritual powers behind the dark side of our human Empires and Cultural-Political-Religious Institutions (Ephesians 6:10-18). 

God has promised Eve, then Israel, then Mary that “your seed will crush the serpent’s head” and “unto you a child will be born who will rule the earth.” The dragon is determined to destroy the child—humanity, Israel, and Jesus the Anointed One as soon as each is “born.”

Then, as the “child” becomes Jesus, God snatches the child away from Satan’s powerful desire to destroy him. God takes the child into the heavens, and the “queen of heaven” now becomes the New Israel of God including both Jews and Gentiles. 

The dragon and the dragon’s angels are once and for all ejected from the heavenly realms by the primary angel of God’s spiritual army—Michael. The dragon/satan cannot any longer accuse the queen of heaven or her children of their sins because through the authority of the “Anointed One/Christ” who is now with God in the heavens they have been rescued and forgiven by God and are a part of the “reign of God.” But, the woman’s new children cannot find a real “homeland” on the earth, they are constantly being searched for by the dragon and have to exist in “the wilderness.”

Rather than admitting defeat, the dragon’s fury increases, and it continues to pursue the woman’s children throughout their wilderness existence. God keeps saving them, but this just makes the dragon more furious. So, anytime children are born to the Queen of Heaven and choose to witness to their experience of being rescued by Jesus, the dragon attempts to destroy them. Their desire to obey God is met by the fury of the dragon. (1 Peter 5:8-9 uses equally powerful imagery of a roaring lion going throughout the earth looking for someone to devour.)

Revelation 13

Next we are told—again with a kind of political cartoon imagery–how the dragon decides to gain dominance over the human race, and in doing so to also deceive these children of the “Queen of Heaven.” First, the dragon gives a “beast from the sea” his “power, throne, and great authority.” John’s political cartoon images make it clear that he understands this “beast from the sea” to be the various world Empires, and especially in his time the Empire of Rome. These Empires constantly demand the allegiance of all humans, and therefore, constantly “make war” against anyone who gives their allegiance to God instead. Domination is the goal of Empire, and only a genuine relationship with the executed Lamb of God provides the perspective and power to resist the Beast.

But, the Empire (“beast out of the sea”) needs a helper. So, the dragon also incarnates a “beast out of the sea” that turns out to be Religion—a counterfeit lamb that claims the place rightfully belonging to God’s executed Passover Lamb–Jesus. This beast looks a lot like a lamb (Jesus’ imagery), but it speaks with the voice of the dragon, and it teaches humans to worship the beast that is the Empire. It convinces humans that the domination exerted by Empire is for everyone’s good and deserves our allegiance. Thus, the human need for worship, and for being spiritually filled, is met with worship that is really worship of the Empire. And, worship of the Empire turns out to actually also be worship of the Dragon that is the spiritual power behind both of these beasts. (If you prefer a non-imagery way of saying all of this, Paul calls them the “principalities and powers” that wage war against all that God is doing—Ephesians 6:10-18).

REV 21:1-5

OOPS – Oh Yes, John does take a while, but he finally does get to an ultimate outcome. This way of  telling the “Birth Narrative” (Christmas Story) has a wonderful outcome too. The evil principalities and powers of Empire and Religion don’t win the war against God, against Jesus God’s Anointed One, or against “the Queen of Heaven.”  God and God’s Bride “the Queen of Heaven” finally get to make this earth their very own home. Living together face to face. We humans get to come home to live face to face with God. God gets to come home to live face to face with us on a renewed earth.

As C. S. Lewis once said, even the longings expressed in the imagery of our best myths and fairy tales tell us something about a longing God has placed in our hearts. John uses this imagery to show us the “Christmas Story”—the “Birth Narrative” in a different way. And, he reminds us that in Jesus, God is fulfilling the best and deepest longings we have as humans. In Jesus, God is moving toward what we were created for. We really do get to live happily ever after! “I Can Only Imagine.” –Ron Simkins, NCF Pastor Emeritus