Expectant Mother
Revelation 12:2

“An there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman . . . . And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon. . . . and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.” (Rev. 12:1-5)

We said that the woman would not be Mary. Now it looks like she is Mary. In considering symbols, we ask what the Bible reader, or the person with a knowledge of the stories in the Old Testament, would think of. The experience of Joseph and Mary looking for a place to stay in Bethlehem comes to mind. But the special woman of the Bible is Christ's true followers as we see again in Revelation 19. "Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints." (Rev. 19:7, 8)
Can the woman be both Mary and the wife of Christ? We'll see.
What do the cry and the pain represent?
As a symbol, a cry is an announcement. God had made the time of the Messiah very clear in Daniel 9 and elsewhere, but His professed people were in darkness then just as they will be when He comes the second time.
"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:8-11).
The more significant cry, however was not the announcement of His birth but the announcement of the beginning of His ministry:"He [John the Baptist] said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias [Isaiah]." (John 1:23)
Pain: In Isa. 59:13, 14, we see the transgression of God's people, and justice or truth fallen in the street (clue also for the two witnesses). But there was hope. In verse 20 we see the promise of the Redeemer. Continuing to read on we find the light bursting forth (60:1-3) at a time when the people are covered with "gross darkness." For several hundred years after the last book of the Old Testament, there was no prophetic voice. Jesus was born at a time of deepening apostasy. He was born into a dark and hostile world (Compare Joel 2:17). Thus the "pain" associated with His birth.

Dragon and child
Let's take a close look at the picture. We noted that this chapter shows the conflict between the dragon and the woman. We concluded that the woman represents God's people. Here we see that the dragon wants to eat her child. The child would be Christ. The fact that He was caught up to God's throne escaping the dragon's evil plan shows that, in the rest of the chapter, the dragon is taking his hatred out on the mother who is left behind. Why would he be so angry with Christ? We'll see a little later.

The Dragon Appears With Heads, Horns, and Crowns
Revelation 12:3

Although we are beginning verse 3, we need to see the context of the preceding verses, too. Here's the plan: We will (a, this segment) discover where John saw the woman and the dragon, (b) take a look at the dragon, and (c) comment on the path from symbols to reality. Let's read our block of text:

Where do we see the woman and the dragon?

“And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.” (Rev. 12:1-4)

"And there appeared a great wonder. . . . And there appeared another wonder. . . ." The parallel form invites comparison. Two major characters in the chapter, the woman and the dragon, will interact as the dragon tries to destroy the woman. The first six verses comprise an introductory synopsis of the conflict. This structure occurs elsewhere in Revelation: for example in 8:2-5 we see an overview of the trumpet warnings down to the final woe when the fire (or censer) is thrown down. Then, at verse 5, we begin to look at the succession of warnings, ending again at the tragedy they foreshadowed.
Comparisons
Here in chapter 12, we will have opportunity to make many comparisons between these two opposing elements. One significant comparison gives perspective to the chapter. We look at the location of the wonders — where they appear. Some commentators see both the dragon and the woman in the sky. Although the word, ouranos, may be so translated, I believe it's, instead, the dwelling place of God as in other instances in Revelation. The woman here is wearing the crown of victory. She has conquered the realm of darkness, she is clothed in the sun of righteousness. As we progress through the chapter, we will see what led to this final victory pictured here in the introductory synopsis.
We notice, however, that the dragon is also seen in heaven. Since this is not where we would expect him to be, we might be tempted to say that he appears in the sky. However, we can't switch interpretations of a word used twice like this without contextual justification. I believe it's the same heaven for him. He, as Lucifer, began there (Isa. 14:12) and surrounded himself with a third of the angels who fell to earth with him (vss. 4, 9; Matt. 25:41). So the victorious people of God will end up in the place Satan fell from! When he stood before the woman at Christ's birth, both he and the woman were on the earth. In this summary at the beginning, we see how the story will end. Satan, who began in heaven was cast down while the true people of God will be taken to heaven. Praise His holy name!
A (brief) look at the dragon

“And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth. . . .” (Rev. 12:3, 4)

What color is red?
We noted already that the dragon is identified in verse 9 as Satan. The word for red here is purrhos and literally means fire colored. Apparently the destructive nature of the dragon is emphasized by his color in this symbol. See Ezek 28:18; Rev. 6:3b.

Heads, crowns, and horns
Why is he shown here as having seven heads with crowns and with ten horns? We might simply ask what is the purpose of an animal's head? Heads think. They create ideas. Crowns on them would mean political leadership. The Greek word translated "crown" here is diadema, the crown of royalty, different from the woman's crown (Rev. 12:1). Seven is a number of completeness. The seven heads may represent deception in the full scope of human thought. The first Bible mention of head is in the promise that the woman's seed (Christ) would bruise the serpent's head.
"And I will put enmity between thee [the serpent] and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." (Gen. 3:15)
And what is the function of an animal's horns? I'm sure you know. On the dragon, they would represent military power.
From verses 8 and 9 we see that the stars would be the angels who sided with Satan in the war in heaven. What would be the significance of the dragon's tail in throwing down the stars?
Seeing through the symbols to the real picture

First the verses, then what we see happening at three levels of interpretation, and then at the details of our specific focus in the question.

“And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. . . . and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.” (Rev. 12:2-5)

Levels of interpretation:
(a) In the text we see a woman in labor with a dragon ready to devour the baby. But the child (similar to Joash, 2 Kings 11) escapes and ascends to the throne in heaven. (b) In these symbols we see Mary preparing for the birth of Jesus. Then we see King Herod, who became angry when the wise men didn't come back to him. Not wanting any rivals to his throne, he ordered all the babies and toddlers in the Bethlehem area to be killed (Matt. 2:16). Herod and the forces of evil didn't succeed in destroying Christ at birth or thereafter. Christ ascended to Heaven to sit with the Father on His throne (Heb. 1:3). (c) But the woman is more than Mary because we saw her first clearly in symbols involving sun, moon, and stars. We concluded that she must be God's pure people. This will become clearer as we continue. And we see Herod as Satan's agent in working against the Redeemer.
In brief, many of the symbols in the prophecies of Revelation point to episodes in the history of God's dealing with His people. These Bible characters and situations, in turn, become symbols representing the deeper meaning.
Because we went from the woman, to Mary, to the purified church, we may also expect to find meaning at the third level in the details. The gospel writers do not, as I recall, mention Mary's birth pain. This detail must have been added for a reason. So we ask, What was painful in the birth of the new light that the Messiah came to establish, and what threatened the rise of God's special New Testament people?

The threat
The threat from the dragon: This is seen in Satan's intense harassment of Christ and finally Christ's execution which, I believe, would have meant eternal death had He not lived a perfect life (Acts 20:29; 2 Thess. 2:3).
I should add here that I see this same fall of truth and darkness at the second coming of Christ. In fact, Old Testament prophecies often relate more to the second coming than the first. Apostasy will be (or already is) even greater now than then. The text also mentions ruling with a rod of iron. We will discuss that in connection with chapter 19 (19:15).

Praise God for the profound beauty of His Word of truth!
Stars swept down

“And there appeared . . . a great red dragon. . . . And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness. . . .” (Rev. 12:3-6)

Notice that these are the "stars of heaven," different from the stars in the woman's crown. Let's get our bearings. First we saw woman and dragon in heaven and concluded that the origin of the dragon was the destination for the woman. We also realized that they were both on earth here in verse 4 when the dragon was in front of the woman. We realize that Satan, as the dragon, had been in heaven and was cast out. By comparison, we learn that a third of the heavenly host were cast out with him. See Rev. 12:7. Compare Dan. 8:10).

Why with his tail?
"LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour." (Ps. 15:1-3)
Drawing with his tail may be seen to represent deceptive practices of one whose face is different from what is behind his back. This image is similar to what we saw with the scorpions under the fifth trumpet re0910.
Ready to devour the child !

The horrible scene in verse 4 describes events surrounding Jesus' birth. "and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born."

"When they [the wise men from the East] saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.
"And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt: And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.
"Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men." (Matt. 2:10-16).

Here the dragon worked through Herod, the pagan king, in a vain attempt to destroy the new king.

Paganism
At the time of Christ and Herod, Rome ruled the world. It was essentially pagan following occult worship taken over from the Greeks. Paganism is, in brief, devil worship. Satan's goal is to receive the worship due to Christ. This was the root of the conflict in heaven from which he was expelled Rev. 12:9. In paganism, Satan works more directly. In the church controlled by pagan practices, he is still the end object of the worship!
Taken to the throne to rule with an iron rod

The term "rod of iron" appears three times in the book of Revelation. In its first mention (Rev. 2:26) it is clearly in the hands of the righteous survivors under the church of Thyatira. The last time (19:15) it is wielded by the rider on the white horse, who is Christ. Here we are, in chapter 12, between the two.
“And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.” (Rev. 12:5)

The earlier verse in Revelation (2:27) is nearly a quotation of Psalm 2:9 where the heathen are given as an inheritance to the Messiah. Let's look at the psalm first.

"Ask of me, and I shall give thee [the Messiah] the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them [the rebellious heathen] with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel [because it turned out defective]." (Psalm 2:9).
In Revelation 2:27 Christ directed His message to the church of Thyatira. Notice that He added something at the end which is not in Psalm 2.
"And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father." (Rev. 2:26, 27)

Power
Christ received this authority to rule (iron rod, or iron scepter) from His Father. He had explained this to His disciples. (Matt. 28:18).
A promise to the church of Laodicea amplifies our understanding of the man-child's being caught up to God's throne describes an element of that power (Rev. 3:21).
Christ received the power from His Father as a result of His victory on the cross (1 Cor. 1:18). He was invited to God's throne. But He also has a throne of His own. And if we are victorious, by the grace of Christ, we will sit with Him on His throne. Also see Rev. 20:4; Dan. 7:26, 1 Cor. 6:2. So when we join Christ on His throne of judgment it will be to participate in His ruling with the rod of iron.
The word for "rule," poimaino, also means "to herd" or "to shepherd." In caring for the sheep, the shepherd would use his rod against predators. An iron rod (or one with an iron end) would mean serious business. We don't know just how the millennial judgment of the wicked will proceed, but we will, no doubt, see the evidence against the accused and agree that they have chosen the way of evil. We will know that our Lord had been just in not raising them with the "dead in Christ" or translating them at the last trump 1 Thess. 4:16;1 Cor. 15:54.