The reason it is so important to "flee" is that this is the moment when the devil and his angels are cast to earth to possess the anti-christ and his followers so that we will no longer be dealing with mere mortals and with flesh and blood, but we will truly be having to do with Satan himself and, as we have seen in previous studies, power will be given to him to overcome the saints (us). Prior to this the Bible says, " ...greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world ." (1Jn 4:4) So, prior to Satan being cast out of Heaven and into the earth, we have power over all unclean spirits and devils, in the name of Jesus of course.
" And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him... Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time ." (Rev 12:9,12) This is Satan's last hourah, his last fling and he knows it ! He is therefore going to make the best of it and attempt to sway as many people as he can to follow his way instead of the Lord's. This is also why we have said in our study of the Two Prophets that the first order of business is going to be to kill them off as soon as possible to show what a big and powerful man he is. He only has a very short time, 3 1/2 years, to do this, so it will truly be " For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened ." (Mt 24:21-22)
" And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days ." ( Rev 12:6) At the opening of the chapter we see a woman paining to give birth to God's children and the dragon (the devil) waiting to destroy it. But the woman (Christ's bride) has a place prepared wherewith to flee to for 1260 days, the whole duration of the last 3 1/2 years ! The devil and his cohorts are going to be paying special attention to those of us who are truly Soldiers of Christ at this time, but " And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent " (Rev 12:14). For "a time, times and half a time", 3 1/2 years !
This time period of three and a half years is repeated so often and in so many places so as to give us uncontestable evidence surrounding the order of events as they will happen in the very near future. Even now the world stage is being prepared to usher in such an anti-christ world dictatorship that will suppress all other rule and destroy all opposition to it's tyranny. The powers of the spiritual world are already in motion and it won't be long before we see all of these things manifested before our eyes. God, in His mercy, has given us the map, His Word, to lead and guide us through these extremely perilous times, where some will be caught and killed, martyred for Christ, while others will go on in an underground church right on up to the end when Jesus will return and will reconcile and restore all things to God, as in the beginning before the "fall" of man.
***That concludes our brief study of Revelation chapter 12 about the Woman in the Wilderness and the time frame it is to occur in. ***