Revelation 12:6: 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.

Revelation 12:6 symbolically describes the premortal apostasy in heaven.¹ This apostasy began in heaven with Lucifer's rebellion during the grand council, which John describes in Revelation 12:1-5.² The apostasy in heaven ended when the war in heaven began as described by John in Revelation 12:7-9.³ Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints consistently acknowledge that the war in heaven came after the grand council,⁴ but there is virtually no discussion of the lengthy period of apostasy in heaven that John identified in Revelation 12:6.⁵ Some scholars cite Revelation 12:6 as part of John's description of the war in heaven, even though the apostasy in heaven precedes, and is not part of, the war in heaven.⁶

Many scholars interpret Revelation 12:6 as a symbolic description of the persecution of Christ's ancient church on earth⁷ or the Great Apostasy on earth⁸ after the death of Christ's twelve apostles.⁹ These same scholars correctly observe that the image of a woman in the wilderness represents apostasy.¹⁰ Then, however, they erroneously conclude that the premortal woman in Revelation 12:6 and the earthly woman in Revelation 12:14 are repetitive symbols of the same Great Apostasy on earth.¹¹ They erroneously believe the same wilderness on earth is discussed in verse 6 and again in verse 14.¹² The images of a woman in the wilderness in these two verses are similar, but they have entirely different meanings.¹³ In fact, Revelation 12:14 symbolizes the preservation of the ancient earthly church during the apostolic period, not an apostasy from the truth.¹⁴

John identifies the premortal apostasy in heaven and the Great Apostasy on earth in their proper chronological order as two entirely separate and distinct events. He describes the premortal apostasy in verse 6 and he subsequently describes the Great Apostasy on earth, but not until Revelation 13:5-7.¹⁵

The premortal apostasy in heaven began on Kolob when Lucifer rebelled during the grand council.¹⁶ At that time, Lucifer and a third of the host of heaven fell spiritually¹⁷ and Kolob also became a fallen spirit world.¹⁸ Due to the fallen and sinful conditions on Kolob, the Father and Jehovah (the man child) withdrew their presence to the nearby celestial residence and throne of God as described in Revelation 12:5.¹⁹ The grand council came to an end with the withdrawal of the Father and Jehovah, leaving an immense number of God's spirit children on Kolob that were divided into three main groups or classes,²⁰ as follows:

1. A third part of all God's spirit children were drawn to Lucifer²¹ and became his committed sons of perdition.²² They irrevocably failed to keep their first estate when they rebelled and pledged their allegiance to Lucifer during the grand council.²³
2. Another large portion of God's spirit children were noble and great spirits²⁴ who accepted the Father's plan of salvation and Jehovah as the Redeemer during the grand council.²⁵ This group of men and women spirits were called the sons of God.²⁶ They distinguished themselves as gods by their faithfulness during the grand council.²⁷ They were members of the premortal church of God,²⁸ whose symbolic sign is the glorious woman identified by John in Revelation 12:1-6.²⁹
3. A third and very large group of God's spirit children were neutral,³⁰ lukewarm,³¹ or uncommitted to either Lucifer or Jehovah as the grand council came to an end.³²

The signs of the woman and the wilderness in Revelation 12:6 symbolically depict what happened to these three groups of spirits during the apostasy in heaven. Earthly likenesses and patterns supply the details.³³ Accordingly, the grand council ended when the woman representing the premortal church fled into the wilderness as a place of refuge in Revelation 12:5.³⁴ This means the noble and great spirits who were members of God's premortal church were taken from Kolob to be with the Father and Jehovah‒the man child‒because Kolob had become a fallen spirit world.³⁵ These noble and great spirits were taken to God's celestial kingdom³⁶ in heaven³⁷ where they were previously born as God's spirit offspring.³⁸ This premortal event has its earthly likeness in Enoch's city of Zion.³⁹ The righteous people of Zion from several ages were translated⁴⁰ and taken to heaven away from this wicked and fallen earth.⁴¹ The flight of the premortal church into the wilderness of heaven also has its earthly likeness in the exodus of the Israelites into the wilderness of Sinai after they escaped from Egyptian bondage with the intent to enter God's presence at Sinai.⁴² Another earthly likeness can be seen in the flight of faithful church members from Christ's ancient church to Pella before Roman armies destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD.⁴³

The wilderness of heaven in Revelation 12:6 was a place prepared of God⁴⁴ where the noble and great spirits could find rest after the grand council.⁴⁵ The place of their premortal rest has its likeness in celestial paradise of the postmortal spirit world.⁴⁶ Based on this likeness, the premortal wilderness in heaven represents a place of safety and refuge⁴⁷ where members of the premortal church were nurtured beyond the reach of the Dragon (Lucifer)⁴⁸ throughout the long period of the premortal apostasy on Kolob.⁴⁹

Jehovah (the man child)⁵⁰ and the premortal church of God (the woman)⁵¹ were taken to the wilderness of heaven which has its earthly likeness in the heavenly city of Zion.⁵² When Jehovah and the premortal church fled to Zion, their spiritual light was taken from Kolob just as spiritual light was taken from the earth during the Great Apostasy on earth.⁵³ Spiritual darkness prevailed on Kolob⁵⁴ in the likeness of the Dark Ages on medieval earth.⁵⁵ Kolob became a sorrowful and hellish environment.⁵⁶ It descended below all things during the premortal apostasy in heaven just as this physical earth has descended below all things since its fall in mortality.⁵⁷

Lucifer and his sons of perdition remained on Kolob during the premortal apostasy in heaven because they were unclean⁵⁸ and were cut off from God.⁵⁹ Kolob became the place of Lucifer's church⁶⁰ and kingdom.⁶¹ With the removal of the premortal church to the wilderness of heaven, the Dragon had complete dominion on Kolob during the apostasy in heaven⁶² just as the First Beast from Revelation chapter 13⁶³ had complete dominion on earth during the Great Apostasy.⁶⁴

The lukewarm and undecided spirits from the grand council also remained on Kolob during the premortal apostasy in heaven. Their indecisiveness during the grand council was not a sin unto death,⁶⁵ which means they did not become sons of perdition.⁶⁶ However, they were not worthy to be with the noble and great spirits who were members of the premortal church of God in heaven.⁶⁷ Therefore, they remained on Kolob in the bondage of sin⁶⁸ where they were subjected to suffering and torment.⁶⁹ The buffetings of the Dragon during the premortal apostasy in heaven⁷⁰ were undoubtedly similar to the buffetings of Satan that disembodied spirits experience in the postmortal spirit world.⁷¹

When God and Jehovah withdrew their light and influence from Kolob,⁷² the lukewarm spirits on Kolob suffered immensely.⁷³ They were condemned to pay a heavy price⁷⁴ because they were indifferent to the great light and knowledge they possessed at the time of the grand council.⁷⁵ Fortunately, however, the apostasy in heaven was also a period of divine chastening that prepared these lukewarm spirits to repent and ultimately keep their first estate.⁷⁶ Suffering and godly sorrow aided their repentance process in premortality⁷⁷ just as suffering and godly sorrow aid sinners to repent in this life⁷⁸ and in the postmortal spirit world.⁷⁹

Revelation 12:6 states that the premortal apostasy lasted a thousand two hundred and threescore days (1260 days). The Joseph Smith Translation of Revelation 12:5 changes this wording and states that the premortal apostasy lasted 1260 years.⁸⁰ Thus, the 1260 days mentioned in the King James Version of Revelation 12:6 are apparently prophetic days of years.⁸¹ If 1260 years is a literal reckoning of time on Kolob, then the premortal apostasy lasted 453.6 million earth years because one day on Kolob is as a thousand years on earth.⁸² The 453.6 million years for the apostasy in heaven⁸³ is based on the following mathematical calculation: 1260 Kolob years x 360 Kolob days/1 Kolob year x 1000 earth years/1 Kolob day = 453.6 million earth years.

If the 1260 years are not literal, as some suggest,⁸⁴ they still symbolically represent a very long period of time when the premortal church of God was in the wilderness of heaven and Lucifer had complete dominion and rule on Kolob during the premortal apostasy.⁸⁵