REVELATION
Naturally, many who read Revelation have different interpretations of how and when everything is going to end. Not surprisingly, the woman of Revelation 12 is understood differently as well. Some Catholics say the woman is Mary. Protestants generally say she's the OT people of God, or the NT people of God. Others say it's both the OT/NT people of God and Mary.
Yet, because of the conflicting interpretations, I won't get into them, but rather explain what Sri's book explains. But first, the themes of Revelation 12:
A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. (Rev 12:1-3)
The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days. (Rev 12:6)
The great dragon was hurled down�that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. (Rev 12:9)
Parallels between Revelation 12 and Genesis 3
1) The serpent conflict (Rev 12:9) is a parallel of Genesis 3:15-16
2) Both passages even have the same characters: A woman, offspring and a serpent
3) Both mention birth pangs (Rev 12:2, Gen 3:16)
4) Both mention offspring which is not only Messianic, but corporate* (Rev 12:2,17, Gen 3:15)
* note - I didn't mention how the seed (zerah) of the woman in Gen 3:15 is understood as a collective identity, not simply as one person. This is often used to deny the traditional notion of the 'protoevangelium' which states that Gen 3:15 is basically a prophesy about Christ. Yet, we see a collective identity in Revelation 12:17 which harmonizes the texts.
The woman's birth pangs - Isaiah 66 depicts Zion as a mother figure giving birth to a son, and then other children:
Before she goes into labor, she gives birth; before the pains come upon her, she delivers a son. Who has ever heard of such a thing? Who has ever seen such things? Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment? Yet no sooner is Zion in labor than she gives birth to her children. (Isaiah 66:7-8)
This would parallel the idea that the woman gives birth to the messiah (Rev 12:5) and have other children (Rev 12:17).
Clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars - Two major points
1) The imagery here parallels the description of Zion who was told by God:
"The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you. for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory" (Isaiah 60:19)
She is also depicted as a mother figure: She has 'sons and daughters' (Isaiah 60:4) which parallels Rev 12:17.
2) The passage also points back to Genesis, Joseph's dream:
Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. "Listen," he said, "I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me." When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, "What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?" His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind. (Genesis 37:9-11)
While the passage mentions eleven stars, Joseph would be the 12th star, which would draw attention to the woman with the crown of 12 stars. The significance is that royalty is expressed through the Genesis passage, since we learn that Joseph is promoted to a high position in Egypt, 2nd to the king (Genesis 41:40,57). Naturally crowns depicts royalty.
flight into the desert - Revelation 12:14 shows how the woman is given 2 wings to flee from the serpent. This imagery is likely taken from Exodus, where the people were said to have been protected by God 'on eagle's wings' into the desert (Exodus 19:5). The desert is said to be the place where the woman is nourished (Rev 12:14). This may allude to the manna that nourished the Israelites in the desert.
woman's maternity - As mentioned earlier, the woman gives birth to the male child who would rule with an iron rod (Rev 12:5) and she was said to have other offspring (Rev 12:17)
Who is the woman of Revelation 12?
With this understanding, it's appropriate to ask: Who is the woman of Revelation 12? Sri contends the best answer is that she is a symbol of the OT and NT people of God.
Yet is there a Marian interpretation?
Sri claims a Marian interpretation would make sense when understood in light of John's gospel, if in fact Revelation was written by St. John the apostle. I won't get into the authorship of John's gospel though.
Parallels between Revelation and John's gospel:
1) Both use the word 'woman' who is the mother of the Messiah (Rev 12:1, John 19:25)
2) Birth pang imagery is used in Rev 12:2, John 16:20-21 which interprets John 19:15-17
Jesus uses birth pang imagery to describe his Passion:
Now Jesus knew that they desired to ask Him, and He said to them, "Are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said, "A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me'? Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you. (John 16:19-22 NKJV)
A little while and you will not see me - This is referring to his passion.
So this passage foreshadows calvary. When we look at John's account of calvary we see:
Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, "Woman, behold your son!" Then He said to the disciple, "Behold your mother!" And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home. (John 19:25-27 NKJV)
Both the gospel passages speak of a woman and the hour. The woman is naturally Mary's maternity, and the hour is Christ's death, the hour of victory where the ruler of the world would be cast out (John 12:27-31).
The following are from Sri's notes which I will quote verbatim:
The links between John 19 and Revelation 12 can be drawn even clearer if Revelation 12:5 is seen primarily as a metaphorical birth describing Christ's death (the birth pains) and resurrection (the actual birth) in similar fashion to the parable in John 16:20-21 studied above. It has been pointed out that the New Testament often uses birth imagery to describe the resurrection (1 Cor. 15:20,36; Col. 1:18; Acts 13:33; Jn. 12:24, 16:20-21) including the book of Revelation's use of "first born of the dead" (Rev. 12:5), while birth pang imagery is associated with Christ's sufferings on Calvary (Jn. 16:20-21; cf. Acts 2:24). And since the word describing the woman "in anguish" (basanizomene) in Revelation 12:2 is never used in the LXX or New Testament to describe actual physical birth pains (only referring to torment or great sorrow in general), this may also indicate the passage is describing something different from the ordinary physical sufferings of natural childbirth. (note 177, p. 183)
Lastly, Mary isn't simply described as the mother of Jesus, because Jesus declares to Mary, "Woman, behold your son" and likewise, Jesus says to the beloved disciple, "Behold your mother" (John 19:27). Based on Catholic Tradition, the disciple symbolically refers to all Christians*. This would explain the Marian interpretation of the 'rest of the woman's offspring', because the beloved disciples are those who 'keep the commandments of God and bear testimony to Jesus' (Rev 12:17)
*note - unfortunately for me, I don't fully understand how John 19:27 is a reference to all disciples, since it was directed to John. Interestingly though, the author doesn't use his name in describing the beloved disciple. In fact Jesus doesn't even address John's name. Jesus simply says, "behold your mother", whereas Mary is called 'woman'. I suppose if Jesus said, "John, behold your mother" then the entire Marian interpretation would have no ground whatsoever. Ultimately though, I'm told that Johannine tradition involves a lot of symbolism, which I know very little about. I really do need to study it in depth.
Typological argument for the Marian interpretation
What follows are my own comments that further shed light on the Marian interpretation of the woman. It was mentioned earlier that there are parallels between Luke's Annunciation and 2 Samuel 7 concerning the Davidic parallels (house of David, throne, son of the Most High, everlasting kingdom, etc) . Further parallels reveal her identity in Revelation as the ark of the new covenant. When we compare Luke's gospel (the Visitation) and 2 Samuel 6 (with 1 Chronicles 13-16), we see the following parallels:
Luke 1:39 - Mary arose and went
2 Sam. 6:2 - David arose and went (1 Chr. 13:6)
Luke 1:41 - John the Baptist leaped for joy before Mary
2 Sam. 6:16 - Michal saw King David leaping for joy before Ark (1 Chr. 15:29)
Luke 1:42 - Blessed are you among women
2 Sam 6:18 - David blessed the people in the name of the LORD (1 Chr. 16:2)
Luke 1:43 - How can the Mother of the Lord come to me?
2 Sam. 6:9 - How can the Ark of the Lord come to me? (1 Chr. 13:12)
Luke 1:56 - And Mary remained with her about three months
2 Sam. 6:11 - the Ark remained in Obed-Edom's house for three months (1 Chron 13:13)
Afterwards, both Mary and David offered long prayers (1 Chronicles 16:7-36, Luke 1:46-56)
This is significant as it would shed light on the following passage:
"Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a great hailstorm. A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head." (Revelation 11:19-12:1)
So the ark of the covenant is identified as the woman. The flashes of lightning, thunder, earthquakes and great hailstorms are reminiscent of Moses meeting God up at Mount Sinai (Ex 19:16), or with God revealing his presence to Elijah (1 Kings 19:11-12). This apocalyptic language is a sign of God's presence. So the imagery would then anticipate the revealing of God's presence, yet a woman is seen first giving birth to him.
Further parallels can be seen by studying the details of the ark:
It contained the ten commandments, the manna from heaven, and Aaron's staff (Heb 9:4) which symbolizes the high priest. Likewise, Mary bore the word of God (John 1:1), the true bread from heaven (John 6:35-58) and he is the eternal high priest (Heb 6:20).
Luke 1:35 says the Holy Spirit would overshadow Mary. The word 'overshadow' (Episkiazo) is used to describe the Holy Spirit coming down upon the tabernacle (Exodus 40:34-35) which Moses couldn't enter because the glory of God was there, and what was inside it? The ark of the covenant! (Exodus 40:21). This is essentially what Luke is attributing to Mary: That the Holy Spirit came upon her in a similar way, where the Savior of the world would be born of Mary.
Ultimately, all of these parallels would further bolster the Marian interpretation of Revelation. Thus, the Marian interpretation of the woman is certainly not without a basis. Some scholars therefore claim that the woman of Revelation may be a reference to both the Church and the Blessed Virgin.
The queenship of the Woman
Now that the basis for Marian interpretation is established, we can see how the royal language sets a basis for the woman's queenship:
1) The child was said to rule all nations with an iron rod (Rev 12:5)
2) He's taken to the throne of God (Rev 12:5)
3) The kingdom is ushered in as the enemy is defeated (Rev 12:10)
Another look at Revelation 12:1
A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. (Rev 12:1)
1) a crown of twelve stars on her head - We see a queenly figure: The woman is depicted wearing a crown of 12 stars. Crowns are naturally a sign of royalty. The crown is also a reference to the saints who persevere and are rewarded (Rev 2:10,3:11,4:4). We are also a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:5), so the crown imagery would make perfect sense. The twelve stars may be a reference to the 12 tribes of Israel (Rev 21:12) or the Church, founded up the 12 apostles (Rev 21:14).
2) under her feet - this phrase recalls authority as discussed previously. Just as it was a reference to the Davidic king defeating his enemies, the woman is depicted with some kind of authority (Ps 8:6, Ps 89:23, 2 Sam 22:37-42) like that of the Queen Mother.
As mentioned earlier, Genesis 37:9-11 sheds light on royal imagery: Namely, Joseph ascends to a high royal position, so this would reveal a bit more about the woman's royal figure.
Queen Mother tradition
By looking at the woman in context to the queen mother tradition, we see the following parallels:
1) She is the mother of the Davidic Messiah-king (Rev 12:4, Psalm 2:7)
2) She wears a crown like the gebirah (Jer 13:18)
3) A royal woman (Rev 12:1) bears the Messiah (Rev 12:5)
4) Both involve a 'sign' (Is. 7:14, Rev 12:1)
Examining Revelation 12 and Isaiah 7
A great and miraculous sign appeared in heaven. It was a woman wearing the sun like clothes. The moon was under her feet. On her head she wore a crown of 12 stars. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth.... She gave birth to a son. He will rule all the nations with an iron rod. Her child was taken up to God and to his throne. (Rev 12:1-2,5)
Ask a sign for yourself from the LORD your God; make it deep as Sheol or high as heaven... Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel (Isaiah 7:10,14, NASB)
The woman is introduced as a sign, which recalls the Isaiah 7:14 prophesy about the preservation of the house of David. The sign is in heaven, just as King Ahaz was offered a sign as high as heaven. This sign involves the birth of a kingly son, like the queen mother who would give birth to Immanuel, the Davidic king spoken of in Isaiah 7:14.
Ultimately, all the insights I've listed here provide a basis for Mary's queenship. Unfortunately I'm not a great note-taker, nor am I an excellent writer, which explains why this is really chopped up. By examining all the evidence, I not only understand why Mary is the Davidic queen mother, the implications are quite encouraging. I just hope much of this makes a lot of sense to everyone who read this far :)
God bless!