Mary, Ark, Heavenly Queen & Rev. 12

The result of this extraordinary vindication is that great fear falls upon those who witness it, like the fear that fell on the Egyptians (Ps 105:38) and the inhabitants of Canaan (Exod 15:16) at the manifestation of God’s power.

Then a loud voice from heaven summons the two witnesses with the same words that were addressed to John in 4:1: Come up here. The witnesses ascend to heaven in a cloud, the mode of transport of Jesus’ ascension.

The witnesses’ assumption into heaven recalls not only Jesus’ ascension but also the assumption of Enoch (Gen 5:24), Elijah (2 Kings 2:11–12), Moses (according to a Jewish tradition),¹⁶ and Mary (according to Catholic and Orthodox tradition).¹⁷ Revelation 20:4–6 speaks of a special honor of sharing in “the first resurrection” that belongs to Jesus’ faithful followers.

The public nature of this divine vindication is emphasized: it took place as their enemies looked on. (Ibid., p. 195; emphasis mine)

The first reading for the feast of the Assumption of Mary, which describes a “woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet” (12:1), begins with the mention of the ark in 11:19. This custom accords with the traditional title “Ark of the Covenant” that ancient Church Fathers such as St. Athanasius (296–373) and St. Gregory the Wonderworker (213–270) ascribe to Mary because the Word of God became incarnate in her. The traditional †typology identifying Mary as the ark of the covenant has a biblical foundation. In the Gospel of Luke, Gabriel tells Mary that the Holy Spirit will “overshadow” her (Luke 1:35), using the same Greek word that in the wilderness described the descent of God’s presence on the tabernacle containing the ark (Exod 40:35 LXX).^a For nine months the womb of the Virgin was God’s dwelling, his tabernacle on the earth. The sacred objects contained in the ark—the tablets of God’s word, the manna, and the rod of Aaron’s priesthood—all foreshadowed Christ, who is in the most literal sense the presence of God among his people.

a. Further parallels occur in Luke’s account of the Visitation (Luke 1:39–45). See the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament, 2nd Catholic ed. (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2010). (Ibid., p. 204; emphasis mine)

Perhaps more than any other, this passage of Revelation has inspired art and iconography. Most Catholics are familiar with images depicting Mary as the woman in this passage, crowned with twelve stars, surrounded by the sun, with the moon at her feet. Like many of the other visions in Revelation, this one has multiple levels of meaning. On the one hand, the woman of this vision symbolizes the faithful people of God of the Old and New Testaments. On the other, she is Mary, the mother of the †Messiah, and for that reason the most exalted member of the human race after her son. (The Woman, the Dragon, and the Male Child Revelation 12:1–18, p. 206; emphasis mine)

In the vision of Rev 12, Mary “represents and is the living icon of the whole Church.”^a She is the one who brought forth the divine Messiah (12:5); her soul was pierced by a sword (Luke 2:35) when her Son, the Lamb, was sacrificed. She is the mother of Christians both by being the mother of the one in whom we are born anew, and by assenting to the request of her Son on the cross, “Behold, your son” (John 19:26), indicating the beloved disciple. In tradition, this beloved disciple has been seen to represent all followers of Jesus, whom Mary has adopted. Assumed into heaven, Mary now reigns with Christ, the martyrs, and saints (20:4–6). With all the saints she intercedes for her children on earth, “those who keep God’s commandments and bear witness to Jesus” who are being pursued by the dragon (12:17). The woman in John’s vision is radiant, clothed with the light of the sun, moon, and stars, an anticipation of the †glory of God that will one day clothe all God’s people in the new Jerusalem (21:9–11).

a. Donal A. McIlraith, Everyone’s Apocalypse (Suva, Fiji: Pacific Regional Seminary, 1995), 62. (Ibid., p. 208; emphasis mine)

At this point the relation of the woman in the vision to Mary the mother of Jesus becomes most clear. No one can deny that the Messiah was born of Mary, a particular woman of Israel. Eve, whose offspring was promised to strike the serpent’s head, foreshadowed Mary, and Mary embodies faithful daughter Zion, of whose line the Messiah is born. The woman’s child is caught up to God and his throne. In a few words this verse telescopes the earthly life of Jesus, from his birth to his exaltation to God’s throne (Mark 16:19; Eph 1:20; Heb 12:2).⁵ (Ibid., p. 208; emphasis mine)

5. It is possible that here the Messiah’s birth after a painful labor refers to his “birth” to eternal life through resurrection (Rev 1:5; Col 1:18).

6. The “place prepared” for her by God (Ibid., p. 208)

When the entire text is taken into account the woman is seen to be faithful Israel, personified as daughter Zion, who gives birth to the Messiah. At the same, the woman is the literal mother of the Messiah, Mary of Nazareth. Finally, the woman is the Church, whom God cares for during her time in the wilderness of this world and who brings forth other children (12:17). This vision illustrates Revelation’s symbolic way of communicating, the multiple levels of meaning in its images, and the book’s nonlinear chronology, since the story that this vision tells begins before the birth of Christ. (Ibid., p. 210; emphasis mine)

Although the context indicates that the woman and her offspring pursued by the dragon is the Church, Catholics cannot help but think of Mary, whom the Church honors with the title “Mother of the Church.” Mary is the Mother of Christians on at least three counts.

First, by being the mother of Jesus, the Incarnate Word, Mary is the source of the human nature of the new Adam in whom every Christian is reborn. If someone is in Christ, that person is related to Mary, since Christ was born of Mary.

Second, since the time of the early Church, Christians have applied to themselves the words that Jesus addressed to the beloved disciple: “Behold, your mother” (John 19:27). It was St. Ambrose (340–397) who first called Mary “Mother of the Church.”

Finally, Christians are Mary’s children by imitation when we say yes to God’s will (Luke 1:38), when we believe, as she did, that what has been spoken by the Lord will be fulfilled (Luke 1:45) and when we “keep God’s commandments and bear witness to Jesus” (Rev 12:17). (Ibid., p. 220; emphasis mine)