Is Mary the Woman of the Apocalypse?
Does reading the book of Revelation intimidate you? As an apocryphal text, it can be difficult to read. However, this book of the Bible has much to teach us about our faith. In fact, it teaches us something about Mary. Dr. Sri explains some of what we can learn about Mary from the book of Revelation.
Snippet from the Show
It is a great gift that Christ gave us Mary to be our spiritual mother. She intercedes for us before the throne of her Son.
Revelation 12:1-5
And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; she was with child and she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery. And another portent appeared in heaven; behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems upon his heads. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bear a child, that he might devour her child when she brought it forth; she brought forth a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne.
Who Is This Woman?
Many people when asked this question regarding Revelations 12 would immediately respond “Of course it’s Mary!” However, there are many Protestants and even some Catholic scholars who say that the woman is not Mary. They will say the woman is either representative of the New Testament Church or Old Testament Israel.
Fevillet’s Question
Is it likely that a Christian in the 1st century would write about the Mother of a Messiah and not be thinking at all about Mary?
John 19:25-27
So the soldiers did this. But standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Mag′dalene. When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.
The Characters in Revelation 12
Rather than looking at the characters in this passage as representative of groups or nations, we can identify them as individuals. The dragon represents the devil. The male child is the Messiah. The woman is Mary. As an individual, Mary represents both the Old Testament people and the Church.
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