Alice C. Linsley
My Protestant friends wonder about my veneration of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God. They assume that I must be Roman Catholic since they know next to nothing about historic Anglicanism or Eastern Orthodoxy. I explain that from the earliest days, the followers of Jesus Christ have shown great reverence to our Lord's mother. To show reverence is to venerate, not worship. Protestants seem to have a difficult time making this distinction.
It is ironic that the persons who claim the Bible alone as their authority know so little about what the Bible says about Mary. She is the
blessed "Woman" of Genesis 3:15 who is foretold as the one who would bring forth the "Seed" of God. This verse does not pertain to Eve since Eve is not named until Genesis 3:20.
Further, Luke's Gospel tells us that Mary is to be regarded as blessed through all generations. "For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed." (Luke 1:48)
In my experience, pointing out what the Bible teaches about Mary makes little difference. My Protestant friends merely shrug their shoulders as if this must be some foreign imposition on the Bible. Such bias against Mary has lead to
strange interpretations of Revelation 12, including associating her with the whore of Babylon (Rev. 17:4-18). Here we have an example of ignorance, prejudice and very poor Bible interpretation.
A careful reading of Revelation 12 makes it clear that the Woman brings for the expected Messiah, the "Seed" of God, whose kingdom is eternal because he is eternal God. This means that Mary is the God-bearer, called
Theotokos in Greek.
The Placement of the Vision
The vision of Revelation 12 comes after the proclamation of
the Kingdom in Revelation 11:15 made famous by Handel’s Alleluia Chorus:
“The kingdoms of this world have become the
kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!”
This sign serves to punctuate the rise and
fall of kingdoms much as the following Messianic Psalm is used in Daniel to
punctuate the rise and fall of kingdoms: “
Your
kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all
generations. The Lord is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made.”
(Ps. 145:13)
This vision comes between the proclamation about the eternal
Kingdom of Christ and the vision of the blasphemous
Beast who makes war on the Saints. This recapitulates Genesis 3:15, the first
promise of Scripture concerning the Woman and her Seed. Her Seed is to crush
the Serpent’s head. This was accomplished at Christ’s birth, death,
resurrection and ascension (“The Christ Event”) and in the vision is a timeless
event described in these words: “The woman was delivered of a boy, the son who
was to rule all the nations with an iron rod, and the child was taken straight
up to God and to his throne.” (Rev. 12:5)
The Church has understood Genesis 3:15 to be about the
Theotokos and her Son, the only begotten of God. It is not about Eve. Eve is not
named until Genesis 3:20. Further, John’s Gospel connects Jesus with the Seed
on Genesis 3:15. In John 12:24, we read
that Jesus told his disciples that he was going to Jerusalem to die. John’s vision
connects the death of the Woman’s Seed with the new life or abundant fruit of
the Kingdom.
Sign and Signs
St. John
describes this vision as a sign or mark (Greek: σημεῖον - sēmeion).
There are two signs actually. The first is the sun-clothed woman in
labor and the second is the fiery red dragon. Signs are distinct from symbols
in that they point to realities beyond them. The woman points to the Theotokos
and the dragon points to her adversary, the devil. The dragon seeks to devour
her Son (Rev. 12:4). We recall how Herod sought to slay the Child. By angelic
intervention Joseph was led to take Mary and the Child into the desert and on
to Egypt
where they were safe.
“The woman fled to the wilderness, where she has a place
prepared by God, that they should feed her there for one thousand two hundred
and sixty days.” (Rev. 12:6)
One thousand two hundred and sixty days is three and a half
years, a period of time used elsewhere in John’s Apocalypse. Compare to the
period of time that the holy city was trampled in Revelation 11:2. Here the wording is “forty-two months” which
is also three and a half years and the period of desolation of the temple
described in Daniel. Daniel 8:11-14 reads:
“He even exalted himself as high as the Prince of the host; and by him the daily sacrifices were taken away, and the place of His sanctuary was cast down. Because of transgression, an army was given over to the horn to oppose the daily sacrifices; and he cast truth down to the ground. He did all this and prospered. Then I heard a holy one speaking; and another holy one said to that certain one who was speaking, “How long will the vision be, concerning the daily sacrifices and the transgression of desolation, the giving of both the sanctuary and the host to be trampled underfoot?” And he said to me, “For two thousand three hundred days; then the sanctuary shall be cleansed.”
The Woman
The Woman is the Mother of Christ our God. In Christian iconography she is sometimes shown standing on the earth with the serpent beneath her foot. She brings forth the “Son who was to rule all the nations” (Rev. 12:5).
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Mary and the Christ
subdue the serpent |
She is also the
Mother of the Church and all who through Christ subdue the serpent. The Eastern Orthodox hold that the miraculous birth of Jesus
left Mary's virginity intact as a sign; therefore she did not travail in bringing forth her Son. However, as
the Mother of the Church she travails in intercession for all the saints. This is
evident from John’s vision. Revelation 12:17 says that when the dragon could not
get to the Mother or her Child, it “went away to make war on the rest of her
children who obey God’s commandments and have in themselves the witness of
Jesus.”
Many believe that
when Jesus gave his mother into John’s care, he was giving Mary to be “mother”
to the whole community of early believers. The title “Mother of the Church” was
first used by St. Ambrose, the Bishop Milan (A.D. 330 – 397).
Historically Mary
was regarded as first among the Apostles and was greatly honored in the
Christian community. Such honor had the effect of stirring great animosity
against her among the Jews.
The New Israel
In Revelation 12:1
we read: “And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the
sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars…”
The woman clothed with the sun recalls Joseph’s dream (Gen. 37:9-11). In that dream, Joseph’s father (Israel)
is represented by the sun and Joseph’s mother is represented by the moon.
Joseph’s eleven brothers are represented by the eleven stars that bow down to
him. In this sign, the woman wears
a crown with twelve stars. Joseph, who was sold into slavery, is restored to
his rightful place. The New Israel must mean restoration through the Theotokos
and her Seed, the Son of God. The New Israel is then the Church into which the
faithful ones of the Old Covenant have been brought to safety. Even so, God makes a place of protection for the Woman
of Revelation 12.
The Woman represents the New
Israel. She is given strength to rise above the Devil’s attacks. She flies with
wings of an eagle. This is reminiscent of the promise in Isaiah 40:31: “But they that hope in the Lord shall renew their
strength, they shall take wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint.”
The Child
In Revelation 12:5
we read that the Woman brings forth “a man child, who was to rule all nations
with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.”
The Woman is the Woman of Genesis 3:15 whose conception of the Divine Seed was
foretold and anticipated by John’s faithful ancestors going back before the
time of Abraham.
This sign speaks
of the Christ event in relationship to Satan's unsuccessful attempt to thwart
God's plan. God has exalted the glorified Jesus to a position of universal
authority (Philippians 2:9-11). He is destined to "rule all the nations
with an iron scepter" (12:5). He will shepherd the nations with loving,
but absolute authority. These words identify the Child as God's anointed
Messiah, destined to reign in God's kingdom over all the earth (Psalm 2:9;
Revelation 19:15).
Abraham’s Horite ancestors expected a virgin from among their people to bring forth the Divine Seed. They were familiar with this text: “My wrath will be turned against the enemy of my father Osiris and I will put him beneath my feet in my name of Red Cloak." (Myth and Symbol in Ancient Egypt by R.T. Rundle Clark, p. 216)
Here we find the words of Psalm 110:1, a messianic reference: The Lord says to my Lord: "Sit at My right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet."
Daniel 2:44 says, "In the time
of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be
destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those
kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever.”
The Woman’s Seed,
as foretold in Genesis 3:15, was to crush the serpent’s head and restore Paradise. Jesus alludes to this first promise of Scripture when describing his passion and resurrection. “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit" (John 12:24). He identifies himself as the "Seed" of Genesis 3:15 and the fulfillment of Messianic expectation.
Horite Hebrew belief in a deified son who would embody kindness and unite the peoples found fulfillment in Jesus Christ, a descendant of the Horite ruler-priests, the divine son of the Virgin Mary, daughter of the priest Joachim of the line of Nathan. Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the promise made to Abraham's ancestors in Eden that a woman of their people would bring forth the Divine Seed. This is why Frank Moore Cross cannot avoid the conclusion that the God of Israel is the God of the Horites.
The Dragon
Revelation
clearly identifies the dragon or monster. He is "that ancient serpent
called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray" (Rev. 12:9, 20:2).
Since ancient mythology had many references to antagonistic dragons and sea
monsters, John's readers would have recognized the dragon as a cosmic enemy.
In Christian iconography the serpent is often shown as a dragon. Many famous paintings depict the serpent's defeat by St. George or St. Michael, the Archangel.
In John's vision the serpent
is associated with the serpent of
Eden. However,
the association goes beyond Eden
to the creation narrative of Genesis 1 where the serpent is associated with
chaos and the dark abyss.
In Genesis 1 we
read that the primal substance covering the earth was water and it was
disordered, that is, it had no boundaries. God’s breath (Ruach/Logos) created
order from the chaos, separating the waters above from the waters below, and
the dry land from the seas. The chaotic
waters are called Tehom and the ordering word of God is called Tehut. In the cosmic struggle, Tehut is victorious
over Tehom. The oldest known law code is the Law of Tehut (c. 3500 B.C.) and it
was said to express the wisdom of God by which boundaries were established.
Among Abraham’s Nilo-Saharan ancestors boundaries were not to be violated. Such
transgression carried serious consequences.
The ancient
Egyptians believed the great serpent that created chaos lived south of Elephantine Island and therefore never wanted to
sail that far south. There was a very ancient temple on Elephantine Island
at which priests offered sacrifice and prayers daily. Their presence was seen
as a restraint against the serpent. Further, Elephantine Island
was known as a seat of wisdom and justice whereby divinely established
boundaries were honored and enforced.
Elephantine Island was the center of
Nubia's international power.
Pepinakht-Heqaib
(third millenium BC) rendered judgment
from
Elephantine and waged wars. He claimed
that when judging between two brothers, presumably first-born sons, he never
deprived a rightful heir of his inheritance. Since he lived before the time of
Joseph's rule in
Egypt,
it appears that he was honoring a long-standing custom among his Nubian/Kushite
people.
The practice of Kushite rulers having
two first born sons by two wives, as was customary among Abraham’s
people, clearly predates the domination of
Egypt by the Asiatic Hyksos.
Revelation 12:17 we are told that “the dragon was
angry with the Woman and with her Seed, those who keep the commandments of God
and have the witness of Jesus.” Here the Woman’s Seed is not only the Son of
God but also all who are “in Christ”, the Church.
When the dragon failed to destroy the Woman and her
Seed, it called forth an assistant from the deep. “And he [the dragon] stood
upon the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast coming up from the sea, having ten
horns and seven heads…and upon its heads were the names of blasphemy… And the
dragon gave it his power and his throne and great authority.” (Rev. 12:18-13:2)
The Beast is the Dragon’s first assistant. Others are
mentioned in Revelation 16:12-14: “The sixth angel
poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its
water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East. Then I saw
three impure spirits that looked like frogs; they came
out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of
the mouth of the false prophet. They are demonic spirits that perform
signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather
them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.”
The Serpent and
the Tree of Life
There are two trees in Garden, and the serpent led Eve from the right
choice - to eat of the Tree of Life - to the wrong choice - to eat of the Tree
by which she hoped to become like God. This has been the Devil's approach
throughout history. He attempts to lead us away from life by promising what he
cannot give - divinity and immortality.
The Church Fathers understood the Tree of Life in Eden as representing the Cross. Satan employs
many methods to distract us from the Cross, and today there are more
distractions than ever. The Kaiser
Family Foundation found that
young Americans on average spend over seven and one-half hours a day on
entertainment media. This translates into more than 53 hours a week as compared
to 30 hours a week in school. Cell phones are used to listen to music, play
games, text friends, take photos, and watch TV, even in schools where cell
phone use is prohibited during the school day.
Conclusion
The imagery of the Woman, her Son and the Beast, draws on very ancient symbolism that can be traced back to Abraham’s Nilo-Saharan ancestors. The Son’s victory over the beast was foretold from the beginning (Gen. 3:15) and John’s apocalyptic vision makes it clear how things will end. “And the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet, who in his presence performed signs (sēmeia) by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire burning with sulfur” (Rev. 21:8).
“The Son of God appeared to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). Thanks be to God!
