I haven't read all of the posts in this thread nor understand everyone's position fully but I have noticed that prophecy tends to be one of the most divisive issues amongst Christians. Not good.
When I look at the imagery of Revelation 12:1–6, specifically the woman “clothed with the sun” who gives birth to a son whom a dragon tries to devour it seems to draw on a myth about the sun god which occurred in various forms in the Mediterranean world and depicted the battle between good and evil.
Of course, some Roman emperors claimed identification with the sun god. Is John using the imagery combined with imagery from the Old Testament to claim that Jesus is the true Savior from evil here?
The Roman Catholics assert the first century church was dominated by asceticism and that Mary epitomized the virtues of the celibate life arguing this as an ideal to which all Christians should aspire though the latter presumption appears to overstate what the Bible actually teaches.
But that's why Roman Catholics depict Mary as the Queen of Heaven. They argue that as perpetual virgin, her body and soul are triumphantly assumed into heaven, where she is crowned. The proof text used to support their assumption is the ambiguous reference in 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” (NIV).
From heaven Mary acts as protector and powerful intercessor. Above the central doorway Christ sits in judgment, while on his left Mary and John pray at the foot of the cross. Thus Mary intercedes as spiritual mother. She is viewed as a co-redemptrix who collaborates intimately with Christian redemption.
The Protestant viewpoint is that this is fanciful conjecture. I certainly think it is. When I study antiquity, I see the imagery of a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon beneath her feet and twelve stars above her head, and a dragon in the sky that throws a third of the stars down to earth clearly reflecting ancient sources.
These were known not only to writers of the Old testament but also to all the nations of the Middle East and were utilized in many ways. Common to all of them was the concept of a monster of the sea who fought the gods of heaven and sought to overthrow them. The imagery is clear in such a passage as Isaiah 27:1: “The Lord with his cruel and great sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will kill the dragon that is in the sea.” The vision of the world empires in Daniel 7 that are symbolized by beasts that emerge from the sea, culminating in a fearful adversary of God and man, is an application of that same imagery to a contemporary tyrant who not only oppressed God’s people but also sought world domination.
Has anyone read, N. D. O’Donoghue, “A Woman Clothed with the Sun,” Furrow 11 (1960)?
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My understanding is that the woman was faithful Israel (as opposed to apostate Israel who was represented by the harlot woman of Revelation 17 -18). She, faithful Israel, gave birth to Jesus whom Satan tried to destroy as soon as he was born (the slaughter of the innocents at Bethlehem). Jesus being caught up the throne speaks of Jesus' ascension to the right hand of God. The woman fleeing into the wilderness speaks of the faithful Jews who fled when they saw the Roman armies advancing upon Jerusalem and sheltered in the wilderness of Perea for the last 3 1/2 years of the war.
The woman is described as being clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet, and crowned with 12 stars based on the prophetic dream Joseph had in Genesis 37:9-11.
In Christ,
Pilgrimer