Rev. 12: the first six verses.   ( An image review.)

 

1 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:

 

2 And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. 

 

3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. 

 

4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was Born. 

 

5 And she brought 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. 

 

6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.

 

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If we read now these verses, then we have a certain impression of what is written here.

 

But:    The text is no literature.   This means, that "place, time and action" do not form a unit. 

 

 

1.   A picture. It is the mother of Jesus and the mother of Israel and the Church.

 

2.   Mary in birth pangs in Bethlehem. 

 

3.   A picture. The Dragon with 7 crowned heads and 10 Horns. 

 

4.   a. The Dragon throws 1/3 of the stars down on the earth. 

 

       b.   The Dragon will devour the child when being born. 

 

5.   Jesus has been born and ( after a few years ) ascented into heaven.

 

 

6.   The woman flees into the desert and stays there for 1260 days. 

 

Verses 1 and 2 do not need any comment. ( See picture B.) 

Verse 3: The opponent of the woman has been introduced: It is Satan, the Dragon. ( See picture C.) 

Verse 4a: We know already the meaning of the stars: These are the children of Israel.

 

The stars of heaven? The children of Israel are in the Book of Life when they are born. They are God's people. - It is different with us: We are written in the Book of Life then, if we follow Jesus. 

When stars are thrown down on earth, then they will be erased in the Book of Life.  They made their choice against God. 

 

Who is the tail of the Dragon? 

Somebody is the head and another is the tail. Somebody makes the plans and another will execute them:  This is the "wrong prophet".  In Rev 13 it is the "beast from the earth".  He is the lamb with 2 horns.  He misleads the people with his 2 horns. 

He has no power of his own. But when he is authorized by an angel, a deity, then he can find people, who spread out lies (1) and he can find people, who support those lies with force (2). 

These are his 2 horns.

 

Quite often Israel turned to other gods. They then  (the gods) were able to engage the false prophet, because God then did withdraw his protection from his people. 

And as we can read here 1/3 of his people got lost. The false prophet is very successful, and also in our communities.

 

Verse 4b: Here we remember the Massacre of the Innocents. The family of Jesus has fled to Egypt.

 Verse 5: Jesus completes his service for us, he dies, he goes to the realm of the dead, then he goes to heaven to his father.

 

Verse 6: We are now in the middle of the Apocalypse. Until its end there are still 1260 days,  3 1/2 years.

As we are going to read later, Mary and Israel will be saved in the desert during this time.

 

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Now let's look once more, how Mary, the Mother of God, is represented by the Catholic interpretation. We see here a statue of Mary in Mainz, Germany. 

 

 

With the attributes of this picture we can easily see, that the meaning of the picture after Rev 12 has been largely extended. 

 

"Clothed with the sun" is shown here, as if rays of the sun would spread out from the woman and would produce a rich harvest: Grain, whine and roses. 

 

"The garland with the 12 stars" has become a crown of a ruler. Jesus, the baby, holds the imperial orb in his arm.

 

"The moon to her feet" is added by the globe and the snake. 

 

And so Mary, the Mother of Jesus, becomes the ruler of the world and of the evil, she becomes a "shining light".  Jesus, her son, is "only" the baby. 

 

But this is hardly the picture from Rev 12.  But is she only the "girl from the country" as the Protestants often see her? 

Now, the angel, who visited her, to tell her of the birth of the Messiah, did greet her like a princess. To him she is an eminent personality like Sara, the wife of Abraham. And therefore also to us. 

 

And there is still more: Our relationship to God is caused by Jesus. But Mary can have private audience -

like Moses.