Christ’s Judgement

“…and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works.” (3:5) “To the one who conquers I will give a place with me on my throne, just as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.” (3:21) “calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their (alt. reading is “his”) wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” (6:16-18); “But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practises abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” (21:27) “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done.” (22:12-15)

Theme of conquering death and the reward to come

Repeatedly, the faithful are called to endure suffering. I’ve listed some of these:

““I know your works, your toil and your endurance. I know that you cannot tolerate evildoers; you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not and have found them to be false. ³ I also know that you are enduring and bearing up for the sake of my name and that you have not grown weary.” (2:2,3)
“Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Beware, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison so that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have affliction. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.” (2:10)

“I know where you are living, where Satan’s throne is. Yet you are holding fast to my name, and you did not deny your faith in me even in the days of Antipas my witness, my faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan lives.” (2:13)

“I know your works: your love, faith, service, and endurance. I know that your latest works are greater than the first. ” (2:19)

“Because you have kept my word of endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.” (3:10)

““These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” (7:14)

“Then the dragon was angry with the woman and went off to wage war on the rest of her children, those who keep the commandments of God and hold the testimony of Jesus.” (12:17)

“Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To everyone who conquers, I will give permission to eat from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God.” (2:7)

“…Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.” (2:10)

“Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. Whoever conquers will not be harmed by the second death.” (2:11)

“Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To everyone who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give a white stone, and on the white stone is written a new name that no one knows except the one who receives it.” (2:17)

“To everyone who conquers and continues to do my works to the end,
I will give authority over the nations…even as I also received authority from my Father.” (2:26,27)

“To the one who conquers I will also give the morning star.” (2:28)

To the one who conquers I will give a place with me on my throne, just as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.” (3:21)

“If you conquer, you will be clothed like them in white robes, and I will not blot your name out of the book of life; I will confess your name before my Father and before his angels.” (3:5)

“If you conquer, I will make you a pillar in the temple of my God; you will never go out of it. I will write on you the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem that comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.” (3:12)

“Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God and they will be my children.” (21:7)

Jesus has conquered, and so will his followers:

Revelation 5.5: Then one of the elders said to me, ‘Do not weep. See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.’

Revelation 12.11: But they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb; and by the word of their testimony, for they did not cling to life even in the face of death.

Revelation 15.2 “And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands.”

The Lamb Enthroned

The very beginning of Revelations has Jesus as God:

The JBC21C notes how Christ is denoted by means of imagery reserved for God in the OT: “…his hair being white like wool, like snow, however, strongly suggests that he is more than an angel. This feature assimilates him to the Ancient of Days of Daniel 7, who is the visible form of God…this relationship is also in the description of Christ’s voice as the sound of many waters (cf. Ezek.43:2) and likewise in Christ’s self-designation as “the first and the last”…” (p.1862)

“…I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands I saw one like the Son of Man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash across his chest. His head and his hair were white as white wool, white as snow; his eyes were like a flame of fire; his feet were like burnished bronze, refined as in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and from his mouth came a sharp, two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining with full force. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he placed his right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last…”(Rev.1:12-17)

“Nothing accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him;” (Rev.22:3)

In Rev.5:13 the Lamb receives worship. There is precedent for the singular pronoun here being used to refer to antecedents. it can also have plural antecedents (eg. 2Jn.7 and 3Jn.4, as Dan Wallace points out):

“Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea and all that is in them, singing, “To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”” (Rev.5:13)

“Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign forever and ever.” (Rev.11:15)

God the Father sits on His Throne in heaven (1Ki. 22:19; Ps 11:4; 47:8). Jesus is on the same throne, too (Rev. 7:17 “2for the Lamb at the centre of the throne will be their shepherd”; 22:1,3):

“for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their Shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life…” (Rev 7:17a)

“Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb” (7:10)

Alpha and Omega

Richard Baukham quotes the verses below and states: “The three phrases – the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end – are clearly treated as equivalent phrases (since Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet), and are claimed both by God (1:8; 21:6) and by Christ (1:17; 22:13), in declarations of unique divine identity strategically located in the opening and closing sections of the book. These declarations are modelled on those of YHWH in DeuteroIsaiah (44:6; 48:12; cf. 41:4)…” (JGI p.45):

“I (God) am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” (Rev.1:8)

“Fear not, I (Christ) am the first and the last” (Rev 1:17a, 2:8)

“I (God) am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end” (21:6)

“I (Christ) am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end” (22:13)

Intercession of angels and saints in Heaven

In this first verse the angels present God with “prayers of the saints”. The only meaning I can derive from this is that they lift up our own prayers to God, which is precisely what intercession is:

 “When he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the elders fell before the Lamb, each holding a harp and a golden bowl full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints” (Rev 5:8)

Again, this scene is part of the magnificent and momentous setting of the “Lamb as if slain” who is found worthy to open the scroll “from the right hand of the one who is seated on the throne” with the four living creatures and the elders falling before Him in worship. It is indeed incredible that “the angel before God” gives “much incense” to mingle with our prayers. This is a tremendous sign that out poor and unworthy prayers are being elevated by the angels and even placed in a golden censer, that they might appear before God. None of this we could do for ourselves, hence it is obvious that the efficacy of our prayers is being elevated through angelic intercession:

“And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer; and he was given much incense to mingle with the prayers of the saints from the hand of the angel before God. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel.” (Rev 8:3-4)

Theme of the Wedding Feast and the Bride

Revelations seems to develop on the theme taken up by St Paul in Ephesians (5:27) “so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.”, the themes of God as the husband of his people Israel in the Old Testament, eg. Hosea1:2, 2;2-5; 2:14-16; Isaiah 50:1; 54:5-8. Jesus’ own parables depicting himself as the bridegroom of his followers in the Gospels. There is frequent reference to the believers being given clean/ white robes, about their robes being unstained, washed in the Blood of the Lamb. All this culminates in chapter 19 (7-9):

“Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready; to her it has been granted to be clothed; with fine linen, bright and pure”- for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are true words of God.”

“And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and be their God…come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb” (Rev.21:2,3,9)

Marian Theme of Chapter 12

Tim Bergsma speaking about his conversion says that this is the passage which convinced him about Mary being Queen of Heaven and the Ark of the Covenant. The verse about the Woman occurs right after the vision of the Ark in Heaven, so it is hard not to draw a correlation, also given that the chapter-breaks are not in the original manuscripts anyway.

^“Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple; and there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail. 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.” (11:19,12:1)

The Woman , “clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and crowned with twelve stars…” is obviously a heavenly description, and also obviously a queen, being crowned after all. Further the obvious referent of the number 12 not just in the Bible but also in the book of Revelations itself is to the 12 tribes and therefore the queenship of Israel, and God’s holy people as a whole. Psalm 104:2 “you are clothed with honor and majesty, wrapped in light as in a garment” The JBC21C notes with references “these attributes are typical of high godesses in the ancient world, such as Isis…” (p.1873).

The child is clearly Jesus, the Messiah of Israel, who is to “rule all the nations with a rod of iron” (12:5), a reference to “I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill…you are my son, today I have begotten you…you shall break (the nations) with a rod of iron…” (Psalm 2:4-9) and “The scepter will not depart from Judah” (Ex.49:10). There is no other woman that gives birth to a Messiah other than Mary. As confirmation Rev.19:15 correlates this with the “Rider on the white horse”: “..’;he will rule them with a rod of iron…”

Objection- does Mary endure pain in childbirth?

The most significant objection to this strong Marian reference in Revelations is that the woman has pain in labor, when in fact labor pains according to the book of Genesis are a sign of the fallen state of man. This would therefore seem to go against the Church’s own official teachings, that Mary could not have had pain in her labor, being immaculately conceived and therefore not fallen.

Personally, I think that this might be over-reaching, and it might be OK for me to say this because this is not taught dogmatically by the Church. Personally I would have thought that God can protect his Mother from sin, without protecting from bodily pain, as were the case with Jesus who suffered pain but did not sin. But the Genesis passage refers to the fact that the Paradisal state of original innocence is presumably, in a way that we cannot understand, pain-free, just like Heaven is pain-free, because there are no noxious stimuli. Fire in Heaven does not burn through our limbs because we were not attentive to it, and so on. My point is that the passage in Genesis does not merely refer to the pain of the woman in childbirth rather to pain of the human state in general (vv.15-19).

However the Church holds that Mary conceived without even loss of the bodily signs of her virginity. Jesus emerged without hymenal tear, is what this specifically implies. This is the full sense of what “ever-virgin” is taken to mean, even though this seems at first glance an over-literalistic take on virginity”. The over-arching sentiment is seemingly that it is unthinkable that Jesus cause pain to his Mother, be it even at childbirth, through no direct intent. We can see that the Church seems to pronounce strongly and even quite convincingly on this, so my mental difficulties will have to remain as difficulties rather than objections:

The Virgin Mary did not suffer pain in childbirth:

But as the Conception itself transcends the order of nature, so the birth of our Lord presents to our contemplation nothing but what is divine. Besides, what is admirable beyond the power of thoughts or words to express, He is born of His Mother without any diminution of her maternal virginity, just as He afterwards went forth from the sepulchre while it was closed and sealed, and entered the room in which His disciples were assembled, the doors being shut; or not to depart from every-day examples, just as the rays of the sun penetrate without breaking or injuring in the least the solid substance of glass, so after a like but more exalted manner did Jesus Christ come forth from His mother’s womb without injury to her maternal virginity (…) To Eve it was said: In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children. Mary was exempt from this law, for preserving her virginal integrity inviolate she brought forth Jesus the Son of God without experiencing, as we have already said, any sense of pain.

CATECHISM OF THE COUNCIL OF TRENT PART 1: THE CREED Article III: We can also know what the Church believes from her prayers: In the preface of the votive Mass in honor of Mary at the foot of the cross, we read the words: “She who had given Him birth without the pains of childbirth was to endure the greatest of pains in bringing forth to new life the family of the Church.”
http://www.cst-phl.com/marian.html

On the contrary, Augustine says (Sermone de Nativitate supposititious), addressing himself to the Virgin-Mother: “In conceiving thou wast all pure, in giving birth thou wast without pain.”
I answer that, The pains of childbirth are caused by the infant opening the passage from the womb. Now it has been said above (Q28,A2, Replies to Objections), that Christ came forth from the closed womb of His Mother, and, consequently, without opening the passage. Consequently there was no pain in that birth, as neither was there any corruption; on the contrary, there was much joy therein for that God-Man “was born into the world,” according to Isaiah 35:1,2: “Like the lily, it shall bud forth and blossom, and shall rejoice with joy and praise.”
SUMMA THEOLOGICA Q35,A6

Having said that, this reference in Genesis was apparently powerful enough to convince some Church Fathers (sorry I cannot name them at present) that Mary was not Immaculately Conceived rather than give up on the Queen of Heaven typology.

The Catholic Exchange website does a great job with this (quoted from that website here through to the end of this section).

“…the woman in Revelation 12:2 has more than one meaning. On a most basic, literal level, we observe a woman, a child, and a dragon. However, the information conveyed indicates that these are Mary, Jesus, and the devil, respectively. In a spiritual sense, she is also Zion, Jerusalem, with her 12 stars, bringing forth the messianic era with the pangs of childbirth (cf. Isaiah 26:17). The woman is also the Church who gives birth to children of God (Mary herself is a figure or image of the Church). Mary is also the Mother of the Church that was born on Calvary, clearly in Mary’s pain (cf. Luke 2:34-35; Catechism, no. 766).

Thus, the Blessed Virgin Mother does not have pangs at Jesus’ miraculous birth into the world; rather, her “birth pangs” are deferred to the suffering she shares with Him on the Cross, as he is born into eternal glory. Indeed, Jesus takes up His throne only after he is glorified through His victory on Calvary. By sharing in her Son’s suffering, Mary also becomes the Mother of all His followers, i.e., the Body of Christ (Revelation 12:17), and thus the Mother of the Church. For those who argue for a more literal interpretation of Revelation 12, saying that Mary did have such labor pains, they would also have to believe that the devil was present in Bethlehem at Jesus’ birth as a dragon, ready to devour Jesus; that Jesus was swept up to heaven to safety upon His birth; and that Mary took refuge in the wilderness because of the devil’s threat. None of this, of course, is substantiated in the infancy narratives of the gospels. Given the figurative nature of the Book of Revelation, we need to rely on the God-given Magisterium to properly interpret it (Catechism, nos. 84-87).

“Through the years the Church fathers have given many enriching exegeses of this passage. You may wish to consult a Catholic commentary on the Scriptures for insight into these and other interpretations. The Church teaches that the virgin birth was also a painless birth, without defining it dogmatically. However, as its inclusion in the Catechism of the Council of Trent affirms, it is a logical conclusion from the Church’s definitive teaching regarding Mary’s Immaculate Conception and Virgin Birth: “To Eve it was said: In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children. Mary was exempt from this law, for preserving her virginal integrity inviolate she brought forth Jesus the Son of God without experiencing, as we have already said, any sense of pain.”

The Catholic Answers website goes into more details of the Church teaching on the issues without touching upon the relation to Revelations 12: https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/evidence-for-marys-painless-childbirth. Again, on there it affrims:

Though this teaching has never been the object of a formal definition of the Church and therefore is not infallible, the Catechism of the Council of Trent gives perhaps the clearest example of the general understanding of the Church through centuries past:

But as the Conception itself transcends the order of nature, so also the birth of Our Lord . . . just as the rays of the sun penetrate without breaking or injuring in the least the solid substance of glass, so after a like but more exalted manner did Jesus Christ come forth from his mother’s womb without injury to her maternal virginity. From Eve we are born children of wrath; from Mary we have received Jesus Christ. . . . To Eve it was said: In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children. Mary was exempt from this law, for preserving her virginal integrity inviolate she brought forth Jesus . . . without experiencing, as we have already said, any sense of pain.”

The Theme of Eternal Priesthood of the Faithful

The word “priest (hiereus) appears thrice in Revelations: “To him (Christ) who… made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” (1:6); “…and you (the Lamb) have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”” (5:10); “…Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.” (20:6). In addition we hear it twice in the letter of St. Peter (1Pet.2:5,9) itself an echo of the well- known verse from Isaiah 19:5-6 (also see 51:6; 66:21).

The book of Revelations thus elaborates and brings to fruition one of the strongest and most consistent themes of the entire Bible, that of priesthood in worship and the eschatological promises of the eternal priesthood for the faithful. If we interrogate this further asking what human priesthood means, then the surface meaning would indicate the offering up one’s own life to God (Rom.12:1; 2Cor.2:15; Heb.13:15; Eph.5:2; Phil.4:18). But the inescapable fact of Revelations and Hebrews is the literal sacrifice of Jesus “with his own blood” (eg. Heb.9:12). Thus since clearly Jesus is doing this on our behalf, since he has no need for it himself, it follows that our aforementioned sacrifice is linked to this action and and dependent upon uniting with it, that is, on uniting our aforementioned own sacrifice to that of Christ’s and in this too our act of priesthood and its meaning. In effect this is tying in to the eucharistic meaning of Christian worship and prayer life that we have already alluded to in another section.