Revelation 12

11:19 And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.
12And 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; 2she was with child and she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery.

Here we have a startling development! Liturgically, we move into the Liturgy of the Eucharist, preceded by the blowing of the Seventh Trumpet. John sees the Heavenly Sanctuary open, and, wonder of wonders, there is the Ark of the Covenant, displayed with lightning and thunder! Perhaps to us, the significance is lost, but this Ark was the most holy relique in all of Judaism. But it had not been seen in more than 500 years, because at the time of the Babylonian Captivity, the prophet Jeremiah had hidden it away in the wilderness (2 Maccabees 2:1-8). "The place is to remain unknown," he said, "unitl God gathers his people together again and shows them his mercy" (v.7, NJB). As such, St. John's revelation of the Ark of the Covenant is of monumental importance, and yet, he seems to spend just one verse on it before changing the subject entirely.

The truth is, he does not change the subject at all, in turning his attention to The Woman. The Ark seen in Heaven, and the woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars are one and the same. Who is this Woman? John describes her as pregnant and in labour, later saying that she gives birth to a child who would rule the nations with an iron sceptre--a Messianic reference to Psalm 2:9. The Child, then, is Jesus. The Woman is His Mother, Mary. Scott Hahn writes:

...When John describes the woman, he is describing the ark--of the New Covenant. And who is the woman? She is the one who gives birth to the male child Who will rule the nations. The child is Jesus; His mother is Mary.
What made the original ark so holy? Not the gold that coated the outside, but hte Ten Commandments inside--the Law that had been inscribed by the finger of God on tablets of stone. What else was inside? Manna, the miracle bread that fed the people in thier pilgrimage through the wasteland; Aaron's rod that blossomed as a sign of his office as high priest (see Nm 17).
What makes the new ark holy? The old ark contained the word of God written in stone; Mary contained in her womb the Word of God Who became man and dwelt among us. The ark contained manna; Mary contained the living bread come down from heaven. The ark contained the rod of the high priest Aaron; Mary's womb contained the eternal high priest, Jesus Christ. In the heavenly temple, the Word of God is Jesus, and the ark in whom He resides is Mary, His mother. (The Lamb's Supper, pp. 77-78)

We are briefly seeing the Heavenly perspective on Salvation History from Christmas onward.

3And another portent appeared in heaven; behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems upon his heads. 4His 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; 5she 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, 6and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which to be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.

The Dragon is Satan. seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems upon his heads represent his pretentions to perfection, completeness, and authority. The third of the stars of heaven represent the angelic warriors who rebelled with Satan. Verses 5-6 recall the ancient first prophecy of the Messiah in Genesis 3:15:

'I shall put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
it wiil bruise your head
and you will strike its heel' (NJB).

Satan's plans to destroy the Messiah fail, ultimately resulting in his own destruction, while the Child and the Woman are kept safe.

7Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, 8but they were defeated and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world--he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 10And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. 11And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. 12Rejoice then, O heaven and you that dwell therein! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!"

Going back to the Ark of the Covenant parallel for just a moment, historically, according to the Old Testament, the priests would carry the Ark into battle, and God would fight for His people. Here again we see the Ark in the context of war--the greatest of wars, between Heaven and Hell. Michael, the defender of Israel, and his heavenly armies route Satan and his legions, and cast them out of Heaven. This is not simply "Heaven" as in God's Home, but the Kingdom of Heaven, the Church. While we still must persevere in fighting against Satan and evil, the victory is won, and God has the Kingdom, Christ has the power, and we have the duty to spread that Kingdom throughout the earth. The Battle was won through by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. We must persevere in that victory.

13And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had borne the male child. 14But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time. 15The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with the flood. 16But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river which the dragon had poured from his mouth. 17Then the dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and bear testimony to Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea.

Having been defeated by God and His armies, Satan turns his attentions to the Church, trying to destroy the woman (but all of nature is at God's command, and He fights for us), and to her offspring: those who keep the commandments of God and bear testimony to Jesus. We are the sons and daughters of Mary. Scott Hahn again writes:

Others object that the woman cannot be Mary because the woman in Revelation has other offspring, and the Church teaches that Mary was perpetually virgin. But Scripture often uses the term "offspring" (in Greek, sperma to describe one's spiritual descendants. The children of Mary, her spiritual offspring, are those "who keep the commandments of God and bear testimony to Jesus (Rev 12:17). We are the other offspring of the woman. We are the children of Mary.
Thus Revelation also portrays Mary as the "New Eve," mother of all the living. I the Garden of Eden, God promised to "put enmity" between Satan, the ancient serpent, and Eve--and between Satan's "seed and her seed" (Gen 3:15). Now, in the Apocalypse, we see the climax of this enmity. The seed of the new woman, Mary, is the male son, Jesus Christ, Who comes to defeat the serpent (in Hebrew, the same word, nahash, can apply to both dragon and serpent).
This is the overwhelming teaching of the Fathers, Doctors, saints and popes of the Church, both ancient and modern. It is the teaching of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (see no. 1138).... Pope St. Pius X spoke eloquently for the Tradition in his encyclical letter Ad Diem Illum Laetissimum:

Everyone knows that this woman signified the Virgin Mary.... John therefore saw the Most Holy Mother of God already in eternal happiness, yet travailing in a mysterious childbirth. What childbirth was it? Surely it was the birth of us who, still in exile, are yet to be generated to the perfect charity of God, and to eternal happiness.

(The Lamb's Supper pp.79-80.)

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