Mary the Queen of Heaven

The Doctrine of Rewards: The Judgment Seat (Bema) of Christ

Related Media One of the prominent doctrines of the New Testament is the Doctrine of Rewards and the Judgment Seat of Christ. It is a doctrine often ignored or, when taught, it is misrepresented because of the term “judgment” that is used in translating the Greek text. Commenting on this Samuel Hoyt writes:
Within the church today there exists considerable confusion and debate regarding the exact nature of the examination at the judgment seat of Christ. The expression “the judgment seat of Christ” in the English Bible has tended to cause some to draw the wrong conclusion about the nature and purpose of this evaluation. A common misconception which arises from this English translation is that God will mete out a just retribution for sins in the believer’s life, and some measure of retributive punishment for sins will result.[SUP]1[/SUP]
As it will be shown below, though it is tremendously serious with eternal ramifications, the judgment seat of Christ is not a place and time when the Lord will mete out punishment for sins committed by the child of God. Rather, it is a place where rewards will be given or lost depending on how one has used his or her life for the Lord.
In 1 Thessalonians 2:19-20, the Apostle Paul drew courage and was motivated by the fact of rewards at the return of the Lord for the church which he mentions in every chapter in this epistle and becomes the primary subject of 2 Thessalonians. The Lord’s return and what this means not only to the world but to us individually is a very prominent subject of the New Testament.
It is significant that among the final words of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, we find these words of the Lord:
Rev. 22:12 Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.
While salvation is a gift, there are rewards given for faithfulness in the Christian life and loss of rewards for unfaithfulness. Rewards become one of the great motives of the Christian’s life or should. But we need to understand the nature of these rewards to understand the nature of the motivation. Some people are troubled by the doctrine of rewards because this seems to suggest “merit” instead of “grace,” and because, it is pointed out, we should only serve the Lord out of love and for God’s glory.
Of course we should serve the Lord out of love and for God’s glory, and understanding the nature of rewards will help us do that. But the fact still remains that the Bible promises us rewards. God gives us salvation. It is a gift through faith, but He rewards us for good works. God graciously supplies the means by which we may serve Him. Indeed, He works in us both to will and to do as we volitionally appropriate His grace (Phil. 2:12-13), but the decision to serve, and the diligence employed in doing so, are our responsibility and our contribution and God sees this as rewardable. Compare the following passages:
1 Corinthians 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.
Colossians 1:29 And for this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.
Key Verses on Rewards: Rom. 14:10-11; 1 Cor. 3:11-15; 2 Cor. 5:9-10; 1 John 2:28; Rev. 3:11-12.
The Meaning of the
Judgment (Bema) Seat

Both Romans 14:10 and 2 Corinthians 5:9 speak of the “judgment seat.” This is a translation of one Greek word, the word bema. While bema is used in the gospels and Acts of the raised platform where a Roman magistrate or ruler sat to make decisions and pass sentence (Matt. 27:19; John 19:13), its use in the epistles by Paul, because of his many allusions to the Greek athletic contests, is more in keeping with its original use among the Greeks.
This word was taken from Isthmian games where the contestants would compete for the prize under the careful scrutiny of judges who would make sure that every rule of the contest was obeyed (cf. 2 Tim. 2:5). The victor of a given event who participated according to the rules was led by the judge to the platform called the Bema. There the laurel wreath was placed on his head as a symbol of victory (cf. 1 Cor. 9:24-25).
In all of these passages, “Paul was picturing the believer as a competitor in a spiritual contest. As the victorious Grecian athlete appeared before the Bema to receive his perishable award, so the Christian will appear before Christ’s Bema to receive his imperishable award. The judge at the Bema bestowed rewards to the victors. He did not whip the losers.”[SUP]2[/SUP] We might add, neither did he sentence them to hard labor.
In other words, it is a reward seat and portrays a time of rewards or loss of rewards following examination, but it is not a time of punishment where believers are judged for their sins. Such would be inconsistent with the finished work of Christ on the Cross because He totally paid the penalty for our sins. Chafer and Walvoord have an excellent word on this view:
With reference to sin, Scripture teaches that the child of God under grace shall not come into judgment (John 3:18; 5:24; 6:37; Rom. 5:1; 8:1; 1 Cor. 11:32); in his standing before God, and on the ground that the penalty for all sin—past, present, and future (Col. 2:13)—has been borne by Christ as the perfect Substitute, the believer is not only placed beyond condemnation, but being in Christ is accepted in the perfection of Christ (1 Cor. 1:30; Eph. 1:6; Col. 2:10; Heb. 10:14) and loved of God as Christ is loved (John 17:23).[SUP]3[/SUP]
Again, Chafer writes concerning the Bema, “It cannot be too strongly emphasized that the judgment is unrelated to the problem of sin, that it is more for the bestowing of rewards than the rejection of failure.”[SUP]4[/SUP]
The Time of the Bema

This event will occur immediately following the rapture or resurrection of the church after it is caught up to be with the Lord in the air as described in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.
Arguments in support of this view:
(1) In Luke 14:12-14, reward is associated with the resurrection and the rapture is when the church is resurrected.
(2) In Revelation 19:8, when the Lord returns with His bride at the end of the tribulation, she is seen already rewarded. Her reward is described as fine linen, the righteous acts of the saints—undoubtedly the result of rewards.
(3) In 2 Timothy 4:8 and 1 Corinthians 4:5, rewards are associated with “that day” and with the Lord’s coming. Again, for the church this means the event of 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.
So the order of events will be (a) the rapture which includes our glorification or resurrection bodies, (b) exaltation into the heavens with the Lord, (c) examination before the Bema, and (d) compensation or rewards.
The Place of the Bema

It will occur somewhere in the heavenlies in the presence of the Lord. This is evident from 1 Thessalonians 4:17 and Revelation 4:2 and 19:8.
The Participants at the Bema

(1) All the passages dealing with the Bema or rewards are addressed to believers or pertain to believers of the church (Rom. 14:10-12; 1 Cor. 3:12f; 2 Cor. 5:9f; 1 John 2:28; 1 Thess. 2:19-20; 1 Tim. 6:18-19; Tit. 2:12-14 [note the emphasis on good works]).
The resurrection program and the thus the reward of Old Testament saints occurs after the tribulation, after church age saints are already seen in heaven and rewarded and returning with the Lord to judge the earth (cf. Rev. 19:8 with Dan. 12:1-2; Matt. 24).
(2) All believers, regardless of their spiritual state, will be raptured and will stand before the Bema to give an account of their lives and will either receive rewards or lose rewards. Some believe in a partial rapture theory which says that only those in fellowship with the Lord will be raptured as a form of punishment for their sin. As mentioned above, this is not only contrary to the finished work of Christ who once and for all paid the penalty for our sins, but it is contrary to the teaching of 1 Thessalonians 5:9-11.
9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him.
The context suggests that Paul has in mind the return of Christ for the church—the rapture (1 Thess. 4:13-18). The rapture is the means of our deliverance from the wrath he discusses in chapter 5:1-3. Further, the words “awake or asleep” of verse 10 refer to a spiritual or moral condition, not whether one is alive or dead when Christ returns as in 4:13-14. This is clear from both the context of 5:4-8 and by the fact he changed the words he used for sleep. He used the Greek katheudo in 5:10 rather than koimao, the word he used metaphorically in 4:13-14 of physical death. Though katheudo was used of physical sleep and even death, it was also commonly used of spiritual apathy or carnal indifference to spiritual matters, and this is clearly the context of chapter 5. The point, then, is this: Because of the perfect and finished nature of Christ’s death (note the words “who died for us” of verse 10), whether we are spiritually alert or not, we will live together with Him through the rapture to face the examination of the Bema.
The Examiner or Judge at the Bema

This is none other than the Lord Jesus who is even now examining our lives and will bring to light the true nature of our walk and works when we stand before Him at the Bema (Rev. 1-2; 1 Cor. 4:5f; 2 Cor. 5:10; 1 John 2:28). In Romans 14:10 the Apostle called this examining time the Bema of God while in 2 Corinthians 5:10 he called it the Bema of Christ. The Point: Jesus who is God is our examiner and rewarder.
The Purpose and Basis of the Bema

The purpose and the basis is the most critical issue of all and brings us face to face with the practical aspects of the Bema. Some crucial questions are: Why are we brought before the Bema? Is it only for rewards or their loss? Will any punishment be meted out? Will there be great sorrow? What’s the basis on which the Bema is conducted? Is it sin, good works, or just what?
 
because we are told to, it is a form of serving God. It is a way to (sometimes) get answered prayer.
 
Kevin007 said:
because we are told to, it is a form of serving God. It is a way to (sometimes) get answered prayer.
Click to expand...

But why would we need to serve God?

Also, do you believe your prayers can sway God to answer them?
 
Kevin007 said:
what are you getting at?

Prayers must be in the will of God for them to be answered yes.
Click to expand...

Can God's will be changed on account of prayer, or is prayer just an impotent gesture which God has commanded?
 
TER said:
Can God's will be changed on account of prayer, or is prayer just an impotent gesture which God has commanded?
Click to expand...

God's will will be done. He is in control. We can be outside of His will for our lives though. No His will is perfect, ours is not. It is His will all men be saved, but we have free will.
 
Kevin007 said:
God's will will be done. He is in control. We can be outside of His will for our lives though. No His will is perfect, ours is not. It is His will all men be saved, but we have free will.
Click to expand...

You have not answered the questions I asked. Can God change His will or is God constrained from changing His will?
 
Kevin007 said:
has an effect meaning the effect He wants or we want? It has an effect if it is in His will, yes.
Click to expand...

We know that God's will is Supreme and that whatever He wills come to be. Do you think, however, that by prayer and petitioning God He can change His will if He wills to?
 
TER said:
We know that God's will is Supreme and that whatever He wills come to be. Do you think, however, that by prayer and petitioning God He can change His will if He wills to?
Click to expand...

He can do whatever He wants of course, but my understanding is He is the same today, yesterday and forever.
 
Kevin007 said:
He can do whatever He wants of course, but my understanding is He is the same today, yesterday and forever.
Click to expand...

Kevin, I have to go to bed. I would like to take this up at a different time. In the meanwhile, please meditate on this parable:

18 Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, 2 saying: “There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. 3 Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary.’ 4 And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man, 5 yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’”

6 Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said. 7 And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? 8 I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?"
 
Seeing the Virgin Mary through Biblical Eyes

JULY 6, 2015 BY SERAPHIM HAMILTON



In order to understand the role that the Virgin Mary plays in Scripture, one first needs to understand the symbolism of Bride and Groom that runs through the pages of the Bible.

If one understands the role that Bride and Groom plays, then one will understand why the Virgin Mary is central to the Bible. She is fundamental to the story of redemption, just as fundamental as Eve is to the story of the Fall.

One often hears it declared that Mary is a “minor biblical character.” After all, she is only mentioned in Luke, Acts, John, and perhaps Revelation. The fallacy in this statement is obvious from the fact that the entire Old Testament is about Jesus Christ, yet Christ is understood in the Old Testament not by direct, explicit reference to His name, but rather in the language of symbolism, typology, and prophecy. The role that Mary plays in Scripture is quite similar. If one wants to discern a truly Biblical Mariology, a Mariology that isn’t arbitrary in its use of Scripture, then one must tune one’s ear to the language of symbolism.

We begin, then, in Genesis 1. In Genesis 1:1, God creates the heavens and the earth. In later biblical reflections on this event (for example, in Colossians 1:15-16), it is evident that the heavens spoken of in verse one refers to God’s throne-room, a room surrounded by a heavenly council of angels. The earth is formless, void, and dark. In the six days that follow, God proceeds to form, fill, and enlighten the earth, beginning to bring it to the maturity of its heavenly prototype. God crowns the creation by making a man in His own Image. In context, one ought to understand the “image” of God as being appointed to do the things that God does- in other words, he is meant to form, fill, and enlighten the world, bringing it further to the maturity of its heavenly prototype.
In Genesis 2:7, we are given a more detailed picture of the way that this is to occur.

The text of Genesis 2 similarly begins with a formless, void, and dark world. No shrub of the field had been created, and the grains made on the third day had not yet sprouted ears. God responds to this formless and void world with the “let there be light” of the first human being, the light of the world. This entire narrative is introduced as the “generations of the heavens and the earth.” Every other reference to “generation” in Genesis refers to the offspring. The generations of Adam are Adam’s offspring. The generations of Isaac introduces the life of Jacob, and so on. There is no reason to make an exception for Genesis 2:4: Adam is the son of the heavens and the earth. He is made by a mixture of God’s Spirit and the dust of the ground. This is why “image and likeness” in Genesis 5:1-2 is understood to refer to sonship, and it is why Adam is referred to as the “son of God” in Luke 3. In this birth, God is the masculine partner while the ground, the adamah is the feminine partner.

This establishes the fundamentally feminine identity of creation: the world responds to the overture of God, her husband. With respect to God, all humanity is feminine. With respect to the creation, all humanity is masculine.

When we come to the creation of Eve, there are more interesting details that will become important in this study. God “opens” and “closes” the side of Adam, language that is more typical for a door than it is for a man. Even more significantly, Eve is described as having been “built” out of Adam’s side. This is language that is used for the construction of cities in Scripture, not people. This connection becomes more explicit in Genesis 4, where Cain exalts himself by presuming to take human life. After exalting himself, Cain builds a city for his son, Enoch. Enoch is the son, fulfilling the role of Adam. The city is the feminine partner, fulfilling the role of Eve. Cain presumes to take the role of God in this story.

When we approach the curses of Genesis 3, the foundation for a biblical understanding of Eve (and thus, Mary) is set. Eve is introduced to two great battles which will take place throughout the history of salvation. First, God places enmity between the Serpent and the Woman. Second, God places enmity between the Seed of the Serpent and the Seed of the Woman. Eve is told that the Seed will eventually crush the head of the Serpent. These details become important as one proceeds through Scripture. Consider the relationship of Genesis 12 and Genesis 20. In Genesis 12, the Serpentine Pharaoh attempts to seize the Woman. The attack here focuses on the first battle of Genesis 3. Abram wisely deceives the Serpent, rendering a lex talionis back on the Serpent’s deception of Eve. In Genesis 20, the focus is on the second battle, between the Serpent and the Seed. The Serpentine Abimelech seizes Sarah to produce Seed through her, and this is Satan’s attempt to prevent the birth of Isaac. Ultimately, however, Abimelech repents and God gives him children.

Because the Woman was made out of the side of the Man, the Woman replicates the battle of the Seed against the Serpent. Two examples from the book of Judges stand out. In Judges 5, Jael, the Woman, takes a tent peg and crushes the head of Sisera. The crushing of the head of the Serpent lays the foundation for the true Tent, which is the dwelling place of God. For this, Jael is praised as “most blessed among all women”, a word of praise later applied in the Gospel of Luke to the Virgin Mary. Second, in Judges 9, Abimelech, a wicked king, oppresses Israel. Here we are not even told the Woman’s name so as to emphasize the typological character of this event. The “Woman” hurls a millstone down from a tower, crushing the head of the oppressive king.

After God describes the salvation which will ultimately be wrought through the Seed, Adam accepts the promise of salvation by renaming his wife Eve: the “mother of all living.” The Seed will destroy the one who deceived the Woman and brought death into the world. Eve, as mother of the Seed, is mother of the living. This fact brings into focus a reality which is very often underemphasized in biblical theology. Eve is not merely to be understood as bride of Adam. Equally ultimate with this reality is the truth that Eve is the mother of the Seed.

I noted above that the creation of Eve is spoken of in terms of the building of a city. This is why “Daughter Zion” is very often spoken of as a woman. Consider the way that God describes Jerusalem in Isaiah. In Isaiah 54, Daughter Zion is invited to sing and rejoice, because, having been barren in the death of exile, God will bring life out of her womb and multiply the nation. The context is the famous prophecy of the Suffering Servant. The Servant plays the role of the Kinsman-Redeemer. Daughter Zion is without a husband, and the Servant is appointed to raise up Seed through her. In response, however, Israel treats the Servant as a Kinsman-Redeemer who fails to do his duty (Deuteronomy 25:9), spitting in His face (Isaiah 50:6). Ultimately, however, through the Servant’s vicarious suffering, He will “see His Seed” (Isaiah 53:10), raising up a whole nation of “Servants” recreated after His Image (Isaiah 54:17).

In Isaiah, then, God freely mixes the language for Eve as Mother with the language for Eve as Bride. The original city of God was the bride of Adam, but Daughter Zion is the bride of the Lord. These two threads come together beautifully in the incarnation of the Lord as the true and Last Adam. In Isaiah 65-66, the restored Jerusalem is identified as the entire creation, renewed through the work of the Servant. Isaiah 65:17 has God declaring that He will “create a new heavens and a new earth”, and Isaiah 65:18 uses the same language for the New Jerusalem. Revelation 21 therefore sees the New Creation, the City of God, as a great pyramid, the whole world having been transformed into God’s holy mountain, as was prophesied in Daniel 2:44-45.

All of these threads come together in the New Testament. In Luke 1:35, the Virgin Mary is told that the Spirit of God will “overshadow” her, bringing forth Christ, the Last Adam. This is a reference to Genesis 2, when the Spirit of God similarly overshadowed the feminine Adamah and brought forth the first Adam. Isaiah 28:27-29 describes Israel as the ground, and God’s judgments as preparing the ground for the seed that will be planted. When language of the ground and the Spirit is used with reference to the Virgin Mary, we are being told that she is the climax of the history of Israel. The entire cultivation of Israel as the people of the Seed strained towards the Woman in whom the Seed could finally be planted.

In the Magnificat, the Virgin Mary applies to herself language that was used for Jael: the most blessed of all women. As we have seen, the story of Jael calls us back to the promise of the war between Eve and the Serpent. In applying this language to herself, Mary is identifying herself as the one in whom the promises to Eve are fulfilled. As Eve is promised motherhood of the Seed, so Mary fulfills this prophecy and becomes the New Eve. This is why when the Virgin brings Christ to the prophet Simeon, she is told that “a sword will pierce through your own soul also” (Luke 2:35). The Woman replicates the experience of the Seed. As the Seed is pierced, so also is the heart of the Virgin.

The Woman’s double-identity of Mother and Bride explains why Mary is a personal symbol of the entire Church. The Virgin Mary is the one in whom the promises to Eve are fulfilled. The Bible presents Mary as fulfilling the role of Eve as Mother. It presents the Church as the fulfillment of Eve’s role as Bride. The Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 11 therefore sees himself as playing the role of Adamic guardian of the Church-Bride, whom the Serpent is attempting to deceive. Paul wishes to present the Church-Bride as pure to her true husband, who is Christ.

The fact that both Mary and the Church are presented as fulfillments of Eve implies that there is a sense in which the Church and Mary are to be identified. This is most excellently presented in Revelation 12, a much-discussed and much debated passage of Scripture. If one is familiar with the Old Testament, it becomes significantly easier to understand. The vision begins with a Woman crying out in birth pains, with the Dragon waiting to attack the Seed whom she bears. This is a reference to Genesis 3, where the pain of Eve in childbearing is multiplied. Here, Eve encapsulates the entire history of Israel. Israel’s long, tortured story is the story of Eve crying out in birth pains, waiting for the Son to be born and crush the Dragon. Israel’s history focuses down to the person of the Virgin Mary, and that is who this Woman is in Revelation 12:5.

As the book of Revelation opens the book that was closed at the end of Daniel (compare Daniel 12:4-7 and Revelation 10:1-7), Revelation 12 reveals the meaning of the visions of Daniel. In Daniel 11, the prophet is given a history of the “times of the Gentiles” down to the war of the Archangel Michael (Daniel 12:1, fulfilled in Revelation 12:7). While the interpretation of this passage is controversial, with some identifying the king who “does what he wills” as a future Antichrist, I believe that the best reading of this passage identifies continuity between this history and the history told in the rest of Daniel 11, without a massive chronological gap. The king who “does what he wills” is Herod the Great, who fulfills the history of fallen Adam. Daniel 11:40-43 should then be understood as the war between Octavian (as king of the north) and Mark Antony (as king of the South). After this war, Herod made peace with Octavian and served as Rome’s vassal in Judea. We are told in 11:44-45 that the king will hear news from the east that “alarms him” and devote “many to destruction” after which he himself will die. The text itself is ambiguous about whether the king is the one who “does what he wills”, the king of the north, or the king of the south. From hindsight, it is quite obvious that this is the “king who does what he wills”, or Herod the Great. This prophecy is fulfilled in Matthew 2. We are told that wise men “from the east” (an allusion to Daniel 11) come to King Herod and inform him about the coming birth of the messianic seed. Herod then orders the destruction of all the male infants in Bethlehem. Joseph, Mary, and Christ flee into the wilderness.

Given that Revelation opens up the visions of Daniel, we see this fulfilled in Revelation 12. The Dragon attempts to consume the Seed at His birth, but God gives the Woman refuge in the wilderness of Egypt. The entire history of the life of Christ is collapsed into a few verses. The child is caught up to the throne of God. The ascension is depicted in more detail in Revelation 4-5, where Jesus ascends to God’s throne. After this, an angelic war arises in heaven. This is why we consistently see angels strengthening Jesus throughout the gospels. Satan attempts to deceive Jesus and make Him fall, while the righteous angels strengthen Him through His victories. At last, the Dragon-Serpent is “fallen from Heaven” and cast out from God’s heavenly court, where he had previously had right of access as “ruler of the whole world, which can be seen in Job 1. The Serpent is placed under the feet of the Seed, the Last Adam.

Following this, the life of Christ and Mary is replicated in the life of the Church. When Satan is driven to the Earth, he first attempts to attack the Church-Bride. This is the “great persecution” that broke out from Jerusalem early in the Apostolic Age. After this fails, Satan attempts to corrupt the Bride so that he might produce his own children through her. These “poisonous waters” which he pours out is the Judaizing heresy which broke out after the great persecution. After Paul wages holy war against this heresy and defeats it, Satan prepares for one last strike- a strike on the Seed, the “rest of her offspring”, whom he attempts to kill in the Neronic persecutions.

We can see, then, that the Woman of Revelation 12 is the New Eve, personally embodied in the Virgin Mary, mother of the Seed, and corporately embodied in the Church, Bride of the Last Adam. Two Old Testament texts reinforce this connection. The Woman of Revelation 12 is described as clothed with the sun, with a moon under her feet, and with a crown of twelve stars. One of the sources of this imagery is Genesis 37. In Genesis 37, Joseph (one star) sees his brothers (eleven stars) and his father (the sun) and mother (the moon) bowing down to him. The heavenly lights are thus identified as symbolic representations of the heavenly people of God. The other allusion is to Song of Solomon 6. Solomon describes his bride as one “like the dawn, beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun.” He refers to the young women who saw her and “called her blessed”, symbolically identifying the Woman with the New Eve through an allusion to Judges 5, discused above.

Importantly, the “Woman” discussed throughout the Solomonic literature is “Lady Wisdom.” Solomon is the prototypical wise king, a figure of the Last Adam, to whom birds and beasts are brought (1 Kings 4:33). As the bride was taken out of Adam’s side, so the bride of Adam replicates the character of Adam. Lady Wisdom replicates the character of her husband. One wants to be precise in assocating the Mother of God with wisdom, since the incarnation of eternal wisdom is Jesus Christ alone. Even so, as Eve is taken from Adam’s side, so also Mary and the Church are taken from the side of Christ- they therefore replicate His character as “Wisdom.” A wise husband gives rise to a wise woman.

Given the identification of the Virgin Mary with the woman of Revelation 12:5, several connections with the Song of Solomon emerge. First, the Virgin Mary is a queen: the queen of the kingdom of God. The woman spoken of in the Song is Solomon’s queen, and Mary is similarly a queen. Second, the Virgin Mary is the symbolic equivalent of the people of Israel. This is why she wears all of Israel’s symbols in herself- she is bright “like the sun”, she has the “moon under her feet” and she is crowned with the twelve tribes of Israel- just like the City of God in Revelation 21 is crowned with twelve jewels matching the twelve tribes of Israel. As the Church reigns as kings and priests on earth, it becomes obvious that Mary embodies everything that the Church is called to embody. Christ is a divine person who has assumed human nature. Mary the first human person in whom the entire goal of God’s economy has been accomplished.

Understanding the Scripture can be difficult. It requires intense reading, prayer, and reflection on the contents of this divine book. Yet, as Solomon proclaimed, “it is the glory of God to conceal a matter, the glory of kings to search it out” (Proverbs 26:1). If we, as the royal children of God, are diligent in searching out what God has concealed, then we might just find ourselves face to face with His blessed mother, the Holy Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary.
 
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