A great 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. 2 She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. 4 Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born. 5 She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.”[a] And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. 6 The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.
7 Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
–Book of Revelation, chapter 12:1-9
Catholics have a fascinating interpretation of Revelation chapter 12.
For starters, Catholics believe that the symbolism in the Book of Revelation has nothing to do with the future. Catholics believe that the author of Revelation was not writing prophecies, but using cloaked language and symbols to attack a powerful enemy. He was attacking the great enemy of the Christian Church at the end of the first century: Rome. Openly attacking Rome in the first century was a sure recipe for arrest and execution. So, in the tradition of previous Jewish writers living under foreign occupation, he wrote in code to attack the oppressor of God’s people. The great dragon is Rome. But who is the woman in chapter 12? Catholic scholars believe that the author of Revelation was using polyvalent symbolism: a single character in the story could represent multiple historical persons and/or entities.
Catholic website, Catholic Answers: “The Woman in Revelation 12 is part of the fusion imagery/polyvalent symbolism that is found in the book. She has four referents: Israel, the Church, Eve, and Mary.“
Let’s take a look at a section of Revelation chapter 12 and replace some of the symbols with entities and/or persons of the first century:
“When [the Roman Empire] saw that [it] had been [defeated at the crucifixion/resurrection], [it] pursued [Mary/the Church] who had given birth to [Christ]. 14 The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness [the escape of the Holy Family to Egypt], where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s [Herod/Rome/Satan] reach. 15 Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. 16 But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. 17 Then [Rome] was enraged at [the Church] and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.”
What clever imagery! The author of Revelation was not talking about events 2,000 years plus in the future. He was talking about events in the first century. He was providing comfort and hope to his Christian brethren who were suffering horribly due to the oppression and persecution of Rome.
Imagine, dear evangelicals, if Catholics are right! There will be no rapture. No seven years of tribulation. No 1,000 year Millennium of peace.
Growing up evangelical in the 60’s and 70’s, I never imagined I would reach adulthood, attend college, or get married. My pastors assured me that the Rapture was at hand. “The generation which sees the return of the Jews to the Holy Land will not pass away before the return of Christ.” We had even calculated the year of Christ’s return: 1974. Obviously, Jesus didn’t return in 1974. In the 80’s, our pastors found a new way to interpret the above passage involving the re-establishment of Israel. No. The prophecy was not wrong. Jesus hadn’t failed to return as he promised. We had misinterpreted the passage. It was our fault. But Jesus IS coming soon, we were told.
Any day now…
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End of post.
Escaping Christian Fundamentalism 
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