While at a local hospital named in honor of one of the Catholic Saints, I noticed at the entrance a large statue of the “Virgin Mary”. On her head was a crown, and circling her head was a ring of twelve stars. At the base of the statue was a title which read “Mary - Queen of Heaven”. Behind the statue was an inscription on a wall which read “Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God,” When I read the title of the statue, I was immediately hit with the implications of that inscription, and wondered if there was an actual reference in the Bible to Mary being the “Queen of Heaven.”
“Don't you see how they behave in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The sons gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven, and they pour out drink offerings to other gods so that they provoke me to anger. But are they really provoking me?" This is the LORD's declaration. "Isn't it they themselves being provoked to disgrace?” Therefore, this is what the Lord GOD says: "Look, my anger -- my burning wrath -- is about to be poured out on this place, on people and animals, on the tree of the field, and on the produce of the land. My wrath will burn and not be quenched." Jeremiah 7:17-20
Then Jeremiah said to all the people, including all the women, "Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah who are in the land of Egypt. This is what the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: 'As for you and your wives, you women have spoken with your mouths, and you men fulfilled it by your deeds, saying, "We will keep our vows that we have made to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings for her." Go ahead, confirm your vows! Keep your vows! ' Therefore, hear the word of the LORD, all you Judeans who live in the land of Egypt: 'I have sworn by my great name, says the LORD, that my name will never again be invoked by anyone of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, "As the Lord GOD lives." I am watching over them for disaster and not for good, and everyone from Judah who is in the land of Egypt will meet his end by sword or famine until they are finished off.’” Jeremiah 44:24-27
The Bible does reference a “queen of heaven”, but surprisingly it's not in the New Testament but rather in the Old Testament, in the book of Jeremiah. The prophet Jeremiah warned those in Judah to prepare for captivity by Babylon if they did not repent. The people of course refused, and instead planned to seek protection in Egypt from the coming Babylonian invasion, against Jeremiah’s advice. Jeremiah relayed God’s warning to them not to flee to Egypt, yet they fled to Egypt anyway. God in chapter forty-four pronounces judgment on them for this, and for their continued idol worship, calling out the worship of the “queen of heaven” specifically. This “queen of heaven” was most likely Ishtar. The Babylonians worshiped Ishtar as “The Virgin,” “The Holy Virgin,” “The Virgin Mother,” “Goddess of Goddesses,” and “Queen of Heaven and Earth.”
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. She was pregnant and cried out in labor and agony as she was about to give birth. ... She gave birth to a Son, a male who is going to rule all nations with an iron rod. Her child was caught up to God and to his throne. Revelation 12:1-2,5
I began wondering about the crown of twelve stars circling Mary’s head…what exactly did the crown and twelve stars represent? The Catholics portray the “Virgin Mary” many times with a crown of twelve stars. It is taken from Revelation chapter twelve. One source states “Catholic scholars have understood that this referred to both the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles. These, in turn, represent the people of both the Old and the New Covenant, of whom Mary is their Queen. She is Queen of Israel as Mother of Israel’s King, and Queen of the Church, as Mother of the King who is Savior, and thereby of all the redeemed.”
However, the woman in chapter twelve of Revelation with the crown and twelve stars does not refer to the “Virgin Mary”, mother of Jesus, but instead to Israel itself. The book of Genesis chapter thirty-nine relates the story of Joseph and his dreams revealing that one day he would be ruler over his whole family. “Then he had another dream and told it to his brothers. "Look," he said, "I had another dream, and this time the sun, moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me." He told his father and brothers, and his father rebuked him. "What kind of dream is this that you have had? " he said. "Am I and your mother and your brothers really going to come and bow down to the ground before you? " Gen. 37:9-10. Jacob asks Joseph “Am I and your mother and your brothers” going to bow down to you? He recognized that the sun, moon, and stars were symbolic of himself, Rachel, and his eleven other sons. Jacob, also called “Israel”, his wife, and his twelve sons are symbolic of all of Israel. Jesus the Messiah is born out of Israel, the nation, the people.
When reading in Luke about Gabriel’s announcement to Mary that she would give birth to the Messiah, there is no glorification of Mary other than to say she is “favored” by God. Mary even refers to herself as “the Lord’s servant.” When Elizabeth greets Mary, she states that she is “Blessed among women”. When Mary responds to Elizabeth, she does so with a poem of praise for God known as the “Magnificat”, the Latin word for “magnify”. “And Mary said: My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, because he has looked with favor on the humble condition of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed” Luke 1:46-48. In this one verse from the Magnificat, Mary uses all three of the words used to describe herself once again: “favored,” “a servant,” and “blessed.”
When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped inside her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Then she exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and your child will be blessed! "How could this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” Luke 1:41-43
The Bible never once refers to Mary as “Queen of Heaven” or “Mother of God”. These are names ascribed to her by the Holy Roman Catholic Church. There are four main Catholic Church beliefs regarding Mary, known as “Marian dogmas”. These include: Mary is the Mother of God, Mary was conceived through Immaculate Conception, Mary is a perpetual virgin, and lastly Mary underwent Assumption into Heaven of her body and soul at death.
Mary is referred to as “mother of my Lord” by Elizabeth, but to ascribe the title “Mother of God” to Mary, as the Catholic Church does, is to assign a title of honor to Mary that is nowhere in the Bible stated. The title also greatly contradicts Mary’s own title she ascribes to herself as “the Lord’s servant.” And of course, the mere assertion that God has a “mother”, as humans understand and use the term, goes against sound biblical theology.
It is also believed by the Catholic Church that although scripture never states this, Mary was conceived without sin (immaculate conception) and born free of the curse of original sin. They reason that since she also gave birth to Jesus through immaculate conception, Mary must have been conceived in the same manner. We know of course that this is unbiblical because the Bible itself clearly states that all have sinned, and that only one person, Jesus the Lord, remained sinless and without fault.
The references to Mary as “the Virgin Mary” are meant to convey the fact that she is considered to be a perpetual virgin. This implies of course that Mary remained a virgin throughout her life. Now, we as protestants agree that Mary was a virgin prior to and at the time of Jesus’ birth, the Bible seems to state in several places that Mary and Joseph had normal marital relations after Jesus was born. This resulted, as it typically does, in Jesus having “half” brothers and sisters. The Bible mentions these brothers (possibly up to four) and sisters (possibly two) in the following places: Matthew 12:46-50, 13:55-56; Mark 3:31, 6:3; Luke 8:19; John 2:12, 7:3; Acts 1:14; 1 Cor. 9:5; and Galatians 1:19.
Mary’s Assumption (taking up) into Heaven, both body and soul, at her death is again not found anywhere in scripture. The Catholic Church gives the example of Enoch and Elijah as precedents for others who were taken up bodily, thereby avoiding death. The Bible does state that Enoch and Elijah were taken up into heaven, and of course there will be many more examples of those at the rapture who will be raptured to heaven without seeing death. But again, the Bible never states or even implies that Mary was taken up without seeing death. It is therefore prudent to assume that she did die, and will as Paul describes to the Church at Thessalonica, be present with Christ in the air at the time of the rapture and will be the first to be resurrected.
Mary is a humble servant, blessed among women, and she did find favor with God. She is certainly someone to admire and esteem among followers of Christ. But to ascribe to Mary such attributes as “Queen of Heaven”, “Mother of God”, “perpetual virgin”, “born in Immaculate Conception”, or her “Assumption to Heaven” is to go beyond what the Bible says of Mary, and in my opinion is to place her in a position that Mary herself would not feel comfortable being placed in. It is probably beneficial to simply end by quoting Mary herself, her last recorded statement in the Bible. She was speaking of her son Jesus, and giving directions to the servants at the wedding…
"Do whatever he tells you…" John 2:5
