Chapter thirteen has led to much debate, discussion, and confusion about John’s vision. However, if we keep in mind that this is apocalyptic literature and that John was writing to a particular group of people at a particular time and place in history, John’s meaning will become clearer. John is not predicting the future. John is challenging the churches to remain faithful in the face of persecution. Yes, evil is warring against the people of God, however, the final outcome is already known. Christ is the victor. In WWII -- D-Day and the Battle of Midway essentially determined the Allied victory, yet the war continued to rage, for a time, and suffering took place before the ultimate victory was realized.
John seems to borrow heavily from Daniel 7 for his description of the beasts. Based on the realities of John’s world the beasts represent the Roman government which was, from John’s perspective, the personification of evil exercising authority over people by deception. Just as a soldier is not surprised that the enemy shoots at him, in the battle of evil against the people of God we should not be surprised that bad things happen to good people.
There has been much speculation about the meaning or identity of the person John refers to as 666. First, contrary to popular perception, 666 is not a reference to the antichrist. Why? Because John never uses the word antichrist in the Book of Revelation. The word only appears in the epistles of John, and there it is used in a generic way to refer to people who deny the humanity of Christ.
Because the number six is not used as a symbol in apocalyptic writings John may have a literal meaning in mind. In John’s culture names could be written by assigning the number corresponding to the alphabet for each letter in the name. John, for instance, could be written: 1015814. (J=10 o=15 h=8 n=14) Therefore 666 could be a reference to Nero. Nero was the first Roman Emperor to brutally persecute the Christians and in that regard any subsequent ruler who also persecuted Christians would be known as ‘Nero.’
John is reminding the church that evil will use deception, accusation and intimidation to keep the people of God from doing what they know is right. There is much political, economic, social as well as physical pressure aimed at preventing us from doing what is right. So much good is left undone because of intimidation. While most people want to do right they are prepared to do wrong, John reminds us that the Christian is held to a higher standard. To do right, even in the face of intimidation, the Christian need only remember that all of the weapons in evil’s arsenal are defeated by truth. Truth, first, last and always is grounded in the Word of God. AND, of course, Jesus is the ultimate truth: Jesus said, ““I am the way, the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6)
What does today’s reading
reveal to you about God?
What does it reveal to you about yourself?
Think about what God wants you to do
or remember about this passage.
Does God want you to change
anything in your life?
12-Oct-11 Rev. 14:1-20
No comments:
Post a Comment