The Book of Revelation explores the matrix of relationships between Christ, the Church and the world throughout the age between the Ascension of Christ and His return. It deals with immense reality, and its comprehensive and consuming insight can be amongst the most traumatic reading in the Bible.
The Apocalypse as it used to be called (‘apocalypse’, means ‘reveal / disclose’; it does not mean ‘the end of the world’!) paints a vision of a world that has descended into an arena of war. The ancient serpent, the dragon, rages against the Living God and is hurled to the earth. Unable to assail the throne of the Lamb, He instead ‘leads the whole world astray’ (12:9), into a posture of sustained hostility to Christ and His people. The world, as A.W.Tozer so memorably put it, is a battleground, not a playground.
The brutal reality of that battle is underscored early on in the Book. As we read through Jesus’ 7 letters to the (angels of the) Churches, we are introduced to the strategies and tactics of our enemy. Amongst them is the weaponisation of the structures of authority within human society. In His letters we find both religious and civil authority bearing against the people of God, with terrifying consequences. In tune with the purpose of the Book, Jesus unveils the spiritual animosity that lies behind those structures. ‘…[T]he devil will put some of you in prison to test you and you will suffer persecution…’ (3:10). It’s likely something we had already understood, but it’s worth noting that even structures of authority that have been put in place by the Living God can and do fall under ‘the control of the evil one’ (I Jn.5:19), and when they do they can become weapons of war.
We see this most fully and fearfully portrayed in Chapter 13, and the vision of the beasts that crawl out of the sea, and come out of the earth. We’ll look on Saturday (in the Bible Read Through breakfast) how to go about interpreting the imagery of the book of Revelation, but for the sake of brevity in this series, let us grant that this beast from the sea represent to us the brutal realities of a totalitarian (or at least, authoritarian) government. It is worth stressing - as we have done repeatedly in this series - that there is nothing wrong, per se, with political government. But when a structure of political and civil authority over-reaches its God-given mandate and demands a loyalty and final allegiance that belongs only to the Living God, then it becomes something that is represented by this beast in Rev.13. It doesn’t matter what ideology that political system embodies. It could be facist, communist, a theocracy or a liberal democracy. But when it seeks to politicise every aspect of life and being, it becomes a blasphemous phenomenon.
Similarly the beast that comes out of the earth. Again we see a human power structure, but this time with a spiritual / religious focus, rather than political (both these interpretations are explored in my series on Revelation on the website). Christless philosophies, false religions, godless spiritualities, all find themselves expressed in this monstrosity. The interconnectedness between politics and religion is worth being aware of in the chapter. Through this part of the Book of Revelation Jesus is teaching us to recognise that Satan is at work in the midst of all such conspiracies to marginalise and destroy the Church (Rev.1:1; 13:1). The genesis of both beasts is found in the presence of the ‘dragon’.
And so it is little surprise when we read that Christians will be imprisioned and indeed martyred under such a regime (13:10&15). Christians are particularly vulnerable as a state or religious culture becomes totalitarian. We cannot give our final allegiance to any authority, no matter how precious our national, cultural or even religious heritage. We would rightly understand such a claim to be idolatrous. As we have seen, we give to Caesar what is Caesar’s until to do so means we could not also give to God what is God’s. In the wake of such denial we see Christians suffering social marginalisation and economic privation (13:15-17).
The picture that comes through is of Satan as a bully who seeks to force the Church to conform to his vision of human society, spirituality and culture. He intimidates, deceives, and forces people to walk his way. Fear of the consequences of dissidence leads to conformity and capitulation. And he is remarkably effective. In ways that deliberately parody the heavenly vision of Rev.7:9, we are told that the dragon’s beast is given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. More disturbingly, it is given ‘power to wage war against God’s holy people, and to conquer them’ (13:7).
The call to the Church in the midst of all this is for patient endurance, faithfulness and wisdom (13:10&18). Jesus doesn’t suggest that there is nothing to worry about; He doesn’t intimate that the dragon’s bark is worse than his bite. There is a bite. There are consequences for a refusal to worship the beast (13:4). But Jesus expects us to remain faithful to Him and to bear those consequences patiently and humbly, confident that our names are written in the Book of Life and that as such we will be vindicated (13:8); confident that those authorities will be judged on the basis of how they have treated the Church (18:20); and confident that the death of the saints is not outside of the sovereignty of our God, and will be avenged (6:9-11; 19:1-3)
So, what do we take away from this? That the strucutres of religious and political authority are not spirtually neutral realities within human society and culture. That they can be inhabited by and weaponised by the spiritual forces that are deeply hostile to Christ and the Church. That to be faithful to Christ will at times demand that we do not conform to the way of life and being that the dragon would seek to impose. That such defiance will not be tolerated, and will lead to very tangible consequences for Christians that will have to be endured in a posture of patient hope for the Day of Judgement.
Many of our spiritual forbears have discovered that in laying our these dynamics, the Scriptures have lef tus with a profoundly accurate diagnosis. How did they navigate those dynamics? That is the question we will seek to answer in the second half of this series.