Living With Evil (Revelation 12:1-13:18)

 Sermon for Milledgeville & Whitestown UMC...

Living With Evil (Revelation 12:1-13:18)

 

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 pain as she was about to give birth. 
Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon
 with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads.... 
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. 
Revelation 12:1-4

John has a vision in the sky. A woman in the pain of childbirth is threatened by a massive red dragon with 7 heads. The child is destined to rule the nations with a rod iron, a reference to the messiah. (Genesis 49:10; Psalm 2:8-9) The child to be born is Jesus.

 

We might assume the woman in John’s vision is Mary, the mother of Jesus, but her story reflects the history of Israel. The 12 starred victor’s crown symbolizes the 12 tribes of Israel. Jesus came through Israel. The woman flees into the wilderness to escape the dragon. Israel fled into the desert to escape Pharaoh. The dragon spewed a river to drown the woman, but God opened the earth to swallow the waters. God gave Israel safe passage through the Red Sea. The woman was given eagle’s wings to fly to safety. Jews would recognize this as a reference to their own history. The Lord told Moses at Mt. Sinai,

 

 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt and how I lifted you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. (Exodus 19:4)

 

The dragon is Satan. The seven crowns and ten horns give the illusion of complete authority and omnipotence. His tail takes down 1/3 of the stars, much like when God shook the heavens and the stars fell from the sky. The dragon seems to wield godlike power and authority, but we will soon see that is not the case.

 

Satan and his angelic followers are defeated by the archangel Michael and cast down to earth. Nonbiblical traditions state that 1/3 of the angels in heaven joined Satan in His uprising against God. Ancient humans thought of stars as spiritual powers, like gods or angels. The dragon taking down 1/3 of the stars with its tail, may be a way of saying 1/3 of heaven’s angels fell with Satan.

 

 

The vision explains the presence and persistence of evil. The devil and his legions are at war with all who love God. Satan could not destroy the Christ child, so he turns his attention to the Church. The church is persecuted. You may remember Jesus referring to the synagogue of Satan. (Rev 2:9 (Smyrna); Rev 3:9 (Philadelphia))

 

Jesus wants the churches to understand that the devil is behind the persecution they are experiencing. The red dragon is like a cornered beast. He knows his time is short. Satan is ferocious, but not unstoppable. Jesus conquered Satan with His cross and resurrection. The Church conquers evil with faith, and our witness to Jesus.

 

Martin Luther wrote in his hymn a Mighty Fortress is Our God,

 

And though this world, with devils filled,
should threaten to undo us,
we will not fear, for God has willed
his truth to triumph through us.
The prince of darkness grim,
we tremble not for him;
his rage we can endure,
for lo! his doom is sure;
one little word shall fell him.

 

And that word is love. Love conquers. Love triumphs. Love reigns forever.

 

So far in Revelation, we’ve seen visions of wrath upon the unrepentant and the announcement of the coming reign of Christ. The king was announced with trumpets. Following the announcement that the kingdom of this earth has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, we would expect eternal peace on earth. Unfortunately, evil does not recognize Jesus as Lord. Evil continues to fight against God and flood us with a river of lies. Even so, God delivers His people.

After Jesus is announced as king, John sees the ark of the covenant in heaven’s temple. The space above the ark is known as the mercy seat. On the Day of Atonement, the high priest entered behind the veil, where the ark was kept, to seek mercy for Israel.

 

But now the ark is visible. There’s no veil. God’s mercy pours out to the world perpetually through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus.

 

Even though Christ is king, and mercy flows, evil persists. The red dragon calls up a terrible beast from the sea. The sea represents destructive chaos. Many creation myths speak of battles with great sea beasts. In the Babylonian creation myth, Marduk slays the sea monster Tiamat. He tears her in half with a blast of wind. He makes the sky with half her body and the earth with the other half. The churning waters of chaos are brought under the control of gods, and life is made possible on earth. But when the dragon calls up a beast from the sea, the beast brings chaos and destruction.

 

The beast resembles the red dragon. The beast, like the devil, is evil. the people are awestruck by his great power and authority. “Who is like the beast? Who can make war against the beast?” These words echo the words of Moses.

 

Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?
Who is like you—majestic in holiness, fearful in praises, working wonders? (Exodus 15:11)

 

In their awe of the beast, the people echo the words of Isaiah,

 

The Lord of Hosts has a plan… who can frustrate it? His hand is ready to strike, and who can stop it?

 

The people worship the beast for they think it a god.

 

The beast has seven heads and ten horns just like the dragon, but there are ten crowns upon its ten horns. This has led to speculation about ten kings or kingdoms. When Revelation was written in the late first century, ten emperors had ruled the Roman empire, from Augustus to Titus. Generally, the ten horns with ten crowns represent the mighty strength and authority of the Roman empire. The beast is a mixture of the four beasts of the sea of Daniel 7. In a night vision Daniel sees four beasts rise from the sea, one like a lion, one like a bear, another like a leopard, and a fourth incomparable, terrifying, and powerful beast. These four beasts represent four nations: Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome. Others think Babylon, The Medes, Persians and Greece.

 

In John’s vision, the beast is like a leopard, with bear’s feet and a lion’s mouth. This implies that the beast has all the ferocity of Israel’s previous enemies, the Babylonians, The Persians and the Greeks. Rome rules the world that John lives in. Rome controls Greece, and wages war with Persia, controlling parts of Mesopotamia, where Babylon once stood.

 

Since John’s vision of the beast of the sea is inspired by Daniel’s four beasts, we know that the beast symbolizes a nation that persecute God’s people. The dragon (Satan) gave power and authority to the beast, who represents Roman rule. Like The Lamb of God who was slain and yet lives, the beast, whose head was slain and yet healed, is a perverse messiah figure.

 

Rome deified their emperors, calling them divine, lord, and even god. Caesar Nero had coins made with the radiance of the sun glowing around his head implying his divinity. Nero was ruthless, eventually deposed by the Roman Senate. Nero cut his own throat. But because he was feared and loved by so many, the public refused to believe he was dead. Rumors circulated that Nero survived his wound and was to retake the throne. The beast in John’s vision had a head that was slaughtered but healed. This may be a reference to the Nero rumor.

 

 

Finally, the beast of the land appears. This beast has two horns like a lamb, but speaks like the dragon. The beast of the land rules on behalf of the beast of the sea. This beast functions like God’s two witnesses. He performs miraculous signs like Elijah the prophet, making fire come down from heaven, yet the beast of the land is not empowered by God, but by evil. He is a false prophet, the devil’s witness. He forced the worship of the beast of the sea. He killed any who refused to worship the beast. He required all to bear the mark of the beast to buy and sell. They were to bear the mark on their right hand or foreheads. This is a perversion of the Jewish practice of wearing phylacteries containing tiny scrolls of Torah on their forearms and foreheads. Moses instructed,

 

Tie these commands as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. (Dt 6:8)

 

As the Jew is to keep God’s law in the forefront of their minds (Forehead) and in their actions (Arm), the followers of the beast keep the beast and his government in the forefront.

 

The mark of the beast is Roman currency. The image of Caesar adorns the coin. One cannot conduct business, can neither buy nor sell unless they use Roman currency which bears the image of the so-called divine Caesar, which for Jews is a blasphemous image.

 

Finally, John tells us that the false witness, the beast of the earth, is a man, and his name can be known by calculating the number of the beast’s name, which is 666. Many scholars believe 666 represents Caesar Nero. He advanced Caesar worship in Rome and built a massive statue depicting himself as the sun God. 666 is the total of the numerical value for each letter in his formal name, Neron Kaiser. Many other names could total 666, but Nero is the likely candidate.

 

 

 

However, another interpretation is plausible. 666 symbolizes the height of human arrogance. A perfect number is 777, which symbolizes complete divine order. Humanity’s version of order (666) is incomplete. Thinking we know better than God, we do things our own way. The peace of Rome was won in bloodshed and tyranny. We were made for a life-giving relationship with God, but we chase after prideful ambitions. No matter what we may achieve, humans will always fall short of God’s perfection. We are incomplete without God.

 

The beast calls us to trust in government leaders and celebrities. Be aware of its clever lies. Christ has lifted the veil and shown us what’s really going on, a war between God and Satan.

 

Living with evil can mean terrible suffering, but with our eyes open to the reality of evil’s limitations and Christ’s ultimate victory, even suffering becomes a blessing. The apostle Paul wrote,

 

we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵ And hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit… (Romans 5:3-5)

 

May the love of God fill your heart as you praise Him in these evil days. Let us join the heavenly song.

 

“The salvation and the power

and the kingdom of our God,

and the ruling authority of his Christ, have now come,

because the accuser… has been thrown down.

 

The Church overcame him

by the blood of the Lamb

and by the word of their testimony! Amen!