Revelation 13:13-14

It [the second monster or beast] performs great signs, so that it even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of the people, and it deceives the people who live on earth by the signs which it has been allowed to perform in front of the monster, instructing the earth’s inhabitants to make an image of the monster who had the sword-wound but was alive.

~New Testament For Everyone

One thing we have not discussed in our look at Revelation so far, is the fact that it contains so many allusions to the Old Testament. If you don’t have decent handle on the OT, then Revelation can be even more confusing.

That the monster performs great signs shows that he is a Satanic counterfeit of the prophet Moses, who also performed great signs (Exodus 4:17, 30; 10:2). That this monster makes fire come down shows him to be a counterfeit to the prophet Elijah (1 Kings 18:38-39; 2 Kings 1:10-14).

From G.K. Beale’s commentary:

The allusions to Moses and Elijah cannot be accidental, given the same allusions to the two witnesses in 11:3-12, who, taken together, represent the church (cf. Luke 9:54)….The second beast is a counterfeit of the church and the Spirit who empowers and indwells it.

Jesus of course predicted this: “False Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.” (Matthew 24:24)

We also see this predicted in Daniel (11:30-39), a book revelation alludes to a lot.

Here is the take-away by G.K. Beale that I found so piercing:

When purported Christian teachers take their primary cues from the surrounding culture instead of from God’s word, they corrupt the covenant community spiritually by encouraging it to live by norms and a faith that ultimately oppose the reign of God and Christ.

Revelation 11:18

It is time to destroy the destroyers of earth.

Reconciling God’s forgiveness and justice can be difficult.

We tend to either emphasize forgiveness at the expense of justice, or we emphasize justice at the expense of forgiveness.

God can forgive whatever God chooses to forgive, of course. But for reconciliation, restoration, or to live in the will of God, we see that there is need for repentance of that which goes against God and God’s ways as they have been revealed to us.

We see here that those who are committed to destroying the earth, with no intention of turning back, will be destroyed.

This is not so fun to talk about, but what does one do with someone who lives against the ways as set up in, say, a workplace? A church? A home? What if they refuse to change their ways, and are hellbent on destroying the very culture or atmosphere which they are in, not to mention all the damage to relationships?

God has forgiven all, and cleared the path to relationship with him, yet we cannot live into that goodness when practicing that which goes against God’s very nature and set boundaries.

If I attend an AA meeting, and right in the middle of it take out a beer and start drinking it, I’m probably gonna get kicked out.

There’s just a way things work.

It also must be mentioned that throughout Scripture, including Revelation, we are given ample opportunity to turn from our own ways. It isn’t like a one strike and you’re out sort of thing.

*For reflection:

Would you agree that the question of how God can be both forgiving and just is only truly understood through the cross?

Why is this true?

*From Revelation: A Shorter Commentary by G.K. Beale with David Campbell

Revelation 10:6-7

This was the oath: that there would be no more time, but that God’s mystery would be completed in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, who was going to blow his trumpet.

That is what he had announced to his servants the prophets.

The mystery plan from before the foundation of the world, according to Paul, was Jesus Christ.

In the end, this mystery will be completed.

God wins.

Go figure.

Some days, when we might be feeling overwhelmed, we may just say with Julian of Norwich that in the end,

“All will be well. And all manner of things will be well.”

Or in times of unknowing and confusion, we pray with A.W. Tozer,

“O Lord, thou knowest!”

Sometimes that’s all we have.

But that is enough, because it acknowledges what is ultimately true, and who is really in charge of everything, and who will win in the end of time as we know it.

Revelation 9:20

All the other people, the ones who had not been killed in these plagues, did not repent of the things they had made. They did not stop worshipping demons—idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which cannot see, hear, or walk.

Idolatry is the most serious of offenses in all the Bible.

This is because it is at the root of all evil, of any kind of wrong in the world, for idolatry is giving anything too high a status. It is elevating something or someone to a priority level which only God deserves and can satisfy.

Worshipping created things more than the Creator never leads to an abundant, full, and joyful Life—Life for which we are meant to live out. The only way to enjoy this kind of Life is to place God at the center of it. That is simply the only way it works.

“Worshipping” is bowing in the form of offering your time to something, offering your thoughts to something or someone, offering reverence to status this world deems worthy of our attention, and all of this inordinately, disproportionately in relation with what we are designed to offer to God.

We make sacrifices at the altar of comfort, on the altar of looking good—not just physically, but socially as well, the altar of pleasing others, the altar of work, and on and on.

The scary thing in this passage is that these people, after seeing a third of the earth wiped out, still refused to turn away from their idols, which are really demons.

Anyone who knows anything about addiction realizes that we can keep chasing our lusted after object of affection no matter what warning signs we see, no matter what it takes to keep feeding the insatiable desire that has taken over us.

Your idols will always lead toward doom and away from God.

Always.

The Spirit gave me a vivid vision a couple of months ago of me opening a window, and a bunch of evil birds flying in the house, surrounding and disturbing my wife and our daughters.

This is what we do when we pursue anything more than God. We open a window, allowing all sorts of bad influence, energy, and spirits in on us and those around us. We give permission to evil spirits to stay with us.

Revelation 8:13

Then I looked, and I heard a lone eagle flying in mid-heaven, and calling out loudly.

It is when we look for God that we hear him.

Going through our days on auto pilot, seeing only the world around us, we miss much.

But living our day looking for God, in everything, in everybody, seeing the unseen realm, we hear from him who is behind it all. This gives meaning to the most mundane day and situation, for God is always speaking, always has something for you.

Sometimes when I gave the liturgy at church, I would remind people not to listen to the pastor, but listen rather to the Holy Spirit speaking through the pastor. That kind of attention causes you to listen differently, with less judgment.

I have heard from God through all sorts of people and situations….when I’m looking.

When I’ve been sick, I always end up watching televangelists for some reason, and I’ve received the most wonderful words from God through them. We all know the reputations they have, but it’s not about them. I’m not saying they’re all on the up and up, just that God will speak to you through anyone or anything. It is many times up to you to look for him.

God will speak to you through a cheesy song, an offensive billboard, a blade of grass, even a politician or mega-church. The mistake we make is tuning out when we encounter something we don’t like, or deem unworthy and incapable of having anything of value for us. We stay at the surface and miss a whole world of depth underneath.

Look for God everywhere today, so that you might hear what he is saying to you, no matter the medium.

Don’t make things up.

Simply look and listen.

Revelation 7:9-10

After this I looked, and lo and behold a huge gathering which nobody could possibly count, from every nation and tribe and people and language. They were standing in front of the throne, and in front of the lamb. They were dressed in white robes, holding palm branches in their hands.

They were shouting out at the tops of their voices, “Salvation belongs to our God, to the one who sits on the throne, and to the lamb!”

What is really striking to me as I go through Revelation, is how it is clearly all about the greatness, worthiness, and awesomeness of God and of Jesus Christ, way more than being some mystery puzzle book begging to be unlocked and figured out twenty centuries later.

As I read through, I am set ablaze with reverence for our very worthy-of-all-worship God. I couldn’t care a whole lot less about what everything exactly means or represents.

Maybe when I’m done kneeling and worshipping before the throne of the Lamb, I’ll care more about diving in to some of the imagery, but I’m good for now.

May we not lose sight of the appropriate extolling nature of Revelation.

Revelation 7:11-12

All the angels who were standing around the throne and the elders and the four creatures fell down on their faces before the throne and worshipped God.

“Yes! Amen!” they were saying. “Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God forever and ever! Amen!”

These angels, elders, and four creatures give us an excellent source of devotional meditation if we’re ever in want of what to do with our time with God!

The following is from William Barclay’s commentary which I found inspiring:

They ascribe blessing to God; and God’s creation must always be blessing him for his goodness in creation and in redemption and in providence to all that he has created. As a great saint put it: “Thou hast made us and we are thine; thou hast redeemed us and we are doubly thine.”

They ascribe glory to God. God is the King of kings and the Lord of lords; therefore, to him must be given glory. God is love but that love must never be cheaply sentimentalized; men must never forget the majesty of God.

They ascribe wisdom to God. God is the source of all truth, the giver of all knowledge. If men seek wisdom, they can find it by only two paths, by the seeking of their minds and by waiting upon God—and the one is as important as the other.

They offer thanksgiving to God. God is the giver of salvation and the constant provider of grace; he is the creator of the world and the constant sustainer of all that is in it. It was the cry of the Psalmist: “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.” (Psalm 103:2) Shakespeare said that it was sharper than a serpent’s tooth to have a thankless child. We must see to it that we are never guilty of the ugliest and most graceless of sins, that of ingratitude.

They ascribe honor to God. God is to be worshipped. It may be that sometimes we may come to think of him as someone to be used; but we ought not to forget the claims of worship, so that we not only ask things from him but offer ourselves and all we are to him.

They ascribe power to God. God’s power never grows less and the wonder is that it is used in love for men. God works his purposes out throughout the ages and in the end his kingdom will come.

They ascribe strength to God. The problem of life is to find strength for its tasks, its responsibilities, its demands. The Christian can say: “I will go in the strength of the Lord.”

There is no greater exercise in the life of devotion than to meditate on the praise of the angels and, to appropriate to ourselves everything in it.

Revelation 6:16-17

“Fall upon us!” they were saying to the mountains and the rocks. “Hide us from the face of the One who sits on the throne, and from the anger of the lamb! The great day of their anger has come, and who can stand upright?”

If your boss, teacher, spouse, or a police officer wants to have a word with you, it can be terrifying if you realize that you have not done what you’re supposed to do, or crossed them, or broken the law.

Encountering God can be scary for those who have lived their own way, without much or any consideration for God.

And this is not due to sin per se, because sin has been dealt with through Jesus Christ. But because of not accepting the wonderful gift of that chasm being bridged, so that we may enjoy unbroken fellowship with God, it will be terrifying to meet God—really for the first time—with nothing to say for yourself, nowhere to hide, fumbling for the words to explain why you did not live in close connection with the One who gave you your very life, the kindest, most loving God who has given you every chance to live a meaningful and joyful life in relationship with Him everyday.

In that situation, even a lamb is scary as hell.

Revelation 5:13

Then I heard every creature in heaven, on the earth, under the earth, and in the sea, and everything that is in them, saying,

“To the One on the throne and the lamb

Be blessing and honor and glory

And power forever and ever!”

Throughout the New Testament, we see that our unity comes through our agreement on the absolute greatness and awesomeness of Jesus Christ.

Christian unity is rooted in Christ.

(Duh)

It doesn’t come from having so much in common, or trying really hard to get along because we’re supposed to, but by our common bond in knowing and accepting who Christ is and what he has done.

Though we have many denominations, cultures, emphases, we should definitely be agreed upon the worthiness and work of Christ.

I have been to different kinds of churches, different denominations, but wherever Christ is magnified as Master, as Lamb who was slain for us, I feel right at home, and unified with all those praising him, no matter how different we might be.

I was at a Presbyterian church last Sunday seeing my Christian friends from Ukraine (it’s not the Ukraine by the way), Andrey and Oksana. We have a deep bond in Christ from many miles away because we agree on who he is and what he has done for us. I felt strengthened as we praised God together and shared what he is doing across planet earth.

I have Christian friends with whom we don’t see eye to eye on politics or eschatology (end times), but we agree on Jesus Christ as Lord of the universe and sacrificial Lamb, therefore all is good, truly.

If we cannot get excited in praising God together, and reveling in all he has done for us, then Christian unity will be an impossibility.