Naming the Beast (Rev 13)

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american culture, apocalyptic, daniel, hermeneutics, new testament, politics, Revelation

Reflecting on the text (Revelation 13)

One of the most notable features of the book of Revelation is “the beast” in Revelation 13 (actually there are two of them). Since the beast is a central aspect of John’s work, we’re going to spend two days discussing it.

The first day will be Reflecting on the Text, focusing on meaning of Revelation 13. The second day will be Living What We Learn, focusing on the application of Revelation 13.

Another way of looking it is that today we’ll be discussing who or what John has in mind when he talks about the beast. Later we’ll explore what John reveals about the beast, and how it applies to us.

Because the beast is such a controversial topic, we need to start by laying out some guidelines for an answer. If we are going to have the right explanation, it must fit certain criteria. More specifically, our answer must correspond to the genres of Revelation.

Do you remember the three genres of Revelation? They are letter, prophecy, and apocalypse (see Rev 1.1-6).

Retelling Stories, Rethinking Christmas (Rev 12)

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atonement, crucifixion, jesus, Revelation

Reflecting on the text (Revelation 12)

If one thing has consistently characterized human beings from the dawn of time up to our own day, it is our love of stories. We love to tell, hear, write, make up, and act out stories.

We tell stories about tiny experiences as well as huge events, about things that matter greatly and things that are just plain silly. Without stories none of us would be able to make sense of the world.

Entire cultures and societies often revolve around a few central stories, and in our own society those stories are repeatedly celebrated in print and on the silver screen. In the Ancient World (as in our own), many such stories concerned how the world came into being. Other stories have to do with what god (or the gods) are up to.

One of the most popular myths in John’s day supposedly took place on an island called Delos, which was not far from Patmos (where John was in exile when he wrote Revelation).

This story is about Zeus, the king of the gods, who had a son with a woman named Leto.

Two Witnesses (Rev 11)

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church, Revelation

Reflecting on the text

Yesterday we learned a lot, but we nevertheless left many questions unanswered: How do we know John is talking about the church? If he is talking about the church, what exactly is he saying? What’s going on with the bittersweet scroll?

But before we get to our questions of this text, I have a different question: As we attempt to be faithful to God in 21^st century America, what things do we wrestle with on a daily basis?

We can easily notice the great gap between John’s hearers then (first century Christians living as a persecuted minority in Asia Minor) and now (in our case, twenty-first century Christians living in America).

Think about the questions  they were asking on a regular basis, and the problems or issues they were dealing with. They had to face the fact that their friends and family were being persecuted all around them. To put it bluntly, they would have been asking things like: When the government kills my sister or fires my dad, who has won?

John’s Tasty Task (Rev 10)

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Revelation

Reflecting on the text

Like any great storyteller, John knows when to capture our minds with explosive images and when to speak clearly, when to openly call us to action and when to lead us in quiet reflection upon what we’ve heard.

One of John’s storytelling techniques is his use of pauses. He likes to stop… and interrupt himself. He did this back in chapters six and seven. He walked us through the opening of each seal—one through six—and just as we were approaching the climactic seventh seal, he paused… and walked us through a vision of the church victorious and protected.

He has used a similar technique leading up to today’s passage (if you haven’t read it yet, this will make more sense if you read Revelation 9-11). In chapter nine we hear the blasting of six trumpets, one after another. And when we get to the tip of the crescendo . . . he interrupts himself (again).

These pauses/interruptions have two purposes.

Sound the Alarm (Rev 8.6 – 9.20)

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Revelation

Reflecting on the text

After John’s dramatic pause, after the silence, after he has reassured his people that God does, in fact, listen to their prayers, he lays out the second cycle of judgments. The first set was symbolized by the breaking of seals; now we move on to the blasting of trumpets.

The seals and trumpets (as well as the bowls we will encounter later) must be taken together. To separate them, as in treating them chronologically, is to miss the point of what John is communicating.

They are connected in terms of structure (which we talked about yesterday). They are also connected in terms of meaning. John is going to build on what he said through the breaking of the seals.

John related the seals to remind his hearers that nothing happens in this world that God is not strong enough to redeem—nothing happens that he cannot make a part of his own loving plan for the entire universe. He now builds on that truth by covering the same ground a second time, from a slightly different angle.

In order to understand the plagues of the seven trumpets (and the bowls as well) we must recognize John’s use of imagery from the Exodus, when God freed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.

Silence (Rev 8.1-5)

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Revelation

(You might want to start by reading Revelation 8.1-5)

Reflecting on the text

With the breaking of the seventh seal we would expect the end.

Instead we get silence.

For thirty minutes, no one in heaven says a word. Not God. Not the angels. Not the elders. Not the living creatures. No one.

No songs. No speeches. No declarations. No pleas for vindication.Nothing.

Except silence.

Strange, isn’t it?

I’m tempted to leave the rest of the page blank, just to help you experience how weird it would be to get silence when what you expect is more explanation.

What You See Is Who We’ll Be (Rev 7)

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eschatology, reconciliation, Revelation

Reflecting on the text

Revelation often catches us by surprise.

Sometimes John surprises us by the shocking, explosive nature of his imagery. Other times he surprises us in more subtle ways.

For example, what should we expect at the end of chapter six?

I don’t know about you, but it sounds like everything is about to come crashing to one final end. I’m thinking that after 6.12-17 (which cannot be taken literal, mind you—there would be no “then” after verse 14) everything is over.

We expect more destruction, but we get…

Resuming Lifting the Veil (blogging through the book of Revelation)

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Revelation

So I think I might actually resume blogging through the book of Revelation (a series I’m calling Lifting the Veil). Most of the material is already written, but I ran into some pieces I really wasn’t happy with and I didn’t know how to fix them, so I pushed pause (for a really long time). Here is the inventory so far…

Introduction

What is the book of Revelation? (pt 1)

What is the book of Revelation? (pt 2)

What is the book of Revelation? (pt 3)

What We Need Most (Rev 1.9-20)

No Obedience Without Resistance (Rev 2-3)

Jesus Saw It First (Rev 2-3)

Lukewarmness and Satan’s Throne (2.12-17; 3.14-22)

Throne Wars (Rev 4)

The Beauty of God (Rev 4)

Why Are They Crying? (Rev 5)

The Shape of Jesus’ Victory (Rev 5.5-6)

The Shape of Jesus’ Victory (Rev 5.5-6)

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crucifixion, jesus, new testament, politics, Revelation

Reflecting on the text

We mentioned yesterday that first century Israelites expected God to act soon to conquer Rome, redeem Israel, and establish his kingdom on earth. For most people, such hopes centered in God’s promises to send a Messiah, an anointed king who would lead the people of Israel into their glorious destiny.

Naturally, they expected this Messiah to be a warrior. After all, he would be called Son of David; just as David slew Goliath, the Messiah would defeat Israel’s giant enemies.

We can see this for ourselves in many Old Testament texts. Let’s take a look at a few: Genesis 49.8-12, 2 Samuel 7.12-13, Psalm 2; Isaiah 11

What I find interesting is that Jesus played to these expectations. Listen to how Mark summarizes his basic message, “The time has come. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the good news” (1.15). In Jesus’ day the “kingdom of God” was a token phrase of revolutionaries—if God was becoming King, then Caesar’s days were obviously numbered (see also Luke 1.52-53, 68-71).

Why Are They Crying? (Revelation 5)

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atonement, gospel, jesus, new testament, Revelation, salvation

Reflecting on the text

Before we get to the book of Revelation, I want you to take a look at a story from the life of Jesus.

Read John 20.1-18

Why do you think Mary is crying?

There’s probably not one specific right answer, but it’s definitely a question worth pondering. Was she crying simply because she felt a deep love for Jesus? Was she crying because she thought his body had been stolen? Was she crying because she didn’t know what else to do? Yes, uh-huh, I’m sure, and probably a few other things as well. I don’t pretend to grasp the depth of her sadness, but I think there is one more thing that we sometimes miss.

She was counting on Jesus.

She was counting on him to rescue Israel, to establish God’s kingdom, to bring the entire world – kicking and screaming if necessary – to faithful worship of the One True God. After all, she was an Israelite living in the first century, and that’s what they wanted. Theirs was a story in search of an ending, and Jesus came along announcing that this story had finally found its climax in him.

And now he was dead.