Overcoming the Beast I. Base Text: Revelation 12:10-11, 15:2-4 II. Context and Interpretation A. Understanding and interpreting Revelation always fraught with danger 1. Apocalyptic and highly metaphorical 2. No end of ways in which people attempt to make sense of it, suffer primarily from tyranny of the present, forcing passages into preconceived interpretive rules and schema B. Yet John is granted a vision which can be somewhat understood 1. Revelation 1:12-20: John sees things, but those things represent something else 2. The Revelation is saturated with images drawn from the history of the people of God 3. God in Christ is granting a vision of what Christians will endure from Rome in terms of what the people of God have experienced in the past 4. Yes, Rome; for every attempted one-to-one connection made for Jerusalem, there is equally a disconnect between imagery use in Revelation and imagery use earlier if Jerusalem is in mind; Rome fits the mood and the schema C. Revelation features bookends and at least two cycles 1. Revelation 1:1-20: opening 2. Revelation 2:1-3:21: letters to the seven churches 3. Revelation 4:1-11: picture of the heavenly scene 4. Revelation 20:1-22:21: “millennium”; post-millennial events and judgment; picture of the post-resurrection life; conclusion 5. What comes in between (Revelation 5:1-19:21) seems to comport to two “cycles” of events a. Revelation 5:1-11:19: “heavenly” cycle, focused primarily on judgments b. Revelation 12:1-19:21: “earthly” cycle, focused primarily on scene on earth 6. There are points of contact between the two cycles, but the structure of what is presented is hard to reconcile with a singularly linear understanding 7. Thus, to understand what it means to “overcome the beast,” we must gain some understanding of this second “earthly” cycle in Revelation 12:1-19:21 a. Ideally, a multi-month Bible study working through the use of the imagery and consideration of Biblical parallels b. Not feasible in lesson format; therefore, an interpretive picture will be painted based on that previous study; consult notes for greater detail D. The Woman and the Dragon (Revelation 12:1-17) 1. A woman (representative of the covenant people of God) is seen with the signs of Israel; she is pregnant (Revelation 12:1-2; cf. Genesis 37:9-11) 2. A red dragon is seen; Satan, endowed with power on earth; he prepares to consume the child when born (Revelation 12:3-4, 9) 3. The child is born and then taken up into heaven; He is Jesus the Christ, having overcome the world, sin, and death, and reigning in His ascension (Revelation 12:5; cf. Psalms 2:9, 110:1-7, Daniel 7:9-14, 27, Mark 16:19, Acts 1:9-11, Revelation 2:27) 4. The woman flees to the wilderness, sustained by God during the time of the domination of the persecuting power (Revelation 12:6; Daniel 9:27, 12:7, Revelation 11:2-3, 13:5, 7) 5. John sees a war in heaven: Michael and God’s angels vs. Satan and his angels; no place found in heaven for Satan et al; they are cast down to earth (Revelation 12:7-9; cf. Luke 10:18, John 12:31, 16:11) 6. A great voice in heaven proclaims the victory of the Christ over the forces of Satan because the Accuser has been cast down; Christians overcome Satan via the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives even to death; rejoicing in heavens, but woe on the earth, for Satan has come down in wrath and he knows his time is short (Revelation 12:10-12) 7. Satan then works to persecute the woman, the people of God; she is given wings to fly to the wilderness; the serpent casts a river to carry her away, but the earth swallows it up; the dragon is angry with the woman, and went away to go to war with her offspring, the saints (Revelation 12:13-17) E. The Beast and the False Prophet (Revelation 13:1-18) 1. Satan goes to war with the saints by means of the beast that comes up from the sea, a collective embodiment of Daniel’s beasts, thus, the ultimate empire, Roman power (Revelation 13:1-2; cf. Daniel 7:1-8, 20-24, Revelation 17:3-6) 2. All who do not serve God in Christ worship the beast and the dragon who empowers it, marvel at the beast; the beast is given a mouth to blaspheme for forty-two months (the time of the dominating pagan persecuting authority) and authority to make war on and overcome the saints (Revelation 13:3-10; cf. Daniel 7:20, 25, 9:27, 12:7, John 19:15, 2 Thessalonians 2:4, Revelation 11:2, 3, 12:6) 3. Then another beast emerges from the earth, looking like a lamb but speaking as a dragon; such is identified as the false prophet later in Revelation, and is consistent with Roman religion; he compels the people of the earth to worship the beast, causes fire to come from heaven, gives breath to the image of the beast, and compels all who would buy or sell to have the mark of the beast, its number or name; its number is 666 (all likely referring to divine titles given to Caesars, on coins, etc.; Revelation 13:11-18; cf. Exodus 7:11-12, 22, 8:7, 18-19, 9:11, 1 Kings 18:20-40, Psalms 115:5, 135:16, Jeremiah 10:14, 51:17, Daniel 3:1-30, Habakkuk 2:19, Revelation 6:6) F. Accounting of the Saints, Judgment on Beast (Revelation 14:1-16:21) 1. John then sees the Lamb (Jesus) on Mount Zion with the 144,000 (the church on the earth); they sing the new song of the Lamb (Revelation 14:1-5; Hebrews 12:22-24, Revelation 7:1-8) 2. Three angels in turn proclaim the need to fear God, for the hour of His judgment has come; Babylon has fallen; all who have the mark of the beast will drink the cup of the unmixed wrath of God; such is the patience of the saints, keeping commandments of God and faith in Jesus; those who die in the Lord from then on are blessed, for their works follow them (Revelation 14:6-13; cf. Job 21:20, Psalms 60:3, 75:8, Isaiah 51:17, 21-22, Jeremiah 25:15-17, 27-29, 51:7, Habakkuk 2:16, Revelation 13:3-6, 11-17, 16:19, 17:1-18, 18:2-21) 3. Two overarching scenes of judgment: the one like a son of man (Christ) reaps the earth with a sickle, the ingathering of the saints; an angel has a sickle, reaping the grapes, casting them into the winepress of God’s wrath, the blood coming out filling the earth (Revelation 14:14-20; cf. Isaiah 63:1-7, Jeremiah 51:33, Lamentations 1:15, Joel 3:2, 12, Zechariah 14:1-4, Matthew 9:38, 13:30, 37-41, Luke 10:2, Hebrews 13:11-12, Revelation 21:27) 4. The seven bowl judgments are prepared: John sees angels in heaven holding the bowls full of God’s wrath; he sees those who came off victorious from the beast on the sea of glass mixed with fire, singing the song of Moses and the Lamb (Revelation 15:1-8; cf. Exodus 15:1-18, 24:10, Deuteronomy 32:1-43, Ezekiel 1:22, Revelation 4:6, 5:9-10, 7:9-17,12:9, 14:1-5) 5. The first six bowls are poured out: the fullness of what had been seen in part in the trumpet judgments, consistent with Exodus plagues, and all upon the beast, the false prophet, and those who served them; they did not repent; gathering of armies at Har-Magedon (Revelation 16:1-16; cf. Exodus 7:14-12:32, Joel 2:11, 31, Amos 5:18, Zephaniah 1:14, Matthew 24:43-44, 1 Thessalonians 5:1-10, 2 Peter 3:10, Revelation 3:3, 8:2-11:19) 6. The seventh bowl causes a great earthquake and the judgment of God’s wrath upon Babylon, as well as great hail (Revelation 16:17-21; cf. Ezekiel 5:1-12, Haggai 2:6-7/Hebrews 12:26-27, Revelation 6:12-17, 11:8, 13, 14:8, Revelation 17:18, 18:10, 16, 19, 21, 19:2) G. Babylon the Great: Portrayal, Lament (Revelation 17:1-18:24) 1. An angel then brings John to show him the judgment of the great whore with whom the kings committed porneia and the people were made drunk on the wine of her porneia (idolatry; Revelation 17:1-2; cf. Isaiah 23:15-17, 47:5-15, Nahum 3:1, 4) 2. John sees a woman on a beast, dressed in finery, holding a cup full of abominations; a name was written on her, “Mystery, Babylon the Great, Mother of Whores and Abominations on the Earth”; drunk on the blood of the saints (Revelation 17:1-6; cf. Genesis 11:1-9, 2 Kings 25, Jeremiah 50-51, Revelation 13:1-11, 16-18) 3. The angel describes what John is seeing: Babylon as Rome itself, on beast of Roman power embodied in Emperor (Revelation 17:7-18; cf. Jeremiah 51:24-25, Daniel 2:35, 44-45) 4. Judgment then declared: Babylon is fallen; saints called to come out of her; plagues come in one day (Revelation 18:1-8; cf. Isaiah 13:19-22, 14:3-23, 34:11-15, 48:20, 52:11, Jeremiah 50:2, 8, 51:6-9, 45, Zephaniah 2:13-15, 2 Corinthians 6:14-18, 7:1) 5. The kings of the earth, the merchants, and the sailors in turn lament over Babylon, the loss of their benefits gained from Babylon, but they stay afar off so as to not share in her trial (Revelation 18:9-19; cf. lament over Tyre, Ezekiel 27:12-25) 6. Yet heaven, saints, Apostles, and prophets are to rejoice over her, for she has been judged and they have been vindicated (Revelation 18:20-24; cf. Deuteronomy 32:43, Jeremiah 7:34, 16:9, 25:10, 51:48, Ezekiel 26:13, Luke 21:28) H. The End of the Beast and the False Prophet (Revelation 19:1-21) 1. Having judged Babylon the whore, preparations are made for the marriage supper of the Lamb to His Bride (the church; Revelation 19:1-10; cf. Romans 7:1-4, 2 Corinthians 11:2-3, Ephesians 5:22-33) 2. John sees from heaven the Faithful and True on a white horse, the Word of God, King of kings and Lord of lords, from whose mouth comes the two-edged sword (His Word); with Him the saints in white linen (Revelation 19:11-16; cf. Psalm 2:7-12, Isaiah 11:4, 49:2, John 12:48, Ephesians 6:17, Hebrews 4:12, Revelation 1:16, 2:12, 16, 27, 12:5) 3. An angel then invites the birds of the air to the feast of God, to consume the dead flesh of those opposed to the Christ (Revelation 19:17-18; cf. 1 Samuel 17:46, Deuteronomy 28:26, Isaiah 34:6, Jeremiah 46:10, Ezekiel 39:4, 17-20, Revelation 13:16. 16:14, 20:8) 4. John then sees the beast, the kings of the earth, and all their gathered armies; the beast and false prophet were cast into the lake of fire; the rest met their end from the sword which came from His mouth; the birds filled themselves with their flesh (condemned by God’s word; Revelation 19:19-21; cf. Genesis 19:23-26, 2 Thessalonians 2:8, Revelation 13:1-10, 16:13-16, 17:12-14) I. Such is the drama presented in the Revelation given to John regarding the woman, the dragon, the beasts, the saints, Babylon, and God in Christ III. Application A. The Divine Drama 1. Above all things the Revelation is an attempt to encourage Christians in their faith 2. How, exactly, could what John sees be encouraging? 3. The Revelation unfolds the divine drama a. In the flesh we perceive with our five senses; they are very limited b. The Christians of the first century, on the ground, had a lot of opposition, and very little earthly reason to expect success c. They were marginalized in their communities, possibly suffering a loss of employment, social ostracism, and only a bad moment away from persecution unto death d. Where was God in all of this? That is what the Revelation sets forth! 4. The Christians on earth certainly understood the wrath of the dragon let loose by the beasts; what John was reminding them is that such is not Satan’s victory, but evidence of Satan’s defeat (Revelation 12:9-12) 5. The beast is strong; the beast makes war on the saints; but the beast will fall, and Jesus will have the victory (cf. Revelation 19:1-21)! 6. The situation may not look great for Christians on the earth, but that’s only because their perspective is limited; from the divine point of view, the suffering will be short, and the glory and the victory eternal, and Christians just have to hold on to that hope (Revelation 12:11) 7. Such is encouragement for us as well a. We are often driven to despair if we look at our prospects at an earthly level b. Yet the Kingdom of God has not advanced powerfully through earthly means on their own; God has strengthened and empowered the advancement of His purposes! c. The situation looks bad, but we must always remember the divine drama playing out beyond our vision, and put our trust in Jesus for the ultimate victory! 8. Their motto, and our motto, must be: Ye are of God, my little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world (1 John 4:4)! B. Babylon and the Beast 1. In studies of Revelation it has been easy to get so lost in the details and in the speculation about how various parts are fulfilled that one misses what should be evident, obvious, and remains right in front of us 2. God, in giving the Revelation, provides John with a vision of all sorts of cataclysmic events and figures all reminiscent of past trials, victories, judgments, and vindications surrounding the people of God 3. Not for nothing does John see the dragon conjure up a beast from the sea, a beast that just so happens to embody all the beastly characteristics of the empires in Daniel 7; not for nothing does John see the whore as Babylon (Revelation 13, 17) 4. Likewise, not for nothing does John see the judgments upon Babylon and the beast in terms of God’s judgment on Egypt and Babylon and the lament for Tyre (Revelation 15-16, 18; cf. Exodus 6-12, Jeremiah 50-51, Ezekiel 27) 5. In a strange form of encouragement, God is showing John that Rome is just the next in a series of oppressors of God’s people, and will meet the same end a. The power is strong and the forces are mighty, no doubt; Rome is greater than Babylon, Persia, and Greece ever were b. And yet God will judge and condemn Rome for her sins as those nations in the past were judged 6. And we cannot miss another evocation: Rome is “Babylon,” its power, concentrated in the Emperor, is the “beast” embodiment which Daniel saw, and it will be judged as Egypt and Babylon: these are all pagan oppressors and perpetrators of the sojourn and exile of the people of God C. The Saints 1. God’s concern in Revelation, first and foremost, are His saints 2. The vision is given to comfort and encourage them 3. They live in the midst of the beast; they live in the shadow of Babylon; they must maintain faith and perseverance and overcome the beast (Revelation 13:10, 15:2) 4. “Overcome” is a strange way of looking at it a. We do well to not mince words: to “overcome the beast” is to submit to execution by the Roman power for the sake of the name of Jesus b. In the ways of the world, and certainly to the Romans, this is no “victory,” but in fact defeat; those who remain alive on the battlefield are normally considered the victors, and the wholesale execution of a religious sect, in theory, is not good for its long-term prospects of survival c. How can this be victory? 5. Such is why the Revelation exists, unfolding the divine drama and contextualizing the suffering of Christians which they experience from the pagan oppressive power a. To consider death as defeat is very short-term thinking, not at all considering the hope of resurrection b. The saints get the victory over the beast because they maintained their testimony and confidence in the blood of the Lamb and did not love their lives even to death (Revelation 12:10-11); they will obtain the victory in Jesus c. Babylon, the beast, and the false prophet will all be condemned because they shed and got drunk on the blood of the saints; what they considered victory is in fact their indictment and guarantees their condemnation d. That which is debased in the world is exalted by God; that which is exalted in the world will be debased: sound familiar (Matthew 23:12, Philippians 2:5-11)? 6. Thus God, through the Revelation, invites Christians to radically revise their expectations and what it means to gain the victory: it is not about numerical superiority, seeming progress on the battlefield, but about standing firm, enduring whatever trials may come, entrusting ourselves to Him, and waiting for and hastening the day when He will gain the victory over the forces against Him (Ephesians 6:10-18, 1 Peter 4:18, 2 Peter 3:11-13, Revelation 19:1-21) a. There is no reforming Babylon and the beast; there is no legislation which can solve all their ills b. God shows how they are satanically empowered; the authority God has given them to rule has been thoroughly perverted c. All that can be rendered is God’s judgment; Christians do well to stand firm, obey Jesus, cry out for all to come out of Babylon, and entrust themselves to Christ who will gain the victory 7. The trials we endure are not part of some inevitable Satanic victory; far from it! They are the evidence of his defeat! IV. Conclusion A. In the first century John is given a vision of the divine drama 1. Satan rouses his forces to make war on the saints 2. His tools, Babylon and the beasts, are fearsome; the whole world is enthralled with them and drunk on their power and on sexual immorality with them 3. On the ground, the situation looks hopeless for the Christians 4. And yet they are sealed by God in Christ; judgment will come against Babylon and the beasts; they will not be spared 5. The saints have the glory of heaven and participation in the heavenly Jerusalem to sustain their hope; for the beasts, Babylon, and the dragon, the lake of fire awaits! B. In 500 years it would come to pass 1. The pagan heart of the world was struck with a fatal blow; Christianity, even if in a distorted form, was ascendant 2. The Roman pagan oppressing power had been thoroughly overcome and was no more 3. The beast, the false prophet, and Babylon had been overthrown; Satan, while still active in many ways, was far more constrained than before 4. The world of 595 was unimaginable in many ways to the Christian in 95 C. We may still be in the “millennium”; it may be that Satan has been loosed for his final gasp before the end (Revelation 20:1-8) D. But we know that his time is short, he and his minions will be cast into the lake of fire, and the saints will enjoy love, peace, joy, and light in the presence of God for eternity (Revelation 20:9-22:6) E. The “beast” and “Babylon” we face are not exactly what John is seeing, but they are like unto them; such is why so many throughout time have seen their own times in the Revelation F. We do well to overcome the beast, the false prophet, and the dragon, standing firm in our faith for Christ, entrusting ourselves to our faithful Creator while doing good, not loving our lives even to death, for such is the victory, and through it we will share in the resurrection of life for eternity! G. Invitation Scripture, Meditation, and Application 1: And [the whole earth] worshipped the dragon, because he gave his authority unto the beast; and they worshipped the beast, saying, “Who is like unto the beast? And who is able to war with him?” (Revelation 13:4) In Revelation John is given a vision. He sees a beast embodying the beasts of empire Daniel saw. The dragon, Satan, gives the beast his power. Those on earth are in awe of the beast. Humans are easily awed at the power of Satan, and give in to the short-term benefit to the expense of long-term salvation. May we not be tempted by the deceptions of Satan! 2: And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and there was given to him authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation (Revelation 13:7). This beast, the Roman power embodied in the Emperor, was given authority even to overcome the saints. He persecuted them and had many killed. Such seems to be a defeat for the people of God. And yet it would prove to be the way of victory. May we stand firm for God no matter what! 3: And [our brethren] overcame [the Accuser] because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony; and they loved not their life even unto death (Revelation 12:11). In Revelation God invited John and all who hear him to radically reconsider success and defeat. Death may look like defeat, but only if seen in the short-term. Jesus is Risen; therefore, those who trust in Him and suffer as He suffered maintain the hope of resurrection. In Jesus there is victory over sin and death; the forces of the Evil One cannot make any such promise, and will be condemned. May we entrust ourselves to God in Christ and obtain the victory, for the Evil One has already been defeated! 4: And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought the signs in his sight, wherewith he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast and them that worshipped his image: they two were cast alive into the lake of fire that burneth with brimstone (Revelation 19:20). Babylon seemed mighty astride the beast. And yet Babylon would fall; the beast and false prophet were cast into the lake of fire. The Roman empire is but a memory; its glory is now a set of ruins. Such had been the fate of Babylon by the time of the Romans. Such had been the fate of Egypt by the time of Babylon. The pagan oppressive power arrogates against God but is always defeated. Christians need not despair at their situation. God will have the victory. We must stand firm, knowing that Jesus is more powerful than Satan. May we do so!