New Heaven And New Earth (Revelation 21-22)

The Bible is unified story that  points toward the same conclusion. Jackson Wu[1] offers a great, simple visual: 

There’s a far more complex one out there that shows all the cross-references as the Biblical narrative unfolds. This is from Chris Harrison.[2]

What we see in the final chapters of Revelation is the end to the unified story the Bible has been telling. One way we know the story is unified – and that this is the appropriate end – is the way the Fall in Genesis is reversed. From a chart found in Biblegateway commentaries:

So, as you might expect, there are sooo many hyperlinks in these last two chapters (I am including the first 10 verses from Chapter 19 as well) not just from the Bible overall but from within Revelation itself.[3]  

In addition, John has not stopped recapitulating; 19:1-10, 21:1-8 and 21:9 – 22:5[4] all seem to be part of the same story with different perspectives and details. So, once again, I am going to try to intertwine the visions so that we don’t get distracted by thinking, “Hey, I just read that!” or “Why is this happening again?” I will try to note clearly where each passage originates. 

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19:1-8 The scene changed. After this, I heard the great sound of a multitude echoing in heaven.  “Praise the Lord! Salvation and glory and power[5] truly belong to our God, for true and just are His judgments. He has judged the great prostitute, Babylon, who polluted the entire earth with her seductive, idolatrous immorality,[6] and He has vindicated the blood of His servants, which she shed.”

Again praise spilled from heaven. “Praise the Lord! Babylon will never rise again. The smoke rises from her ruins forever and ever.”[7] And the twenty-four elders and four living creatures[8] fell on their faces and worshiped God who reigns on the throne. “Amen, Praise the Lord!”

 A Voice from the Throne said,  “Give praise to our God, all of you, God’s servants, all who reverence Him, small and great.”[9] [10]And I heard what seemed to be an immense crowd[11] speaking with one voice—it was like the sound of a roaring waterfall, like the sound of clashing thunder, saying,

“Praise the Lord! For the Lord our God, the All Powerful, reigns supreme. Now is the time for joy and happiness. He deserves all the glory we can give Him. For the wedding feast[12] has begun;[13] the marriage of the Lamb[14] to His bride has commenced, and His bride[15] has prepared herself for this glorious day.[16] She had been given the finest linens to wear[17], linens bright and pure, woven from the righteous deeds of the saints.”[18]

21:1 I looked again and could hardly believe my eyes. Everything above me was new. Everything below me was new. Everything around me was new[19] because the heaven and earth that had been passed away, and the sea was gone[20], completely.

21:9-27 And then one of the seven messengers in charge of the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came over to me and said, “Come with me, and I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb. He took me away in the Spirit and set me on top of a great, high mountain.  As I waited for what I thought was a bride, he showed me (also 21:2) the holy city[21], Jerusalem,[22] descending out of heaven from God,[23] prepared like a bride on her wedding day, adorned for her husband and for His eyes only. 

 It gleamed and shined with the glory of God; its radiance was like the most precious of jewels, like jasper, and it was as clear as crystal. It was surrounded with a wall, great and high. There were twelve gates.[24] Assigned to each gate was a messenger, twelve in all. And on the gates were inscribed the names of the twelve tribes of Israel’s sons.  On the east wall were three gates. On the north wall were three gates. On the south wall were three gates. On the west wall were three gates [twelve in all]. And the city wall sat perfectly on twelve foundation stones, and on them were inscribed the names of the twelve emissaries (disciples) of the Lamb.[25]

My guide held a golden measuring rod. With it he measured the city and the gates and the walls.[26]   He measured the city with his measuring rod, and the result was that its length and width and height are equal: [27]  1,444 miles, a perfect cube.[28] And my guide measured the wall; it was nearly 72 yards high, in human measurements, which was the instrument the guide was using. 

The wall was made of jasper, while the city itself was made of pure gold, yet it was as clear as glass. The foundation stones of the wall of the city were decorated with every kind of jewel: the first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst.[29]  The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate expertly crafted from a single beautiful pearl. And the city street was pure gold, yet it was as transparent as glass.[30]

And in the city,[31] I found no temple because the Lord God, the All Powerful, and the Lamb are the temple. And in the city, there is no need for the sun to light the day or moon the night[32]because the resplendent glory of the Lord provides the city with warm, beautiful light and the Lamb illumines every corner of the new Jerusalem. 

And all peoples of all the nations will walk by its unfailing light, and the rulers of the earth will stream into the city bringing with them the symbols of their grandeur and power.  During the day, its gates will not be closed; the darkness of night will never settle in. 

The glory and grandeur of the nations will be on display there, carried to the holy city by people from every corner of the world.[33] Nothing that defiles or is defiled can enter into its glorious gates. Those who practice sacrilege or deception will never walk its streets. Only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life can enter.

22:1-5 My heavenly guide brought me to the river of pure living waters,[34] shimmering as brilliantly as crystal. It flowed out from the throne of God and of the Lamb, flowing down the middle and dividing the street of the holy city. On each bank of the river stood the tree of life, firmly planted, bearing twelve kinds of fruit and producing its sweet crop every month throughout the year. And the soothing leaves[35] that grew on the tree of life provided precious healing for the nations.

 No one or nothing will labor under any curse any longer. And the throne of God and of the Lamb will sit prominently in the city. God’s servants will continually serve and worship Him. They will be able to look upon His face, and His name will be written on their foreheads.  Darkness will never again fall on this city.[36] They will not require the light of a lamp or of the sun because the Lord God will be their illumination. By His light, they will reign throughout the ages.

(21:3-6)And I heard a great voice, coming from the throne: “See, the home of God is with His people.[37] He will live among them; They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them. The prophecies are fulfilled: He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; Mourning no more, crying no more, pain no more, for the first things have gone away.” And the One who sat on the throne announced to His creation, “See, I am making all things new.” [38]

The Anointed One said, “Write what you hear and see, for these words are faithful and true (also 22:6). It is done![39]  (22:12-14) I am the Alpha and Omega, the First One and the Last One, the beginning and the end. See, I am coming soon, (also 22:7,12) and I will bring My reward with Me and pay back every person according to the deeds he has done.  

The one who remains true to the prophetic words contained in this book[40] - those who wash their garments[41] - will truly be blessed. I will see to it that the thirsty drink freely from the fountain of the water of life[42] and enter the city through its gates.  (21:7-8/22:14-15) To the victors will go this inheritance[43]: I will be their God, and they will be My children. It will not be so for the cowards[44], the faithless, the sacrilegious, the murderers, the sexually immoral, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all those who deal in deception[45] in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death. 

The Guide said, (22:6)“These words are faithful and true. And the Lord, the God who inspired the prophets, has sent His heavenly messenger to show to His servants what must soon take place.” 

(22:8-11) I, John, am the one who heard and witnessed these visions. And when I heard and witnessed them, I fell prostrate at the feet of the heavenly guide who showed them to me.  But he refused.

(also 19:10) My Guide said, “Stop it. Don’t you see? I am a servant like you and your brothers and sisters, all who hold fast to the testimony of Jesus and keep the words contained in this book. Address your worship to God, not to me! For the testimony about Jesus is essentially the prophetic spirit.”[46]

Write this down: ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage feast of the Lamb.’ What I am telling you are the true words of God.” Do not seal up the prophetic words contained in this book for another day, for the finale is near. Let the one given to evil continue down evil’s path and the one addicted to filth continue to be its servant. But let the one who is righteous journey along the righteous road, and let the holy continue in holy ways.[47]

(22:16-21) Then Jesus said, “I, Jesus, have sent My messenger to show you and guide you so that you in turn would share this testimony with the churches.[48] I am the Root and the Descendant of David, the Bright Morning Star. 

The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.”[49] And let everyone who hears these words say, “Come.” And let those who thirst come. All who desire to drink, let them take and drink freely from the water of life.[50]

Beware, everyone who hears the prophetic words of this book. Know this for certain: if anyone adds to the prophecy of these words, God will add to that person the plagues described in this book.[51]  And if anyone subtracts from the prophecy of this book, God will remove that person’s access to the tree of life and to the holy city which are described in this book. 

The One who testifies to these realities makes this promise: “Yes. I am coming soon.” To which we say, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.” 21 May the grace of the Lord Jesus [the Anointed One] be with all [the saints]. Amen.

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So many places to go with this. I will go to four of them, in honor of the shape of the city. 

First, the glorious goodness of God’s faithfulness.

God might have abandoned his creation in disgust because of Babylon’s wickedness, just as he might have abandoned the Israelites in the wilderness because of the golden calf. But out of sheer mercy [and grace] he will come to dwell with his people, and that mercy will flow out to flood the whole world. Creation is not abolished but fulfilled, not thrown away and replaced but renewed from top to bottom. (N.T. Wright, Revelation For Everyone)

What we see happening in the end for the cosmos we see happening now in all of us. God might have abandoned us in disgust because of our sin and our following after our own idols, but he hasn't. Out of sheer mercy and grace he dwells with us, first in the Incarnation of Jesus and now through the Holy Spirit that not only dwells with us but makes a temple of us. We are not thrown away; when we enter the Kingdom through the work of the King we are regenerated in the “now” and will be replaced from top to bottom in the “not yet” – mortal putting on immortal, corrupt putting on incorrupt.[52]  To quote Mercy Me, that’s not just good news – it’s the best news ever.

Second, God’s global invitation into the Kingdom should inform our presence in the world.

John’s readers may find it hard to see in their neighbors on the street anything but cold, hostile stares and the threat of informing the authorities. They may be so aware of the present rule of the dragon, the monster and the false prophet that all they want is to escape, to be rescued, not to hold out to their neighbors God’s repeated and generous invitation.

But see they must, because the mercy of God is vast and his invitation wide as the world. Because he is who he is, the creator whose purposes are gloriously fulfilled in the slaughtered lamb, he will go on inviting and welcoming and pouring out the water of life for all the thirsty.

 (N.T. Wright, Revelation For Everyone)

Revelation paints in vivid color the terrible nature of evil: it is abusive, self-destructive; callous, greedy, dehumanizing, deceptive, false. It destroys peoples and cultures. It ravages the world. This is why Revelation calls everyone to salvation. You can join Babylon and beasts in their destruction, or sit at the table at the wedding feast of the Lamb.

This Revelation should simultaneously open our eyes and break our hearts. Those under the deceptive sway of dragons, beasts, and false prophets need the gospel, not hostility. Those in bondage need rescuing, not hatred. Those dying for a drink of Living Water need people carrying buckets of it them, not withdrawing in fear or shaming them for pulling water from the wrong well. 

We’ve all been there, right? We are hardly in a position to point fingers. We are, however, in a position to hold out to our neighbors God’s repeated and generous invitation. And who is our neighbor? Everybody.

Third, Revelation reminds us to be a particular kind of people in a particular kind of community.

This is the message of Revelation: the loving, liberating, life-giving Lamb who is Lord invites any and all to become part of his community of disciples, his faithful bride, and thus enter into God’s new creation. Revelation is, at its core, an evangelical book, a word of good news, an invitation to follow the Lamb into the new creation.

This is an invitation to a deeply rooted public discipleship of faithfulness, hope, and love in the middle of a sometimes hostile world that follows after other lords and gods. Christian churches and individuals are called to bear witness to God’s present transcendent reality and reign, as well as God’s future… renewal and final victorious rule in which there will be true life, peace, and justice for all.

(Uncivil Worship And Witness: Following The Lamb Into The New Creation, Michael Gorman)

We are called to be deeply rooted disciples in a community that previews the renewal of all things. I think church communities should give people a glimpse of heaven. That can’t happen without deeply rooted disciples: rooted in Jesus; in Scripture; in accountable community; in humility, repentance and forgiveness; in the hard but glorious work of loving God and loving others. It is from good roots that good fruits come.  

Finally, the city is the bride. That stupendous city descended from heaven is the church.  It wasn’t created in that moment. It was the bride of Christ that has been preparing herself for 2,000 years with what she had been given. So…that’s a vision of us – and all who have gone before and will come after us - as we move into the New Heaven and New Earth. 

But the passage says the bride prepared herself with what she has been given. The bride doesn’t look amazing because on her own. We know this, right? Read church history. Read the headlines about scandals just in the American church right now. The bride’s got some issues. She might be clothed with the “righteous deeds of the saints,” but let’s be honest, we didn’t make those on our own power. 

The bride looks glorious because the King, in His mercy and love, has clothed her in the garments of the kingdom.  All we have to do is put them on. So, what has God given the church?[53] I looked up passages in which the Bible talks about “putting on” or “being clothed.” Here’s what shows up. Here’s what God gives us to put on as we prepare.

·      compassion

·      kindness

·      humility 

·      meekness

·      patience

·      forgiveness 

·      love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

·      holiness

·      truth

·      righteousness 

·      peace

·      salvation

·      the word of God

So, friends, let’s prepare ourselves. Let’s put on the clothing that befits the bride of Christ. Let’s take the time “now” to point toward the “not yet.”  Let’s even now be the preview of coming attractions, where all us can see even now that God’s plan for renewal is being fulfilled in our lives as we speak, and that the renewal we experience even now is simply a foretaste of glory divine in the world to come.

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[1] https://www.patheos.com/blogs/jacksonwu/2019/01/09/all-stories-within-grand-biblical-story/

[2] https://www.chrisharrison.net/index.php/Visualizations/BibleViz

[3] For example, the last chapters highlight the contrast between the church imperfect (1–3) and the church perfected. Whereas 1–3 focused on the churches’ weaknesses during the Church Age, 21:9–22:5 points toward the church’s perfected state for all eternityhttps://daretoventure.org/wp-content/uploads/sermons/2017/10/20171022-Eternity-Study.pdf

[4] The bride of v. 2 is developed in vv. 9–11; the tabernacle of v. 3 is developed in vv. 22–24; the water of v. 6 is developed in 22:1; the fate of the sinners of v. 8 is developed in v. 27.  (Ibid)

[5] See also 4:11; 5:13; 7:10; 12:10 for the same praise.

[6] The new Jerusalem is the antithesis of Babylon. Babylon is the great harlot, a beast; it is infested with demons; it is drunken and murderous. It is a culture of death. Jerusalem is the bride of the Lamb, full of the presence of God; it provides healing and is lacking all pain, tears, and death. It is a culture of life. The culture of the beast has been replaced by the culture of the Lamb; a culture of death by a culture of life; a culture of insecurity and fear by a culture of peace and trust. “Reading Revelation Responsible: Uncivil Worship And Witness: Following The Lamb Into The New Creation, Michael Gorman)

[7] Alludes to Isaiah 34:10 (of Edom); Revelation 19:3 (of Babylon). “Goes up forever and ever” is variously interpreted as a) never ending or b) rising so high into the sky it disappears. Broadly speaking, it signifies a permanent end. They will not live again. 

[8] See Revelation 4:4, 6. 

[9] “The Hallel is the name especially applied to Pss 113-118. They had a special role in the Feast of Passover. Most Jewish sources associate the Hallel with the destruction of the wicked, exactly as this passage in Revelation does…Two texts in the great Hallel (Pss 113:1; 115:13) are unmistakably cited in 19:5.” (Expositor’s Bible Commentary)

[10] All socio-economic distinctions are dissolved in worship (11:18; 13:16; 19:18).

[11] Likely the redeemed multitude in Revelation 7:9.

[12] #laodiceans (3:20).” (Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Of The New Testament)

[13] “This supper has already begun in the Eucharist, a foretaste of the Kingdom (see Mt 26:29; Lk 13:29; 22:30).“ (Orthodox Study Bible)

[14] See Isaiah 54:5–8; Hosea 2:19, 20; Ephesians 5:26, 27).

[15]  “Marriage is a symbol of the union of God with His people (see Is 54:1–8; Ezk 16:7–14; Hos 2:1–23), of Christ with His Church (Mt 22:1–14; 2Co 11:2; Eph 5:22–32). Jesus, the Passover Lamb (1Co 5:7) also the divine Bridegroom (Mt 22:2; 25:1–13).” (Orthodox Study Bible)

[16] “John later identifies the bride as the new Jerusalem, God’s people (21:2–3; cf. 2 Cor 11:2; Eph 5:25–27).” (NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible)

[17] “Believers’ righteous deeds do not merit salvation but serve as a fitting, necessary response to and evidence of God’s “righteous acts” (15:4; cf. Eph 2:8–10; Phil 2:12–13; Titus 2:14).” (NIV Biblical Application Study Bible)

[18] “The church that suffered and remained pure is now prepared for a time of glorious celebration…God and His people are about to become one. The marriage feast has been arranged at great expense, and the festivities are about to begin..” (commentary from The Voice translation).

[19]  (Isa. 65:17; 66:22; 2 Peter 3:13).

[20] “This world of ours, made restless and stormy by the lives of men (and hence, figuratively, called the sea) will have passed away.” (Augustine) 

[21]  “A bride-city captures something of God's personal relationship to his people (the bride) as well as something of their life in communion with him and one another (a city, with its social connotations).” (Expositors Bible Commentary)

[22] “Just as Babylon represents the people of Rome and not simply its location, and just as “Jerusalem” in the OT usually includes the people and not simply the site, the new Jerusalem undoubtedly includes the people of God. This new Jerusalem is like God’s bride Israel in the OT (Jer 2.1; Hos 2.19–20) or Christ’s bride the church (2 Cor 11.2; Eph 5.23).” (NRSV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible) 

[23]  “It is a maxim of the ancient Jews that the tabernacle, the temple, and Jerusalem itself came down from heaven. Midrash Hanaalem, Sohar Gen. fol. 69, col. 271, Rab. Jeremias said, "The holy blessed God shall renew the world, and build Jerusalem, and shall cause it to descend from heaven." Their opinion is, that there is a spiritual temple, tabernacle, and spiritual Jerusalem; and that none of these can be destroyed, because they subsist in their spiritual representatives.” (Adam Clarke)

[24] The visionary city seen by Ezekiel likewise had twelve gates, three on each side, which were named after the twelve tribes (Ezek. 48:31–34). (Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Of The New Testament) 

[25] The church was the finished structure to be “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone” (Eph. 2:20). The twelve tribes and the twelve apostles represent the collective people of God Rev. 4:4). (Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Of The New Testament) 

[26] Measuring signifies security and protection as well as  “securing something for blessing. Ezekiel's elaborate description of the future temple and its measuring was to show the glory and holiness of God in Israel's midst (Eze 43:12). The measuring reveals… perfection, fulfillment, or completion.” (Expositor’s Bible Commentary).

[27] The early church fathers saw this cube shape as showing a perfectly balance four-fold gospel (Apringius of Beja), the permanent and unchangeable blessing of the saints (Oecumenius), “nothing is marked by inequality” (Primasius), stability and solidity (Andrew of Caeserea), perfectly stable in faith, hope and love (Bede). (Ancient Christian Commentary On Scripture).

[28] The previous use of 12, 144, and 1000 in Revelation plus the unreality of the precise measurements point to a figurative understanding. (Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Of The New Testament)  “The city is about the same size as the then-known Hellenistic world, suggesting it ​represents​ ​the​ ​redeemed​ ​of​ ​all​ ​nations.” https://daretoventure.org/wp-content/uploads/sermons/2017/10/20171022-Eternity-Study.pdf  “12,000 (stadia) and 144 (cubits; 21:16–17) both recall the number of God’s servants …The numbers are being reused to speak of the people of God, because the temple is the body of Christ…. guess what you have in ratio proportion? The Most Holy Place of the old temple (1 Kings 6:20) . [N]ot only will God live with his people in Jerusalem, not only will the entire city be like a temple, but it will be like the Most Holy Place.” (Michael Heisser)

[29] Isaiah described the future Zion as a city similarly (Isa. 54:11–12), as did the extracanonical book of Tobit (Tobit 13:16–18). The square breastplate worn by the high priest contained twelve precious stones, each engraved with the names of one of the twelve tribes (Ex. 28:17–20; 39:10–13). The Septuagint reading of Ezekiel 28:13 gives a virtually identical list as that of the breastplate’s twelve stones. (Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Of The New Testament)  Michael Heisser disagrees: “The list in Revelation 21 of the gems is entirely consistent (not partly, but entirely consistent) with the description in Ezekiel 28, where what is being described is not a person (the high priest); it’s a place. And the place is Eden.” 

[30] “The ancient Jews teach that "when Jerusalem and the temple shall be built, they will be all of precious stones, and pearls, and sapphire, and with every species of jewels… In the midst of it is the tree of life, the height of which is five hundred years; (i.e., it is equal in height to the journey which a man might perform in five hundred years…”  Sepher Rasiel Haggadol, fol. 24, 1. (Adam Clarke)

[31] “The huge cubical city encompasses the whole people of God. In some sense it is the people of God.” (IVP New Testament Commentary)

[32] In a genuinely new Heaven and Earth, there will be planetary bodies. John is making a theological point J“Even while on earth [Jesus] shone with Uncreated Light (Mk 9:2–8; 2Pt 1:16–18).” (Orthodox Study Bible)

[33] “John receives a vision of social life, bustling with activity. Elsewhere in Revelation, the "nations" are the pagan, rebellious peoples of the world who trample the Holy City (cf. comments on 11:2; 11:18)… But here they stand for… the redeemed nations who follow the Lamb and have resisted the beast and Babylon (1:5; 15:3; 19:16; 2:26; 5:9; 7:9: 12:5). (Expositor’s Bible Commentary)

[34] “Joel declared that on the Day of the Lord a fountain would flow out of the Lord’s house (Joel 3:18). Both Ezekiel and Zechariah saw waters of life flowing out of the eschatological Jerusalem (Ezek. 47:1–10; Zech. 14:8).” (Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Of The New Testament) 

[35] “The fruits and leaves of the tree are completely and universally therapeutic, reversing the effects of the fruit of the tree of disobedience (Gn 3:6).” (Orthodox Study Bible)

[36] “No more idolatry, no intellectual darkness; the Scriptures shall be everywhere read…and the Spirit of God shall shine and work in every heart.” (Adam Clarke)

[37] Yet another example of the “now” and “not yet” of Revelation. “The OT also prophesied that God would dwell with His people. The Immanuel prophecy (Is 7:14; Ps 45:5–8) is fulfilled in the Incarnation (Jn 1:14; 17:22), but comes to completion when God will fully dwell (lit., “in-tent”) with His people, restoring the paradise of old (Gn 2; Lv 26:11, 12; Ezk 37:26, 27; Jer 38:33; 2Co 6:16).” (Orthodox Study Bible)

[38] I am making everything new (Isa. 65:17) refers primarily to the final renewing at the End. But the present tense is used and it is worth reflecting that God continually makes things new here and now (cf. 2 Cor. 3:18; 4:16–18; 5:16–17; Col. 3:1–4; etc.). https://daretoventure.org/wp-content/uploads/sermons/2017/10/20171022-Eternity-Study.pdf

[39] Using the same word that declared the judgment of the world finished, God proclaims that he has completed his new creation: "It is done" (16:17) (Expositors Bible Commentary)

[40] He who overcomes takes us back to the messages to the seven churches.

[41] “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (Matt. 5:8).

[42] See also the tree of life (Rev. 2:7), crown of life (Rev. 2:10), and book of life (3:5).

[43] “And since you are a son, God has made you also an heir” (Gal. 4:7)   “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ” (Rom. 8:17). 

[44] One list has “dogs,” which seems to be kind of a catch-all word for all these things. HELPS Word Studies: “kýōn – literally, a dog, scavenging canine; (figuratively) a spiritual predator who feeds off others. A loose dog was disdained in ancient times.”

[45] These vices are associated with a context of idol worship in both the OT and the NT as well as in Revelation.

[46] “Prophecy,” says C. C. Ryrie, “is designed to unfold the loveliness of Jesus.” (Believer’s Bible Commentary)

[47] “Many will be purified, made spotless and are refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked” (Dan. 12:10).

[48] After the new Jerusalem descends there appears to be no difference between heaven and earth. Perhaps…there is already a sense in which God’s people experience the heavenly city…And this of which they now experience a foretaste…will be perfectly realized hereafter. Heaven will, so to speak, come down to earth. (www.daretoventure.org)

[49] “There are two ways of understanding this verse. First, it may be a gospel appeal throughout, with the Spirit, the bride, and the hearer urging the thirsty to come to Christ for salvation. Or the first three uses of the word come may be prayers for Christ to return, followed by two invitations to the unsaved to come to Him for the water of life (salvation) and thus be ready for His return.” (Believer’s Bible Commentary)

[50] The promise to quench the thirst of the saints (Rev. 7:16; 21:6) is finally realized. 

[51] Moses also warned hearers of the Law not to add to or subtract (Deuteronomy 4:2; 12:32);

[52] 1 Corinthians 15: 53-55

[53] Colossians 3:12-14, Ephesians 4:24, Ephesians 6:13-18  

The End Of All Things (Revelation 19:11- 20:15)

Revelation is “A revelation of Jesus Christ.” (Rev 1:1) “If anyone asks, ‘Why read the Apocalypse?’ the answer must be, ‘To know Christ better.’”[1] Too much of a focus on anything less will rob us of the goodness of the message of Revelation. I say this because today’s passages have been interpreted…a lot of different ways. We must be consistent with our interpretations when reading Revelation. We tend to play “duck, duck, goose” with Revelation: “Figurative, figurative, LITERAL.” I am no exception. I have found myself revising numerous sermons in this series because I would think, “Anthony, that’s not how you used that image last week.” So, here is A WAY to understand Revelation that I have been using so far:

• Numbers are figurative. Weigh them, don't count them. That includes the 1,000 years that show up today.

• Sun, moon stars are heavenly beings

• Mountains are nations; the sea is people of all nations

• Fire/blood/winepress[2] have been icons that when you click on them lead to  the grim reality of God’s judgment. Sometimes more than one image is used at the same time (like today’s passage) 

• The Beast, the False Prophet and Babylon have been corporate rather than individual, though individuals have embodied them throughout history. They are systems, empires, worldviews.

• The catastrophic physical calamities have been about spiritual, economic, and political realities.

• Recapitulation has been a thing; we saw the end of the world multiple times; we are about to hear about Armageddon again two more times (from two different perspectives) in Rev. 19 and 20.

We are going to pick up Revelation 19, beginning in verse 11. Verses 1-10 will show up next week when we get to Chapter 21. Once again, I am going to let the next few pages be the original text (mostly from The Voice translation) with its myriad of footnotes. We are going to skip to page 6 for a version/translation/commentary by yours truly that seeks to combine all the…stuff. All the things. 

I looked up and saw that heaven had opened.[3] Suddenly, a white horse appeared. Its rider is called Faithful and True,[4] and with righteousness He exercises judgment and wages war.  His eyes burn like a flaming fire, and on His head are many crowns.[5] His name was written before the creation of the world, and no one knew it except He Himself.[6]He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood,[7] and the name He was known by is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, outfitted in fine linen, white and pure, were following behind Him on white steeds. [8]From His mouth darts a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. 

He will rule over them with a scepter made of iron.[9] He will trample the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God, the All Powerful.[10] And there on His robe and on His thigh was written His name:[11] King of kings and Lord of lords.[12] Then I looked up and saw a messenger standing in the sun; and with a loud voice, he called to all the birds that fly[13] through midheaven. The Heavenly Messenger said, “Come. Gather for the great feast[14] God is preparing for you  where you will feast on the flesh of[15] kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of the rich and powerful, the flesh of horses and their riders[16]—all flesh—both free and slave, both small and great.”[17]I looked down, and I saw the beast I had seen earlier and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered together to wage war against the One riding the white horse and His heavenly army.[18] 

The beast was soon captured along with the false prophet, the earth-beast I had seen earlier who performed signs to deceive those who had agreed to receive the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its detestable image. Both of them were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.  And all who remained met death at the blade of the sword that proceeded from the mouth of the One riding on the white horse. All the birds feasted fully on their flesh.[19] 

Then I saw a messenger coming from heaven. In his hand was a key to the abyss and a great chain that had been forged in heaven. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for 1,000 years with the great chain.[20]The messenger cast him into the abyss and locked it and sealed him in it so that he could not go about deceiving the nations until the 1,000 years had come to completion.[21] Afterward he must be released for a short time.[22] 

Then I saw some thrones, and those seated in judgment were given the right to judge. Standing there were the souls of those who were beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and the word of God. They had refused to worship the beast or its detestable image and had not received the mark upon their foreheads or upon their hands. They had come back to life and reigned with the Anointed One, our Liberating King, for 1,000 years.  Now as for the rest of the dead, they were not given life until the 1,000 years were completed. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are the ones who take part in the first resurrection.[23] Over these, the second death has no power;[24] they will serve as priests of God and His Anointed, and they will reign with Him for 1,000 years. 

When the 1,000 years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison.[25]And he will crawl out of the abyss in order to deceive the nations located at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog[26] as Ezekiel described them, in order to rally them together for one final battle. They are in number as the grains of sand on the shore. 

They marched in unholy array over the expanse of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city.[27] As they laid siege to the city, fire rained down from heaven and incinerated them. And the devil who had deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet[28] had already been thrown; and the unholy trio will be tortured day and night throughout the ages.[29] 

The scene changed.[30] I saw a great white throne, and One was seated upon it. The earth and heaven receded from His presence; there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing in front of the throne. Some books were opened. Then another book was opened; it was called the book of life. And the dead were judged according to what had been recorded in the first books; these were the records of everything they had done.[31] And the sea surrendered its dead.[32] Death and Hades gave up their dead as well. And all were judged according to their works. 

Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire.[33] This is the second death, the lake of fire.[34]  And everyone whose name could not be found among the names written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire. And they will have no rest, day or night.[35] 

* * * * *

So here is my version, in which I stand on the backs of 2,000 years of commentators. I mean, it’s not all of them, but it’s a good representation of common themes. My goal is not the details (though I hope to get them right), but the message that transcends and illuminates the details. In other words, don’t miss the forest for a few distracting trees J 

[Note: we are apparently seeing the final confrontation twice. The first one focuses on Jesus as the Returning King and feels like the start of the movie where you give away what’s about to happen, then something like “Three Weeks Earlier” appears on the screen. That’s kind of how Chapters 19-20 feel. So I am going to try to tell them as a synchronized story, which means I’m combining what I understand to be the narrative of the two stories. THIS IS NOT MEANT TO TAKE THE PLACE OF THE ORIGINAL J It’s only to make the reading less confusing.]

* * * * * 

Then another messenger came from heaven with a key to the abyss, the home of chaos and evil, and a great chain that had been forged in heaven made of Jesus resurrection power. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan, and thoroughly bound him with the chain to suppress his power in the world. 

The messenger cast him into his abysmal home of chaos and evil and locked it, sealing him in it so that he could not stop the spread of the gospel to all the nations for 1,000 years[36] – that is, until God’s timetable had been completed, and Satan must be released from the abyss (but not unbound) for a short time. 

Then I saw that God had placed people on thrones of judgment. In front of them were the souls of those who were killed because of their testimony of Jesus and the word of God, as well as those who had paid any price by refusing to worship the beast or its detestable image, and who had not been marked as “beastly” by the allegiance in their hearts and the actions of their hands. 

Their souls were alive (#firstresurrection), and they were reigning with the Lamb, the King of Kings, while Satan was bound and the gospel flourished in the world. Blessed and holy are the ones who take part in the first resurrection as they await the reuniting of soul and body after the final judgment, when all things are made new.  

Over these, the second death – not the first, physical death, but the spiritual death that follows final judgment[37] – will have no power; they serve as priests of God and His Anointed, and they reign with Him as the gospel spreads through and flourishes in the world. 

When the time of Satan’s bondage and the gospel’s spread is completed, Satan will be released from the abyss (though not from the chains of Jesus’ resurrection power) and will deceive all the nations in order to rally them together yet again for one final battle. His followers are numerous, as numerous as the sand on the shore of the sea of humanity from which the beasts had arisen. These citizens of the city of Satan – anywhere Rome and Babylon are central - marched  over all the earth and surrounded the city of God – the church.[38]  

I looked up and saw that heaven had opened – another vision was beginning. Suddenly, a white horse appeared that looked like the horse with the false Christ-pretender from the Seven Seals. But this rider was different. This rider was Jesus, the Faithful and True.  

He comes to exercise righteous judgment and to bring an end to all unrighteousness. His eyes burned with righteous anger, and he wore…all the crowns, from everywhere, from all the kings, from all time. Only He knew His secret name, which was written before the creation of the world. 

Dressed in a robe dipped in the life-blood of his sacrifice,[39] He finally revealed His name: The Word of God. The armies of heaven, outfitted in purity as if in fine, clean linen, were following behind Him on horses just like His. From the mouth of The Word of God darted…well, the Word of God, a sharp sword of Truth with which to strike down the false foundations of nations. 

He had an iron scepter befitting all-powerful king. Like all royalty,  inscriptions that define Him were written on His robe and on His thigh, but they surpassed the inscriptions on the statues of emperors or rulers: “King of kings and Lord of lords” belongs only to Him.  

Like Isaiah prophesied concerning the ‘winepress’ of the wrath of God[40]  the  ‘grapes’ of evil will be harvested from the earth, then drained of life and destroyed.[41] [Babylon’s] sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes. Give back to her as she has given; pay her back double for what she has done. Pour her a double portion from her own cup....” (Revelation 18:5-6; 20)  

With a loud voice, an angelic messenger standing as if in the center of the sun called to all the carrion birds that fly through midheaven. “Come. There is about to be a war, so all you eaters of the dead be prepared to feast at the winepress: on kings, captains, the rich and powerful, horses and their riders, free and slave, small or great - all those who helped the Beast (made up of the Romes and Babylons in the world) commit evil against God, His world, and His people.” 

As they laid siege to the global church, God’s judgment rained down on them from heaven like fire and destroyed them.[42]  The earthly empires stood no chance, and the Beast was soon captured along with the False Prophet (remember, this is the spirit of anti-christ, of religious deception, of idolatry masquerading as holiness, who was able to perform signs and wonders, just like Pharaoh’s magicians, to deceive those who had agreed to be marked by their allegiance to the beast and those who compromised true faith to worship its detestable image.)  

The Beast (Global Systems hostile to God’s people) and the False Prophet (Religious Idolatry and Deception) were thrown into the lake of judgment[43] that burns with fire and sulfur, so that they would be completely consumed.  And as the One riding on the white horse spoke the sword of God’s Truth, the people who remained saw the lie that sins brings life turn into the truth that the wages of sin is death  

Just as Satan was defeated by the blood of the Lamb and the word of his followers' testimony (12:7-9, 11), this battle was won by the blood of the Lamb and the Truth of The Word. The carrion birds, the scavengers who feed on death, feasted until they could hold no more. 

And the devil who had deceived them was exiled to a lake of fire[44] and sulfur (God’s judgment)[45] where the Beast of Empires and the Second Beast, the False Prophet of Idolatry had already been thrown; and this anti-trinity will pay the price of their evil throughout the ages. 

[now we move to the Final Judgment]

The scene changed. I saw a great pure and holy throne, and One was seated upon it. Even the earth and heaven receded from His presence; there was no place for even things as grand as them in His presence. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing in front of the throne. Some books were opened. 

Then another book was opened; it was called the Book of Life. It contains the names of all saved by grace (Ex 32:32; Is 4:3; Dan 12:1, 2)— God's mercy through the Lamb who was slain for their sins is far greater in comparison than the frailty of their works. 

And the dead were judged according to what had been recorded in the first books; these were the records of everything they had done without the blood of Jesus on the doorpost of their lives.[46] Everything that held the dead – the Sea[47] and Death, which between the two of them accounted for all the bodies; Hades, which held their souls -  gave up their dead, and all were judged according to their works. 

Then Death, Hades, and everyone whose name could not be found among the names written in the book of life were given to what looked like a Lake of Fire: God’s eternal judgment. This is the second death, where both soul and body meet their eternal death. 

* * * *

I like puzzles. To use a puzzle analogy, the point is to see the Big Picture once all the pieces are together, but if some key pieces look out of place, it’s distracting at best, maybe confusing, and we might even fight over where they go! -So let’s see if we can find how some of these pieces fit into the Big Picture in a way that makes the whole come to life.

First, “The Millennium itself is one of the most controversial questions of eschatology (the doctrine of the last things)…there are problems with [all] views… responsible Christian scholars vary in its interpretation according to their convictions and presuppositions.”[48] I think it’s fair to say the timing of the tribulation and the question of whether or not Christians will have to endure it rank pretty high too. Here are 4 key ways Christians have thought about this.

Michael Heisser describes himself as an “eschatological system agnostic.” I like that term. Revelation is the kind of book that defies airtight theories. I’m thinking of a book title to highlight the problem: The Last Word on Eschatological Details (5th Revision).[49]

Second, I find it helpful to remember the “now and not yet” aspects seen in Revelation already. 

• In some sense the Millennium began at Jesus’ resurrection (Satan is restrained now, the Gospel is flourishing in the world now, the saints in heaven are ruling and reigning now) with a fullness yet to be experienced (we have not yet seen Satan destroyed, or the Kingdom inaugurate fully and perfectly in the world). 

• It sure seems like tribulation has always been with us (the now), which is not to say it won’t get worse (the not yet). What’s the take away from both of them? 

• The now: “In this world you will have trouble, but take heart. I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) Revelation is not about being taken out of this world but about faithful, obedient discipleship characterized by love in this world.[50] It is meant to enliven Christians in the midst of persecution and chaos, to help them patiently endure persecution and struggles both within and without. 

• The not yet: Revelation 21-22 (next week).

Third, the return of Jesus, the Second Coming, uses the term parousia. This was the word used to describe Roman generals returning from battle. They literally would ‘descend from the clouds’ as they crossed the tops of mountains before being received with great pomp and circumstance as a returning, conquering King. John has been digging Rome and Emperors for the whole book; here is just another reminder that all earthly kings are pretenders to the throne. Jesus is King, and he’s coming back in glory. 

Fourth, at this last battle in Revelation 19, there is no literal, physical war for those present at the Second Coming to join. The heavenly armies just sit on their horses. All the actions belong to the Lamb Who Was Slain, who rids the world of evil through his own blood and a sword of Truth (19:15).[51] 

The symbol of the beast can open our eyes to systemic and structural evil in our world. Sometimes injustice or suffering may make it appropriate for us to use the rage passages [of Psalms] in prayer. But we must always return and worship to the central motif of the Lamb. The example and teaching of the Lamb must cover the lives of believers. Then the rage we bring to God and leave at the throne of grace will find its proper place.[52]

We can be distracted by the looming threat of a guns and mortar war and forget that our battle has been ongoing: we don't wrestle with flesh and blood, but with spiritual forces, and our solution has always been the spiritual armor of God. (Ephesians 6)

Fifth, Revelation is the only book of the Bible that promises a blessing for reading it: “Blessed is the one who obeys the words of this prophecy.” In other words, in light of the not yet, how should we live now?

You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and eagerly hasten toward its coming…But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.
So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.” (2Peter 3:8–15)

We can be the voices naming that which is Beastly in the world, and calling out the false prophets who want to convince us that evil is good, that darkness is light, and that the wages of sin are anything other than death.

We can be the ambassadors of the Lamb Who Was Slain, representing the One who is Faithful and True by being faithful to the truth, and by walking in the way of the Lamb rather than the way of the Dragon.  

We can, in this Church Age, live in the ‘now’ of Christ’s Kingdom (wherever we are on this unfolding historical map). We can taste and see that the Lord is good, and that His mercies are new every morning, and that the goodness of which we only catch a glimpse now are just a teaser trailer for what awaits us in the New Heaven and New Earth. 

We can have confidence and peace now in the midst of any circumstance knowing it hasn’t surprised God. Covid? Not a surprise. Elections? Not a surprise. War? Not a surprise. Opposition to our faith? Not a surprise Your current circumstance? Not a surprise. Be at peace. 

The King is coming, and He is going to make all things new.

____________________________________________________________________________________

[1] Reading Revelation Responsibly

[2]  Like the fire and hail from the First Trumpet angel, or the fire from the mouths of the two witnesses.

[3] Emperors or various kings would have special ceremonies for their parousia (coming into a city). The king would have a specific crown that was only used for victory marches; citizens would be dressed in white robes and yelling deification names to give him honor. The parousia of Jesus brings about the final conquest of the devil and his forces (1 Cor. 15:23–24), the final judgment of the world (1 Cor. 4:5), completes the redemption of the redeemed (1 Jn. 3:2; 1 Thes. 4:16–17; Heb. 9:28), brings history to its fulfillment (Rom. 8:19; 2 Pet. 3:13; Rev. 21:1) and establishes the public vindication and glorification of Jesus (Mk. 14:62; Rev. 1:7). (https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/themelios/article/the-parousia-getting-our-terms-right/)

“His robe is dipped in blood (19:13) even before he engages his enemies. The blood, therefore, is his own. Christ’s victory over his enemies… transpires through his death.” (Michael Gorman, Reading Revelation Responsibly)

[4] The rider on the white horse in the first seal (6:1-2) was introduced with exactly the same words (6:1; 19:11). If the rider in chapter 6 represented either false prophecy or the spirit of antichrist, it is appropriate that the rider here represents both true prophecy ("the testimony of Jesus") and Jesus Christ himself. (IVP New Testament Commentary)

[5] His crowns indicate that he is king of all (vv. 12,16).

[6] “This is a reference to what the rabbins call the shem hammephorash… the name the Jews never attempt to pronounce… they all declare that no man can pronounce it… and that God alone knows its true interpretation and pronunciation. (Adam Clarke)

[7] His bloody robe (see Gn 49:11; Is 63:1–6) unites Christ's sacrifice on the Cross with His righteous war (v. 11) and judging of sin (see 14:14–20). (Orthodox Study Bible) “The blood mentioned in connection with Christ in the Apocalypse is always his own life-blood (1:5; 5:6, 9; 7:14; 12:11.” (Expositor’s Bible Commentary)

[8] There are three OT allusions to the warrior-Messiah in this verse: he strikes down the nations (Isa 11:3ff.); he rules them with an iron rod (Ps 2:9); he tramples out the winepress of God's wrath (Isa 63:1-6)…Here his sword is the power of His Word (1:16 and 2:16)… the instrument of both his judgment and his salvation (Mt 12:37; Jn 12:48). (Expositor’s Bible Commentary)

[9] The promise in v. 15 echoes the earlier description of the male child born of the woman and caught up to heaven (12:5). (IVP New Testament Commentary)

[10] In Semitic thought, name expressed being. In this case, Faithful and True (see 3:13), Word of God (v. 13; see Jn 1:1, 14), KING OF KINGS (v. 16; see 17:14) AND LORD OF LORDS(see Dt 10:17; 1Ti 6:15). (Orthodox Study Bible)

[11] Ancient nations adorned the images of their deities, princes, etc. with inscriptions, expressing either the character of the persons, their names, or some other circumstance which might contribute to their honor, on the garment, or the thighs. (Adam Clarke)

[12] The Parthian ruler was called the “great king” and the “king of kings…” (Ezr 7:12; Eze 26:7; Da 2:37). Scripture applied similar titles to God (Dt 10:17; Ps 136:3; Da 2:47; Zec 14:9; 1Ti 6:15). (NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible)

[13] This is according to a Jewish tradition, Synopsis Sohar, p. 114, n. 25: "In the time when God shall execute vengeance for the people of Israel, he shall feed all the beasts of the earth for twelve months with their flesh and all the fowls for seven years." (Adam Clarke)

[14] See Ezek. 39:4

[15] Very similar list to Revelation 6:15

[16] The only fate considered worse than death itself was death followed by lack of burial. In Eze 39:17 – 20: God invited beasts and birds to devour the flesh of the end-time army. (NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible)

[17] Recalls the graphic prophetic curse against Gog (Ezek 39:4, 17–20; cf. Rev 20:8).

[18] This is the gathering which was initiated by the three unclean spirits like frogs “which go out to the kings of the earth” (Rev. 16:14+) (Precept Austin)

[19] No battle is fought. John may be indicating that the battle has already been fought and won by the death of the Lamb (5:5, 9) just as Satan was defeated by the blood of the Lamb and the word of his followers' testimony (12:7-9, 11). (Expositor’s Bible Commentary)

[20] “Satan’s power to influence the nations is suppressed….The present spread of the gospel to the nations, as initiated in Acts, is the result of a restriction on Satan’s power to deceive.” (ESV Reformation Study Bible)

[21] “Thousand” is often used in the Scriptures to denote a long period of time, a great quantity, completion, perfection, thoroughness (Job 9:3; 2Pt 3:8).” (Orthodox Study Bible)

[22] “Satan was bound at the completion of Christ's saving work (Mt 12:28, 29; Lk 10:17, 18; Jn 12:31, 32; Col 2:15). He is not totally inactive (Acts 5:3; 1Co 5:5; Eph 6:11), but he cannot keep the gospel from the nations.” (Orthodox Study Bible)

[23] “The first resurrection (v. 6) is the heavenly life of souls who have died in Christ before His Second Coming… These righteous spirits (Heb 12:23) await only the reuniting of soul and body after the final judgment (21:1).” (Orthodox Study Bible) 

[24] “The first death is bodily death…The second death is ultimate and spiritual in character. Likewise, the first and second resurrections may be preliminary and ultimate, respectively. The first is spiritual, the second is of the body. (ESV Reformation Study Bible)

[25] Some of the early church fathers, Augustine included, thought that when Satan was cast into the abyss, it was into the hearts of those who were evil. When his is released, it is seen by those in whom Satan dwells terrorizing the people of God. 

[26] “Jewish writers typically used the invasion of Gog to predict the gathering of all nations against Israel. (NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible)

[27] “There are only two cities or kingdoms in the Apocalypse: the city of Satan, where the beast and harlot are central, and the city of God, where God and the Lamb are central. This city…Wherever God dwells among his people, there the city of God is (21:2-3).” (Expositor’s Bible Commentary) “The city is Christ’s church.” (Augustine)

[28] “That the beast and false prophet are [thrown into the lake of fire] does not argue for their individuality, since later "death" and "Hades," nonpersonal entities, are personified and cast into the same lake of fire (v.14).” (Expositor’s Bible Commentary)

[29] Postmillennialism: the return of Christ will not take place until the church has set up the kingdom of God on earth. Premillenialism: Christ’s return will be followed by the binding of Satan and a thousand-year reign of saints before the final judgment. Dispensationalism: divides history into seven dispensations, with the final one culminating in a kingdom centered in a renewed Jerusalem with a rebuilt temple. Amillennialism: the thousand-year reign is happening now during the Church Age in some fashion. All affirm God’s victory, and the future reign of the saints with Christ. (Asbury Bible Commentary)

[30] The vision shares features with Ps. 7:6–8; 47:8, 9; Dan. 7:9, 10 and other Old Testament judgment scenes (cf. Matt. 25:31–46). (ESV Reformation Study Bible)

[31] The books of judgment (Dan 7:10) contain a record of deeds, which will judge people (Ps 61:13; Jer 17:6). The Book of Life contains the names of all saved by grace (Ex 32:32; Is 4:3; Dan 12:1, 2)—not that they have no works, but that God's mercy is far greater in comparison.” (Orthodox Study Bible)

[32] “Many Gentiles believed that those who died at sea were barred from Hades because they were not buried.… Some apocalyptic writings expected Hades to return what was entrusted to it when the dead are raised for judgment.” (NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible) However, Augustine notes that the “sea”, in Revelation, has always meant the nations. He thinks that when the Sea gives up its dead, it’s the spiritually dead from the nations who had not yet physically died. Later, John will say “there is no more sea.” I always thought that meant “no more chaos,” but might it mean “no more distinct nations of earth?” Hmmm…..

[33]   A river of fire flows from God’s throne in Da 7:10, an image that is heavily developed in later Jewish tradition. Most relevant… is the Jewish image of fiery Gehenna (Gehinnom), where many Jewish teachers believed that the wicked would be either tortured or consumed.” (NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible)

[34] “Death, the “last enemy that will be destroyed” (1Co 15:26), and Hades, the intermediate state between death and resurrection, will end.” (Orthodox Study Bible) 

[35] How Revelation 14 describes it.

[36] “A thousand-year Messianic age can be found in rabbinic literature… but [John’s]  main point was highlighting the temporary binding of Satan until the final judgment.” (NIV First Century Study Bible) There is no record in Ancient Christian Commentary On Scripture that the Early Church thought this to be a literal 1,000 years. Almost to a man, the early church fathers thought this 1,000 years were either a) the time between the Resurrection and the Second Coming, or b) the span of Jesus’ incarnate life during which the gospel spreads and Satan’s power and deceit is limited.

[37] “The first death consisted in the separation of the soul from the body for a season; the second death in the separation of body and soul from God for ever. The first death is that from which there may be a resurrection; the second death is that from which there can be no recovery. By the first the body is destroyed during time; by the second, body and soul are destroyed through eternity.” (Adam Clarke)

[38] “The worldwide city of Christ is to suffer at the worldwide city of the Devil.” (Augustine)

[39] Quick note: According to the excerpts in Ancient Christian Commentary On Scripture, all of the Early Church Father’s thought this blood was Jesus’ own. Some modern commentators think it’s the blood of those God judges in the ‘winepress’ of his wrath – which, as I read it, has not happened yet in the narrative. 

[40] Interesting: the judgment is here a winepress, in a couple verses, it will be a fire. We saw this in Revelation 14: “ Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle.  Another angel, who was in charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to the angel who had the sharp sickle, “Use your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes off the vine of the earth, because its grapes are now ripe.” So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and gathered the grapes from the vineyard of the earth and tossed them into the great winepress of the wrath of God.” Both capture the point that judgment is coming; both are images, ‘icons’ on which to click.

[41] “Come, go down; for the winepress is full, the vats overflow—for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.” (Joel 3:13b-14)

[42] Interesting perspective from Caesarius of Arles, which will show the kind of interpretation the church fathers offered: “Either they will believe in Christ through the fire of the Holy Spirit, and they will be spiritually consumed by the church, that is, incorporated into the church, or they will be consumed by the fire of their own sins and they will perish.” (Ancient Christian Commentary On Scripture: Revelation)

[43] (Is. 66:15, 16; Joel 2:3). 

[44] Fire is frequently associated with all-consuming judgment (Is. 66:15, 16; Joel 2:3).

[45] So far in Revelation, all fire has represented judgment and not actual fire. I’m trying to stay faithful to that framework.

[46] My image to link it back to Exodus, which has happened a lot in Revelation. 

[47] Augustine thought this meant that, since the sea represented nations, the Sea gave up the living who were spiritually dead, and Hades gave up the physically dead. 

[48] Expositor’s Bible Commentary

[49] Got the term and the book idea from Michael Heisser, on the Naked Bible Podcast

[50] Michael Gorman, Reading Revelation Responsibly

[51] Michael Gorman, Reading Revelation Responsibly

[52] Seven Deadly spirits: The message of Revelations letters for today's Church, T. Scott Daniels

Babylon Is Fallen (Revelation 17-18)

Last week, when we covered the bowl judgments, I said I was going to take the approach that John's vision explains God’s coming judgment on the Roman Empire by taking into the account of the fall of Babylon in light of the defeat of Pharaoh at the Red Sea, and use all of these as framework for a universalized prediction of the judgments that will fall on all Babylons (World Systems) until the final global Babylon is gone when the cup of the global iniquity is full.  

The world of the “earth dwellers”– the corrupt systems that cater to the lust of the flesh, the lust of eyes, and the pride of life[1] – is going to be dismantled and judged, with nations and peoples reaping what they have sown. With that in mind, the next two chapters show the nations of the world bemoaning the loss of Babylon the Great. Two things to remember: 

• The details John describes do not neatly fit any past historical city. It’s not less than Babylon or Rome, but it’s more than just one city. It's the archetypal head of all worldly resistance to God.

• It shows systemic satanic deception and power at a global and national level. I know the idea that there can be “systemic sin” is a debated issue right now, but John sure thought it was a thing. Babylon is the poster child. New Testament scholar Bruce Metzger wrote: “Babylon is allegorical of the idolatry that any nation commits when it elevates material abundance, military prowess, technological sophistication, imperial grandeur, racial pride, and any other glorification of the creature over the Creator... The message of the book of Revelation concerns…God’s judgments not only of persons, but also of nations and, in fact, of all principalities and powers—which is to say, all authorities, corporations, institutions, structures, bureaucracies, and the like.”[2]

Because these chapters are soooo thick with all the same kind of hyperlinks we’ve seen before (Old Testament, historical people and events, Jewish literature), I’m going to let you read through the text and the footnotes included here on your own. We are going to jump to my own paraphrase/version that tries to take all those footnotes into consideration, and then we will discuss a couple key revelations in Revelation J So, let’s skip to page 7.

* * * * * * * * * *

And then one of the seven messengers entrusted with the seven bowls came over to me.[3] Guide: Come, and I will show you the true nature and God’s judgment of the great whore[4] who is sitting on the many waters.[5]  She has seduced all the kings[6] of the earth[7] into committing lewd, sexual acts[8]; and most earth dwellers have become intoxicated[9] with the wine of her harlotry.[10]  Immediately I was in the Spirit, and the guide picked me up and carried me off. In the middle of a vast desert,[11] I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet-colored beast covered with blasphemous names.[12] The beast had seven heads and ten horns like the beast I had seen earlier rising out of the sea. The woman[13] was dressed in purple and scarlet fabrics; she shimmered with gold and jewels and pearls. 

I looked closer and saw that her hand held a golden cup[14] brimming with abominations, bubbling over with the impurities of her sexual exploits. On her forehead was inscribed a name, a mystery[15]: “Babylon the great, the mother of whores and the abominations that defile the earth.”  I looked and saw that the woman was drunk because she had gorged herself on the blood of the saints and the blood of those people who refused to deny Jesus even to save their own lives.[16] When I saw her, I was filled with wonder. 

Guide:  Why are you so amazed? I will reveal to you the mystery of this woman and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her. The beast you saw was, and is not,[17] and is about to come up out of the abyss and go away into eternal destruction. And the earth dwellers, whose names have not been inscribed in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will be astonished when they see the beast because it was and is not and is to come. Here is the mind possessing wisdom: The seven heads signify the seven mountains[18] where the woman is seated.[19] They also stand for seven kings.  Five have fallen, one is alive, and the last has not yet come to reign.[20] But when he does come, he will be allowed to reign only a short time.[21] Regarding the beast that was and is not, it is actually an eighth ruler[22] that springs from the seven and goes away into eternal destruction.[23]  The ten horns you saw stand for ten kings who have not yet ascended to power, but they will be invested with royal authority for a single hour and will reign together with the beast.[24] These come together for one purpose and one purpose alone: to yield their power and authority to the beast.  Together they will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will be victorious over them because He is the Lord over all lords and the King over all kings; and those who stand with Him are called, elect, and faithful. 

 (continuing to speak to me) The waters you saw, where the whore is seated, represent the peoples and multitudes, ethnicities and languages. The beast and the ten horns you saw will despise the whore[25]; they will make her a wasteland and strip her naked.[26] They will gorge themselves on her flesh and incinerate her with fire.[27] For God has placed in their hearts to do what He has purposed, that is, to become one in mind and to surrender their kingdoms over to the beast until the words of God accomplish their end. 18 And the woman you saw—she is the great city that rules over the kings[28] of the earth.[29]

Next I saw another messenger descending from heaven. I knew he possessed great authority because his glory illuminated the earth.  Heavenly Messenger (with a powerful voice): Fallen, fallen, is Babylon[30] the great city![31]It has become a habitat for demons, A haunt for every kind of foul spirit, a prison for every sort of unclean and hateful bird. For all the nations have drunk deeply from the wine of the wrath of her immorality, And the kings of the earth have disgraced themselves by engaging in gross sexual acts with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown fat and rich, profiting off the power purchased with her luxury. 

Then I heard another voice from heaven urge, “My people, get away from her—fast.[32] Make sure you do not get caught up in her sins. Put some distance between you so that you do not share in her plagues, for her sins are higher than the highest mountain. They reach far into the heavens, and God has not forgotten even one of her missteps.”  Deal out to her what she has dealt out to others, and repay her double according to her deeds.[33] In the cup where she mixed her drink, mix her a double.  Whatever glory she demanded and whatever luxury she lived, give back to her the same measure in torment and sorrow. 

Secretly she says in her heart: “I rule as queen; I am not like a widow;[34]
 I will never experience grief.”[35]  Because of this arrogance, in a single day, plagues will overwhelm her. Her portion will be death and sorrow and famine, and she will be incinerated with fire, for mighty is the Lord God who exacts judgment on her. And the kings of the earth, who committed lewd, sexual acts and lived lavishly off of her, will weep and wail over their loss when they see the smoke from her burning body rise into the sky.  They will stand at a distance, fearing they, too, might fall victim to her torment. They will moan,

Woe to you, our great city! Babylon, the most powerful city in the world. In a single hour, your day of judgment has come. And the merchants and the magnates of the earth weep and mourn over her demise because no one is buying their goods any longer:[36]  warehouses remain full of gold, silver, jewels, and pearls; fine fabrics, purple, silk, and scarlet cloth; fragrant woods, items made of ivory, and items finely crafted out of expensive wood; bronze, iron, and marble; cinnamon, spices, incense, myrrh, and frankincense; wine, olive oil, rich flour, and wheat; cattle, sheep, horses, chariots, and human cargo (the trafficked souls of humanity).[37] 

Everything your heart desired has gone away; All the glitz and glitter are lost to you forever; you’ll never have them again! The sellers of these goods, who made a fine profit from her, will stand at a distance. Like the kings, they will fear her punishment might fall on them too. They will weep and mourn their loss. Woe to you, our great city, dressed in finest linens, in purple and scarlet fabrics, dazzling in gold and jewels and pearls. In a single hour, all this wealth is gone. And all the sea captains, all those who sail the seas, sailors, and those who make a living by the sea, stood at a distance. Strong men were reduced to tears as they gazed on the smoke that rose from her ruins. “Was there ever any city like her?” they asked. They threw dust in the air covering their heads. They wept bitterly and mourned their loss. Woe to you, our great city; all who had ships at sea became rich off your wealth! In a single hour, you have been utterly ruined.[38] 

 Rejoice over her torment, O heaven. Join in the celebration, you saints, emissaries, and prophets because God has judged in your favor and against her. Then a mighty messenger picked up a huge stone—it looked like a great millstone—and he cast it into the sea.[39] Mighty Messenger: Watch and see. This is how Babylon, the great city, will be thrown down; violently will she go down, and they will search for her in vain.  Never again will the sound of music grace your streets. The melodies and harmonies of the harpists and musicians and flutists and trumpeters will never be heard again. And never again will an artisan of any craft be found in your markets, And never again will the grinding of the millstone provide rhythm to your city, And never again will the light of a lamp bring warm light to your houses, And never again will the voices of the bridegroom and bride bring joy to your festivities.[40] For the merchants were the magnates of the earth, and all the nations fell prey to your sorceries.[41] And in her streets the blood of the prophets, saints, and all who have been slaughtered upon the earth,[42] ran freely.[43]

* * * * *

 Here begins my paraphrase/ translation - for better or worse :) 

And then one of the seven messengers entrusted with the seven bowls of plagues came over to me. This angel said,“Come, and I will show you the true nature of and God’s judgment on a spiritual prostitute who has seduced all the kings of the earth into the worship of anything but God: money, power, sex, the state, luxury, people, self – anything but God.  These empires offer a system of domination that seduces the powerful, partly with the promise of more power, and intoxicates common people with its alluring false promise of security that supposedly comes from increasing prosperity and power. 

Everyone who loves this world – it’s almost like they have become drunk on sin, addicted to sin on which it is built. They can’t get enough of it.” My guide carried me to the middle of a vast desert, the place where the church fled to get away from Satan’s attacks.

I saw this spiritual prostitute sitting on a beast splattered with the blood of the saints. This 7-headed beast is all the nations and all the rulers of the world, territorially grand and ideologically expansive, creating a compromised but tantalizing blend of politics and religion, and blasphemously self-promoting its own (alleged) grandeur, making claims about itself that are rightly made only about God.

The woman was wearing a headband (as prostitutes are required to do) covered with the names of all the other gods with whom people had been committing spiritual adultery.  The woman appeared beautiful (as all wealthy nations do): she was dressed in stunning robes; she shimmered with gold and jewels and pearls. She looked fine. 

But when I looked more closely, I saw that her hand held a golden cup brimming with poison, with abominations. It was frothing over with the spiritual ooze that follows idolatry. On her forehead, right beside her headband, was inscribed her name, solving the mystery about who she was: “Babylon the great, the mother of idolatry and the abominations that defile all the nations of the earth.” Babylon was drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of those people who refused to deny Jesus even to save their own lives.  

When I saw her, I was astonished and confused. My guide said, “Let me explain. The beast you saw is all nations that rise up against God - past and present and future. They arise from Satan’s domain and will return to it in the end.  Jesus’ resurrection has ensured their final defeat, but until then they have life, even thought their death is sure.  Those who love earthly nations and worldviews – those whose names have not been inscribed in the book of life - will be mesmerized by all these nations. They will love the greed, exploitation, luxury and idolatry Babylon has to offer them. 

Even though Babylon is seated in power on all of these nations past, present and future, they are all temporary. They all rise only to fall. None of them can last forever. The last of these nations are not yet here, but when they arrive, they will (like the others) be powerful for a limited time as they appear to rule the world.  These nations of the world have one purpose and one purpose alone: to worship and serve the idolatrous goals of the beast.  Together they will make war on God and His Kingdom, but Jesus -  the Lamb who was slain -  will be victorious over them. He is the Lord over all lords and the King over all kings; His called, elect, and faithful will stand with Him. 

 The waters you saw represent the peoples and multitudes, ethnicities and languages.  And the prostitute, Babylon, is a worldview of systemic evil that seduces and then rules over the kings of the earth. But they will eventually plunder and shame her. They will all consume themselves; their sin will spark a fire of judgment and reap an inferno. For God has placed in their hearts to do what He has purposed, that is, to become one in mind and to surrender their kingdoms to evil until the words of God accomplish their end. Remarkably, the idolatrous nations end up undermining the very powers, riches, and privileges they sought. This is how false worship always ends: it is self-destructive through overindulgence and unrestrained oppression and violence. 

When another messenger descended from heaven, I knew he possessed great authority because his glory illuminated the earth. He said with a powerful voice: “Fallen, fallen, is Babylon the great city!  The systems the world held in awe have now become a lifeless wilderness, a habitat for demons and foul spirits, a home for everything unclean and hateful.” This is because all the nations have drunk deeply from the intoxicating wine of violence and greed, and are paying the price.   All the nations have disgraced themselves by joining this idolatry as they were bought with power and enslaved withluxury. The buyers and sellers of decadence and oppression have grown gluttonous, and rich, and cruel.

 Then I heard another voice from heaven say, “My people – followers of the Lamb - get away from Babylon and her nations—fast. Do not get caught up in her sins. Put distance between you so that you do not share in her judgment, because her sins are higher than the highest mountain. They reach far into the heavens like smoke rises from an inferno, and God has not forgotten even one of her missteps. God will deal out to her what she has dealt out to others, and repay her double according to her deeds. In the cup from which she poured our violence and misery, God will mix her a double.  Whatever glory she demanded and in whatever luxury she lived, she will get back the same measure in the torment of justice and the sorrow of guilt and shame that follows sin. 

Secretly she says in her heart: “I rule as a powerful queen; my lovers will never leave me and take away my luxury; I will never experience the grief of loss and need.”  Her addiction to power and comfort leads to arrogant self-sufficiency; the desire to avoid suffering leads to corruption, as anything can be done to keep what she has.   Because of this arrogance, judgment will take her by surprise and overwhelm her. Her life will turn into death and sorrow, and her plenty to famine, and all that she gloried in will disappear like trash incinerated with fire, for mighty is the Lord God who exacts judgment on her. 

And the kings of the earth, her political lovers who committed vile spiritual idolatry with her and lived lavishly off of her, will mourn over their loss when they see the extent of her collapse.  But... they will stand at a distance. They only loved her for what she could do for them. They will be full of fear that they, too, might fall victim to the same torment.  They will moan, “Woe to you, our great city! Babylon, the most powerful city in the world! Your day of judgment has crashed down on you.”  

 And as the economy crashes, and luxury and indulgence disappear, the merchants – the buyers and sellers of things and people -  will weep and mourn over her demise. All their stuff will count as nothing. It will be useless.   Warehouses of luxury goods consumed in acts of conspicuous consumption will remain full of unused and useless gold, silver, jewels, and pearls; fine fabrics, purple, silk, and scarlet cloth; fragrant woods, items made of ivory, and items finely crafted out of expensive wood; bronze, iron, and marble;  cinnamon, spices, incense, myrrh, and frankincense. 

Staples that people need to live - wine, olive oil, flour, and wheat – staples imported in such massive and unnecessary quantities that they left others malnourished and starving - these will be gone. The money and power that follow cattle, sheep, horses, chariots will dry up. Worst is their human cargo- the trafficked bodies and souls of defenseless humanity used, abused and treated like commodities. This, too, will end.

The empire’s elites once got rich and indulgent at the expense of the rest of the empire and indeed the world; now, everything their hearts desire has gone away; all the glitz and glitter are lost forever. The sellers of these goods, who made a fine profit from selling them to Babylon, will stand at a distance.  Like the kings, they will fear her punishment might fall on them too. They will weep and mourn the loss of the city that made their extravagance possible. “Woe to you, our great city, dressed in finest linens, in purple and scarlet fabrics, dazzling in gold and jewels and pearls. Your empire of wealth has collapsed.”  

And all the movers and shakers of this oppressive economic system that abused and consumed things and people alike will keep their distance as well.  Men thought of as strong (by beastly standards) will be reduced to tears as they gaze on the smoke that rose from her ruins. “Was there ever such a glorious human city like this one?” they will ask as  they weep bitterly and mourn their loss.“Woe to you, our great city; all who trafficked things and people became so rich off your wealth! Now, you have crumbled.”

But these economic and political titans of the earth?  They were deceived and corrupted. All the nations fell prey to Babylon’s poisonous seduction. And it was in Babylon’s streets that people paid the price: the blood of the prophets, saints – indeed, all whose lives have been pillaged - ran freely. Empires will eventually resort to anything necessary, including lethal violence, to silence the pro-God, counter-cultural witness of the faithful. Their economic, physical, emotional, and spiritual suffering filled the gutters of the cruel world.

O heaven, rejoice when you see justice roll down, because it means God has been victorious. Join in the celebration, you saints, emissaries, and prophets because God has judged in favor of the followers of the Lamb and against the followers of Babylon and Rome.

Then a mighty messenger picked up what looked like a huge millstone and he cast it into the sea. The messenger said, “Watch and see. This is how Babylon, the great city, will be thrown down; violently will she go down, and they will never find her again. Do you remember when Jeremiah prophesied God’s judgment on Jerusalem? It will happen again, but this time to the Babylons of the world: No more celebratory music, because there will be nothing to celebrate; no more marketplace hubs of community life, there is no community when there is no unity; food and fuel will be scarce, as consumers and hoarders and users care only for themselves; even the closest of human relationships will fall by the wayside. And thus Babylon will fall. 

Empires often eventually die of  self-inflicted wounds; their subjects revolt and destroy the very thing that has empowered them; this reversal is, in a very real sense, the judgment of God. [44] 

* * * * *

The “Babylon/Rome” societies mentioned in Scripture have certain common characteristics:

• Overabundance, and luxury accumulated at the expense of others (Jer 51:13; Eze 16:13, 49; Na 2:9; Rev 18:3, 7, 16-17). It’s when the love of money becomes the root of all kinds of evil: exploitation, greed, the commodification of people.

• Arrogance, self-trust and boastfulness (Isa 14:12-14; Jer 50:31; Eze 16:15, 50, 56; 27:3; 28:5; cf. Rev 18:7). Even the most powerful nations who say, “I rule the world,” and whom people say, “Who is like her?” are going to fall. 

• The use of power and violence against God’s image bearers and children (Jer 51:35, 49; Eze 23:37; Na 3:1-3; cf. Rev 18:10, 24). Ninevah was judged for violence against image bearers; Egypt for violence against God’s people. All the spilled blood of the innocent cries out to God.[45]

• Oppression and injustice (Isa 14:4; Eze 16:49; 28:18; cf. Rev 18:5, 20). Unfair courts, corrupt legal, political and economic systems.

• Idolatry (Jer 51:47; Eze 16:17, 36; 23:7, 30, 49; Na 1:14; cf. Rev 17:4-5; 18:3; 19:2)[46]Think specifically of emperor worship (as we saw in the 7 letters) which tried to make Christ subservient to Caesar. Nations will seek to make the state or its political leaders the source of hope and trust, the thing that demands our allegiance even if it puts us at odds with our faith.

 In summary: We see an arrogant international economic power with clients around the world, hostile to the path and people of God, engaged in the uncontrolled pursuit of luxury, with commerce that even includes trading in human beings, and with a willingness to use violence and exploitation to keep its comfort and power. That’s…all nations, given enough time.[47]

Revelation is a sustained stripping of the sacred from secular power—military, political, economic—and a parallel sustained recognition of God and the Lamb as the rightful bearers of sacred claims. [48] Revelation is a summons to uncivil worship and witness.

John is calling followers of Jesus to choose allegiance to Babylon or to Christ. We choose either Heavenly Kingdom or Earthly Empire. Christians must “come out” – that is, withdraw their support of and participation in – from any nation, party or leader who demands an almost worshipful loyalty and adulation. The Cross must always stand higher than the flag.[49]

Let’s pull from today’s headlines just to see the timelessness of John’s warning. The Jerusalem Post published an article this week that I think is worth noting. It’s called “Ukrainian religious leaders liken Putin to anti-Christ, Hitler.”[50] 

The spokesman of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine had harsh words for Russian President Vladimir Putin calling him the anti-Christ and likening him to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. “Putin is really not messiah, but really anti-Christ of our current time,” Yevstratiy Zoria, the spokesman for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, said on the BBC Global News Podcast. “He is anti-Christ because everything what he does, everything what he do now, is totally against gospel, against God’s law.”Zoria’s statement followed that of Metropolitan Epiphanius I of Ukraine who said on Sunday that “the spirit of the anti-Christ operates in the leader of Russia.” 

“The spirit of the antichrist operates in the leader of Russia, the signs of which the Scriptures reveal to us: pride, devotion to evil, ruthlessness, false religiosity. This was Hitler during World War II. This is what Putin has become today.” While these statements serve to highlight a religious conflict between the Orthodox churches of Russia and Ukraine, Putin – though seemingly secular – has not shied away from using religion in his political quests. In his latest nonfiction book, Enemies and Allies, Evangelical author Joel C. Rosenberg explored how religion factors into Putin’s politics. 

“Putin… claims to be a Christian, occasionally attends the Russian Orthodox Church, poses for photo ops with Orthodox priests, and refers in speeches to the church and its importance in Russian life more than any Russian leader since the days of the czars. But there is no evidence that he has a personal relationship with Jesus Christ or that the teaching of the Bible actually shapes or guides his actions. Rather, the evidence suggests Putin is playing on the deep cultural and nationalistic affection the Russian people have for the Russian Orthodox Church to advance his popularity and political power."

[An article] in The Heritage Foundation argued that “Putin often invokes the Russian Orthodox Church in his public speeches, giving the church a much more prominent place in Russian political life than under his predecessors. But these invocations hardly seem sincere in the religious sense. Rather, he has used the church to justify Russian expansion...” Bishop of Leeds, Nick Baines [noted] that Putin has been encouraged by the Russian Orthodox Church to invade Ukraine. The Church, he said, has bought into the "mythology," which Putin believes, that Russia and Ukraine belong together – Ukraine is a fake country.

 Or, from Christianity Today, in an article entitled “Hundreds of Russian Pastors Oppose War In Ukraine.” 

Ukrainian evangelicals have had enough. Battered by a week of war, they have heard numerous prayers for peace uttered by their Russian colleagues. But they did not hear condemnation. “Your unions have congratulated Putin, giving thanks for freedom of belief,” said Taras Dyatlik, the Overseas Council regional director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia. “The time has come to make use of that freedom.” 

“Remember Mordechai and Esther,” he wrote March 1 in an open letter. “Do not be like Jehoshaphat, who entered into an alliance with Ahab, and was silent when God spoke through the prophet Micaiah.” Dyatlik accused his Russian colleagues of buying into national rhetoric—first in 2014, when Russian-backed forces invaded the eastern region of Donbas—and again today. But “begging on my knees,” he leveraged his reputation with the heads of Russia’s evangelical unions—while acknowledging their difficult reality. “You fear prison,” he said. “[But] do not be faithful to Putin. Be faithful to the body of Christ.”

Oh, friends. We must be careful. The Russian church is not uniquely susceptible to this kind of deception. Christians who were, and are, and are to come will live in Babylons that look good, but in whose hand is a bowl full of abominations. Russian Christians are not unique in being deceived by how national leaders paint the world; Russian Christians are no unique in needing to fight the tendency to compromise for the sake of economic, physical or spiritual comfort. Russian Christians are not unique in tarnishing their legacy over the pursuit of or alignment with state power. This is as old as Revelation.  

"Come out of her, my people." 

(Jeremiah 50:8; 51:6-9; Isaiah 48:20; 52:11; 2 Corinthians 6:17).

Christians are to flee, to separate themselves ideologically and spiritually from all the forms of Babylon. If we "share in her sins," we will share in her sufferings. This warning is addressed to professing Christians. We must be wise.[51] I want to talk next week about how we do this pointedly and purposefully. I leave you with this as prep.

The task of a witness is to speak courageously in word and deed, testifying to the truth of God and prophesying against all falsehood that distorts and parodies divine truth.  

Witnesses offer testimony to the vision of God given them in the hope that others will repent from error and turn to the truth, but their success is measured, not by the quantity of their converts, but by the steadfastness of their testimony.  

This suggests that the church should be missional and prophetic, a martyrological community, a gathering of witnesses. Such a calling is difficult and dangerous, but it carries with it the promise of God’s protection in the present and God’s reward in the future.[52]

_____________________________________________________________________

[1] 1 John 2:16

[2] Reading Revelation Responsibly, Michael Gorman

[3] “Many believe that chapter 17 describes religious Babylon and chapter 18 the commercial aspect.” (Believer’s Bible Commentary)

[4] Jezebel in 2:20–23 was a key seducer akin to Babylon the prostitute (2:21, 22; cf. 17:2). In the Bible, harlotry frequently symbolizes apostasy and idolatry (see Is 1:21; 23:15; Jer 13:25–27; Ezk 16; Hos 4:12; Nah 3:4). (Orthodox Study Bible) “The best background for understanding the language of the chapter is… the descriptions of Jerusalem as the harlot in Eze 16 and 23 and Babylon as the harlot in Jer 51.” (Expositor’s Bible Commentary)

[5] Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute. Introduces the theme of ch. 17 and contrasts with 21:9(“Come, I will show you the bride”). (NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible)

[6] “Some Jewish prophecies complain about Rome’s drunken weddings with her suitors, the kings of the East she was seducing.” (NRSV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible)

[7]  “Both the kings of the earth and the inhabitants of the earth are seduced into committing spiritual adultery with Babylon. The indication is that she made them drunk with power, material possessions, false worship, and pride.” (NKJV Study Bible)

[8] “Nineveh, the capital of the evil Assyrian empire, seduced the nations with her prostitution and witchcraft (Nah 3.4)” (NRSV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible)

[9] Seducing the nations into idolatry, likely through the empty promise of political power and especially economic gain (cf. 18:2–19) (NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible)

[10] “Because Babylon is the city responsible for the destruction of Jerusalem’s first temple in 586 b.c., John uses this ominous symbol to describe the Babylon of his day—Rome, the city on seven hills… Its beauty and power are legendary, but beneath the surface lies the truth of its nature. What Rome represents in John’s day has been replicated by many different world powers and their material attractions.”  (The Voice Commentary)

[11] Why in the desert, when she usually sits on many waters? “Since the woman who gave birth to the Child-Ruler fled into the wilderness as a place of protection (12:6, 14), perhaps Babylon here is seen as being in league with the dragon and the beast as they ferociously pursue God’s people (12:13–16).” (NKLV Study Bible) On the other hand, Believer’s Bible Commentary thinks this is an apostate church. Primasius said it was “the absence of God, for his presence is paradise.”

[12] “Full of blasphemous names.” These are spiritual competitors, the names of the gods and the other nations. (Michael Heisser)

[13] “Gentiles often personified their homeland as a woman, or the city as a wealthy goddess enthroned beside a river.” (NRSV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible)

[14] Jeremiah 51:7

[15] “Roman law stated harlots must wear headbands exhibiting their name. This great harlot bears the mysterious name of BABYLON . . . MOTHER OF HARLOTS. For the late-first-century Christians, Babylon was incarnate in Rome (see 1Pt 5:13), but it is primarily a spiritual reality, a “mystery,” transcending concrete manifestations. (Orthodox Study Bible)

[16] Condemnations of Babylon and Tyre (Jer. 50; 51; Ezek. 27) (ESV Reformation Study Bible)

[17] “The play here on the tenses "was . . . is not . . . will come" refers to a three-stage history of the beast… That John's beast "is not" refers to his defeat by the Lamb on Calvary (cf. Jn 12:31-32)… all other gods are nothing or nonexistent (1Co 8:4-6). Satan once had unchallenged power over the earth ("was," cf. Lk 4:6; Heb 2:14-15). Yet he is given a "little time" to oppose God and his people (12:12c; 13:5; 20:3b) before his final sentencing to "destruction" (v.11; cf. Mt 7:13; Jn 17:12; Ro 9:22; 2Th 2:3). It is this apparent revival of Satan's power and authority over the world after his mortal wound (Ge 3:15) that causes the deceived of earth to follow him.” (Expositor’s Bible Commentary)

[18] “An ancient seal showing a seven-headed chaos monster being slain illustrates John's imagery. In that scene, the monster is being slain by a progressive killing of its heads. Four of the heads are dead…Yet the chaos monster is still active because three heads still live. Similarly, John's message is that five of the monster's heads are already defeated (12:11). One head is now active, thus showing the reality of the beast's contemporary agents who afflict the saints; and one head remains, indicating that the battle will soon be over but not with the defeat of the contemporary evil agents. “(Expositor’s Bible Commentary)

[19] Ancient writers commonly referred to Rome as the city on seven hills. However, “In the seven other instances in Revelation, the word for "hills" here is always rendered "mountains," which are world powers (Isa 2:2; Jer 51:25; Da 2:35; Zec 4:7). It seems better, then, to interpret the seven mountains as a reference to the seven heads or kings, which describe not the city but the beast.” (Expositor’s Bible Commentary)

[20] “Seven mountains may also refer to successive world empires (see Ps. 30:7; Jer. 51:25; Dan. 2:44, 45).“ (NKJV Study Bible)

[21] “These five may be the first five Roman emperors, beginning with Julius Caesar with the being Nero. The five might simply represents an indefinite number of previous persecuting states, with the sixth indicating Christians are near the end.” (ESV Reformation Study Bible)

[22] So much speculation here. Most agree: it’s the final ruler before God wraps up history.

[23] “Of the three stages of the beast—was, is not, will come—only the last is related to his coming "up out of the Abyss" (v.8)…  Christ has killed the monster by his death (Ge 3:15; Rev 12:7-9) and for believers he "is not" (has no power), yet the beast still has life ("one is" [v.10]) and will attempt one final battle… and will give the appearance that he is alive and in control of the world (cf. Lk 4:5-7). That beast belongs to the seven qualitatively (he is of the same quality)." (Expositor’s Bible Commentary)

[24] “The number “ten” goes back through v. 7 and 13:1 to Dan. 7:7, 24… the beast has characteristics of all four of Daniel’s beasts.” (ESV Reformation Study Bible)  “May designate the ten provincial governors of Rome, Rome’s client kings from conquered territories, or the “the kings of the earth” (v. 18; cf. 16:14)” (NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible)

[25] “A prostitute’s former lovers might betray her (Lam 1.2), strip her (Ezek 16.39; 23.26–29) or even kill her (Jer 4.30). In the OT God stripped his people (Jer 13.22, 26–27; Ezek 16.37), Nineveh (Nah 3.5) and Babylon (Isa 47.3)” (NRSV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible)

[26] “Evil will turn against evil as the beast and its “ten horns” will destroy Babylon, the idolatrous economic system that supports them. They despise, shamefully expose, and burn Babylon (cf. Isa 47:1–14), which also recalls the judgment against apostate Israel (cf. Ezek 16:35–42; 23:28–30).” (NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible)

[27] “The lesson from Roman times can be generalized: idolatrous states end up destroying the very powers, riches, privileges, and people that they originally supported. False worship is self-destructive.” (ESV Reformation Study Bible)

[28] “By this period people in the empire spoke of Rome as the city that ruled land and sea to the ends of the earth.” (NRSV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible)

[29] “When John’s prophecy will be fulfilled, an amazing thing will happen: The harlot will be made desolate by the very system that carried her.” (NKJV Wiersbe Study Bible)

[30] “’Babylon’ means ‘confusion’…It signifies people who are arrogant, robbers, dissolute and impious, and who persevere in their wickedness.” Caesarius of Arles

[31] Likely inspired by Is 13:19–22; 34:11–15

[32] “Separation is a refusal to participate in the works of darkness (2Co 6:14–18).” (Orthodox Study Bible)

[33] Double payment was exacted from a thief (Ex 22.4, 7, 9), and from God’s people (Isa 40.2; Jer 16.18). Babylon would drink from “the cup she mixed” (cf. Rev 14.8–10; Isa 51.22–23; Jer 50.29; Ob 15). (NRSV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible)

[34] See Isaiah 47 for background imagery here.

[35] Babylon's sin is described as satiety ("luxury"), pride ("boasts, I sit as a queen"), and avoidance of suffering ("I will never mourn"). Luxury leads to boastful self-sufficiency (Eze 28:5); the desire to avoid suffering leads to the dishonest pursuit of luxury (Eze 28:18). 

[36] This is Roman merchandise. (NRSV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible)

[37] “Most items on the list are luxury goods, symbols of conspicuous consumption; some are basic staples, such as wheat, but imported in such massive quantities that residents of Rome ate free while many peasants in Egypt, where much of the grain was grown, were malnourished. The list climaxes with “human lives” sold as slaves (v. 13)—the gravest injustice of the empire (cf. Deut 24.7)… Rome’s rich indulged themselves at the expense of the rest of the empire.” (NRSV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible)

[38] Reminscent of Eze 27, a lamentation over the fall of Tyre. 

[39] “God commanded Jeremiah to hurl a stone into the middle of the Euphrates to symbolize the permanent fall of Babylon (Jer 51.63–64). Revelation amplifies the image as a millstone thrown into the sea, probably recalling Jesus’ warning in Mark 9.42 and Luke 17.2.” (NRSV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible)

[40] “When God judged Judah by means of Babylon, Jerusalem became desolate, without lighted lamps or the sounds of millstones or the joyful sound of newlyweds (Jer 25.10; cf. Jer 16.9). Now Babylon reaps what it sowed.” (NRSV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible) 

[41] Nahum’s prophecy against Nineveh mentions “the prostitute, gracefully alluring, mistress of sorcery, who enslaves nations through her debaucheries and peoples through her sorcery” (Nah 3.4).

[42] “The great sin of Babylon is cited. She has martyred the prophets and followers of Jesus. John has already mentioned this blood-guiltiness (17:6; cf. 19:2). Elsewhere the death of martyrs is attributed to "the inhabitants of the earth" (6:10), the "beast that comes up from the Abyss" (11:7, 13:7), and the "beast, coming out of the earth" (13:15). In v.24 "the blood . . . of all who have been killed on the earth" refers to all those who have been martyred because of their loyalty to the true God. Once again, in John's mind, Babylon the Great encompasses all the persecution against the servants of God until his words are fulfilled (cf. 17:17).” (Expositor’s Bible Commentary)

[43] Note also the many allusions to Jer. 50; 51and Ezek. 27.

[44] Several paragraphs from Reading Revelation Responsibly, by Michael Gorman, were woven into this.

[45] Deuteronomy 32:33

[46] This list from NRSV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible

[47] Dragons, John, and Every Grain of Sand: Essays on the Book of Revelation. Edited by Shane wood.

[48] Ibid

[49] Asbury Bible Commentary

[50] https://www.jpost.com/christianworld/article-699171

[51] Expositor’s Bible Commentary

[52] Reading Revelation Responsibly, Michael Gorman

7 Bowls (Revelation 15:5 – 16:21)

After I had taken all this in, I looked again; and the inner part of the tabernacle of witness[1] opened in heaven.  Out of the temple came seven messengers, clothed in pure linen, bright and shining, their chests clad in a golden sash, carrying seven plagues.  Then one of the four living creatures[2] stepped over to give to the seven messengers seven golden bowls[3] brimming with the wrath of God who lives throughout the ages.

 The temple was full of the smoke billowing from the magnificent glory of God and from His power,[4] and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven messengers accomplished their God-ordained end.Then I heard a great voice coming from the temple ordering the seven heavenly messengers. A voice said,” Go and pour out the seven bowls of the wrath[5] of God upon the earth.”[6]

I am going to take the approach that John's vision explains God’s coming judgment on the Roman Empire (that will be clear in the next few chapters) by taking into the account of the fall of Babylon in light of the defeat of Pharaoh at the Red Sea, and use all of these as framework for a universalized prediction of the judgments that will fall on all Babylons (World Systems) until the final global Babylon is gone.[7]

• Chapter 15-16 pick up details from chapters 4, 8, 12 and 14. This is recapitulation.

• The 7 bowls of judgment (16:1-21) overlap the 7 trumpets and seals. Lots of similar imagery and events.

• They all have a similar goal: to bring the earth's inhabitants, like Pharaoh, to repentance.[8]

• The judgment escalates from impacting 1/4, to 1/3, to all the world.[9][10] My theory: it reminds us that God is patient, but at some point “our iniquities are full.” (Genesis 15:16)

• The bowls are linked to the Judgment of the global Babylonian system in Chapter 18; (16:19; 14:8 and 10; 15:7, 16:1).

• This is modeled after the plagues in Egypt, the last 7 of which did not touch God’s people like the other plagues did.

 Let’s pause on that point for a moment. Literal interpretations are very popular for this section (“Oh, it must be a supernova, or nuclear war, or some kind of plague, etc.”), but a) that’s not how Revelation has been working, and b) if they were literal, there’s no way God’s people wouldn’t be harmed. Real things will happen, but just like we do with numbers, we need to weigh the message. Early church commentaries overwhelmingly read these events as symbolic of spiritual and cultural realities.  Briefly summarized, “All of these plagues are spiritual, and they occur in the soul.” (Caesarius of Arles, 500s) 

• The waters are nations (Primasius, 500s).

• The sores are guilt of sin and grief of apostates (Primasius, Caesarius, Andrew of Caesarea, 500s) or a version of the Mark (Bede, 700s).

• Blood is a spiritual revenge, a vision of filth (Primasius, Bede), though it could indicate the bloodshed that followed war (Andrew, Oecumenius, 900s).

• Scorching sun is drought (Oecumenius), the steadfastness of the saints (Primasius), or the splendor of the wise (Bede).

• Darkness is a darkness of reason (Oecumenius), suppressing the truth through wickedness (Primasius), lacking the ‘sun of righteousness’ (Andrew),  the false joy of earthly happiness (Bede), the brightness of doctrine obscured by unbelievers (Victorinus, 200s)

• The Euphrates drying up means nations will possess nothing which is living (Primasius).

• The Great City is Jerusalem, Babylon, or everybody; when the cities of the nations fall, it is “the strength and confidence of the nations” (Primasius) or “the cessation of the pagan manner of life” at the coming of the Kingdom of God” (Andrew).

• Islands are churches and the mountains are leaders (Oecumenius, Andrew, Bede).[11]

• 100 lb. hailstones are the completeness of God’s judgment (Primasius, Andrew)

So, I feel like I am on safe ground when I say that the heart of the message is in its weight, not in connect-the-dots details. The world – the corrupt systems, the evil worldview, the idols, the violent power structures, the people enabling them – are going to be dismantled and judged, with nations reaping what they have sown. 

So the first messenger poured out his bowl onto the earth. When he did, a foul-smelling, painful sore broke out on each person who bore the mark of the beast and who worshiped its image.  

The First Bowl. The sores seem to represent some form of suffering  similar to the spiritual and psychological torment of the fifth trumpet.[12] This will not be experienced by those who are resting in God. 

The second messenger poured out his bowl into the sea. When he did, the waters became like the blood that spills from a dead body, and every living creature in the sea died. The third messenger poured out his bowl into the rivers and springs of fresh water.[13] When he did, they, too, became blood. 

  And I heard the messenger over the waters speak. “You are just, O holy One who is and who was, for You have judged these things rightly. Because people shed the blood of the saints and prophets, You have given them blood to quench their thirst. They are deserving of these punishments.”[14]  And I heard a voice from the altar agree. “Yes, Lord God, the All Powerful, true and right are Your judgments! 

The Second and Third Bowl.[15]

• 17:1 and 17:15 make clear the ‘many waters’ are nations from which the Beast emerges (Rev. 13).[16] In 20:8, ungodly nations are compared to the sand of the sea shore on which the dragon stands (13:1)  

• The sea being turned into blood = a spiritual vision of filth (Primasius, Bede) or the bloodshed that followed war and violence (Andrew, Oecumenius). “Because people shed the blood of the saints and prophets, You have given them blood to quench their thirst.”[17] What goes around comes around.

• Jewish tradition claimed that,[18] in response to Pharaoh drowning Israel’s babies in the Nile, God later turned the Nile to blood, struck Egypt’s firstborn, and drowned Pharaoh’s army. [19]

 Since Babylon/Rome was the source of prosperous maritime commerce, some associate this with a global economic collapse (18:17-19). They worshipped and trusted the economy, and now it’s gone, and all the ripple effects of desperate actions follow. Those who made it so God’s people could not buy and sell will now themselves not be able to buy and sell.  God punishes the world by decimating an economy built on the shedding of blood (exploitation, corruption, slavery, etc), especially because of persecution of the saints.[20]

This language of blood is not about less than the violent and greedy reaping sowing the wind and reaping the whirlwind, but I think it’s about more than that. Nothing helps them avoid the reality of reaping the sin and chaos they sowed within and around themselves – physically, existentially, emotionally, spiritually.

The fourth messenger poured out his bowl on the sun. When he did, the sun was permitted to blister people with its fire.[21] The incredible heat of the sunburned their skin; but instead of rethinking their actions and glorifying God, they cursed God’s name because He had the power to carry out these plagues.

The pouring out of God's wrath in the Old Testament is often figuratively expressed as fire.  

• Jeremiah 7:20 -  “My anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place… and it will burn and not be quenched.”

• Ezekiel 22:21-22  - “I shall gather you and blow on you with the fire of my wrath, and you will be melted in the midst of it...”

• Deuteronomy 32:22 – “For a fire will be kindled by my wrath, one that burns down to the realm of the dead below. It will devour the earth and its harvests and set afire the foundations of the mountains.”

 Oecumenius viewed it literally (he thought it was drought), but the idea that it was the steadfastness of the saints (Primasius) or the splendor of the wise (Bede) shows up more often in historical church literature. Babylon will be scorched with the same kind of fire unleashed by the two prophets in chapter 11. It’s the glaring, blinding nature of truth, which is illuminating and life-giving for those who love it, and anguish for those who don’t.[22]  

 The fifth messenger poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast.[23] When he did, its kingdom was blanketed in darkness. People chewed on their tongues out of the depth of their agony.[24]  Still they refused to change their wicked ways, so they cursed the God of heaven because of their painful afflictions and ulcerous sores. 

Early Jewish interpreters thought that the darkness of the Egyptian plague symbolized spiritual separation from God, an exile from Eternal Providence. Some believed the Egyptians’ contemplation of their own wretchedness was worse than the actual darkness. Isaiah 8:20-22 associates darkness with occult practices:

“[Mediums and spiritists] have no light of dawn. Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God.  Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness.”

The ancient commentary summarizes well: Darkness is a darkness of reason (Oecumenius), suppressing the truth through wickedness (Primasius), lacking the ‘sun of righteousness’ (Andrew) or the false joy of earthly happiness (Bede).

I think we are intended to think of this as light being the light of God’s truth and glory, and the darkness being separation from God and every good and perfect gift that He has given the world. Those in anguish are recognizing the horror of their spiritual darkness, their separation from God, and that eternal fate awaits them characterized by this very thing.[25] [26] 

The sixth messenger poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates. When he did, the river dried up and became a road so that the kings from the east and their armies could make their way.[27]

•  ‘Many waters,’ are the multitudes, nations and tongues (17:15). 

• The judgment on Babylon included the drying up of the Euphrates River (Cyrus diverted the Euphrates and crossed it- from the East)

• Kings from the East = the kings of the whole world (17:18; 20:8).  

• The traditional northern enemies, God and Magog, are later explained to be all nations in the four corners of the Earth.

I suspect the drying up of the Euphrates reveals that the multitude of Babylon's religious adherents throughout the world - which is where Babylon gets its wealth, power, and prestige - will become disloyal and turn against them. We will see this in the next few chapters.

  What I saw next troubled me deeply: three foul spirits like frogs appeared, belched from the mouth of the dragon, the mouth of the beast, and the mouth of the earth-beast (false prophet).  These frogs are demonic spirits.[28] As they go into the world, they perform miracles[29] persuading the kings of the world to gather for the last battle on the great day of God[30], the All Powerful.[31] 

I heard a voice saying: ” See, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the person who watches and waits, dressed and ready to go, so as not to wander about naked, exposed to disgrace.”[32]  And the kings gathered at the place called Har-Magedon in Hebrew.[33]

This battle gathers the global persecutors of God’s people. This is the confrontation between Christ and all of the evil nations at the end of the age.[34] The nations that think they will eliminate God’s people will actually meet their own judgment (19:11-21). Things to note:

• There is no mention of a mountain of Megiddo in the Old Testament or in Jewish literature. It was a very small hill. 

• Thanks to a military history at Megiddo (Judges 5:19, 2nd Kings 23:29), Megiddo became associated in Judaism with the place where evil nations attack Israel.

• If 20:8 is a recapitulation to the same event as 16:14, then 20:9 puts Armageddon at Jerusalem/Mount Zion, both of which (in John's terms) refer to the worldwide Church. 

To think of Armageddon as a specific geographical locale would go against our principles in understanding Revelation so far.  Like Babylon and the Euphrates, Armageddon must be weighed: it has global and spiritual application. Adam Clarke, writing in the 1800s, noted:

“But what is the battle of Armageddon? How ridiculous have been the conjectures of men relative to this point! Within the last twenty years this battle has been fought at various places, according to our purblind seers and self-inspired prophets! At one time it was Austerlitz, at another Moscow, at another Leipsic, and now Waterloo! And thus they have gone on, and will go on, confounding and being confounded.”

I favor the reading that Har-Mageddon is Har-Moad, God’s cosmic mountain dwelling place (Jerusalem and Zion, the home of the Church). The battle symbolizes the final cosmic clash between God and Satan over the people of God.[35]  The evil hordes associated with the East (all the nations) - are going to march on God’s domain and God’s people. [36] 

Finally, the seventh messenger poured out his bowl into the air. When he did, a great voice came out of the temple, from the throne. And a loud Voice said, “It is accomplished!”  At the sound of the voice, there were flashes of lightning, sounds of voices, rumblings of thunder, and tremors of an earthquake. In all of human history, there had never been an earthquake of this magnitude. The great city was torn into three parts, and the cities of all the nations fell. God remembered the great city, Babylon[37], and made her drink the cup of His fury and wrath.[38]

 Every island sank into the ocean, and no mountains were left to be discovered. And great hailstones, each weighing nearly 100 pounds[39], fell from the sky onto the people until they cursed God because the plague of hail was so severe.

In the 7th Bowl, God punishes the ungodly world system with final judgment. The language of lightning, thunder, and hailstone is in imagery of judgment that we've already seen several times in Revelation to show that something is brought to an end.

The Great City that splits into three parts[40] has been variously identified as Jerusalem, Rome, or ungodly world systems, which would include the former two.  Along with Babylon, John also sees the cities of the nations fall,[41] likely "the kings of the whole world" assembled for battle at Armageddon (vv. 14, 16). John's vision revealed that all the cities are doomed to share Babylon's fate.[42]

I favor the view[43] that these are images of governments (islands) falling apart, and the nations (mountains) collapsing, leaving the masses of humanity (the water) with no source of human stability and leadership. [44] Then indeed, as Othello said when his madness descended, “Chaos has come.”

The summary: The seals, bowls and trumpets and Egypt, Babylon and Rome tell us how the story is going to go as history unfolds:

1.  Arrogant nations (beasts) will arise from humanity (sea) 

2. They will be motivated by the Satan (dragon) and fed by the people who love them (streams and springs)

3. They will align themselves against God and His people by abusing with power (Rome) or alluring with pleasure (Babylon).  

4. As they reap what they sow (drinking the ‘bowls’ of the blood they shed), they will collapse, and all their allies will desert them (mountains and islands fleeing).

5. Throughout history, God, who is slow to anger, has spared people the full weight of their punishment. Egypt, Rome, Babylon – they are all previews of the anguish, guilt, misery, and punishment (sores, darkness, scotching light of truth) that cannot be escaped. 

6.  In the end, when the cup of the history of the whole world’s iniquity is full, God will tell the martyrs that the time of waiting is over[45], and He will pour out His wrath at the evil that destroyed His good world – but this time it will be undiluted.

* * * * *

So, right now, we are watching things unfold on the world stage that likely have us thinking about apocalyptic world events.  

•  If John were writing today to the church in the Ukraine, I suspect Putin would be the latest example in world history of what it looks like when a beast follows the dragon.[46]  

• There’s even a false prophet: Kremlin’s propaganda machine that has convinced so many Christians in Russia (and America) that Putin is a good man, perhaps even a friend of the church, when the reality is the opposite. (Read “How Putin’s Politics Threaten the Church’s Witness,” at Christianity Today,[47] ; “No, Putin Is Not A Defender Of Christian Values,”[48]; “The Point: Christian Persecution In Russia.”[49])

• Putin’ allies (islands and mountains) are currently abandoning him[50]

• His Euphrates is drying up[51]

• His own people are in anguish over his decision[52] [53] [54]

Now, I don’t know how this war will end and what will happen to Russia when it does (also, this is a geopolitical war, not a war of aggression specifically targeting God’s people).  I just know what happens throughout history: oppressive, violent and decadent nations eventually drink the bowl of their own evil. If it doesn’t happen now, it will, given enough time.[55] 

But John’s talking about something bigger. The Babylon/Rome/Egypt that deserves God’s judgment is the whole system. It’s not less than one geographical entity or a particularly evil moment in time, but it’s certainly more than that. It’s everything and everyone aligned against Christ and his people.

John’s trying to communicate the totality of the problem: earthly nations are not the true home of God’s people. They will all eventually wreak some kind of havoc in God’s good world and seek to ruin God’s people through coercive power (Rome) or decadent pleasure (Babylon). The best way for John’s audience to understand this was to run them through all the nations they already knew to be beastly – Egypt, Babylon, Rome - and then universalize it for all believers: “This is how history is going to unfold.”

The fall of Babylon/Rome/Egypt acts as a preview to the next Babylon/Rome Egypt and eventually the fall of the whole thing when the cup of the global iniquity is full.  That sets the stage for the ultimate reversal (Revelation 17 and 18), followed by the creation of the New Heaven and the New Earth.[56] That’s where we are heading next week.

Meanwhile, we hold fast to the testimony of Jesus and keep his commands (Revelation 14:12). We pray. We hope. We endure, longing for the day when all beasts will come to an end, and all dragons will be destroyed, and every knee will bow, and every tongue confess, the Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God (Philippians 2:10-11).

_____________________________________________________________________________

[1] “The temple of the tabernacle of the testimony is the heavenly prototype of the earthly ‘tabernacle of testimony; (Nm 17:7), containing the witness of God's covenant, the tablets of the Law brought down from Mt. Sinai by Moses.” (Orthodox Study Bible) 

[2] See Revelation 4:6

[3] “Recalls the bowls that hold the prayers of God’s people who cry out for vindication (see note on 5:8; cf. 6:9–10; 8:3–5).” (NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible)

[4] “Smoke or thick cloud frequently accompanies God’s presence, especially when He is angry. The associations include Mount Sinai (Ex. 19:9, 16, 18; 20:18) and the visions of Isaiah and Ezekiel (Is. 6:4; Ezek. 1:4; cf. Num. 12:5; Ps. 18:8, 11; 74:1).” (ESV Reformation Study Bible)

[5] The phrase ‘pour out God's Wrath’ in the Old Testament is used to indicate judgment against either covenant breakers or those who have persecuted God's people (Ezekiel 14:19, Jeremiah 10:25, Psalm 69:24, Zephaniah 3:8).[5]

[6] Beale claims, “These plagues are the last in that they complete the thought revealed in the preceding ‘woe’ visions and portray the wrath of God in a more intense manner than the previous visions. The bowls go back in time and explain in greater detail the ‘woes’ throughout the age and culminating in the final judgment… The trumpet visions may be compared to incomplete snapshots and the bowls to fuller photographs.”

[7] This is the approach G.K. Beale takes, and a lot of my commentary comes from his commentary in Revelation: An Introduction

[8] IVP New Testament Commentary

[9] “For example, the second and third cups reveal that the second and third trumpet plagues have increased in extent (8:8–11; 16:3–4); just as the earthquake following the seventh trumpet seems to be that of the seventh cup, only more fully described (11:19; 16:17–20). The parallels between the fourth trumpet and fourth cup are evident (8:12; 16:8), as also between the fifth and sixth trumpets and fifth and sixth cups (9:1–21, 16:10–16).”  New Bible Commentary

[10] Sam Storms notes that John writes Revelation with visions that are temporally parallel. What he means is this: “What can occur in a limited or partial manner at any point in history between the two advents of Christ, can also occur, at any point in history between the two advents of Christ, in a universal or more thorough-going manner.” https://www.samstorms.org/all-articles/post/the-seven-bowls---part-i

[11] All references from Ancient Christian Commentary On Scripture: Revelation, from IVP Press.

[12] The sores are guilt of sin and grief of apostates (Primasius, Caesarius, Andrew of Caesarea) or a version of the Mark (Bede).

[13] According to Beale, “The “sea” as figurative for ungodly humanity is not inconsistent with the other uses of thalassa in the Apocalypse… Clearly the “many waters” of 17:1 are a picture of unbelievers throughout the earth [echoed in 17:15]. Furthermore, Satan’s standing “on the sand of the sea” in 12:18 may refer to his sovereignty over the wicked nations, since in 20:8 ungodly nations are compared to “the sand of the sea.” The sea from which the beast of 13:1 emerges represents the mass of nations. This symbolic understanding of 16:3 is supported by the explicit figurative interpretation of the bloody “rivers and springs of waters” in v 4 as God’s judgment on the impious. The understanding of “blood” in v 3 as representing the suffering of the ungodly is warranted by the immediate context (e.g., vv 2, 8–11) and by the use of “blood” (haima) elsewhere in Revelation to refer, without exception, to the suffering of the wicked or of Christ and the saints (the former in 11:6; 14:20; 19:13; cf. 6:12; 8:7–8; the latter in 1:5; 5:9; 6:10; 12:11; 17:6; 18:24; 19:2).”

[14] NIV Cultural Backgrounds Commentary

[15] The sea turning to blood is based on Exodus 7:17 -21.

[16] The waters are nations (Primasius).

[17] Adam Clarke notes: “It is said that when Tomyris, queen of the Scythians, had vanquished Cyrus, she cut off his head and threw it into a vessel of blood, saying, "Satisfy thyself with blood, for which thou hast thirsted, and for which thy desire has been insatiable." 

[18] “Wisdom of Solomon once again, reflecting on how the plagues were appropriate to the Egyptians' sins: "In return for their foolish and wicked thoughts, which led them astray to worship irrational serpents and worthless animals, you sent upon them a multitude of irrational creatures to punish them, so that they might learn that one is punished by the very things by which one sins" (Wisdom 11:15) How To Read The Bible Book By Book

[19] NIV Cultural Background Study Bible

[20] Isaiah had warned the world centuries before: “I will feed your oppressors with their own flesh, and they will become drunk with their own blood, and all flesh will know that I, the Lord, am your savior.” (Isaiah 49:26)

[21] In 7:16, God promised to protect the redeemed from the sun’s “scorching heat.”

[22] “A form of spiritual judgment against persecutors, which lays the basis for their future final punishment.” Michael Heisser

[23] “"Throne" designated the stronghold of Satan at Pergamum. "The throne of the beast" symbolizes the seat of the world-wide dominion of the great satanic system of idolatry (20:1). This system is plunged into spiritual darkness or disruption, bringing chaos on all who sought life and meaning in it. This bowl plague… strikes at the very seat of satanic authority over the world; and the darkness is moral and spiritual rather than physical (cf. 21:25; 22:5; Jn 8:12; 12:35-36, 46; 1Jn 1:5-7; 2:8-10). (Expositor’s Bible Commentary)

[24]  The darkness of Moses’ plagues could be “felt” (Ex 10:21).

[25] Heisser

[26] “Beale says,“God causes all who follow the beast to have times of anguish and horror when they realize that they are in spiritual darkness, that they are separated from God and that eternal darkness awaits them... The temporal judgment here is a precursor of the final judgment, when unbelievers will be “cast into the outer darkness,” where “there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt. 8:12; 22:13; 25:30).” G.K. Beale, Revelation: An Introduction “

[27] The reference to the Euphrates is a striking parallel to the sixth bowl plague (9:14). The sixth trumpet releases demonic hordes to inflict death on the earth dwellers; the sixth bowl effects the assembling of the rulers (kings) from the East to meet the Lord God Almighty in battle. Perhaps they are, in some sense, the same thing? (Expositors Bible Commentary) “John transforms the Roman fear of Parthian invaders into a universal confrontation. To him, kings and nations and armies are demon possessed, not just individuals. Twice he states that the evil spirits "gathered them" for battle (vv. 14, 16), giving first the time and then the place of the great final conflict.” (How To Read The Bible Verse By Verse) 

[28] Since these demons come from the mouth, deceptive words are implied (contrast the sword from Christ's mouth  = truth. (Expositor’s Bible Commentary)

[29] “Recalls the counterfeit signs by Pharaoh’s magicians (Exod 8:7), as well as Jesus’ warning concerning the “great signs and wonders” by false messiahs and prophets (Matt 24:24).” (NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible)

[30] The last battle on the Great Day of God is used in Joel 2:11 and Zephaniah 1:14 to indicate that the battle is one in which God will decisively judge the unrighteous.

[31] Imagery alluding to the battle between God and Pharaoh in Ex. 15:2. (ESV Reformation Study Bible)

[32] Hyperlink to the letters to the churches in Sardis (3:2–3) and Laodicea (3:17–18). The warning about Jesus' coming "like a thief" implies a need for alertness to the deception of idolatry and disloyalty to Jesus. 

[33] “Magedon can be derived from the secondary sense of the Hebrew verb gadad, which means "to gather in troops or bands." A simple way in Hebrew to make a noun from a verb is to prefix a ma to the verbal form. Thus we have maged, "a place of gathering in troops," and the suffix o, meaning "his," yielding "his place of gathering in troops." This is almost equivalent to the expressions in vv.14, 16—"to gather them [the kings] for the battle on the great day of God Almighty"—and would allude to the prophetic expectation of the gathering of the nations for judgment (Joel 3:2, 12). In any case, the name… describes the final confrontation where God will meet the forces of evil in their final defeat. It does, however, refer to a real point in history and to real persons who will encounter God's just sentence.” (Expositor’s Bible Commentary)

[34] Lots of Old Testament prophecy on this (Zachariah 12 -14; Zephaniah 3:8-20; Ezekiel 38: 2 -9, 39:1- 8. 

[35] Asbury Bible Commentary

[36] Michael Heisser

[37] The Old Testament prophets said Babylon would be leveled by the Persians and never rise as a world power again (Isaiah 13:17 -22; Jeremiah 15:13, 51: 62 -64). Even if someone builds a city now on the site of ancient Babylon, that’s a far cry from it being a global center of world power, commerce, domination, and loyalty. 

[38] 15:5-16:21. Ch. 17 identifies Babylon as the Roman Empire and 18:3 accuses Babylon/Rome of making nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries. Now, in retribution, Rome must drink the cup of God’s wrath. (Asbury Bible Commentary)

[39] 100 lb. hailstones are the completeness of God’s judgment (Primasius, Andrew)

[40] The background to the phrase “Babylon the Great” is Daniel 4:30

[41] When the cities of the nations fall, it is “the strength and confidence of the nations” (Primasius) or “the cessation of the pagan manner of life” at the coming of the Kingdom of God (Andrew).

[42] How To Read The Bible Verse By Verse

[43] Oecumenius, Andrew, and Bede thought the islands were churches and the mountains church leaders. I think their idea was right, but too limited.

[44] Not a bad chart here for symbolism in Revelation. Not perfect (in my opinion), but overall helpful. http://www.revelation-today.com/a1bible%20symbols.htm

[45] Revelation 6:10

[46] Another example: “In 1793 the French king was beheaded by the National Assembly; and great and unparalleled miseries fell upon the French nation, which nearly extinguished all their nobility, and brought about a war that lasted twenty-three years, and nearly ruined that country and all the nations of Europe.” (Adam Clarke)

[47] https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2022/february-web-only/russia-ukraine-orthodox-pope-putin-politics-church-witness.html

[48] https://reason.com/2022/02/25/religious-freedom-russia-putin-isnt-defender-of-christian-values/

[49] https://www.breakpoint.org/the-point-christian-persecution-in-russia/

[50] (“Putin’s allies abandon him over Ukraine invasion,” Axios https://www.axios.com/putin-allies-abandon-russia-ukraine-invasion-2833f0b9-425d-4169-b159-2d2bdd159368.html

[51] “List of sanctions against Russia after Ukraine’s invasion.” https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/25/list-of-sanctions-on-russia-after-invasion

[52]  “Prominent Russians join protests against Ukraine war amid 1,800 arrests.” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/25/prominent-russians-join-protests-against-ukraine-war-amid-1800-arrests-putin

[53] “Russia's richest 22 billionaires have lost $39 billion in one day after the invasion of Ukraine.” https://www.businessinsider.com/russian-billionaires-lose-39-billion-dollars-one-day-ukraine-invasion-2022-2

[54] His own troops are surrendering because they “didn’t know that they were brought to Ukraine to kill Ukrainians.”https://ktla.com/news/nationworld/russian-platoon-surrendered-to-ukrainian-forces-ambassador-says/

[55] Wikipedia has a really excellent entry on “State Collapse.” The cyclical rise and fall of nations has not only robust philosophical support, but continuous historical examples.

[56] Michael Heisser 

An Interlude: Revelation 14

We are getting into the part of Revelation where your eschatology (view of the End Times) is going to have a big impact on how you interpret what is happening. I mentioned in Message+ last week that you are probably not going to hear me land on any one view. I’m going to try to get to the underlying truths that are present no matter the view. 

The Song of the 144,000

Then I looked, and here was the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him were 144,000, who had his name and his Father’s name[1] written on their foreheads.  I also heard a sound coming out of heaven like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder.[2] 

Zion

• In Psalm 76  Zion symbolizes the defeat of God's enemies and the salvation of his people.

• Zion is the entire city of Jerusalem (Isaiah 4:3–4; 52:1–2) or the temple mount, considered the dwelling place of God 

• In Hebrews, Zion is viewed as a heavenly city where God, angels, and the church reside (12:22–23; also 2 Esdras 2:42), and Christ has begun his messianic reign (Psalm 2:6).[3]

• The 144,000 are destined for the celestial city with a wall of 144 cubits (21.16–17),[4]suggesting Zion here could be the church.[5]

 So is it a geographic location, a symbol for heavenly realities, the church? Sure - as long as the conclusion is that the crucified and resurrected Lamb is enthroned, and those who follow him repeat His victory over the dragon and the beast by following the commandments of God and holding fast to the testimony of Jesus 

Now the sound I heard was like that made by harpists playing their harps, and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one was able to learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth.

This is a new song of redemption[6] sung by those who have been redeemed.[7] It is a hymn to the Lamb (Christ) who has inaugurated the new age (see also 21:1, 5), rescuing people by his death so that they could participate in God’s purposes as ‘kings and priests’ in the world. No one else can sing it, not even the 4 living creatures and the elders: they aren’t human beings who have experienced the glorious redemption Jesus provides.  

[The 144,000] are the ones who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These were redeemed from humanity as firstfruits to God and to the Lamb, and no lie was found on their lips; they are blameless.[8] 

The 144,000

Numbers in Revelation are weighed rather than counted; I suspect a lot of descriptions are the same – they should be treated as symbols rather than literal descriptions. Revelation is apocalyptic literature, and pretty much everything is an icon we click to take us to a deeper reality. 

• The 144,000 males were first introduced in Revelation 7:4 as "sons of Israel."[9]  We talked then about it being a census for the mustering of an army. A battle is going on in Revelation; these are the people who signed up.

• Taken literally, it’s 144,000 male virgins. So the ability to follow the Lamb wherever he goes would be limited to 144,000 men who have not had sex.  Since the Bible nowhere else suggests that having sex ruins the holiness of a person,[10] I’m going to opt for seeing this as a symbolic group. What does virginity symbolize?

• The 7 churches were not to cheat with Jezebel or "Babylon the Great, the Mother of Prostitutes" (17:5), who "made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries"(14:8; compare 17:1-6). They have not defiled themselves through spiritual fornication. Paul once wrote, "I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him" (2 Corinthians 11:2).

• Communities are personified as women in Revelation: the church is a mother (chap. 12), Babylon is a prostitute (chap. 17), the church is a bride (chap. 21). Personifying redeemed individuals as male and redeemed communities as female says nothing about their actual gender. [11]

 So this group should be weighed. It’s a group of faithful followers of Jesus[12] who are the firstfruits…..

Firstfruits

“Firstfruits” point toward the much greater harvest to come (think of the first portions of the harvest given as an offering to God in Exodus 23:16 and Nehemiah 10:35, for example. A couple examples:

• Paul used ‘firstfruits’ to describe Israel as the spiritual root of the church (Rom. 11:16), as did James (1:18) and Jeremiah (2:3)[13] 

• Paul described his first converts in Asia and Achaia as the ‘firstfruits’ (Romans 16:5; 1 Corinthians 16:15)

• James said that God “gave us birth by the word of truth so that we would be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” (James 1:18)

• “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep… For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.  But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.” (1 Cor. 5: 20-23) 

 John presents the 144,000 as the first installment of redeemed humanity,[14] along with the "great multitude that no one could count" from 7:9-17.[15]  This is sometimes seen as those redeemed from Israel (the faithful remnant[16]), and then the multitude of Gentile converts. However you want to parse that out, it’s faithful followers of Jesus whose entrance into heaven is the beginning of a much greater harvest.

So far…. Jesus is enthroned; the faithful, the firstfruits of the redeemed, are having a glorious time. 

Three Angels and Three Messages

Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead, and he had an eternal gospel[17] to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language, and people.  He declared in a loud voice: “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has arrived, and worship the one who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water!” 

A second angel followed the first, declaring: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great city![18] She made all the nations drink of the wine of her immoral passion.” 

 A third angel followed the first two, declaring in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and takes the mark on his forehead or his hand, that person will also drink of the wine of God’s anger that has been mixed undiluted in the cup of his wrath, and he will be tortured with fire and sulfur in front of the holy angels and in front of the Lamb.[19]   

And the smoke[20] from their torture will go up forever and ever, and those who worship the beast and his image will have no rest day or night, along with anyone who receives the mark of his name.” 

This requires  the steadfast endurance of the saints—those who obey God’s commandments and hold to their faith in Jesus.  Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: ‘Blessed are the dead, those who die in the Lord from this moment on!’” Yes,” says the Spirit, “so they can rest from their hard work, because their deeds will follow them.”

Then I looked, and a white cloud appeared, and seated on the cloud was one like a son of man! [21] He had a golden crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. Then another angel came out of the temple, shouting in a loud voice to the one seated on the cloud, “Use your sickle and start to reap, because the time to reap has come, since the earth’s harvest is ripe!” So the one seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped.

 Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle.  Another angel, who was in charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to the angel who had the sharp sickle, “Use your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes off the vine of the earth, because its grapes are now ripe.” 

So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and gathered the grapes from the vineyard of the earth and tossed them into the great winepress of the wrath of God.[22]  Then the winepress was stomped outside the city, and blood poured out of the winepress up to the height of horses’ bridles for a distance of almost 200 miles.[23]

Judgment

Those who drink Babylon's wine cup of idolatry will eventually drink the cup of God’s wrath.[24] Considering that during this time God’s people are called to “patient endurance,” and that later we will see this cup is filled with the blood of the martyrs, I tend to see the primary (though not only) reason for God’s anger as the killing of his children.[25]  Those who poured out the blood of His people will reap what they have sown; [26] “Those who live by the sword will die by the sword.”[27] What was planted will be harvested. 

Apparently – since this cup is unmixed - the cup of God’s wrath is usually diluted. I think (?) this means that throughout human history, God has diluted the full strength of judgment. He has not intervened as maximally as He justly could have: 

• Egypt (though idolatrous) could have avoided God’s anger and carried on if they hadn’t enslaved God’s people. 

• God could have destroyed violent Ninevah instead of warning them about the upcoming punishment for their violence.

• The nations Israel fought in Canaan had to have “their cups full” of evil doing before God brought judgment to them. 

Historically, God let cups get pretty full before people drank the wine of their own brewing. Eventually, “the time has come to destroy those who destroy the earth” (Revelation 11:18). It’s grim. 

“thoroughly corrupt, totally degenerate; waste away by the decaying influence of moral (spiritual) impurity; utterly corrupt; becoming morally depraved all the way through’ (‘utterly decayed’).”  (HELPS Word Studies)

 As they did unto others, it will be done unto them. They corrupted others; they encouraged them toward depravity; they decayed them. God will make Babylon drink her own mixture, experienced as the wine of his wrath in retribution for her immoral deeds.[28]  [29] [30]  One of the most sobering things God can do is “give them over to themselves” (Romans 1).[31] We’ll see this later when the nations mourn that Babylon the Great has fallen even while they are the one tearing her apart.  

The wording of ‘those who worship the beast’ suggests not only that they worship the beast, but they “persist in worshipping him, even to the end. This characteristic is so strongly marked that they are here represented as keeping it even after their death."[32] Sometimes we get what we want - and it’s a terrible thing.[33] 

[Babylon’s] sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes. Give back to her as she has given; pay her back double for what she has done. Pour her a double portion from her own cup... God has judged her with the judgment she imposed on you.” (Revelation 18:5-6; 20)”[34]

Now, to the bloody imagery. This was how people of that time consistently described times of judgment and death.

• Ancient descriptions of wars spoke of rivers flowing with blood. 

• Blood obstructed ships; trees dripped with gore dropped on them when satiated birds grew weary of feasting on corpses. 

•  In 1Enoch, sinners’ blood covers chariots; horses walk up to their chests in the blood. 

•  rabbis lamented horses drowning in blood and blood rolling huge boulders 40 miles out to the sea.[35] 

This passage says blood will stretch out for 200 miles - on a flat plain. It’s clearly not literal.  It is, however, devastating and final.

Fire and Smoke[36]

Throughout Revelation, fire has been a symbol of judgment: 1:14, 2:18, 3:18, 4:3, 8:5, 15:2, 19:12.[37]  The language is drawn from the description of the overthrow of the cities of the plain under the rain of brimstone and fire; cf. Gen. 19:24, 28; Isa. 34:9 f.; Jude 7.[38]  It also draws from Isaiah 34:9-10, the judgment of Edom:

Edom’s… dust will turn to brimstone, and the land will ignite with burning pitch. Edom’s fiery judgment will burn day and night for all time; the smoke from it will ascend forever.[39] For generations to come it will be a wasteland, and no person will make it their home ever again…When God measures the land, desolation will be its width and chaos will mark its length. (Isaiah 34)

Notice what the fire does and for what the smoke stands as a memorial: utter desolation and chaos (or emptiness, as some translations say). And this note of desolation, chaos and emptiness brings us to our final point.  

Rest vs. Restlessness (for their deeds will follow them)

In Revelation 6:11, the souls of the martyrs were told to "wait" (literally "rest") until their number was complete. In both passages those who die in Christ are said to be at rest, in contrast to the worshipers of the beast, for whom "there is no rest day or night" forever (14:11).[40] “Those who worship the beast and his image….have no rest day and night” is an almost verbatim repetition of how the cherubim worship God in heaven.[41]

While the Bible uses vivid imagery to describe hell as a place you don’t want to go and heaven as a place you do, the role of rest stands out to me in this particular passage. The Bible is thick with the discussion of rest.

•  Ex. 33:14 And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

• Jeremiah 6:16  “Thus says the Lord: ‘Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.’”

• Psalm 116:7  “Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.”

• Jer. 31:25  “I will satisfy the weary soul, and every languishing soul I will replenish.”

• Matthew 11:28-29 “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.[42] Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

• Matthew 12:43; Luke 11:24 “When an unclean spirit comes out of a man, it passes through arid places seeking rest[43] and does not find it.”

• 1 Corinthians 16: 17-18 “I rejoice at the coming of [a few dudes]; they have made up for your absence, for they have refreshed[44] my spirit and yours.”

• Philemon 1:7; 20  “Your love has given me much joy and comfort, my brother, for your kindness has often refreshed[45] the hearts of God’s people... Yes, brother, let me have some benefit and joy from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ.”

• Hebrews 4:9-11  “There still remains a place of rest, a true Sabbath, for the people of God because those who enter into salvation’s rest lay down their labors in the same way that God entered into a Sabbath rest from His. So let us move forward to enter this rest, so that none of us fall into the kind of faithless disobedience that prevented them from entering.”

 If the righteous rest from their hard work because their deeds will follow them, then the unrighteous can’t rest, because their deeds have followed them also. 

“But the wicked are like the storm-tossed sea, for it cannot be still, and its waves churn up mire and muck.” (Isaiah 57:20)

What if, in the next life, we have chosen a path to a place where our wants and needs and desires are never satisfied? What if we can never rest?  

• That affirmation we crave? Never happens. 

• That sense of self-worth? Eternally elusive. 

• The pleasure of actually feeling good enough? Never felt. 

• Rest from needing to earn the love or admiration of others? Failure after failure. 

• The desire to be seen and known? Not going to happen in a world of the relationally blind. 

• Moments of tranquility and peace? Ever elusive. 

• Being loved? Never. 

• The relentless, addictive nature of sin? Unrelenting. 

• The gnawing sense that there is another person who can make me happier than the one I am with, another job that will fulfill me, another house in which I will be happy, another vacation that will finally relax me…. “How much money does it take to make a man happy? Just one more dollar.” — John D. Rockefeller.

• The despair of hopelessness? Every present. 

• Every increasing cravings with ever diminishing returns? Constant.[46]

“Our heart is restless until it find its rest in thee.” – Augustine

That is in sharp contrast with those who have rest. The deeds that followed them were that they kept God’s commandments and clung to the testimony of Jesus.  There is a Someone standing between us and that curse. The trajectory of a life that finds its fulfillment in Christ in the end has already begun.  We find rest now when… 

• we accept that Jesus affirms our status as image bearers and children with dignity and worth. We don’t have to earn that; God has given us that

• we realize Jesus grounds our identity in Him as redeemed and made holy when Jesus gave us love simply because He loved us; we don’t have to be good enough to be loved; we are loved because God is good enough to love even us. 

• we accept that Jesus fully know us and fully loves us; nothing is hidden, yet grace is still offered

• we experience the peace of God keeping our hearts and minds in the storms of life; they may be hard, but we are never alone 

• we discover that Jesus is enough to satisfy us in the midst of our lack – his grace is sufficient for us even when stuff around us crumbles

• the light of the empty grave illuminates the darkness at the end of our despairing tunnels. 

 There will be a day – the ‘not yet’ -  when everything that we experienced in part we will experience in whole as we drink fully from the cup of the love of Jesus.  

 _______________________________________________________________________________

[1] The names written on the foreheads fulfills the promise given to the victors (3:12). 

[2] The sounds of judgment. We’ve heard this sound several times already in Revelation.

[3] Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary of the New Testament

[4] NRSV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible

[5] Orthodox Study Bible

[6] This song was sung in Chapter 5 also.

[7] Zondervan Bible Commentary (One Volume)

[8] In contrast to the Beast and those who follow it, who spew lies.

[9] Well, not Dan, but Levi steps in to take Dan’s place. It’s complicated.

[10] See Song of Songs. Sex was God’s idea. He intends for it to be a wondrous thing within His design.  

[11] IVP New Testament Commentary Series

[12] The Lamb was first seen as if "slain" or "slaughtered" (5:6), and to follow the Lamb wherever he goes is to be "slain" as he was and for his sake (6:9), [12] suggesting the 144,000 are martyrs (6:11). This seems to suggest (?) the song may be even more specific than simply the song of redeemed: it may be that those who have given their lives for the sake of their faith have had such a terrible experience on earth transformed into a uniquely glorious experience in heaven. 

[13] Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary of the New Testament

[14] Zondervan Bible Commentary (One Volume)

[15] IVP New Testament Commentary Series

[16] Isaiah 10:20, Jeremiah 31:7, Micah 2:12 and Zephaniah 3:13

[17] Reminder: it was said that Augustus “was the beginning for the world of the good tidings (euangeliōn; gospel) that came by reason of him.” This directly challenges that claim notion: it is God who is the source of euangelion,not the emperor. The angel flying in mid-heaven seems to correspond with Matthew 24:14: “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.” Expositor's Bible Commentary (Abridged Edition): New Testament

[18] “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great…” is from Isaiah 21:9, which adds, “and all the carved images of her gods [God] has shattered to the ground.” In Daniel 2, the kingdom made without hands is the kingdom of God that shatters the other kingdoms. This was inaugurated by Jesus. Its inevitable demise is now in progress. Again, this is the “already, but not yet” sort of thing that you see going on in the New Testament. (Michael Heisser)

[19] This suggests this is still part of temporal judgment rather than eternal. There is no other indication in Scripture that those in eternity with Jesus are aware of what is happening to those who are not. 

[20] In Chapter 7, the smoke is “the prayers of the saints.”  In Chapter 15, the temple is filled with the smoke of God’s glory and power. There is something about the smoke that is an icon for a message ‘behind’ the smoke. 

[21] “The language is derived from Dan. 7:13 (and Rev. 1:13).

[22] Wine was sometimes called the “blood of grapes” (Gen 49.11) NRSV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible

[23] Writing against the background of America's own Civil War bloodbath, Julia Ward Howe captured something of the spirit of this graphic vision in her famous lines: “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; He has loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword; His truth is marching on.” IVP New Testament Commentary Series

[24] Expositor's Bible Commentary (Abridged Edition): New Testament

[25] This would correlate with the Horsemen as being primarily (though not only) about what Christians will experience in terms of persecution.

[26] There is an ironic parallel between Christ (through his angels) treading the bloody winepress of God's wrath here, and Christ enduring God's wrath against sin on the cross by shedding his own blood. The further irony that both this judgment and the judgment of sin at Jesus' crucifixion took place outside the city (see Hebrews 13:12 and perhaps Mt 21:39) may well be intentional. IVP New Testament Commentary Series

[27] Matthew 26:52

[28] Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary of the New Testament

[29] Joel located this final judgment in the valley of Jehoshaphat (Joel 3:2), or Hinnom, which lies south of Jerusalem. This was the traditional valley of judgment in the Old Testament (Jer. 7:31–32; 19:5–6) that was the model for Gehenna seen in Jewish intertestamental literature (cf. 2 Esdras 7:36) and the New Testament (Matt. 5:22). Later traditions believed it to be the valley as the Kidron, east of Jerusalem. John places the location outside of the city of Babylon: basically, outside of the secular city in a broader sense. Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary of the New Testament

[30] Yet the remark that the vintage was trodden outside the city may remind us of one who absorbed in His own person the judgment due to mankind, and did so outside the city (cf. Jn 19:20; Heb. 13:12)Zondervan Bible Commentary (One Volume)

[31] “Revelation does not contain two competing Christologies and theologies—one of power and one of weakness—symbolized by the Lion and the Lamb, respectively. Revelation presents Christ as the Lion who reigns as the Lamb, not in spite of being the Lamb. This means also that Revelation presents God as the one who reigns through the Lamb, not in spite of the Lamb. All of this means that judgment by God/Christ in Revelation must be an expression of divine identity that is not in conflict with Lamb power. The judgment of the world originates in its failure to believe and be faithful to this God. When it creates its own deities, it suffers the natural consequences of deifying the non-divine. In this sense, judgment proceeds from the throne of God and from the Lamb (6:16–17) because the rejection of the divine gift of life carries with it inherent deadly consequences…when humans reject Lamb power they experience it as imperial disaster—disordered desire, death, and destruction. The first tidal wave of violent imagery expresses the apocalyptic insight that the world’s suffering is allowed by God, but is more fundamentally a result of sin. We would of course be misguided not to see these also as divine punishment, similar to the snowball effect of sin unleashed in the world according to Paul in Rom 1:18—32. The question “human sin or divine punishment?” presupposes a false dichotomy and asks for an unnecessary choice; the answer is of course, “both.” (From Reading Revelation Responsibly)

[32] Pulpit Commentary, https://biblehub.com/commentaries/revelation/14-11.htm. Check out C.S. Lewis’s book The Great Divorce for a novelized version of this idea.

[33] We may sow the wind, but who can stand the whirlwind? See Hosea 8:7

[34] “Sometimes, God’s judgment in Revelation takes the form of imperial practices themselves, or the consequences of such practices. War, famine, pestilence, death, injustice in the marketplace, and rebellion are all…human evils rather than cosmic events… We would be misguided not to see these also as divine punishment, similar to the snowball effect of sin unleashed in the world according to Paul in Rom 1:18-32. The question “human sin or divine punishment?” presupposes a false dichotomy and asks for an unnecessary choice; the answer is of course, ‘both.’” Michael Gorman, Reading Revelation Responsibly

[35] NRSV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible

[36] Smoke shows up everywhere: there are constantly smoky things rising to God. 

·      Smoke means the glory (greatness) of God (Revelation 15:8).

·      The smoke of the incense purified the prayers of the saints, ((Revelation 8:4)

·      A symbol of destruction (Revelation 9)

·      A sign of spiritual pollution (Revelation 9)

[37]  “The heads of the horses looked like lions’ heads, and fire, smoke, and sulfur came out of their mouths. A third of humanity was killed by these three plagues, that is, by the fire, the smoke, and the sulfur that came out of their mouths.” (Revelation 8) 

[38] Zondervan Bible Commentary (One Volume)

[39] In the context of Edom, ‘forever’ either means ‘people will never forget this’ or ‘it stretched so high into the sky it looked like it went on forever.” Or both. 

[40] IVP New Testament Commentary Series

[41] Revelation (Beale)

[42] HELPS Word-studies: 372 anápausis – inner rest (tranquility). “Rest, cessation from labor, refreshment.” 

[43] Ibid

[44] HELPS Word-studies 373  completing a process…" properly, to give (experience) rest after the needed task is completed; to pause (rest) "after precious toil and care."

[45] Ibid

[46] HT C.S. Lewis for that phrase

THE MARKS OF THE BEAST AND THE LAMB (Revelation 13)

 I saw a beast with ten horns and seven heads rising out of the blackness of the sea. On its horns hung ten crowns, and on its heads were inscribed blasphemous names.  This beast was like a leopard, its feet were like the claws of a bear, and its mouth was like the jaws of a lion.[1] 

The dragon bestowed it with his power and his throne and his great authority.  One of the beast’s heads appeared to have suffered a fatal blow,[2] but its mortal wound had somehow been healed. Amazed at the miracle and its power, all the earth followed the beast. 

  People worshiped the dragon because he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast because of its power. The Earth-dwellers said, “Who can like unto the beast?[3] Who can fight against it? And the beast was given a mouth that bellowed arrogant boasts and uttered great blasphemies, and it was permitted to do what it willed for 42 months.[4]  

 Its mouth opened with a stream of insults against God, blaspheming His name, cursing His dwelling and those who live in heaven. Also it received permission to declare war against the saints and conquer them. Not a single nation, people, language, or ethnicity could escape its dominion. 

 The inhabitants of the earth will worship it, that is, all those whose names have not been recorded before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slaughtered. Let the person who is able to hear, listen carefully. “If someone is destined for captivity, a captive he will be. If someone is destined [to die] by the sword, by the sword he will die.”[5]

The beast from the sea:

•  Its body is an amalgamation of Daniel 7's beastly empires. It’s an “it”, a political/economic/religious power (1Jn 2:18, 22; 4:3).[6]  

•  It brings of persecution, deception, and idolatry to the entire world. The blasphemous names remind us of the titles of the emperors (e.g., "Savior" and "Lord"), or of those at Smyrna who had spoken against the lawful messianic claims of Jesus.[7]

• Its seven heads and ten horns (13:1) indicate the vastness of its totalitarian empire/culture with rulers and kings (17:9, 12).[8]

Eugene Boring writes:

[T]he beast is not merely “Rome” . . . It is the inhuman, anti-human arrogance of empire which has come to expression in Rome—but not only there . . . All who support the cultural religion, in or out of church, however Lamb-like they may appear, are agents of the beast. All propaganda that entices humanity to idolize human empire is an expression of this beastly power that wants to appear Lamb-like.”

The only sufficient conqueror of the beast and the dragon is the slain Lamb we met in chapters 4-5, together with his faithful saints (12:11; 19:19-21). The mortal wound of the beast[9] is the same thing that toppled the dragon: Jesus' crucifixion, resurrection, and exaltation (1:5; 5:9; 12:11; cf. Lk 10:17-24; 11:14-22; Jn 12:31-33; Col 2:15; also Ge 3:13ff.). 

While the dragon was cast out of heaven (D Day), he still has time and ability to wage war against followers of Jesus until V Day.  Similarly, the beastly empires have been dealt a fatal blow by the cross of Christ, but they still have time, ability and permission to wage war against the saints.  

As I watched, I saw a second beast, this one rising up from the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it was speaking with the voice of a dragon. This earth-beast exercises all of the authority given to it by the first beast, and it forces the earth and all its inhabitants to bow down and worship the first beast, whose mortal wound had been healed.  

And the earth-beast performs fantastic miracles. Like Elijah on Mount Carmel, it even causes fire to blaze down from heaven to earth for all to see. Since it is allowed to perform these miracles in the presence of the first beast, the earth-beast deceives the inhabitants of the earth, commanding them to make an image of the first beast that had survived the mortal wound inflicted by the sword.[10] 

  And the earth-beast was granted permission to breathe into the image and to animate it so that it could even speak. It decreed that those who refuse to worship the image of the first beast must be killed, and the earth-beast mandates that all humans must carry a mark on their right hands or foreheads: both great and small, both rich and poor, both free and slave. 

Those who do not carry this mark, that is, those who do not have the name of the first beast or the number representing its name inscribed on them, are not allowed to sell their wares or buy in the market. Here is divine wisdom: let anyone who understands these mysteries figure out the number of the beast because it is the number of a person. Its number is 666.

A second beast promotes worship of/allegiance to the beast.  The empire appears amazing: it becomes a source of hope; the empire dictates priorities; the empire establishes what the good life is and how it ought to be lived. This second beast is the propaganda machine (media, entertainment, education, politicians, industry heads, civic organizations… anything that promotes the agenda of the Empire.) 

It has a lamb-like appearance and the signs deceive people into false worship.[11] There’s at least a part of the false prophet/second beast that will look like home to Christians. It will be easy to compromise: “Yeah, but…look at those lamb-like horns!! I know, I know, it says dragony things, but…look at those little lamb horns!” 

John’s concern is theological more than political,[12] even thought the two are deeply intertwined. The big question is what kind of worshipful allegiance “marks” you. [13] For 2,000 years, there has been a danger that religious or political leaders will blend the Empire and the Cross into a civil religion that confuses allegiance to the state with allegiance to the Cross.[14]

* * * * * * * * * *

 THE BEAST/THE ANTICHRIST

A connection if often (though not always) made between the beast and other biblical references to the ‘anti-christ,’ though that term is not found in Revelation (it describes false teachers in 1 and 2 John). 

• The amalgamation of all the beastly images in Daniel identify an empire(s) that embodies the worst of all Israel’s enemies.

• The 2nd beast, the false prophet, is all the structures and systems of cultural propaganda. 

So far, this is about the evil in systems and worldviews. But Paul talked about a “Man of Lawlessness” (in 2 Thessalonians), and passages in Daniel talk about future kings, as if we ought to be watching out for a particular person or persons, an individual in whom this all comes together.

We have clearly seen the apocalyptic image of empires unfold throughout world history, though that certainly leaves room for a final empire that surpasses them all. Speculation swirls around the identity of a final global empire or global leader that will usher in the end of history.[15]

I want to offer some cautions about speculation.[16]

Have you seen pictures where things in the foreground are clear, while things in the background are blurry? Revelation intends to put Jesus in the foreground. Nothing else is intended to become a fixation. The point of Revelation is that even in the face of beasts and dragons, the outcome of the battle has already been decided because of the Lamb who was slain.  That’s the idea. We don’t want to overly focus on things John leaves blurry or make blurry those things on which John wants us to keep our focus. 

The second part of the caution comes from the track record of the church trying to decipher blurry things.  

The identity of the Beast/Antichrist has often reflected current fears points of tension.[17]

• To the early church, it was Roman rulers.[18]

• Hippolytus and Irenaeus thought it would be a Jewish false messiah, as did Origen, Chrysostom, Jerome, and likely Augustine.[19]

• Protestant Reformers picked the Popes or the Catholic church.[20]

• American colonists chose King George III.

• Northerners saw the Antichrist in the slave-holding South, and Southerners in the abolitionists.

• It was Hitler in World War II, and Mussolini when facism rose.

• Cold War Christians suspected the Soviet Union/leaders. 

• Post-9/11, the Muslim world has become a favorite source (or someone promoting “Chrislam,” a charge leveled against Rick Warren that put him on the anti-christ list.[21]

• The leader of the Russian Orthodox Church recently warned the antichrist was whoever was behind the internet.[22]

• The other party’s president has always been a popular one here in the U.S. Here’s how this works with our last 3 presidents.

IS BARACK OBAMA THE ANTICHRIST?[23]

• 6+6+6  Barack Hussein Obama (if you move the ‘n’ to join ‘Obama’, I guess); The day after he was elected, the winning Pick Three in his home zip code (60606) was 666.  6x6x6 = 216, and his birthday is the 216th day of the year; his birthplace, Honolulu, is at longitude 21.6. 

•  Luke 10:18 says, “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lighting.” Since the Hebrew for “lighting” sounds like ‘Barack’, and the heights from which he falls sounds like ‘Obama’ in Hebrew, that verse should read, “I saw Satan like Barack Obama.” 

IS DONALD TRUMP THE ANTICHRIST?[24]

• The Trumps purchased 666 Fifth Avenue; Trump Tower is 666 feet tall; Trump's name equates to 666 in Jewish gematria, Trump won in 2016:  = 666+666+666+6+6+6.

• The Antichrist will come from among 7 tall “hills” that each act as a “head.” (Revelation 13:1, Ch. 17) #7trumptowers

• The Antichrist will give speeches where he speaks “great things” and then about things that are even “greater.” (Daniel 7:20) #maga

• The Antichrist will feud with the southern border nation. (Dan. 11:25)

• The Antichrist will survive a fatal wound (Revelation 13:3) #COVID-19 or impeachment

• Followers will wear a sign of their allegiance to him on their foreheads. (Revelation 13) #baseball caps

 IS JOE BIDEN THE ANTICHRIST?

Biden hasn't gotten as much press on this issue; there seems to be a general perception that an antichrist would have a much more commanding presence. Still, a very popular youtube presentation notes:

• Joe Biden in Hebrew is “Alas, judgment.”

• One kind of gematria comes up with 52, equal to Elijah (who announces the Messiah) and another kind with 24, making him comparable to David. The conclusion? Biden is going to play a role in the coming of the false Messiah. #notsurehowthosedotsgotconnected

This is not helpful or healthy. Fear-inducing speculation at times approaching slander is not what John intended to inspire with Revelation, which was intended to be “a revelation of Jesus Christ.” Neither the dragon nor the beast are the stars of the show. They shouldn’t be the focus of our obsessions.[25]

What would identifying them inspire us to do? Step up our spiritual game? Increase our fervor for those far from Christ? Increase our prayer life? Press us more deeply into the Word? Order our thoughts and steps more righteously? If all that should happen if we can identify the antichrist, why isn’t that happening now? John told us in his letters they  were already in the church. 

In the story of the Rich Man and Abraham[26], the rich man suffering in the afterlife begs Abraham to send a warning word to his relatives so they will change their ways. Abraham responds, “Moses and the Prophets warned them.” The Rich Man says that if someone returned from the dead and warned them, then they would listen. Moses’ response? “‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”

I wonder if we have a desire to precisely identify the Beast/Antichrist because we believe that will focus us and get our house in order. Surely when the stakes are that high, we will live powerfully and righteously. 

I think we may be fooling ourselves. The stakes are already high. If we refuse to let that move us now, I am not so sure it would move us then.

* * * * * * * * * *

THE MARK OF THE BEAST (AND OF THE LAMB)

God once put a Name on the Israelites: [27]

The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:  ‘The Lord bless you and keep you;  the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;  the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”’  “So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.” (Numbers 26: 22-27)

It wasn’t literally inscribed; they were spiritually marked.[28] It represents ownership and loyalty.[29]  You see the equivalent for followers of the Lamb in the verses immediately following Revelation 13: 

Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads… They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among mankind and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb.”  (Rev. 14:1-4)

[30] Think of the “forehead” as the ideological commitment of the mind and the “hand” the practical outworking of that commitment.[31] The mark is a parody of the seal received by the 144,000. 

666

Every theory about 666 has a weakness.

• Gematria[32] identifies all kinds of people (usually Nero or Domitian), especially if you use variant spellings of their names. It can be used to identify just about anybody or anything if you work it right. 

• Writing less than one hundred years after John, Irenaeus had no idea to whom John was referring.[33] He didn’t even mention Nero as an option.[34] If anything, he was partial for the gematria favoring “titan,” semi-divine and kingly beings associated with Babylon that often represented power and oppression.[35]

• 666 is probably best understood as a parody of perfection, which would be 777.[36] It’s an unholy trinity of evil or the imitation or mockery of God rather than a cipher of a name.[37]

Like looking for the antichrist or predicting the end of the world, I’ve lived through a number of ideas already for the ‘mark’, none of which panned out: Social Security Numbers; Credit Cards;  Bar Codes, Taxes[38]

The mark is about ultimate allegiance, about ownership of our heart. It will be the thing(s) that mark us as an anti-Christ ambassador in the world. Could it be physical, like the paper received from the burning of incense to the emperor in order to do business in the 1st century? Sure. But note when John wrote in his letters of the antichrists in the church, and when he wrote of the synagogue and throne of Satan in the churches in Revelation, he reference no mark. It was association, allegiance, worship. 

When you compare those passages where the mark of the beast is discussed with passages like Rev. 7 and 14, it is plausible to think that the mark of the beast is most likely a sign that identifies you as something you already are… a person of the dragon.

 I say this because when you read Rev. 7:1-8 and 14:1 (where the mark of the Lamb is discussed), you’ll notice it is a mark given to God’s people, God’s servants, in order to identify them as such and, of course, to protect them. They get the mark of the Lamb because they are already united with the Lamb.[39]

It’s about who you are united with heart, soul, mind and strength.  

* * * * * * * * * *

Fortunately, Revelation has already told us how to live as people marked by The Lamb: 

• Hold fast to the testimony of Jesus (salvation/allegiance)

• Keep the commandments of God (discipleship/obedience)

• Follow the Lamb wherever He goes (endurance/faithfulness)

If you live this way, you need not need live in fear of any kind of mark or any kind of person or institution that is anti-Christ. This is how followers of the Lamb overcome all beasts and dragons.

 This is the Path of the Sealed[40] that will lead us safely home. 

_____________________________________________________________________________
[1] Daniel 7 references four beastly empires: Babylon, Medea, Persia, and Greece.  

#1 was like a lion with eagle’s wings; #2 was like a bear with three tusks ; #3 was like a leopard with four wings and four heads; #4 was strong and had iron teeth for devouring and crushing its victims. This beast (Greece) has ten horns, symbols of rulers who governed for Alexander the Great after his death. John sees a single beast that combines the characteristics of Daniel’s beasts.  #legoshakeup in Revelation 13. John’s readers would have recalled what Daniel had to say about beastly empires and their leaders.  

[2] The death/resurrection of one of the heads parodies that of the Lamb (5:6) and the two witnesses (11:7–11). Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary of the New Testament

[3] “Who is like the beast?” is an allusion to Michael the Archangel, whose name means “Who is like God?” (Orthodox Study Bible)

[4] The beast’s reign is forty-two months, the same period the Gentiles are given to trample the holy city (11:2). This time frame is used exclusively for the period in which God’s enemies persecute and oppress his people. The beast’s persecution is a trampling on God’s temple, which is to be identified as his people and represented by the two witnesses. Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary of the New Testament

[5] The pronouncement of the unidentified speaker—“If anyone is to go into captivity .... If anyone is to be killed with the sword”—is drawn from a dirge in which God described the judgment of disobedient Judah at the hands of the Babylonians (Jer. 15:2; cf. 43:11). Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary of the New Testament

[6] Expositor's Bible Commentary (Abridged Edition): New Testament

[7] Expositor's Bible Commentary (Abridged Edition): New Testament

[8] The heads and horns seem to have correlation with the world at that time. Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary of the New Testament

[9] Expositor's Bible Commentary (Abridged Edition): New Testament

[10] Even as the two witnesses brought forth fire in the spirit of Elijah (see comments on 11:5), the second beast likewise produces fire. This power encounter is reminiscent of Moses’ confrontation with the Egyptian magicians (Ex. 7:10–8:19). Trickery was commonly practiced by sorcerers in antiquity, and special-effects machines producing thunder and lightning were used in theatrical productions. In fact, the emperor Gaius had a device “by which he gave answering peals when it thundered and sent return flashes when it lightened.” Yet John seems to regard this supernatural activity as genuine, although its source is demonic and not divine. Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary of the New Testament

[11] Michael Gorman, Reading Revelation Responsibly

[12] Expositor's Bible Commentary (Abridged Edition): New Testament

[13] In John's description of the beast, there are numerous parallels with Jesus that should alert us to the fact that John is seeking to establish, not a historical identification, but a theological characterization: 

·       Both wielded swords (2:12, 16; 13:10)

·       both had followers on whose foreheads were inscribed their names (13:16-14:1)

·       both had horns (5:6; 13:1)

·       both were slain (5:12; 13:3, 8)

·       both had arisen to new life and authority (1:18; 11:15-16; 13:3-4)

·       and both were given (by different authorities) power over every nation, tribe, people, and tongue, and over the kings of the earth (1:5; 7:9; 13:7; 17:12). Expositor's Bible Commentary (Abridged Edition): New Testament

[14] This requires several myths to be treated as if they were true.

a.   a “myth of righteousness” that  sets values of the Empire on par with the values of the Kingdom (in which both are seen as part of the euangelion, the good news of God’s plan for the world).

b.   a “myth of greatness” as defined by the standards of Babylon and Rome: financial, political, and/or military strength as the markers of success. 

c.   a “myth of innocence” that sees the power, prosperity, and peace of the (apparently) righteous and great Empire as achieved by and sustained by thoroughly righteous means and people. 

d.   a “myth of worthiness” that demands an appreciation of and allegiance to the state as a profoundly moral responsibility for Christians. (from Reading Revelation Responsibly)

[15] “Satan does not know when Jesus will return (Mark 13:30) and must always have an antichrist in waiting. Because neither we nor Satan know the time of the end, all such antichrists are experienced as antichrists, but what will finally indicate that we have witnessed the final Antichrist will be Jesus’ return to wipe him out.” https://zondervanacademic.com/blog/what-is-the-mark-of-the-beast

[16] “As always in the area of prophecy, there are a variety of views. The older historicist approach usually identified the beast (“out of the sea”) as the Roman emperor, while the second beast (“out of the land”) of Revelation 13, together with the false prophet of that chapter, were associated with the papacy. The man of sin was also the pope, for he sat in the temple (the church) and exalted himself. Modern futurism links the man of sin and the beast, and says that this is a man who will arise in the future just before Christ returns. He will be the false Christ, the antichrist, and will unite the world in a new tower of Babel against the remnant of the faithful. Preterists usually see 666 as a symbol for the name “Nero Caesar,” and thus they identify the beast as Nero, while the second beast and false prophet are identified with the Sanhedrin and Judaizers who sought to stamp out the early church. The man of sin is taken by some to be Nero, and by others identified as the high priest, who literally sat in the temple and opposed Christ. Modern futurism tends to have a very political understanding of this figure. Beast/antichrist/man of sin is a world leader, not an ecclesiastical opponent of the faithful. The older views (preterist and historicist) focus attention more on the church. The greatest enemies of the faith, they say, are in the church, as the serpent was in the Garden.” https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/who-is-the-antichrist

[17] “How The Antichrist Reflects An Era’s Anxiety.” https://www.christiancentury.org/article/2013-02/how-antichrist-reflects-eras-anxieties

[18] “Thomas Aquinas points out in his Summa Theologiae that the early Christians thought they were living in the “end times” and that the Antichrist was near, if not already there in the form of the Roman Emperors.[I]t is impossible to fix what amount of such calamities will immediately precede the judgment day or the coming of Antichrist, since even at the time of the Early Church persecutions were so bitter, and the corruptions of error were so numerous, that some looked forward to the coming of Antichrist as being near or imminent.” https://aleteia.org/2021/11/18/who-is-the-antichrist-in-catholic-church-teaching/

[19]https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1092&context=pretrib_arch

[20] Martin Luther(1483-1546) was convinced that he was living in the last days. For him, the Pope fitted all the criteria for the Antichrist. The Pope, he declared, “is the true end times Antichrist who has raised himself over and set himself against Christ”. https://theconversation.com/five-things-to-know-about-the-antichrist-148172.  “As John Foxe (author of the Book of Martyrs) pointed out, it was obvious that 666 added up to A MAN OF ROME.” https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2013/apr/05/who-is-the-antichrist-obama-satan

[21] https://www.beliefnet.com/news/home-page-news-and-views/rick-warren-and-chrislam.aspx

[22] https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-46794556

[23] Got these sample from an online source I don’t want to honor by mentioning by name.

[24] To give you an idea of the kind of argument made, I’ll pull from another article that was pointing that prophecy can be manipulated to make it apply to just about anyone we want to if we are creative enough:

[25] https://academic.logos.com/covid-19-and-the-mark-of-the-beast/

[26] Luke 16

[27] Naked Bible Podcast Episode 383: Revelation 13 

[28] In the OT God told Israel that the Torah was to be “as a sign on your hand, and as a reminder on your forehead” in order to remind them continually of their commitment and loyalty to God (Exod. 13:9; so also Exod. 13:16; Deut. 6:8; 11:18). This was done with phylacteries (leather pouches) containing portions of the Torah. (Beale and McDonough) The mark of the beast is a perversion of this custom: most phylacteries were worn on the left hand; the mark is on the forehead, not over.

[29] “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.” (Rev. 7:3) They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. (Rev. 9:4)

“Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion, stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.” (Rev. 14:1) “They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.” (Rev. 22:4)

[30] Two marks on the righteous and sinners are  described in the Second Temple writing Psalms of Solomon (14:6, 9.)Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary of the New Testament

[31] Micheal Heisser notes this passage from Psalms of Solomon 15:9-11 (Second Temple Jewish literature): For they will flee from the holy ones like those pursued in battle, and they will pursue and capture sinners; and those who do lawlessness will not escape the judgment of the Lord; they will be captured as if by experienced warriors. For the sign of destruction is upon their forehead. And the inheritance of the sinners is destruction and darkness, and their lawless acts will pursue them to Hades below.”

[32] Examples of gematria have been found in graffiti at Pompeii (c. a.d. 79). One reads, “Amerimnus thought upon his lady Harmonia for good. The number of her honorable name is 45 (me),” while another states, “I love her whose number is 545 (phme).” After Nero murdered his mother in 59, a Greek verse circulated around Rome lampooning the emperor: “Nero, Orestes, Alcmeon their mothers slew/A calculation new. Nero his mother slew.” The name Nero is the numerical equivalent of 1005 in Greek, the same as the phrase “his mother slew.” Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary of the New Testament

[33] Orthodox Study Bible

[34] Irenaeus best guesses were “Teitan,” the mythological Titans who rebelled against the gods, or “Lateinos,” the Roman empire. Irenaeus records that a variant, 616, was already known in some versions. Could John’s audience have known the identity of the beast? Probably so, otherwise John would not have encouraged the Asian believers to calculate the beast’s number. Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary of the New Testament

[35] Pop culture reference: Marvel’s The Eternals has some Titans in it (Gilgamesh).

[36] Michael Gorman, Reading Revelation Responsibly

[37] Expositor's Bible Commentary (Abridged Edition): New Testament

[38] The concern that the COVID vaccine is the mark will fall to the wayside like the others when COVID is past. Really excellent article here: “The Covid Vaccine has 666 Written All Over It…and Why that Doesn’t Matter According to Revelation.”

 http://academiclogos.wpengine.com/the-covid-vaccine-has-666-written-all-over-it-and-why-that-doesnt-matter-according-to-revelation/

[39] https://academic.logos.com/covid-19-and-the-mark-of-the-beast/

[40] “Revelation allows for no divided allegiance: We must decide between God and the world and between what each side values. Yet we cannot read this passage’s warning properly without also grasping the rest of the book: Every Babylon of the past has fallen, and so will every empire that oppresses us (18:2; 19:2). The future belongs not to Babylon but to the faithful, whose home is the Jerusalem to come (21:2–8).” https://zondervanacademic.com/blog/what-is-the-mark-of-the-beast

Realms Seen and Unseen (Ephesians 6:12; 2 Corinthians 10:3-5; 1 Peter 5:8-9)

C. S. Lewis once wrote, 

"There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors, and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight."

In Message+ last week, we jumped right into a discussion of what it looks like to do spiritual warfare against evil. 

•  Chapter 8’s trumpets had revealed that the dragon’s demonic servants are at work in the world. 

• The 7 letters talked about Satan’s synagogue, throne, and secrets. 

• Chapter 13 ended with the idea that we crush the dragon and his forces by keeping God’s commandments and clinging to Jesus. 

Yet, as some of you noted, there are many other places in Scripture that also talk about other ways in which we do battle against the forces and presence of evil. So let’s talk first about what the Bible unveils about spiritual realities in the unseen realm around us, and second about the ways the Bible shows Christians fighting this spiritual battle.  

First, Christianity teaches a multi-dimensional universe. That is, we are dualists. We believe there are two parts to reality: the physical (or material) and the spiritual (or immaterial).  Some worldviews are monistic – that is, they think the ‘furniture of the universe’ is either all material or all immaterial, but the Judeo/Christian worldview rejects that notion. There are two dimensions that overlap, usually invisibly but sometimes in a way that can be seen. This is the biblical nature of reality. 

Just like the seen realm, the unseen realm is populated with beings.  The Old Testament uses language of structure, organization, even courts and forms of government in this realm. Whether this is a down-the-line literal reality or God’s way of using language to help us understand how things work behind the scenes, it’s an inhabited and ordered world.  

At the time the Bible was written, every culture took this for granted. You do not see the Bible taking the time to argue, for example, that God or gods existed. There was no need to convince anyone in the world of that outside of a few sporadic philosophers.[1] 

Homer (in The Iliad) illustrated another very common belief: there was a class of lesser divinities, intermediate beings between the gods and humans called demons (in Greek), which by the time of Jesus were acknowledged even by the Greeks to be bad news. Some philosophers had even begun to argue that they had gotten the Pantheon wrong: there was no way ‘gods’ would be that bad. They must be worshipping demons mistakenly. More on what Paul has to say about that later….

The notion that there was a ‘divine council’ in the heavens was everywhere in Ancient Near East cultures, including Israel. That Yahweh was The Lord of lords, The King of kings and Most High suggested lords, and kings, and beings lower than God but higher than us. The Old Testament is quite comfortable with this. There is a key distinction that drew a sharp line between God’s people and the surrounding cultures: there is only one truly Divine Being, one True God, One Creator, etc. Yahweh was in a category of his own.  No one was like Him. However, a realm of angels both true and fallen, populated with other beings that went by various names was all part of the furniture of the biblical universe. 

As you might expect, people were eager to be on the good side of these beings or recruit them to their side. TONS of literature has survived from the ancient world that references incantations, amulets, spells, wards…anything to use, control or tame this unseen realm.  When God tells his people not to use sorcery or witchcraft to pursue magical powers through contact with or attempted control of these spirits (e.g., Dt 18:10–12)[2] he is probably talking about that kind of thing.  

“Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead.”[3]

Most of the origin story to these beings is missing from the Biblical text. However, we know a few things.

• They must have been created, as only God is Uncreated.

• God gives them tasks, assignments, and responsibilities. Much like the first humans were given things to do as stewards of God’s physical world, these beings are apparently intended to be stewards of God’s spiritual world.[4]

• Some chose to rebel against God and His plan and fell, and others stayed loyal.[5] The good are the servants of God; the evil are hostile to his government and plan. [6]

• The one behind those who fell is Revelation’s dragon: the Satan, called by many different titles in the Bible. 

• A war has been and is being waged in the unseen realm that spills  over into the seen realm. We have been recruited into it, like it or not. 

 One of the main tools of those beings hostile to God’s government appears to be deception that leads people away from the true God and toward idolatry and the lifestyle that followed.  

“They sacrificed to demons, not God, to gods they had not known; to new gods who had recently come along, gods your ancestors had not known about.” (Deuteronomy 32:17)

"They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons; they poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; and the land was polluted with blood." (Psalm 106:37-38)

By the time Jesus arrived, Jewish tradition had a robust body of literature about demons (bad) and angels (good) and how they worked in the world. Think of it as constant commentary being written that filled in the biblical blanks. A lot of the way we think about the unseen realm can be traced back to this more than to simply Scripture.[7] It doesn’t mean those traditions are necessarily wrong, but they are commentary rather than Scripture. 

The NT gospels contain fifty-three references to "daimonia" (going back to Homer’s words in the Iliad). Think of our word “pandemonium.” It comes from that root word. Chaos is everywhere. Luke uses "pneuma ponera" (evil spirit) or "pneuma akatharta" (unclean spirit), which is pretty much the same thing. [8] Angels make 18 appearances in the NT.[9] I suspect there is less said because there was no need to warn about those :)

The human desire to worship these beings remained. Paul echoes the Old Testament:

Therefore, my beloved, stop the worship of idols. I speak as to sensible men; judge for yourselves what I say. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread…  

What pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be partners with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons.  You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He? (1 Cor. 10: 14.-22)

Once again, the primary tool seems to be deception, and concerted effort to pull people into a different kingdom with a different Lord. The churches in Revelation that wrestled with “Satan’s throne” and the synagogue of Satan? False teachers. It’s a pattern of concern in the New Testament.[10]  More often than not, we fight by embracing truth: walking in the light ( 1 Jo 1:5-7 ), putting off of the old and joyful putting on the new ( Eph 4:22-29: Col 1:13 ), being transformed ( 2 Cor 5:17 ) as we grow into the full measure of the stature of Christ ( Eph 4:14-16 ).[11] Those are our primary weapons, as we will see when we finish with Ephesians 6.

The New Testament also talks about “demonization,” a catch-all term that covers the influence of demons on the lives of people. Over the centuries, the church has developed lots of language and categories to describe how this might play out differently depending on the level of demonization, but the NT word is much more basic. It just means demons are influencing or manipulating people to varying degrees.[12]

When Jesus is establishing his power and authority over everything, especially over things the people feared, he has what some have called “power encounters” with the demonic. We see this several different times in his ministry. We are not told how these people got demonized, or why. We are just told that they are, and then Jesus frees them. 

The book of Acts only has three incidents involving evil spirits: the fortune-telling slave girl of Philippi (Acts 16:9-21), Simon of Samaria (Acts 8:5-24), and the sons of Sceva (Acts 19:11-17). 

It’s recognized as part of reality, and the incidents recorded seem to serve the purpose of establish Jesus’ power and authority. The point wasn’t to go demon hunting or find one behind every tree; the point is that Jesus is stronger than anything you will encounter.[13] 

As the early church unfolded, this kind of spiritual reality remained part of the ‘furniture’ of the church.  This link[14] will give a ton of info from the first several centuries, as will the summary and the last few pages of your notes.  It was just assumed by all to be a part of ongoing life in the Kingdom of God.  

This kind of confrontation of spirits eventually worked its way into all kinds of ceremonies, beginning to border on the kind of superstition if not outright attempts at magic (especially in the Western church) warned about in the Old Testament.  

Part of what the Reformation challenged was the sense that Catholic ceremonies and rites had become superstition and magic rather than a legitimate, Christ-centered exercise of God’s authority over the spiritual powers of darkness. Like other areas of the Catholic church, their desire was primarily to reform it, though for many it looked so ugly they rejected it all together.[15] 

Over time, there has been an ebb and flow to how different church branches and denominations in different times and places have handled this supernatural element. Many maintained teaching and structure for ‘power encounters’ throughout their existence (Catholic, Orthodox, Coptic, Anglican); many of the Reformers put it on a back burner. though there is record of ongoing acknowledgment that strange things from the unseen realm intersected with ours. The renewed interest in the 70s of ‘spiritual warfare’ in the U.S. felt new, but it really just connected us with the broader church experience historically and globally.

* * * *

So that brings us to three key passages looking at what the Bible has to say about doing battle in the unseen realm.  

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12) 

"For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ." (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)

“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world” (1 Peter 5:8-9).

 So what is spiritual warfare based on these passages of Scripture?

• the tensions, the conflicts, the ethical options, and the worldview choices which Christians must face

• the spiritual conflict between those who inhabit and/or serve the heavenly and demonic kingdoms

• the fight for truth

Since I talked last week about doing battle by keeping God’s commandments (that’s ‘worldview choices’) and holding to the testimony of Jesus (‘fight for truth’), let’s chat about the spiritual conflict in light of these beings around us. Hollywood can fill our heads with craziness; some Christian practices and teaching go beyond what Scripture in describing what must be happening in the unseen realm and how it must be influencing us and here’s the only way to deal with it… It can become frightening, confusing and overwhelming, none of which should follow when reading Scripture on this issue.

· Don’t ignore it. It’s real, and it’s happening. “There is no neutral ground in the universe; every square inch, every split second is claimed by God and counterclaimed by Satan.” (C. S. Lewis). 

· Don’t be afraid. Nothing the Bible tells you about this realm is meant to make you scared. It’s meant to have you be sober-minded and on guard. 

· Pray a lot - “...without ceasing...” (1 Thessalonians 5:17 ) and “...on all occasions...”  (Ephesians 6:18)

· Don’t learn more about evil than about good. (“Whatever things are good...pure...of good report...think on these things.”  Philippians 4:8)

· Study the Bible. Jesus quoted Scripture when tempted by Satan - Matthew 4.

· Don’t crave a glimpse into the unseen realm.. People have told me they think it would be neat to see a deliverance because they want to see the demonic manifest.  That’s a terrible reason. Don’t be fascinated by evil. 

· Keep the commandments of God and trust his testimony. That was our Revelation 13 reminder last week. 

Ephesians 6:11-19

 “Take the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the deceit of the devil… take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.

· the belt of  truth   biblical accuracy; certainty, sincerity

· the breastplate of righteousness   Moral uprightness, justice

· feet laced with the gospel of peace   shalom; harmony; wholeness

· the shield of faith[16], with which you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one trust; loyalty; reliance

· the helmet of salvation   deliverance; preservation

· the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 

· And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers...” 

And pray for me, that words may be given to me when I open my mouth, to proclaim boldly the mystery of the good news [of salvation].”

____________________________________________ 

NOTES FROM CHURCH HISTORY ON THE UNSEEN REALM 

• Justin Martyr (ca. 160 A.D.): “For we do continually beseech God by Jesus Christ to preserve us from the demons which are hostile to the worship of God, and whom we of old time served… For we call Him Helper and Redeemer, the power of whose name even the demons do fear; and at this day, when they are exorcised in the name of Jesus Christ, crucified under Pontius Pilate, governor of Judæa, they are overcome. And thus it is manifest to all, that His Father has given Him so great power by virtue of which demons are subdued to His name, and to the dispensation of His suffering” (Dialogue, 30,3). “He (Christ) said, “I give unto you power to tread on serpents, and on scorpions… and on all the might of the enemy”. And now we, who believe on our Lord Jesus, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, when we exorcise all demons and evil spirits, have them subjected to us (Dialogue 76,6).

• Irenaeus’ (130 - 202) writings include evidence of a Church community actively gathering, praying, and fasting to bring about the raising of a dead member to life.

• Theophilus of Antioch (ca. 180 A.D.) said the Greek poets were inspired by demons. “This is clearly evidenced by the fact that even today demons are exorcised from possessed in the name of the true God, and then the deceiving spirits confess themselves that they are the demons who once worked in the poets…” (Ad Autolycum II,8).

• Cyprian, bishop of Carthage (210-258), was the first to establish an order of exorcists.

• In Hippolytus’ (170-235) conditions for admission for those who want to follow the baptismal instruction we read the following, “If anybody has a demon, then let him not hear the Word from the teacher before he has been cleansed (Apostolic Tradition 16,8). “From the day that they (who are to be baptized) are elected, let there be laying on of hands with exorcism every day. When the day of baptism approaches, let the bishop perform exorcism on each one of them, so that he may be certain that the baptizand is clean. But if there is anybody who is not clean, he should be set aside because he did not hear the instruction with faith. For the alien spirit remained with him.” (Apostolic Tradition, 20,3).

• Tertullian (155-220) marveled of demons that, “at a touch, a breath from us…and they leave the bodies of men at our command.” He tells about a Christian woman who went to the theatre (where people slaughtered and maimed one another as entertainment for the masses) and came back possessed. “In the outcasting, accordingly, when the unclean creature was upbraided with having dared to attack a believer, he firmly replied, “And in truth I did it most righteously, for I found her in my domain””(De spectaculis, 26).

• Origen (184-253): The critic of Christianity, Celsus (ca. 175 A.D.), “asserts that it is by the names of certain demons, and by the use of incantations, that the Christians appear to be possessed of power”. Origen continues, “Hinting, I suppose, at the practices of those who expel evil spirits by incantatons. And here he mainfestly appears to malign the gospel. For it is not by incantations that Christians seem to prevail (over evil spirits), but by the name of Jesus, accompanied by the announcement of the narratives which relate to him; for the repetition of these has frequently been the means of driving demons out of men, especially when those who repeated them did so in a sound and genuinely believing spirit. (Contra Celsum I,6). “If then the Pythian priestess is beside herself when she prophesies, what spirit must that be which fills her mind and clouds her judgment with darkness, unless it be of the same order with those demons which many Christians cast out of persons possessed with them? And this, we may observe, they do without the use of any curious magic, or incantations, but merely by prayer and simple adjurations which the plainest person can use. Because for the most part it is unlettered persons who perform this work: thus making manifest the grace which is in the word of Christ, and the despicable weakness of demons, which, in order to be overcome and driven out of the bodies and souls of men, do not require the power and wisdom of those who are mighty in argument, and most learned in matters of faith” (Contra Celsum, VII,4). (11)

Athanasius (292-373) “And how does it happen, if he is not risen, but is dead, that he expels the false gods who by the unbelievers are said to live, and the demons whom they worship, and persecute and destroy them? For where Christ is mentioned, and faith in him, all idolatry is eradicated, all demonic deceit is revealed, and no demon even tolerates that the name is mentioned, but hurries to flee, as it hears it mentioned. This is not the work of a dead man, but a living and first and foremost God” (Der incarnatione verbi, 32). “It is clear that if Christ were dead, then he would not expel the demons…, for the demons would not obey one who is dead. But when they obviously are chased away at the use of his name, then it should be clear that he is not dead, especially because the demons who see the things that are not visible for humans – should know it if Christ is dead. Then they would simply deny him obedience. But now the demons see exactly what the ungodly do not believe; that he is God, and therefore they flee and fall down for him and say that which they also said when he was in the body, “We know who you are, you the Holy One of God” (De incarnatione verbi, 32). 

Lactantius’ (250-325) observed that demons fear Christ but not Jupiter, since Jupiter is “one of them.”

Eusebius of Caesarea, the “Father of Church History” (260-340) records exorcisms and healings of the time and is one of the first leaders to exhort against the use of amulets for these purposes.

Saint Ambrose (339-397) described his personal experience with laying on of hands to produce healings or exorcisms.

Saints Jerome (347-420) and Basil (330-379) both note that while medical care is important, it must be stressed that “physicians labor in vain without God’s aid.” This positive impression likely led to the copying and preservation of ancient medical writings by monks, especially the works of Galen. In turn, the combined forces of faith and medicine led to the establishment of the first hospitals, including Saint Basil of Caesarea’s in Cappadocia in the late fourth century.[i]

 _________________________________________________________________________

[1] Christians were called atheists at one point because they didn’t believe in enough gods, but it was really unusual to find an atheist who didn’t believe in any gods.  

[2] https://www.olivetree.com/blog/demons-in-the-bible/

[3] Wikipedia, of all place, does a nice summary footnoted well. “‘The Old Testament description of the "divine assembly" all suggest that this metaphor for the organization of the divine world was consistent with that of Mesopotamia and Canaan. One difference, however, should be noted. In the Old Testament, the identities of the members of the assembly are far more obscure than those found in other descriptions of these groups, as in their polytheistic environment. Israelite writers sought to express both the uniqueness and the superiority of their God Yahweh.’ The Book of Psalms (Psalm 82:1), states "God (Elohim) stands in the divine assembly; He judges among the gods (elohim)." Later in this Psalm, the word "gods" is used (in the KJV): Psalm 82:6 – "I have said, Ye [are] gods; and all of you [are] children of the most High." Instead of "gods", another version has "godlike beings", but here again, the word is elohim/elohiym (Strong's H430).This passage is quoted in the New Testament in John 10:34. In the Books of Kings (1 Kings 22:19), the prophet Micaiah has a vision of Yahweh seated among "the whole host of heaven" standing on his right and on his left. He asks who will go entice Ahab and a spirit volunteers. This has been interpreted as an example of a divine council. The first two chapters of the Book of Job describe the "Sons of God" assembling in the presence of Yahweh. Like "multitudes of heaven", the term "Sons of God" defies certain interpretation. This assembly has been interpreted by some as another example of divine council.  ‘The role of the divine assembly as a conceptual part of the background of Hebrew prophecy is clearly displayed in two descriptions of prophetic involvement in the heavenly council. In 1 Kings 22:19–23... Micaiah is allowed to see God (elohim) in action in the heavenly decision regarding the fate of Ahab. Isaiah 6 depicts a situation in which the prophet himself takes on the role of the messenger of the assembly and the message of the prophet is thus commissioned by Yahweh.”

[4] What are we told in the Bible about angels when they appear to people? Virtually nothing. Jacob’s vision of a ladder, and his wrestling match…nothing.  The angel to Mary and Joseph…nothing.  The angels appearing to the shepherds…nothing.  The angel that saved Daniel…nothing.  They announce Jesus’ birth, and rescue Peter from jail. All that mattered was why God sent them to say or do what they said or did. There is also no physical description of demonic creatures, though they are compared to certain animals in the OT. If the Bible didn’t find it necessary to give us details, we probably ought not worry about that kind of information too much. 

[5] "And the angels that did not keep their own positions but left their proper dwelling have been kept by him in eternal chains in the nether gloom until the judgment of the great day. " Jude 6

[6] Old Testament Word Studies: Angels, etc. Demons. P. A. D. Nordell. 

[7] Some of these books (Enoch, for example) are referenced by Peter and Jude. 

[8] Why should a spirit be described as unclean? Because not all of them are, such as the Holy Spirit. (Baker Evangelical Dictionary Of Biblical Theology)

[9] https://jesusalive.cc/angels-in-new-testament/

[10] From Possession and Exorcism in the Literature of the Ancient Church and the New Testament, Dr. Oscar Skarsaune “Let me begin with Tertullian, his Apologeticum (Defense, written 197 A.D.: the book is regarded as the most outstanding book within the Latin apologetical literature prior to Augustine). Tertullian constructs this book as a commentary on two accusations that are directed against the Christians: (1) “You do not worship the gods”; and (2) “You do not offer sacrifices for the emperors”. The first half of the books, ch. 10-27, is a comment on the first accusation, and the answer is short and pointed: “We do not worship your gods, because we know that there are no such beings” (“Deos vestros colere desinimus, ex quo illos non esse cognoscimus”, Apol. 10,2) Tertullian then starts with the critique of Greek mythology which for a long time ago had become customary within parts of the ancient philosophy, and which had been taken over by the Jewish and Christian apologetical tradition. One notices soon, however, that Tertullian intentionally steers towards a climax, which comes in ch. 23-27. Here the common critique against polytheism is left for – I believe – a specifically Christian motif. The saying “your gods do not exist” does not mean that the Greek-Roman gods are mere phantoms due only to human projection. In the Greek-Roman cults one related to real powers, who do exist, but they are not what they purport to be. They are not gods. They are demons. “And we affirm indeed the existence of certain spiritual essences; nor is their name unfamiliar. The philosophers acknowledge there are demons” (Apol. 22,1). The activity of the demons consists in deceiving human beings, tricking them into worshiping the demons as gods. In this way they lead people away from the true God. Tertullian gives this bold assertion, which probably sounded quite provocative in the ears of a reader in antiquity, a rather surprising basis in Ch. 23ff. Let me quote an excerpt: “But thus far we have been dealing only in words; we now proceed to a proof of facts, in which we shall show that under different names (god and demon) you have real identity. Let a person be brought before your tribunals, who is plainly under demoniacal possession (daemone agi). The wicked spirit, bidden to speak by a follower of Christ, will as readily make the truthful confession that he is a demon, as elsewhere he has falsely asserted that he is a god. Or, if you will, let there be produced one of the god-possessed (de deo pati), as they are supposed, ….if they would not confess, in their fear of lying to a Christian, that they were demons, then and there shed the blood of the most impudent follower of Christ…. The truth is… that neither themselves nor any others have claims to deity, you may see at once who is really God, and whether that is He and and He alone whom we Christians own; as also whether you are to believe in Him, and worship Him, after the manner of our Christian faith and discipline.But at once they (the demons) will say, Who is this Christ … is he not rather up in the heavens, thence about to come again… All the authority and power we have over them is from our naming the name of Christ, and recalling to their memory the woes with which God threatens them at the hands of Christ as Judge, and which they expect one day to overtake them. Fearing Christ in God, and God in Christ, they become subject to the servants of God and Christ. So at our touch and breathing, overwhelmed by the thought and realization of those judgment fires, they leave at our command the bodies they have entered… It has not been an unusual thing, accordingly, for those testimonies of your deities to convert men to Christianity (“haec testimonia deorum vestrorum Christianos facere consuerunt”; Apol. 23,4-18) (6)

[11] Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary Of Biblical Theology

[12] “Someone once said, ‘Does it really matter whether the demon is tempting me from across the room, sitting on my shoulder, or inside my head?’ And the answer is no, it probably doesn’t matter. What matters is how you respond to it.” (Sam Storms)

[13] The exorcism is a sign event which with evidence for all demonstrates that the house of the strong one has been robbed by the one who is stronger; that Christ has conquered Satan and all his army. It is obvious that Christian exorcism made a deep impression on people in antiquity, both Christians and non-Christians. I once again would remind of Tertullian’s words: “It has not been an unusual thing for these testimonies of your deities to convert men to Christianity.” In the exorcism one saw before one’s very eyes that the name of Jesus had power over the strongest that one had known so far. The exorcism functions so to speak as a “miracle of confrontation”, where the demons loudly are forced to proclaim who Jesus really is, and that he is their superior…When Jesus expels demons from tormented people, it is visible evidence that the power of Satan is broken. Satan is bound by Jesus, and Jesus is plundering his house; that is, reconquering and reestablishing that which the Devil has destroyed. Hence, Jesus’ conclusion, “But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Matt. 12:28). (Possession and Exorcism in the Literature of the Ancient Church and the New Testament, Dr. Oscar Skarsaune)

[14] “Spiritual warfare in early church history.” https://www.trustworthyword.com/sw-church-history

[15] “Although some Protestants stopped exorcising in any way, others continued to do so, but ‘reformed’ their exorcisms. Protestants began to speak of ‘dispossession’ rather than ‘exorcism’, with its negative connotations of Roman Catholic ritualism.” (https://www.bloomsburycollections.com/book/a-history-of-anglican-exorcism-deliverance-and-demonology-in-church-ritual/introduction?from=search)

 [16] "A strong and welcome conviction or belief that Jesus is the Messiah, through whom we obtain eternal salvation in the kingdom of God." (Thayer’s Greek Lexicon)

[i] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6699044/. Book Review: Healing in the Early Church: The Church’s Ministry of Healing and Exorcism from the First to the Fifth Century

7 Trumpets (Revelation 8-11)

 Now when the Lamb opened the seventh seal there was silence in heaven for about half an hour[1].  Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. Another angel holding a golden censer came and was stationed at the altar. A large amount of incense was given to him to offer up, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar that is before the throne.  

 The Old Testament associates silence with divine judgment.[2] This seems to be a response to the death of and the prayers of saints that bring about the judgment on those through whom evil and suffering have been unleashed in the world. 

The smoke coming from the incense, along with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it on the earth[3], and there were crashes of thunder, roaring, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.[4]

The prayers go up; fire, a common biblical metaphor for a judgment that either refines or destroys, comes down. Now, the trumpets show how God’s judgment of evil impacts the earth as we groan our way toward the end.   

 Now the seven angels[5] holding the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.[6]

Remember we talked about the "birth pangs" Jesus warned would start in the generation of his listeners? The birthing process is a lot of pain, a lot of unpleasantness, but a good result at the end. There will be life on the other side, but the process is going to be hard. 

We are going to see the removal of peace; the destruction of the things that prop up the idolatry and empires of the world; deprivation; suffering; loss; despair.  This is reaping what was sown.  Consumer cultures consume themselves. Violent cultures ruin themselves. Indulgent cultures soften themselves. God sends the whirlwind. 

[Babylon’s] sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes. Give back to her as she has given; pay her back double for what she has done. Pour her a double portion from her own cup... God has judged her with the judgment she imposed on you.” (Revelation 18:5-6; 20)”[7]

A third will be impacted,[8] meaning it’s not total judgment. There is time for people to see what is going on and repent. In that sense, while this judgment is certainly about retribution for the evil done, it also holds the potential to be rehabilitative and restorative. It’s a good reminder of how to pray for justice/judgment: may it not only stop the evil, but may it be the means by which the evildoers come to their senses.

The images are apocalyptic: flaming mountains that are nations; stars that are angels; a speaking eagle. I think we are meant to see “through” them, weighing them like we do numbers.[9] There is room for the famine to be deprivations of all kinds, or the bitterness of the water to be a contrast to “the living water,” which speaks to spiritual realities. We are going to see everything shake. The people have placed their trust in idols, in false gods, in what is unstable and chaotic, and it’s not going to end well.[10] 

 The first angel[11] blew his trumpet, and there was hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was thrown at the earth so that a third of the earth (soil) was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.

The fire and blood are symbols of the wrath of God.[12] They can’t be literal: the blood and hail would put out the fire; a fire that destroyed 1/3 of the dirt and trees and all the grass would destroy the globe.

The first 4 trumpets are modeled after the plagues on Egypt (Exodus 7-11). Revelation 15:3 compares the return of Jesus to the first exodus;[13] it would make sense that the second exodus is ushered in in similar fashion.[14]  

Since the plagues of Egypt directly challenged the gods of the Egyptians, I am inclined to see this trumpet as a spiritual warfare broadside against the gods of this world, judging the world systems behind the evil and corruption of the world (which we will say more about at the 7th trumpet).[15]However, just like the first Exodus, it’s not too late repent and join those about to head to the Promised Land.[16]   

 Then the second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain of burning fire was thrown into the sea.[17]A third[18] of the sea became blood, and a third of the creatures living in the sea died, and a third of the ships were completely destroyed.

In the Bible, mountains often stand in for kingdoms[19] or nations, many subject to God's judgment.[20] Jeremiah speaks of Babylon as a destroying mountain which would be burned by fire (Jeremiah 51:25) that will sink into the waters never to rise again.[21] We will see this again with the destruction of Babylon’s global maritime commerce in chapter 18.[22] Rome depended on the sea for food and commerce; the sea captains lament Babylon’s ruin.[23]

Once again, see ‘through’ this: it’s an indictment on nation(s) plural. All nations. God’s judgment will rock the gods of this world, and then hit the issue most talked about in the Bible: money, the idol of wealth, commerce, power and security. Look how rocked we have been by the shipping issues in the last few months (“We can’t have Christmas!”). There is nothing new under the sun.  

Then the third angel blew his trumpet, and a huge star burning like a torch fell from the sky; it landed on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. (Now the name of the star is Wormwood.) So a third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from these waters because they were poisoned.

In Jewish apocalypses, stars sometimes appeared like burning mountains; one fell into the sea and burned both the sea and Israel’s oppressors.[24]  1 Enoch 18:13 and 21:3[25] describes the preliminary judgment of the fallen angels as “stars like great burning mountains.”[26] Stars represent angelic beings in Revelation (see on 1:19). OT angels often represent earthly peoples and kingdoms.

In fact, the rabbis interpreted the Exodus 7:16–18 plague on the waters as a judgment on the Nile god, who represented the people. They would quote Isaiah 24:21 - “the Lord will punish the host of heaven on high and the kings of the earth on earth.” Here Babylon’s ‘angel’ appears to be judged along with the nation. It was prophesied. Not only are the nations shaken, but any spiritual powers behind them have been toppled from their place of authority as well. 

O shining one, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the ground, O conqueror of the nations…  But you were brought down to Sheol, to the remote slopes of the Pit. (Isaiah 14:12-15) 

Wormwood recalls the bitter water at Marah - still on an Exodus theme (Exodus 15:23). If the “living waters” of chapters 7 and 21 represent the reward of eternal, spiritual life for faithfulness through suffering (7:17; 21:6; 22:1), then the waters of death in Chapter 8 represent a punishment of suffering associated with eternal, spiritual death. 

Then the fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened.[27] And there was no light for a third of the day and for a third of the night likewise.[28] 

Our earth is too finely tuned to not be destroyed by literal celestial events like that. It’s a known image of judgment to John’s audience: at God’s judgment of Edom, “all the starry host will fall” (Isaiah 34:4).  The Dictionary Of Bible Themes notes the many ways in which celestial bodies played multiple roles in the Bible, but here’s what’s relevant to us today. Under the category of “Worship of the Stars,” we find: 

·      Prohibited by God Deuteronomy 4:19; 17:3 2 Kings 23:4-5

·      Judgment of star worshippers Jer 8:2: 19:12-13; Amos 5:25-27; Acts 7:42-43

·      Examples of star worship 2 Ki 17:16; 2 Ki 21:3-5; 2 Chronicles 33:5; Acts 28:11

·      Idolatrous worship of the moon Deut. 4:19; 17:3; 2 Ki 23:5; Job 31:26

·      Sun Worship Forbidden to God’s people Deut 4:19;17:2-5; Job 31:26-28

·      Practiced in Israel and Egypt Ez 8:16; 2 Ki 23:5,11; Jer 8:1-2; 43:13

 Judaism has long interpreted The Exodus plague of darkness as a spiritual, cultural, or mental darkness. It's the darkness of despair when people realize the futility of their idolatry and the disaster that is coming up on them (Jeremiah 15:19, Amos 8:9, Joel 2).[29] 

 Then I looked, and I heard an eagle flying directly overhead[30], proclaiming with a loud voice, “Woe! Woe! Woe[31]to the earth dwellers because of the remaining sounds of the trumpets of the three angels who are about to blow them!”

 God’s people are spared the following plagues, as happened with the later Egyptian plagues.[32]Since God’s people are spared, this is good reason to think that what follows has to do with spiritual judgment that will ‘pass over’ God’s faithful people sealed by the Lamb’s blood.   

Then the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the abyss. He opened the shaft of the abyss and smoke rose out of it like smoke from a giant furnace[33]. The sun and the air were darkened with smoke from the shaft.  Then out of the smoke came locusts onto the earth, and they were given power like that of the scorpions of the earth.[34] 

The “star” that John sees is an angel (20:1) with the key (3:7) to open the Abyss. The Abyss was believed by John’s audience to be the underworld prison of evil spirits.[35] 

 They were told not to damage the grass of the earth, or any green plant or tree,[36] but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their forehead. The locusts were not given permission to kill them, but only to torment them for five months, and their torture was like that of a scorpion when it stings a person. In those days people will seek death, but will not be able to find it; they will long to die, but death will flee from them. Now the locusts[37] looked like horses equipped for battle.[38] On their heads were something like crowns similar to gold, and their faces looked like men’s faces.  They had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. They had breastplates like iron breastplates, and the sound of their wings was like the noise of many horse-drawn chariots charging into battle. They have tails and stingers like scorpions, and their ability to injure people for five months is in their tails. They have as king over them the angel of the abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon.

Notice that the locusts don't do what no locusts normally do. They can't touch any green thing - or those who have the Seal of God upon their forehead. One assumes the threat is non-physical: for example, the devastation and famine of the soul (Amos 8:11-14).[39]  I favor the view that this describes demonic activity on earth.  

• “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons…” (1 Timothy 4:1). 

•  “‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!’ She has become a dwelling for demons and a haunt for every impure spirit.” (Revelation 18:2)

• “The horses are men, and the riders are evil spirits.” (Primasius and Andrew of Caesarea, 500s)

• “A terrifying picture of demonic oppression.” (Orthodox Study Bible)

• “These locusts probably represent demons.” (Believer’s Bible Commentary)

• Demonic forces out of the abyss… [John uses] frogs to represent demonic powers in the recapitulation in Revelation 16:13. (Expositor’s Bible Commentary: New Testament)

 This aligns with Christianity’s view of an active supernatural world that tries to influence, oppress, and even seek to take control of humanity to bend them away from God. John’s view of this is sobering. It sounds like he is showing a practical application of what Paul wrote: when you offer yourself as a slave, you are a slave of the one you obey. (Romans 6:16)

 The first woe has passed, but two woes are still coming after these things! Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a single voice coming from the horns on the golden altar that is before God, saying to the sixth angel, the one holding the trumpet, “Set free the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates!” Then the four angels[40] who had been prepared for this hour, day, month, and year were set free to kill a third of humanity. The number of soldiers on horseback was 200,000,000; I heard their number.

The Euphrates was the boundary behind which enemies lurked. [41] It’s a physical image for a spiritual reality. The numerical background for this huge number is Daniel 7:10. It just means there’s a lot. A lot a lot.

 Now this is what the horses and their riders looked like in my vision: The riders had breastplates that were fiery red, dark blue, and sulfurous yellow in color. The heads of the horses looked like lions’ heads, and fire, smoke, and sulfur came out of their mouths. A third of humanity was killed by these three plagues, that is, by the fire, the smoke, and the sulfur that came out of their mouths. For the power of the horses resides in their mouths and in their tails, because their tails are like snakes/scorpions[42], having heads that inflict injuries. 

This invasion is often compared to the daunting Parthian army. See ‘through’ it. You think they are scary? The spiritual battle is worse.  

The rest of humanity, who had not been killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so that they did not stop worshiping demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk about. Furthermore, they did not repent of their murders, of their magic spells, of their sexual immorality, or of their stealing.

INTERLUDE

An angel measures the temple, John eats a scroll that tastes good going down (this story ends well!) and then does not sit well at all (#birthpangs). Then two witnesses show up in a city for 3 ½ years, breathe fire on anyone who challenges them, get killed, then come back to life. 

MEASURING THE TEMPLE

Measuring the temple is best understood against the background of Ezekiel 40 – 48 in which measuring is associated with establishment and protection. Measuring suggests God's presence, which is guaranteed to be with the temple community living on Earth before the Lord's return.[43] But the angel didn’t measure the outer court of the temple. Short version: your soul will be safe, even if your skin is not.

THE TWO WITNESSES

• 2 lampstands, which are identified as churches in chapters 1 & 2,[44] have the powers of both Moses (law) and Elijah (prophet) and establish the truthfulness of the gospel message. (Numbers 35:30; Deuteronomy 17:6; Matthew 18:16, Luke 10:1-24). 

• The three and a half years (Daniel’s “time, times, and half a time”) is from Christ's resurrection until His final coming.[45]

• The fire is God's judgment on the world’s sin through the spoken word of Scripture.[46] In Luke 9, the disciples wanted to copy Elijah by calling down fire upon some Samaritan villagers. Jesus rebuked them, but then sent out groups (of two) to declare the danger of judgment (and the good news of mercy) through the proclamation of the Gospel. 

• The great city where the bodies lie is the world: Rome is Sodom, Egypt, Babylon. It’s all the troublesome nations that have plagued God’s people in different ways. 

• The restoration to life is taken directly from the “dry bones” resurrection of Ezekiel 37:5 -10.[47] God’s church will not stay down.

• The people repent – or at least acknowledge the power of God, which might not be the same thing…[48]

The Seal Interlude: “You are sealed. Endure.” 

The Trumpet Interlude: “You are secure. Witness.” 

Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven saying: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever.” Then the twenty-four elders who are seated on their thrones before God threw themselves down with their faces to the ground and worshiped God  with these words: “We give you thanks, Lord God, the All-Powerful, the one who is and who was[49], because you have taken your great power and begun to reign. The nations were enraged, but your wrath has come, and the time has come for the dead to be judged, and the time has come to give to your servants, the prophets, their reward, as well as to the saints and to those who revere your name, both small and great, and the time has come to destroy[50] those who destroy the earth.” Then the temple of God in heaven was opened and the ark of his covenant was visible within his temple.[51] And there were flashes of lightning, roaring, crashes of thunder, an earthquake, and a great hailstorm.

 This is still a “woe,” because the ‘woes’ are from the perspective of the world.  God’s reign means evil’s judgment. It’s not good news for everybody. 

However, The picture of God’s judgment here in Revelation shows a God who has been restraining the full, devastating consequence of the sin we have sown. It also shows a God who, when “our iniquities are full,” will no longer hold back the chaos from the abyss. He will give us the full experience of our masters. 

If paradise is being fully in the presence of the one we serve with all the blessings that follow, perhaps hell may be thought of as fully experiencing the presence of the one we have been serving (the dragon and his servants) with all its cursings.

Meanwhile, God sends warnings. There are not only little oasis or outposts of heaven that function as signposts for eternity with the Lamb; we find the same kind of signposts for an eternity with the Dragon. 

·      What we think will never fail, fails.

·      What we think will always provides, stops providing.

·      What once measured our success begins to measure our failure. 

·      What we thought filled us was actually consuming us.

·      What we thought was refreshing us becomes bitter and sickening.

·      What we thought brought flourishing brought destruction.

·      What we thought made life matter made life meaningless.

No matter who you think the witnesses are, their purpose is clear: with holiness, grace, and hope, faithfully preach and model the message of the Slain Lamb to all inside and outside church walls so that as many as possible may be delivered from the judgment to come. 

The witnesses are never promised a time of prosperity of wealth or independence or popularity or even freedom to practice our faith. What they are promised is that God’s grace will be sufficient (2 Corinthians 12:9), and that the true church will rise from the ashes.

No matter what happens, I know this: We are called to be faithful witnesses to God in a sin-captured world.[52] Yes, this is daunting, but if you are committed Jesus, you are sealed. You have been claimed. 

For the true church, Revelation is sobering but also exciting: the cost may be high, but the end will be glorious. Revelation is supposed to bring hope. The king is returning. Evil will be undone. God’s originally good Earth will be renewed. Bear holy and faithful witness to it. [53]

___________________________________________________________________________

[1] Don’t sweat the time frame. It’s just a literary device that means it happened :)

[2] Habakkuk 2:20 -3:15; Zechariah 2:13 -3:2; Zephaniah 1:8 7-18

[3] “The smoke of the incense…shows that the petition of chapter 6:9 -10 is now being presented before God. Their petition for judgment has been found acceptable.” (Beale)

[4] “Peals of thunder, flashes of lightning and an earthquake” is almost identical to the description of the last judgment in 11:19 and 16:18 as well as 4:5. (Beale) 

[5] Jewish tradition identifies seven angels who offer up the prayers of the saints as they enter before the glory of the Holy One (Tobit 12:15). (Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary Of The New Testament)

[6] “The primary perspective of the first five seals was on the trials to which believers must pass; now, the focus in the first six trumpet are on the judgment which unbelievers both inside and outside the church must endure.” (Greg Beale, Revelation: A Shorter Commentary)  “In the first round, we were looking at the tribulation through the lens of the church. In round two, we see it from the vantage point of the world.” (Mark Moore, How To Dodge A Dragon: An Uncommentary On Revelation) 

[7] “Sometimes, God’s judgment in Revelation takes the form of imperial practices themselves, or the consequences of such practices. War, famine, pestilence, death, injustice in the marketplace, and rebellion are all…human evils rather than cosmic events… We would  be misguided not to see these also as divine punishment, similar to the snowball effect of sin unleashed in the world according to Paul in Rom 1:18-32. The question “human sin or divine punishment?” presupposes a false dichotomy and asks for an unnecessary choice; the answer is of course, ‘both’”. Michael Gorman, Reading Revelation Responsibly

[8] “Third part is a rabbinism, expressing a considerable number. "When Rabbi Akiba prayed, wept, rent his garments, put of his shoes, and sat in the dust, the world was struck with a curse; and then the third part of the olives, the third part of the wheat, and the third part of the barley, was smitten.” (Adam Clarke)

[9] “Cosmic signs [are]symbols of the distress and disease generated by human evil. [This is] indirect divine judgment.” Michael Gorman, Reading Revelation Responsibly

[10] Greg Beale notes that while we are told serious things about the ‘world’ collapsing under God’s judgment, physical symbols are meant to point us toward spiritual realities.

[11] Heisser points to Moyise’s Old Testament in Revelation to note the trumpet judgments in Revelation 8, 9, and a bit of 10 follow the themes of Joel 2-3 and Amos 1-2.

[12] Tyconius (370), Oecumenius (500s), Andrew of Caeserea (563) thought it might come through warfare. “The land was wasted; the trees-the chiefs of the nation, were destroyed; and the grass-the common people, slain, or carried into captivity.” (Adam Clarke)

[13] The redeemed sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb

[14] From Mark Moore, How To Dodge A Dragon: An Uncommentary On Revelation:

 Israelites in Egypt - Christians in Asia Minor/All of us   The people of God suffer oppression; God sends plagues to demonstrate his power/provoke repentance; repentance does not follow; God defeats the oppressor; God’s people praise the God who will reign forever; the ark of the covenant is present with God’s people

[15]  Michael Heisser notes, “Where do we get the nations and their gods to begin with? Genesis 11. Babylon.” And that’s the mountain that is about to be thrown into the sea…. 

[16] When Israel left Egypt, “a mixed multitude went up with them.” (Exodus 12:38) 

[17] “Mountain, in prophetic language, signifies a kingdom; Jeremiah 51:25; Jeremiah 51:27; Jeremiah 51:30; Jeremiah 51:58. Great disorders… are represented by mountains being cast into the midst of the sea, Psalms 46:2. Seas and collections of waters mean peoples, as is shown in this book, Revelation 17:15. “(Adam Clarke) 

[18] A fourth of the earth was affected by the seal judgments; a third is now devastated by the trumpet judgments. There is a progression in intensity.

[19] Revelation14:1; 17:9; 21:10

[20] Isaiah 41:15, 42:15; Ezekiel 35; Zechariah 4:7

[21] Babylon’s judgment is as a stone thrown into the sea in Revelation 18:21 

[22] Greg Beale, Revelation: A Shorter Commentary

[23] “Every shipmaster and all who sail anywhere and every sailor and as many as work on the sea... cried out when they saw the smoke of her burning... and they were weeping and mourning, saying ‘woe, woe, is the great city, through which all those who have ships in the sea became wealthy because of her wealth.’ ” (18:17–19) 

[24] NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible

[25] Revered Jewish literature from around 200 BC. While not Scripture, it functioned as a commentary that was highly influential in shaping Jewish thought. 

[26] Heisser, from an episode on the Naked Bible podcast

[27] Parallel to Exodus 10:21–23.

[28] Early church fathers were inclined to see the celestial bodies as the church, and the darkness as the result of heretics dimming the light of Scripture.

[29] Greg Beale, Revelation: A Shorter Commentary

[30] This eagle is in the “middle heaven,” the home of the sun, moon, planets, and stars (Revelation 14:6; 19:17).  It’s a place where all the world will see/hear.

[31] “Look! An eagle is swooping down, spreading its wings over Moab ... Woe to you, O Moab! The people of Chemosh are destroyed.” (Jeremiah 48:40, 46).

[32] How do they do this? “‘Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues.” (Revelation 18:4)

[33] The abyss in the Old Testament represents chaos. Here, the abyss seems to represent part of the spiritual world that is the home of evil that will be judged. That’s why it can be referred to as watery (chaos) and also fiery (judgment). 

[34] Many of the early church fathers were convinced this was about heretics, though a few chalked it up to demons… that were inspiring heretics. (All my notes on Early Church Fathers come from Ancient Christian Commentary On Scripture.)

[35] Demons pleaded with Jesus to spare them the Abyss. (Luke 8:30–31)

[36] Once again a reminder this is imagery, as all the grass was already gone.

[37] Like horses prepared for battle: a conquering host. Gold-like crowns: authorized to rule in people’s lives. Human-appearing faces: creatures of intelligence. Hair like women’s: hair was considered seductive. Lion-like teeth: ferocious and cruel. Armor-like iron breastplates: difficult to attack and destroy, etc. (Believer’s Bible Commentary)

[38] OT imagery. “They have the appearance of horses; they gallop along like cavalry” (Joel 2:4). An army of locusts “has the teeth of a lion” (Joel 1:6) and make a noise “like that of chariots” (2:5). Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary of the New Testament

[39] Greg Beale, Revelation: A Shorter Commentary

[40] This seems to be a recapitulation of the 4 Horsemen.

[41] Heisser notes that beyond the Euphrates was the domain of Baal. The language of the Old Testament relates not just to the invading armies that Israel had to put up with, but also the idea that there are cosmic powers itching to invade.

[42] Jewish tradition held that in Sheol and Abaddon there were “angels of destruction,” who were in authority over thousands of scorpions (Heisser). Scorpions and serpents were associated in Old Testament and extra-biblical Jewish writings as metaphorical images for false teaching. (Greg Beale, Revelation: A Shorter Commentary)

[43] Greg Beale, Revelation: A Shorter Commentary

[44] Only two of the seven churches/lampstands remained faithful in Revelation 2-3: Smyrna and Philadelphia. Perhaps these two churches represent the faithful church. The whole world will see the two witnesses, which is understandable if they're a global church. That the witnesses are called trees comes from the vision of Zechariah in chapter 4. 

[45] Funny but true story: the Babylonian kings tried to predict what Daniel prophesied by doing the math of the 70 weeks. When nothing would happen in a literal 70 weeks, they would recount and try again…because the numbers were meant to be weighed, not counted.

[46] “I and making my words in your mouth fire and this people wood, and it will consume them.” (Jeremiah 5:14).  

[47] Greg Beale, Revelation: A Shorter Commentary

[48] Compare to Egypt: “And the Egyptians will know that I am Yehovah when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it.” They knew and acknowledged, but that’s not the same as salvation.

[49] Ooh. No more “and is to come.” He has arrived! 

[50] Here’s another reason I tend to see most of God’s judgment in Revelation as God giving people over to themselves. The word here for ‘destroy’ is the same word ‘destroy’ at the end of the verse that they did to the earth! “’Diaphtheírō (from diá, ‘thoroughly,’ which intensifies phtheírō, ‘defile, corrupt) properly, thoroughly corrupt, totally degenerate (disintegrate); waste away by the decaying influence of moral (spiritual) impurity; ‘utterly corrupt’; becoming thoroughly disabled (morally depraved), ‘all the way through’ (‘utterly decayed’).” #windandwhirlwind (HELPS Word Studies)

[51] In the Old Testament, the ark was a sign of God’s presence. It was usually behind a veil, but here it is fully revealed and accessible to all. 

[52] Thanks to http://newlisbon.church/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Revelation-Workbook.pdf for some really helpful insights.

[53] How do we do this? Faith/trust/belief based on the person and work of Jesus; commitment that orients/prioritizes our life; lifestyle committed to holiness (set apart for God); words that speak truth righteously; consistent, conscientious witness.

The Interlude (Revelation 7)

The scroll from Chapter 5 includes God's plan of redemption, mercy and judgment and encompasses all of history, especially from the cross to the new creation. We see:

·      Christ’s sovereign plan for redemptive history

·      the reign of Christ and the saints ‘now and not yet’

·      Christ’s protection of his people who suffer trials

·      God’s temporal and final judgment on the persecuting world.[1]

We focused last week on the first 6 seals out of 7. I want to focus on the Interlude before the 7thseal, which actually means starting with the 5th seal.  

6:9 Now when the Lamb opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been violently killed[2]because of the word of God and because of the testimony they had given. They cried out with a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Master, holy and true, before you judge those who live on the earth and avenge our blood?”[3]  Each of them was given a long white robe and they were told to rest for a little longer, until the full number was reached of both their fellow servants and their brothers who were going to be killed just as they had been.

The prayer is a cry for God's justice to hold to account those who have persecuted and brought about the saints’ suffering in chapters 6:1-8.[4] 

6th Seal – The ‘day of the Lord’ judgment: “Who can stand?” 

The church in particular cried out from the devastating persecution from the 4 Horsemen (“How long? Do something about our persecutors!”)[5] With the introduction of the 6th seal, there is clearly a judgment going on against the “earth dwellers” – the violent, persecuting followers of the Beast in culture and in church- who cannot escape accountability to God.  Turns outthe horsemen which were unleashed against the true church are also the agents of God’s judgment against the perpetrators.[6] It reminds me of the ironic punishment of the plagues of Egypt, which will show up in the trumpet and bowl judgments. 

Chapter 7, the interlude, is a flashback,[7] showing what happened before the tribulation of the Church Age and the martyr’s anguished cry.  

7:1 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth,[8] holding back the four winds of the earth[9]so no wind could blow on the earth, on the sea, or on any tree. Then I saw another angel ascending from the east, who had the seal of the living God.  He shouted out with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given permission to damage the earth and the sea: “Do not damage the earth or the sea or the trees until we have put a seal[10] on the foreheads of the servants of our God.” 

 So, this is looking back to before the 4 Horsemen have been unleashed. God’s vision reminds his readers that God had already put into motion a plan to “seal” the people of God in some fashion: they were marked, identified, claimed, kept safe. 

Now I heard the number of those who were marked with the seal, 144,000,[11] sealed from all the tribes of the people of Israel:  From the tribe of Judah, Reuben, Gad Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, Simeon, Levi, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, Benjamin, twelve thousand were sealed [from each].[12]

 Weigh the numbers. Virtually every commentary will tell you it’s just a way or portraying the totality of the church. It’s all the true (spiritual) children of Abraham who have been sealed by God.[13] As for the seal, [14] I believe that uppermost in John's mind is the protection of the believers’ faith and salvation through the various suffering and persecutions inflicted upon them.[15]

·      The seal marks genuine membership in the community of the redeemed.

·      The seal guarantees protection from God’s eternal judgment: those believing in the Lamb have been spared because the Lamb endured the punishment of death on their behalf.

·      The seal enables God's people to faithfully endure in the midst of pressures to give in to the seduction of Babylon (chapter 17) or the power of the beastly empire (chapter 20). 

·       The seal turns trials into instruments of refining and maturing both individually and corporately.

·      The seal empowers believers to perform the role of witness intended for the true Israel – it’s how Abraham’s descendants bless the world through and with Jesus.[16]  Somehow, through what they endure, the Great Commission flourishes, and more and more people are brought to salvation as the witness of a church that dies and yet lives points toward the Savior who started it all.  

After these things I looked, and here was an enormous crowd that no one could count, made up of persons from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb dressed in long white robes, and with palm branches in their hands.[17]  They were shouting out in a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God, who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels stood there in a circle around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they threw themselves down with their faces to the ground before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Praise and glory, and wisdom and thanksgiving, and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!”

The multitude standing before the throne is the direct answer to the question of “Who can stand?” It’s the resurrected saints who endured until the end. This is the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham of innumerable children (turns out it was a spiritual promise!) 

The list of sealed tribes is very similar to the census taken in Numbers 1: 21-23 for the purposes of organizing a military force to conquer the Promised Land.  

 Then one of the elders asked me, “These dressed in long white robes—who are they and where have they come from?”  So I said to him, “My lord, you know the answer.” Then he said to me, “These are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation.[18] They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb!  For this reason they are before the throne of God, and they serve him day and night in his temple,[19] and the one seated on the throne will shelter[20] them.

There is an interesting correspondence here with another passage. In chapter 5:5-6, John first hears about the Lion then sees the Lamb. In chapter 7, John hears of the military census (the lion of the tribe of Judah heads the list) but sees the saints from every tribe and nation with their robes purified and made white through the blood of the Lamb. The church is called to do battle for the Lion - but in the same way in which the kingly Lamb conquered at the cross. By maintaining their faith and witness through suffering and even death, they overcome the dragon, the beast, and all who serve them. 

 They will never go hungry or be thirsty again, and the sun will not beat down on them, nor any burning heat, because the Lamb in the middle of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to springs of living water,[21] and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”[22]

Abraham’s true children (the church) rejoice in: 

·      their New Exodus/redemption (from the conquering and enslaving attempts of beasts and dragons)

·      their spiritual and eternal victory over their persecutors

·      the fact that God has sealed them during their pilgrimage through the wilderness and tribulation of this world (12: 6-14; 7:13-14). [23]

* * * * *

So, let’s talk about “How long must we suffer?” and God’s answer, which is, “When the full number has been reached.”[24]

 Notice that Jesus does not respond to this impending persecution by thwarting these plans to attack his church. He had warned his followers of this. 

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 16:24-25)

 “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test [same word] you, as though something strange were happening to you.” (1 Peter 4:12) 

Commitment to Christ has always demanded a willingness to die for a Savior who set the pattern by dying for us. This is at the very heart of the Christian life.  That’s why Jesus’ response to his follower’s persecution is not (necessarily) to prevent it.  

The call of a disciple is to conquer the persecution or overcome as Jesus did, which is by faithfully enduring it.  Remember the classic verse addressing what can separate us from the love of God (or what can erase the seal)?

Will trouble, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we encounter death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”  No, in all these things we have complete victory through him who loved us! 

 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor heavenly rulers, nor things that are present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35-39)

Christianity doesn't offer persecution and non-persecution options.  You can’t uncheck the boxes that say, “trials, testing, tribulation.” Enduring suffering for the sake of Christ is not the mark of a unique set of fanatics. It’s for ALL Christians.  The early church didn’t know anything about the kind of prosperity gospel where being a Christian was supposed to keep them healthy, wealthy, and comfortable by the standards of Rome or Babylon. Re-read the letters to the 7 churches. Their wealth was eternal; their prosperity was in Christ. 

Today, one out of every two hundred Christians living today can expect to die for their faith. More than 25% of Christians around the world are part of an “underground church.”  For those of us who don’t face either of those realities, the testing we face is likely more from the seduction of Babylon than the persecution of Rome. Our testing may have more to do with fighting materialism and greed, or the idolatry of luxury, or the tendency to drift toward a sinful pride in our self-sufficiency. It’s all a test. 

So, why is this so deeply embedded in the Christian experience?

First, because the world will never be able to see the ultimate expression of the supremacy of Jesus in the lives of his people if they aren’t willing to lay down their lives for him. We love the stories of people willing to give their life for a cause, a person, an ideal. Everything from self-denial to martyrdom usually strikes a chord with us. We get an idea of what’s more important than life by that which we are willing to give our life. 

·      If you tell me to renounce Buckeye fandom or I die, I will be the biggest U of M fan you’ve ever seen. No problem. We’ll get ‘em every 10 years J I am not here to be an ambassador for Ohio State. 

·      If you put a gun to my head and say, “Transfer your citizenship to Costa Rica or else,” I’m going to protest and try to get around it because I like my United States citizenship, but at the end of the day it’s not worth saying goodbye to my family and giving up more time to be an ambassador for Jesus over that.  I can love and talk about Jesus anywhere. My true citizenship isn’t in the empires of the world anyway; it’s in a Kingdom not of this world. 

·      But if you tell me to denounce Jesus or else, I can’t do that. I have to die for that if I am serious about taking it seriously. When it comes to be asked to align my allegiances, I will not give my life for fandom or a worldly or cultural ideology, but I will for my faith. I cannot deny Christ. And I practice this every day; as Paul said, “I die daily” through orienting my life such that I am living for Christ while dying to self and resisting the siren call of Babylon and Rome.

Second, tribulation and persecution are given to strengthen our faith, not destroy it. Jesus told the church in Smyrna, 

“Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation…”

Jesus tells theses believers that the devil is about to throw some of them into prison, “that you may be tested.”  In other words, the persecution is not random; it’s not outside of God’s sovereign oversight. At minimum, God has allowed it as part of his redemptive purpose for the church.[25]  Remember Joseph: 

“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” (Genesis 50:20)

For the saints, tribulation serves to refine and purify their faith and character.[26] Persecution is opportunity. Trials are part of God’s plan. Gold is not purified without fire.  

 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he gave us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, that is, into an inheritance imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. It is reserved in heaven for you, who by God’s power are protected through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.  This brings you great joy, although you may have to suffer for a short time in various trials.  Such trials show the proven character of your faith, which is much more valuable than gold—gold that is tested by fire, even though it is passing away—and will bring praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. (1 Peter 1:3-7)

This is why fear and panic can never be the Christian response to trials, hardship and persecution that we face because of our allegiance to Jesus. We aren’t called to seek out trouble – indeed, the Bible gives plenty of examples of trying to avoid it when possible[27] – but if and when it comes, God has a plan for how to use it for our good and His glory.  

Third, it’s how the gospel is spread. “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” Why haven’t enough died yet? Because there are more people to be reached with the gospel and brought into the Kingdom through the witness of the faithful who suffer to the point of giving their lives. 

The Israelites waited to embark on their campaign to bring God’s judgment against the Amorites because “their sin is not yet full.”[28] God wasn’t going to judge them until the overwhelming nature of their sin (in a sense) forced His hand. “Enough!” After all, God is “not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.”[29]

Jesus was lifted up to draw all people to him (John 8:28), and when time as we know it ends, thee time to respond ends for those who are far from Christ. In our End Times prayers, our prayers of “How long?” should be balanced with our pleading for more time so that more may come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. 

Part of the plan for the pursuit of the perishing is for followers of Jesus to give their lives. That’s a cross to take up, to be sure, but it makes sense: we go where the Lamb goes (Revelation 14:4) in that way that the Lamb goes.[30]

__________________________________________________________________________
[1] Excerpts from Revelation: A Shorter Commentary. So much – so, so much – of insight from G.K. Beale’s book shows up in today’s message.

[2] “In his third vision, Hermas, an early Christian, was refused permission to sit at the right hand of the angel because this special place was reserved for those who had endured “scourgings, imprisonments, great tribulations, crosses, and wild beasts for the sake of the Name.” (Zondervan Illustrated Bible Background Commentary Of The New Testament)

[3] “What lessons can we learn from the deceased saints? In our anger against others, are our thoughts and even prayers motivated by a desire for their punishment or by a desire that God be glorified through the execution of his justice? In our anger, can we take the place of God and execute judgment even in our thoughts on those who have wronged us? Do we come before God and the awful awareness that he might judge our own attitudes and actions? how can we pray for God's justice or his glory but we are not reflecting his merciful character ourselves?” (N.T. Wright, Revelation For Everyone) 

[4] The cry of “How long?” echoes the psalmist in Psalms 6:3, 74:10, and 79:5.

[5] Jesus said the birth pains of the end times would happen in the generation of his audience (Matthew 24:34), and the glorified saints in Revelation 6:9–11 appear to have suffered under all four trials portrayed in the seals.  

[6] God often punishes by “giving them over to themselves” (Romans 1).

[7] A new vision is indicated by the introductory phrase of, “After this I saw.”

[8] The four angels in the four corners symbolize the whole world (Isaiah 11:12, Ezekiel 7:2, Revelation 20:8, Jeremiah 49:36).

[9] Ancients associated the four winds with the four directions (Jeremiah 49:36). In Jewish apocalyptic works, God controls the winds and delegates them to angels, using them for blessing or judgment. In Zechariah 6:1 – 6, God sent out four chariots; common Greek translation of Zechariah 6:5 describes these four heavenly “spirits” as the four “winds” of heaven, which could announce evil world empires (Daniel 7:2 – 3). Here God prevents the winds from blowing in judgment until he has marked his servants for protection. (NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible)

In the Ancient Christian Commentary On Scripture series, all three of the early church fathers quoted saw the Four Angels at the Four Corners of the Earth as political enemies of either the Jewish nation or of the church.

[10] The seal (in light of 2nd Corinthians 1:22, Ephesians 1:13 and 4:30) is said by some to be identified with the Holy Spirit.

[11] The community of the redeemed in 7:3-8 is the same as 14:1-4. It's a figurative picture of the church in its entirety, not in part.

[12] I shortened this by taking out “from the tribe of” and “12,000” from every line.

[13] You can even do some research on the order of the tribes, and some interesting variation in the traditional list of tribes, but I’m not ready to nerd that deep here. Yes, ‘nerd’ is a verb.

[14] The seal is comparable to the mark of blood on the doors of the Israelites so that they would be protected from God's judgment on Egypt (Exodus 12). This mark protects believers during the trumpet and bold plagues, which is we will see our closely modeled on the plagues of Egypt. The picture of the seal is also seen by Ezekiel when the Lord commands the angel to put a mark on the foreheads of those who hate sin before God strikes the city with judgment.(Ezekiel 9:4-6). 

[15] That the protection is spiritual is apparent because believers suffer physical afflictions.

[16] Isaiah 42:6-7, 49:6, 51: 4-8.

[17] The palm branch was used in the Feast of Tabernacles (Leviticus 23: 40-43), which celebrated God's protection of the Israelites during their wanderings in the desert.

[18] Alludes to Daniel 12:1; Matt 24:21.

[19] It's worth noting that, to John’s audience, serving in the temple was a privilege.

[20] A good translation is that God spreads his tabernacle over his people, which is language also used in 21:22. 

[21] “I am the living bread who comes down from heaven.” (John 6:51) “Whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35) “Whoever drinks from the water that I shall give him, it will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:14) “…shelter from the storm, and shade from the heat.” (Isaiah 25:4) “The sun will not strike you by day nor the moon by night.” (Psalm 121:2) “As the deer longs for springs of water, so my soul longs for you, Oh God.” (Psalms 42:1)

[22] Isaiah 25:8; 21:4

[23] The Great Tribulation is referenced in Matthew 24:21 and Daniel 12:1. In Daniel’s tribulation, the latter-day opponent of God's people persecutes them because of their faithfulness to him (Daniel 11). Some will fall away, even as some are doing in 5 of the churches of Asia. The tribulation consists of pressures from the religious system to compromise one's faith, and pressures from the world (including deprivation and persecution). This tribulation commences with the birth of the church and continues throughout the Church Age. It's worth noting that 21of the 23 uses of the word ‘tribulation’ in Paul's writings refer to a present reality. The Great Tribulation begins with the sufferings of Jesus and is now shared by all believers, who are fellow partakers of the tribulation, the kingdom, and perseverance which are in Jesus 1:9.  (Beale)

[24] I really liked how this topic was handled at North Shore Church. A lot of my following thoughts build on and borrow from them. http://www.nshorechurch.com/2020/06/23/letters-to-the-7-churches-the-church-at-smyrna-6-21-20/.

[25] All four of these horses seem to bring about one or two ends: Punishment or purification. For evildoers, it's punishment for the evil they have done, which may be seen as the ripple effect of evil in the world and the chaos and pain it brings. For those who are not contributing to this evil, it's meant as purification. It's a time to be gold refined in the fire. (N.T. Wright, Revelation For Everyone)

[26] Romans 5:3-5; 1st Peter 1:7; Daniel 11: 35; Revelation 3:18 and 22:14

[27] There was a time in the early church when some Christians thought martyrdom was the coveted death and pursued it. One Roman rule got so frustrated he pointed them toward some local cliffs and basically said, “Go throw yourselves off if you are that eager.” Yeah….that’s not a posture God calls us to either.

[28] Genesis 15:16

[29] 2 Peter 3:9

[30] “The way of Christ is demonstrated by being a faithful Witness, which often leads to our own death. Jesus said his witness on the cross would be powerful enough to draw all people to himself (John 12:32)… The controlling metaphor or governing symbol for the entire vision of Patmos is the slain lamb…  The symbol of the beast can open our eyes to systemic and structural evil in our world. Sometimes injustice or suffering may make it appropriate for us to use the rage passages in prayer. But we must always return and worship to the central motif of the Lamb. The example and teaching of the Lamb must cover the lives of believers. Then the rage we bring to God and leave at the throne of grace will find its proper place.[30]Seven Deadly spirits: The message of Revelations letters for today's Church, T. Scott Daniels

[31] For Christians, suffering is not meaningless, but gives opportunity to pattern our lives after the sacrificial model of Jesus. Seen from the Heavenly perspective, suffering ironically advances the kingdom of God. (N.T. Wright, Revelation For Everyone)

The Seven Seals (Revelation 6-8:1)

In the scroll that only Jesus was worthy to open we see God’s plan to offer salvation through the Cross. That New Covenant will enable those who love and worship Him to live as overcomers in His Kingdom even in this present, evil time.  John had tipped his hand in Revelation 1:5-6 when he wrote of,

“the one who loves us and has set us free from our sins at the cost of his own blood  and has appointed us as a kingdom, as priests serving his God and Father.”

This plan culminates in the “day of the Lord,” the Final Judgment, followed by the unveiling of the New Heaven and New Earth.[1]  Now, John will unpack this. 

We are going to read today about the opening of the 7 seals (the first in a series of visions of 7 seals, 7 trumpets, and 7 bowls). There are three main ways people views the seals, trumpets, and bowls unfolding. 

Where you land in terms of timelines will impact how you interpret Revelation as literature/history/ chronology of future events, but as Julie likes to say, “It’s about finish lines rather than timelines.” I agree. I have some opinions about timelines,[2] but I am for more interested in faithfulness until the finish line. What we do know about when things happen is this from Revelation 1: these “must happen soon,” and “what is and what will be.” That didn’t help, right? J Let’s move on.     

The Seven Seals

6 I looked on when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a thunderous voice, “Come!”[3] 

 2 So I looked, and here came a white horse! The one who rode it had a bow, and he was given a crown, and as a conqueror he rode out to conquer. 

3 Then when the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come!” 4 And another horse, fiery red, came out, and the one who rode it was granted permission to take peace from the earth, so that people would slay one another, and he was given a huge sword. 

5 Then when the Lamb opened the third seal I heard the third living creature saying, “Come!” So I looked, and here came a black horse! The one who rode it had a balance scale in his hand. 6 Then I heard something like a voice from among the four living creatures saying, “A quart [a daily ration] of wheat will cost a day’s pay, and three quarts of barley will cost a day’s pay. But do not damage the olive oil and the wine!” 

7 Then when the Lamb opened the fourth seal I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come!” 8 So I looked and here came a pale green horse! The name of the one who rode it was Death, and Hades followed right behind.[4] They were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill its population with the sword, famine, and disease, and by the wild animals of the earth. 

9 Now when the Lamb opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been violently slain because of the word of God and because of the testimony they had given. 10 They cried out with a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Master, holy and true, before you judge those who live on the earth and avenge/dispense justice for our blood?” 11 Each of them was given a long white robe and they were told to rest for a little longer, until the full number was reached of both their fellow servants and their brothers who were going to be killed just as they had been.

12 Then I looked when the Lamb opened the sixth seal, and a huge earthquake took place; the sun became as black as sackcloth made of black hair, and the full moon became blood red; 13 and the stars in the sky fell to the earth like a fig tree dropping its unripe figs[5] when shaken by a fierce wind. 14 The sky was split apart like a scroll being rolled up[6], and every mountain and island was moved from its place.

 15 Then the kings of the earth, the very important people, the generals, the rich, the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 16 They said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who is seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, 17 because the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to withstand?[7]

[I am going to cover the Chapter 7 interlude next week.]

8:1  Now when the Lamb opened the seventh seal there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.[8]

 That’s…a lot to take in – and confusing, after all the excitement about opening the scroll! Woo hoo! Wait…what? This seems like a rough start to bringing about the kingdom of salvation. This, so far, has not been good at all. So, let’s talk.  

Christians alive in the 90’s A.D had experienced some bad things. This was “what is” to John’s audience.

·      Nero’s persecution of Christians 

·      Two major earthquakes in A.D. 17 and 60

·      The fall of Jerusalem in AD 70

·      The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79

·      A great famine in A.D. 92

·      Domitian’s ongoing persecution

Jesus said the birth pains of the end times would happen in the generation of his audience[9], and the glorified saints in Revelation 6:9–11 appear to have suffered under all four trials portrayed in the seals.  John didn't have to make stuff up to unveil the template for patterns in history. Life is hard. Everyone suffers; Christians will suffer for being Christians. Be ready.[10] So, yes, it’s grim, but this was always assumed to be the precursor of the final kingdom of God.[11] There are birth pains before there is birth.[12]

This brings us to the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The players who were waiting in the wings for the New Covenant Church to start have entered the world stage. There time has come, because the church has begun. Enter stage left.

WHITE HORSE

This is Conquest or Triumph which is (in my opinion) primarily though not exclusively spiritual. Some think this is Jesus (see Revelation 18); some think it’s a Roman emperor because conquerors rode white horses. I favor a third view. The Bible describes Satan as an angel of light, a counterfeit who looks good but is bad. This rider is the same thing. He makes a great presentation, but chaos follows him.The white horse is a counterfeit of the Rider On The White Horse we will see later,[13] the antichrist figures John wrote about in 1,2, and 3 John, arising from within the church. The churches in Pergamum and Thyatira were being conquered: Ephesus resisted it. 

 RED HORSE

6:3-4 The second rider represents violent bloodshed and death. It’s the removal of peace from the earth. When the second horse causes men to “slay” one another, the word  - when it's used in Revelation - only refers to the death of the followers of Jesus or of Jesus.[14] Once again, this can be spiritual warfare, persecution, or general violence in the earth. The White Horse conquered some of God’s people through deception; the Red Horse brings violence. The churches in Pergamum, Smyrna (and Philadelphia and Ephesus to a lesser degree) experienced this. 

BLACK HORSE

This horse appears to represent poverty, famine and economic exploitation.[15] A quart of wheat would supply an average worker with one day's sustenance for his family. Barley was used by the poor to mix with the wheat. Basically, the poor were living hand-to-mouth if they were lucky. Sometimes it was much worse.[16]  For Christians who could not participate in good conscience in the Trade Guilds, life was economically hard already. This kind of scenario could be disastrous. We read about this with the church in Smyrna.

GREEN HORSE

Literally, “pestilence,” the fourth horseman represents widespread human death, with the ashen, pale-green color meant to mimic the pallor of death. The church in Thyatira experienced this (and Sardis was wasting away spiritually; Philadelphia had ‘little strength’).[17] 

Eusubius wrote that at the heights of the persecution, when Maximinus was Roman Emperor, both famine and pestilence along with other things fell upon them “so that such an innumerable multitude perished that they could not be buried. When the Armenians resisted the Romans, so that many were killed that the bodies of the dead were eaten by dogs. Finally, those left alive began to kill the dogs, fearing that they themselves might die and that the living would become their tombs.” [18] 

No wonder the 7 letters constantly admonished Christians to endure and be faithful in the midst of all they endured. Ever been to a movie theater where the audience was interactive? I can envision the early readers nodding and crying; somebody says, “Truth. Say it, say it.” This has been life.[19]

 THE MARTYRS

The martyrs[20] cry out, “How long?”  I can almost hear the amens murmured in that 1st century house church.  Those 4 horsemen have been wreaking havoc on followers of Jesus. 

6th Seal

“Until I do this,” says the Lamb. The phenomena listed in the 6th seal were common images for God’s judgment in “the day of the Lord.” 

·      “The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light. The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light” (Isaiah 13:10; Joel 2:10–11).

·      God would turn “the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord” (Joel 2:31).[21]

·      “Men will flee to caves in the rocks and to holes in the ground from dread of the Lord” (Isaiah 2). 

·      Jesus said that the inhabitants of Jerusalem would cry out “Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us!’ (Luke 23:30).

·      Jesus told his disciples that "in those days, following that distress, `the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken'" (Mark 13:24-25;Matthew 24:29; Luke 21:25-26).[22]

·      Premature darkness and an earthquake accompanied Jesus’ crucifixion (27:45, 51).[23]

Adam Clarke thinks this is a cultural broadside on political, spiritual and religious powers corrupting the world. 

·      A great earthquake - Momentous change in civil and religious constitution 

·      The sun (pagan government) is darkened, degraded and humbled.

·      The moon (pagan worship) was destroyed

·      The stars of heaven  - The gods and goddesses became as useless as the figs shaken from a tree.[24]

·      The heaven departed as a scroll — The whole system of pagan and idolatrous worship was shriveled up like a scroll thrown in a fire.

·      Every mountain — All the props of the empire (allies, tributary kings, colonies, mercenary troops) remove their worship, support, and maintenance (as we will see happen with Babylon later).

·      Islands — Heathen temples

Okay, that last one is a stretch. This is a way to read it, not the way. Revelation has layers that work together, not in opposition. I wonder if the 6th seal’s imagery is just a way of saying, “Everything thought by the world to be strong, trustworthy and even worthy of worship will come crashing down.” 

The reality is that, while God in the Old Testament or actively judged pagan nations characterized by excessive violence (Ninevah)[25] God also punishes people and nations by “giving them over to themselves” (Romans 1). We’ll see this later when the nations mourn that Babylon the Great has fallen even while they are the one tearing her apart.  And here’s where this time of judgment ties in to the 4 Horsemen.

·      Countries have never just persecuted Christians. The heart that gives them permission to do that gives them permission to do that to everybody. 

·      Countries have never just exploited Christians. The heart that lets them do that lets them do that to everybody. 

·      Countries that have allowed or even encouraged disease, death,  and exploitation to hit Christians hard are going to be willing to let that happen to any group of people they don’t like. 

We can’t compartmentalize ourselves as individuals or nations.  

·      What we are good with happening ‘there’, we will eventually be good with happening ‘over there’ and then ‘over there.’

·      What we want to see happen to ‘that person’ becomes what we want to see happen to ‘that person’ and then ‘all those people.’

·      Then eventually we are the people ‘over there’; we are ‘that person’ to someone else because we created and allowed that kind of system to happen. 

Sometimes we get what we want - and it’s a terrible thing. We may sow the wind, but who can stand the whirlwind?[26] This is why we never fight our battles with the enemy’s weapons. The means we use will make us who we are in the end. 

There is Final Judgment when God wraps up human history, bringing everyone into celestial court where, as the Judge, he will render justice. This will become clear as we move through the imagery of the bowls and trumpets. Meanwhile, God has not left us in the dark about the consequences of sin. Justice must be served. 

THE INTERLUDE[27] and then SILENCE IN HEAVEN (7th Seal)”[28] wrap up this section. We are going to talk more about these next week, partly because we don’t have time today and partly because I need more time to prepare :)

Meanwhile, it’s grim, this plan in the scroll that everyone was so excited to see opened. How long? Well, God doesn’t say. How much? God doesn’t say. We just see in the 6th seal that it will end, and the judge will render righteous judgment. However, there’s more (and this is from the interlude).

“The ones who have come out of the great tribulation, who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb… are before the throne of God, and they serve him day and night in his temple, and the one seated on the throne will shelter them. 

They will never go hungry or be thirsty again, and the sun will not beat down on them, nor any burning heat, because the Lamb in the middle of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

 The promise recalls Peter’s words to other first-century believers: 

“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be?  

You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and eagerly hasten toward its coming…But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.
So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. (2Peter 3:8–15)”

____________________________________________________________________________

[1] Expositor’s Bible Commentary

[2] I tend to think they are examples of recapitulation, retelling (overall) same thing story with different and increasing focus and intensity, with the final version (the bowls) leading into the Final Judgment.

[3] The Four Horsemen in the first 4 were foreshadowed in Leviticus 26, Ezekiel 14, Jeremiah 14:12, Zechariah 1:7-11 and 6:1-8, and by Jesus (Matthew 24; Mark 13; Luke 21). They are probably meant to be understood as happening simultaneously, or side-by-side. I say this for three reasons. And I say this as an opinion that is not of primary importance, and I won’t fight you over it J It’s just my framework, and I might be wrong. 

·       First, it was typical for a will with 7 seals to have everything revealed after the 7th seal, not progressively. 

·       Second, the Chapter 7 interlude (after the first six seals were opened) includes the following:  “Then I saw another angel ascending from the east, who had the seal of the living God. He shouted out with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given permission to damage the earth and the sea: 3 “Do not damage the earth or the sea or the trees until we have put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.”

·       In Zechariah 6:1-8, the horses are in chariot teams 

[4] Personified Death and Hades appear together in some Biblical poetry (Psalm 49:14; 116:3; Isaiah 28:15; Hosea 13:14; Habakkuk 2:5), as well as in Revelation 1. 

[5] The language evokes Isaiah 34:4; the stars would fall “like shriveled figs from the fig tree.”

[6] Revelation continues to draw on Isaiah 34:4, where “the heavens rolled up like a scroll.” One would normally unroll a scroll with the right hand while with the left hand rolling up what one had just finished reading.

[7] The question adapts Joel 2:11: “The day of the Lord is great … Who can endure it?” Also Malachi 3:2: “who can endure the day of his coming?”

[8] Don’t get hung up on the ‘half an hour.’ It’s just a short time of silence.

[9] Matthew 24:34

[10] This was not new information to John’s audience. The OT prophets said judgments would precede the day of the Lord (Isaiah 13, 34; Jeremiah 4–7; Ezekiel 7, 25; Amos 5:18–27; Zephaniah 1–3). Judgment was not unexpected. God is a holy God, after all. There must be an account for sin. The division of 7 seals/trumpets/bowls reminded 1st century Jewish readers of a warning repeated four times in Leviticus 26: ‘I will punish you for your sins seven times over’ (18, 21, 24, 28). When Jesus talks of the end times in the gospels (Matthew 24; Mark 13, Luke 21) he mentions the seven judgments found in Revelation 6. 

[11] NET Bible Commentary

[12] Matthew 24:8

[13] “What of the rider’s bow? In Greek mythology, Apollo was the god who inspired prophecy, and he is often depicted carrying a bow. The bow probably represents false prophecy, whose effect has already been felt in the Asian churches. If he represents false prophets and false prophecy, the vision confirms John's view that false prophets like the Nicolaitans at Pergamum and "Jezebel" at Thyatira, urging compromise with the values of the Roman Empire, are responsible for all the other troubles to come.” - IVP New Testament Commentary

[14] NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible

[15] The balance held by the third rider symbolizes divine judgment. Daniel declared to King Belshazzar, “You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting” (Dan. 5:27). Leviticus 26:26 describes the distribution of bread during times of famine: “They will dole out the bread by weight. You will eat, but you will not be satisfied” (cf. Ezek. 4:16)

[16] “In A.D. 51, the emperor Claudius barely escaped a hostile crowd during a grain shortage and resulting famine that left Rome with only a fifteen-day supply of grain. During their revolt, the Jews in Jerusalem experienced great famine. Thousands died as relatives fought over the smallest morsel of food. The most horrific example involved a young mother named Mary of Bethezuba who, because of her hunger, tore her baby from her breast and roasted it, devouring half the corpse. This abomination of infant cannibalism horrified both the Jewish rebels and the Romans.” - How To Read The Bible Book By Book

[17] “During the summer of 65 when Nero was persecuting the church, a plague broke out in Rome killing 30,000 residents. Pestilence also broke out in Jerusalem due to overcrowding during the Roman siege in A.D. 70.”  N.T. Wright, Revelation For Everyone

[18] N.T. Wright, Revelation For Everyone

[19] There is remarkable overlap in this seal with what Jesus told one of his audiences (Luke 21: 5-38) that they would see come to pass in their lifetime.

[20] Beale is of the opinion that “It is possible that only literal martyrs are in mind, but more likely those who are “slain” are metaphorical and represent the broader category of all saints who have suffered through the trials for the sake of their faith and died (so Rev. 13:15–18 and perhaps 18:24; 20:4).”

[21] “Such an eclipse occurred on October 18, 69. ‘The moon itself was turned to blood. Its eclipse, which entered its maximum phase of near totality at 9.50 p.m., four hours after dusk, gives it a sinister copper-coloured appearance as the light of the sun, drained of its blue component, was refracted round the earth by the latter’s atmosphere, and fell dimly upon the almost full orb of the moon. This must surely be a portent of disaster and death.’ Seven days later Vitellius’ army was completely routed at the second Battle of Cremona, ensuring the accession of Vespasian as emperor.” - Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary Of The New Testament

[22] The sun turns black and the moon blood red, the stars fall, and the sky is rolled back as a scroll — all common elements in Old Testament accounts of the end (Isa. 13:9–11; 24:1–6; 19–23; 34:4; Ezek. 32:6–8; 38:19–23; Joel 2:10, 30–31; 3:15–16; Zech. 14:5). 

[23] Josephus mentioned numerous signs around Jerusalem before its fall: a star resembling a sword hung over the city; a comet lasted a year. 

[24] Michael Heisser favors a reading that sees the “stars of heaven” as  similar beings as well. At least one of the stars in the trumpet judgments is a being. 

[25] “The judgment of the world originates in its failure to believe and be faithful to this God. When it creates its own deities, it suffers the natural consequences of deifying the non-divine. In this sense, judgment proceeds from the throne of God and from the Lamb (6:16–17) because the rejection of the divine gift of life carries with it inherent deadly consequences… when humans reject Lamb power they experience it as imperial disaster—disordered desire, death, and destruction.” Michael Gorman, Reading Revelation Responsibly

[26] Hosea 8:7

[27] “The vision of the souls of the martyrs under the altar seems to come from the OT practice of pouring the blood (the physical manifestation of the life of the soul) of sin offerings at the base of the altar of burnt offering.” Orthodox Study Bible

[28] Silence was a precursor to judgment (Isaiah 41:1; Amos 8:3; Zechariah 2:13). Silence could come from awe or fear (Job 40:4; Habakkuk 2:20).[28] Silence, trumpets, and offering of incense were also features of the Jewish temple liturgy. Since the offering of incense and sacrifices were made in silence, the silence may be in honor or the sacrifice of God’s people who were slain.