A Worthless Mark

Imitation

There’s an old adage: “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”

While growing up…I tried to imitate Michael Jordan on the basketball court…Eric Dickerson or Walter Patyon on the football field…or…

...to imitate the Fresh Prince or Tupac’s style of rap...

Believe me…whatever you’re imagining right now…it was worse than that...

Why did I want to imitate those professionals?

In a word…excellence.

They were…praise-worthy for their abilities in their particular area of expertise. No doubt there is some emotional-psychological need I had (and still do) to be thought of as “praise-worthy” and imitating those professionals…was one way I thought I too…could be praise-worthy.

The Book of Revelation

Today we are focusing on the book of Revelation.

The book of Revelation is part of the apocalyptic…a style of writing…written in times of suffering and persecution where God’s people have no hope…outside of direct divine intervention.

Revelation…in Greek…Apocalypsis…means revealing…or unveiling…

The book of Revelation…most likely written at the end of the 1st century CE…is an revealing...a pulling back the curtains…on how the early church understood itself…and God’s role in their world…as they were becoming increasingly isolated, stigmatized, and persecuted.

As the English translation “Revelation” indicates…this book is a series of revelations revealed to Jesus and sent to John…who bore witness to all he was shown.

As Gerhard Krodel puts it, “For some Christians it is the most important book, for others... it is the most ignored. Certainly it is the most misunderstood book of the New Testament.”

(Gerhard A. Krodel, Revelation, Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House, 1989), 13.)

Although the book is filled with metaphors and symbols…it was meant to be understood…by the seven churches to which it was written.

What is the point of revealing something…if all it reveals…is more mystery or confusion?”

However, we must remember, when we are are dealing with God and the Bible…there will always be a certain amount of mystery involved.

As the prophet Isaiah records God saying,

Isaiah 55:8–9 (ESV)

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways...and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Therefore…we must have some humility…and embrace a certain level of mystery in the text of Revelation...especially sense we are 2,000 years removed from when this book was written.

The Context

By the end of the first century CE…when Revelation was written…Christians had experienced great suffering at the hands of empire.

By empire…I mean the Roman empire…and all the socio-economic, religious, and political systems that work to ensure the empire endures...

Christians were scapegoated under Nero in the 60’s…catching the attention of the empire as an easy political target…due to Christians being seen as those who had “hatred against humanity” (Tacitus, Annals, 15.44) for their refusal to partake in emperor worship or the worship of the Roman pantheon.

In 70 CE…when Rome ransacked Jeruslame and destroyed the holiest site in Judaism…Herod’s temple...Christians observed the links to which empire would go to squash any group who dared to defy them…

Since Nero…the Roman emperors were more and more willing to declare themselves as gods (or as the god’s divine representative)…and many Roman cities built shrines and temples to deify the emperor and worship him…

Christians and Jews refused to do this…Judaism…having lived side-by side with Rome for centuries had more acceptance of their refusal…but the upstart Christians…who were increasingly distanced from their Jewish siblings…weren’t so lucky...

By the time of the writing of Revelation…Christians could no doubt…see the writing on the wall…they were increasingly seen as “against humanity” or “against the Roman empire”....

This is the milieu…from which the book of Revelation comes...

However…we must remember…that the bottom line for the book of Revelation is that while persecution was growing…and would continue to do so…ultimately, the enemies of God and God’s people would be defeated and God would reign over a new heaven and new earth.

As Mounce writes, “The death struggle of a defeated foe will bring severe tribulation, but the outcome is certain—God will come in judgment to destroy his enemies (chaps. 15–19) and reward his own (chaps. 20–22).” (Mounce 1997, 229)

Our Passage

Our reading comes to us from…roughly the middle of the book.

Grant Osborne writes, “It is common to label 12:1-13:8 the heart of the book, for it establishes the core theme, the war between God/his people and the dragon/his people and between the lamb and his counter part, the beast.” (Osborne 2002, 454)

In this section…we find what Osborne describes (contra Beasley-Murray, Mounce, Beale) as the third interlude.

Interludes are interruptions in the book of Revelation that update the reader (or hearer) on the status of God’s people in the midst of judgement.

In the first interlude (Rev. 7) interrupts the seal judgement to tell us that God’s people are sealed on the forehead…a sign of their belonging to God…and God’s people (from every nation) are pictured in heaven.

In the Second Interlude (Rev. 10 and 11)…the trumpet judgments are interrupted to pronounce the need to wait and the need for continued witnessing for God on earth as those on earth have not yet repented.

Of this Koester writes, “Wrath alone does not move people to repent (9:20–21), which is why continued witness is needed. Readers are assured that God’s justice will be done, but the delay allows time for the church to bear witness to the unrepentant world (10:1–11:14).” (Koester 2014, 436)

The Third Interlude

In this third interlude (Rev. 12-13) from which our passage comes…we find the introduction of the dragon (Satan)…the beast from the sea (antichrist) and the beast from the land/earth (the false prophet)…together forming the unholy trinity...

Everything the unholy trinity does…is an imitation of what God has done…as mounce puts it:

“As Christ received authority from the Father (Matt 11:27), so Antichrist receives authority from the dragon (Rev 13:4); and as the Holy Spirit glorifies Christ (John 16:14), so the false prophet glorifies the Antichrist (Rev 13:12).”

Robert H. Mounce, The Book of Revelation, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1997), 255.

Ch. 12 introduces the dragon…described as the devil or Satan…who pursues a woman…who represents the whole people of God (Israel and the church)…after being thrown down from heaven…the enraged dragon…pursues God’s people who remain faithful to God’s commandments.

Rev. 13:1-8 describes the beast from the sea…a place of chaos and evil…this beast is also the enemy of God and God’s people…receiving a mortal wound but it was healed…and he makes ware on the saints..

Finally…in our reading…we are introduced to the beast from the land…the false prophet…who had two horns like a lamb (perhaps symbolizing the lamb of God) but spoke like a dragon...

This beast exercised all authority of the first beast made “all the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast” …

Like Elijah on Mt. Carmel…this beast calls down fire from heaven…in order to deceive people…he tells the people of the earth to make an image of the beast who had a mortal wounded but lived...

Then he was given power to give breath to the beast and the image speak…and any who did not worship it…was killed...

…then…perhaps the most famous part of the book of revelation…we read of the mark of the beast…to be given to everyone…and if you didn’t have the mark you could not buy or sell…the mark was the name the beast or the number of his name…666.

Many have attempted to apply the “wisdom” that John calls for…but the best guess for whose name is 666 is Nero Caesar…when transliterated into Hebrew equals 666 using an ancient practice called gematria… “where the letters of the alphabet were also used as numbers in counting.” (Osborne 2002, 519)

So What

So what are we to make of our passage this morning?

Why does the identity of the dragon, and two beasts, and the number of the second beast’s name…matter to us?

It matters to us…because it has mattered to Christians from the time that it was written. Although as I’ve already stated…some have and will continue to ignore this book...

Others…take seriously its place in the Bible and what it has to say to us...

It also matters because the Book of Revelation was written to Christians who were struggling in unique ways in different places…and the word written to them…was meant to be understood…and was meant to encourage them in the midst of their struggle.

The picture painted by our passage from Rev. 13 may have had its reference point in the Roman empire…but at the same time, it transcends empire altogether by linking how satan, the anit-christ spirit, and the false prophet. These forces are always at work going after the faithful…trying to demand our worship…and trying to entices us to follow their ways instead of remaining faithful to God.

John wants to let readers know that there is evil at work in the world…evil that desires to persecute and make suffer the people of God…

Throughout the book of revelation…God’s people are not discussed as being a part of the Roman empire…and yet…by the very address on the letters…we know Christians were part of the empire...

We can be part of empire…and still be wounded by empire.

Have we been wounded?

Have we at BPC been apart of or wounded by our American empire?

I think its both.

We have no doubt benefited…a white Euro-American dominated society…and by the former prominence Christianity once held in our culture…

We have always had prominent members of our community as members...

Our members have deep roots to the Brownstown community.

We claim to be the oldest Presbyterian congregation in Jackson County…with roots predating Indiana statehood.

but now we have followed the trend of most so-called main-line churches...

…our number of members have dwindled...

Our self-sufficiency…or ability to carry on business as usual has suffered.

during the Covid-19 pandemic…changed the way we’ve always done things…and in some ways have pushed us forward…but we are in uncharted waters...

We in this congregation…know both of the benefits of being in line with Empire…as well as that of declining influence, status, and an uncertain future that comes with lessening influence and little power.

John is telling the churches of the first century: Empire will stop at nothing, except total control and will entice Christians to follow its demonic ways…

John is speaking to a church…pondering its future with increasing persecution.

Although BPC is not facing persecution…we too are pondering our future as a viable church.

John’s calling the church of his day to wait and continue to witness.

The call of our day is to rethink our witness in this community. In what ways do we need to change in order to support others who feel the pain inflicted by empire?

In what ways can we remain a viable community?

Now What?

Just after our reading…Rev. 14 opens with another view of the people of God in heaven singing God’s praises…reminding us that God is watching over God’s people.

Like the church in John’s day…we might be called to endure a time of suffering…what would suffering look like at BPC?

It might look like continued decline…to the point where we might begin to look outside these four walls for points of connection with other churches or community organizations with more people power than us…and who are addressing the oppression of those under the foot of empire.

Suffering at BPC might look like completely changing how we understand ourselves in relation to empire and our community. Perhaps we could reach out to immigrant Christian communities that need a place to worship. Perhaps we seek out those under-served in our community who feel they have no place to go…no place to worship…no place to belong.

John is calling the church to perseverance...

BPC has a history of perseverance and endurance...

When we suffer…waiting is difficult...

But John reminds us that waiting…while difficult…especially as persecution increases…our faithfulness to Jesus Christ…to keeping the commands of God will continue to guide us through difficult times…and reminds us that our future is with God!

Let us remain faithful…Let us go out and live for the reign of God…today…and everyday.