Revelation 12-13, "Here is a Call for the Endurance and Faith of the Saints"

Our spiritual enemy, the devil, is overcome when we bear witness to salvation in Jesus Christ. In other words, we participate in bringing the kingdom of God and overthrowing evil when we share the gospel with our words and our lives.

Revelation 12:9–11 (ESV)

And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come,

for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.

And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.

Let’s see how this plays out for John, for the end time prophets yet to come, and for us.

For John, Revelation 10 is a recommissioning of John as a prophet. John is given a scroll from an angel that looks a lot like the glorified Jesus Christ we saw in chapter 1. The scroll is called a “little scroll”. This isn’t the work of Christ per se. This scroll represents John’s prophetic message. He is told to do something weird.

Revelation 10:9–10 (ESV)

So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll. And he said to me, “Take and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.”

And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it. It was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter.

This is a repeat of the call to the apocalyptic prophet Ezekiel, and it’s pretty weird, but obviously it’s a metaphor for the ministry of a prophet, which becomes clear in verse 11,

Revelation 10:11 (ESV)

And I was told, “You must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and languages and kings.”

John’s message will be sweet because he gets to preach the word of God, the hope of King Jesus. But it is bitter for a couple of reasons. First, it is a political message of destruction for the kingdoms of the world.

This is the same for us. When we share the good news of the gospel of Jesus, we are giving people hope of eternal life here and now through union with Christ. We are also proclaiming that all their other hopes are temporary and will come to an end. This makes for hard and uncomfortable conversations.

The other reason John’s message is bitter is connected to the suffering of Christians.

This takes a few minutes of Biblical theology, so bear with me. John introduces us in chapter 11 to a period of time he refers to as 42 months and 1,260 days. Which are the same, by the way, as saying three and a half years.

You should know that my interpretation of Revelation and the doctrine of the end times is only one of several acceptable views. In other words, we can disagree on how these things come about and still be brothers and sisters in Christ, and still reach the same conclusion of the book together: whatever happens, Jesus wins.

And the difference in interpretation makes a difference wit this three and a half year period of tribulation that comes at the end of all things. Some interpret this to be half of a period of seven years spoken of by the prophet Daniel, which will fulfill God’s dealings with the nation of Israel. They believe the church will be taken in a rapture just before this period starts. This view is supported by passages in the Hebrew prophets and in New Testament writings such as

1 Thessalonians 5:9–10 (ESV)

For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.

and in specifically in Revelation 3:10

Revelation 3:10 (ESV)

Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth.

among many others. This view sees the tribulation as the outpouring of God’s wrath on a rebellious world and the church will be spared that.

I held this view for a long time. And as I said, it is among several valid interpretations of the scriptures.

The image for this view would be Lot and his family being taken out of Sodom before the hellfire rained down or Elijah hidden away by a river in the wilderness for three years. God saves His people from the great tribulation to come at the end of time.

The more I have read the Bible, I have seen another image. God saves His people through or out of the great tribulation. The image here would be the plagues coming upon Egypt while Israel dwells unharmed in the land.

And both images can be justified from Revelation. In fact, in chapter 11, two prophets that look a lot like Moses and Elijah come at the end of time. In either view, God brings judgment on the earth and saves the remnant of His faithful people from destruction.

I have grown to favor the saved through tribulation view for several reasons. One is the fact that the judgments in Revelation are mostly repeats of the plagues on Egypt. Also, Revelation draws heavily on passages from the apocalyptic prophets who encouraged Israel in Babylonian captivity that God would use their suffering in exile to purify them, and save a righteous remnant through that time and bring them into the promised land.

For example, in chapter 11, John is told to measure the temple and those who worship there.

Revelation 11:1 (ESV)

Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there,

This measuring of the temple comes directly out of the prophet Ezekiel, who was prophesying about a temple to come in the future. You measure things you want to make sure will fit in your house or in your plans. God showed Ezekiel a plan for a future temple, that would fill Jerusalem. It would be His dwelling with humans. We will see later in Revelation that God’s plan was even bigger than Ezekiel knew.

Here, John is told to measure that temple and those who worship there. The New Testament authors usually use the image of temple to describe the believers in Jesus indwelt by the Holy Spirit - the church. God dwells in believers. So, in Revelation 11:1, the church, in its worship of God, “measures up”. But the outer court, the place where the church dwells as a holy city in world corrupted by sin, “trampled by the nations”,

Revelation 11:2 (ESV)

but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months.

it’s time has not reached its full measure. That measurement is not made known to us. We don’t know how long the contentious relationship of the church to the world will last.

But one thing we learn is that the time for the persecution of the church is limited. This is forty-two months, or three and a half years, or half of seven, the fullness of time. The prophet Daniel uses the same measure in chapter 12.

Daniel 12:7 (ESV)

And I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the stream; he raised his right hand and his left hand toward heaven

and swore by him who lives forever that it would be for a time, times, and half a time, and that when the shattering of the power of the holy people comes to an end all these things would be finished.

The four chapters of Revelation 10-13 are a mashup of passages and images from Daniel, Ezekiel, and Zechariah, the apocalyptic prophets of the Hebrew Bible. the message of all of them is that the righteous will undergo trials and tribulation in this world, but it will be a refining for them

Daniel 12:10 (ESV)

Many shall purify themselves and make themselves white and be refined, but the wicked shall act wickedly. And none of the wicked shall understand, but those who are wise shall understand.

Revelation fills out the picture a little more. In the same three and a half year period that the people of God will undergo intense persecution, God will strengthen the witness of the church with two prophets who will come to Jerusalem in the power of Moses and Elijah, the two great prophets of the nation of Israel. They will perform the same miracles, and their preaching of the kingdom of God in Christ will have the same powerful effect as Moses and Elijah’s message that the kingdom of God would bring down the corrupt kingdoms of Egypt, Syria, and Jezebel.

Even these powerful prophets will be given over to be killed by “the beast from the bottomless pit”,

Revelation 11:7 (ESV)

And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them,

the empire that rules the world in opposition to God.

Revelation 11:11 (ESV)

But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them.

Revelation 11:12 (ESV)

Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them.

Revelation 11:13 (ESV)

And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.

Their terror produces some kind of repentance. This is the key. Satan knows his time is limited to cause chaos and sow seeds of evil, and even some of his actions will result in salvation for those who repent and believe.

Revelation 12 is this fantastic way of telling the story of Jesus, the son of the woman who will defeat the deceitful serpent and break the curse of sin going all the way back to the garden of Eden (Genesis 3:15). Satan tried to ruin God’s plan by killing the Messiah, but that very plan resulted in Messiah’s exaltation and the downfall of Satan.

In other words, what Satan meant for evil in crucifying Christ, God used for good. Salvation comes to sinners through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

And we participate in the downfall of Satan when we bear witness to salvation in Jesus Christ and we are willing to die for Him and His gospel.

Revelation 12:11 (ESV)

And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.

So, his wrath toward those who would live for Christ is furious.

Revelation 12:17 (ESV)

Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea.

Satan is behind the persecution of Christians, the people of God. He is the power behind the beast, Revelation’s image for the rulers of the world that oppose God and persecute His people. That same three and a half year period of persecution shows up again in chapter 13.

Revelation 13:5–7 (ESV)

And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months.

It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them.

That beast, that represents human governments, will be united with another beast in chapter thirteen that seems to represent false religions that make people who don’t worship Jesus to worship the first beast.

Revelation 13:12 (ESV)

It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed.

The dragon and the two beasts form an unholy trinity that opposes the true Trinity of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And God will allow them to persecute His people. But what they mean for evil, God will use for good. It will purify them of their love for the world that would keep them from loving Him with their whole heart. And it will give them opportunity to testify to the world enslaved to the devil that Christ is King and the Lamb has provided salvation. You can be freed from the clutches of the beast through faith in Jesus.

But faithfulness to Jesus draws the wrath of dragon and the beast. So,

Revelation 13:9–10 (ESV)

If anyone has an ear, let him hear:

If anyone is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes;

if anyone is to be slain with the sword, with the sword must he be slain.

Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.

The Christian life is not an easy life. The path of least resistance is to go along with the dragon and the beast, Satan, and the rulers of the world that promise peace but rob you of eternal life. To follow Jesus means eternal life, and reward in the world to come, but in the world here and now, trouble.

So, this calls for endurance and faith. For a long time, Christians in America have experienced unprecedented favor and prosperity. We can be thankful for seasons like that. But we should not expect them to be the norm. And it has weakened our endurance and our faith. Our witness to Christ is weak. Our testimony is most effective in times of tribulation. When the world sees Christians suffer without losing our joy and hope in Jesus, we have opportunity to share the gospel. Not that we ask for trouble, but we also should not fear it.

Many people fear that Satan is conquering souls all around us, but we should not fear. His time is short, and his authority to harm Christians is limited. We have the power to conquer him. We conquer him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony, and when we love not our lives even unto death.

Revelation 12:11 (ESV)

And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.

When we tell others what Jesus has done for us by shedding His blood and what testify that He has changed our lives and that we are even willing to die for Him out of love for Him, this is our power.

Communion

Questions for Discussion

What can we celebrate this week? What has been hard this week?

What are some opportunities you have had to share the gospel in difficult times?

In what ways is sharing the gospel sweet, and in what ways can it be bitter?

In Revelation 12, we see a cosmic battle in which Satan is thrown down and conquered. What is the encouragement we read in verses 10 and 11? In what ways can you use that in your life now?

Revelation 13 returns to describe the persecution of believers by the beast and his followers. When the time of persecution comes, how can we face it without fear?

How will you apply these scriptures to your life this week?

Who is someone you can encourage this week with the hope of the gospel?