The Dragon, the Beasts, and the Lamb

When I was in primary school, very often my sister and I would go to our gran’s house when our parents were working. There wasn’t a lot for two small children to do there, so very often we’d turn to the small collection of VHS tapes containing shows and films that had been recorded from the TV at various times. On one of those tapes was the 1939 classic, The Wizard of Oz starring Judie Garland. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve wached the adventures of Dorothy and her companions as they faced down various trials and challenges in their quest to receive their various desires from the great and powerful wizard. But of course as I’m sure we all know - and I apologise if I’m spoiling anything for folk who haven’t seen an eighty-five-year-old movie and were planning to do so soon - at the end of the day the wizard wasn’t so great and powerful. Although he appears impressive - a giant angry face surrounded by flames with a booming voice - ultimately “the man behind the curtain” is nothing but a “humbug”.

There’s a life lesson in there.

Sometimes we’re going to encounter people or institutions which seem great and powerful. Sometimes they’ll promise us the fulfilment of dreams, or try to threaten us into submission with fire and thunder. And sometimes we’ll see through that, and realise that behind the curtain of that display is a humbug.

But what if we don’t?

Today we arrive at one of the most famous passages in Revelation, and also one of the key passages of the entire book. We’ve left the events occuring before the throne, and now we see events on earth.

We pick up with the Dragon standing at the shore - now, in the previous chapter it was established by John that this dragon is satan and that at this point in time he is preparing to wage war with “those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.” That’s the church. Two beasts emerge, one from the sea who is given authority by the dragon to rule the earth and wage war against God’s people, and one from the earth who performs great miracles and who exercises authority on behalf of the beast from the sea.

We see that people worship the beast, and they worship the dragon who gave the beast its authority. And we also see that everyone is given a mark that is the name or the number of the beast - six hundred and sixty six.

There’s a lot going on here.

Now if you think back to four weeks ago when I was talking about the different ways Revelation can be interpreted, this is one of the passages which many who view the book as an exact prophecy of things to come take very seriously. They’ll often point to the first beast as being “the anti-christ”, and spend a lot of time on how we recognise who this person is, and where he or she is going to come from. They’ll tend to view the second beast as being some assistant or spokesman of the antichrist, and often the mark is identified as some type of modern technology.

I don’t tend to take that view, and I think it’s healthy to be suspicious of it. Here’s why: very often these interpretations will point to the antichrist as being linked to some very specific modern political group, often a country which happens to be powerful at the current time. The mark will be identified specifically with some established but not widely adopted technology.

And then they don’t happen - the technology changes, the political landscape changes, and so the interpretation changes. And this causes two issues: the first is that if we take these interpretations seriously they can lead us to unneccessary fear and scepticism over that which is harmless, or even beneficial. The second, which is much more serious, is that if we spend our time looking for the antichrist in one specific place, we may be distracted from noticing the forces of evil elsewhere and place ourselves at risk of being deceived.

So instead, let’s continue to focus on how this passage speaks to us today not as a roadmap of things to come, but as a pastoral message of warning and of hope.

But before we get there, let’s just note some important symbolism - the dragon and the beasts here seem to perform a sort of perverted trinity - the dragon who is satan grants authority to the first beast just as the Father grants authority to the Son, and the second beast putting a mark on the hand or forehead parallels a passage elsewhere in Revelation which sees the people of God given a “seal” by the spirit. So in understanding this passage we need to recognise that John is referring to earthly powers which set themselves up in opposition to God.

And the first thing he’s telling us about these powers is that

Satan works through secular powers

And let’s be very honest and real about this: it’s very probable that at some point or another we’ve all fallen into the trap of being deceived by satan, when we find ourselves putting our trust in some politician or business leader or celebrity who promises us great things.

The first beast in this passage is described as having elements of a leopard, a bear, and a lion, and having ten horns. This combines the elements of four beasts that were seen in a vision by the prophet Daniel centuries earlier, and to the reader of the time the message would have been clear: that this beast is the Roman Empire. The head that seems to have been killed and survived might refer to a popular belief at the time that the emperor Nero had survived his suicide and would return. It also seems to be a clear subversive mockery of Christ who was slain and rose again.

And we should take that mockery as a sober warning: that great secular powers will even attempt to subvert the gospel as part of Satan’s attempt to deceive us.

Let me restate that.

Satan wants us to turn from God and put our faith in secular powers, and so those powers try to tempt us with a subversion of the gospel.

And that might look like tempting us with power. By turning the gospel into a call to rule and dominate and to opress those who those who we deem enemies of God.

Or it might look like asking the same question that the serpent asked in the Garden: “did God really say that?” Turning the good news of salvation from sin and the call to repentence into merely a message for living a good life and one lifestyle option amongst many.

My friends, there are those who wish to force Christianity on others - with the force of law if neccessary- and there are those who will insist that whilst Christianity is right for them they don’t want to ask their friends and loved one to abandon their own different beliefs. And both of those groups are doing the work of satan.

Now look at the second beast. This is where it gets even worse because not only is Satan working through secular powers, and not only do those secular powers try to tempt us with a perversion of the gospel, but

Satan also works through religious powers

The second beast performs great signs such as calling down fire from the heavens, and it causes the inhabitants of the earth to be deceived and to worship the beast.

Now, fire from the heavens is something we’ve seen before: most notably it’s one of the most famous miracles of the prophet Elijah. So what we’re seeing here is a false prophet.

We’re seeing a message about the way religious leaders will support secular leaders. To the readers of the time, it points to the Roman priesthood who supported the cult of the emperor - a fact underscored by this beast having those who would not worship the first beast killed, a very real reality to Christians at the time.

And whilst we here in America are not at risk of being excecuted for refusal to worship the President, we still see here the clear message that religions will be used to deceive the world. And in part that’s a statement of the exclusivity of the gospel: that those religions which are not of God will decieve the world away from true saving faith. But it’s also a warning once again of those who will set themselves up as church leaders but will offer deceptive teachings which are not of Christ.

We’re seeing a warning that signs and miracles can come from sources that are not of God. Satan’s workers will also perform them. But unlike the miracles that come from the true power of Christ, these are signs which don’t come with the power of salvation from sin. They’re counterfeit.. They’re intended only to decieve and lead us away from the truth.

And so it’s a warning that we must test the lessons we hear from our leaders, and from those outside of our faith who seem to bring signs and messages, against those of Christ as found in the scriptures, and we must confirm that we are not being lead astray.

Now let’s briefly look at the mark of the beast, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name. John says

Revelation 13:18 NRSV

This calls for wisdom: let anyone with understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a person. Its number is six hundred sixty-six.

Or as other translations will put it, it is a human number.

Now, most commentaries will suggest that this is a coded message about a real person - the leading contendor is the Emperor Nero, and the theory goes that by translating his name from Latin to Hebrew the numbers assigned to those letters in the Hebrew alphabet will add up to 666. At least one commentator used some questionable number asignments in the modern Latin alphabet to show that the number refers to Hitler.

The problem is that this approach can lead to needless speculation. Whilst it’s possible that the message to the early church was indeed about Nero, and whilst it could well be that there is also a reference here to some future great tyrant, to spend our time looking for clues as to who that is creates a distraction from the work of God’s kingdom in the here and now.

But consider this: as we’ve seen over and over in the last few weeks, the symbolism of numbers is a recurrent theme in Revelation. One of those numbers is seven, the number of perfection representative of God.

Six then, is a human number in that it is a lesser number than seven.

It falls below perfection.

No matter how many times we repeat six, it still is not higher than 7.

And this a message that mere humans, no matter their power, will not match the perfect power of God.

Rulers will not match the perfect power of God.

Satan’s forces will not match the perfect power of God.

And so we are to take comfort in knowing that these great powers, though they will deceive many, and though we will face great opposition from them, will not win. Evil will be conquered by God.

And here’s why that comfort is so important to cling on to. The most shocking part of this message is that

We will conquer evil through being conquered

Revelation 13:7–8 NRSV

Also [the beast] was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. It was given authority over every tribe and people and language and nation, and all the inhabitants of the earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that was slaughtered.

Revelation 13:16–17 NRSV

Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell who does not have the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.

We see two types of suffering occuring here, specifically to the church. First we see physical suffering, as represented by the conquering and slaughtering of the saints, and secondly we see economic suffering through the requirement of having the mark of the beast to engage in trade.

And again this was the actual reality of the early church. It’s not neccesarily the case that we’ll be seeing exactly that level of life-ending suffering - although throughout the world there are indeed Christians being persecuted for their faith to that same level as was seen in the first century - but there is a message that we will suffer. That standing up against evil means missing out on opportunities for financial gain or even security. That standing up against evil might mean physical harm.

Because following the gospel does mean sacrifice. It means giving of what we have, to others. It means being willing to trade an affluent lifestyle for a life of serving others in the name of the Kingdom.

And look at this message about how we should respond to the threat of suffering:

Revelation 13:9–10 NRSV

Let anyone who has an ear listen: If you are to be taken captive, into captivity you go; if you kill with the sword, with the sword you must be killed. Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.

This is incredibly counter-cultural to us today. And yet it’s the same message that we’ve heard again and again in the scriptures, from Christ and from the apostles. We should not answer evil with evil, or respond to our persecutors by emulating their deeds. Rather we’re called to endure by emulating Christ in his example of suffering for others. We’re to demonstrate our faith through living Christlike lives and following His teachings even when doing so requires sacrifice and suffering.

And when we endure, we will conquer over evil because

We are saved by the lamb

Look back at verse eight.

Revelation 13:8 NRSV

All the inhabitants of the earth will worship [the beast], everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that was slaughtered.

And notice the collorary of that.

Those who do not worship the beast, are all those whose name has been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that was slaughtered.

The lamb that was slaughtered and that has conquered.

In the gospel reading today, we see Christ promise

John 12:31–32 NRSV

Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

And when Christ speaks of “the ruler of this world” in that context, he’s talking about Satan who has been allowed the temporary authority rule and to wage war on God’s people.

And it’s a promise that satan’s rule is limited.

That the secular and religious powers which oppose God’s kingdom will be overthrown and driven out.

Conquered by the lamb.

And he promises that through his death he will draw all people to him - a multitude of people from all nations, tribes, and languages.

And so we know that no matter what trials Satan may throw at us.

Now matter how much he may tempt us.

Regardless of earthly power.

Or false religion.

Or persecution.

We are saved by the blood of the conquering lamb that was slaughtered.

By our Lord Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for our sins.

And so we will conquer evil.

So what does this mean for us now?

It means that we need to examine our lives, and ask ourselves are we being tempted by Satan?

Are we at risk of abandoning the gospel to chase after powerful earthly leaders?

Or of being misled by false religion?

We need to ensure that we test everything against Christ’s teachings.

And from there we need to prepare to live lives that follow His example.

To repay evil with good.

To place the good of others above our own comforts and desires.

Brothers and sisters, the dragon roars and blusters, the beasts reign with power and deceive with great signs and wonders, but behind their show of apparent power and might is a humbug.

But Christ is no humbug.

He’s the almighty God.

The lamb who was slain and who has conquered death.

The redeemer who draws all people to him.

The true King who overthrows the false rulers of this world.

The one who has written our names in the book of life.

And he reigns. AMEN