Revelation 13:3-10 One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was astonished and followed the beast. 4 Men worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, “Who is like the beast? Who can make war against him?” 5 The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for forty-two months. 6 He opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. 7 He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. 8 All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast — all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world. 9 He who has an ear, let him hear. 10 If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity he will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword,
with the sword he will be killed. This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints.  
 
THE best understanding of this vision and prophecy comes from the apostle Paul: 2 Thessalonians 2:7-10 For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, 10 and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.  
    The beast is the antichrist. He will suffer a great, perhaps fatal wound. In a counterfeit of Jesus’ resurrection, it will appear the beast has come back to life. As we continue, you will see the devil raises up a false trinity to turn the unsaved to worship him.
    This beasts’ “resurrection” will be the beginning of what many see as the tribulation of the world – the worst time of evil in the world and persecution against the church in history. The antichrist is the lawless one Paul describe; his unlimited evil will seem to  accomplish Satan’s will on the earth. The Lord God permits this for his purposes. In turn, we must urge people to submit to the One God, One Lord to be saved.
    Praise God, the faithful who are sealed in Christ will be saved. This was revealed to us earlier in Revelation,  and the Lord reminds us again. Yes, some saints will be present in the tribulation, but no evil can touch their souls, sealed in salvation.
    Worldly lawlessness cannot overcome Jesus’ precious blood shed to fulfill God’s law. The mere breath of Jesus’ truth at God’s appointed moment will bring eternal victory to those who have ears to hear. Verse 10 is a call to faith, to receive God’s will done on earth.
    What trials attack you? Are you being true in Jesus’ words? Are you loving his words and trusting him to deliver you from evil?
 
Prayer: Lord God, we praise you for sealing us against death. We pray today for more to be sealed in Jesus’ blood, safe from the lawless one. Amen.
 
Note: Barb and I are departing for Kenya and Uganda, returning October 30. Please pray for the Holy Spirit to open ears to hear the gospel of salvation. Thank you.
 

Revelation 12:13-17 When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. 14 The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the desert, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent’s reach. 15 Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. 16 But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. 17 Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring — those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.
 
THE Evil one has lost in heaven. Then he has been unable to stop the Messiah from finishing the Father’s salvation plan on earth. He can’t battle heaven, so he continues to battle God’s church on earth – the woman in the vision.
    The Lord is protecting his church from Satan’s destruction. Again, the three- and one-half years represent partial tribulation against the church, not a total destruction. The eagles wings illustrate God’s protection. God used this language to assure Israel of his care over them as they escaped into the desert from Egypt: Exodus 19:4 “You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.” The Revelation of Jesus Christ becomes easier to understand when we see the repetition of God’s language to his people throughout Scripture.
    Then the vision tells us how Satan seeks to destroy and how God protects. The water spewing from his mouth are his overwhelming lies. We all know too well how lies can destroy someone’s life and well-being. We know, also, that one of the great ills in the church is false teaching. Jesus warned of this several times: Matthew 24:24 “For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect — if that were possible.” We are to (Ephesians 6:18) pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. After all, Jesus admonished in Mark 13:33 “Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when (judgment) will come.”
    A flood in Scripture often refers to overwhelming evil. God protects the church with his power to swallow, to divert the water. He saved his own in the Great Flood (Genesis 6-7). He saved his own in the Red Sea (Exodus 14). He saves his own today.
    Of course, this does not stop Satan. One sign of a sin-captured soul is growing anger as one does not attain his desires. The devil wages war on God’s church with every weapon. His prideful anger becomes the world’s great enemy.
     Be alert. Be faithful in Jesus.
 
Prayer: Lord God, I pray you protect your own from sin and temptation. Deliver us from evil. Draw us near to you. Amen.
   

 

Revelation 12:10-12 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. 11 They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. 12 Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.”
 
THIS is a three-stanza hymn. An angelic voice first sings loudly of God the Father’s and the Son’s kingdom and power. Satan had battled for control in heaven. He has been sent out a defeated foe. There is no more threat in heaven because God has delivered heaven from the Evil One.
    The second stanza sings of the Christians’ victory over Satan. With faith in Jesus’ atoning blood, they are free from satanic attacks. Jesus destroyed the devil’s power that horrible day on the cross. His blood poured out for many brings us peace from the sin’s deadly poison. Colossians 1:20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. The second stanza sings, too, of the martyrs’ blood. Praise God for all who did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. The faithful face death on earth because they joyfully anticipate a life with Christ in heaven. The Tempter is finished tempting the saints. The Lord God has in heaven prepared his home for them (John 14:2).
    Victory for the saints – for Jesus’ church – is the central theme of Revelation. Are you saved in Jesus’ blood? Rejoice in your victory in Jesus.
    But the war still rages on earth. The third stanza sings of Satan’s evil now on earth. God allows the devil’s authority still as a means of judgment and sifting. The Lord permits tests to his church to check our faith. The saints on earth today will experience temptation, trial and tribulation. Ultimately, hard-hearted unbelievers and soft-hearted “believers” who reject Jesus’ atoning blood will sadly suffer Satan’s fury forever. The devil is an angry force focused on disrupting God’s creation. His desire is to limit the kingdom of God as he expands his own deadly realm.            
    The hymn, then, is two verses of heavenly joy, one verse of worldly strife. It is the picture of yesterday, today and tomorrow until heaven and earth become one perfect new creation.
 
Prayer: Strengthen our hearts against evil, Lord God. We pray you quickly conquer Satan and establish your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.
 

 

Revelation 12:1-4 A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2 She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. 4 His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born.
 
WE have seen Revelation point us to both contemporary and future views of sin’s suffering against God’s creation. Here God shows John the history of this cosmic battle. 
    The woman represents the people Israel. The twelve stars on her head are Israel’s twelve tribes. God’s glory is in the sun and the moon. God formed Israel as a mother, to be the womb for his Savior. In this vision, Israel is pregnant with the Messiah. Satan is the red dragon. He awaits the Messiah’s birth, intent to destroy God’s Savior because he knows the Messiah will one day destroy him.
    God promised Satan his time is limited: Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” Out of a woman will come one to “crush” Satan’s head, to destroy him completely. Yet, God would allow Satan to inflict pain on the Messiah.
    The prophets sometimes referred to Israel as a woman or God’s wife: Isaiah 54:5-6 “For your Maker is your husband –  the Lord Almighty is his name – the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth. 6 The Lord will call you back as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit — a wife who married young,
only to be rejected,” says your God.  
    The dragon’s seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns represent the authority God had given Satan to rule over certain parts of the earth. The devil spiritually “stood in front of the woman”. He tempted Israel into great sin that caused terrible physical and spiritual suffering to God’s people. The woman’s pain is Israel’s suffering as God judged their sins. Sin destroyed all but the tribe of Judah, Jesus’ tribe. God protected a remnant from evil, so the nations would be saved.
    As the perfect husband, God had promised his bride Israel so much more. Deuteronomy 30:19-20 This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  
    Disobedience would be death. Obedience would be life. Tragically, under the “dragon’s” influence the bride chose death. Israel groaned in the pain of its sin as it awaited the Messiah’s birth. The devil, it seemed was winning the war.
    Today the world groans in pain as it awaits Jesus to come again. Meanwhile, what do you choose this day?
 
Prayer: I pray, Lord, your church today chooses life. Amen.
 

Revelation 11:15 “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever.”
 
HOW does the kingdom of the world become “the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ”? Let’s answer this with verses 16-18.
    First in Rev 11:16 And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God. Worship is the first step to acknowledging God’s kingdom on earth. This is one reason we are to be in corporate worship on the Sabbath. God’s people must come together to worship him as one body in one Spirit. (See Ephesians 4:4-6) Our worship is to be submissive to God’s throne, power, holiness and righteousness. Worship is our daily exercise of God’s commands in our mind, heart, hands and feet. Worship is committing our lives to know God. This is kingdom living.
    Second, Rev 11:17 saying: “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign. We worship. Then we give thanks to God. Why? We thank him for his eternal existence. We cannot worship any created being. The God we worship must be self-existent, always eternal. We thank him because he reigns over our lives and eternal future. Thank the Lord, and his kingdom will be in you.
    Third, Rev 11:18 The nations were angry; and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those who reverence your name, both small and great – and for destroying those who destroy the earth.”  We worship God and thank him for his justice. Then we praise his justice. The kingdom of the world controlled by evil becomes the kingdom of God when he administers justice against evil and for his saints – his church.
    The world’s sins becomes God’s kingdom when the Father fulfills his promises on earth. Revelation teaches us this will occur. Worship God. Thank God. Praise God. His kingdom come, his will be done on earth.
 
Prayer: Thank you, Father for this clear vision to see the future you have planned for your people. Amen.

Revelation 11:4-6 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. 5 If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die. 6 These men have power to shut up the sky so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want.
 
TWO witnesses came into Revelation in verse 3. Verse 4 describes them as olive trees and lampstands. Why doesn’t God’s holy Word simply reveal them as two prophets?
     Yes, they can be two prophets as some modern language translations write. Such prophets have lived. Elijah brought down fire twice to destroy soldiers from King Ahaziah (2 Kings 1:10-14). Elijah also shut the sky for 3 ½ years (the same length of time as the witnesses minister) of drought in Israel. And Moses turned the water to blood and struck Egypt with every kind of plague. Yes, the two witnesses can be a reincarnation of these especially anointed prophets. Or they can be two prophets created with the same heavenly power.
    But as they are called two olive trees and two lampstands, you see another Old Testament vision repeated: Zechariah 4:12 “What are these two olive branches beside the two gold pipes that pour out golden oil?” … 14 “These are the two who are anointed to serve the Lord of all the earth.”  As the Jews began rebuilding Jerusalem and the temple on their return from exile during Zechariah’s prophecy, the priest Joshua joined the prophet to call God’s people to repentance amid great opposition.
    And these witnesses can be symbolic of you and me – of Jesus’ church.  We are, after all, called to be a constant light to show God’s will to be done on earth.
    Regardless of whether this is the witness of two or of the church, the vision illustrates God’s purpose to tell the gospel. There will always be great opposition and even death of his anointed ones. But the persecution will not destroy the church. The gospel overcomes.
    Be encouraged with these words from Solomon in Ecclesiastes 1:9 What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Understand these words from God’s salvation perspective. We can thank God he is the Victor. One day there will be a new creation. The opposition, the war, death and evil be gone from our lives forever.
 
Prayer: Lord, you have anointed each believer, each one of us to be a witness to unbelievers. Protect us. Encourage us. Enable us in your gracious love. Amen.