Day 364 (Revelation 12-18) - Year 6
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Hey, Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for The Bible Recap.

John continues explaining his vision to us today, and it's filled with lots of signs and symbols. That means many of these things aren't literal, they're symbolic. And while there's some debate now about what these things mean if we try to figure out how to apply them to future events, John's original audience probably wasn't confused at all. They saw this vision through the lens of Israel's history. And as you know, Jewish literature loves signs and numbers and symbols. So we'll unpack some of that today.

First, we see a woman giving birth to a child that would rule the nations. There's a beast that doesn't like this who tries to put a stop to it all. She goes to live in the wilderness where God takes care of her. Does any of that sound familiar?

Most people think this woman is Israel and that Satan is the dragon and that the stars that got swooped down by the dragon's tail are the angels who joined him. War breaks out in heaven between the elect angels and Satan's angels, and the elect angels win, so Satan and his angels are evicted. Since they can't stay in heaven, they mount an attack on earth, but God miraculously protects Israel.

Toward it again, Satan's angels go off to attack God's other kids. And in John's time, they likely would have seen this as referring to the Gentiles or maybe the church at large or maybe the remnant of Israel. In chapter 13, John sees a sea beast. It sounds a lot like the dragon. Seven heads, ten horns.

And if you were with us in the Old Testament, you may remember that horns symbolize kings or kingdoms. They're a sign of power. Everybody on earth thinks the beast is awesome. And if you're alive during John's day, you're probably thinking, oh, right, Rome. Because everyone worships this beast except for God's kids, according to verse 8. And for the Jews in John's day, this would be a flashback to the book of Daniel, when he and a few of his friends were living in Babylon and King Nebuchadnezzar demanded to be worshiped.

So in verse 11, John reminds his readers how God's kids are called to respond in this kind of situation. He says, Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints. The way to overcome is to remain faithful despite persecution. Next, John describes an earth beast. This beast has a lot of power over the people of earth and does a lot of things that are an attempt to counterfeit God and his ways. It looks like a lamb, it fakes its own resurrection, and it has people mark themselves on the forehead and the hand.

Remember the phylacteries we talked about? The little leather boxes with scripture in them that religious Jews wear? That comes from Deuteronomy 6, 4-8, which says, "'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might, and these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.'"

The beast counterfeits this with his own name instead of the name of God. And remember how in Hebrew, every letter of the alphabet has a number assigned to it? The beast's name is spelled with the letter 666, which also happens to be how you spell out the name of Nero, the Roman emperor. So this probably isn't literal. It's probably representative of who you worship.

There are other ways to interpret this through a modern lens, but if we look at it through the lens of John's readers, they likely would have understood Rome to be Babylon 2.0, which we already know from 1 Peter 5. And they probably would have seen this hand-forehead business as representative of who you belong to. Are you marked with God's name or Rome's? We're in Jerusalem in chapter 14, and Jesus is there with the 144,000, which again may be a precise number, but is probably symbolic of a much larger number.

These are marked with God's name on their foreheads, and probably not literally. They sing and worship God. Then three angels show up with three messages. Angel number one says, worship God because judgment is coming. Angel number two says, Babylon is fallen. Angel number three says, those who worship the beast instead of God will get God's judgment and everlasting punishment. And again, John reminds his readers in verse 12, he

Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. Despite the attacks of the beast, God has the final say. Some angels assist maybe Jesus in beginning to work out justice and vengeance on the earth.

By the way, John says these angels come out of the temple in heaven. Yesterday and today we've seen three references to this temple in heaven. Some believe the earthly temple was a literal replica of a literal temple in heaven. And some believe the word temple is just a reference to God's dwelling place in general. And this may or may not be the same thing referred to in chapter 15 as the sanctuary of the tent of witness. Seven more angels come out carrying seven bowls of God's wrath, which are also described as plagues.

Some of these plagues might remind you of what we saw a long time ago in Egypt. Sorrows on those who don't worship God, the seas and the rivers and springs become blood, the sun scorches and burns people, then darkness, then the river dries up and the enemies of God use their demonic powers to perform signs. Just like Pharaoh's magicians.

Then, before the seventh bowl, the armies of the world gather in the plains of Armageddon. On our trips to Israel, we stand on Mount Carmel and look over that patch of land. In John's day, it served as the crossroads of the world, kind of like the Atlanta airport. And while the armies are gathered there, the seventh angel pours out his bowl of earthquakes, fallen cities, sunken islands, crumbling mountains, lightning, thunder, and 100-pound hailstones. And God makes Babylon, or Rome, drink the cup of his wrath.

In chapter 17, we meet another woman, but it's not really a woman. It's a city. Most scholars think it's Rome. First of all, Rome is known as the city set on seven hills, like the angel mentions in verse 9. Check. She's whoring herself out for power. Check. She's drunk with the blood of the martyrs. Check.

Some believe the beast she's riding on represents Emperor Nero. And again, others believe these verses have future implications as well, not just historical ones. If all of this sounds terrifying, we stand firm on God's goodness and God's wisdom and God's power.

The woman and the beast have power for a while, but only as God allows it and only in ways that serve his ultimate purposes. In verse 17, the angel offers John and us some encouragement along these lines. He says, God has put it in their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and handing over their royal power to the beast until the words of God are fulfilled. God makes even evil bend to serve his purposes, to bless his kids and magnify his holiness.

In chapter 18, another angel comes out and declares that the rule of Babylon slash Rome has ended. God's people rejoice, but the people who loved Babylon slash Rome and benefited from her debauchery mourn. Verses 11 through 13 list all the things they traded. And just to show their inhumanity, John points out that they're selling human souls. Some estimates say at this time, Rome's population was 50% slaves. Good riddance, Babylon.

My God shot today was in 1714. It's talking about Babylon making war on God and his people. And it says, the lamb will conquer them for he is Lord of Lords and King of Kings. And those with him are called and chosen and faithful. We are called and chosen and faithful and we are with him, but he's the one who does the conquering.

The lamb imagery is no mistake here. But a lamb versus a seven-headed beast? That sounds like no contest. How on earth does a lamb win that one? By laying down his life. When we first see the lamb in Revelation 5, he's been slain. And 12:11 tells us his death is what guarantees our victory. It says, "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."

We testify of Jesus and his death and his resurrection. His victory over death and darkness was his victory over all the enemies of light and life. He's our conqueror, and he's where the joy is. Okay, Bible readers, it's time for our final weekly check-in of the year. Can you believe it? And what a doozy of a day it was. Really?

Reading through some of the final chapters of Revelation with talks of war and beasts and all sorts of symbolism and signs that can be terribly confusing, but God's character is not confusing. And that's what we're here to look for every day, who God is. God and his truth will hold firm through all generations, through all situations and all world circumstances. He can be trusted because he is good and he is sovereign and he is victorious.

It truly has been a joy reading through the Bible with you all this year. Having you in the TBR family is such a gift. I love that I get to read through the Bible with you. I hope that all of you out there in this big global family have continued to discover over and over again that He's where the joy is. I'll see you here tomorrow as we close out our year, and I look forward to making another trip through the Bible with you next year.