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Inscription: Writing God’s Words on Our Hearts & Minds
Part 96: Whose Side Are You On?
Revelation 13
November 25, 2012
Last week I said the Revelation is supposed be about exhortation, not speculation.
This week I am going to teach you the most important key I can to help you read it for yourself.
~* I will also tell you what the “MARK of the Beast” is.
PRAYER~/~/SCRIPTURE READING: Rev. 13:15-18 (Eddie Kelley)
FOUR INTERPRETATIONS
I grew up assuming that Revelation was all about the future.
Maybe you did too.
So I was very surprised when learned there were FOUR LEGITIMATE WAYS of interpreting Revelation for Christians who believe the Bible is the world of God:
1. FUTURISTS: The majority of the events will occur in the end times.
This is most common view among evangelical Christians and it’s the view of the “Left Behind” series.
But it’s only been popular since 1850; before that it was the crazy-talk option.
2. IDEALISTS: The majority of the events are strictly symbolic, describing timeless truths.
The idealist looks for themes, such as God triumphing over evil.
For 1500 years, this was how almost all Christians and theologians understood Revelation.
3. HISTORICISTS: The events cover the span of history, not the end times.
And so, the Antichrist may have been Hitler or Napoleon or Caesar; there is little agreement on interpretations.
4. PRETERISTS: The majority of the events occurred in lifetime of John’s original audience.
The preterist believe John was writing about “current” events and events soon to come.
Technically I am a “Partial-Preterist,” since I believe some of Revelation is future.
~* Given all this, we must approach Revelation with humility, lest claim certainty where there isn’t any.
OPENING UP REVELATION
The most important question is not how you interpret Revelation, it is if GOD is able to SPEAK to you through Revelation.
~* The reason why I loved “BREAKING the CODE” is that this took me past speciation to LIFE-change; it freed the Bible for me.
Again, the key point was that Revelation was written to be an ENCOURAGEMENT, to promote exhortation, not SPECULATION.
Q What is the THEME of Revelation?
“God wins, and we are on his side.”
When the FIRST READERS got their copy of Revelation, they did not think, “Wow, this is weird,” but, “Wow, God is good.”
~* I want you to read Revelation and be BLESSED, ENCOURAGED, and CONVICTED.
My goal is to OPEN Revelation up for you as I did last week.
That is what we will do today, beginning with the single most important interpretive tool I can give to you.
Let’s look at one of the most CONFUSING CHAPTERS of Revelation, one that has perhaps caused MORE SPECULATION than any other passage.
~* But it also one of the MOST PRACTICAL ones for us in 21st century America:
Revelation 13:1-4 And the dragon stood on the shore of the sea.
And I saw a beast coming out of the sea.
He had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. 2 The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion.
The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority.
3 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?”
Q Can you imagine what John’s FIRST READERS would have thought?
Actually, it would have made PERFECT SENSE to them.
Let me show you why.
SYMBOLS
Take a look at this political cartoon:
Q Who is this guy?
Q Where is he?
Now imagine someone a 1000 YEARS from now, who knows nothing of the context, trying to understand this bizarre picture.
Q Is he supposed to be a giant?
Is he turning into stone?
You know why his legs are steel, his feet are buildings, he’s surrounded by smoke, and he’s staring resolutely to the East.
You can easily understand the artist’s intent, because:
~* When we know the CONTEXT, we can identify the SYMBOLS.
THEOLOGY IN PICTURES
Revelation is all about SYMBOLISM.
Instead of using LOGICAL ARGUMENT and deductive reasoning like Paul the apostle, John uses SYMBOLS, METAPHORS, IMAGES and PICTURES.
~* John’s symbols are WILD, especially because we are unfamiliar with them.
They are like the PICASSO of the Bible.
If you miss the symbolism and try to take everything too LITERALLY, it gets really weird really fast: Do you think JESUS will really be a BLOOD STAINED LAMB?
Have a SWORD for a tongue?
Like the 9~/11 cartoon, many of his symbols are rooted in John’s CULTURE.
These would have been EQUALLY OBVIOUS to his readers.
~* A good STUDY BIBLE or COMMENTARY is invaluable because you can’t understand the symbolism without help.
They are also deeply rooted in the OT; there are 250 different REFERENCES to the OT in Revelation especially in DANIEL and EZEKIEL.
It’s impossible to understand it without the OT.
FINDING THE BEAST
CASE in POINT: Daniel 7 contains a vision of “four great beasts came out of the sea.”
These beasts include a LION, a BEAR, a LEOPARD, and some sort of TERRIFYING forth BEAST that had TEN HORNS.
Most importantly for us, Daniel tells us exactly what they represent: FOUR EMPIRES.
We are pretty sure of which empires:
~* Lion: Babylon
~* Bear: Medes and Persians
~* Leopard: Greece
~* Terrifying beast: Rome.
With that in mind, and understanding about symbols, let’s take another look at Revelation:
Revelation 13:1-2 And the dragon stood on the shore of the sea.
And I saw a beast coming out of the sea.
~* John quotes this almost VERBATIM from the Greek translation of Daniel.
He had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns, and on each head a blasphemous name.
The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion.
The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority.
So this new BEAST has to be a EMPIRE, but what empire?
Here is where it gets interesting: This beast includes PORTIONS of Daniels beasts, including ten horns for the terrifying beast.
~* John adds “SEVEN HEAD” which he later says represents seven hills – ROME is frequently called “The city of seven hills.”
This beast represents none other than the ROMAN EMPIRE, which contained the all of the other fallen empires.
~* But the most important addition is that “The DRAGON gave the beast his power”; Satan is the power behind Rome.
Q WHO do you think that represents?
EMPEROR WORSHIP
Revelation 13:3 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.
Probably a reference to the instability after NERO’S DEATH.
Revelation 13:4 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?”
The beast is FIGURATIVE, but the WORSHIP was NOT.
By John’s day, all good Roman citizen literally worship the emperor – there were temples, priests, and sacrifices for him.
~* The “EMPEROR CULT” flourished more in ASIA MINOR, where John was writing to, than anywhere else in the empire.
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