God at work

DEVOTION

THE REVELATION

GOD AT WORK

Rev 13:1-4

13:1 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?"

NIV

Before we get into any serious discussion about what is represented here and the great length of explanation some of the scholars have offered we should note that most, if not all the published works are of men who lived in the seventh or eighteenth centuries. They for the most part always ascribe these monsters or great powerful kingdoms to the Roman Empire, either the central empire in the time of Christ, or after when there was the Eastern and Western Roman Empires. But always looking to the past, rather than thinking of any future rise of a great and terrible nation kingdom that derives its power from the conquering of other nations. If we were to ascribe to looking into the past we could see in some sense the 3^rd Reich as a great monster who came out of many nations with Adolf Hitler being a type of Anti-Christ, who people worshipped and said who is like this beast? Who can make war against him? Again we could see at one time the European Common Market when it was comprised of only ten nations. It was rising in economic power and it was certain to some at that time the true Anti-Christ would rise to power from this Common Market.  We could see the great nation, the king of the North, Russia rise up out of past leaders such as Lenin, or Stalin or Marcs or even today with its resurgence under Putin who is hailed as the Savior of Russia. We could see the great and powerful communism of China rise up from all the dynasties of the emperors.  The point is men can always either look to the past and explain away all the symbolic language of this revelation or they can guess to its meaning in some present on going ordeals in the world. But what we know for certain is God is revealing to John want is to come and when we are dealing with the providence of God when cannot be certain of any human actions that are explained here. This might be symbolic language describing some great powerful nation overpowering the world. It might be an ideology that rises up from among many nations, such as this extremist Islamic movement, as an example. It could be something no one has ever seen or thought of before because it is what God is revealing to John. Why would John use this kind of language? This symbolism? If we read the Gospel he wrote or his letters to the churches we do not find any symbolism, but plain understandable truths. Certainly he was inspired to write those words by the Holy Spirit so everyone would clearly understand. But here most scholars are looking for some esoteric or hidden meaning to be understood only by the most learned of theologians. Why can this not be just as plain as all the other words John was inspired to write? Why do we always look for that hidden meaning to explain away this in some human expression? If John saw the great Roman Empire, why would he not called it as such? He was more than aware of this Great Empire, it had crucified Jesus. It would seem only right to expect some great terrible monster to rise up from the sea. Whatever that is, it will be so great and powerful the peoples of the earth will be awestruck by it. We can see many people today who are indeed awestruck by what they think is supernatural. We have television programs and movies about paranormal activities.  There is also a wide range of thoughts about what kind of monsters live in the depths of the oceans. People made movies about great and terrible sea monsters rising up to attack people. The internet is full of images of monsters of the sea. When we are dealing with what is to come, we may have no idea exactly what this is that will rise up from the sea, but what we can be certain is this is once again the hand of God demonstrating he is the Almighty who have all authority over all things. When what John describes happens people from all the earth will know it is God who has either ordained or allowed this great thing to happen. He will make sure they know it is not of human origin, so men will repent of their sin and turn to him. Let us pray we will not see this great and terrible thing, but we will already be in the presence of our lord. But nevertheless there will be no sign along the road telling us men at work, or now people at work, but this is a sign saying, God at work.