The Book

DEVOTION

THE REVELATION

THE BOOK

Rev 13:5-10

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.

NIV

Once again we see this same time period of forty-two months made reference to. This is also combined with that time, times and a time in Daniel. All these times are the same, which also shows us much of this revelation is happening all at the same time, but that John just cannot record everything all together, so he has to keep recording everything as one thing he sees and then here is another thing he sees and then over here there is another thing happening and so forth. Once again we find the scholars thinking only in the past and viewing all this as already happened to either the Jews or the saints of the early Church of long ago. It certainly would be easier to think of all this as the past and therefore not have to consider any believer would have to endure the experience described here. There seems to be no doubt about this beast being able to wage war against the saints and here we see he wins, at least subdues the saints along with all the inhabitants of the earth. Are these saint those who have come to Christ during the seven trumpets? Are these saints all of the believers who are alive when this happens which would mean the church has not been raptured at this point. But then who are that great multitude in white robes before the throne of God? The language here has a certain flavor in that all the inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast, except those of us whose names are written in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world. Because time holds no boundaries for God, Jesus was already slain before he created all things. This was and always has been the plan of God for the redemption of his people who he knew would disobey him even before he created them. That may sound a little odd, but that is what the facts bear out in this language. If we are here when this happens, or if it is those who have repented during the seven trumpets, either way those whose names are written in the book of life will not worship the beast, the Anti-Christ, the representative of Satan. Now as far as what will happen to those whose names are in the book of life, it appears some will be lead into captivity and some will be killed. We certainly can see that happening today with the actions of the terrorist group ISIS and how they capture and kill Christians. It certainly happened in the past with the Romans using Christians as entertainment in the Coliseums. We have seen one dominant religion at a time in history burn heretics, who were actually true believers, alive on a stack. If we are to agree the Jews are the chosen people of God, and that he will save them, we have seen the Nazi’s murder great numbers of God’s chosen people. Are there names in the book of life, we simply do not know, but what we do know that everyone’s name starts out in the book of life and those who refuse to accept Jesus Christ as their savior have they name blotted out. This would mean anyone who accepts the Anti-Christ thus worshipping him will have their names blotted out of the book of life. This anti-Christ may not even be a person, but it might well be an ideology, a world philosophy which opposes the whole idea of God. Humanism at its finest hour is fast approaching within our lifetime. We could surely see this kind of power over the inhabitants of the earth. We even have a would be world leader who professes our greatest danger in this country, in this world, is global climate change. There is a rising ideology of the human control of all things, leaving God and creation as only a myth, a crutch for the weak minded. They slander the name of God. They blaspheme against the whole idea of God.  Science has been heralded as their God. There are other gods the humanists have created, even ones of gold, in fact it is gold itself, or wealth, which captures the hearts and minds of many, even those who profess to be of the household of faith. Perhaps this is another method of leading the saints into captivity or simply killing their spirit, their faith in God. We have to remember Satan is a slick schemer, he does not make a full frontal assault on the believers. He uses methods which are so seductive and sly many believers might well be deceived and thus lead off in captivity to his proposals, his temptations. But we can rest assured if we endure to the end, resisting the devil and all his schemes we will not see out names blotted out, but we will join the multitude in white robes before the throne of God. We can also be sure that whatever is assaulted upon us, God will avenge us with the same actions upon those who would do any harm to us. Let him who has an ear hear. We need to continue to believe God and God alone, and in doing so we will see our names in that book of life for all eternity.