Chapter 9 – The Beast
Read Chapters 17 and
18
We begin this
section of John’s vision with an invitation to come and see the judgment of the
great whore who is seated on many waters. There is much discussion about who or
what the great whore is. Preterists are convinced that she represents Jerusalem,
basing their argument on Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel (see Isaiah 1:21;
Jeremiah 2:20; Jeremiah 3:1–11; Ezekiel 16:1–43; Ezekiel 23) among others.
Israel in the midst of their disobedience to God is called a whore. They point
to the fact that Jerusalem like Rome is built on seven hills and they believe
that the destruction in 70 AD is the point of the chapter 17. Futurists on the
other hand argue that the whore is the Roman Catholic Church, the Roman Empire,
a religious entity not yet arisen in the world, or a future rebuilt city in
modern day Iraq.
We have this image of the woman sitting on a scarlet
beast with blasphemous names on it. She is clothed in purple and scarlet.
Scarlet is the color of the devil according to Isaiah 1:18. Some would say the
colors are symbolic of the wealth in Rome. In her one hand is a cup full of
abominations. We see the reference to this in scripture, NRS Jeremiah 51:7
Babylon was a golden cup in the LORD's
hand, making all the earth drunken; the nations drank of her wine, and so the
nations went mad. On her forehead was written a name may be a reference to
the fact that prostitutes in Rome had their names on their foreheads for
identification of their vocation and who they were. The issue of Babylon the
Great raises many questions and many ideas of the identity of the woman. In
earliest of times Babylon was considered to be the greatest city and center of
the Babylonian Empire. For Israel this was the largest of their enemies and
eventually broke the nation of Israel. John would have known this history as a
bleak period of their heritage. We hear John describe her as drunk with the
blood of the saints and the blood of the witnesses. Here we have some potential
understanding that John may well be talking about Jerusalem since the Saints to
John would likely have been the Old Testament prophets and those who stood up
to the leaders of Israel during their times of disobedience.
We are introduced fully to the Beast with explanation
from John’s guide. The Beast is described as having seven heads and ten horns
and is about to ascend from the bottomless pit. There is this little play on
words describing it as it was and is not
and is to come. This leads Preterists to believe that it is Nero since he
was and is now dead and myth amongst the Romans was that he was to be
resurrected. Some go so far as to say he was resurrected in the image of
Domitian. Futurist thought is that this is the Anti-Christ, mimicking the image
of Christ and yet he is not Christ and is to come in the future just prior to
tribulation. The seven heads are seven mountains which could lead us to look at
Rome or Jerusalem for both were built on seven hills. We will talk about the 10
horns later. Verse 9 calls into question that the seven heads are also seven
Kings, five of whom have fallen, one is living and one is yet to come. If we
place John’s Revelation after 60 AD we find that Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula,
Claudius, and Nero have all passed at this point. There were three interim Emperors
that most historians don’t count. We then have Vespasian who is the Emperor
when Titus destroys Jerusalem and the Temple. Titus served as Emperor for a
short while fitting in nicely with the scripture concerning the Kings. Here we
see a historical correlation with Domitian who becomes Emperor after Titus and
is considered by most historians as the most evil of all the Roman Emperors.
His persecution of Christians was considered next to Nero in its audacity and
suffering. Futurists believe that the seven Kings are seven nations that are
Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece which at John’s time were all past into
history. Rome was the living kingdom and the future kingdom is the kingdom of
the Beast.
The ten Kings also have historical significance to us
though John would not have known them. Following the destruction of the Roman
Empire the Empire is divided into ten divisions or political alliances. They
were Alemanni’s (present day Germany), Frank’s (present day France), Burgundian’s
(present day Switzerland), Suevi’s (present day Portugal), Vandal’s (see
chapter 2, page 8), Visigoths (present day Spain), Anglo-Saxon’s (present day
England), Ostrogoth’s (see chapter 2, page 8), Lombard’s (present day Italy),
and Heruli’s (see chapter 2, page 8). Preterists point to this historical
alliance as the fulfillment of John’s Revelation. Futurists point to a future
10 nation alliance that is to come. Some point to the current European Union as
the resurrection of the Roman Empire. What is intriguing about this is that
their symbolism includes a woman riding a beast, a statue of her sits outside
their headquarters. Other symbolism includes their headquarters building is
modeled after Brueghel’s 1563 painting of the Tower of Babel. Futurists believe
that out of this alliance will come an antichrist, the complete opposite of
Christ and yet he will deceive many into believing that he is the Messiah come
again. Futurists also point to verse 14 as a direct reference to Daniel 9:27
where they believe it says that the Anti-Christ will break a covenant with Israel
3 ½ years into the Tribulation period and begin an all-out war on Christians
everywhere.
In verse 15 we have a definition of the waters that
tells us that the woman sits over all the nations, peoples and languages. Our
understanding is skewed by time. For John, Rome was in fact over all the known
world of his day. He had no idea that there was a large land mass between
England and China called North and South America. Preterists point to this fact
to say that for John he was pointing to Rome. Futurists take into account what
we know two thousand years later. They point to a new city, maybe built on the
original Roman Empire, maybe Jerusalem and maybe a rebuilt Babylon as the site
of the woman in chapter 17. At the time of the original writing of this study,
Saddam Hussein was still in power and was trying to rebuild the old city again.
Since his demise, there has not been much talk about it being rebuilt on the
original site.
In chapter 18, we have the beginning of the final
chapters of the story. The Angels are beginning to sing a song of destruction
and doom for the Beast, the Woman and of course Satan. Their song mimics the
words of the prophecy of doom song from Isaiah and Jeremiah (Isaiah 13: 19-22;
Jeremiah 51: 24-26; 61-64) which foretell of the destruction of the famed city
Babylon. In fact Babylon is conquered and all but abandoned by 141 BC.
NRS Isaiah
13:19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the splendor
and pride of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew
them. 20 It will never be inhabited or lived in for all generations;
Arabs will not pitch their tents there, shepherds will not make their flocks
lie down there. 21 But wild animals will lie down there, and its
houses will be full of howling creatures; there ostriches will live, and there
goat-demons will dance. 22 Hyenas will cry in its towers, and
jackals in the pleasant palaces; its time is close at hand, and its days will
not be prolonged.
NRS Jeremiah
51:24 I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of
Chaldea before your very eyes for all the wrong that they have done in Zion,
says the LORD. 25 I am against you, O destroying mountain, says the
LORD, that destroys the whole earth; I will stretch out my hand against you,
and roll you down from the crags, and make you a burned-out mountain. 26
No stone shall be taken from you for a corner and no stone for a foundation,
but you shall be a perpetual waste, says the LORD…61 And Jeremiah
said to Seraiah: "When you come to Babylon, see that you read all these
words, 62 and say, 'O LORD, you yourself threatened to destroy this
place so that neither human beings nor animals shall live in it, and it shall
be desolate forever.' 63 When you finish reading this scroll, tie a
stone to it, and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates, 64 and
say, 'Thus shall Babylon sink, to rise no more, because of the disasters that I
am bringing on her.'" Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.
Note that in Jeremiah verse 64 the destruction of Babylon
will be complete and the city will never rise again. Jeremiah's warning creates
some tension if the Babylon of John’s Revelation is the Babylon of old since
its destruction by 141 BC would be the end according to God.
In verse 4 we hear a calling out of the people by
God. Regardless of your view it would appear that at this moment in time,
whenever that might have been or when it is to come, there is still time to
make a choice in favor of the Book of Life or the alternative. For those who
are living during this time there is even a greater need for evangelism and a
sense of urgency to win people into relationship with God. Time is truly
running out for those who have not made that choice. By verse 11 the world has
truly degenerated into a chaotic place. Preterists simply point to the idea
that in the midst of the height of the Roman Empire you needed Roman coins in
order to buy or sell. But that was not true at the fringes of the Empire.
Futurists point to a time to come when all commerce will shut down. Verse 24
gives us an important clue. John here is writing of the voice of the Angel who
throws a mighty stone into the sea, …saying
that in you was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all who have
been slaughtered on earth. Only Jerusalem killed the prophets of Old which
would lead us to believe that John is talking about this great city in his
prophecy. We could also argue that John may not be talking about simply the Old
Testament prophets but also about the Apostles and Disciples of his day though
that might well be a stretch.
No comments:
Post a Comment