Revelation 14: Those Redeemed from the Earth

Today’s reading is Revelation 14.

The Genuine Article

Once again, ignore the chapter break. Revelation 13 ended with the false prophet/land beast sealing those who worshiped the beast. The seal, however, was a mediocre copy of a greater work.

As if God was afraid John had forgotten what the false prophet was copying, He reminded John by bringing the sealed 144,000 back into the vision. We first saw these sealed in Revelation 7:1-8. According to Revelation 9:4, seal was for protection.

A Kingdom of Priests

In Exodus 28:36-38; 39:30-31; and Leviticus 8:9, God had the high priest wear a nameplate on his headgear with engraved declaration “Holy to the LORD.” God’s seal in Revelation 14 takes it to another level. Here, God’s name is not on a nameplate worn on occasions. It is a seal on the forehead, always on display.

In Exodus 19:5-6, God declared, “If you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel” (ESV). That is, the entirety of Israel was to be as if their forehead declared “Holy to the LORD.” Israel never pulled this off. In 1 Peter 1:16, Peter declares, quoting from Leviticus, we Christians are to be holy because our Lord is holy. In 1 Peter 2:5, he says we “like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood” (ESV). Then in 1 Peter 2:9, he says we “are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession” (ESV). What Israel failed to accomplish, Jesus is making His kingdom into.

John picks up this theme. In Revelation 1:5-6, he writes of Jesus, “To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father…” (ESV). Then in Revelation 5:9-10, he says the Lamb is “worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth” (ESV). Please note, in this last verse, the word translated “ransomed” in the ESV is the same as “redeemed” in Revelation 14:4.

Who are these people with a permanent name plate of the Lamb and the LORD on their foreheads? They are the ransomed, redeemed kingdom of priests.

Undefiled

For those who take the 144,000 to be a literal group of people chosen for some special eternal purpose, the description of them is a real struggle. James tells us no one can tame the tongue (James 3:8), but we are to believe 144,000 people never, ever in their whole lives told even the smallest, whitest of lies? Additionally, this redeemed group only includes men. Are we truly to believe no women make it into the redeemed from the earth? Further, none of them have been married, but are all virgins. Are we to take this literally?

First, recall, just as John was told in Revelation 4:5 that a Lion had conquered, but then turned and saw a Lamb, in Revelation 7:3-8, he hears about 144,000 sealed from the twelve tribes of Israel, but then turns to see a great multitude no one could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages. Let us not forget, we were already told in Revelation 5:9, the redeemed were not only from Israel but from every tribe and language and nation and people. In other words, we are not to take even the number and nationality literally. Rather, those are part of the picture to make a point. The number represents completeness and fulness (12 x 10 x 10 x 10 x 12). That is, God redeems everyone He is supposed to. He knows those who are His. The nationality carries on the picture of being God’s elect nation.

This group is pictured as virgins, for two reasons. First, just as the seal on the forehead intensifies the nameplate on the high priest, the picture of virginity intensifies preparation to meet God on His mountain. In Exodus 19, when the people were to prepare to meet God at Mt. Sinai, they were to wash their garments and avoid going near their wives for three days. In Revelation 14, the redeemed have met the Lamb on Mt. Zion. They are pictured not as avoiding sex for three days, but for their entire lives. The point is not sex is bad even in marriage and being abstinent for life is better than being married. The point is a group of people completely prepared to meet God on His mountain.

Second, this recalls the particular messages to Pergamum and Thyatira in Revelation 2:12-29. In both letters, they were warned against sexual immorality, especially as it connected with idolatry. Idolatry itself is often scripturally presented as spiritual immorality and adultery. The redeemed 144,000 are those who devote themselves to the Lord God and refrain from idolatry and immorality.

Finally, there is no lie in their mouths. That is, unlike the Balaams, Jezebels, and Nicolaitans, they speak truth. They let the truth set them free. They are redeemed by truth. They are not of the dragon who is the father of lies. They are of God the Father of peace, truth, mercy, love.

Redeemed

The undefiled part of the visionary description may cause us to miss another aspect of the description. The true preparatory work is redemption. As Revelation 5:9 explains, these were ransomed or redeemed by the blood of the Lamb that was slain. Though not specifically mentioned in Revelation 14, they have had their garments washed white in the scarlet blood of the slain lamb (Revelation 7:14). Another point from the Exodus 19 picture of preparing to meet God on His mountain.

In other words, these are not undefiled because they themselves lived completely undefiled lives. Rather, they turned to Jesus. His sacrifice cleansed them from whatever defilement they may have had so that they are presented cleansed, blameless, spotless, without wrinkle or reproach (see also Ephesians 5:25-27).

Perhaps, The Most Important Part

All this look at visionary meaning may cause us to miss the part that should most direct our steps as disciples even today.

It is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes (Revelation 14:4b, ESV).

This is the meaning of discipleship. The redeemed didn’t just abide by some rules about sexual purity and verbal honesty. They followed Jesus everywhere He went. Again, I know this isn’t literal. Jesus had 12 apostles. But this group pictured as a multitude numbered at 12 x 1000 x 12. That is, the number of the apostles and of the tribes multiplied by completeness to the third power is a picture of those whom the apostles were supposed to go into all the world making (see Matthew 28:19-20). They are disciples. They are people who like the apostles follow Jesus around, listen to Him, learn from Him, obey Him.

This is our key for being part of the redeemed, the sealed, the protected, the victorious. We must open up our Bibles, find Jesus within (see John 5:39-40), and follow Him wherever He goes.

We may think we can’t possibly pull that off for the rest of our lives. Maybe not. How about we just start with today? Can we help you follow Jesus wherever He is going today? If so, let us know in the comments below.

Tomorrow’s reading is Revelation 14.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Revelation 14 prompt or improve your praise of God?

Revelation 13: An Unholy Trinity

Today’s reading is Revelation 13.

Mimicking the Father

If we pay close attention to God’s revelation of the heavenly perspective, we can pick up what gives the dragon and the monsters such success. While in Revelation they are presented as obviously evil monsters, we cannot help but see how they parody and mimic the triune, holy God. Therein lies their deceptive danger.

Satan, the dragon is an unholy, evil parody of the Father Himself. Not that Satan can copy the power of God. But he tries. We see his attempts to copy mostly in how he relates to the sea beast. According to Revelation 13:2, the dragon gave the sea beast “his power and his throne and great authority” (ESV). Just as the Father sat the Son on His throne, the dragon provides the sea beast a throne. And because of this, the people worship the dragon and the sea beast (Revelation 13:4) in horrific mimicry of the throne scene in Revelation 4-5.

Mimicking the Son

From the above, you can likely already see the sea beast mimics God the Son. Not only does he mimic the throne scene, but even the reason he gets to be on the throne. According to Revelation 13:3, “One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled and followed the beast” (ESV). Even in English, hearing the head of this beast had a mortal wound, we can see the comparison to Jesus. The parallel is even more certain in Greek when we discover “have a mortal wound” in Revelation 13:3 is the same word as “slain” describing the Lamb in Revelation 5:6 and also in Revelation 13:8. In Revelation, the world is divided in two. People from every tribe and people and language and nation either worship the Lamb that was slain or worship the sea beast who was slain.

How does the beast mimic Jesus in this apparent death and resurrection? Or is it merely a mortal wound that heals? Is it one of the heads that is slain and resurrected as in Revelation 13:3? Or is it the beast itself that is wounded and then revived as in Revelation 13:12, 14, 15? In Revelation 17:7-12, this notion of resurrection repeats. The seven-headed beast “was, and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit.” The seven heads are “seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come.” The beast itself is an eighth king, but he belongs to the seven (whatever that means). Further the ten horns are also kings.

At this point, modern students start trying to figure out which kings are referred to. Of course, can we even be sure they are individual kings? We’ve seen before that “king” is sometimes used by metonymy to refer to kingdoms (recall the beasts in Daniel). Perhaps this beast which is a conglomeration of Daniel’s beasts, counts those kingdoms starting again with Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon, then Medo-Persia, then Greece, then the Ptolemaic reign, and the Seleucid reign, then Rome. Maybe we should start counting with Egypt since that was the first beast actually to attack and enslave God’s people.

If we are counting kings instead of kingdoms, we are most certainly talking about Roman kings. When we count seven Roman kings, do we start with Julius Caesar or Augustus? Do we include Galba, Otho, and Vitellius in the count? Within one year (68-69AD) each of these tried to establish himself on the Roman throne, but none of them were successful. Do their failed attempts at reign count?

Does the mortal wound refer to the death of Julius and the resurrection to the fact that Augustus, like a phoenix rising from the ashes, established the empire and the Imperial cult? Or does it refer to the death of Nero which ended the Julio-Claudian dynasty and brought the empire to its knees, while the resurrection refers to Vespasian re-establishing the empire in the Flavian dynasty? Or maybe it refers to Nero and the supposed resurrection that spread up around him. Or maybe it refers to Nero even without a redivivus myth and the fact that Domitian came along and acted against the Christians in much the same way Nero did, metaphorically seeming like a resurrected Nero.

Sorry to delve so deep on this one. But here’s the thing. When John wrote this book and the seven churches first read it, if the head representing the king who is in Revelation 17:10 referred to an actual Roman emperor, those readers would know precisely who it was. That, however, is completely lost to us. We simply have no way of knowing. If we did, then there wouldn’t be so much incredible disagreement about it.

And this brings up the perspective I think makes the most sense. Maybe it never referred to a particular emperor. Maybe the mortal wound to the beast or to its head was actually simply part of the parody of Jesus. In visionary expression, it shows further lying signs and wonders of Satan’s team. They try to copy the work of Jesus, but they fail. After all, Jesus died, rose, and ascended to the throne. His two witnesses died, rose, and ascended to heaven. The beast “was, and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit,” but to what end? Not to ascension, but to “go to destruction” (Revelation 17:8). The beast mimics the Son, but is nothing more than a failed, mediocre copy. Yes, he shows signs, but they are lying and false signs as is always the case with Satan and his minions.

Mimicking the Spirit

The land beast performs signs and wonders. He gives voice to the image of the beast. He prophesies. He testifies to the sea beast. He does not point to himself, but causes folks to worship the sea beast. Finally, he marks and seals the followers of the sea beast.

If the dragon mimics the Father and the sea beast mimics the Son, the land beast mimics the Holy Spirit.

An Unholy Trinity

Satan is ultimately unoriginal. He attempts to be like God. In this, his envy becomes clear. We need to see the danger posed to us. Again, as God gives the heavenly perspective, the evil of this false trinity is obvious. If we saw this triumvirate as they are presented in Revelation, we would never be duped by them.

However, that is not how they present themselves in our experience. Instead, they mimic Father, Son, and Spirit. They disguise themselves as angels of light and ministers of righteousness (see 2 Corinthians 11:13-15). They portray signs and wonders. They speak plausible sounding rationalizations.

We should see the danger for us by seeing the danger among the seven churches. Some of them had already been deceived. Sardis had been convinced by the dragon that it was alive when it was dead. Laodicea was blind to its similarity to the beast. Ephesus didn’t know it was only a step away from compromise. Many in Pergamum and Thyatira had already bought the rationalizations.

We have only one defense. God has given us His Word. Let us read it. Let us study it. Let us become familiar with our Shepherd’s voice. Only then will we repent and hold fast as John calls us to do.

Tomorrow’s reading is Revelation 13.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Revelation 13 prompt or improve your hope in God?

Revelation 13: A Beast from the Earth

Today’s reading is Revelation 13

A Shocking Promise About False Prophets

I have heard about Deuteronomy 18:21-22 all my Christian life:

And if you say in your heart, “How may we know the word that the LORD has not spoken?”–when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him (ESV).

Seems clear enough. If a prophet foretells the future, and it doesn’t happen, obviously, he’s a false prophet. However, I had for years read through and overlooked Deuteronomy 13:1-5:

If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, “Let us go after other gods,” which you have not known, “and let us serve them,” you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the LORD your God is testing you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him. But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, to make you leave the way in which the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from your midst (ESV).

In other words, sometimes a false prophet would foretell the future and it would happen. Sometimes, the false prophet would declare a sign, and then perform the sign (recall the magicians who copied some of Moses’s signs). How would you know when these were false prophets? Actually, it was quite easy. Even if they performed great miracles or foretold the future, if they taught other gods (or by extension taught disobedience to the one, true God), they were still false prophets.

When we read John’s gospel, we recognized one of the big questions John was answering was whether or not Jesus was the new Moses prophesied in Deuteronomy 18 or the false prophet described in Deuteronomy 13. We are not surprised then to see this false prophet resurface in John’s apocalypse. This is precisely the background for the earth or land beast in the latter half of Revelation 13. To drive this home, the second beast is even named “The False Prophet” in Revelation 16:13; 19:20; and 20:10.

A Dragon in Lamb’s clothing

We were told everyone whose name was not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life would worship the sea beast. Now we see the propaganda machine leading the world to worship:

Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon (Revelation 13:11, ESV).

This beast looks like a lamb. Yes, we should think of the Lamb that was slain. The word “lamb” is used 29 times in Revelation. Every other time besides this one, it refers to Jesus. The land beast looks like Jesus. The beast looks like a prophet. However, it doesn’t have the Lamb’s voice. Which means, it doesn’t have the Good Shepherd’s voice (see John 10:5, 16). He doesn’t speak with God’s voice, the voice God’s people are to obey (see Deuteronomy 13:4). It has the dragon’s voice. In other words, anyone compromising with the false prophet demonstrates themselves as outside Christ’s flock.

False Signs and lYing Wonders

The false prophet of Revelation 13 acts exactly as the false prophet from Deuteronomy 13 does. He performs great signs and wonders. They actually do take place. He even makes fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people. That is, he mirrors the signs of the two witnesses. But instead of pointing people to the Lord, he points people to the sea beast.

The land beast hyperlinks back to Daniel just as the sea beast did. This time, it recalls Daniel 3. Just as Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar erected an image of gold and commanded all the “nations and territories, peoples and languages”(Daniel 3:4, LES2/LXX; compare Revelation 13:7) to worship it, the false prophet commands all the people to worship the image of the sea beast. He even gives the image power to speak, another lying sign and wonder. Just as Nebuchadnezzar threatened death to any who refused to worship his image, the false prophet caused all who refused to worship the image to be slain. Perhaps now we know why the two witnesses were killed–they refused to worship.

The false prophet displays signs and wonders. But recall Deuteronomy 13. The seven churches should not be fooled. He doesn’t have the Good Shepherd’s voice. Further, he is telling them to worship someone other than the One who sits on heaven’s throne. This is a test to see if the seven churches love the Lord with all their heart and soul. Or, having left their first love, will they be drawn in and duped by the lying signs.

Who Is this Beast from the Earth?

If the sea beast represents the geo-political enemies of Christ’s kingdom, the land beast represents the religious enemies. It is false religion competing with Christian worship. It is false religion supporting the enemy state. For those who see Revelation as a rebuke against the Jewish nation for rejecting and executing their Messiah, they see Judaizing teaching such as taught against in Galatians. That is possible. However, I admit, I still see Rome in all this. For the original readers in those seven Asian churches, surrounded by intense idolatry and the Imperial cult, the land beast seems obvious. Worshiping in the temples. Sacrificing to pagan gods. Going along with pagan festivals. Honoring the emperor as God. All this is the voice of the dragon in the false prophet leading folks to worship the sea beast.

Yet, like the sea beast, Revelation is written in these vague signs and symbols so that when the false prophet/land beast is defeated, we can recognize it anywhere a similar beast raises its head. The seven churches were being attacked by the land beast head on. Yet when false religion persecutes God’s true followers in any country, at any time, we witness the work of the land beast.

And what influence it has. The mark of the beast on his worshipers hands and foreheads is not to be seen as literal anymore than the seal on the saints’ foreheads which it mimics and parodies (see Revelation 7:3). As Father, Son, and Spirit know those who are theirs, so do the dragon, the sea beast, and the false prophet. Then we see how this unholy trinity tempts the saints to bear the mark and worship the image. They threaten the people financially. If the saints won’t take the mark, they can’t buy or sell. They can’t conduct business. They can’t make a living. If they escape quick execution, they experience slow, torturous starvation. Sacrifice to Hephaestus or you can’t be part of the metal smith guilds. Sacrifice to Ceres or we won’t purchase your crops or sell you seed. Pinch incense to Caesar or we will throw you in jail.

A Warning for Churches Today

Perhaps I’m making a reckless comparison as I consider the report of threats to fire people if they refuse to use a person’s preferred pronouns or if they dead name an individual. Maybe it is too much to think this compares to threats of debanking, canceling, doxing, and firing unless employees sign a DEI document. Maybe we go too far if we think this relates to threats to remove tax-exempt status, heap up fines, or effectively close doors of institutions refusing to financially support abortion or go along with sexual immorality. Maybe fearing any of those things would happen is nothing more than chicken little declaring the sky is falling. But, then again…

Please, don’t misunderstand. I’m not saying these modern issues are the mark of the beast or are a sign of the end times. But, please don’t miss the point in the original context. The very financial issues our ancient counterparts were being told to stand up and endure are the stands many modern Christians assume God would never ask us to take. “Surely,” we tell ourselves, “God would never expect us to choose an approach that would cost us our jobs or our ability to make a living. After all, He calls us to provide for our families.” Yet, that is exactly what John said the seven churches would face under this land beast.

Pergamum and Thyatira were being taught to compromise with the pagan practices of their neighbors. They were being led to eat at the tables and sleep in the beds of the false gods. If compromising led to being able to put food on the table for your children, what could be wrong with it. Right? Couldn’t we go ahead and participate in meaningless actions as long as our hearts were still in the right place? As long as we didn’t actually mean it, couldn’t we go along to get along? After all, aren’t we supposed to love all people and never, ever judge our neighbor in any way?

Don’t you see how this false prophet can look like Jesus? And yet, it’s voice comes from the dragon. There is only one way to overcome this. Be in God’s Word and know His voice. By the way, this is in part why so much of John’s apocalypse connects to the ancient prophets. Part of his persuasion is showing he is speaking with God’s voice as God has always spoken. He’s not actually teaching something new.

Don’t compromise. Hold fast, Jesus always wins. And if you have already started compromising, REPENT! Jesus will come in judgment.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Revelation 13 prompt or improve your trust in God?

Revelation 13: A Beast from the Sea

Today’s reading is Revelation 13.

The Third Woe Continues

In Revelation 12:12, the third woe was named: “But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!” (ESV). He goes on to make war against the woman, who is protected, and on her offspring “who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.” In Revelation 13, we see the reinforcements the dragon calls to wage war: the sea beast and the earth/land beast.

Like Dragon, Like Beast

Within the vision, the sea beast is clearly the “offspring” of the serpent. I don’t mean that literally. I’m not saying the sea beast is the son of the dragon. But notice the resemblance. The beast is a chip off the old dragon block.

And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems (Revelation 12:3, ESV)

And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads (Revelation 13:1, ESV).

As in Genesis, like begets like, kind begets kind. A seven-headed, ten-horned dragon no doubt begets a seven-headed, ten-horned sea monster. Whoever and whatever this beast is or represents, we are clearly supposed to see it as the seed of the serpent. The battle from Genesis 3 between the offspring of the woman and the offspring of the serpent continues.

Channeling Daniel Once Again

While John definitely wants us to see the family resemblance between the sea beast and Satan, the picture itself is formed from the even more ancient vision in Daniel 7. Daniel saw four great beasts come up out of the sea. The first beast was like a lion, the second like a bear, the third like a leopard, and the fourth was terrifying and dreadful and strong like no other beast before it.

The sea beast in Revelation 13 is a chimaera, that is, a terrifying mixture of the beasts from Daniel 7. “And the beast that I saw,” John writes, “was like a leopard; its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth like a lion’s mouth” (Revelation 13:2, ESV). The seven heads and the ten horns of the sea beast are themselves a callback to the number of heads and horns initially described of the four beasts in Daniel 7. Since the third beast there had four heads and the fourth beast had ten horns, the sea beast of Revelation presents as a terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong beast who is a mixture of Daniel’s visionary monsters. This is important for figuring out what this beast represents. It is a terrifying, dreadful beast that is like none of the beasts before it, but at the same time a mixture of all the beasts that ever were.

Further Connections Between Daniel’s Beasts and the Sea Beast

In Daniel’s vision, the fourth beast grows an eleventh horn that spoke great words (Daniel 7:11). It had eyes and a mouth that spoke great things and seemed greater than its companions (Daniel 7:21). He spoke words against the Most High (Daniel 7:25). In the same way, the sea beast of Revelation 13 was given a mouth uttering arrogant, blasphemous words, blaspheming God and God’s dwelling (Revelation 13:5-6). The eleventh horn of Daniel 7‘s fourth beast made war with the saints and prevailed over them (Daniel 7:21). He shall “wear out the saints of the Most High (Daniel 7:25). The sea beast of Revelation 13 “was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them” (Revelation 13:7, ESV).

Finally, the authority, victory, and conquering of Daniel’s fourth beast was going to be for “a time, times, and half a time” (Daniel 7:25). The sea beast of Revelation 13 is allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months (Revelation 13:5). The phrase in Daniel 7:25 is a way of saying three-and-a-half years, equivalent to forty-two months and also 1260 days. In other words, this period corresponds to the 1260 days the woman is nourished in Revelation 12:6 and the “time, and times, and half a time” the winged woman is protected and nourished in Revelation 12:14, the forty-two months the Gentiles are allowed to trample the courts in Revelation 11:2, and the 1260 days the two witnesses perform their work in Revelation 11:3.

Who Is This Beast from the Sea?

According to Daniel 7:17, the “four great beasts from the sea are four kings who shall arise out of the earth” (ESV). Though, notice Daniel 7:23: “As for the fourth beast, there shall be a fourth kingdom on earth, which shall be different from all the kingdoms…” (ESV). “King” and “kingdom” seem to be used by metonymy to refer to the same thing. Rather than speaking of the reign of individual kings, it refers to the empires encompassing the reigns of multiple kings. This mirrors the statue dream of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 2.

All of this helps us grasp some meaning behind the great sea beast of Revelation 13. First, with the connection back to Daniel, we can say the beast represents a kingdom. This beast focuses on the geo-political enemy of God’s kingdom. On the one hand, the sea beast seems to me almost certainly to represent the terrifying, dreadful fourth beast of Daniel 7 which tramples and conquers all before it, which corresponds to the legs of iron and feet of iron and clay in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel 2. It represents the kingdom itself that governs the seven cities in which the seven churches dwell: Rome.

However, at the same time, as this beast is clearly a conglomeration of all the preceding beasts, John is not doing quite the same thing as Daniel. Daniel was providing a future chronology of events for the early readers of Daniel to watch unfold. Those events are in our distant past. John took Daniel’s visions, stirred them up in a pot, and then recontextualized them in a way that gave great application to the first readers of Revelation. However, he presented them in a way that made them meaningful to even us today.

Certainly, the seven churches of Asia were to see the kingdom in power over their cities as the beast in their day. The war on the saints was most definitely the persecution that kingdom repeatedly brought against Christ’s kingdom. They were in the days of Daniel’s beast like no other beast before it. However, John, by mixing the beasts, presents much more than one single kingdom. He represents governing, geo-political, worldly power in all its forms. He represents the corruption that comes with that approach to power. He represents one of the ongoing, repeated, great competitors of King Jesus–any world power that would claim to be king. Though that fourth beast would be “killed, and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire” (Daniel 7:11, ESV), the impact of worldly kingdoms would be “prolonged for a season” (Daniel 7:12, ESV). Wherever that dominion or impact is felt, it will be a thorn in the side of God’s kingdom.

Sardis and Laodicea seemed to be enamored with the manifestation of that king in their day. They mirrored their churches off the lives of their cities. They measured their own value off the value of their cities. John calls them to repent, showing them they were getting in bed with a beast, the offspring of Satan himself. This beast blasphemed their God and made war against their brethren, it was folly to compromise with him. “Repent!” John says to them.

A Warning for Churches Today

My friends and neighbors, my brothers and sisters, please let us take this message from Revelation seriously. The kingdoms rising from the sea which are kings that come from the earth are not the allies of God’s kingdom made without hands. Though they offer olive branches and promise peace, prosperity, and protection, they are beasts.

We in our modern day, no matter our country, are patriotic on a level that matches and sometimes exceeds that of the Romans, and very often equate our geo-political powers with God’s nations. We in America definitely do. Perhaps it is good that we read Revelation in an election year in America. When Christ’s kingdom makes alliances with political parties, when we believe the way to the preservation of our kingdom lies in the politics of the earth’s nations, we are blinded by our earthly sight and need to purchase eye-salve from God. Jesus is our King. When we think the outcomes of city, state, or national elections actually spell a loss or a victory for Christ’s kingdom, we have lost sight of who is our King. Neither Biden, nor Trump, nor Kennedy, nor Harris, nor DeSantis, nor any other earthly ruler, no matter his or her platform, is our king. And like it or not, they are, every one of them, swimming in the waters from which sea beasts rise. If we are not careful, we will inch by inch and degree by degree find ourselves swimming with monsters and believe it is okay because they provide us with tax breaks or line our pockets with handouts and benefits.

Our job is to worship the God of the heavens, not defend political parties. Our job is to spread the good news of His Kingdom and His King, Jesus, not elect presidents. Our job is to be different from the world around us though that will provoke persecution. Our job is to be faithful to our King no matter how the earthly kingdoms treat us. Let us not compromise with monsters, lest we find we are actually worshiping the dragon and, like some of the Asian churches and Christians, not even know it.

Tomorrow’s reading is Revelation 13.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Revelation 13 admonish you?

Revelation 12: On Wings Like Eagles

Today’s reading is Revelation 12.

The Woman is Protected

As noted earlier in the week, the woman who had in essence been the mother of the Christ, Israel, has now become the mother of Christ’s brethren, the church of Christ. In the third woe, the defeated dragon thrashes about in his death throes doing all that is left in his power to defeat her and the rest of her offspring. What hope can she have against such a powerful monster?

The woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time (Revelation 12:14, ESV).

The apocalypse calls to mind the deliverance of Israel from Egyptian bondage, in which Israel was taken out into the wilderness and God provided for her, protecting her from the thrashing death throes of Egypt and her Pharaoh.

When Israel came into the wilderness of Sinai, the LORD called out to Moses and said to him:

Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: “You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:3-5, ESV)

The Same Picture in Reverse

Before the advent of digital cameras, in order to develop a picture, the images had to be produced on a roll of film in reverse. They were called negatives. The darker spots on the pictures would be lighter on the negatives, and vice versa. These negative images allowed light to shine through on the photographic paper in the right places so the actual image would properly form on the paper.

Here in Revelation 12:15-16, the apocalyptic picture of the dragon waging war against the woman and her offspring is practically a negative image of what we witnessed in the battle against Israel in the wilderness. When Israel wandered in the wilderness, on multiple occasions, they faced droughts. That is, they couldn’t find water. God miraculously opened up the earth and gave them water pouring forth.

In Revelation 12:15-16, when the dragon wages war on the woman and her offspring as she is nourished in the wilderness, he takes the reverse approach. He tries to sweep her away with a flood. In another sense, the dragon tries to mirror the judgment of God, sweeping his enemy away with a flood. Rather than bringing more water up out of the earth, this time God opens the mouth of the earth and lets it swallow up the water.

Perhaps this is supposed to represent some specific aspect of the battle. I’ve read some suggest this is the world imbibing all the wickedness of Satan, protecting the church from it. I find that to be a difficult sell since the world’s wickedness is what seems to be one of the biggest temptations to the church. Rather, I imagine this is simply supposed to carry on the picture of God protecting His people no matter what the enemy does.

Which People Does God protect?

In case the seven churches were unsure who would be carried on wings like eagles and in case we are unsure which people God will protect, He spells it out. The dragon is making war “on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus” (Revelation 12:17, ESV). As with Israel, so with us. The eagles’ wings protection is to set God’s people on solid ground so we can obey Him and keep covenant with Him.

If we want to avoid being swept away in the dragon’s vomitous attack, we will only survive one way. By delighting in the Word of God. By holding fast to our confession of faith in Christ. By refusing to compromise with minions of the dragon.

Of course, we haven’t seen those minions yet, have we? We see those monsters in the next chapter. But understand, if we compromise, that is precisely with whom we are compromising: monsters.

On Wings like Eagles

Of course, we must not miss the connection back to Isaiah 40:27-31. When the dragon is making war on the woman and the rest of her offspring, we might fear God has turned His protective look away from us. But let us not fear. Let us not flee. Let us not turn to rely on our own strength.

Let us remember:

The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up on wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint (ESV).

Praise the LORD!!!

Next week’s reading is Revelation 13.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

What do you want to share with others from Revelation 12?

Revelation 12: The Third Woe

Today’s reading is Revelation 12

Woe! Woe! Woe!

All the way back in Revelation 8:13, an eagle flew over John’s head and shouted, “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!” (ESV). The fifth angel blew his trumpet and the abyss was opened allowing the demonic horde of horse-sized locusts to torment those who dwell on earth. They didn’t die, but instead of repenting, they begged for death. So, the sixth angel blew his trumpet and another army attacked tormenting those who dwell on the earth by giving them what they asked for. This army killed a third of mankind, yet the rest did not repent. Under the same trumpet, two witnesses of the Lord tormented those who dwell on the earth with their testimony and plagues. More than that, after they had been killed and then resurrected, a judgment killed 7000. However, following that the rest did repent.

The seventh angel blows his trumpet, and just in case we cannot figure out what the third woe is in this trumpet, after describing the victory of Christ and His followers, the loud voice in heaven explains:

Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short! (Revelation 12:12, ESV).

The Conquered and Cornered Serpent

We often have the exact wrong picture of Satan. Perhaps because of the line from Satan in John Milton’s “Paradise Lost” in which he proclaims it is better to rule in hell than serve in heaven. Satan doesn’t rule in hell. Satan isn’t trying to gather together minions who will do his bidding in his fiery kingdom. Satan is not a king. Satan is a defeated, crushed serpent.

Satan is actually much more like a snake that has been run over by a lawn mower, cornered, striking out in every direction simply trying to take as many down with him before he is completely and ultimate crushed. His wrath is great because he is dead and he knows it. His war on the woman and the rest of her offspring is not some organized attack by a well-funded, well-ordered kingdom. His war on the woman is nothing more than the thrashing death throes of a dying monster trying to do as much damage as possible before his remaining strength finally gives out.

Don’t misunderstand. That doesn’t mean Satan is harmless. That doesn’t mean his dying surges are not dangerous. But it does help us understand the battle we are facing. The strike of this serpent is deadly, but as we witness the snapping of his jaws on any and everyone who gets too close, we are not seeing a serpent on the way to victory. He is already dead. He is already crushed.

Hang on to the Victory

As powerful as the dragon may seem in these death throes, he is still dying. As explosive as his final attacks may seem, he has still lost. Don’t lose heart as you witness and experience his attacks. Hang on to Jesus. Hang on to the victory Jesus has already won. Jesus is not dying or dead. He is very much alive. Keep God’s commandments and hold on to the testimony and confession of Jesus.

No matter what it looks like, Jesus always wins! Praise the Lord!

Tomorrow’s reading is Revelation 12.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Revelation 12 prompt or improve your hope in God?

Revelation 12: The Seed of Woman

Today’s reading is Revelation 12.

Completing the Picture

Over the past two days, we’ve been taken back to Genesis 3 to see the woman and the serpent. Considering the ancient promise, we are not surprised at all to see the woman is pregnant, giving birth to a child. After all, the promise to the serpent was:

Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all easts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel (Genesis 3:14-15, ESV).

Completing the picture of this ancient promise, the woman in the vision gives birth to her offspring, “a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron” (Revelation 12:5, ESV).

The Messianic King

This child was not only promised in Genesis 3, but also in Psalm 2.

Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
and terrify them in his fury, saying
“As for me, I have set my King
on Zion, my holy hill.”
I will tell of the decree:
The LORD said to me, “You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.
Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
You shall break them with a rod of iron
and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” (ESV)

This seed of woman is the Son of God. This seed of woman is the Messiah. This seed of woman is the King.

Do you recall the song of the 24 elders back in Revelation 11:17-18? This declaration of the male child being given the rod of iron to rule ties back to their praise of God which also, in talking about the raging nations and the wrath of God, pointed us back to Psalm 2.

Can we doubt who this male child “caught up to God and to his throne” is? It is none other than the one who told the lukewarm Laodicean church if they would repent and conquer, He would grant them to sit with Him on His throne, “as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne” (Revelation 3:21, ESV). It is the Lion of the tribe of Judah who was worthy to open the seals of the scroll, who was the Lamb who was slain, who rode out on the white horse conquering and to conquer. This one was slain and by His blood ransomed a “people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth” (Revelation 5:9-10, ESV).

The Victory is Ours for the Taking

It is no wonder as the voice in heaven explains the meaning behind the vision of the heavenly battle between Michael and the dragon, he says the brothers and sisters “have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony” (Revelation 12:11, ESV). Jesus’s victory was won by His sacrifice. Satan has already been defeated.

The question is not who will win between Satan and the seed of woman. The seed of woman has already won. The question is will we wash our robes in the blood of the Lamb, confessing Him before the world, loving Him more than we love our own lives or will we fall in behind the dragon?

Jesus has already won the victory. It is ours for the taking. Oh, sure, we will endure a time when it seems like the side of the Lamb loses. Oh, sure, we will endure a time in which He seems defeated, slain, conquered, buried. Oh, sure, we will endure the time of Friday night and Saturday when it seemed the dragon had indeed swallowed up the woman’s offspring. But Sunday is coming. Victory is assured. Jesus didn’t win the victory when He rose on Sunday morning. He won the victory when He faithfully died on Friday evening. Once He did that, Sunday morning was assured. The same is true for us. Will we follow in the footsteps of Jesus even to a cross if need be?

John’s point to the seven churches and for us today is clear. The seed of woman has already won. Will we compromise with the one who tried to kill Him or will we maintain loyal faithfulness? The choice is ours. The victory is ours for the taking.

Praise the Lord!

Tomorrow’s reading is Revelation 12.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Revelation 12 prompt or improve your trust in God?

Revelation 12: The Dragon

Today’s reading is Revelation 12.

The Serpent Of Old

John wants to make sure we know exactly who the dragon is:

And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the world (Revelation 12:9, ESV).

While many of the commentators will lead us to the myths of the Ancient Near East world, speaking of chaos monsters, world serpents, and cosmic battles, I still think the best notion for figuring out what John is talking about is staying within the Bible. John wants us to know this dragon is the same snake who deceived Eve and distorted the entire world by his deception.

He is the one to whom God said:

Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel (Genesis 3:14-15, ESV).

The battle we see in Revelation 12 is cosmic. However, understand, the dragon is actually doing nothing more than nipping at the heels of the seed of woman.

This is a Vision, Not History

Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven (Revelation 12:7-8, ESV).

The big question everyone asks is, “When did this heavenly battle take place?” We ask the question as if we are reading about a literal battle that happened between the dragon and Michael in heaven. But please reread Revelation 12:1-6. Was there literally a woman in heaven giving birth to a child with a dragon waiting to eat the child? No. Why then do we think there was literally a battle in heaven between Michael and the dragon?

This is a vision, not history. No doubt, the battle represents some truth. However, I do not believe it represents a heavenly war between angelic beings dressed up in battle armor, carrying swords and spears, laying siege at the gates of heaven. Recall when Jesus taught His disciples to pray, they were to pray God’s kingdom come and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10). Are we to believe that literally in heaven His kingdom is embattled by rebellious angels and His will is challenged by a mutinous crew? Are we to pray for God’s kingdom and will be on earth like that? Oh, I know there was some point at which some angels left their position of authority and are now kept in “eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day” (Jude 6, ESV). But how can we remotely pray in the manner Jesus taught if we also hold that the dragon is a head angel of the Lord leading a cosmic rebellion in which he somehow convinced half or a third or even a tenth of the angels of the Lord to take up arms against God? How can we presently pray in the manner Jesus taught if we think we are awaiting some future day in which Satan will be thrown down to earth?

This is a vision. It is not history. We don’t think a white horse literally rode out of a scroll, nor a red one, nor black or pale ones. We don’t think souls are literally restricted to live under an altar in heaven. We don’t think a woman literally gave birth in heaven. We know those were visions from which John and his readers were to garner meaning, draw conclusions, find direction. We do not have to think a war literally took place in heaven.

What Does it Mean Then?

What then does this vision of a heavenly war mean? What is God communicating to the seven churches of Asia by this part of the vision?

First, recall Jesus sending the seventy (seventy-two in some translations) in Luke 10 on the limited commission. When they returned to report their travels to Jesus, they declared, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” Jesus responded, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:17-20, ESV). This sentence is not quite “apocalyptic,” however, it sure sounds a great deal like the kind of thing we’ve been reading in Revelation, doesn’t it? I trust we realize Jesus didn’t literally watch Satan fall from heaven as the seventy cast out demons. Rather, this was a dramatic way to say Satan was being defeated by their work.

In the same way, the vision of battle in Revelation 12 is not telling us of some historical event in the spiritual realm in which Satan took up arms against Michael, but Michael threw him down to the earth. Rather, the vision gives us an apocalyptic picture of the victory of Jesus and His people. In fact, a loud voice of heaven actually tells us what this vision of war means:

Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before God. And 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” (Revelation 12:10-11, ESV).

Wait! What? Did Michael the archangel beat Satan in a heavenly battle by using the blood of Jesus and the word of His testimony? That doesn’t sound right at all. The angel’s in heaven need the blood of Jesus? Of course not. In other words, this vision of battle isn’t about angels and demons crossing swords, it is about God’s people living like the two witnesses in the sixth trumpet (Revelation 11:3-13). It is about Jesus’s disciples being victorious because they live like Antipas (Revelation 2:13) and like the souls under the altar (Revelation 6:9-11). It is about the victory of Christ’s kingdom saints when we live in precisely the way Jesus called the Smyrnan saints to live–faithful unto death (Revelation 2:8-11).

The point of the vision is to show us how Satan is defeated. In much the same way that the work of the seventy was causing the defeat of Satan in Luke 10, the seven churches (and all modern churches) need to understand Satan will not be defeated by compromise. In Luke 10, when the disciples entered cities that would not hear the teaching, they were not to compromise with the cities, but shake the dust of the city off their feet. The seven churches in Asia needed to understand they would not defeat Satan by compromising with Satan. They would not defeat Satan by compromising with the idol’s temples. They would not defeat Satan by compromising with the cities around them. They needed to “come out from among them” even as they were still living in those cities. And in so doing, Satan will fall like lightning from heaven and be thrown down to earth.

In this way, Satan will be defeated.

Praise the Lord!

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Revelation 12 admonish you?

Revelation 12: The Woman

Today’s reading is Revelation 12.

Back to the Beginning

John sees a glorious woman, clothed with the sun, standing on the moon, wearing a crown of twelves stars. As glorious as she is pictured, she cries out in pain and agony because she is giving birth. Genesis 3:16 comes rushing into our memory:

I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;
in pain you shall bring forth children (ESV).

When we see she and her son attacked by a great red dragon, the serpent of old, the previous verse in Genesis comes rushing into our minds:

The LORD God said to the serpent,…
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel (ESV).

We see the fulfillment of the first foretelling of the Messiah in a cosmic apocalyptic display. The woman bears her seed and the serpent of old is crushed.

The Woman in All Her Guises

On the one hand, this woman is Mary the mother of Jesus. On the other hand, she is much more than that. She is Eve who gave birth to Abel, but the serpent convinced Cain to kill his brother. Yet, he was replaced by Seth. She is Sarah who struggled mightily to have children and herself succumbed to the tempter’s ideas by trying to produce the heir through her slave, Hagar. She is Rebekah who gave birth to Jacob and Esau and whose fall to temptation nearly caused Esau to kill Jacob, the seed of promise. She is Leah the unloved who gave birth to Judah. She is Tamar whose father-in-law, Judah, nearly kept her from bringing the offspring into the world. She is the unnamed mother in the tribe of Judah giving birth during Egyptian bondage as Pharaoh tried to kill off all the Israelite sons. She is Rahab, who, apart from God’s grace, could not even be in the assembly of God bearing children in the kingdom. She is Ruth redeemed by Boaz whose son becomes a redeemer for Naomi and whose great-grandson, David, was attacked by lions, bears, giants, and kings. She is Bathsheba whose first son died because of David’s sin and whose second son was embattled by his brothers for the throne. Are you seeing the picture? Over and again these women in the line between Eve and Mary struggling to bear children. All the way along the dragon was trying to stop the birth of the woman’s seed and cut short her children’s lives.

On the other hand, when we see this litany of mothers embattled by the serpent, we realize this woman is not a single woman. She is a line of women. She is a nation of women. She is the nation who was God’s bride (see Ezekiel 16) through whom He brought the seed of woman into the world in order to crush the serpent’s head. She is Israel herself.

However, in an admittedly weird twist, here in Revelation 11, as a representative of the people of God she represents the continuation of God’s people even after Christ has come. She becomes the protected church and bride of Christ carried and protected in the wilderness as Israel was. As Jesus in John 10 was the door through which the shepherd entered the fold and also the shepherd entering through that door, this woman is the universal body of God’s people from all time. She was the people through whom the Messiah entered the world and she is now the people who enter the world through the Messiah.

The Promise Fulfilled

Oddly enough, the promise to the serpent and to the woman in Genesis 3 is nowhere else mentioned. Though nearly all students of Scripture see that as the first gospel promise, no other New Testament writer calls attention to it.

Yet here, in glorious description, we are shown God keeps His Word. Though generations lay between. Though battles and struggles and wars lay between. Though at times it seems like the enemy has overcome and God has neglected His Word. Though we cry out, “How long?!,” God always keeps His promises. And we who follow Him are the blessed beneficiaries.

Praise the Lord!

Tomorrow’s reading is Revelation 12.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Revelation 12 prompt or improve your praise of God?

Close, but Don’t Be Fooled

Today’s reading is Revelation 13.

Our enemy has no creativity whatsoever. The best he can do is provide a mediocre copy. Sadly, that is often enough to turn the heads of those he wants to capture. Consider the parallels between the unholy trinity of the dragon, the sea beast, and the land beast and the holy trinity of Father, Son, and Spirit. The dragon gives authority to the sea beast, as the Father has given all authority to the Son. The sea beast receives a mortal wound and is healed, just as the Son died on the cross and arose. The land beast with great signs and wonders points people to worship the sea beast, just as the Spirit does for the Son. And while the sea beast has the mouth of a lion, understand he is not the Lion of the tribe of Judah. In this battle over the Bride, the enemy will stop at nothing, even copying the Hero in order to get the Bride to capitulate instead of conquer. Don’t be fooled. Only Jesus is the Hero and only Jesus wins.

Tomorrow’s reading is Revelation 14.