Today’s reading is Revelation 16.
Getting Back to Where We Started
Before I make the point of today’s post, we have to go all the way back to the beginning of Revelation. Recall, Revelation 1:4:
John to the seven churches that are in Asia… (ESV).
John wrote this letter to seven churches in Asia. No doubt, like all the books in our New Testament, it was ultimately to be read, studied, and applied by all churches of all times. But the letter is specifically to those churches.
Further, let’s recall at least two of the specific messages given to two of those congregations:
I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality (Revelation 2:14, ESV–to Pergamum).
But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols (Revelation 2:20, ESV–to Thyatira).
These Asian saints were being tempted to put other gods up on the dais with YHWH. One congregation even had a teacher calling herself a prophetess. She was claiming to speak from God while pointing the congregation to idols.
The Plagues on Egypt
With the messages in the early part of Revelation fresh in our mind, we turn back to Revelation 16. We reread the seven plagues. We remember God’s plagues on Egypt. Then we recall a statement God made smack in the middle of that battle.
For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD (Exodus 12:12, ESV).
In case we missed this one, God said it again in Numbers 33:3-4:
On the day after the Passover, the people of Israel went out triumphantly in the sight of all the Egyptians, while the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn, whom the LORD had struck down among them. On their gods also the LORD executed judgments (ESV).
The plagues were not merely a judgment on Pharaoh. They were not merely a judgment on the Egyptians. They were a judgment on the Egyptian gods. The plagues themselves attacked the provinces of Egyptian gods. Those gods could do nothing about the attacks of YHWH.
CoNsider the Frogs
After the Nile, itself connected to Egyptian deities, was turned to blood, Moses called forth a plague of frogs. One goddess connected to frogs was Heqet. She was a goddess of fertility and childbirth. She was considered connected to one of the Nile gods. After all, when the Nile would flood, you’d expect more frogs, wouldn’t you?
Under the sixth bowl (Revelation 16:12-16), though the plague is not specifically one of frogs, John’s vision calls the frog plague to mind. John wrote:
And I saw, coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs. For they are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world… (ESV).
As the frogs in Exodus 8:6 covered the whole land of Egypt, the three frogs of Revelation 16 go abroad through the whole world. Their propaganda covers all the land.
I am intrigued when I go back to the Egyptian plagues. In Exodus 8:6, “Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt” (ESV). But then in Exodus 8:7, “the magicians did the same by their secret arts and made frogs come up on the land of Egypt” (ESV). That is, the magicians performed signs which deceived Pharaoh and Egypt. They could copy the miracle themselves. Back in Revelation we are told the three frogs were demonic spirits performing signs deceiving all the kings of the whole world.
However, here’s the thing. Sure, the magicians could produce more frogs. I guess that’s amazing. But what good was it? They couldn’t get rid of the frogs. Heqet was useless to them. They could not call on their god to deliver them. In fact, it was not until Moses asked YHWH to remove the frogs that they went away.
All of the plagues were like this. Each of them demonstrated YHWH’s superiority over those false gods who were not gods at all. At the most, they were demonic spirits given freedom to work for a time. At the least, they were figments of the imagination created in the minds of people.
The Message for the Seven Churches
Pergamum and Thyatira, and the other churches as well, needed to perk up their ears. They seemed to believe no harm would come from compromising with the pagan gods. In fact, they may have believed positive blessing would come from it.
However, these bowls of wrath reminding us of God’s judgment on Israel make the point loud and clear. When the judgment falls, the false gods will be judged. Those who follow them will also be judged.
We can’t serve two masters. If we try, we must know one of them will be judged in the end. We will be judged alongside it.
The Lord, He is God. Let us permit no others on the dais with Him.
Tomorrow’s reading is Revelation 16.
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PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family
How does Revelation 16 prompt or improve your trust in God?
Read the Bible 