Chapters 12-14

Referring to the flowchart again, notice that the Ch12-14 box begins at the beginning of the sixth seal in the Ch6 box and ends at the end of the Ch20:11-15 box, the same place the Ch8-11 box ended.

Since the sixth seal in the Ch6 box referred to the gospel, the fact that the Ch12-14 box begins there indicates that chapter twelve is about the gospel, too.

Notice the five numbers in this box. They represent the five angels. Notice that the first three are listed before the Ch 20:11-15 box, meaning that they occur before the final judgment. Notice that the third angel is listed to the right of the red line, directly over the 7 in the Ch15,16 box, the ch19:11-21 subbox in the Ch17-19 box, and the v7-10 subbox in the Ch20:1-10 box. All of these sections describe Armageddon. Also notice that the last two are listed underneath the Ch20:11-15 box, just like the seventh number in the Ch8-11 box. Since those two referred to the final judgment, that indicates that the last two angels also refer to that.

One other thing should be becoming pretty apparent by now, and that is that each box is pretty much self contained, that is, each box represents its own story which, when considered with the whole, contributes an important part to the overall message in the book of Revelation. But each box can also be looked at by itself, almost as an entity unto itself.

We can now see that chapter twelve has nothing to do with chapter eleven, and the events described therein do not follow chronologically the events described in chapter eleven, but rather cover the same time frame as does the sixth seal in chapter six as well as the first part of chapters seven and eight. And so the element of repetition is now being seen more clearly. This is done in order to provide more information to add on top of what has already been given. This is where the flowchart has its value, in keeping all of this sorted out.

Chapters 12-14 will look at what is happening to the church while mankind is being rebellious. The seven trumpets in chapters 8-11 only showed what happened to the rebels. Now we will see some of their activities that were rebellious, especially as they persecuted the church. We will also see who was behind the persecution, and how it all ends up.

Chapter twelve begins with a pregnant woman. As she is about to give birth a red dragon is ready to devour the new born child.

Some people think that this woman is the virgin Mary, the child is Jesus, and the red dragon is the devil. V5 shows that the child is indeed Jesus, as it recalls the words of Psalm 2:9. The red dragon is the devil, but is the woman the virgin Mary? Considering this chapter as a whole, it seems that this pregnant woman cannot be her because of v17, which shows the red dragon going off to make war against "the rest of her offspring." It seems more likely that she is Israel, since Jesus was born a Jew. In that sense Israel would be His mother. V17 goes on to identify just who these other offspring are: "...those who obey God's commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus." In other words, they are Christians, the church. The connection with v1 probably refers to the idea that Christianity sprang from Judaism.

Chapter twelve basically shows, in a highly figurative way, that the devil attempted to keep Jesus from fulfilling His mission here on earth. In Matthew we can find four main ways that he literally failed. In 2:1-18 the devil, using Herod, failed to kill the baby Jesus. In chapter 4 the devil failed to get Jesus to succumb to his temptations. In 16:21-23 the devil failed in his efforts to get Peter to prevent Jesus' death, and in 26:39 he failed to get Jesus to rebel against the will of the Father.

What would have been the result if Satan had been successful in any of these attempts? We would still be in our sins! If Jesus was killed as a baby his death would not have been voluntary. If He had succumbed to any of Satan's temptations He would not have remained sinless, hence His sacrifice would have been insufficient, no better than the High Priest's. If Peter had been able to keep Jesus from the cross, or if Jesus had rebelled against the will of the Father, there would have been no sacrifice, and we would all be lost!

So, from Satan's point of view, these failures of his were very crucial, and very angering. Even though at first it may have appeared that he won, when Jesus was dying on the cross, he knew that with the resurrection Jesus had really won the initial victory by which all who would become His would be saved. V7-12 portray Satan's loss, and v11 gives the reason for it, the "blood of the Lamb."

Verses 9 and 13 should remind us of what Jesus said in Luke 10:18. After receiving a successful report from the seventy-two He says He "saw Satan fall from the sky." This verse helps to place Revelation 12 at the cross, or at least during the time frame of Jesus' earthly ministry and the early days of the church.

When Satan realizes his mistake and that he has really lost the battle, he becomes enraged and does the only thing left for him to do — make war against the rest of the woman's offspring, which we have already determined to mean the church. This could also be the great tribulation alluded to in 7:14.

Although we have generally interpreted the two beasts in chapter thirteen to be the Roman Empire and Emperor deification, I have recently come across another interpretation that, while still upholding the amillennial view, actually seems to square with scripture better. The gist of that interpretation is as follows, and is presented here for your consideration:

In chapter thirteen, the first beast, the one out of the sea, represents the early Roman Empire, the most powerful nation on earth at that time, as indicated by the leopard, bear and lion in v2, all ferocious animals. The four beasts in Daniel's vision (7:1-7) all arose out of the sea, each in turn, one following the other, meaning they were invading conquerers. The fourth beast in Daniel corresponds with this first beast here. Further, Daniel's vision in 2:31-45 not only seems to list the four kingdoms in proper order as they arise, that being the Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Macedonian, and the Roman Empires, but the vision might also indicate a sort of partition between the early and late Roman Empires, as possibly indicated in v33 by the legs of iron but the feet of iron mixed with clay, which would of course be weaker.

Interestingly enough, the dragon successfully offered the beast the same thing that Jesus refused to accept in Matthew 4.

V5-8 show that the beast would have authority for a while, but it would not be forever. It would be limited, during which he would successfully make war with the saints, or the church. V8 gives us that phrase 'inhabitants of the earth' again, which we have seen clearly refers to non-Christians.

V10 is a difficult one, indicating that the life of a Christian is not guaranteed to be free from trouble, especially in the first century. But even though life might be rough, if the Christians patiently endure and remain faithful, even to the point of death, they will be rewarded, as we recall from Hebrews 6:11 and Revelation 2:26. At this point things don't look very good for us, and as we continue on in this thirteenth chapter things are about to get worse. But we need to remember that this story isn't over yet, and won't be 'til we finish the fourteenth chapter. So, even though things look gloomy now, we need to hang in there till we finish the end of this story, to see how everything is resolved.

Around 260 AD the early Roman Empire came to an end. Invasions by the Persians, Franks, Alemanni and Goths left nothing but burned fields and ruined cities. The Empire was in its death throes.

It is significant that the second beast comes out of the earth. That means it arose from the ashes, so to speak, of the previous one. Historically, that would be the late Roman Empire, culminating about 314 AD with Constantine. Though much weaker than the early Roman Empire, the late Empire was able to do by co-option what the early Empire never could by oppression — apostasize the church. Looking at Revelation 13:11-18 we can ascertain the following:

V11. The late Empire arose out of the rubble of the early Empire in a kind of unholy resurrection. Divided politically into Latin and Greek halves, it espoused a state-sponsored Christianity that was really in name only.

V12. Occupying the same geographic locale, the late Empire traded on the glory of the early Empire as a way of gaining allegiance towards the new administration.

V13. Beginning in the fourth century there is a flood of reports of so-called miraculous signs, distinctly magical in character, unlike those done by the apostles.

V14,15. While the late Empire was much weaker politically and militarily than the early Empire, it did have the advantage of the state-church invoking the ancient Imperial authority in a misguided attempt to preserve what she perceived to be the "kingdom of God." This also gave a sort of religious veneer to the late Empire, helping it survive for another 150 years or so until her final demise, about 476 AD.

V16,17. Unlike the early Empire, the late Empire was rigidly socialist, forcing the populace to stay in the trades in which they were born and often forcing them to do business with the state.

V18. As in Ezekiel 9:4, the number of the beast is a sign of allegience more than it is a cryptograph. To take the mark of the beast was to continue to swear allegience to Rome under the guise of a state-sponsored Christianity. What a sharp contrast with Revelation 14:1 in terms of to whom allegience is given!

There has been much speculation as to what the number 666 means in v18, some very elaborate, involving Hebrew numerology, but there has never been much of a consensus of opinion on it. It seems entirely possible to me that if the number had a specific meaning to the original readers we may not be able to precisely determine what it was.

On the other hand, there is one view that makes sense to me, and that is that the 666 copies the Trinity, but with each 6 falling short of the perfect number 7. One thing is sure, and that is that this number of the beast is also man's number, and as such probably refers to man's sinful nature. As such, we can see that those who willingly indulge the sinful nature for pleasure or profit would figuratively have this 'mark of the beast.'

There have been others, however, who have linked the number 666 with the antiChrist, and have tried to identify who he is or was. In the past some have thought he was Hitler, or Mussolini, or Stalin. Some even thought he might have been Ronald Wilson Reagan, based soley on the fact that each of his names contains six letters. This shows you what ridiculous lengths some will go to try to prove their point.

Later in Revelation, at 16:13 and 19:20, we will be confronted with the false prophet again. What we see is that rather than his working on behalf of a pagan Imperial priesthood we see him speaking falsely in the name of Christianity, the result of the late Empire, under Constantine, co-opting Christianity and making it the state religion, corrupting her. The term 'false prophet' is appropriate for the spiritually lax and doctrinally corrupt church of the late Empire.

It can also have current applications, particularly the tendency among some Christians to organize and align themselves with one political party or another, or any one country or another. This to some degree is similar to the late Empire and the Church being aligned together, each helping to prop the other up, but it is the church that suffers spiritually by this union. So we must be careful about political involvement or alignment, I think. We must keep in mind that Jesus said that His kingdom "is not of this world," John 18:36. And Paul adds, in Philippians 3:20, that "...our citizenship is in heaven." So where ought our focus be?

In 1 Thessalonians 4:11 Paul writes, "Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business..." In 1 Timothy 2:1,2 he writes further, "I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone — for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness." In Titus 3:1,2 he writes, "Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility towards all men." Then there is Romans 13:1-3 in which Paul writes, "Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves." And we all know that the world of the first century was anything but easy for Christians to live in. Peter's admonitions in 1 Peter 2:13-25 make that very clear.

You can draw your own conclusion concerning what Paul and Peter meant in the above passages, but I am personally uncomfortable with the current level of political involvement of many Christian organizations, even though many do much good. In any event, this is something to think seriously about.

Chapter fourteen concludes this box and ends this episode in a way that confirms the messages of chapters four and five, that God is the creator and the redeemer, both in charge and in control. Earlier, in 7:3, a reference was made to the seal of God on His own. Here, at v1, reference is made again to the seal. It would appear that this 144,000 is the same group as in the first vision of chapter seven, probably comprising of Old Testament saints. We remember that similar language about signs was used in reference to the Israelites in Exodus 13:9,16, giving us the idea of God's own being marked as His. And Peter's reference in 1 Peter 2:9 to the saints as being "a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God..." also can be traced back to Exodus 19:6 in reference to the Israelites.

V4, in light of 1 Corinthians 6:15-20 and Hebrews 13:4, is not to be taken to mean that lawful sexual relations are somehow morally impure. But there are indications in the Old Testament, particularly in Exodus 19:15, Leviticus 15:18; 22:4, and 1 Samuel 21:4,5, that even lawful sexual relations made the person involved ceremonially unclean until sunset, so if you were a married priest you still had to abstain when it was your turn to serve in the temple. In fact, just the course of one's daily life would tend to make one ceremonially unclean, even though no sin would be involved, and one could not serve while being ceremonially unclean for any reason, legitimately or otherwise. In any event, all of these images are rooted in the Old Testament, and are designed to give us the impression of God's own being devoted to Him.

The five angels are listed in the order the events they describe occur. They are:

1st angel: The gospel is still being proclaimed. Urgently, because the time is short.

2nd angel: A proclamation that Babylon has fallen, a reference to the Roman Empire that will be more clearly seen in chapters 17 and 18. Of course, when this was written the Roman Empire was still the most powerful nation on earth, so the fact that this angel speaks in the past tense probably means that what he says is as good as done — it's a done deal!

3rd angel: A warning that the beast, along with his followers who have his mark, will be defeated. This is actually the first reference Armageddon, though it up to now remains unnamed. V12 recalls 13:10b, whose roots go back to Romans 12:19, which is actually a quote of Deuteronomy 32:35. The idea, of course, is that God will settle the debt, and right the wrong, which for many will begin with Armageddon.

4th, 5th angels: These last two angels bring us another view of the final judgment, and a gruesome picture it is, recalling Joel 3:13. Notice again that the 4 and 5 in the Ch12-14 box are directly underneath the 7 in the Ch8-11 box and the Ch20:11-15 box, meaning that all three portray the same thing, only in different ways.

Our current point in history seems to fit in this box at chapter fourteen, between v8 and v9, also represented by the red line as it passes through this box.