Revelation 15 -- Victory Over the Beast

It seems as if chapter 15 is basically a transition, wrapping up the battle against the beasts and preparing us to read about God's wrath being poured out against the forces of evil.  We see in verse 2 that victory has been achieved, followed by a song of praise.  Seven angels emerge to receive seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God, and the short chapter ends.

Revelation 14 -- The Tide is Turning

After a couple chapters of beasts running wild, we see the spiritual forces of good begin to assert themselves in chapter 14.  The Lamb appears with 144,000 followers, followed by three angels who point us toward God and denounce the beast.  There's a lot going on as this battle rages, and verse 12 reminds us that all this requires "patient endurance on the part of the people of God."  It's striking how much waiting, patience and trust play into our faith.  It's as if trust is the currency of the Kingdom of God.

The last seven verses are an interesting depiction of two harvests, one of the earth and another of grapes that end up getting squeezed in a bloody winepress.  It seems pretty clear that wickedness is being dealt with in the grape harvest, but the first harvest is less clear.  Taking a closer look, are we seeing Jesus coming like a "son of man", calling to Himself those who are secure in Him?  That makes sense to me.

Revelation 13 -- Two Beasts

Read through Revelation 13 and a couple primary questions come to mind.  Who are these beasts?  What do they represent?  Is this a look back or look ahead?

What does it mean for a beast to have a resemblance to a leopard, feet like a bear and a mouth like a lion?  How can it have ten horns and seven heads?  What are those?  That's the first beast described in verses 1-8.  In that section we see that all who are not in Christ, with their names in the Lamb's Book of Life will worship this beast.  Again, I ask, is this something from the past or something yet to come?  One thing we see for sure, that "this calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of God's people" (v. 10).

The second beast comes "out of the earth", as opposed to the sea, and is clearly in collaboration with the first beast.  It's a powerful beast as seen in verses 13-17.

The rise of the second beast prompts John to call for wisdom on the part of Christians (v. 18).

There's a lot here and it's hard to understand.  I decided to google "who are the beasts described in Revelation 13" and found about 1000 articles which offered theories.  Maybe there's a consensus out there among trustworthy Bible scholars, but I couldn't seem to find one.  Nearly halfway through this walk through the Book of Revelation, and I've got way more questions than answers.  In fact, I'm not even sure I have that right now.  Our God is operating in a realm that I can't begin to grasp.

Revelation 12 -- Dragons and Wars

I remember hearing this passage read in church when I was small, and I didn't really know what was going on.  How can a woman appear in the sky, up with the sun, moon and stars?  Why was a dragon in the sky?  And the dragon wants to devour the child that's about to be born?  It's a pretty weird story for a 5-year old.


Looking at it now, I see that the woman and dragon are both referred to as signs that appear in heaven, presumably meaning the sky.  This is not a completely literal story, which makes me feel a little better.  So who is the woman?  The child about to be born is fairly clearly Jesus, so is Mary the woman?  She gave birth to Him, after all.  Could it be that the woman is actually the nation of Israel, since that nation birthed Jesus? 


Once the child is born and rescued from the dragon (Satan), the rest of the chapter describes a war that is waged between God's angels, and the Satan/demonic/evil angel team.  It's a classic "good guys/bad guys" story, but one with the greatest level of significance. 


So what can we learn from this chapter?  A couple ideas that stood out to me:


- Satan is an "accuser" (v. 10)
- he is defeated by those who had the courage to "not love their lives so much as to shrink from death", so selflessness is an attribute to pursue (v. 11)
- Satan is relentless, continuing to pursue the woman who had given birth to the Savior, even after he is hurled to the earth.  He also pursues the rest of the woman's offspring (other Christians), once the "woman" is protected from him (v. 13, 17)
- Provision is made by God for those who are engaged in this battle/war, in that the woman had a place "prepared for her" (v. 14)

Revelation 11 - Two Powerful Prophets and the Seventh Trumpet

In Revelation 11 we are introduced to two powerful prophets.  These two witnesses who will preach for 1260 days are a mysterious duo.  Scholars do not agree on their identity, but one thing is clear.  They are serving God faithfully, standing up against incredible evil, are martyred for their faithfulness, and are resurrected and taken up to heaven.  No small feat.

It makes us wonder just what the world's condition is that these two important servants of the Most High God are put to death, and the world's response is that people gloat and celebrate.  Although it's perhaps not that difficult to understand, being that the two prophets were carrying a message that stood opposed to the cultural norms.  Simply put, they were rocking people's worlds, and the masses were glad to be rid of them.  Although they weren't really rid of them, were they?

At the end of the chapter we see the seventh trumpet sounded (finally!) and are reintroduced to the 24 elders from earlier in the book.  As is their custom, they fall on their face in, providing us an example of submission and worship.

Revelation 10 - A Mysterious Angel and a Tasty Scroll

One of the best parts of reading through Revelation is that although I've read through it before, I haven't read it nearly enough to remember the particulars and how things tie together.  Reading chapter 10 makes me wonder how all these strange happenings will come into play in later chapters.

For all the odd things I've read so far, chapter 10 is right up there with the strangest.  Now that six out of the seven trumpets have been sounded, we await #7.  But that won't happen until later.  For now, we meet a mighty angel, presumably enormous, since one of his feet is on the land and the other on the sea.  He speaks a powerful message with a voice like a lion, and commands John to keep from writing it down.  Hmm.

Later, John is told to take a little scroll from this mighty angel and eat it.  It tastes sweet like honey but turns his stomach sour.  Sounds kind of like a Halloween candy binge.  Once John has eaten the scroll, which is weird enough because who eats scrolls?, he is told that it's OK for him to prophesy again.

I absolutely can't wait to get into chapter 11.

Revelation 9 - Locusts That Look Like Horses

In this chapter we really begin to see John's struggle to describe his vision.  The fifth trumpet ushers in creatures that defy description.  Locusts that have power like scorpions of the earth.  They cannot kill, but can torture people for five months.  The locusts look like horses prepared for battle, with faces that resemble human faces, golden crowns on their heads, women's hair, lions' teeth and breastplates of iron.  They have tails with scorpion-like stingers.

That is stranger than anything I have ever seen, probably stranger than anything I have ever imagined.  Reading this chapter is a good reminder of just how incapable we are of grasping many aspects of the spiritual realm.  It's also a good reminder of just how frightening the spiritual battle is that rages every day.

The sixth trumpet releases four angels to kill a third of mankind by way of fire, smoke and sulfur from their mouths.  Yikes.  The horses with deadly tails like snakes sound particularly devastating.  At the end of chapter 9, we see the cause of all this destruction.  People are worshiping demons and idols, and refuse to repent of the evil they do.  A final reminder from this chapter is just how loving and gracious our God is to provide a way for us to avoid this punishment that we deserve for our rebellion against a holy God.  Jesus took all of it on the cross.  For those who know Him, the debt has been paid in full.