Revelation 13:1-4, 16-18

“A Tale of Two Empires”

Today, we continue in our series on the Book of Revelation. And of course, when we think of the Book of Revelation, we think of “Judgment” or “Judgment Day”. And as we think about Judgment, part of the question that we are meant to ask is, “Are we ready for the Judgment Day?” And if you are ready, then Judgment Day is not something that we fear … it is a day of rejoicing. But of course, if you are not ready, then it is something that you are afraid of and you want to postpone for as long as possible.

I love to be around people who are ready for the Judgment Day. They have a confidence about them and a peace, that they are ready to meet the Lord. I can think of many people whom I have known with that spirit. Most recently, I think of Elna Craig. As she faced her impending death, she was at peace. She was ready and she looked forward to that day when she would meet the Lord face-to-face. Such people are an inspiration.

So, the question begs to be asked, “Are you ready?” Do you have a peace and confidence about the fact that the day will come when you will stand before the Lord in his Judgment seat? Are you ready for that day? This is part of the question that we ask as we read the Book of Revelation.

As we mentioned last week, we recognize that the Book of Revelation is difficult to read, it has often been misunderstood and it has been interpreted in a number of different ways. And last week, I shared with you four different ways that the Book of Revelation can be interpreted and read.

Just to remind you of that, we learned that there is a school of thought, primarily held by our fundamentalists and conservative friends, known as the “futurist” view. According to this view, the Book of Revelation is really dealing with the last seven years before the Second Coming of Christ. Those who wrote books like, The Left Behind Series, come from this perspective and they believe that everything in this book is dealing with the Last Days, just before the Second Coming of Christ and nothing else.

Another view is the “Historical” view and it says that this book is describing everything that has happened and will happen from the time of John’s writing in A.D. 90 to the Second Coming of Christ. People who read Revelation from this view, look back over history and see where the Book of Revelation foretold the events that have happened and they believe that it gives insight into what is going to happen.

The “Preterist” school of thought says that almost all of what we read in the Book of Revelation is about things that were happening or about to happen in John’s day, at the time when he wrote the book.

And then, the “Idealist” view claims that this book is not about historical events at all. Instead, it is about the ongoing struggle between good and evil … between the forces of God and the forces of evil. Instead of being about specific events, it is about what happens in every generation where good and evil are in conflict with one another.

Those are four ways of looking at the Book of Revelation. Most of you come here today with a particular perspective on how you understand this book that you have learned from somewhere. Today, I am going to invite you to hear it in, perhaps, a different way.

Last week, I shared with you that I draw upon three of those perspectives of Revelation. First, as a Preterist, I believe that John was writing to the people of his day about events that were happening in his day. And you will see why I think that as we move through the sermon today. At the same time, as the Idealists, I believe that the events that happened in John’s day are repeated in virtually every generation. In every generation we see the battle between the forces of God and the forces of evil. And finally, I believe that the last four chapters of Revelation are focused on the Second Coming of Christ are in the future. So, in that way, I would be a Futurist. Integrating those three together is how many Christians make sense of the Book of Revelation.

With that in mind, I want to share with you what may sound like a history lesson today. I ask you to hang with me on this. I am going to be doing more teaching than preaching today, but I want you to have a sense of what was happening when the Book of Revelation was written, because this will give us the key to understanding it.

So, let’s go back to A.D. 54. In A.D. 54, there was an Emperor named Nero who came to power. (Picture of Nero) He was 17 years old. He was one of the cruelest and most narcissistic Emperors that would ever reign over the Roman Empire. This is one of the few images we have of Nero, because after his death, he was so hated that most of his images were destroyed. Nero was known for many perverse ideas and practices that I cannot even mention in the context of a worship service. One of which, was that he murdered his own mother.

Nero was the one who elevated the status of Emperor in Rome to a deified status. All of the Emperors who followed him (Julius Caesar, Augustus, Tiberius) were all deified by the Roman Senate after their deaths. But Nero believed that he was divine while he was alive. There were temples built all across the Roman Empire, with altars and statues of himself for the people to offer incense offerings to and to hail him as a god. At the time of John’s writing of the Book of Revelation, all of the people were used to seeing this. From the time of Nero to his successors, emperor worship was prevalent throughout the Roman Empire.

And there are a couple of events surrounding Nero’s life that I want you to know about, because they help us to better understand the context of the Book of Revelation. In A.D. 64 two-thirds of the City of Rome burned to the ground. Many in Rome thought that Nero had caused the fire, because Nero wanted to claim the center part of the city for his new palace. And in fact, after the fire, he did claim that land and build a palace for himself there. You can still see the ruins of it in Rome today.

In order to avert attention from himself, Nero claimed that the gods had set fire to the City of Rome because of a new religious sect that had recently come to Rome. This sect did not believe in the Roman gods and they were known as Christians. And so, persecution of the Christians began to happen under Nero’s reign.

Christian leaders were rounded up and put to death. Some were tied to posts, smeared with tar, and lit on fire for the amusement of Nero’s dinner guests. Two of the Apostles were put to death during this time … the Apostle Peter and the Apostle Paul. This is part of what Nero was known for. In fact, many in Rome were sympathetic towards the Christians, because they saw how they were so mistreated by Nero.

After building his new palace, (Picture of Colossus of Nero) Nero constructed a huge statue that would greet anyone who walked onto his palace grounds. It was 120 feet tall and it was called the Colossus of Nero. I don’t think I have to tell you who the statue was. It was Nero, as he would have looked if he was the Sun god, Helios. Each Emperor afterwards had the face changed so that it looked like themselves. It was later moved next to a stadium that is today known as the “Coliseum”. Again, this is part of what Nero was known for … images of himself around the Empire; asking people to offer sacrifices to him; using names of deity for himself; and the persecution of Christians.

But there was one thing more that he was known for. In A.D. 66 the Jews in Judea revolted against the Roman authorities and they expelled the Roman garrison from the City of Jerusalem. When this happened, Nero sent a force to squelch this rebellion. He sent a force of 80,000 well-armed and well-trained troops to crush the Jews, and they did.

The Romans entered from Syria, killing 15.000 Jews there. They then went to Galilee and killed 100.000 Jews and took away another 100.000 Jews as slaves back to Rome. They finally made their way to Jerusalem. Jerusalem was a walled city and the people had fortified themselves inside the city. And so, for 4 years the Romans laid siege to the City of Jerusalem. Finally, the Romans broke through and they slaughtered all of the people. They went into the Temple and found 6000 Jews hiding there and killed them all. They then went up to the altar and made sacrifices to their pagan gods. And then, they burned the Temple to the ground.

It was not over though. Some of the Jews had fled to the south, to the hilltop called Masada. And you remember that the Romans went there and laid siege to the hilltop of Masada for 3 years. Finally, they were able to climb the walls and break in to the fortress. But instead of surrendering, they discovered that all of the Jews had committed suicide.

Now, what I want you to recognize is that that entire period of time, from when they entered the land of Judea, until they crushed the rebellion, was 7 years. Those of you who come from the “Futurist” perspective, look at the Book of Revelation and you see a seven year period of great tribulation. But in John’s day, the Jews had just been through a seven year period of great tribulation. What was described in the Book of Revelation were things that they had lived through. There were a million Jews who were put to death during this time, including many Christians. And so, these things were recent history for the people of John’s day.

In addition to this, before the rebellion was completely squelched, Nero committed suicide in A.D. 68. Nero was both hated and feared. And many were afraid that Nero had faked his own death and would come back again to seize control of the Roman Empire. So, there was great fear regarding this among the people. These were the things that were going on in John’s day at the time he wrote this book.

Well, with this backdrop of what was going behind the writing of this Book, let’s take a look at some of the odd images that we read about … the Dragon, the Beast, the Mark of the Beast … what do we make of all this?

If you have your Bible, I invite you to turn to Revelation 12:9. Here we begin to read about these enemies of God. “The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world--he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.” – Revelation 12:9

So, we have this image of the Devil being thrown out of Heaven and he comes down to earth and begins to devour and destroy God’s people on earth. And John tells us who the Dragon is … it is Satan.

But then, he says that the Dragon gives birth to or calls forth “a Beast” from the sea. Remember how in the Old Testament that “Leviathan” was the sea monster that everyone feared. So, I am sure that this image of the Beast reminded them of Leviathan. Turn to Revelation 13:1-4. “And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads; and on its horns were ten diadems (crowns), and on its heads were blasphemous names (Names used only for God). And the beast that I saw was like a leopard, its feet were like a bear's, and its mouth was like a lion's mouth. And the dragon gave it his power and his throne and great authority. One of its heads seemed to have received a death-blow, but its mortal wound had been healed. In amazement the whole earth followed the beast. They worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?” – Revelation 13:1-4

So, we see that the Beast is a tool of Satan and very powerful. One of its heads seems to have been wounded, but was healed. People came to worship the Beast and see it as undefeatable.

I want to ask you this question: “How do you think the first hearers of the Book of Revelation saw these images?” If you were a Christian living in John’s day, you clearly would have seen the connection here with the Roman Empire as “the Beast”. The myth or fear that Nero would come back again was referring to the “the head that was damaged” or “seemed to have received a death-blow, but its mortal wound had been somehow healed”. They saw in the Roman Empire, this “Beast” with its “bear’s claws and mouth like a lion” destroying God’s people.

But just in case that wasn’t clear enough, John gives us some additional hints or clues to make sure that we understand this. Let’s turn to Revelation 17:9. He’s talking here about the Beast and he says: “This calls for a mind that has wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated; also, they are seven kings…”

So, there are “7 heads” … which are “7 mountains” … and there are “7 kings”.

Now, you will remember that Rome is often referred to as “the City on Seven Hills”. John is telling us to just think about this and it is clear as to who he is talking about here. He’s talking about the Roman Empire.

The woman sitting on top of those seven mountains is “a city”. He describes her as “the great city”. He described her as “a prostitute or whore” at one point … and as a “the great merchant city” for the whole world. He also calls her “the City of Babylon”, which would one day be destroyed.

Now, there was no City of Babylon in John’s day. Babylon was used as a code word for the City of Rome. You can see this also in 1 Peter 5. But John tells us in Revelation 17-18 that this “harlot” … the City of Rome, would eventually be destroyed.

And this leads us to the Mark of the Beast … 666. Even if you don’t go to church, you’ve heard about 666. But what is the Mark of the Beast? Well, let’s see what John says about this in Revelation 13:16. “Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell who does not have the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom: let anyone with understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a person. Its number is six hundred sixty-six.” – Revelation 13:16-18

Alright … what is this? First, I would remind you that in the Book of Revelation the number 7 is very important. We learned last week that this symbolizes “wholeness”, “perfection” and “completeness” and this is God’s plan. So, in the book we read about the 7-fold Spirit … the 7 trumpets … the 7 seals … the 7 bowls of wrath. Six is one short of seven. 777 would signify utter completeness, wholeness and perfection. 666 would signify utter incompleteness or utter imperfection. It would be falling short of God’s plan.

Now, in the punishments that come from God in the Book of Revelation, the 6^th one is the most serious and severe. So, some think that 666 may be pointing to the fact that judgment will be coming upon these creatures. But remember that John tells us that this is the number of a man and he encourages the readers to calculate that number. He says, “This calls for wisdom: let anyone with understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a person.” He’s saying, “You can figure this out. Do the math and you’ll understand who I am talking about.” And the people of John’s day did. We have a harder time understanding this today, because we were not a part of that culture.

For the Jewish people, there were letters that stood for numbers, just like the Roman Numerals. You know the Roman letters that stand for numbers. The same was true in Hebrew. So, the Jews in John’s day thought about the Hebrew words that might go along with 666. And so, let me give one idea of what this might have looked like for the people of John’s day, and it is the view held by most mainline scholars today.

(666 Code Chart) If you take the Hebrew letters and their numeric value, you find that:

The number “50” is the letter “N” in Hebrew.

The number “200” is the letter “R”.

The number “6” is the letter “Vav” which is like a long “O” sound. In Hebrew, there were no vowels, only consonants, except for the “Vav”, which has the long “O” sound.

And the number “50” is once more the letter “N”.

The number “100” is the letter “Q”.

The number “60” is the letter “S”.

The number “200” is the letter “R”.

Now, when you add the vowels to this, what you get is “Neron Kaesar” which is how “Nero Caesar” would have been pronounced in Greek. And the numbers add up to 666.

If you take away the “N” from “Neron”, which would make it “Nero Caesar”, the number variant would be 616. And it just so happens that the oldest known variant of the Book of Revelation has the number 616 instead of 666. Which is why most scholars think the Mark of the Beast was talking about Nero … the Roman Emperor who died, but many thought was going to come back and take control of the Empire again. For the people of John’s day, Nero represented utter evil and destruction.

I don’t know that John meant that the number 666 was going to be literally engraved on people’s hands and foreheads. If you go and look up the number 666 on the Internet you will see where many people believe this is going to be the case and that there will be a bar code imprinted on our hands or head, or a computer chip that is implanted somewhere. I don’t think that is what John had in mind. That is taking this very literally, where the rest of the book is very symbolic. But I will say to you that if someone wants to put a bar code on your head or your hand … don’t take it.

I think that John was speaking here metaphorically and symbolically. I remind you of Deuteronomy 6:4-5. This was a passage of scripture that every Jew knew and would have repeated every single day. “Hear, O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.”

Then in verse 6: “Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart.” And in verse 8: “Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead.”

Now, I don’t think that was meant to be done literally. I think God was asking them to meditate daily on the things of God with their minds, and with their hands, do the things that I have commanded you to do. Some of the Jews did take this literally though, and even today you can see Jews in the Holy Land wearing these phylacteries, where they have a little box on their head with the scripture put in there and they have it literally bound to their arm and hands.

When John is talking about the Mark of the Beast, he probably has this passage from Deuteronomy in mind and he sees the Mark of the Beast as “thinking” about the things that the Emperor wants you to think about, and with your hands, doing the things that the Emperor wants you to do. This is what many believe is going on here.

Finally, during the time that John is writing this, the Emperor Domitian is on the throne. And Domitian takes the deity of the Emperor to a new level. He calls himself, “Lord and God” and he asks for the people to address him as “Lord and God”.

I remind you of Thomas, when he saw Jesus after the Resurrection, fell on his face and cried out to Jesus, “My Lord and My God”. For a Christian, you could not use those words to describe anybody, but Jesus. And as we learned last week, the Christians in John’s day are facing a difficult situation. Being forced out of the synagogues and no longer counted among the Jews, who were exempt from worshipping the Emperor, they are either going to have to compromise and call the Emperor Domitian, “Lord and God”, offer sacrifices to him to prove their loyalty and to fit in with the rest of society, or face consequences.

So, this is a moment of truth for the Christians. Will they capitulate and compromise to the world around them or will they stand firm and say, “I’m a follower of Jesus and I call no one but him ‘Lord and God’”. As you read the Book of Revelation, you will see that there was a price to pay for being faithful. Yet, John calls them to endure, to remain steadfast, and faithful to Jesus Christ.

John’s strategy in this book, is to help the people of his day to recognize that though Rome and the culture around them is very seductive and powerful, it is really bankrupt and in the end it will be subject to judgment. And he wants them to see that they have a choice to make between “Two Empires”. They can either follow God’s Empire … the Kingdom of God, or they can follow Satan’s Empire … which in the time that they were living, was the Empire of Rome. “Which will you choose?” he was asking them.

And throughout the book, John tries to show the contrast between these Two Empires by taking us back and forth between images of the Two Empires … contrasting their differences and challenging us with the question: “Which one will you choose?”

Listen to how he contrasts the two.

In God’s Empire, God alone is worthy of worship. In Satan’s Empire, Satan wants to be worshipped, but has to demand it.

In God’s Empire, God’s Son is Jesus, portrayed as a lion or a lamb. In Satan’s Empire, Satan’s son is a Beast, portrayed as something gruesome and grotesque.

In God’s Empire, everyone is constantly singing. In Satan’s Empire, everyone wails, mourns, and grieves.

In God’s Empire, there is blessing and healing. In Satan’s Empire, there is only judgment and misery.

In God’s Empire, there is rest for God’s people. In Satan’s Empire, there is no rest for the wicked.

In God’s Empire, the capital city is the New Jerusalem and it is beautiful, coming down out of heaven. In Satan’s Empire, the capital city is Babylon or Rome, which is about to be destroyed.

God’s City is described as a Bride. Satan’s City is described as a Harlot or a Whore.

In God’s Empire, people are sealed on their foreheads as with Baptism. In Satan’s Empire, people have on their foreheads the Mark of the Beast.

In God’s Empire, it is characterized by great rejoicing. In Satan’s Empire it is characterized by great despair.

“Which of these two paths will you take?” John is asking. Will you compromise and accommodate to Satan’s Empire? Or will you belong to God as his people?

Some of you may be saying, “This is all very interesting, but I didn’t come to church for a history lesson. What does all of this mean for us?” And this is exactly how we should read the Book of Revelation. First, we try to understand what was going on and what it meant to the people of that day … and we understand that they had to have heard it in light of what was going on in the Roman Empire. But we have to hear it differently. What does it mean for us today?

The power of this book is that every generation can see itself in it. This is why every generation has thought that they were living in the Last Days. In the last century, we have seen the rebirth of Nero again and again. Leaders who took control of lands, put up images and statues of themselves, began to crush and destroy people, and began to suppress religion and the knowledge of God. And the Christians living in the midst of those times saw in those events “the Beast” seeking to destroy God’s people.

I think back to the time of Adolf Hitler. Hitler didn’t abolish religion when he came to power. Instead, he insisted that Religious Leaders not say anything contradicting what he was doing. And so, Christian leaders had a choice. They could be thrown into the concentration camps with the Jews if they stood up and spoke about what was evil or they could compromise with the State. And so many Christians compromised. There were images of Hitler all over the land and there were 6 million people slaughtered in Concentration Camps. I wonder how the Christians who were faithful in Germany read the Book of Revelation in 1944 and how they saw “the Beast”?

There have been many others throughout history … Edi Amin, Pol Pot in Cambodia, Stalin, Mussolini, Husain, and others … setting themselves up as gods, suppressing faith in God, and oppressing people.

But what does this mean for us in America? We don’t live in a totalitarian state. We’re the good guys, right? We’re predominately a Christian nation. We live in the most powerful empire the world has ever known. None of us would want to move to another country. We live in a wonderful country. So, what does this book say to us?

Even though we live in a country like ours and it is made up of citizens like you and me … there is the temptation for our country to become more like Rome, than the Kingdom of God. We can find ourselves lulled into sleep. We can find ourselves accepting the world’s values, which are not always in keeping with the Kingdom of God. In our policies and practices, there is always the danger, “Will we follow the ways of Rome or will we follow the ways of God?”

The Book of Revelation calls us to stand firm and steadfast in our following of God. No matter what the cost may be, it warns us not to compromise with our culture, but instead, to follow God and to be known as his people … as People of the Lamb.

I am reminded of a parallel that we find in the Old Testament characters of Moses and Joshua. At the end of Moses’ life, he stands before the children of Israel and he says, “See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity.” At the end of Joshua’s life, he stands before the Israelites and says, “Listen, there are Canaanite gods all around you. So, I ask you, choose whom you will serve. Will you serve the Canaanite gods? Or will you serve the God of Israel who delivered you from slavery? As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”

This is what John is challenging us with in the Book of Revelation. He is laying the contrast out before us and saying, “Which will you choose?” The Empire of Satan is all around you and it promises peace and prosperity. Will you choose the Beast or will you choose the Lamb? Please, choose Life!

Of course, we recognize that part of the Book of Revelation is clearly about Judgment. It promises us in the 7 Seals … the 7 trumpets … the 7 Bowls of Wrath … that there is a Day of Judgment coming. And some of us have trouble reconciling a God of Love with a God of Judgment. Well, there is love, but there is also an element of judgment with love. When you read about the Judgment of God in this book, you will see that God is constantly hoping that the people will repent, but they refuse to repent.

As a parent, I think I have learned some things about the Judgment of God. I often find that I learn more from children about God, than I ever did in seminary. When I reflect back over my role as a parent, there are at least three different kinds of circumstances that have caused me to get really angry with my children.

One is when they have done something that might have seriously hurt them. When they’ve done something foolish and they could have died from it. I care so much about them that it makes me really angry. And when they have done something to hurt somebody else’s child, I have gotten very angry. And finally, when they have rejected and pushed me away, and disrespected me over a period of time. I can tolerate it for a little while, but there comes that moment, usually when they are teenagers, when it really angers me. It happens in all families, I suppose. But I can remember times when I reached my limit of the disrespect and disdain, and I yelled back at my kids, saying, “How can you do this to me? Do you not know that there is not another person on this earth who loves you more than I do? How can you treat me this way?”

And I wonder if this is not how God feels about us sometimes. “How can you turn me away? How can you reject me and turn away from me after all I have done for you?”

There is a place for Judgment. But all of the warnings about Judgment are meant to lead us to a place of repentance. This is the Good News of the Book of Revelation. Those who are afraid of the Judgment Day need not be afraid, if only they repent. And those who are ready for the Judgment Day look forward to it with rejoicing.

So, I ask you this question again, “Are you ready?”