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Chapter XII
The present: both camps confront each other -
of the Beast and of the Lamb
(13:1-14:5)
- The Roman empire
- the Beast that fights against the communities (13:1-8)
John then gives us the key to understand the greatest crime in history. It is expressed in the number of the Beast: 666 (13:5). As we have already seen, this number indicates the emperor of Rome and denounces his pretence of being God and the master of the world. John has no doubt about it: the Roman empire is worth nothing. It is the work of Satan.
The power of the Beast however is limited and controlled by God. The persecution will last only forty-two months (13:5), that is, half of seven years, a symbolic figure used to indicate imperfection. This will be the reason for the persecuted people to persevere in their faith (13:10).
- The communities
- the Lamb and his army, who resist the empire (14:1-5)
After the Beast and the false prophets, John sees the Lamb with 144,000 persons who bear the name of God on their foreheads (14:1); these are the servants of God, the people of the communities who are resisting the persecution of the empire (7:3-8). There cannot be anything common between the two opposed camps. Everything is in contrast between them and John stresses this contrast. Absolutely total is the opposition between the Lamb on one side, and the Beast on the other. Between Mount Zion (Jerusalem) (14:1) and Rome, the seat of the empire. Between the 144,000 sealed with the name of God and the Lamb, and those signed with the number of the Beast. Between the sound of the new victory hymn (14:2-3) and the blasphemous words of the Beast. Between the fidelity which resists the empire and does not show any defilement (14:4), and seduction of the empire which leads people to adore the Beast. Between the power of God entrusted to the Lamb (5:12) and the power of the Dragon passed on to the Beast (13:2). And finally between the truth which rejects the lies of the empire (14:5) and the lies which reject the truth.
The 144,000 servants of the Lamb do not launch any direct attacks against the Beast. They fight in their own way: they follow the Lamb, resist the empire, and do not allow themselves to be spoiled into worshipping the false gods. Hence they are called "virgins" (14:4). They nourish their faith and endurance with the conviction that God, not the empire, is the Master of the world (13:10). They organise themselves in an egalitarian and fraternal manner, like the former twelve tribes of Israel (7:3-8). They obey God's commands and are faithful to the truth revealed by Jesus (12:17).
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