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July 2002 BOOK OF REVELATION (continued from previous issue) By Carlos Mesters |
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Continue from ...... Chapter XII The Past: the combat between the Woman and the Dragon (12:1-17) The present: both camps confront each other - of the Beast and of the Lamb (13:1-14:5) The struggle between the Woman and the Dragon continues. The Dragon becomes incarnate in another Beast, a symbol of the Roman empire too (13:1-18). The offspring of the Woman are incarnate in Jesus, the Lamb, and in the 144,000 persons marked with the seal of God (14:1-5; 7:3-8). In his first plan, John spoke of the persecution but not of the persecutor. He will now speak of the latter. He tells us his opinion clearly about the policy of the Roman empire.
John is on the shore. He sees a Beast arising from the sea (13:1). The sea is symbol of the power of evil. The advancing Beast is awful. It resembles a panther, but has the paws of a bear and the mouth of a lion (13:2). It has ten horns (13:1), the sign of the great power and seven heads (13:1) which represents seven kings (17:9-10). The Dragon entrusts his own power to this Beast. John shows in this way that the Roman empire comes not from God but from Satan (13:2,4). The Beast strives with all its might to increase its power over the people. One of its heads seems to have been inflicted a lethal injury which then got healed (13:3,12,14). This agrees with the popular belief that Nero was alive again in Domitian! This is the reason why the whole world is admiring the Beast and begins to worship it (13:3-4): "Who can compare with the Beast?" (13:4). The power of the Beast is a proud power (13:5). It attacks God with blasphemies (13:6), persecutes the communities (13:7), pretends to be God and to have dominion over all the inhabitants of the earth (13:7-8). How does the Beast manage to mislead the entire world and make fools of so many people? It receives help from another Beast which appears like a lamb but speaks like a dragon (13:11). It represents the false prophets: these are wonder-workers, learned people, priests, technicians who place their magic, their power, their ministry and their knowledge at the service of the Beast, that is, of the Roman empire (13:12). The false prophets work out strange wonders (13:3), and imitate the prophet Elijah (1 Kgs 18:38-39), like him publicly calling fire upon the heads of people (13:13). They achieve feats (13:15) which fill the people with admiration (13:14). Thus they manage to mislead all human beings and make them worship the image of the Beast (13:15). Nay, they dominate the people through fear and their control of the economy. Whoever refuses to support the system, dies. Whoever does not wear the seal or the number of the Beast, cannot sell or buy anything. In the same way do all false prophets - those of yesterday as well as those of today - mislead the people and support the imperialistic system. | |
| . . . to be continued | |
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