Gruesome gore and destruction are today’s fare.
The woman, the child and the dragon
Revelation 12:1-8
Satan cast down to the earth
Revelation 12:9-17
The two beasts
Revelation 13:1-15
The mark of the beast
Revelation 13:16-18
The followers of the lamb
Revelation 14:1-5
The three angels
Revelation 14:6-13
Vision of Christ with a sickle
Revelation 14:14-20
The song of Moses
Revelation 15:1-4
The seven golden vials
Revelation 15:5-8
Reading this at Christmas time, we have a nativity scene with a difference. A royal woman is about to give birth while a hungry dragon waits to eat her baby. When the dragon is thwarted he wages war with the rest of her offspring - presumably Christians. The dragon is most likely Rome, with its seven crowned heads representing the seven hills around Rome - an example of John’s coded language. . But this monster figure soon comes to stand for all evil that confronts Christians, and he is ultimately defeated by the powers of heaven.
The political powers continue to churn and threaten in chapter 13, but they are powerless to harm the chosen ones in heaven. It’s harvest time, and like several of Jesus’ parables, the glory of earth is cut down, once and for all.
Then it’s time for another set of sevens - seven plagues to be poured out on the earth. Each of these sevens seems to replay events - we step back from the harvest and focus again in the outpouring of tribulation on earth just as after the seven seals, the trumpets took us back to the suffering and evil on earth. Tomorrow will bring some more juicy disasters, I have no doubt.
The woman, the child and the dragon
Revelation 12:1-8
Satan cast down to the earth
Revelation 12:9-17
The two beasts
Revelation 13:1-15
The mark of the beast
Revelation 13:16-18
The followers of the lamb
Revelation 14:1-5
The three angels
Revelation 14:6-13
Vision of Christ with a sickle
Revelation 14:14-20
The song of Moses
Revelation 15:1-4
The seven golden vials
Revelation 15:5-8
Reading this at Christmas time, we have a nativity scene with a difference. A royal woman is about to give birth while a hungry dragon waits to eat her baby. When the dragon is thwarted he wages war with the rest of her offspring - presumably Christians. The dragon is most likely Rome, with its seven crowned heads representing the seven hills around Rome - an example of John’s coded language. . But this monster figure soon comes to stand for all evil that confronts Christians, and he is ultimately defeated by the powers of heaven.
The political powers continue to churn and threaten in chapter 13, but they are powerless to harm the chosen ones in heaven. It’s harvest time, and like several of Jesus’ parables, the glory of earth is cut down, once and for all.
Then it’s time for another set of sevens - seven plagues to be poured out on the earth. Each of these sevens seems to replay events - we step back from the harvest and focus again in the outpouring of tribulation on earth just as after the seven seals, the trumpets took us back to the suffering and evil on earth. Tomorrow will bring some more juicy disasters, I have no doubt.
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