D5. Overall Conclusions from Revelation 12 &
13:
These two chapters in this coded book of Revelation identify the way in which Satan has and will manifest his strategies in human affairs. They link these strategies to his activities from John’s time when Christ first came as a human to what we have called the end times, prior to His Second Coming. These two chapters themselves seem to stop at that point, but they depict trends and philosophies that we can watch for - both in our past and in our future. We can interpret the symbols used here in a way, which paints a clear picture of the overall sin drama on Earth and what Satan is up to regarding our human condition. The symbols show that he is up to no good. He is out to destroy and if that is not directly possible, then to deceive us so that we will self-destruct over time. He is relentless, appearing throughout our history in various manifestations. He can manipulate governments and communications media. These chapters do not explain his motives. We need to go elsewhere in the Bible for that, but we know he is really serious (Rev 12:!2). He works without and within, in various manifestations and forms, but, always toward corruption of the commandments of God, and always toward a profanation of anything held sacred and holy in heaven.
These chapters tell us that Satan was behind the
Roman Empire that John could relate to as current events. John would also have
recognized the previous church-state empires of Greece, Medo-Persia, and
Babylon, which form the composite beast, so he probably would have deduced that
this beast from the sea in Rev 12 was linked to them. He probably knew that all those current and past empires were
somehow under the evil influence of Satan because they had always persecuted
the Israelites. However, that composite
beast had seven heads not four. Perhaps
he would count the four heads of the leopard spoken of in the book of Daniel,
which were accessible in his time. Then
he could consider this beast to represent all the past and present empires he
knew of, between Daniel’s time and his own.
Personally I don’t think these heads are to be taken literally. Instead, I suggest that they are symbolic of
the attempt of this Satanic power to pervade all the empires in human
history. I believe that we need to go
to Rev 17&18 to hear God’s explanation of the Satanic empires/kingdoms that
we need to watch for (see Rev 17:7-18). Even so, the new beast that came from
the Earth in Rev 13: 11-17, would have been a total mystery to John, with no
previous analog. This lamb-like beast would have been a mystery to him and to
many of those who followed him through time, because it was clearly futuristic
to them.
Now, however, we have the unique perspective of looking back through time and recognizing what these two beasts really represent. The composite beast represents Satan’s influence over church-state governments from Daniel to the end times. Following the pagan Roman empire there would be other such empires. One of them would rule for 1260 years (Rev 13:5) and persecute the followers of Christ (Rev 13:7) as others had done. But this one would also attempt to take the place of God on Earth (Rev 13:6), be destroyed, and then resurrected later (Rev 13:3). Nevertheless it would eventually go into captivity itself one day (Rev 13:10), even though all the world was following its lead (Rev 13:4). All this chapter 13 tells us is when that beast appears (ie after the deadly would was healed in 1929) and in the desert (away from where all previous kingdoms had originated).
Nevertheless, because of our own current events, we can finally identify the beast from the desert in Rev 13: 11-17 as our own USA. Our great country was founded on Christian principles and trusting in the Creator God. However, it has followed the Israel of the Old Testament and endorsed the doctrines of men in place of the commandments of God. We have forgotten the covenant that we will be His people and He will be our God. How did this happen? It’s still happening now. It is not that we have become a Nazi-like regime persecuting and avidly promoting evil holocausts. Instead it has been a much more subtle transition based on becoming more materialistic, more enamored with the mysterious, and more defensive. These attitudes have caused us to trust in things of this Earth more than in God. Our curiosity for the unexplainable has led us into spiritualism, just as it led our forefathers into the occult. We now trust in anything but the real Creator God and often we don’t even realize it. On one hand we pray to God all the time, saying, “God bless America”. Yet we deny fundamental aspects of His character, starting with His Creative power. How many so-called Christians believe in Evolution Theory over Biblical Creation? Our warped values associated with “Doing our own thing” have caught the attention of the whole world and cause them to also worship the beast of the sea. We never saw it coming and it’s too late to turn back now as a country. None are as blind as those self-righteous, who will not see. All we can do is to return to the Creator God as individuals and strive to be part of that remnant that holds to the commandments of God (ie all 10 commandments) and responds to what has been prophesied by Christ in His life and in this Book of Revelation (Rev 12:17 & 19:10) (ie the testimony of Jesus).
Finally, these chapters warn us that
the characteristic of Satan’s system of government is teaching the doctrines of
men in place of the commandments of God.
This is represented by the number of Man, 666. We are warned to watch for the time when the government around us
follows man-made morality in place of God’s word, even though the deceptions
will be so convincing that this government thinks it’s worship the real God.
8 June 2002
For more on this and a response to any questions, please email any comments to nasamike@nasamike.com