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Wall Street’s “Charging
Bull” sure has come
a long way from being a “golden calf”...
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This is one of what
might be a couple of follow-ups to my post on interpreting Revelation (See Here). While I’m still not offering the
typical “future events to come” interpretation, it is a book relevant for our
day which is my main reason for looking at parts of it. This is to say that
what John is revealing to the seven churches of Asia applies to churches across
generation and geography in every era. Why? Because Empire still lives on and
the whole earth, including large portions of the church, follows that Beast! The
church needs ears to hear, eyes to see and the willingness to unmask the Anti-Christs,
Beasts and Harlots of Revelation for what it really was in John’s day as-well-as
what it is in ours.
The Beast
Looking first at Revelation 13, John is calling
out the people’s blind loyalty to the Roman Empire (again see my other post for
why I would correlate the Beast to Empire).
The Beast comes out of the sea and has ten horns and seven heads(13:1)
which, as Ted Grimsrud says, symbolizes “the power of domination” and
domination is antithetical to the power of the Slain Lamb.[1] So also, the rest of its animal-attributes
(bear paws, lion’s mouth) are given to it to paint the picture that this thing
is a violent devourer(13:2).
The
verse then says that the seven-headed monster has blasphemous names written on
its head(s). What this probably implied
to the ancient imagination was names that speak of fidelity to the Beast or equate
itself to God such as, well, God, or Son of God, or Lord, or Messianic-Caesar,
and so forth, but they will get the hint that any Beast-Empire demanding such
recognition would always be quite the counterfeit.
As the chapter continues, Grimsrud
points out, the motifs of “worship” of the Beast and the Beast’s “conquering” unfolds
(13:4-6) but in the text it raises the question of who indeed can fight against
the Beast (rhetorical propaganda in this chapter but a concrete question
overall)?[2] The statement is that the
people all seem to consensually follow because any kind of physical resistance
would be futile! Yet, the counter theme and exception is the perseverance and
faith of the saints refusing to follow suit, but also refuse to fight like it
fights (13:7-10).
Then the second Beast rises from the
earth (later revealed as the false prophet 16:13; 20:10) and speaks like the
dragon (revealing that its power ultimately came from Satan). His job, however,
is to support the first Beast and exercise authority on its behalf drawing
people in with signs and wonders(13:11-14).
The subsequent oppression results in the people willingly taking the
mark of the beast, six hundred and sixty-six, so that they can be part of its
economy (13:15-18). However, to draw
from Grimsrud again, some deciphering of this number may be irrelevant. It was a symbol pointing toward the people’s
consent of the human-empire even though it would ultimately fall short of God’s
completeness (seven hundred and seventy-seven) especially since Rome promised
power, wholeness and peace.[3]
Nevertheless,
John is warning the churches of Asia about Rome saying, in Bauckham’s words, “…either
one shares Rome’s own ideology, the view of Empire promoted by Roman
propaganda, or one sees it from the perspective of heaven, which unmasks the
pretentions of Rome… Roman Empire is portrayed as a system of violent
oppression, founded on conquest, maintained by violence and oppression.”[4] In
brief, don’t be enthusiastically swayed by all the Empire’s vitality and
prestige because in God’s eyes it betrays His creation and is anti-Christ.
The Harlot
Jumping ahead
to Ch. 17-18, we meet the Harlot. The
Harlot is adorned in seductive colored clothing, but more crucial she is
decorated with Rome’s finest commodities: gold, pearls and jewels and even
drinks from a gold cup (Rev.17:4).
So,
while John gave symbols and critique of Rome’s politics before, in this chapter
he links the political with the economic by using symbols of commercial trade. Simultaneously, and given that the Harlot
rides the back of the Beast, we must see them as interconnected at least in their
shared interests. As Bauckham points
out, the merchants of Rome benefited from the Empire because Rome (the self
proclaimed eternal city) offered certain privileges and security for
participation and bolstered their status within the society’s pecking order;
thus “the Harlot lives well at her client’s expense.”[5]
However,
John’s main critique here is that the Harlot is an intoxicating deception (17:2),
but one that will itself be devoured by the Beast (17:16). Consequently, John’s angel explains, just as the
Harlot’s self-glorification and luxuries will be brought to ruin and turned
into torment and grief, so also will it be for those who get caught with her (18:3-7). It is in this place of ruin that merchants
can only greave the loss of the consumers even though it was the Empire that
gave her power in the first place (18:11-19) but Grimsrud asserts that its
fruit always rested on the backs of slaves and human souls.[6] This brought an indictment against the Rome
(their current Babylon), and those benefiting from it, as traitors. Its violence
and inequality was an anti-creational and therefore seditious act betraying
human life (18:20-21).
Present
Significance
If this has not
felt reminiscent of America, especially now, I can only urge you to reread
it. The Beastly-Empire and its Harlot
live on driving willing participants (with which it cannot operate without) for
its political vitality and silos of wealth. It is a Pyramid and the Beast
protectively sits at its top.
Now
before anyone goes quoting Rom. 13 or 1 Tim. 2:2 at me, let me say, yes, I
believe we are subjected to governing authorities (they kind of make it that
way) and yes we should pray for our leaders (and even the ones you disagree with
in authority), but we Christians have another responsibility. It starts with
dissociating ourselves from all that does not reflect the world’s Creator. We
need to be a prophetic voice against unchecked power and a refuge for the poor,
the hungry, the orphans, the widows and the immigrants (Lev. 19:33-34; Deut.
14:29; Jam. 1:27). This is especially true when authority feels rebuked (Isa.
1:17) and labels us traitors of their agenda.
Empires
are part and parcel to a world that operates under domination as the main form
of power. Its assumption is that it can coerce by deciding who is slave, who is
free, who lives and who dies. This spirit aims to form us, but it is not real power!
Who knows this better than those who have suffered the most? They are no longer
blinded by the delusions that the Empire conscripts: its control, security and
manipulated-logic. It is those who have both suffered and been comforted by God
that know the Empire decides temporary things, but has no real power in the end
(2 Cor. 1:3-5).
When
you can let go of its lies and become aware that you live in God’s creation,
you get to tell an alternate story. The
story is that we can let go and not cling to our lives because we die to living
on our terms and become alive to the reality that we belong in the hands of He Who
holds our lives and the lives of our oppressors. We are free to say No to the
Beast that tells us to betray each other for something unattainable.
Power
through domination is Anti-Christ. It is rooted in an ego that believes itself
to be self-made, rather than other-formed, and by which every person is either
a tool for its own success or a stumbling block in need of removal. So let me
end by saying that it is the job of each generation to unmask this Beast and
join the never-ending story of the Lamb who leads us another way.
[1] Ted
Grimsrud. Revelation Notes: Chapter 13. Retrieved January 24, 2017 from https://peacetheology.net/2015/07/03/revelation-notes-chapter-13/
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid. With
that said, I do know there are others (much more competent in Koine Greek than I
am) who also say that 666 was a version of Nero’s name and was a mark or
branding for people who wanted to buy and sell in that time period. So that is
another interpretative aspect worth explore, though I don’t think it negates
Grimsrud’s point.
[4] Richard
Bauckham. New Testament Theology: The Theology of the Book of Revelation (New
York: Cambridge University Press, 1993), 35.
[5] Ibid, 36.
