Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Revelation: Speaking Truth to Power

Wall Street’s “Charging Bull” sure has come 
a long way from being a “golden calf”...
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.

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