The Book of Revelation: Lesson 32 - Chapter 13:11-18

Do you like riddles?

According to the dictionary, a riddle is a mystifying, misleading or puzzling question to be solved or guessed.

Revelation 13:18 has to be one of the greatest mysteries of all time. It reads:

“This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man’s number. His number is 666.”

By way of background, neither the Greek nor the Hebrew tongue used a system of numbers. Actually, the letters of the alphabet had numerical values. For example, A was 1, B=2, C=3, and so on. A name could therefore be converted into its corresponding numbers. In the ancient world this was called gematria.

Today, a guy could be clever and say, “The number of the girl I like is 11325.” Who’s going to know that A=1, M=13 and Y=25 and Amy is his heartthrob?

Some scholars believe this 666 number stands for Nero. If the name of Neron Kaiser (“Nero Caesar” in Greek) is put into Hebrew, the numbers work. Be that as it may, few of the early interpreters of Revelation saw this as the right solution.

The truth is, all kinds of people have worked on this puzzle. During the time of World War II, someone came up with a system where A=100, B=101, C=102, etc. Guess what?

	H	107
	I	108
	T	119
	L	111
	E	104
	R	117
	Total:	666

But John didn’t write Revelation in English. What we have in our Bibles is a translation of the original Greek, which used an alphabet that differs from ours. All of this discourages me from working that much on this given problem.

I assume that when the time is right, someone far wiser than I am will come up with the solution to this mystery.

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The Book of Revelation: Lesson 29-A - Chapter 13:1-10

All kinds of questions come to mind when reading chapter 13 of Revelation. The initial one is who or what is “the beast coming out of the sea” in verse one.

To help answer that, I want to do a little exploring in the book of Daniel. You should understand that Revelation is deeply rooted in the Old Testament. Here is where we can look for clues as to the meaning of its various symbols.

Daniel is considered the prototype of all Jewish apocalyptic writers. Resaid, he’s the originator of this type of material. All others follow his model. So we’re looking for what the beasts in Daniel 7 represent to help us identify Revelation 13’s beast.

Daniel said: “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me … four great beasts, each different from the others, came out of the sea.

“The first was like a lion, and it had the wings of an eagle…

“And there before me was a second beast, which looked like a bear…

“After that … one that looked like a leopard…

“After that, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast—terrifying and frightening and very powerful…”

But what are these beasts in Daniel 7? Well, the answer is given in verse 17.“The four great beasts are kingdoms that will rise from the earth.” Today we don’t use the word kingdom all that much. We would probably refer to these as world empires, or, in contemporary talk, superpowers.

I believe Revelation 13 draws on the imagery of Daniel 7, even incorporating in verse 2 the leopard, bear and lion characteristics into this final kingdom / superpower being described. “The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion.”

In summary, since Daniel’s beasts are kingdoms, that’s probably going to be true of the beast of Revelation as well. However, this leaves us with the problem of which kingdom or superpower, and what about the pronoun problem?

(…to be continued…)

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The Book of Revelation: Lesson 28 - Chapter 12:11-17

Can you remember being around someone who was really mad? I’m talking not just angry, but out-of-control rage.

That’s how Satan is pictured in the remaining verses of Revelation chapter 12. He’s been hurled to the earth, and he’s filled with fury (v. 12) and enraged (v. 17).

Because the object of his hatred is the Lord, he vents his animosity at God’s people. That’s why I believe the woman who gave birth to the male child represents Israel.

The worldwide dispersion following the destruction of Jerusalem was incredibly hard on the Jewish people. But in another sense, it was also their long-time protection. It’s like the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river the dragon spewed out against the woman.

How long has this strange protection lasted? According to this text, this prolonged period of “intense hardship and persecution” has gone on for “a time, times and half a time.”

Seeing himself as frustrated in this pursuit, the dragon then “went off to make war against the rest of her offspring—those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.”

This big-picture review of history from God’s perspective will bring us to the introduction of the Antichrist in chapter 13. Like his name implies, the Antichrist is an evil figure who will be the final world-ruler and who epitomizes the program and passion of Satan.

So with one grand sweep we see in these verses what the world is really about from a heavenly perspective. It all centers around the person and work of Jesus and His ultimate victory over all who attempt to thwart His plans and purposes.

Even so, we need to realize that the devil isn’t finished yet, nor has his anger died down at all.

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The Book of Revelation: Lesson 27 - Chapter 12:1-10

Here’s some good news.

Chapters 12-14 of Revelation are a single vision. They also contain critical information about the future. Fortunately, they are not all that difficult to understand.

It would be helpful to read revelation 12 verses 1-10 before continuing.

Chapter 12 sets the scene of the Christ coming to Earth and winning the victory through His death and resurrection. Three of the four personalities introduced in these verses are easy to figure out. The enormous red dragon is named in verse 9. That’s Satan.

Michael (verse 7) is the archangel, or chief angel, according to Jude 1:9. He is also the guardian angel of Israel. You can check that out in Daniel 12:1.

Practically all Bible scholars are in agreement that the baby is Jesus. Revelation 19:11-16, which is certainly about Him, should convince you if you have any doubts. It includes these words: “He will rule them [the nations] with an iron scepter.”

But who is the pregnant woman? It’s obvious that she is on the side of God and good. It’s Satan who wants to devour her offspring. But what does she represent?

Is she the Virgin Mary?

Maybe she’s the Church, and the twelve stars stand for the twelve apostles.

My vote would be that she represents the Jewish nation, and the stars are symbolic of the twelve tribes of Israel.

BUT THE TRUTH IS, at this point her identity really doesn’t matter. What’s important is that Jesus entered our world, and wonder of wonders, He wasn’t devoured by the dragon. Instead:

“Now have come the salvation and the power
         and the kingdom of our God,
         and the authority of his Messiah.
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters,
         who accuses them before our God day and night,
         has been hurled down.”  —Revelation 12:10

That’s how this extended vision begins. What follows is what all this means for the earth.

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sermon series for 2013

Visit the Mainstay Ministries website for a variety of sermon series for 2013,  resources for pastors and congregations.   .