Tour of Revelation Pt. 13

Are you Team Jacob or Team Edward? Moms, aunts, sisters, and daughters went wild over whom Bella would choose to love: the werewolf or the vampire. Choosing a team meant you were firmly committing to Bella’s future happiness with a partner. Ultimately, Team Jacob lost, but anyone who spent time debating which fictional high school teenager should marry and have babies with monsters that have poor boundaries was arguably losing in reality. Besides, the movies weren’t even that great.

Early Christians faced the devil (Red Dragon) and the beast (Roman political power) as they stayed faithful to the Lord. Revelation 13 describes a time when Christians were outnumbered, overpowered, and misrepresented in Government. The tone of this story sounds hopeless, as the beast is given power to kill, cut off resources, and persecute anyone who won’t worship its presence. But the faithful knew that the Roman absolute power was asking for worship, which would cut their allegiance to Jesus.

I wonder how many Christians were tempted to divide their leadership to escape persecution? Maybe a few thought they could attend church on Sundays but follow Caesar on weekdays. Maybe some of them did just enough to avoid being killed. Revelation 13 gives no room for this type of behavior. Those aligned with Christ had to reject the beast’s demand for worship and adoration. Those who couldn’t stay loyal were given over to the beast’s authority. Are you Team Beast or Team Lamb?

Even today, we need to treat these allegiances just as seriously. We don’t have a Roman Government per se, but the Beast shows up in influencers, lifestyles, conveniences, celebrities, and trends that tempt us to reject Christ’s leadership. We won’t be thrown to the lions for rejecting the world, but these things require patient endurance to overcome.

Figure It Out:

5 The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months. 6 It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. 7 It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. 8 All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.[b]

9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.

10 “If anyone is to go into captivity,
into captivity they will go.
If anyone is to be killed[c] with the sword,
with the sword they will be killed.”[d]

This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of God’s people.

Revelation 13:5-10

  1. Which part of this passage surprised you the most? What part of this passage feels like good news? What part confuses you?
  2. What would you say to a friend who worshipped God in private, but worshipped someone else in public?
  3. How would you feel knowing that your faith in Jesus could lead to death or imprisonment? How would you find patient endurance?
  4. What sort of sinful lifestyles or trends have slipped into your allegiance to Jesus?