Revelation 13
Pastor John Edwards
Woven among the potentially terrifying word-pictures of Revelation 13 is a critical challenge for you and me. In fact, it could be missed if we only read the Word of God casually. Chapters like this one can’t be read as “future history” (how’s that for an oxymoron?), but with expectancy that the Holy Spirit is speaking through it, right where we are.
In my natural mind, with limitations of intellect, the beast descriptions captivate me. Just as I’m trying to get my mind (notice the pronoun) around one beast’s power and authority, there’s reference to another. Then there’s the mystery of the mark for buying and selling, along with the name and number of the beast. These revelations have resulted in so many interpretations that there are entire websites devoted to hypotheses and scholarly research concerning the meaning.
No doubt about it…the warnings are severe, and it’s easy to get lost in them. Yet I’m confronted with a life challenge more profound than anything else in this passage. Verse 8 warns that “all inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast – all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.” I know where I want my name to be written!
Notice that the dragon gave the first beast his power and authority. That beast will not hold sway over those whose names are written in the “book of life.” That’s “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith,” (Hebrews 12:2) and “calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints.” (Revelation 13:10)
I’m asking myself…how patiently enduring and faithful is my life’s journey? Eternity hangs upon the answer. How about you?
Pastor John’s greatest passions in ministry are to “support and challenge pastors and ministry leaders for Kingdom effectiveness, God-honoring stewardship and healthy, strategic, mission-focused churches.”