“Therefore stay alert because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.” Matthew 24:42
A couple decades ago I was browsing in my local Blockbuster video store (FYI — Blockbuster went out of business in 2014), and was upset to discover a huge section dedicated to the horror genre. Update: shock, awe and dreadful images are freely intertwined with so many contemporary forms of entertainment that a horror category no longer seems necessary.
In the Bible’s book of Revelation, chapter 13, two appalling beasts appear: the first correlates to the Apostle John’s era and the “second beast” promotes the first beast. This second beast will fully manifest near the end of time.
John’s descriptions are intense. But I doubt if fans of wildly popular series like “Game of Thrones” would regard Revelation’s beasts as more impressive than those pictured in a multitude of today’s books, movies or video games. For example, here’s an artist’s depiction of one of the beasts of Revelation alongside a still image from a video game called Monster Hunter World’s Endgame. You decide.
However, as contemporary believers in Jesus, our attention should instead be turned to Revelation 13’s disclosure of the second beast.
Then I saw another beast coming up from the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, but was speaking like a dragon. He exercised all the ruling authority of the first beast on his behalf, and made the earth and those who inhabit it worship the first beast, the one whose lethal wound had been healed. He performed momentous signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people and, by the signs he was permitted to perform on behalf of the beast, he deceived those who live on the earth. He told those who live on the earth to make an image to the beast who had been wounded by the sword, but still lived. The second beast was empowered to give life to the image of the first beast so that it could speak, and could cause all those who did not worship the image of the beast to be killed. He also caused everyone (small and great, rich and poor, free and slave) to obtain a mark on their right hand or on their forehead. Thus no one was allowed to buy or sell things unless he bore the mark of the beast—that is, his name or his number. This calls for wisdom: Let the one who has insight calculate the beast’s number, for it is man’s number, and his number is 666. Revelation 13:11-18 NET
This vision is unsettling. But followers of Jesus have the Holy Spirit energizing us to obey and rely on him. We are thus equipped to resist being terrorized by assaults from the second beast — protection from being overcome by the fear that weakens those who capitulate to its abominations.
Adequate instructions to prepare us for this battle are provided in the Gospels. Prior to his last Passover supper with his disciples, Jesus revealed future cataclysmic events such as the destruction of the magnificent Temple of his time. This revelation sketched just a few of those events that must take place prior to his return and was a prelude to his later Revelation to John. This sermon, called the Olivet Discourse, appears in Matthew 24-25, Mark 13 and Luke 21:5-36.
In his Gospel, John did not record the Olivet Discourse. After all, Jesus’ post resurrection Revelation to him was more timely and expansive. Many scholars agree that John wrote the Book of Revelation and his Gospel after he was exiled to the Isle of Patmos in 95 AD — subsequent to the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD. By that time, John and many other early believers had already faced organized, gruesome persecutions from the first beast of Revelation 13 channeled by a succession of Rome’s Emperors.
Keep in mind that persecution from the second beast has begun but has not been exhausted. Disciples of Jesus are still vulnerable to attack. In his Olivet Discourse and his Revelation to John, Jesus was explicit — equip yourself to resist onslaughts from these beasts. To this purpose, review one of Jesus’ parables in the Olivet Discourse. I suggest either Luke 21:34-36 or Matthew 25:14-30. Like all disciples, anticipate persecution and choose your fear.
Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Instead, fear the one who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Matthew 10:28 NET
by Kathleen Petersen
