Man vs. Beast: Revelation 13:1-8 - Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost

Last week’s Back-to-School Block Party was a blast. There are no words to describe the joy of witnessing our community come together to love our children. That’s why we do this, so children and their families can know just how much people care about them.

Everyone’s been asking if I rode up on the Fire Department’s ladder truck. I did not, only because I’ve been on it before, and I didn’t want someone who hadn’t been on it to lose their chance.

I did, however, put on a firefighter’s rescue suit: the fireproof coat and pants, the hat, and the air tank. Everything except for the boots. I then crawled into the fire safety house to rescue a plastic baby doll. 

This was more difficult than I had ever imagined it to be, even though I had to crawl a whopping ten feet through a trailer that was not on fire. As my back strained beneath the weight of the air tank, I thought about the New York Firefighters who ran up dozens of flights of stairs in the Twin Towers on 9/11, fully knowing that they may not make it out alive. 

Idaho Wildland Firefighters by BLMIdaho on flickr. CC BY 2.0

Love is a very powerful thing; much more powerful than any of us realize. And it is vital to the functioning of our society. If I’m not looking out for you, and if you are not looking for me, there’s no hope for any of us. 

We must keep the life-giving power of love in focus as we confront the bible’s greatest monster: the seven-headed, ten-horned Beast from the sea; the incarnation of Satan; more commonly known as the antichrist. 

The problem with the beast is that only John can see him for who/what he truly is. Everyone else adores the beast. 

The ten horns demonstrate that the beast’s power is absolute. On one of its seven heads there is a fatal wound that has been healed. Coincidentally, most of the villains from James Bond films bear gruesome physical disfigurements, as if to say that they are too evil to die. 

The beast’s healed wound demonstrates his invincibility.  No one can resist him. The beast always wins. This is why people love and worship the beast. He is their warrior in a chaotic and threatening world. 

The beast is also extremely wealthy, hence the ten crowns. This makes people love him even more.

He is arrogant and boastful to the point that he proclaims himself to be God, and people believe him. They hang on to his every word because he tells them exactly what they want to hear. He preys on people’s fears as the world deteriorates around them. He taps into people’s anger and deflects that anger towards those who are not part of their cause. The beast is a master manipulator, able to bend people to his will, to the extent that ordinary people will kill for him and die for him.

People identify so strongly with the beast that they happily wear his mark on their foreheads, because he has given them an identity, a sense of belonging, and a cause which is greater than themselves. 

But the saints of God see through his lies and refuse to bow down to him, which enrages the beast and his minions. So, he goes on the attack. He curses God and wages war on the saints and conquers them. 

Those Christians who were the first to read Revelation would have immediately thought of the Roman Emperor Nero, as he was responsible for the first organized persecution of Christians. He was Infamous for sadistic brutality against Christians. 

However, history is full of evil people who could be described as an antichrist. I’m not going to take time to name them, except to say that not everyone saw them as monsters. To many, they were heroes. They were revered as like Moses, John the Baptist, or Jesus Christ.

In short, an antichrist is anyone who promises salvation in the opposite way that Jesus does. Jesus did not win your salvation through violent conquest, brute force, and sheer numbers. Jesus won your salvation by handing himself over to evildoers. He forgave the people who laughed as they crucified him. He assured a condemned criminal that he would be with him in paradise. He destroyed death by dying. 

Your challenge today is to not be so intimidated by evil that you doubt or forget the power of the Gospel. At the same time, you must beware that your natural human desire for security, comfort, and belonging will make you vulnerable to antichrists and their deceptions. We’re all sinners, and sinners get led astray. You will fail and you will fall, but Christ the Lamb is always for you; never against you.

You will defeat the antichrists by grounding yourself in the Gospel’s promises. 

Do you know why the antichrist must resort to persecuting the people of God? It is because God’s love and God’s truth as so powerful. The most powerful force on earth, even more powerful than Satan and the wrath of nature, is people who trust God and love one another other. Love is what makes us people of hope in chaotic times. Love is what will make the Church stand strong against everything the devil and the beast will hurl at us. People of goodwill who do not share our faith are still part of God’s working in the world. And only love and mercy can win people away from the antichrists. 

We’re not going to stop being kind and faithful when things don’t go our way and when we are attacked and persecuted. And everything we do together in Jesus’s name lays the foundation for God’s kingdom which cannot be destroyed. Today, we’re putting the devil on notice. We are not afraid of the beast. Love is stronger than hate. Life is stronger than death. Christ Jesus, the Lamb, is Lord. We know that If we die with him, we will rise with him.

And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, and on its horns were ten diadems, and on its heads were blasphemous names. ² And the beast that I saw was like a leopard, its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. And the dragon gave it his power and his throne and great authority. ³ One of its heads seemed to have received a death blow, but its fatal wound had been healed. In amazement the whole earth followed the beast. ⁴ They worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?”

⁵ The beast was given a mouth speaking arrogant and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months. ⁶ It opened its mouth to speak blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. ⁷ Also, it was allowed to wage war on the saints and to conquer them. It was given authority over every tribe and people and language and nation, ⁸ and all the inhabitants of the earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that was slaughtered. (NRSVue)