5The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for forty-two months. 6He opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. 7He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. 8All 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.
9He who has an ear, let him hear.
10If anyone is to go into captivity,
into captivity he will go.
If anyone is to be killed with the sword,
with the sword he will be killed. This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints.
Dig Deeper
In the Roman world, citizenship was viewed a bit differently than it is today. Today, if we are citizen of a certain country, the expectation is that we will live in that country and enjoy the life of that country. Roman citizenship was a bit different, however. Being a citizen of Rome didn't mean that your goal was to move to and live in Rome one day. The goal of extending Roman citizenship to other people was to extend Roman life. Roman citizens were encouraged to move to newly forming colonies and show the people around them how to live like Romans. They were spreading Roman influence, power, and culture, and were thus, living 'in Rome' in a place that had previously not had access to the life of Rome.
This is the way that John is thinking as he talks of those who live in heaven. Certainly there are those who have died in Christ and are in God's presence in heaven awaiting the resurrection and the renewal of all things (Matt. 19:28). More of what John has in mind, though, is the type of citizenship that was common in Rome. Paul put forth the idea of Christians beings citizens of heaven (Phil. 3:20), by which he meant being people who understood that their allegiance, culture, and way of thinking emanated from heaven by doing God's will on earth. As the Christian community does God's will on earth as it is done in heaven, we truly become people who live in heaven, spreading the influence of heaven to a lost world, and show the world what it means to be people who live in heaven, unswayed and undeterred by the trials of the world around us.
13:5-7 - The Beast continued to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for the now familiar, forty-two months. Specifically,
the Beast blasphemes the name of God and His dwelling place (His tabernacle), and those who live (or tabernacle) in heaven. This makes sense because the citizenship of the saints comes from heaven, the place of God's presence (Phil. 3:20), we are enthroned in heaven in Christ (Eph. 1:20; 2:6), and the Church's official worship takes place in the heavenly realms, with angels in assembly (Heb. 12:22-23). Those who reject Christ dwell on the land in the Revelation, but the New Covenant people gather around the Throne of God.
According to Alexander Schmemann in, For the Life of the World: Sacraments and Orthodoxy, "The early Christians realized that in order to become the temple of the Holy Spirit they must ascend to heaven where Christ has ascended. They realized that this ascension was the very condition of their mission in the world, of their ministry to the world. For there, in heaven, they were immersed in the new life of the Kingdom; and then . . . They returned into the world, their faces reflected the light, the joy and peace of that Kingdom and they were truly its witnesses. . . In church today, we so often find we meet only the same old world, not Christ and His Kingdom. We do not realize that we never get anywhere because we never leave any place behind us." In other words, Christians today need to learn how to spiritually ascend into the heavenly realms the way the early church did, the way we are called to. It is in this kind of worship that we will transform the World.
The Beast was given authority to make war against the saints and to conquer them for only forty-two months. Again, this is a number that symbolizes trouble for a limited amount of time. It signifies a time when the enemies of God are in power or God's judgment is being poured out. Interestingly, Nero's persecution of the Church lasted from November 64 to the beginning of June 68, a period of forty-two months. Although this is typically a symbolic number, the real time period did, apparently, correspond to the symbolic number in this case. During this time, the Beast was also given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. This was true of the Roman Empire as well as Satan, who ruled all the kingdoms of the world (Matt. 4:8-9).
13:8 - Everyone who dwells on the earth (literally 'land'), those who reject Christ, will worship the Beast. Worship comes in two types. It can be official, liturgical worship in a service, or the everyday, practical allegiance and obedience. The Jews had chosen the idolatry of Caesar as lord over Christ. Those who worshiped the Beast will have names that have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world. In a true piece of sad irony, the Jews who have worked to excommunicate and cut off the followers of the Lamb have been themselves locked out of the Covenant.
13:9-10 - John takes a quick moment to make sure that his readers pay close attention to what comes next as he says, He who has an ear, let him hear. He declares that the followers of the Beast, those who dwell on the land (earth) are doomed. He says if anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity he will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword he will be killed. This is a loose quotation from Jeremiah 15:2. This verse is from a longer passage that details God's rejection of Jerusalem. Jeremiah is told not to pray for the nation because they have been destined for destruction. That there will be no place to go to hide from the judgment is God's declaration that John paraphrases here. In making reference to this passage, John is emphasizing the certainty of the coming judgment on the apostate Jews of the first century who have thrown their lot in with the Beast, in opposition to the Lamb. This judgment will come absolutely. This aspect of patience is referred to by John as the patient endurance and faithfulness of the saints.
Devotional Thought
Although we usually think of worship as something we do on Sundays in church, the biblical concept of worship also includes the way we live our everyday lives and to whom we give our allegiance and obedience. Who do you worship throughout the course of your days? Is it Christ, yourself, or Satan? Make an effort this week to worship God with your life.
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