It’s always fun to come to the sanctuary on Sunday morning after there was a wedding on Saturday. Yesterday, Kyla Moore and Alex Conner (one of our high school leaders) were married, and we worshipped in a different way in this place.

Today we want to read again, for the eighth time, from the last book of Bible, the book of Revelation.

If ever it were clear that being a Christian is not about simply feeling happy, or getting what we want in life- it’s with this morning’s text. Today we look into chapters 12-13-14. We'll read Revelation 12:1-12, then as we talk this morning, I’ll be re-telling some portions of the following chapters as well.

Today we have a story. And I use the word story not as a piece of fiction or something made up, but as something critically important that releases our imaginations to grab ahold of what God has for us.

What is this story? I’ve tried to make the point as we have studied in Revelation that I don’t think the value of this book is primarily about decoding all of the symbols, calculating the days we have left before the end of time, or finding secret and hidden meanings only available to some people. The Revelation is, after all, a revelation. It’s not about hiding, it’s about opening. It’s not about secrets, it’s about explaining, about God communicating with us.

And today, especially, we need to keep in mind what John is doing on the big scale. He is giving his readers a story that will help explain what is going on around them, and that will encourage them…to persevere in following God.

As best we can tell, here’s what was going on for John’s readers, general time frame: Early on, they had lived through the arrest, mock trial and execution of their Messiah, Jesus. They lived in the burgeoning of the Roman Empire.

Rome was spectacular…but also brutal, authoritative, opulent and governed by a series of power-hungry, divinity-claiming emperors. One of them, Nero, reportedly set part of Rome on fire and then blamed the Christians for it, stirring up anger and resentment against the church. In later years, Christians had been arrested, forced to recant their faith, publicly humiliated, publicly executed.

In short, it seemed that at many, many turns…the bad guys were winning. Big time. God’s people were pressured to assimilate into Roman culture and idol worship. The bad guys were winning.

How do you deal with a kingdom like Rome?

What chance did a Christian have? Maybe it was better to just keep your mouth shut, to go along with what the politics of the empire and you’d be much safer and much more comfortable.

Why was God letting this stuff go on?

In fact…where WAS God?

We ask the exact same questions, for much the same reasons. We pick up the paper and read, last September, about a gunman going on a deadly shooting rampage at Dawson College in Montreal, killing and wounding 20 people. His website later was found to contain this: “Work sucks…school sucks…life sucks…what else can I say? Life is a video game, you’ve got to die sometime.”

Where? Where is God?

God’s people (and we) need a story. John gives it to them. And if you want a working title for this, here it is: this is a story of Evil vs God. And throughout chapter 12-13-14, a series of characters line up for an incredible cosmic battle that splits the universe into two parts: those on Evil’s side, and those on God’s side.

On the Side of Evil

a) a huge red dragon

A huge red dragon (chpt 12) with 10 horns, 7 heads and a crown on each. His tail knocks the very stars out of par of the sky. He crouches near a magnificent woman clothed in the sun, moon and stars, ready to destroy the baby about to be born, the one “who is to rule all the nations.” Clearly Jesus. From his very birth, the child is in trouble.

The dragon is variously identified as the serpent, the devil and Satan. He is defeated from harming the child or the woman and cast out of heaven and ends up…oh, oh. On the earth. And he is not happy.

“He knows that his time is short.”

So he’s going to do all the damage he can, knowing that ultimately…he cannot defeat Heaven. And he cannot defeat or even get to the child. So he goes after the woman (who at least, represents God’s people).

The dragon/serpent pours out floodwaters to drown the woman. But the earth, which was created by God…comes to her rescue.

Interesting that the very earth is on God’s side.

b) a beast, rising out of the sea

Next comes a beast, rising out of the sea (chpt 13:1-10), also with 10 horns, 7 heads, and crowns on the horns. It is patched together out of pieces that look like a leopard, a bear, a lion. Disparate pieces stuck together, but it has the dragon’s great power and throne and authority. And, famously, one of the heads had received what seemed to be a death blow but the wound had been healed.

Some note that Rome was famous for 7 hills, or think the heads of the beast are kingdoms, and that the wounded head represents the crazed Emperor Nero, who commited suicide. After his death, rumors swept the world that he had come back to life and would return.

I assure you he never did. Even into modern times, this story has fueled wild speculation. After John F. Kennedy was assassinated, rumors circulated that he would come back to life and power. This morning I read a website where Rev. Moon was nominated for the role.

People on earth follow the beast, even worship him. They say “who can fight against such power?” The beast blasphemes God, and God’s people, and is allowed to have authority for 42 months (remember? 42 months=1260 days=3 ½ years=½ perfect God-number 7 in Revelation).

This beast of the sea is full of violence and empire. It seems to represent not only Rome, but most of the political structures we have ever known. It rules by coercion and force. And it insists that people follow and even worship it. It blasphemes God and yet seems to prosper. Who can fight against it?

c) a beast rising up out of the earth

Then yet another beast comes up, this one out of the earth. Now the Unholy trio is complete:

• dragon (serpent/devil/satan)
• sea beast
• land beast.

This land beast is very different. It has two horns…so we’re told it looks… “like a lamb.” It’s not a lamb, but it looks like one. It also has authority, does great miracles and nudges people to worship the first beast. But its power is less in violence and coercion, and more in deception.

Many have found this beast to represent those parts of the culture, including church leaders, who deceive people into just going along with the political powers.

And…(you’ve been waiting for this). This beast marks people, on the forehead or right hand. People without the mark are excluded from the economic system. This would, of course, make it highly desirable to go along with the flow. Far more comfortable. The mark is a number, which is the name of the beast. “The number of the beast is the number of a person. Its number is six hundred sixty-six.”

The numbers thing gets kind of crazy. You know, even if you didn’t know this story, that “666” is an evil number, with lots of superstitions around it. People have spent lifetimes trying to figure out who this beast is, based on the number. Elaborate systems have been built to assign numeric values to alphabetic letters (common practice in first century) and then add them up and see what happens. (It would be sort of like giving a=1, b=2, c=3 etc)

At various times in history, schemes have been found that indicated Herod or Nero were the beast. Nero might be a logical guess from these early centuries. But later people thought Muhammed. Even later, opponents found ways for a number of popes to add up to 666. Martin Luther himself accused the pope of being the beast. Adolph Hitler, Josef Stalin were more modern suggestions.

The practice continues. Some really vile democrats in the 1980’s suggested that since Ronald Reagan’s three names (Ronald Wilson Reagan) each had six letters, Reagan was the beast of 666.

Someone else has figured out how to make the word “computer” work out to a numeric value of “666,” thinking that technology was the head of the evil empire. These have tended to see credit card numbers, bankcards or social security numbers as related to the mark of the beast.

All of this, of course, has caused other people to get ridiculous. You remember the kids’ television character “Barney?” Well, someone took the words “Cute Purple Dinosaur,” converted them and figured out they added to – yes, 666!

I don’t’ mean to make fun of these approaches. Well, wait. Yes I do! What I don’t mean to do is take the scripture lightly. On the contrary, I think this is very serious business. Far more serious than making a math game out of it.

We’ve talked many times about the number “7” in Revelation, how it is considered a sacred, complete, perfect number. It’s worth noting that 666 falls consistently short of, say, 777. One author said it means “failure, failure, failure.”

The beast’s number is not God’s number. It is always less. Always incomplete. No matter what the beasts say, it can’t change the fact that 6…is not 7. Satan is not God’s equal.

So in this cosmic battle, the Evil side has the red dragon, the sea beast and the land beast. How does God’s side counter such power and influence?

On God's Side

a) a baby

A baby (Jesus) who is barely saved at birth, eludes the beast and is taken up to God.

b) a woman/mother

A woman/mother (perhaps Mary, but also God’s people) who gives birth and is hidden. Protected. Because when the dragon can’t get the child (Jesus), he goes after the woman on earth (God’s people).

c) angels and the archangel Michael

Finally, a little muscle! They battle the dragon at the beginning of the story, and kick it out of heaven and down to the earth.

At the start of chapter 14, “Then I looked and there was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion.” A lamb. Jesus again. But now a symbol of sacrifice.

It’s really not very impressive is it? Not an even match. Immensely powerful dragon and two beasts on one side. Against a baby, a pregnant woman, some angels and a lamb. It’s laughable! And that’s exactly the point.

The kingdom of God is totally different than the kingdoms of the world. The methods of God are totally different than the ways of the world.

We can’t seem to get this through our heads. We are determined to beat the dragon, the beasts, at their own game. It seems to be working for them, so let’s beat them at their own game.

• Get bigger Christian political action committees.
• Raise more money. Control the court system.
• Torture prisoners…other countries do it.
• Fight the empire.
• Buildup more and more weapons, that will keep us safe.
• Legalize more guns.
• Surround the country with huge walls.
• Bigger armies.

The Jesus way is different. The kingdom of God is not the kingdom of the dragon. Look at how Jesus did things, for goodness sakes!:

“Jesus…rejected the devil’s offer of a position in government, rebuked the disciples for wanting to call down fire from heaven to incinerate their enemies, ordered Peter to put up his sword, reassured Pilate that the governor’s job was in no danger, an finally, to make sure no one missed the point, arranged that his coronation take place on a cross.” (Eugene Peterson)

The church has surely been the lead violator both in defaulting to using the ways of the empire to operate and in being deceived in how we think. It’s easier.

If the world says numbers mean success, then we’ll kill ourselves raising church attendance…no matter if there’s any depth to it.

If the culture says that buildings are the mark of success, then we’ll accumulate every piece of property we can get our hands on.

If the culture says its all about writing mission statements- then doggone it, we’ll spend years writing mission statements.

If the system says that affirmation of all lifestyles and values is the most important thing, then the church has mostly said, “It must be right.”

We’ve been scared and deceived into thinking that God’s people should just blend in. They shouldn’t.

The Jesus way is different. It looks different than the ways of evil. It always has.

Once in awhile we get a glimpse of this difference. When the terrors of the apartheid system fell apart in South Africa, the beast said “good, now it’s payback time.”

But something happened.

Instead of revenge, people stretched for forgiveness. And we read of courtroom scenes where black families who had literally had young men ripped out of their homes and murdered in front of them…stood in court to embrace and forgive the white policeman who had committed the atrocities. And those who forgave found a freedom from spending the rest of their lives in bitterness and anger. Incredible power. But a totally different kind of power.

The Jesus way is difficult. It always has been. Different kingdom, different kind of power.

The Jesus way looks weak in the eyes of the world. It does in this story as well. But there are two pieces that anyone who has ever shouted out the question “God, where are you!?” needs to notice:

a) there is work going on behind the scenes

There is work going on, behind the scenes, invisible and yet powerful forces that are operating in this story. The angels throw the dragon out of heaven. And even the dragon knows his influence and days on earth are numbered. It’s the most interesting language. It keeps saying that the dragon is “allowed” a certain amount of influence. A certain number of days. Terrible things will happen. People will be killed. Yet still, evil is limited.

Evil is always limited. Somehow, in this messy, messy story, God is still sovereign, still in control, somehow, some way will not abandon his people. Where is God? Hard at work, sometimes unseen, but always working.

b) the Great Reversal

Jesus embodied it, the Apostle Paul tried to write about it.

There is still evil here. And sometimes the worst possible things happen. Like death. God’s own people, murdered, killed, run over by the empire. God’s people are martyred.

Where are you, God?!

But wait. In chapter 14 (and others), the martyrs are found to be with the Lamb.

What seemed like God’s worst defeat is turned into His best triumph.

What the beast thought was his finest weapon- death…is found to have no power at all.

The writer John points his readers to the ending of the story, over and over. He keeps calling out “live your lives with faith and endurance!”…and don’t forget the end of the story.

Now lest you think that all ends happily ever after, chapter 14 ends with a final stark and frightening contrast of images. Far more serious than credit card numbers or Barney. A picture of two harvests. The Lord in the field, harvesting good wheat. And the angels trampling the grapes into wine of eternal wrath and torment.

The message couldn’t possibly be clearer. There are two choices: dragon/beast…or Lamb. The empire way, or the Jesus way. John leaves us no middle ground. He didn’t intend to.