Where's The Image? Conclusion

 

If you’ve read Daniel and Revelation, you’ll see that one pattern is the consolidation of power.  Mankind’s quest is to consolidate power.  This is at least as old as the Tower of Babel in the book of Genesis.  A time will come when this quest for power will be consummated, and this consummation will be energized by the dragon, Satan.  That’s a pretty basic pattern.  The thing is, even though the antichrist is characterized as a beast in this chapter, he won’t look like a beast to the world, in fact he’ll look like a savior, a person who has the solution to what ails us.

However, if we spend our time looking for an individual to place the tag “antichrist” upon the chances are that we’ll miss him, because the antichrist is more than an individual, it is a way of life, a way of looking at the world, a way of thinking.  And, assuming that the antichrist is one day personified in a person (which may or may not be the case), those who have already lived their lives immersed in a certain way of thinking will not likely recognize him as other than a savior, a wonderful human being.

 

“1JN 4:1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.”

 

   I think we can say that the spirit of antichrist was manifested in Cain when he murdered his brother Able and that it’s been with us ever since.  So the first place to look for it is in here, within us, then we can worry about it elsewhere.  That won’t sell books because we don’t like self-examination, but it is something that our spiritual forebearers recognized.

 

You might say that in Revelation 13 we have an unholy trinity, a counterpart to the Holy Trinity; the dragon, the antichrist and the false prophet. 

 

There is a beast in every generation, a false prophet in every generation, an image in every generation, and the number 666 in every generation.  You’ll probably need to give that some thought, but that’s all right. That won’t sell books either, but that’s a Biblical pattern.  However, a generation will come in which this unholy trinity is ultimately personified in one manifestation or in many.  That is, a generation will come in which the power and deception of the dragon finds its ultimate expression in humanity and in a representative (or representatives) of humanity who is opposed to God.

 

The great news is that God has a plan for His people, a plan for His people to be the light of the world, a plan for His people to come into the fullness of their inheritance in Jesus Christ, a plan for His people to bear the image of God no matter how dark the darkness may be.  You see, the encroachment of the powers of evil does not mean that the people of God retreat and hide in holes, but rather that they become the bearers of the Good News of Jesus to a world that so desperately needs to hear and see Him living in and through His people.

 

This is why it is imperative that we live as Christ in this generation.  It is imperative that we bring the light and life of Christ to others, because without us they aren’t going see Jesus.

 

I once had a conversation with someone who does not live in the area, the person has no connection whatsoever with this church.  The person worked in a hospice program at the time, she is a believer in Jesus Christ, and she said to me, “Well, I don’t tell people about Jesus because that’s against policy.”  My friends, if we don’t tell dying people about Jesus then who are we going to tell?

 

We are living in mental and spiritual prisons. We are locked up in our thinking and are living in mental processes that are frankly absurd.  Do we really think on the day when we stand before our Lord Jesus that we can say, “Well Lord, I would have told my coworkers about you but it was against policy”?  Do we seriously think that God Almighty is going to accept those words?

 

How many Christians perished in the World Trade Center alongside fellow workers with whom they had never shared the wonderful news of Jesus Christ?  This is not a game; this is eternal reality.  And all the pluralistic songs and prayer services and sweet cotton candy accolades and singing “God Bless America” will not change the fact that men and women went into eternity on September 11, 2001 not knowing light and life in Jesus Christ.

 

  I do not say this to minimize the tragedy, the human suffering, the incomprehensible loss…I grieve for all of those affected…I grieve for our nation.

 

But I say this to give us a wakeup call to consider the prison our minds are in and to ask us whether we ourselves have bought into a civil religion…are we worshipping the Emperor, have we become members of the Imperial Cult, when we make no distinction between Jesus Christ and other gods?

 

People who are worried about some physical image of a beast being set up somewhere in the Middle East or wherever ought to forget about looking outward and ask God to give them an inner reality check, because the image of the beast to be concerned about is not out there, it is in here, in my heart, in my mind, in my soul…because I’ll never be what God would have me to be if that beast has a safe harbor inside of me…and if he does…then whatever occurs outside of me is really a non-issue because I’ve already internalized the image within me.

 

Well, God has got better things for us, in fact He’s got the very best for us, and we’ll continue this next week.

 

In the meantime, what images are living within our hearts and minds and souls?

Where's The Image? Part 2

 

“DA 9:1 In the first year of Darius son of Xerxes (a Mede by descent), who was made ruler over the Babylonian kingdom-- 2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the LORD given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. 3 So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.”

 

          Seventy years before this passage was written the kingdom of Judah along with its capital city, Jerusalem, had been conquered by the Babylonians under King Nebuchadnezzar.  As was the military and political custom of that time, many of the people of the kingdom of Judah were removed from the land and relocated elsewhere. This was in accordance with the prophecies of Jeremiah.  Jeremiah also prophesied that after 70 years the people of Judah would be allowed to return to their land.

 

          In Daniel chapter 9 Daniel tells us that a time came when he understood it was time for Jeremiah’s prophecy to be fulfilled.

 

          Now the question for us is, “How did Daniel respond to this understanding?”  What did he do and what didn’t he do?  And let’s remember, this is a man who has had unusual encounters with God, a man who has been given dreams and visions about the future, the flow of history, right up to the consummation of history.  So how did this man respond?

 

          He didn’t produce a chart with every detail of how the people of Judah were going to return to their land.  He didn’t make a public proclamation of his newfound knowledge.  He didn’t write a series of books. He didn’t hold conventions on prophecy. He didn’t make himself the center of attention. He didn’t seek to financially profit from his understanding.

 

In fact, the only thing we know that he did was what?  He prayed.  He engaged in intercessory prayer for his people, confessing their sins, and while we aren’t going to read this entire chapter, toward the end of the chapter, as a result of his humble praying which was focused on God and others, Daniel received even more understanding about God’s purposes in the flow of history.

 

          Had Daniel been presumptuous, with a “know it all” attitude, I seriously doubt he would have received anything else from God.

 

          If Daniel’s attitude and response was one of humility and prayer, then I think we ought to take our presumptuous charts off the wall and follow his example.

 

 

          What are the prophetic patterns we see in Scripture?  There are many, many patterns, some are hopeful and upbeat and some are on the downside of history.  God has a purpose and His purpose will not be defeated, it will not be stopped, it will not be delayed.  Next week we’ll look at the upside of His purpose, we’ll look at His plan for you, His destiny for you, because He has things for us and a destiny for us that most of us have never even thought about, never even heard about.  Most of His people on this earth are living on spiritual welfare when God has given them the riches of His glory.

 

          Back to Revelation chapter 13.  We’ve got a beast, a dragon, another beast who looks like a lamb but which is a false prophet, we’ve got an image of the beast and we’ve also got the number 666, a number which has generated much speculation for the past 2,000 years.

 

          We’re going to take a quick look at this chapter and if you haven’t read the entire book of Revelation you’ll need to do so in order to put this chapter in its context.  The characters in this chapter are seen elsewhere in Revelation, and the dragon and the first beast are seen throughout Scripture. Look for the patterns, always look for the patterns and images and allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you through them.

 

What are the patterns represented in this chapter?  Now to some of you this is old stuff and so you’ll just have to be patient, and you can be like Daniel and pray while we go through this.

 

Verses 1 & 2.  The heads, the horns, and the crowns are images that represent heads of state, governments and power.  If you’ve read the book of Daniel you’ll know that animal images such as the leopard, the bear and the lion represent characteristics of governments and rulers.

The dragon represents Satan, this is interpreted for us in Revelation 12:9 and elsewhere.

 

We see in verse 2 that the dragon gives the beast his authority and power.  In other words, the beast is energized and motivated by Satan.

 

People worship the beast and in verses 6 – 10 we see that the beast is opposed to God and that he makes war on the saints.

 

In verse 11 we see another beast who looks like a lamb but speaks like a dragon and it is his job to cause the world to worship the first beast.

 

This second beast, we’ll call him the False Prophet, for this is his designation elsewhere in the Book of Revelation, causes mankind to make an image of the first beast, who we’ll call the Antichrist, and he gives life to this image; if people don’t worship this image they are killed.  If you’ve read Daniel this will remind you of the image Nebuchadnezzar made and of Daniel’s three friends refusing to worship that image and the fiery furnace they were placed in.

 

Then in verse 16 we see the mark of the beast and in verse 17 we see that if you don’t have the mark you can’t engage in commerce and then in verse 18 we have the number 666.

 

Now we know that there were times in the Roman Empire in which people were required to offer sacrifice to the Emperor.  The Emperor was considered a god, and to demonstrate your loyalty to the Emperor you appeared before an official and offered a sacrifice or incense, affirming that you indeed worshiped the Emperor.

 

Without this affirmation you could not engage in commerce, you could not buy or sell.  So while there indeed may be a future and more comprehensive fulfillment of this element concerning buying and selling in Revelation 13, we do have historical examples of it.

 

(We can find many examples of this throughout history – it takes many forms. If you do not conform to the system you are in, the system can be unmerciful and shut you out, making economic survival difficult or impossible.)

 

Christians were not so much persecuted by the Roman Empire because they worshipped Jesus.  Let me repeat that, Christians were not so much persecuted by the Roman Empire because they worshipped Jesus.  They were persecuted because they worshipped Jesus only.

 

Roman society was both and syncretistic and polytheistic.  You could worship 80 or 800 gods and have no problems, as long as you also worshipped the Emperor.  But Christians worshipped Jesus ONLY.  My dear dear friends, we can worship Jesus all we want, as long as we don’t consider Him to be the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and people will leave us alone. This is, in fact, why they do indeed generally leave us alone – because we worship the gods of the world alongside Jesus.

 

What are the patterns?

to be continued...

Where's The Image? Part 1

 Where’s the image?

 

This was our second Sunday morning after 9/11. The first Sunday I had a handout for the congregation that listed Bible passages and bullet points, I didn’t preach a sermon that first Sunday because it was more a time of reflection for us than anything else. How does a person or a people process and respond to such a tragedy? I wanted to guide our dear people to Jesus and away from the reactions of the world, as well as away from cheap popular Christian thinking. I wanted our people to see themselves as “citizens of heaven” (Phil. 3:20) before anything else – our calling was to display Jesus and bring others to Him.

A companion passage, which I do not refer to in this message, is 2 Thessalonians 2:1 - 12. If we grasp the essence of this passage we will "see" that self-exaltation, both individual and collective, is a hallmark of Satan; and rather than embrace it and justify it, we will flee from it and from all who propagate it. The "man of lawlessness" exalts himself and works to pull us into drinking the poison of that cup...woe to us that we see and flee from this evil.  

 

Can you see what I was doing in this message?

This is lightly edited.

 

 September 23, 2001; Revelation 13

Becket, MA  

Bob Withers

 

            When I was in property management, a lady worked for me who was the manager of a cooperative community of 400 families just outside Washington, D.C.  One year I sent her to a conference in San Antonio, Texas, thinking that it would be a great experience for her and help advance her career.  When she returned, she walked into my office and cursed me up one side and down the other, she was really upset.

 

          She was upset because I’d sent her into unfamiliar territory, unfamiliar people, and unfamiliar subject matter.  She was frustrated, highly frustrated.  Though, all in all, she came out just fine.

 

          A number of people who worked for me over the years had that same experience to varying degrees, that experience of frustration, because I would not dumb down for them, I wanted to bring them up, not allow them to remain where they were.

 

          And so, my dear friends, you have lots of company, your frustration has been shared by many over the years, I love you too much to dumb down.

 

          Last week we looked briefly at a number of questions that have been raised as a result of the attacks in New York and Washington and the tragedy in Pennsylvania.  Among the Biblical references on last week’s handout were the books of Daniel and Revelation, and in reading them I suggested that you ask yourself the question, “What patterns do I see in these passages?”

 

          God communicates to us through patterns and images.  Yes, He also gives us commandments and principles to live by, but much of His communication is through images and patterns.  Sometimes we’re apt to think that the idea that we’re a visual people only came about with the advent of movies and television, but we’ve been visual from the beginning of our existence.  In fact, in the beginning we were God’s visualization of Himself to the universe in that He created us in His image; now He is about the restoration of that image through and in Jesus Christ.

 

          We are told that Jesus Christ is the perfect image of God.  Yes, Jesus taught many things, but He first and foremost lived among us and, as the apostle John writes, “He is full of grace and truth.”  This is why Jesus could say, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through Me…He who has seen Me has seen the Father” This is why the primary issue with Jesus is not His teachings, but His Person, Himself.  He is God, God manifested in the flesh, God’s perfect representation, His perfect image.

 

          The other day as I was channel surfing, I happened upon one of the religious channels on which the preacher was talking about Biblical prophecy.  Behind him on the platform was a massive chart that took up most of the wall.  The chart showed this preacher’s conception of history from the dawn of time through the last chapter of Revelation.  I’ve seen charts like this since I came to Christ as a teenager.  Those charts used to fascinate me with all their knowledge and detail and Biblical references, I was intrigued by them.  After all, for many of us, knowing the future and having the answers is important, it’s a natural tendency within many of us.

 

          A few weeks ago, I was at a house party when the hostess walked up to me with another woman and said, “Bob, do you know Mary Scammon?”  And I replied, “Of course I know Mary, but Mary, I didn’t recognize you.”  And the fact was that I hadn’t recognized this woman who’ve I’ve seen and talked to on a number of occasions.  In spite of the fact that she had a wide brimmed summer hat on, and that I don’t recall her ever wearing a hat before, I still think I should have recognized her.  But why didn’t I know who she was when I first saw her?  Why did someone have to remind me who she was?  Because I saw her out of context. 

 

Has this ever happened to you?  You’re accustomed to seeing someone in a particular context, perhaps work, or church, or school, and then you see them in an aisle at Walmart, and you draw an embarrassing blank and don’t know what to say?  I was accustomed to seeing Mary Scammon in the context of my relationship with her husband, pastor Warren Scammon.  Since the function we were both at had nothing to do with church ministry, I didn’t recognize Mary.

 

          By the same token, when people draw elaborate charts about Biblical prophecy and insist that the future is going to follow the detailed path they have laid out, they leave themselves and their students open to the almost inevitable experience of not understanding what is actually occurring because they can’t recognize events outside of their pre-determined context.

          If we’ll study and understand the patterns and images of Scripture, then we’ll have the tools that the Holy Spirit can use to help us understand events, otherwise we’ll be like the baseball player at the plate who is looking for a particular pitch, maybe a 95 mph fast ball but he gets a 70 mph change –up and swings long before the ball reaches the plate. 

 

             If you’ve read the book of Daniel, you’ll know that God showed Daniel a number of visions concerning the prophetic flow of history.  Daniel saw some pretty weird images and patterns, in fact, some were quite frightening.  Therefore, we might rightly think that if we could discover how Daniel responded to the contemporary flow of events in his own life, especially if he thought the events were in accordance with Biblical prophecy, that then we might have a pattern to follow in our lives and in our time.

 

          Well, we do have an outstanding example of this and it is found in Daniel chapter 9, so

let’s turn to it briefly, Daniel chapter 9, which will be page 788 in most of the pew Bibles.

to be continued...