Fifty Shades of Grace: Fifty Shades of Grace Chapter 22

22-Revelation Made Easy Part 5

The woman, the dragon and the heavenly war

These Revelation lessons are a wee bit on the hard side because they are long and they also require you to read your Bible. But I know the best detectives love a good challenge, and if you are still a little young for all of this, you will grow into it. And you will love it. Today, you have to read Revelation chapters 12 through 15 and I will tell you what most of the things stand for. We will be using both Old Testament and New Testament references to help us understand this section.

The woman clothed with the sun refers to Israel as God intended her to be. The prophets speak of Israel as a woman—see Ezekiel 16 for instance. She is clothed with the sun which foreshadows the glory of the New Jerusalem, but she is still buffeted by Satan. The 12 stars are the 12 tribes. After giving birth, her son (Christ) is caught up to heaven and the woman (now the fledgling church) flees to the wilderness where she will be strengthened for 1260 days—roughly 42 months or 3 1/2 years. Josephus tells us about how the Christians in Jerusalem escaped just before Jerusalem was destroyed and they fled to a place in the wilderness called Pella.

The red dragon is Satan and the color red stands for blood. He was a murderer from the beginning and he seeks to destroy Christ. Here is how he did it:

Matthew 2:16-18 tells us that Herod was furious when he was tricked by the wise men, so he had all the baby boys in Bethlehem under 2 years old killed.

Matthew 4 tells us how the devil tempted Jesus in the wilderness.

Luke 22:3 tells us that Satan entered Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus sending him to his death.

The war in heaven is symbolic of a spiritual reality—the overthrowing of Satan’s authority in the world.

Michael is believed by many scholars to be Christ himself for the following reasons:

Michael means “who is like God.”
Protestant scholars usually identified Michael with Christ because of the attributes given to him in the book of Daniel.
All of Scripture expects Satan’s defeat to be performed by Christ.
In Jude, Michael is called an Archangel, which is the equivalent of “Angel of the LORD” in the Old Testament.
New Testament theology points to Christ casting down Satan.
Revelation 12:6 attribute the victory to Christ

The Evil Triumvirate

John presents and evil trinity as a mockery or counterfeit of the Holy Trinity. It is comprised of Satan, the sea beast (Nero) and the land beast (religious ruler or false prophet.)

The First Beast (Sea Beast)

The first beast rising out of the sea has 7 heads, 10 horns (perfect power and authority) and 10 diadems just like the description of Satan. Since Nero was the emperor, he is portrayed as the incarnate son of Satan, just as Christ is the incarnate son of God. The second beast is in league with the first beast and with Satan, much like the Holy Spirit proceeds from both the father and son.

The description of the beast like a leopard with bear’s feet and ad mouth like a lion fits with Nero’s reputation as a beast. Tacitus, Apollonia and other first century historians refer to him as a beast and the “basest of all men and beasts.” Tacitus says Nero was the first emperor to persecute Christians and he inflicted unheard of torments on them, putting a vast multitude to death.

The beast arises from the sea giving the perspective of looking at Rome from the point of view of Asia Minor where the 7 churches were located. He utters haughty and blasphemous words. There were temples to the Emperor all over Asia Minor and Nero thought of himself as Apollo. (Apollo rode a chariot in the sky pulling the sun across the sky with a rope.) Nero entered into chariot races and had coins made on which his head radiated the sun’s rays. He built a forty-foot statue of Apollo and put his own head on it. This must have been a pre-cursor of PHOTOBOMBING, don’t you think? Kings worshipped Nero

The length of the persecution was 42 months—just like Revelation says and lasted from November of 64 to June of 68 A.D.

The first beast (Rome) has a remarkable revival. It seems to have a mortal wound, but it is healed and the whole earth marvels. When Nero killed himself, there was civil war for the next year as men fought to claim the throne. Three different emperors ruled in twelve months time and they kept getting assassinated. Finally, Vespasian who was fighting at Jerusalem, gave up fighting the Jews and came back to Rome to help restore order. He became the next emperor.

The first beast’s mark was a parody of God’s sealing the elect. The first beast’s number—666-pronounced six hundred sixty six NOT six six six!—is the number of Nero’s name when written in Hebrew characters. This is how we know Nero was the beast!

The Second Beast (Land Beast)

The second beast is related to the first beast and is linked to the dragon. He is inferior to the first beast, having only 2 horns and his authority flows out of the first beast. He represents the high priestly aristocracy. He arises from the “land” (Judea—the promised land). He has the appearance of a lamb which harks back to Israel’s sacrificial system. He is later called the false prophet—God’s designation for the false leaders of Israel. This depiction fits the theme of Revelation which is Jesus coming to judge those who pierced him. It also fits Jewish actions, since the high priests worked in tandem with Rome. The second beast also spoke like a dragon reminding us of Jesus calling them a “synagogue of Satan.”

Our actions show what we really believe, so when the Jewish leaders crucified Christ, that was the equivalent of worshipping the beast. The image of the first beast (Nero) is the temple itself! The Roman Empire controlled the appointment of high priests and the high priest was required to offer 2 sacrifices a day to Caesar! The image speaking and causing death is a metaphor for the issuing of decrees against Christians. If you recall, Saul (later the apostle Paul) had to go to the high priests to get permission to drag Christians to their imprisonment.

The second beast’s mark on the forehead and right hand is the control of thoughts and actions. The second beast’s (the high priest’s) threat that no one would be able to buy or sell was a direct consequence of excommunication from the synagogue. Excommunication was economically dangerous. Josephus writes in his Antiquities 11.5.4 that if you don’t follow along, your house and property were confiscated by the temple. Heretics (Christians) could not buy or sell or even teach their sons a trade.

The Lamb and the 144,000

John is tying things together from Rev. 13:11 as Christ the Lamb takes the place of the 2nd beast who looks like a lamb.

The point of this vision: The Slain Lamb of God is the dominant character and is here to judge those who pierced him. He resents his new bride (the 144,000) as a virgin (those who did not defile themselves with women is taken to be spiritual faithfulness as opposed to the spiritual adultery of unbelieving Israel). The Jews represented by the number 144,000 (12 tribes times 12 apostles representing both the Old and New Testament believers times 1000—the perfect number of God’s elect) are the firstfruits of all the elect (Jews first, then Greeks). The messages of the three angels are God’s divorce decree on adulterous, unbelieving Israel.

The eternal gospel is given to those who dwell in the land (Jews from every nation, tribe and language). The significance—despite any opposition, the gospel is eternal. The hour of judgment has come and there is no turning back.

Babylon has not been mentioned before. John is planting seed and he will identify her later as Israel, but he gives us a few clues in the meantime.

The third angel gives them a prophetic warning about hell and eternal punishment. Verse 13 is a promise for all of us: “Blessed are the dead who die in the LORD from now on,”

The harvest of the land

Out of the seven angels, the 4th angel—the one on a cloud like a son of man with a crown and sickle is of course Jesus. (See Daniel 7:13 and Rev. 1:2)

His sitting indicates judicial presence—sitting is the posture of rule and his action occurs in the land. (Promised Land)

The first reaping is the ingathering of the elect. But then angels appear from the temple in heaven to judge the earthly temple—giving notice that the second harvest is ready—the harvest of the grapes of God’s wrath. This harks back to one of Jesus’ parables where the angels separate the weeds from the wheat in Matt. 13:24-30; 36-43. Jesus says this will happen at the end of the “age” meaning the age of the first covenant—not at the end of the world.

The winepress: The metaphor of the vintage and winepress is derived from the Old Testament prophets (see Isaiah 63:1-6) and represents a process of divine judgment and condemnation. the metaphor of wine production is completed in other parts of the book of Revelation by the liturgical image of the wine of the passion of God mixed in the cup of his anger (Rev. 14:10) and then reversed on to the earth in the form of seven libation-bowl plagues of God’s passion (Rev. 15-16). The sixth of these plagues sets in motion the preparations for the final battle at Amageddon (Rev. 16:12-14, 16) and links the judgmental act of wine pressing with the eschatological battle of Armageddon. (Eschatological is a very big word that just means a study of the last times.) The leader of the heavenly armies at Armageddon is also the one who treads the winepress. The enormous amount of blood that comes out of the winepress is a result of this battle.

1600 Stadia: Jerusalem is the place where this blood bath will occur. In antiquity, 1600 stadia was the length of Palestine from its northern to southern borders and the same borders define the modern country of Israel today. 1600 stadia came to represent the entire country inhabited by the House of Israel whose capital was and is Jerusalem.

Blood flowed from the winepress as high as a horses bridle. This is common hyperbole not to be taken literally, but to make a point of the devastation. In Matt. 23:35-6 Jesus said “so that on you will come all the righteous blood shed on earth from the blood of innocent Abel to the blood of Zechariah she son of Barachiah who you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.” In Matt. 27:25 the people themselves had cried out “May his blood be upon us and our children.”

The seven angels with seven plagues

The big picture—In this chapter (15) we are introduced to the 7 angels who will pour out the bowls of God’s wrath. Heaven itself is set against Israel.

The special focus —is on Israel. This is a reversal of the exodus and the book of Exodus is alluded to everywhere in this chapter. (There is a sea; standing beside the sea are those who are singing the song of Moses; the sanctuary is referred to as a tent of witness; the sanctuary was filled with smoke and no one could enter it.)

The particular point indicates the conclusion is near—there will be no more delay. Israel is finally and permanently dispossessed. In Matt. 18:11-12 Jesus says “I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In the place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Wow! That was a long lesson, but if you are a good detective, you should be able to start putting all the clues together for understanding this mysterious book!

Here are some enjoyable times with my favorite detectives: