Revelation 13 The Beast and Human Culture/ Greg Bahnsen {Part 48 of 63}

Lets begin with a word of prayer. Lord, we thank you that your mercies are renewed to us every morning, that you show your faithfulness night by night. We thank you, Father, that you don't cast us off though we have sinned, but that you receive us in your son, Jesus Christ, that you're willing to be a father to us and to receive us into your family as adopted children. We thank you because we know that these things have not been deserved, that they come by your free grace and mercy, that our faithlessness would merit nothing from your hand. Lord, we thank you for your great faithfulness to us, that you are constant, that you uphold us, that you do save us, that you protect our lives and providentially supply every need of them. We ask that you would supply measure of your spirit this morning. Morning as well. That we could understand the Scriptures and to live in a way which is more pleasing unto you, enable us to interpret the Scriptures correctly and to live by them. We pray that we would receive comfort as well as encouragement this day from the lesson that we have. For it's in Jesus name that we pray. Amen. Well, it's been a long time. It seems like since I've been here teaching this class. This summer has been something of a hectic schedule for me with being in the hospital and away on vacation and various other things have interrupted as well. I think it'd be good for us to do a good deal of review leading up to the 13th chapter of the Book of Revelation. And then I want to look in more detail at chapter 13 today than we were able to last time I was with you. And for the sake of some who have not been here in the class in the past, I think it'd be a good idea to have some context, some development up to this point. The Book of Revelation I have. Well, I guess I've been teaching it for about a year and a half here in the Sunday School class. And it seems to me that we should date the Book of Revelation sometime in the late 60s of the first century A.D. as we ought to date the Book of Revelation prior to the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70 and probably around the same time that we know that Paul and Peter were both martyred in Rome under the Roman emperors. John was in exile on the island of Patmos for his faith. We know that from the first chapter, and it seems to me that would probably correspond to the Neronian persecution under which the other two apostles died. John writes the Book of Revelation with a threefold outline in mind. That outline is given to us. In the last portion of chapter one, he says that the Lord had commanded him to write the things which are, that is the things which he has just seen, the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter. And so we have the first chapter with its opening salutation and a vision of the glorified Christ, the one who is the sovereign Lord over history. And then chapters two and three. Give us the things which are the case presently in the church. The letters to the seven churches in Asia Minor and the exhortation of Christ there. Can somebody remind me what the constant theme of the letters to the seven churches would be? What is the one thing that is said to each one of the seven churches in Asia Minor? It's the theme of the Book of Revelation too. Now, I want, before we don't have anybody answer, I want to remind you that the Bible always introduces these with thus saith the Spirit to the churches. He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. And so we'd better remember if we're going to be spiritual people, that is, we're going to be those who are sensitive to what the Spirit wants us to understand. Now somebody was going to say, Dave. That's right. It's an exhortation to every church. There's a promise to the one who overcomes. Or another way to translate that actually is no one English word that captures the entire idea. The one who is victorious or the one who triumphs. Okay, so the idea is that Christians are not to be a defeated lot. They're not to be those who are cast down and taking a back seat in history and just being willing to, to see the Christian faith almost snuffed out. But the exhortation is to those in the church who will overcome, overcome the onslaughts of Satan, overcome the onslaughts of sin or persecution from outside, or persecution from inside. That is heretical teachers is one major problem in the early church. Alright, so John gives us this beautiful picture of the glorified Christ, the sovereign Lord over history. And then he gives a message from this glorified Christ to the seven churches in Asia Minor. Primarily a message to overcome, to be victorious. And then he goes into the things which shall be hereafter, which, as you know, is the more or less controversial element of the Book of Revelation. It's where people get into a good deal of discussion as to what John was referring to. I think that the key referent or the period of time that John is referring to in this latter section of the Book of Revelation is to be identified as John's own day, that is the day of the ancient church or the early church. And the reason for that is that in the first chapter, John says that he's writing the things which shall come to pass, the things which are at hand and to take place. To come to pass immediately or shortly. To come to pass is the phrase in the Greek. And then in the last chapter of the Book of Revelation, the same two phrases are found. These are things which are at hand, events which are at hand, and things which are shortly to come to pass. And so I think John is telling us of his own day and age. Certainly it applies to the years after John's death, but I'm talking about the immediate age in which John lived, the first early age of the church, Jesus Christ. And then this section, the things which shall take place hereafter is divided into two major divisions, divided into the first enemy of the Book of Revelation, and second, second enemy of the Book of Revelation. And up to just about this point in our Sunday school class, we've been studying through chapter 12, which deals with the enemy of the first section or the first enemy of the Christian church. In that day. That enemy was, That's right, the apostate Jews, centered in the capital, of course, of Judaism, Jerusalem. John tells us, after giving us a picture of the throne room of God, depicting the sovereignty of God over all of creation, and then telling us about the Lamb of God who was overcome to open the seven sealed scroll, the sovereignty of God and redemption. After showing us, in chapters four and five, God's sovereignty and creation and redemption, John goes on to depict the judgments that are now going to fall upon apostate Jerusalem for its persecution of the true people of God and for its crucifixion of God's own son, the Messiah. And so we have a seven sealed scroll that is put into the hand of Christ. And one by one, those seven seals on the back of the scroll are broken. And as each seal is broken, we have something depicted for us in the drama of Revelation as a foreshadowing of what's going to happen, a foreshadowing of what is to be found in this book, this scroll of judgment. And then after the seventh seal is broken on that scroll, there's a short period of silence in heaven, a dramatic pause, if you will, where everybody stands back and waits, you know, to see what God's going to do. And then finally, an angel comes to the depicted in the heavenly temple of God, to the golden altar. And he casts fire upon the earth, the indication that God's judgment shall now fall. And then the seven trumpets of judgment sound. Sound. And with each one of the trumpets, some element of the judgment on Jerusalem is depicted. And those trumpets sound in a pattern of three, excuse me, four trumpets, and then two trumpets, and then one final trumpet declaring the ultimate end of God's judgment on Jerusalem. Now, after this takes place, chapter 12 indicates how it is possible that the kingdom of God has come in power and might in this fashion. And so we're taken behind the scenes and we see that in fact there was warfare in heaven with the birth of Jesus Christ. There was a good deal of embattlement between the forces of Satan and the forces of God. Of course, God's angels are led by Michael the Archangel, and then Satan leads his forces as well. So there's warfare in heaven. And Satan is deposed from heaven and cast down. Which corresponds to what Jesus said earlier in his ministry to his disciples when they came back saying that even the demons were subject to them in his name. Jesus said that was to be expected because he saw Satan cast down from heaven as lightning. That as he was deposed from his position of power and authority. We're thinking some literal spatial sense. But even as lightning is grounded out into the earth, you see, when it hits the earth and has no more power, so Satan has been grounded out in his power into the earth. And so Revelation 12 ends. Since Satan was not able to Destroy the woman, I.e. jerusalem, understood as the true people of God. Since Satan was not able to destroy the Jewish Church. Jewish Christians, because they fled to the wilderness where they were preserved for the period of time of the fall of Jerusalem. The very end of chapter 12 tells us at verse 17. And the dragon waxed wroth with the woman and went away to make war with the rest of her seed that keep the commandments of God and hold the testimony of Jesus. So having been unsuccessful in destroying the church at the time of Jerusalem's fall, you see, it was only the apostate Jews who underwent the judgment of God. Christians, at Christ's instruction, fled to the mountains beyond Jerusalem when they saw the Roman soldiers surrounding the city. Satan turned then in his wrath to make war with the rest of the woman's seed, which is to say the Gentile church. Now he wasn't able to destroy the Jewish church, so now he's going to turn and make war with the Gentile church. And this now introduces the second great enemy in the book of Revelation. The second great enemy of The Church in the early days of its existence. And that apostle apostate our secular Rome. And so let's read chapter 13 with that background. Perhaps before I read, though, I should give you opportunities. Has this been too quick? Have I lost anybody? Would you like to ask any questions at this point? Okay. Well, let's read chapter 13 then, with that background. And he stood upon the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns ten diadems. And upon his heads names of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard. And his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as though it had been smitten unto death. And his death stroke was healed. And the whole earth wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon because he gave his authority unto the beast. And they worshipped the beast, saying, who is like unto the beast? And who is able to war with him? And there was given to him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies. And there was given to him authority to continue 42 months. And he opened his mouth for blasphemies against God, to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle, even them that dwell in the heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And there was given to him authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation. And all that dwell on the earth shall worship him. Every one whose name hath not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life, of the Lamb that hath been slain. If any man hath an ear, let him hear. If any man is for captivity, into captivity he goeth. If any man shall kill with the sword, with the sword must he be killed. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth. And he had two horns like unto a lamb. And he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the authority of the first beast in his sight. And he maketh the earth and them that dwell therein to worship the first beast whose death stroke was healed. And he doeth great things, great signs. That he should make even fire to come down out of heaven upon the earth in the sight of men. And he deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by reason of the signs which it was given him to do in the sight of the beast, saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast who hath the stroke of the sword and lived. And it was given unto him to give breath to it, even to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause that as many as should not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, the small and the great, the rich and the poor, the free, and the bonds that there be given them a mark on their right hand and upon their forehead, that no man should be able to buy or to sell, save he that hath the mark, even the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. He that hath understanding, let him count the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666. One of the more fascinating chapters of the Bible, without any doubt one of the more controversial chapters as well, as I've said already, chapter 13 shows us the second enemy of the church of Jesus Christ. And as we read on after chapter 13, chapters 14 through 18 will show us the overthrow or the defeat of this second enemy. Now, before we look at chapter 13 itself, we should realize that this section of the book of Revelation is really an expansion upon the contents of that little book which was bittersweet to John's taste, that little book or the new prophecy that John tells of in Revelation 10, 8, 11. So let's look at Revelation 10 and be reminded of verses 8 to 11. And the voice which I heard from heaven, I heard it again speaking with me and saying, go, take the book which is open in the hand of the angel that standeth upon the sea and upon the earth. And I went unto the angel saying unto him that he should give me the little book. And he saith unto me, take it and eat it up, and it shall make thy belly, but in thy mouth it shall be sweet as honey. And I took the little book out of the angel's hand and ate it up. And it was in my mouth sweet as honey. And when I had eaten it, my belly was made bitter. And they say unto me, thou must prophesy again over many peoples and nations and tongues and kings. So John is told already in chapter 10, shortly before the end of the first section of the prophetic portion of the book, that he is going to have to prophesy again. But this time it won't be over just Jerusalem or over one nation. It's going to be A prophecy that touches the land and the sea. Just as the angel that he takes the book from has one foot planted upon the sea and one foot upon the earth. And he will prophesy over many peoples nations, tongues and kings. John's going to be given a prophecy having to do with the Roman Empire as a whole. And chapters 13 through 18 give us the expansion of that prophecy. The theme of chapters 13 through 18, I think in a sense is the Roman Empire versus the Kingdom of Christ. Chapter 12 had ended with Satan standing by the sea to summon his henchmen from the troubled waters of the sea. And chapter 13 then ensues with that conflict. I think that a very good description of the conflict that we're referring to here is to be found in RJ Reshtoni's commentary in the Book of Revelation. Let me just read a couple of paragraphs to you in summary of the theme of chapter 13 and following. Rushduni says that direction of history is twofold in its historical manifestation. Apostate man moves toward establishing a radically humanistic social order in which God is abolished and man is his own law and lawgiver. Apostate man works to create a paradise on earth without God, without law, without morality. The morality of humanism is, is that man is his own law and that no moral law beyond man can govern. Man, on the other hand, regenerate man works to re establish the law order of God among men, to establish church state and society in terms of the word of God, and to manifest the kingdom of God in all of its meaning. History thus is in tension between these two warring forces. But the tension is more than the natural historical tension. There is also the tension which apostate man inescapably feels by virtue of his rebellion against his sovereign, the triune God. There is the tension of epistemological self consciousness. Now that makes sense to everybody. Right phrase you use often. By epistemological self consciousness, what Rushduni is referring to is everybody has a theory of knowledge. Everybody has some basis for what they believe, some view of truth and, and so forth. That's what we call epistemology or a theory of knowledge. However, people, non Christians, especially unbelievers, have a theory of knowledge that they espouse and a theory of knowledge by which they know things. That is to say, the unbeliever says one thing about truth, one thing about how he knows, one thing about the standards of knowledge and validity and logic and all the rest, but he lives by other standards altogether. Now if the unbeliever knows anything at all. He must know things in terms of that theory of knowledge which is true to reality, which is to say what the Bible teaches us about God and his creation of man and so forth. However, the unbeliever, being an unbeliever, won't say that that's his theory of knowledge. He in fact tries to devise other theories of knowledge and he tries to live in terms of these apostate theories of knowledge where God is not taken into account, etc. Now, through history, Dr. Van Till has taught through history, apostate man, as well as redeemed man comes to more and more self consciousness as to what the implications of his theory of knowledge are. Okay, so if you go all the way back to Plato, to use an example, Plato had an apostate theory of knowledge. He had an unbelieving theory of knowledge that didn't take God into account. However, way back then, Plato nevertheless believed in absolute standards and absolute morality and all that. Now what happens though, you see in the development and the outworking of an apostate theory of knowledge in history is that the implications of that theory are reflected upon more and more and come to expression. So that if you jump from Plato now down to 20th century existentialism, you begin to see this historical development. The existentialists realize that if they have this, what we call an apostate theory of knowledge, then in fact there aren't any absolute standards. Things cannot be known for sure. There aren't any standards of morality which hold for all situations, et cetera, et cetera. So now that is basically what Russian is talking about when he speaks of the tension of epistemological self consciousness. It sounds like a terrible phrase, but it's very easy to understand. It simply means reflecting on the outworkings of one's philosophy when one comes to realize the implications of his theory of knowledge, that's epistemological self consciousness, and one becomes conscious of his own self's theory of knowledge. Now let me read this again. He says there is also the tension which apostate man inescapably feels by virtue of his rebellion against his sovereign, the triune God. There is the tension of epistemological self consciousness as apostate man comes to know himself and his implications more fully. There is also the tension of failure as apostate man finds that his every effort is frustrated and works toward his own confounding. Man is man's own and only savior in terms of humanism. The humanist delights in the centralization of power into the hands of human government, because this is his hope. And if you're going to understand Chapter 13 of the book of Revelation, you must understand this final fundamental insight that Rush Dhuni is giving you. Why is it that humanists always tend to be centralist in terms of their social theory? Now, that's not an accidental correlation in history. Apostate humanism always argues for big government, if you will. I mean, to put it mildly, the centralization of power into the hands of certain human beings. Well, the reason for that, Rushduni argues, is that the humanist looks to man as the one who is going to make provision for his basic needs, the one who is going to relieve his tensions, take care of his problems. The pretensions of apostate culture are his glory. The pretensions of apostate culture are his hope. The humanist holds to the limitless possibilities of human culture and to the sovereignty of man's rule. And he declares proudly, who is like unto the beast who is able to make war with him? Power is given to the beast to speak great things and utter much blasphemies for 42 months throughout his appointed time. Power is given to him, moreover, to attack not only the saints and to overcome them, but power over all kindreds and tongues and nations, and power to attack God with blasphemy and insult. There is thus a seeming outward victory by humanism over Christianity. That's the background, ideologically, I think, to chapter 13 of the book of Revelation. Who can name a few humanist documents through history? Now, of course, after the time of the writing of the Book of Revelation, but what are some expressions of this kind of humanism, this ultimate faith and confidence in man, the centralization of authority and power, power and government, human government and looking to man to deliver us and to make provision for all our needs. Think of anybody through history that you've read that holds to those kind of views. Actually, if you were awake this morning, I should ask the question to make it difficult. Can you think of many who were unbelievers who didn't write like that? But what are some of the outstanding classics of humanist thought? Anybody think of any offhand? Nancy? Well, yes, of course. The Communist Manifesto becomes something of the apex of a development of a confidence in man and historical process leading to man's able to man's ability to liberate himself and to make provision for his needs. Well, of course there's controversy over the philosophy that informs the Constitution of this country. I personally feel the Constitution is something of a mixed document. If you look at the Declaration of Independence in this country and follow the process of Christian as well as Deist thought in America. I still maintain that the Christian influence was the greater. The Deists in those days were known to be Deists after their deaths. The reason for that is that a man who was known to be a deist didn't have much social influence. So I tend to think that if anything, that's a subtle illustration, but come on a little bit further in our history. And what do you think of the New England Transcendentalist or Walt Whitman, Emerson, Thoreau and others? Humanist documents to the core the idea that, you know, there's unbounded potentiality in human beings and, and if we but just have centralized control. Well, what. There's the theme that says in an anarchist way, you go back to nature, that is, if everybody could just be natural. And we see that in pop fads, of course, in our country too. You know, the natural look and all that sort of thing. But more philosophically, in a more sophisticated way, it's been argued by people that if we could just get away from the corruptions of civilization, if we could just be individuals who are in tune with nature, then everything would be all right. But on the other hand, humanist thought centralizes power into men who will be controllers, who will scientifically design a culture and a government and this sort of thing. Well, now, what Rushduni is saying is the development of history is between people who think in these channels and people who think in channels that say God himself has provided in His Word, all that's necessary for righteous living and pleasing Him. And so that God has provided, not simply a way of salvation in the Bible, or perhaps we could put it this way, we shouldn't think of the way of salvation as a very narrow thing, that when God saves people, that doesn't simply mean their souls are going to go to heaven, you know, for all eternity, although it certainly does mean that. And if it didn't mean that, it would be there was something very bad about the Christian religion. It wouldn't be adequate to men's needs. But when God saves people, he saves their entire lives. You see. See, it's not just a narrow kind of spooky, ghostly thing for eternity, but it's right here and now. God makes you the kind of person he wants you to be. That means in your interpersonal relationships with your relationship with him, in terms of your social relationships. It deals with all of man's life, whether it be man's artistic endeavors or man's political endeavors or man's work and industry, whatever it may be. Throughout all areas of life, God saves men. But when God saves men, he doesn't save them. So they become their own little gods, their own little saviors, their own little law givers. You see, when God saves men, he gives them the blueprint for righteous living. He shows them what the life of a saint, what the life of a believer in Jesus Christ is to be, what the life of a member of the kingdom of God is to be like. And so God gives direction in His Word for all areas of life. God. God has standards by which we should evaluate our performance and our attitudes, our behavior, and whatever we may be doing, be it our family or be it our church or the state or what have you. Okay, so there are those who think in terms of the word of God governing all the areas of their life and try to work out those implications for the kingdom of God. Then there are those who are developing the kingdom of man, this humanist culture that centralizes power in man and looks to man to take care of all of his basic needs. Revelation 13 then shows us something of the tension. It epitomizes this tension between humanism and Christianity, I think. And the beast, the Monster of Revelation 13 depicts humanist culture as John sees it. He says that Satan stood upon the sand of the sea, and John saw a beast coming up out of the sea having ten horns, seven heads, and on his horns ten diadems, and upon his head names of blasphemy. Before we go on to look at the beast, just a real quick note about how to interpret the Book of Revelation. Now, I've said this over and over and over again, but this provides another opportunity to make the point very clearly. You cannot interpret the Book of Revelation in the manner of literal where possible. Okay, you deal with people who stand outside of a reformed approach to Scripture, or especially those who take a premillennial or dispensational approach to the Bible. And often enough, you will hear them say that they hold to the truth of the Bible more seriously than those who aren't in the same schools of thought, because they believe that the Bible should be interpreted as literal wherever it is possible to be literal. That is, they're going to depart from a literal interpretation only when it is absolutely necessary to do so. All right, now, we have introduced to us a monster, a beast that has seven heads, 10 horns, one mouth, and that is in the form of a lion, a bear, and a leopard. The difficulty is that if you take a literal approach to this Passage, you come up with something very grotesque. I mean, you just look at the history of the attempts of men to draw from the description John has given us to draw various pictures of this beast. It's very difficult, but it's not impossible. It's true that you, you know, if you have seven heads and 10 horns, you have a question of, well, how many horns on each head sort of thing. And, and all that. And so you get different kinds of pictures, but you can get one literal pictures of this beast. Now, nobody is going to push beyond this. I mean, I, I think I've said enough. Obviously it's possible to be literal, but that isn't what John intends at all. And so the idea of literal where possible in the book of Revelation is just misplaced. That isn't the way to use the scriptures. That isn't what John is trying to tell us, that in fact there is such a, a monster in his day or some future day. He's trying to tell us men metaphorically of what he thinks of the Roman Empire as it pretends to be a humanist savior over against the divine savior Jesus Christ. And he says that this humanist savior, this Roman Empire, is a beast. The beast comes up from the sea, John tells us in verse one. But if you look at chapter 11, verse seven, we read this and there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels were going forth to war with the dragon. No, I don't know why, that isn't the verse I want. I think, well, that's chapter 12, that's why. Okay, now chapter 11, verse seven. And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that cometh up out of the abyss shall make war with them. Okay, so in chapter 11, the beast comes up out of the abyss. And then look at chapter 17, verse 8. The beast that thou sawest was and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and to go into perdition. Okay, so in chapter 11 and chapter 17, the beast comes out of the abyss. In chapter 13, verse 1, the beast comes forth out of the sea. Did the beast come forth twice? No. So what are we being told here in terms of Jewish thought of the day day? The sea and the abyss were often associated. The sea was metaphorically taken as the abyss, that is the deep, the place from which the demons originate, the place of chaos. And it's associated with evil, the reservoir of chaotic evil. When Jesus healed the man who was infected with this legion of demons, and the demons cried out against Jesus, you know, not to destroy them, they said, please don't do what to us? Don't send us into the abyss. Okay, and so what did Jesus do? Most people think, well, that shows. You see, there's Jesus, the real man of he's suave and he's kind and he's public relations oriented, I guess. And what he does is he says, all right, well you won't go into the abyss. You go into these swine over here. What happened to the swine over the cliff into the sea? Jesus actually, you see, redoubled their judgment. He said, yes, into the abyss and in the form of swine, just to tell you how unclean you are. Because of course to a Jew he wasn't to eat pig's flesh or poison in that day because that was an indication of the apostasy of the nations. And so Jesus sends the demons into the swine and the swine into the abyss. Well, anyway, you have to have some, you know, you have to read your Bible with a lot of depth and be able to cross reference and so forth. So you can understand some of these things or at least understand them in their full significance. The beast comes up out of the sea, which is to say up out of the abyss. And in terms of John's way of thinking. And this beast that comes forth is the combination of four beasts. The combination of a lion, a bear, a leopard, and then another beast that has multiple heads and horns. Now in Daniel, the seventh chapter, Daniel is given a vision of four separate beasts. Not one beast, but four beasts. The vision of a lion like beast, a bear like beast, a leopard like beast, and then a beast that has multiple heads and horns. That's very interesting, isn't it? John takes the various four beasts of Daniel chapter seven and combines them into one beast. What he's trying to tell us, I think, is that this Roman Empire is the sum total and the epitome. It is the apex of all the evil of the four world empires that have preceded it. There are seven heads on this beast that John sees. And in chapter 12, verse 3, we read, and there was seen another sign in heaven. Behold a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his heads seven diadems. Now that's the red dragon. Who does the red dragon symbolize a little bit louder? Satan. That's right. And now we have the beast coming up from the abyss. As Satan is waiting on the seashore, in a sense beckoning his henchmen to come up out of the sea, the beast comes up in the form of what little a replica of Satan. You see it has the multiple heads and horns. And so John's telling us something, even in the way he. The way he writes out this picture is he's telling us that this is a Satanic power and that the Roman Empire, as far as he is concerned, is in Legion with Satan. And chapter 13, verses 2 and 4, tell us that it is Satan who gives the power and the dominion and the rule, the authority to the beast. The seven heads of the beast perhaps symbolize also the completeness of this evil that is to be seen in the beast. He is the ultimate enemy of the Church. Now, on the heads of the beast are written names of blasphemy. We're told. Now the title of Sebastos, or the one who is to be worshipped, was a title given often to the Roman emperors in John's day. Part of the allegiance that was was called for toward the state. We know that Augustus was paid divine honors during his lifetime and at his death was called Divis or divine. Nero had on his coin stamped the name Savior of the World regularly. The Roman Senate called those who were deceased emperors divine, and Domitian was addressed as Dominus at do us Noster, which is to say our Lord and our God. Now, in J. Massenburg Ford's commentary on the Book of Revelation and the anchor Bible series, there's a lengthy description, I think, that is worth reading in full for you, of what the Roman Empire was like in this day in terms of the worship given to emperors and the allegiance that was called for toward the Emperor. In verse 14, we know that the image of the monster, the image of the emperor, had to be worshipped and obeyed, and that a sign was given to those on their hand and on their forehead to indicate that they were in allegiance with the beast. And Ford says emperor worship began as veneration of Roma, that is to say, of Rome, and at first was not imposed upon the people. It was natural for a pagan people who accepted polytheism to desire to worship the Caesars from whom so much peace and security arose under Roman rule. There's that humanist strain again. The emperors are the source of our peace and our security. The cult was especially strong in Asia Minor. The first temple to the spirit of Rome was erected in. In Smyrna. Anybody want to make a guess as to how close to John's day most people think of all these things happening first after John lived and so forth? 195 BC, almost 200 years before the birth of our Lord, they were already worshiping the Roman emperors or the spirit of Rome. Excuse Me the spirit of Rome. At that time, Asia had suffered much from avaricious Roman officials. But the Emperor Augustus changed this and became something of a savior of the people, indeed of all mankind. It was thought the first temple actually to be erected to the godhead of Caesar was at Pergamum and dates from 29 BC. However, before the end of the first century, all the cities mentioned in Revelation possessed such temples. Augustus forbade emperor worship in Italy itself and Tiberius continued this decree decree. But the situation was altered under Caligula, the emperor from 37 to 41 AD. He was both an epileptic and a madman. And it is significant that Suetonius, in speaking of him, says so much quote, so much for Caligula as an emperor. We must now tell of his career as a monster. It's interesting because you see, that's exactly the imagery John now picks up that emperors as monsters or as the beast. In Caligula section 22, Suetonius elaborates. Caligula ordered the heads of the statues of the gods from Greece to be removed and replaced with his own. Isn't that interesting? He took all the statues of the Greek gods and had their heads taken off and then a bust of his own head put on all these. And so you see, all the gods of the Greeks, you see, were to look like him. Well, these people really were enamored with themselves. He made the temple of Castor and Pollux a vestibule of his palace and established a temple to his own godhead with a rich priesthood and a life size statue of himself in gold. He talked to Jupiter Capitolinus, he invited the moon to his embraces and he executed those who would not swear by his own godhead. He even went so far as to try to place his image in the Holy of Holies in Jerusalem. Caligula is alone among the earlier emperors who aspired to be worshipped as a God in this fashion. But nevertheless this is, you know, 37 to 41 AD. And so John would certainly know of the excesses of this person. Nero was desirous of flattery for his music, his acting, his chariot racing. And although a temple to him was proposed, it was thought that divine honor should be withheld until after his death as an emperor. How did Nero die? Nobody knows the Roman history. Nero died by a deathstroke that he gave to. He committed suicide by sword. Does that remind you of anything we've read yet this morning? And after Nero died, what happened to the Roman Empire to the beast? He went into a period of chaos for three emperors. Galba Otho. And now I say I'm embarrassed. I can't remember the third. But nevertheless, three emperors. There was a great deal of bloody civil war in Rome over who would rule. And then finally Vespasian took over and restored order again. And so the beast was healed of its death strike. One of the heads had the death stroke of a sword against Nero, and it appeared that maybe the beast would die. But lo and behold, the beast was able to come back even from that. That's what we read in Revelation 13 this morning. All right. Caesar worship was not only tolerated as earlier, but according to the book of Revelation, was now being demanded. Caesar worship became the means of unifying the empire. But it was not exclusive. As long as one acknowledged Caesar, one could also revere other gods. A man paid his respects to the godhead of Caesar and received certification. And one of these certifications that a man had paid his respects to the Caesar reads like this. This is from an ancient document. To the commissioners of sacrifices from Orliot Damas, daughter of Helena, the wife of Orlais. I have always been one to sacrifice to the gods. And now also in your presence, in accordance with the command, I have made sacrifice and libation and tasted the offering. And I request you to certify my statement. Farewell, signed, I, Orlead Damas, have presented this declaration. I, Orleus Irenaeus, spoke for her as she is illiterate attested Orlius Sabinus. And on and on and on and on and on. There's a very long name and a date now that was necessary in the early days of the church. If you were going to live with the Roman Empire, you had to have certification that you had paid your respects to the Roman Emperor. But this is interesting. If you had paid your respects to the emperor, if you had gone to the. To the temple for emperor worship and you had made libation, if you had offered incense on the altar and so forth, and you bowed your head and got your certificate, then you could have your own religion privately. You could be a Christian, or you could be a Jew or whatever else was available in the Roman Empire of that day. What does that remind you of? Bespeaks our own day and age, it seems to me, not in the crass outward form of actually getting a certificate. But you see, as long as people pay their obeisance, as long as they make their deference to the state or to a secular culture, then people will say, well, that's okay if you don't disturb our way of life, if you don't upset Things. If you don't rock the boat, then sure, your private Christianity in your home, in your little churches is fine. But don't make your Christianity a basis for attacking our culture or our state or the way we live, or upsetting our religious conceptions and our trust as humanists in man and so forth. And I think one of the outward manifestations of that tendency in our day is the public school. Well, let me put it exactly right. It is the statist intervention in private schools that wish to be Christian, saying that you may have your Christian school provided you get a certificate from the state. As long as the state inspects your school, approves your curriculum, allows you to, you know, choose your faculty, and conduct your affairs in a way which they deem within bounds, then your Christian school will be unmolested. But if you refuse to think that the state has control over your education and the way you bring up your children, then you'll be in trouble. Very much like the Roman Empire many years ago, where as long as you paid your due respects and received your certificate that you honored the Caesars, then you could go about your business privately. Well, this. This battle over private Christian schools in our age. I say it's just one illustration, one very outward obvious sign of this. But it happens over and over again that Christians are told, for instance, where you work. As long as your Christianity is a matter for your family and your church and all that's fine. But if your Christianity is going to start criticizing the tactics of your employer, or if your Christianity is going to cause you to take certain stands in terms of your society, your Christianity means you're going to oppose, say, the rights of homosexuals to teach school or something like that. Then your Christianity comes in conflict with the ultimate humanist direction of our culture and has to be condemned. Well, let's see what else we learn about this Roman Empire and the beast of John's day. We see that he has 10 horns and seven heads, and on his horns 10 diadems. Now, what's funny about that? What's odd about this situation? The beast has seven heads, ten horns and diadems, that is to say, crowns on his horns. Where do you ordinarily put a crown on the head? But the beast wears his crown upon his horn or horns. Why? Well, I think Rushdooning has put it very well. I want to read again just briefly from his commentary where he says, the fact that the horns, rather than the heads are crowned signifies that in this world, power is the source of authority and sovereignty. You see, the horn throughout the book of Revelation and all of ancient literature, a horn was a sign of strength or power. It was the symbol that somebody had power, had had some kind of force or strength about him. The fact that the horns rather than the heads are crowned signifies that in this world, power is the source of authority and sovereignty. And men give obedience not to legitimate leadership, but to power. As such. Might makes right, and might is worshipped and obeyed in its every implication. The names of blasphemy indicate that human governments every arrogate to themselves the authority and sovereignty which properly belongs to God. And then Rushdini does something that many people won't like in our country. He says this is true not only of kings and dictators, but also of democracies, which are blasphemous in their idea that the voice of the people is the voice of God. Over and over and over throughout the history of many, you're going to find that governments will get away with whatever they can get away with. And even in our day and age, where we are supposedly to have a constitution and laws which restrain our government, the issue is not what legitimately the laws may say or the constitution may say, but what in terms of power, influence, be it lobbying power or legislative power or police power, what people can get away with. Might makes right, and people capitulate to that. And I think one of the more depressing things in terms of my own ministry in dealing with Christians, is that Christians capitulate to that idea. Not that they think it's right, not that they would approve of the idea that might makes right. But they say that is the world we live in. That's the real world. Let's not be idealistic about it. And therefore, if something's going to be done, one must have power. It's not a question of one having right on his side, one living in terms of the right and completely in terms of the right and being a person of principle. But principle is beside the point in our day and age, pragmatism rules. And pragmatism, of course, is the doctrine of what is successful, what is powerful, what can be done. And that's exactly what the beast wants you as Christians to do, to compromise your principles and to live in terms of the idea that the diadem goes upon his horn. If he has the power, then he has the right to do something. It's the old doctrine of thrasymachus way back in Plato's Republic actually does come to expression here. Justice is but a euphemism for the will of the stronger In a society, said Thrasymachus, justice is but a euphemism. That is, we do what we want to do. Those who are in control of a society, those who have power in a society do what they want to do, and then they baptize it with with the honorific name of justice. Might makes right. John says that he saw a beast. The Roman Empire of his day, the epitome of a humanist culture, arise up out of the abyss. And legion was Satan. It received its authority and its power and its throne from Satan. And this Roman Empire was the epitome of all the evils of the former empires that Daniel had prophesied. This Roman Empire was godly in its demands, requiring that men make their peace with it first and then go about their private business. This Roman Empire argued that might made right, that if Rome had the power to do it, then it was the right thing to do. Well, our time is running out and I'm going to continue next week with Revelation 13 and continue its implications and application to our own day. But I hope that you will do some reading on your own and that as much as we see the Roman Empire depicted here, I trust that those who have read the book of Revelation at this point will receive a blessing from it. And as John says in chapter one, obey the things that are taught therein. We live in a day where I think ultimately you must make your commitment as to whether you will live in terms of the kingdom of Jesus Christ and all. All of its implications for life are whether in fact you're going to be like the Roman Empire, making your peace first with a secular culture and then keeping religion in its place in its little private domain. Maybe at 11 o' clock Sunday morning, are there any questions on the exposition of this passage thus far that we can answer before the time runs out? Any questions about the application of the exposition? Okay. Would you consider the fact that I know Russia, an article on accreditation of the school, especially seminary? Would you consider that as signing their certificate, giving Hopper paying homage to the state? Well, it's impossible, of course, to speak for the motivation of an institution, or even the motivation of an individual in an institution for why they might seek accreditation? The issue that I was referring to, and which I think is the crucial one today, is the state demanding certification before you can have a private Christian school. That's different from voluntarily saying, now look, we think our school is such that it meets all of your standards when we want a tell people that, so would you please accredit us? My feelings are in another area about that. My feeling is the church should be accrediting these people and not vice versa, because I think we have the right standards. And it's like, I know that Robert Thoburn in Fairfax, Virginia, has a very successful Christian school. And he was opposed and opposed and opposed by the state and the county commissioners at every point. Every time he wanted to build a sewer or do anything, he know, they just wrote him and wrote him and wrote him, you know, hoping that he'd just give up on this. But now, after many years, he's a very, very successful Christian school. So the government officials send their children to his school and get his Christian instruction and all that. Well, when that began to happen, then the state wanted to get very friendly with him, and they wrote to him one day and said, if you'd like, we'd be glad to come out and accredit your school. And Thoburn wrote back and said, thank you for the honor and all that, but if you'll come out, I'll be glad to accredit your state schools. And now, not many people are that brash as to answer the government in that way, But I think that's basically the right attitude, that if we believe that God has given us, you know, the commission to do that kind of work, and if we have the standards which are correct, we oughtn't to be looking to the state to accredit us. But that's a different issue. What I've been talking about today is the state demanding that you first receive their accreditation and their certificate before you can operate. I can understand whether I agree or not, I can understand some people voluntarily asking the state to give its approval. But when the state demands that approval, then the state is far exceeding its bounds, I believe, and it's time for Christians to say, no, we obey God, not men. Other questions? Yes, Satan's behind you because man is much more ready to worse than himself. Yes, yes. In a sense, all humanisms are a form of Satanism as well. You see, when I mean, I'm speaking in the broad ideological or philosophical sense. Now, I'm not saying this is the specific exegesis of the passage, but if you look at the fall of man In Genesis 3, you'll see all the seeds of the basic movements of humanism there. And what are they tied to? The satanic promise you'll be like God if you'll make up your own mind. Don't submit first and foremost to the word of God without question, without challenge. But rather, God says one thing. Satan says Another, you make up your own mind, Eve. And that is, I think, at base, the root of humanism, autonomy, the idea that I'm a law to myself. And what does Satan promise? If you'll be humanistic, then he'll provide the goods necessary and the power necessary. That you'll be like God. And I think in terms of historical outworking. Men, without saying so and sometimes with saying so, are working more and more to arrogate to themselves and to their culture and to their states. Godlike prerogatives, Messianic prerogatives. It will seem like I'm writing Rushduni's name to death this morning. It's not by intention, but it so happens Reshnuni has got a very good title of a book, book on education entitled the Messianic Character of American Education. In which he deals with the goals and the motivation behind liberal education. From the. Well, about the mid-1800s up through pragmatism and John Dewey in our own day. And I think that's right. It's not just in education. It's in all areas of life. But that's a good illustration. Let's close with the word of prayer. Lord, we would bow before you today and confess that each and every one of us indeed has compromised. And that we are not faithful servants. And that we live in terms of not only your kingdom, but the kingdom of the world as well. But we plead with you, Lord, to forgive us of our sins. And forgive us of our falling short of your glory. Forgive us for not obeying you in every detail of what you require of us. And, Lord, we pray that you would purge us of our desire to be like the world and be conformed to its standards. We ask, Lord, that you might show us how reasonable it is. That we offer up to you our lives as living sacrifices. That we be not conformed to this world, but transformed by the renewing of our minds. Lord, we pray that you would honor our efforts to be sanctified personally by giving us such influence and power with those about us in our own culture, in terms of our day and age. That we would see the sanctification and transformation of that culture as well. Lord, we plead that you might work the coming of your kingdom through us and our efforts. That you might honor our evangelism, that we might see many converts. That you might honor our edification and our instruction. That we might see people come to live as strong Christians, those who are growing up in the faith. We pray, Father, that you might honor our efforts to reform and to reconstruct in all areas of life that your kingdom might be expressed throughout. And, Lord, we ask finally that these things would be done. Not that any attention might be drawn to ourselves or that any glory would be given to your church, but rather it would be given to the Savior and to him alone, because it's in his name that we pray. Amen.