Revelation 14:1-5 – Singing for Jesus

It’s that time of year: choir directors all across the nation are gearing up for a new season. Along with ordering new music and making sure the robes are clean, they’re also beating the bushes to recruit new choir members. One of the typical responses to these invitations is something like, “Oh, I don’t know how to sing.” To that I say, poppycock! Everyone knows how to sing. The only question is, how good is your singing voice? I wonder if perhaps our culture’s dependence upon recorded music, which features only top-notch vocalists who are made to sound even better by audio-electronic wizardry, heightens our sense of musical inadequacy. Call the musical version of the body-image problems that many women face because of the ubiquitous images of pencil-thin air-brushed models.

Let me say it again, everyone knows how to sing. And that’s a good thing, because there’s a place for all of us in the heavenly choir (even if you decide to pass on the invitation to sing in your church choir). As one of our somewhat silly children’s songs puts it, “Some say my singing’s bad, some say it’s just plain terrible. I don’t really care ‘cause I’m not singing for them. I’m going to pass my time away singing for Jesus.” So whether you’re in the choir or holding a hymnal in a pew or singing words on a screen, belt it out! It doesn’t matter what you think of your singing, or what other people think. The only audience for your music is Jesus. And unlike Simon Cowell, he delights in every note. My father has told me the story of what happened to him once when he was a boy and one of his aunts was visiting. She sat next to him in church and noticed that his singing was a bit off pitch. So she told him that he really shouldn’t sing in church because he didn’t sing well. On the one hand, I can vouch for what my dad’s aunt said; he really doesn’t sing that well. But what she said was about the worst thing any Christian could tell another believer. Do you really think that God cares if we’re on pitch or in rhythm?

This passage describes John’s glimpse of the choir of the saints – the people redeemed by Christ – as they sing praises to our Lord. It’s a good reminder, because we’ve just gone through two chapters that describe demonic power and deception. Sure, we learned that Satan’s minions can be resisted and unmasked. But it makes us feel as though discipleship is a gritty struggle to hang on and endure. That’s certainly an element of our Christian faith, but it by no means defines it. Joy and glory are the true marks of our faith. So after hearing about the dragon and the two beasts, it’s refreshing to come to this description of God’s majesty and the praise that surrounds him. This brief passage reminds us of what we’ve learned about earlier. By evoking these images briefly, they can bring to mind the truth that John’s vision has already revealed: God is glorious and powerful, and he is surrounded by the praise of all creation. This is a chance for us to remember the truth in the midst of the demonic lies. After hearing about the infernal “mark of the Beast,” we are reminded that Christ has sealed us with the mark of the God, which we read about in Chapter 7. We see again the throne of heaven surrounded by the praises of the four living creatures, the twenty-four elders, just as we saw in Chapters 4 and 5. Nothing has changed. Despite Satan’s best efforts, God is still surrounded by glory, and Christ, the Lamb, receives praise for his transformational work.

There are, however, a few changes. And they’re changes which reveal that God’s plan is continuing to develop. Not only has Satan failed to detract from Christ, but God’s power and glory is increasing and expanding. In Chapter 5, the Lamb appeared on the throne of heaven. We saw him there again in 7:10. Now, however, the Lamb (Christ) is no longer in heaven but has come to Mt. Zion. That’s mountain (more like a glorified hill) in Jerusalem where the temple is (or was). Back in Chapter 12 we saw a separation between heaven, the dominion of God, and earth, the kingdom of Satan. Satan raged on earth because he had been cast out of heaven, and he tried unsuccessfully to ward off Christ’s invasion of earth. In Chapter 12 Christ, as the newborn man-child, was whisked off to heaven so that the dragon, or Satan, couldn’t devour him. But now Christ, as the Lamb, is standing upon Mt. Zion. The temple of Jerusalem is equated with God’s throne in heaven. For Jews of the first century (and I think even today), Mt. Zion is the center of the earth: its “navel,” as some rabbis put it. Christ is now present in the earth as well as in heaven. And we don’t just find him on the fringes or periphery of the world. He has made the very center of the world his throne. The separation between heaven and earth has broken down. Our petition in the Lord’s Prayer has been fulfilled: Christ’s kingdom has come to earth, just as it is in heaven.

As second difference in this passage from what we’ve seen in Chapters 4 and 5 is the inclusion of the saints, the people made holy by Christ’s work, in the song of praise to the Lamb. This is the same group that we saw gathered in praise around the throne in Chapter 7, and perhaps in 11:15. God’s praise grows stronger because of what he has done. He’s not taking control in a way that means he must expend energy to keep everyone else under him so that he can stay on top; his victories make his work easier and his power greater.

We can notice something else that’s different in this scene of praise from the other ones: the Lamb is glorified with a new song. That in itself isn’t all that different, because the elders and living creatures began a new song in 5:9, after the Lamb showed that he was able to open the scroll of God’s will. And new songs erupt every now and then in the praise. The point to this isn’t just that we need to update our songs of worship every now and then. I’ll leave that for church musicians and liturgist experts to discuss. The reason for the new songs is that God continues to do new things. And the effects of what he has done continue to unfold in new ways. Our worship of God is dynamic and ever-changing, not because God changes, but because we continue to discover new ways that he changes our lives. There is certainly value in tradition and ritual. But as Christians we must always be alert for how God continues to be at work in innovative and often surprising ways.

However, there’s something different about this new song. Unlike the other songs that John describes in this book, this is a song that he can’t record. In that sense, it’s a bit like the voice of the seven thunders of 10:3-4. John tells us that this is a song which can only be learned by the people whom Christ has redeemed from the earth; the 144,000 isn’t a literal number but as we saw in Chapter 7 represents the fullness and enormity of God’s people. You can only sing praise to Christ after you’ve experienced his redemption. This is a bit like what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 12:3: you can only call Jesus Lord through the Holy Spirit. But it’s a bit more, and it’s a sort of a catch-22. You aren’t able to understand and celebrate what Christ has done for us until you’ve experienced it. But you can’t experience it until you claim it and accept it. How can you accept Christ’s gift before you understand what it is? It’s the problem that Thomas experienced after the resurrection. As John 20:24-29 tells us, Thomas wouldn’t believe that Jesus had risen from the dead until he saw it. When Jesus appeared to him, he told Thomas that the true blessing awaits those who believe without seeing. The medieval theologian Anselm expressed this with his slogan, “Credo ut intelligans,” or “I believe in order to understand.” It’s the leap of faith: to trust in God without really knowing all the answers and ins and outs. As I look at it, it’s a reminder of how our salvation really depends upon God, and not upon any decision or choice of our own. On our own human merits, we could never reach a point of faith because we don’t know what it is that we’re believing. But as the Holy Spirit works within us, we are able to believe and accept. And once we do, we’re able to call Jesus Lord, and we learn the song of praise of the saints.

One thing’s for sure: it’s a powerful and beautiful song. John can’t tell us the words for the song, but he can describe it anyway. It’s as powerful as the sound of a raging river, as tremendous as a thunderclap. But at the same time, it’s a sweet and evocative as gentle harp music. That’s quite a contrast! In his own way, John tells us that the song of the saints encompasses all styles and qualities of music.

There’s just one last thing we need to address in this passage: the description of the redeemed in verses 4-5. Some of this description is very understandable and straightforward. They are saints, or holy ones, because Christ has ransomed them and presented them to the heavenly Father. They are disciples: those who follow Christ wherever he leads them. But the description also includes some ethical points. Being a saint means that you’re going to lead your life in a different way. Verse 5 tells us that no lie is found in them. This extends beyond a summons for honesty, in keeping with the Ten Commandments, although it does include that as well. But it also means that they have rejected the lies of the land-beast and of the other enemies of God. There’s one last element of this description that’s a bit more troublesome; John tells us that the saints “did not defile themselves with women.” There is an unfortunate misogynist streak in Christian tradition which uses passages like this, and Eve’s temptation in the Garden of Eden, to argue that women are inferior to men. Even more: some claim that women are evil and more sin-stained than men. These arguments have been used to abuse and oppress women in God’s name for centuries. However, this isn’t the point of this verse. John is not saying that heaven is a “He-Man Woman Haters Club,” like the Little Rascals. Granted, John was probably assuming that his readers were men. There are ways for men to “be with” women that will defile both the man and woman, and in the letters to the churches in Chapters 2 and 3 we heard about that. But sexuality is a blessing from God and can also be used and enjoyed in purity.

Revelation 13:11-18 – Your Number’s Up

This passage contains probably the best-known prophecy in Revelation, and the best-known thing that isn’t in Revelation. I mean, people think it’s in Revelation but it’s not. I’m talking about the anti-Christ and the “number of the beast.”

First, the book of Revelation never uses the term “anti-Christ;” it only appears in the Bible in the books of 1 and 2 John. And incidentally, when it’s used there, it doesn’t speak of a single demonic super-figure. People can be anti-Christs, and there are more than one of them. Put simply, an anti-Christ is someone who denies Jesus’ divinity and that he came as a person to save us. More broadly, an anti-Christ is someone who rejects Christ and sets up some rival belief in his place. It’s often associated with the “abomination of desolation” that we read about in Daniel and in Mark 13/Matthew 24/Luke 21. And, it’s associated with the beast that comes from the earth, which our passage describes. In other words, Bible interpreters wrap up all these descriptions of figures who deny Christ and try to undermine his work, and they use the label “anti-Christ” to name them. Finally, in general we assume that there’s just one of these nasty critters floating around, and that believers in the end times will have to deal with it/him.

I’ll agree for the most part, but not entirely. Yes, the beast that comes from the land, who joins the dragon and the sea-beast to form the unholy Trinity, opposes and works against Christ. In fact, the land-beast sets himself up as a competitor with Christ; more on that in a moment. But I don’t believe that we have to wait until the end-times to encounter this beast. It’s been at work from the very beginning, and every Christian generation has had to deal with it.

The land-beast is false religion: a deceptive spiritual leader who calls for people to worship the sea-beast. We’ve seen in the last section that the sea-beast is dominant human power that appears to be invincible. The land-beast tries to make all of us worship it. By extension, it tries to get us to worship power in general. Not just those who have it, but a desire for the rest of us to get it for ourselves. As we’ve said already, in John’s day the sea-beast was evident most clearly in the Roman Empire that came from “overseas.” For John’s churches, the land-beast would be the local leaders who tried to get everyone to follow and cheer on Rome.

John’s description of the sea-beast helps us understand it as a demonic perversion of Christ. It looks like Christ, and people may think that it’s him. But it’s not. He looks like a lamb (the Lamb of Chapter 5), but he speaks like the dragon. It’s the original sheep in wolf’s clothing, or the book that you can’t judge by its color. And the Christian faith has been damaged over and over by the land-beast. There have been many religious leaders over the ages, and are still around today, who claim to be Christians, expositing the Bible and leading people to God. But they’re doing the exact opposite. Some of them may be intentionally trying to undermine the church, but I think most of them are deceived. After all, the best deception is one that you believe yourself. Cult leaders are an easy example to notice: anyone who sets themselves up as Christ returned, or someone who has new and special knowledge about God. However, the land-beast is more pernicious than just that. There are main-line, orthodox, “normal” Christian leaders who twist the truth and lead people astray. Again, they may believe fully that what they’re teaching is consistent with Christ. But it’s not. Their words come from the dragon-devil, not from our Lord. That’s why Paul told the Corinthians to “test the spirits:” never blindly assume that you can believe what someone tells you because they have the right pedigree or education or credentials, or because other people that you trust vouch for them. The voice of the dragon will come from all sorts of sources and try to lead us in a million different directions: any path but the one Christ has in mind for us.

The sea-beast is a sad imitation of Christ’s glory, just like all of Satan’s schemes are. He displays wonders in front of people, and inspires worship of just about anything by Jesus himself. The best lie is the one that looks a lot like the truth. Satan’s plots are most dangerous when they have religious trappings on them. It’s not the horror-movie stuff that’s most threatening; it’s the pleasant and “wholesome” stuff that causes the most damage. The sea-beast intimidated people with its power. But the land-beast leads people astray with its deception.

Perhaps the best-known prophecy of Revelation is the prediction of verses 16-18: people will receive the mark of the beast, which is its name or number. And the number of the beast is 666. There are all sorts of theories about what this number means. Here are three of my favorites. First, in the ancient world, letters were assigned numeric values. If you take Emperor Nero’s full name, all the letters add up to 666. Or they add up to 616, depending on how you do it. So, Nero was the beast. Second, some people claimed that President Reagan was the anti-Christ. His first, middle, and last names all have six letters in them (Ronald Wilson Reagan). There you have 666, right? There’s one more that’s had a lot of people up in a tizzy: UPC price codes. You can’t buy or sell anything without that little sticker with the funny lines on it, right? The check-out clerks just don’t know what to do without it. And Revelation tells us that no one can buy or sell without the mark of the beast. If you look at the codes carefully, you’ll notice that most of them start with two narrowish lines, have two more narrowish lines, and end with two more. Those lines, the alarmists tell us, are the same code as the number 6. So all UPC codes have 666 in them. Oh no! Well, not so fast. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never had a UPC label try to lead me away from Christ, and I can’t imagine how it would. Plus, this isn’t really true. Not all UPC codes have these three sets of lines.

I go for a different understanding of 666. As we’ve seen before, 7 is the number that Revelation uses to represent divine perfection. The number 6 is human striving for the divine. Think of the story of the tower of Babel: people tried to set themselves up in the place of God. Their plan didn’t work, but that hasn’t stopped us from doing all sorts of things to replace God with ourselves. These plans always come to grief, but we keep doing it anyway. This is being an anti-Christ in the purest sense: setting ourselves up in the place of Christ. The number 6 is repeated three times to express fullness and completeness. If you remember your grammar, adjectives come to us in English in the regular, comparative, and superlative. Good, better, best. Big, bigger, biggest. And so on. Hebrew doesn’t have those handy little endings to stick onto words. So you if you wanted to say that a dog is bigger than a mouse, you’d repeat the adjective a second time: “The dog is big big to the mouse.” And if you want to say that an elephant is biggest of all, you say it three times: “The elephant is big big big.” That, by the way, is why the four living creatures of Chapter 4 sing “holy, holy, holy:” God is the holiest of all. So here, 666 means that human striving for divinity fails utterly and fully.

There’s something else to notice about the mark of the beast: people need it in order to buy and sell. In John’s day, this may have been a reference to the fact that the emperor’s image was on all the coins. For devout Jews, these coins were graven images. And because the emperor claimed to be divine, that makes a lot of sense even if you’re not a devout Jews. And of course, you can’t buy or sell without using those blasphemous coins. I think the economic aspect of the mark of the beast runs even deeper than that, however. The land-beast tries to get people to worship the sea-beast. We’ve already seen how the sea-beast represents human powers. And I’ve claimed that economics or money is the human force that seems most powerful to us. So it makes sense that the land-beast would deny access to the economic system for everyone who doesn’t want to play by its rules.

It’s crazy to see how well-known this concept of the “mark of the beast” has become. It’s so pervasive that people resist anything that seems to be a universal marking system, from Social Security numbers to microchip implants. If we’re being marked, it must be the mark of the beast. That’s the way the thinking seems to go. But nothing could be farther from the truth. Remember: Satan’s best plans are simply cheap knock-offs of God’s wonderful creativity. Satan didn’t invent the idea of marking people; he just took what God did and spun it on its head. To this day, devout Jews wear phylacteries on their foreheads and right wrists, in obedience to Deuteronomy 6:8’s injunction to write God’s law on your forehead and hands. The original “mark” is the word of God. And in Revelation 7:2-3, God marks the elect with his seal of blessing and protection. Marks can be used for both good and evil.

Notice the difference, however. God’s mark leads to everlasting blessing and protects you from the destruction of creation. The beast’s mark means that you can’t go shopping. Put in perspective like that, it seems pretty silly!

The passage calls for wisdom. We are called to see through the beast’s deception, and recognize God’s truth instead. And that’s the good news. The sea beast seems to be invincible, but he can be resisted. The land-beast tries to trick us, but we can figure him out.