Reading: Revelation 14-16, Psalm 45
So we’ve got a dragon, some beasts, one of which has an image, who all demand all people to carry their name on them. Through both physical violence and economic manipulation, the beasts demand worship from humans. Across the world people give in to the beast’s demands. The images here are, once again, straight out of the Hebrew Scriptures. In the book of Deuteronomy the people of Israel were instructed to bind the law on your hands and on your foreheads. Some took this literally, though I believe it was intended to be symbolic: every action and every thought are to be filtered through the law received. This is the same idea, but with a different filter. Instead of the law of God, the filter is the dragon and the beasts. Everything humans say, think, or do are influenced by the anti-God, anti-human being who shows up here as a dragon.
Today’s reading begins with a counterpoint to the people whose heads and hands have the beast’s name on them. There are 144,000 with God’s name on their foreheads. They are said to be blameless, and to be virgins, and they start singing a song wholly unique to them. Kind of an odd scene, until you consider the concerns of the persecuted church. I think that really the only possible candidates for this crowd are innocent martyrs. These are of great concern to the believers because they have no opportunity to believe in the name of Jesus- they are killed before they are given the opportunity. But God is telling the believers through John that these people have a place of privilege in the Kingdom of God. I believe the 144,000 number to be symbolic, as numbers usually are in the Scripture.
Next we get three pronouncements from angels. First, that the judgment of God is at hand and to worship the creator God. Second, that Babylon is fallen, who corrupted the nations. Third, that a choice is being forced- to worship the beast is to oppose God and will result in eternal suffering, but that the saints who endure will be blessed by God. Given what we’ve already read, one might think this is out of date- haven’t the seals and the trumpets already told us about the judgment of God? Yes, and yet it has not happened. It is my opinion that the seals represent the unveiling of God’s plan for salvation and judgment, the trumpets the pronouncement of the same, and next the bowls will be the actual events. Between the pronouncement and the bowls, we get the “behind the scenes” images of the war in heaven, the fall of the dragon, the beasts, and the opposite allegiances to the dragon or the lamb. Every human is forced to make a choice of who they will worship. Then the harvest comes. Jesus talked about this event, when the angels “harvest” the earth, and it is made clear who is a worshiper of who and what is what.
John sees one more great symbol in the heavens. There are two key things: the seven angels with the bowls of God’s wrath, and another look at the innumerable multitude who have conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name. They sing the song of Moses, the Servant of God, and the song of the Lamb. The seven angels bring the final judgment out of the tent of witness, the place where God’s covenant resides. Judgment proceeds from God’s promises, just as salvation does. Those who refuse to worship the beast instead worship God, and God fulfills his promises. Those who worship God are blessed, and those who worship the dragon are about to get the promised judgment.
The seven bowls of God’s wrath go rapidly in the text, and contain a refrain that those affected curse God and do not repent of their deeds. The unveiling of the plan and the pronouncement of it did not lead to their repentance, the events themselves will do no more. The choice was made when the humans decided who they would worship. The outcomes of those choices will not change them. Jesus said, they have Moses and the Prophets, if they will not listen to them, they will not believe even if someone rises from the dead.