13:9,10
“Whoever has ears, let them hear” reminds us of words that Jesus often used. We need to listen to the word of God and to understand it, and to understand the world in the light of God’s word.
Verse 10 can be interpreted in two ways, it can be taken as applying to persecutors, or it can be taken as referring to Christians. Similar words can be found in Jer 15:2 where it applies to the enemies of God (which was actually God’s people in those days!). In the context of Rev 13 it seems better to take it as applying to the saints, especially when we consider the end of the verse. The chapter has been telling us about extremely tough times,and sometimes this is the way things will be. If we find ourselves living in such times then we need “patient endurance and faithfulness”.
13:11
A second beast now appears, who will work in tandem with the first beast. In terms of the Roman Empire, the first beast represents the power of the Roman Empire, while the second represents the imperial priesthood. More generally, there is a picture of power and priesthood, the priesthood enforces worship of the power. The second beast is not as powerful as the first, and the “two horns like a lamb” indicate that this beast may have had the appearance of something quite “nice”, pretending to be “godly” in some fashion. However, he spoke like a dragon, he was utterly evil.
No comments:
Post a Comment