“The Sovereignty of God”


BIBLE READING: Revelation 13
                                                                                                                    
Interpretations of the book of Revelation is a lot like opinions…everybody has one.  However, the more I study the book, I have found that the interpretation seems fairly simple; it’s the work that must be put into catching up on the background that makes it so difficult.  For instance, Revelation 13 introduces us to an incredible beast that had 7 heads and ten horns with ten crowns on the ten horns.  If that description isn’t enough, we are also told that this beast resembled, in some capacity, a leopard, a bear, a lion and a dragon.  Now I don’t know about you, but that seems like something out of a strange science fiction movie.  What in the world is John writing about?  Again, it is important to note that the original readers would have clearly understood exactly what John was explaining and although some of the book does point to the future, much of it is pointing to things that for us, have already happened.  In this devotion, I hope to seek to offer just a little bit of clarity on this beast that John writes about.  The beast that is mentioned is very reminiscent of the beast of Daniel’s vision in Daniel 7 and 9.  In fact, the qualities of this beast that resemble the leopard, the bear, the lion and the dragon are all mentioned in Daniel’s vision as well.  Yet in Daniel’s vision each animal represented a world power; Babylon is the lion, Persia is the bear, Greece is the leopard and Rome is the dragon.  In John’s vision, this beast had seven heads with ten horns.  It just so happens that people of the day understood the city of Rome to be the city of the seven hills.  If the Roman empire is the beast, then the ten horns could be the ten Senatorial provinces of Rome. That would reveal that the beast (Rome) was a kingdom that had qualities that were more of a patchwork of all its kingdoms’ predecessors (Babylon, Med-Persian and Greece).  It was said that the beast was worshipped and given authority by the earth. All the early church would have easily been able to figure out that Rome was the beast and that the emperor (Nero) was the one who deemed himself a god and demanded to be worshipped.  What does all of this mean to us today?  Well… it could mean a thousand different things, but for the sake of our devotional thought we will select one for the day.  In this vision we can see the unique trait of the sovereignty of God in that even the world kingdoms are a tribute to His power because He knows and allows them to rule to bring about His eternal purposes.  Isaiah said it like this, “Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose…” (Isaiah 46.9-10)



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