Today’s Scripture
Reading (March 27, 2015): Revelation 13
Emperor Domitian assumed power over the Roman Empire on September
14, 81 C.E. For the ten years prior to this time, his rule had been largely
ceremonial as the expected heir to the throne under the reigns of Vespasian and
Titus. But when the real reins of power finally did fall to him, Domitian had a
plan. He wanted to be known as the one who was able to restore the Empire to
the glory that it had not seen since the days of Augustus. To accomplish his
plan, he became an efficient administrator of the Empire. He was merciless in
his campaign against corruption. Any judges who were caught taking a bribe were
immediately removed. He reinstated the Roman imperial cult and the idea that
the Roman Emperor ruled at the bequest of the gods. This the resulted in the idea
that any kind of service to the Empire was a religious action done to honor the
gods. He also ruthlessly put down any threat to Roman unity. Foreign religions
were accepted as long as they could be amended into the Roman pantheon of the
gods. But anything outside of that ideal was ruthlessly routed out and
destroyed. Unfortunately for both the Jewish and Christian believers, their idea
of God was incompatible with the Roman pantheon – so they became among the ones
persecuted. It wasn’t that Domitian objected personally with the belief systems
of Judaism and Chrisitianity, they just could not fit into his dream of
rebuilding the Roman Empire to once again resemble the Empire that had existed during
the days of Caesar Augustus.
There is considerable debate about the amount of persecution of
Christians under Domitian. The level of persecution was likely significantly
less and much more isolated than it had been under the reign of Nero, yet it
still existed. And it was during the reign of Domitian that John had his own
brush with the Emperor and was exiled to the Island of Patmos, a place where
political prisoners were often kept so that their ideas did not pollute the
mainstream of society. And it was John’s stay on Patmos which gave birth to the
Revelation.
There is much in Revelation that we do not understand. The idea
of the Beast has captured our imagination, but we still do not understand what
the imagery means. Many have taken this as a prophecy of the kind of treatment
that the Christian Church can expect as the end grows near. And maybe that is
true. The whole of the writing of Revelation is clouded with mystery. But it is
a disservice not to recognize that much of what John sees in his vision, he has
also experienced. There may be another Satanic Beast that is on its way, but
John was intimately connected with the first Beast. The words that John uses
describes his Beast of Revelation coincides with his own personal experience
with Rome. He watched helplessly as his brother apostles were executed one by
one. It must have seemed like the ability to wage war against the Christians
and to destroy the church had been given to Rome. Rome under Domitian began to
consolidate all of the people within its reach into one empire. Roads were
built to facilitate the movement of the army. Security of the Empire became a
priority. Rome truly had become the Master who had been set over every people,
every language, and every nation. Many of these terrifying images that he
describes were not really out of his vision of the future; they were his
expression of his experience in the present.
But the underlying message of Revelation is that in spite of
what appears to be, God is still in control. The Beast may have his way for a
time, but that time will end. Too often we are captivated by words about the
Beast and the terrors that await us in the future and miss this one real truth.
God continues to reign – and the Beast will one day be destroyed along with all
that is evil.
The Roman Empire that frightened and persecuted John during
his lifetime would continue to grow for another hundred years, but then the
unthinkable would begin to happen – the Empire would begin to die. For the
Western portion of the empire, that death would fully take hold of the Empire
in 480 C.E. The Eastern portion would survive until the fall of Constantinople
a thousand years later, but it would no longer be the Master of anything. We
need to understand that John does not want to terrify his readers with
nightmarish visions of the future – John knew that life itself is scary enough.
But he does want to remind us that the Beasts of this earth will always one day
meet their match against the God who is on the throne. And God has no intention
of leaving that throne.
Tomorrow’s Scripture
Reading: Revelation 14
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