Breaking the Chains
Page 40
The serpent in Revelation is a great red dragon. It has seven heads and ten horns. On its seven heads are seven crowns. It is that old serpent called the Devil and Satan. This serpent makes war with the remnant of the seed of a woman who gave birth to a world ruler who was caught up to God. The pregnant woman in this account should probably be thought of as the first Jewish Christian community of Jerusalem - the church of Jesus and his followers; for these Jews, Jesus was the Messiah. As far as the author of Revelation is concerned there are two Jewish communities: the true community that accepted the Messiah, and the false community that rejected him. For the author of Revelation those Jews who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus the Messiah are the true Jews. The great red dragon of Revelation shares its description with the beast that is like a leopard/bear/lion. Like the dragon it has seven heads and ten horns, but unlike the dragon it has ten crowns on its horns. Upon the beast's seven heads is the name blasphemy. One of the beast's heads had a deadly wound that was healed. Later in Revelation the beast is described as scarlet coloured (red). Here the reader is informed that the beast was, is not, but will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go into perdition. The beast appears to be the dragon recovered from its deadly wound. However, dragon and beast disappear, and are seen to be an illusion, when it is revealed that the seven heads, as well as being seven kings, are also seven mountains. Only a landmass would contain mountains. Subsequently, it is safe to assume the great red dragon and red beast of Revelation are in fact a country or landmass.
No description of the beast would be complete without its number: six, six, six. It is the number that reveals the name of the beast. The beast has the name of a man. It is clear that the beast is a country with seven mountains. That country must be named after a man. In order to arrive at the name the three sixes must be added together to make eighteen, then the one and the eight added together to make nine, the nine is then compared with the ninth letter of the alphabet (Greek) used by the author of Revelation. I is the ninth letter of the Greek alphabet. The name of the country with the name of a man must begin with the letter I. Israel is both the name of a country and of a man. Jacob was also known as Israel. On the beast are ten crown-bearing horns that represent ten future kings who rule with the beast. The ten lost tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel (which was created by the split from the southern kingdom of Judah in 930 BC) are referred to in this passage. On both the beast and the dragon the seven heads refer to seven rulers. Five of these have gone, one is, and one is to come. These kings represent the kingdoms of Israel, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Macedonia (the fallen kings), Rome (the existing one), and the kingdom of the anti-Christ. At this point an eighth king is introduced. The eighth king is the beast that was, and is not. It will ascend from the bottomless pit (of history) and go into perdition. What is being said is Israel will at some time in the future be born again as a country. It will be a fierce entity (lion/bear) that will not have changed its behaviour - just as the leopard cannot change its spots.
Satan, the Devil, that old serpent or great red dragon, in some sense deceives the whole world. The beast, which is synonymous with the dragon, is able to overcome the saints in battle. He gains power over all nations. Eventually, however, the beast and its allies (the kings of the earth and their armies) attempt to make war against the armies of heaven. The armies in heaven follow a champion on a white horse. He defeats the beast and its allies then slays the remnant with a sword that comes out of his mouth. It would seem the hero on the white horse has something powerful to say to the world. This hero has several titles: King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Word of God, and the Lamb. Clearly, Jesus is the hero on the white horse. Here Jesus is seen as the consummate martial artist. He strikes his enemies from an unassailable position (heaven), and destroys them with a few words - Sun Tzu would have approved of such a strategy.
In an earlier war the great red dragon is defeated and cast out from heaven by Michael the archangel. As the dragon has seven heads that are mountains it must be a landmass or country. It cannot be a creature. Israel is the name of the country. Michael the archangel is known from the Book of Daniel. There he is the champion of the Jews. In Revelation he is the champion of the Jews who accept Jesus as the Messiah. For the author of Revelation these are the true Jews. Their accuser, the dragon, is the non-Christian congregation of Jews who do not accept Jesus as the Messiah. It is these people who loose their high position. No longer are they the most important nation in the world - they have been cast out of heaven. Another motif taken from Daniel is the forty-two months/one thousand two hundred and threescore days/a time, times, and half a time/three and a half days/ motif. It is employed at several points in Revelation. In most instances it serves as a cut-off point. The woman who gives birth to the Messiah spends that period in the wilderness, the beast has power for the same period, the holy city (New Jerusalem) is trod under foot for that time, and two witnesses prophesy for the same period. The motif is employed to denote a point of change in the future. A variation on this motif is the thousand-year motif: the time the dragon is bound for, and the time the resurrected reign with Christ.
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