The beasts of Revelation 13 are often used to try to predict that one terrible beast that will rise up at the end and usher in the end times. Here are the problems with that: 1. We have been in the end times since Jesus' resurrection. 2. The title "Babylon the Great" was an ancient title, going back even to the tower of Babylon in Genesis 11. 3. The original readers of Revelation in ancient Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea in what is now the country of Turkey would obviously read this as the Roman Empire, with Caesars like Augustus, Tiberius, Claudius and others in the Biblical witness of Luke and Acts. 4. If it is a predictive tool, then either it meant nothing to them and everything to a later age, or it meant everything to them and nothing to later ages. Either way, for many in church history it would have meant nothing. 5. If it is a evaluation tool, then Revelation 13 helps us evaluate empires, nations, kings, presidents, and if we are willing to face the music - ourselves.
It is not just asking why Donald Trump dressed himself up like Jesus as the beast of Revelation 13 does, but why do I yearn for worship, fame, power, etc.
Revelation 13 helps us most in evaluating ourselves.
If it is a predictive tool, I don't have to worry about evaluating myself.
In textual criticism, the reading that is most difficult tends to be the authentic reading. I find that in reading Revelation, the one that leads me to the depth of my sin and the height of the goodness and love of God is usually the authentic interpretation.
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