Today's Daily Lesson comes from Revelation chapter 13 verses 1 through 8:
And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads; and on its horns were ten diadems, and on its heads were blasphemous names. 2 And the beast that I saw was like a leopard, its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. And the dragon gave it his power and his throne and great authority. 3 One of its heads seemed to have received a death-blow, but its mortal wound had been healed. In amazement the whole earth followed the beast. 4 They worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?”
5 The beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months. 6 It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. 7 Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. It was given authority over every tribe and people and language and nation, 8 and all the inhabitants of the earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that was slaughtered.
We have been reading the Bible through all year long; and we come now to the penultimate Lesson -- one filled with images of beasts and dragons and the sufferings and struggles of God's people. It is a struggle right up until the end.
One of the ways to read the Bible is to read it as a struggle between good and evil. What we have this morning is a coded, though also very vivid description of the struggle of the early church against the evil rulers and powers of Rome. And right here, in the very next to last section of the entire Bible, evil seems to be winning. And the beast, once thought to be mortally wounded with a deathblow to one of his heads, now rears his ugly head in a defiant stand against the forces of good. And, most shuddering of all, the beast is allowed to make war and conquer the saints for a time.
Friends, there will be no ultimate defeat of evil this side of heaven.
This is the hard news that we have to understand and accept lest we despair -- there will be struggle, and perhaps even defeat, right up until the end.
But in the end -- as I said in yesterday's Lesson -- the Lamb wins.
And we will read about that tomorrow.
As for today, struggle on. For the beast isn't finished yet . . .
Ryon Price is the Senior Pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.
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