Exercising Authority-Lent 20,2022

Again, as our series on Revelation continues, we do not study evil to entertain ourselves as some sort of macabre obsession like binge-watching zombie movies.  We study what is good and when Scripture leads us to protectively recognize evil when we see it, we do well to pay attention.

Revelation 13:11 “Then I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon.”

Satan mimics, trying to craft “a close” even if it’s “no cigar.”  Two horns like a lamb (like the Lamb?) but it spoke like Satan (not like God).  Definitely not that close.  This twisted mimicry continues:

Revelation 13:12 “It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed.

Time out:  Kind of like Jesus exercised authority on behalf of God, to bring people back to worship God, and Jesus’ crucifixion fatality was “healed” by His resurrection, and He still bears the “stigmata”—the wounds of crucifixion.  Let’s continue:

Revelation 13:13 And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people. 14 Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth. It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15 The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed.”

This beast is sometimes called the false prophet.  Like a prophet, he exercises power on behalf of someone else.  He performs great signs, fire from heaven even, just like Elijah called upon God to do.  Just as prophets of Baal could deceive people with their idolatry for a while, this false prophet mimics signs, and points to the false god to worship.  Part of how he accomplishes his task is through intimidation: he forces them to worship or be killed.

Thoughts for today:

Do you value your life?  Is losing your earthly life worth it to hold onto your faith and eternal life? 

Or if someone (or some government) forced you to worship the antichrist, would you have the resolve to refuse?

I’ve been thinking a lot about COVID and the pressures it placed upon average people.  Mandate this, mandate that.  Closures of businesses, little mom and pop shops.  Closures of churches and definitely no singing.  Driving everyone to using credit and debit, the so-called cashless society.  Every place I went asking for exact change if using cash because of a national coin shortage.  How people treated each other who didn’t want to comply with gym closures or still today in corners of the nation and world, demanding wearing masks everywhere, even after the pandemic is behind us.  The pressures people put on other people, demanding to know one’s vaccination status or you can’t go to a concert, go out to eat, buy food, and some championing the idea of not receiving medical treatment if you didn’t comply with the government edict.

The point is:
if you think it can’t happen here, IT ALREADY HAS as a trial run. 
Time for each of us to search our hearts, our consciences,
and know for certain where our allegiances reside.

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If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the 2022 Lent Devotionals automatically. Or you can “Like” Seminary Gal on Facebook and they’ll be delivered to your Facebook news feed. If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so. Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings. You don’t want to miss this encounter with God to prepare your heart for Easter! Understanding that prior years’ devotionals continue to minister, you may want to have access to a full series ahead of time:

• Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
•  A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God  which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014. 
• Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations.  We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17. 
• ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
• Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ.  It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.
• Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.
• Lent 2019 gave us a deeper window into Easter “More to the Easter Story” since we miss so much when we rely only on a superficial understanding of the work of Christ. These devotionals are archived beginning March 6, 2019.
• Our Lent 2020 devotional series offered prayer points surrounding “Be Thou My Vision” and were aimed at helping us to see God for who He is. The full set of devotionals are archived beginning February 26, 2020.
• The theme for 2021 Lent Devotionals was how to live between two worlds while waiting for Christ’s return. Into the gap between the City of Man and its fixation upon sin and the City of God with its demand for holiness, two words minister peace: But God. Praise God for His intervention! They are archived beginning February 17, 2021.