The Two Cosmic Court Sessions
In the vision of Revelation 13 the
beast that ascends from a sea of mankind was Rome (especially the dynasty of
Julius Caesar). It got its authority from the dragon (Satan). Satan gets his
authority from God. Why did God grant this to Satan? Because God’s people
always get the leaders they deserve. They had killed the prophets.
The seven heads were the seven
Caesars: Julius, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero, and Galba. The
angel told John, “Five have fallen and one is, the other has not yet come, and when he does come he
must remain only a little while.” The 6th one was Nero. Galba
reigned for less than six months. After that, everyone who ever called himself
“Caesar” was not related to the Caesars. They were only “Caesar Wannabees.”
Czar means Caesar in Russian. Kaiser means Caesar in German.
The
purpose of the prophecy of Revelation was to destroy three enemies. All three
were eventually cast into the lake of fire (Rev 20:10). They were the beast,
the false prophet, and the dragon.
The
ten horns on the beast were the ten provinces of Rome. Each province had a king
under Caesar’s authority. These kings destroyed Jerusalem because God put it in
their hearts to do so even though they also made war with the Lamb (Rev 17:12-14).
The
second beast of Revelation 13 arose from the land. The first one arose from the
sea. It was universal. The second was national. It looked like a lamb but spoke
like a dragon. It was a dragon in sheep’s clothing. Its function was to get the
whole world to worship the (mental) image of first beast (Caesar, i.e. the
state).
The Two Horns On The False
Prophet
Its
two horns are very significant. Horns in the poetry of the Bible are symbols of
power. “All the horns of the
wicked I will also cut off, But the horns of the righteous shall be exalted” (Psalm 75:10 NKJV). One
horn says, “We have no king but Caesar” (John 19:15). The other power source
said, “Give us Barabbas” (Mat 27:21). Barabbas was a zealot who had killed a
man in an insurrection against Caesar. Asking for the release of Barabbas was
equal to asking for the overthrow of Caesar (the state). They were
schizophrenic. Every overthrow of government only results in another
government.
But remember. These two horns are on the same head of the
beast in sheep’s clothing. To use another metaphor, they are two sides of the
same coin. Both horns represent statism. They both take the mark of the beast
by calling on the government for salvation. To overthrow Caesar meant to forcibly
replace Caesar with the law that arises out of the “land” (i.e. the Promised
Land). Jesus retreated from the attempt to make Him king by force (John 6:15).
Does this mean that we should not preach for the
government to rule justly? We should by all means. We should constantly demand
that government obey God’s law. But to do what the zealots did is forbidden by
Christ unless it is done under the authority of the lesser magistrate. The
zealots fomented armed rebellion. They lived by the sword and died by it. The key
word here is under authority.
Throughout history, two court sessions are ongoing. One
is the type that was held in Pilate’s judgment hall. In that court, Christ is still
on trial by evil men. There were and are three choices: Caesar, Christ, or
Barabbas. Men are still choosing either statism, the violent overthrow of
statism, or Christ the King of kings.
The Session
Where Christ Is Seated
In this session Christ is not on trial, but He is the Judge.
This court session is ongoing at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. One
like the Son of Man is constantly coming with the clouds to the Ancient of Days
to judge and make war. He does it as a Lamb. He does it as Conqueror, ruling
now with a rod of iron. He is the Bright and Morning Star that is in the
process of putting out the lights of all the other stars until the Sun of
Righteousness arises with healing in His wings, until “the Dayspring from on
high has visited us” (Luke 1:78).
