The Covid Era Should Have Been Obvious, but It Wasn’t…
Our Gov Has Turn Demonic, Revelation 13: Government that serves Satan.
It is usual in America to complain about our government, but the Bible makes it clear that a political system can deteriorate well beyond being inefficient or even corrupt.
The Romans 13 form of government represents one extreme of the biblical continuum, in which competent governmental authority maintains order, protects citizens, promotes what is good, and punishes what is wrong.
However, a government can sometimes get things so wrong that it deviates from the Romans 13 model to the Revelation 13 end of the scale. In that famous chapter from John’s Apocalypse, we witness a horrifying depiction of government power that has become completely demonic.
Certainly, Revelation 13 refers to a final political form that will come in the latter times. However, there is a sense in which the depicted governmental form represents an amalgamation of political monsters throughout scripture history. The beast that emerges from the sea in Revelation 13 is reminiscent of empires like as Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome.
Understanding the character of this political beast in the Apocalypse gives us insight into what happens when a system goes awry and descends into demonic dominion.
Enemy of Heaven
In Revelation 13, the beast appears as an enemy of the true God, the true religion, and the true servants of God at the end of the century. However, past regimes throughout history have also waged war against God and His people. Why?
Psalm 2 suggests that human rebellion against God begins with the desire to detach a society from God’s commandments. The image depicts political figures – “the kings of the earth … and the rulers” – aggressively opposing the Lord and the Messiah (“His Anointed”). What’s the reason? They desire to liberate society from the moral constraints of God’s laws. They yell together, “Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us!”
As Romans 1 demonstrates, such defiance invariably results in a death spiral that progresses to deeper levels of spiritual blindness. It is distressing to witness America’s abandonment of God, His word, school prayer, and the Ten Commandments.
Marriages and families are shattered; the violent death of the unborn is financed with tax monies; blatant immorality is promoted; and some of our big cities are rife with carnage while entire city blocks are destroyed.
It is unnerving to think about where such a defiant trip could go. This beast in Revelation 13 ends up “speaking arrogant words and blasphemies” against God and all that is sacred
However, the beast does not stop there; it goes on “to make war with the saints.” It is a fact of human nature that a heart filled with total darkness will eventually descend into terrible fury.
That is why communist governments, for example, begin to wage war on Christianity immediately after assuming power. It is no coincidence that a government founded on a rebellious ideology eventually feeds on the blood of those made in God’s image.
State as idol
We also see in Romans 1 that sin causes men to refuse to give God praise, yet Paul tells us that many do give glory to something else: idols.
In Revelation 13, the beast exalts itself as a replacement for God. It becomes an idol. Scriptural speaking, this is very common human conduct when people and nations gain power and accomplishment. The taunts against the king of Babylon in Isaiah 14 and the king of Tyre in Ezekiel 28 foreshadow Lucifer’s fall exactly because these human leaders arrogantly considered themselves as deities.
Over the last century or so, we’ve gotten all too familiar with the human urge to elevate government, including its human leaders, to god-like status. Fascism, for example, transforms the state into a modern idol. In 1932, Benito Mussolini, the founder of fascism, stated: “The fascist notion of the state is all-encompassing; outside of it, no human or spiritual values can exist, much less have significance. Thus conceived, fascism is totalitarian, and the fascist state – a synthesis and unit encompassing of all values – interprets, develops, and empowers the entire life of a people.”
Such concepts are plainly rooted in a human endeavor to become the “God” of a nation’s people. Mussolini goes on to explain that the state reshapes people inside and out, including their “character and faith.” How does it do this? He claims that the state “enforces discipline and uses authority, entering into the soul and ruling with undisputed sway.”
We see similar tendencies growing stronger in America, instituted by the “progressive” Left: public education has become an instrument of propaganda in many districts; the federal government attempts to force Christian ministries to support abortion and homosexuality; state colleges and universities actively suppress Christian viewpoints; parental rights are eroded as the state increasingly absorbs their roles as child caretakers; and so on.
Turning demonic
A state that becomes an idol, or false god, is not morally neutral. Not only does such a government frequently conduct war against God’s people, but it also frequently wins the hearts of the rest of the population. In Revelation 13, the beast’s unrivaled strength draws the people’s hearts to himself as they proclaim, “Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?” (v 4).
However, such governmental systems are demonic because the apostle Paul claims that every idol contains a demon (1 Corinthians 10:20). When Satan has successfully led people away from respecting the genuine God and toward idolatry, the Enemy has succeeded in redirecting the subsequent adoration to himself.
This is why the worship of the beast in Revelation 13 is eventually interpreted as worship of the dragon behind it, Satan (v 4).
Revelation 13 depicts government power at its most corrupt and abusive. It is the “gold standard” of a wicked state.
However, like with other areas of end-times theology, we are expected to learn the warning signals of when this process will begin. Recognizing these signals enables the church to predict a nation’s destiny as it moves away from Romans 13 and into a darker path.
America has certainly wandered down that darker path. Christians must remain vigilant, pray for the courage to preach the truth, and actively strive for righteousness while the opportunity exists. If we fail to be faithful and obedient custodians of the freedoms we have been granted, we may one day face a horrific entity at odds with the truth. After a while, the creature will turn its greedy gaze toward us.
