Revolutionaries Becoming Tyrants, Dissidents Becoming Shepherds - Rev. 17:15-18
Dissidents Guide to Revelation, part 12
By Tommy Preson Phillips
This is my last post in Revelation 17. From here we will spend a couple of weeks in Revelation 18, and then, now that we have a good understanding of the Villain and the Hero, we will take a visit to the throne room of God in chapter 4.
Rev 17:15–18 The Angel continued, “The waters you saw on which the Whore was enthroned are peoples and crowds, nations and languages. And the ten horns you saw, together with the Beast, will turn on the Whore—they’ll hate her, violate her, strip her naked, rip her apart with their teeth, then set fire to her. It was God who put the idea in their heads to turn over their rule to the Beast until the words of God are completed. The woman you saw is the great city, tyrannizing the kings of the earth.”
We have now established the great conflict of Revelation:
Babylon tempts humanity to embody the Beast by building walls of separation and unevenness, to wield violence against one’s enemies, and to establish power over others through systems of status and wealth.
The Lamb calls humanity to embody lamb power amid Babylon. To break down boundaries between people groups and to work for the reconciliation of all people to each other and to God.
Verses 15-18 give us a glimpse of another side of Babylon. John writes that there will be kings who receive their power from Babylon, only to conspire with the Beast to destroy Babylon. They will assault her and kill her, leaving nothing but ashes. They want power, and Babylon has taught them how to obtain it; conspiring, deceipt, and — typical for Romans with aspirations for the throne — murder.
The beast is intent on the destruction of humanity, and that destruction will not be limited to the followers of the Lamb. There will always be actors who rise and wield the powers of Babylon against her. Revolutionaries, perhaps, who arise, wielding the power of the beast — violence, propaganda, division, and enemy hatred — and to try and take the throne.
Revolutionaries Become Tyrants.
Perhaps most revolutionaries (having suffered under Babylon themselves) have convinced themselves that they will be different. That they will have the fortitude to stand against the temptations to do evil. But yesterday’s revolutionaries are today’s tyrants, and today’s revolutionaries are tomorrow’s tyrants.
To wield Babylon's power is to embody her. and thus, the revolutionary who rejects Lamb's power in exchange for the efficient power of Babylon can expect the same destruction further on down the road. It’s a cycle that never ends.
There is a warning for the church here:
The temptation to join the revolutionary in wielding the power of the Beast is evergreen. But remember, “they will [also] go to war against the lamb” (v14). Babylon demands absolute power. There can never be a group of people who, in refusing to worship the beast, do not feel her wrath against them.
These types of temptations were present during World War II. Deitrich Bonhoeffer was tormented by the decision of whether or not to take part in an assassination attempt on Hitler. Though he initially offered assistance, he later decided against.
Ernst Käsemann, a German Bible scholar and pastor during the war, stood against the Nazi ideologies that were infiltrating his church membership. In 1934, on the Day of Repentance and Prayer, Käsemann took the bold step of calling for the exit of forty-five German Christians and supporters of the Third Reich from his congregation. And it was his sermon on Isaiah 26:13 in August on 1937, which landed him prison. “O Lord our God, other lords besides you have ruled over us, but your name alone we bring to remembrance.”
He was denounced in the public square by the district leader and was recommended for the Gulag by the higher authorities. For a month he sat in prison for his sermon, where he penned a commentary on Hebrews called The Wandering People of God.
Even today, many who believe themselves to be devout Christians have partnered with Babylon and taken up the power of the Beast against the seats of government. January 6, 2021 was a physical manifestation of how the beast of Revelation works through temptations to power. They believed that they were the just ones who could wield power honestly for the good of all people. But they cannot.
The option for followers of the Lamb is to be a dissident.
Dissidents Become Shepherds
Those faithful in embodying the Lamb will pave the way for those who come behind them.
After the great war, those who did not align themselves with Hitler filled teaching positions in European seminaries, and Käsemann found his place. Throughout his life, he served as a Lutheran Theologian at Mainz, Göttingen. He would spend his longest teaching tenure at Tübingen school, where he would ultimately do his most influential work. But those who embodied the Beast were ultimately forgotten or have become a cautionary tale.
Those who remain faithful to the lamb in a time of Beastly uproar will be part of God's new thing. Find the faithful ones today, they will clear the path into Gods future.
There's a song by The Who that says, Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss. Talking about the revolutionary who rises to power and becomes a tyrant. Ageless.