23.12 | Conquer Like the Lamb
Revelation 17
“These are of one mind, and they hand over their power and authority to the beast. They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.”
Revelation 17:13-14
Take a moment to reflect back on where we’ve come.
Three cycles of seven, each one taking us through this age (Days 1-6), and culminating in the perfect invasion of the coming age (Day 7). Each cycle making plain to us that this age will be marked by suffering and turmoil, but that the coming age will bring about the perfect peace of God. The cycles make plain, again and again, that the powers of this age—in corrupt leadership, powerful empires, and the devil himself—will appear mighty and intimidating, but that each of these is perfectly conquered by the heavenly lamb who was slain. The Cross speaks the decisive word into history.
We’ve journeyed through deep biblical memory—sweeping imagery from across the Old Testament, in the perfect fulfilment of these images as God’s Story works towards its conclusion.
How are you getting on? What has the Spirit been speaking to you about? What has He confronted in you? Where are you finding fresh hope? Where is your perspective being formed?
Today, we move into the final section of the book, as the raging battles of history reach their conclusion. And, once again, we’re journeying today in another biblical image, that is saturated in meaning: Babylon.
Babylon, whose history is rooted in the ancient city of Babel—that endeavour of humankind to reach utopia without God.1 Babylon, that superpower of the ancient world, that ransacked the city of God and took God’s people into a time of exile. Babylon, that emblem of how every human empire ultimately trends to corruption and division and destruction, as the resultant tribalisms of the human heart bring decay from within.
And today, in imagery that would have been overtly clear to those seven churches who received this Revelation first, Babylon now manifests in a new version of these ancient themes of Empire: Rome.
Rome, beautiful and yet drunk in her own perversions. Rome, the city topographically built on seven mountains. Rome, who held dominion over the known nations of the earth. Rome, who in these days explicitly opposed and persecuted Christians—affronted by the idea of another King.
Dig your heart into the realities of this First Century church, for as they read these words, the powers of their day were confronted with this distinct narrative.
How are you getting on?
As we enter these final movements of the Great Story of the Bible, hold some things in mind.
The Church that stood and spoke truth in this age, was marked not by their angry critique of the Empire in which they lived, but in radical love to the least and broken within it. The Church that declared a greater King than any Caesar could be, also spoke of radical submission to him.2 For this Church continually is pointed back to the victory of the slain lamb, who invites His people not to the violent confrontations of the Empires of history, but to beautiful surrender, countercultural love, resilient hope, implausible joy and deep humility. It is shaped by the Lamb Himself, who walked the brokenness of this age with such love, and who established the victory in which we are made safe through love made manifest in sacrifice.
As with them, my friends, so with us. Stand firm. Hold your eyes upon the Lamb. Walk in His ways, His humility, His values, His love. Serve in the midst of this broken age. Walk according to the Ways of His Kingdom. For every kingdom will fall save one. And our ways are to be defined by that eternal Land, that we most truly call Home.
Reflect:
We walk through this challenging days in the Way of the Lamb. What does walking with countercultural humility and heavenly love look like for me today?
Pray:
Father,
Reveal to me the way that things are;
Reveal to me the nature of the world in which I live,
That I may see it aright—
Recognising beauty in that which is eternal,
And the insufficiency of that which cannot last.
Reveal to me the wisdom to make my stand
With the methods of my Lord—who won through sacrifice,
And conquered through love,
And won the hearts of the broken
Through unswerving humility.
Father, reveal such things to me,
That I may stand with hope, and love, and confidence,
In this age,
Towards the Day that is coming,
And the Land of the Lamb.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen
Old Testament:
Haggai 1-2 | Psalm 147:12-20
Genesis 11
Romans 13:1-7; 1 Peter 2:13-17