In general, John, the writer of Revelation, is presenting a message
of reassurance and consolation to Christians undergoing persecution
in various parts of the world. The visions he describes depict
the earthly persecutors of the Church, and put that persecution
in the context of the whole rebellion of Lucifer and the other
fallen angels against God, rebellion against the incarnation of
Jesus Christ, and against God's whole plan to save us.
In Chapter 12, John depicts satan as a dragon who
tries to kill and destroy Christ when he comes into the world;
the dragon tries to persecute the woman who bears Christ, but (in verses 5-6) Christ is taken up into glory (the Ascension) and the woman
escapes to be sheltered by God.
After Christ has completed his saving mission on earth and ascends
to God and His throne, the evil angels are defeated and God's victory
over evil is declared (in verses 10-12). The dragon, powerless to
fight God directly, wages war on the woman and her offspring (in verses
13-17); that can be seen as: the Church and the believers who belong
to Her.
In Chapter 13, we see that satan makes trouble for believers
through earthly persecutors. St. John describes two beasts who
set themselves against God, with the help of the devil. They are
depicted as possessing worldly power conferred by the dragon: power
over an empire of many nations, persecuting believers in various
ways: by imprisonment, by economic means, etc., and they openly
blaspheme God. The believers are pretty much helpless against these
earthly powers (verses 9-10), so St. John counsels fortitude and
faithfulness. The two beasts (verses 3-4 and verses 12-14) even puts
on a show of impressive power and seeming miracles, to delude people.
The description of the beasts includes a lot of colorful detail
(horns, heads, and the number 666) which may have served as clues
for believers to identify just who St. John was talking about — if he indeed was talking about someone particular:
for example,
certain Roman emperors or other despots, but I'll leave the interpretation
of that to people with more historical knowledge about the time
the book was written. |