Of Lambs and Dragons

Scripture Reading: Revelation 13: 11, 12

OH – 245 “More About Jesus”

CH – 205 “Gleams of the Golden Morning”

In any contest the outcome would seem to be certain.

Lambs are not expected to outweigh Dragons.

One is strong, the other weak.

One is Large: the other is small.

One has Guile; the other is innocent.

One is predator: the other is prey

No betting man would place his money on a lamb to win such a contest.

Unless they knew that there was something unusual about the Lamb that would assure its victory over the Dragon.

And that is exactly the case in the war between good and evil.

And the quality of the Lamb that wins the victory it is in its sacrifice.

Turn to Revelation 5: 1-7

1 ¶ And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals.

2 Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, "Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?"

3 And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll, or to look at it.

4 So I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll, or to look at it.

5 But one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals."

6 ¶ And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

7 Then He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.

Pictured here is a Lamb who has achieved victory over the Dragon, and has earned the right by His sacrifice to open the scroll that reveals the future struggles of God’s people, and ultimate defeat of their enemy.

It is only through the Holy Word of God that we gain the insight to know where to place ourselves if we are to have a secure future.

This is true whether we presently live under the banner of the Lamb or of the Dragon.

Joel wrote of our time: Joel 3:14

Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision!
For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.

How will you decide for the future?

Will you throw yourself to the side of the Lamb, counting upon Him to win the contest? Or will you side with the Dragon?

Many, we are told, will make the wrong decision.

Some of those will fool themselves thinking that a profession of serving the Lamb secures their way, but their lives will show that they have really chosen to follow the Dragon.

So let us first determine what these symbols mean, so that we might be informed as to where we should stand and how we must be if we are to stay there.

And in the process we will note that the continuing march of prophecy has yet passed another marker, showing us that we are nearing the end of the struggle.

Now this is review for most of you.

For the scriptures identify the Lamb, and the Dragon clearly so that there is no need for confusion.

The Lamb is Jesus Christ, the Son of God who came into this world to provide us a means of escape from death and disaster.

John the Baptist identifies Him so.

Twice in John chapter 1, in verses 29 and 36, he labels Jesus “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”

Jesus is the one who is to ultimately defeat the rebellion carried on here against heaven.

He is the one who defeats the Dragon.

The Dragon symbol is used in scripture to represent Satan, and the chief powers through which he works to control world affairs.

Revelation 12 presents the picture of a beautiful and pure woman (God’s church or people) threatened by a great red dragon. Verse 9 defines the symbol:

9 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Now what we need to realize here is that both the Lamb and the Dragon stand at the heads of kingdoms.

The Lamb’s kingdom is the Kingdom of God in heaven.

Jesus taught that He was a king, but that his kingdom is not of this world, meaning that there is no place on earth where you will find it represented in the political system of things.

Jesus’ kingdom does not fight wars here. His servants do not fight for political power and influence here.

For those who occupy the Lamb’s kingdom do not count the earth their home.

The kingdom of the Lamb, therefore, is a kingdom without borders, made up of people from every nation and language and kindred and tongue.

Their one uniting point is a devotion for and adherence to the laws and commandments of God.

The symbol scripture uses for this kingdom is that of the pure woman of Revelation 12. Clothed with the sun, crowned with 12 stars.

The Dragon also heads a kingdom. Actually it controls all of the kingdoms of this world.

Every nation and every people that has not received the Lamb and His law is ultimately doomed to serve the Dragon and his law.

And the Laws are as different, and the kingdoms as diverse, as the symbols of their leaders.

Have you noticed that in the revelation, God clothes his kingdom in symbols of apparent weakness – at least in this world’s eyes. Lambs and Women are generally considered helpless in society, in need of protection.

But Satan clothes himself in symbols of apparent power: Dragons and beasts with fierce, predatory qualities.

The Laws of the Lamb’s kingdom are likewise gentle. They are all based on the concept of Love and sacrifice, seeking justice and mercy, one for the other.

The laws of Satan’s Dragon kingdom however are based on principles of self-gratification and achieving power and influence, the strong over the weak. They are based on principles of natural selection. That which survives is good and “might makes right.”

The only goal is to get ahead and betrayal is a virtue.

Sound familiar???

Now the Dragon hates the Lamb and His kingdom, and is angry with all those who adhere to its ways in this world.

Therefore we find that he persecuted the woman and ultimately he makes war with “the remnant of her children” who still occupy the earth.

Much of this has been seen in history.

Stories of pogroms and inquisitions and massacres fill the history books as we see Satan’s kingdom seeking to destroy those who followed the meek and lowly Jesus.

The roots of this great nation are founded in this conflict. For it arose as many of the woman’s seed sought refuge in the wilderness of this continent.

I wish I could proclaim from scripture that the United States would remain true to the principles of its founders and maintain itself as a refuge for God’s persecuted people in this world.

But brethren, I cannot.

As Israel, the nation, continually succumbed over and over again to follow the Kingdom of Satan and bring in his laws through the worship of false gods.

So the United States will fail to keep holy the principles of truth and honesty, mercy and tolerance. And it will begin to control the nations by the force of its power and authority.

There is no permanent refuge in this world to which God’s people can cling forever.

They must devise the faith that clings to God, and God alone, though the heavens fall.

The scriptures record beforehand the course of our beloved country’s fall into the kingdom of the Dragon with the following words.

Revelation 13: 11 and following.

11 ¶ Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon.

12 And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.

13 He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men.

14 And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived.

Note the description of verse 11.

Two horns like a lamb

This beast begins with lamblike qualities, derived from Christ.

But it changes and begins to “speak like a Dragon.” And from that point on, it begins to deceive and it’s influence is perverted for evil.

We are at the cusp of this transformation in world history.

Let me briefly review a few of the principles the Bible gives us that help us to interpret this verse.

First, the Bible interprets its own symbols.

For instance, Beasts, in prophecy, represent nations or kingdoms; political powers.

Daniel 7:17 define beasts as being kings or kingdoms.

‘Those great beasts, which are four, are four kings”

Applying this insight to Revelation 13 we therefore learn that there is a political force that arises from the sea, and one that comes up from the land.

Seas or waters in prophecy are defined elsewhere in scripture as populated areas.

Revelation 17:15 defines waters as follows:

The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues.

So the first beast of Revelation 13 arises from among the populated areas of the earth.

The beast of verse 11, however, does not come up from the sea, but from the land, where no water is.

Therefore, it arose in an unpopulated portion of the earth. From a wilderness area, like the United States was in 1620 when the first settlers fleeing the religious persecution in Europe first entered the land at Plymouth Rock.

Now there are many nations today that grew from wilderness areas of the earth. But only the United States has grown to become a super power in the affairs of the planet.

Indeed, since the fall of the Soviet Union, this nation is the only super power with the strength to enforce it’s will on a world wide scale, as the nation represented by the two horn beast of Revelation 13 is prophesied to do.

The nation of Revelation 13:11 is said to have two horns like a lamb. The Lamb, in scripture, is always a representation of Christ.

The United States was founded by religious people. Most were Christians who sought to escape the power of the Catholics who persecuted them in Europe.

They came here to find a place where they could worship God according to their understanding of His word, and they found it.

As they built this nation they did so on Biblical principles of freedom and responsibility to others.

They sought for a society that would emulate the principles of Heaven.

But they were wary of founding any national church.

Therefore when the constitution was written, they saw to it that it contained the principle that have safeguarded us to this from religious persecution.

The first amendment forbids congress from making any law to establish a particular religion or practice or to restrict the free exercise of anybody else’s religious practice.

By this our nation earned the continued hostility of the Papacy, which called this principle of freedom of religion “most pestilential” and “most to be abhorred in a nation.”

But despite the efforts of European Monarchs and Papists, the American experiment succeeded. For God Himself prospered it.

For 200 plus years we have enjoyed a place of refuge. And the gospel has gone to many nations and peoples through the efforts of God’s people centered here.

All this is about to change.

For the prophecy proclaims that the Lamblike beast will begin to learn “Dragon Speak.”

We once thought that this change would not come until the United States began to force certain religious principles upon it’s people and the world. But you will notice that those events follow verse 11, in verse 12 through 18.

If we allow the scriptures to continue to define the Dragon that this nation is to speak like, we begin to see that the power the United States has already begun to practice some of the principles of the Dragon’s Kingdom.

We read of this fulfillment daily in our newspapers.

Go back to Revelation 12 with me for a moment and notice something important about the Dragon.

1 ¶ Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars.

2 Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth.

3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads.

4 His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born.

5 She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne.

We all know who the male child is, for we celebrate His birth story every year in our churches.

Who tried to kill the infant Jesus as soon as He was born?

Herod, the Roman puppet king of Judea.

Herod was a representative of the empire of Rome.

So we see here that while the Dragon represents Satan, it also represents the political force through which Satan was working at the time of Christ; The Empire of Rome.

This is further confirmed by the use of the fierce dragon like symbol used by Daniel to describe the fourth kingdom of his prophesy in Daniel 7, the beast with huge iron teeth and ten horns. This also worked out to be Rome, the fourth world empire from Daniel’s day.

If this is an accurate assessment, all we need to do to understand what qualifies as Dragon Speech is to ask ourselves about the Roman Empire and it’s behavior in ancient times, for

a nation speaks through it’s legal decrees.

And we find that Rome enforced its laws upon the world of its time with extreme force. Roman legions occupied garrisons in every part of the known world. Roman law enforced the peace.

The governing principle under which the world worked was
Pax Romana. Peace, but on Rome’s terms.

Today, we are beginning to see a change in the way the United States functions in it’s foreign policy.

In spite of the cautions of our founding fathers, who charged that we should not become entangled in European and foreign affairs, this country has been drawn into two world wars and numerous minor disputes since the birth of the 20^th century.

At first we were reluctant, entering to help our European neighbors against fascist regimes that would have enslaved them.

We did not stay on foreign soil or exercise our force there any longer than was necessary. We still functioned as the Lamb, helping and then leaving ASAP.

Then, the Soviet Union became a threat that we had to become involved and maintain bases worldwide.

We became entangled in places like Vietnam just because the communists were trying to make headway there. The same was true of Korea.

But we were still only a deterrent to aggression from elsewhere.

Now, since 9-11, we find ourselves initiating conflict to attack terrorism at its roots. We are enforcing law in foreign lands like Afghanistan and Iraq. And we are decreeing threatening things toward Iran.

The United States is now, even if only reluctantly, an occupying power, imposing it’s rule on a foreign people.

And, brethren, it looks like this is only the beginning.

Our government has begun to enforce it’s peace abroad with the same kind of force Rome used in it’s day.

Pax Romana is being succeeded by Pax Americana. Peace on American terms.

This is a dangerous way for us to go.

But the Bible is clear, the USA will begin, has already begun, to speak as ancient Rome did in the affairs of the world, and we can look for an escalation of these things until certain religious decrees are enforced regarding worship, and this country introduces and enforces the mark of the beast.

It won’t matter who you elect to office. The forces we are reacting too are setting our course far more than our leadership.

We are watching the slow but increasing momentum of the ages as it accelerates toward the conclusion of earth’s history.

It is frightening.

But is it not also exhilarating?

Jesus said “When you see these things know that it is nigh, even at the door.”

Christians, members of the kingdom of God and the Lamb, look up, for our redemption is nearer now than when we first believed.

Let us all take encouragement again in the sure fulfillment of prophecy, for it points us to the way.

For though the Dragon seems to be gaining influence about us, the Lamb has already won the victory and is sure to come and deliver us into a new and better land.

Don’t you want to be part of it?

If any here have not yet received Jesus and become a part of His Kingdom, don’t wait any longer.

Multitudes are in the valley of decision today.

Today is the day to make the decision to forsake this world and all it’s hopeless promises.

Our hope must come from above. Only Jesus can save us.

So remember your ABC’s

A – Admit your need in these increasing times of peril

B – Believe in Jesus, the Lamb of God, that He can and will save all who come to Him.

C – Claim Jesus as your Lord and Savior, and so enter His Kingdom, keeping the laws that teach us to love and care for one another and to spread the good news of Jesus and His soon return to all whom we can find to listen.

Please consider doing this as we pray,

And then sing Hymn 205 together.