Dave's Diary

Daily Readings: Revelation 12-14 and Psalm 59

John says that he saw a “great sign”, and that sign appears to continue throughout Revelation 12-14. Taking our devotional, birds’ eye view of that sign is actually a great way to get to the heart of the meaning for us today. Looking too closely and trying to match every detail with some earthly detail – whether past, present or future – will only get us lost.

Throughout this Age of the End (between Jesus’ first and second comings) the great dragon, Satan, wages war against the Messiah and His people on the earth (i.e. “those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus” (12:17)). Satan tries everything in his power to get us to deny our allegiance to Jesus Christ and to serve him instead. Persecuting us through leveraging the beastly power of violence, intimidation, economic pressure and false religion, Satan (that great dragon) pursues his single aim – to get us to abandon allegiance to Jesus and give it to him instead.

This pressure to conform to the patterns of this fallen world and its spiritual master, Satan, becomes overpowering to many. We know this and we see it in our own day too as the pressure mounts to give allegiance to the religious, cultural and moral norms and ideologies of the world, or the will of those with power. The switch of allegiance is symbolised by those who mark themselves as belonging to the beast when they take the “mark of the beast” on their hand and forehead. This is a clear Old Testament reference to Deuteronomy 6:4-9 where God’s people are to take His Word and bind it to their hands and foreheads as a sign of their allegiance to the One True God. The question for all of us is clear: To what and whom does my allegiance belong? To my own self-interests? To the influential and powerful who manipulate and intimidate? Or to my LORD? As Revelation 13:10 says, “This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of God’s people.”

Revelation 14 portrays the final outcome for each side of that great “allegiance-divide”. On the one hand are those who have remained faithful to Jesus, the Lamb (14:1-5) and on the other hand those who have sold themselves out and denied Him (14:6-11). And again the point is clear: “¹² This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus.“

Life application: As you go through the day, be aware of the societal and cultural pressures to conform. Be aware of where these pressures draw you away from allegiance to Jesus. Realise that we are in a spiritual battle, and resist the temptation to compromise and conform. Stay faithful to Christ! Maintain your allegiance and make it clear to all around you that you belong to Jesus and not to this world and its beastly master.