‘Choose this Day Whom You Will Serve’ 

That is how I am aiming to start my all-age talk in a couple of Sundays time (Joshua 24:15). Joshua has brought God’s people into Caanan (the land God promised them through Abraham) and they're beginning to find their place. But Joshua knows there will be temptations and difficulties ahead. There are peoples already occupying parts of the same land who have a very different worldview and could very easily draw people away from worshipping the one true God. Under pressure, do they go with the flow, or remain faithful to the Lord and stand firm? We find ourselves in a similar ‘land’ today.  And Joshua charges the people of God with that ultimatum “Choose this day whom you will serve”.
 
I wanted to come into my study this evening after the Synod vote and give you a slightly knee-jerk personal reflection. So, please bear with me.
 
You may think me naïve, but I have to admit that I wasn't expecting the result to affirm same-sex blessings - not this year at least. I am fairly devastated.
 
Since Christmas I have had various personal challenges which has made the last couple of months difficult. Spiritually this is interestingly timed, as I have also been endeavouring to work hard at teaching the book of Revelation. Like Ecclesiastes this time last year, this feels like a very timely book for us. I don't want to mess it up, but there has been much to distract me. However, by God’s grace, I have managed to arrive on a Sunday morning with important things to say about how Revelation is as relevant today as it was back in the first century.
And I find it Interesting, that this coming Sunday, after a week like this one, I am preaching on Revelation 13. Like chapter 12, this is a chapter about Satan’s pursuit of God’s people, the Church.
As we were reminded on Sunday, Satan is a defeated enemy, but he is not yet destroyed. He is on the retreat, his fate sealed, but he is expending his last energies on making war on us (12:17).  In chapter 13 Satan raises up two monstrous beasts to act as his agents to influence the world via powerful institutions. Why? To gain the worship of the world (13:4, 12) and, in particular, to damage and destroy the Church (13:7,15).  At this point in my preparation for Sunday, it seems the first Beast (v.1-10) is the main protagonist (gaining the world’s worship due to his power, and warring against the saints). The second Beast (11-18) seems to be the Public Relations (marketing division?) of the first Beast. He exercises all the authority of the first beast “on his behalf” (13:12) – persuading the world to worship the first beast (13:12ff). This second Beast is a “deceiver” – a spin doctor. He performs miracles and tricks to bring about the worship of the first Beast and also causes the death of those who refuse to worship. He brands the Beast-worshippers with a mark without which others will be disadvantaged in life (v.16-17).  In the face of such awesome power people can either give in and “go with the flow”(13:4b) or faithfully stand firm (13:10b). Choose this day whom you will serve.  
 
These powerful institutions/governments represented by the first Beast are used by Satan to bring hardship to the Church (13:5-6). The second beast, the agent of deception, is more subtle. He looks like a lamb but has the voice of the dragon (v.11). A wolf in sheep’s clothing  (or a Dragon in Lamb’s clothing!). Someone who looks a bit god-like but isn’t God (NB God’s perfection = 777 but this Beast is 666). He looks like your saviour, but it is a dragon in disguise. A counterfeit Christ.
So, a religious figure perhaps?  (in fact Revelation 19 v 20 calls this second Beast a “false prophet”) and therefore more dangerous to Christians, possibly even working within the church. Certainly, if not a twisted version of the gospel, then this Beast would be a propagator of an overbearing ideology or philosophy. So, if Beast no.1 wants the world to bow down and succumb to its plans for, say, damaging and idolatrous sexual liberation throughout the world – it might use Beast no.2 to promote this within key institutions. Who better to present such wolf-like ideology as something sheep-like and good – than religious leaders (who might even perform miracles! v.13)? Did not Jesus say, “Watch out! - many will come in my name claiming to be me (Matt 24:5)”?
 
Maybe that sounds too much for your ears? But Satan’s weapons are so clever. He prowls around waiting for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8) and chiefly he wants to devour the Church. So, Jesus (through his servant John) tells us to “be wise” (13:18).  It is the Scriptures that are God’s unchanging timeless word – and from our leaders we keep hearing “Did God really say…? (Genesis 3:1)”
So, watch out!  Watch out for the theological degrees. Watch out for the high church office, watch out even for someone who can do impressive miracles, but who’s words do not match up with the Bible’s teaching. Be careful.
 
But being pre-warned and therefore pre-armed wasn’t the main encouragement that I wanted to share with you from this chapter. What has helped me today is 13 v.7: “He was given power (by the Dragon) to make war against the saints and to conquer them”.  You see, there is no expectation in the Bible that Christians in a certain scenario will necessarily stand when the Satan’s forces come against them. God is on his throne, but that does not mean we will always win in the here and now. Indeed, in this period of time (between Jesus’ first and second coming), we might well lose (read further the reality-check of 13 v.10).  Today feels like a loss. It is a loss. And it is likely to be the end of the Church of England (at least as it was).
However, sneaking a peak at chapter 14 there is a wonderful future, a higher throne, for those who keep going (14:1-4). Today’s loss “calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints” (13:11). I may be shocked and surprised by what has happened. However, the Lord is not. The landscape ahead may change dramatically, and the temptation will be to ‘go with the flow’ (13:4). However, the Lord is on his throne, and he calls us to ‘patient endurance and faithfulness’, and to pray for those who go with the flow (for our struggle is not against flesh and blood – Ephesians 6:12). Dear friends, my beloved ones, perhaps today is a good day to choose whom we will serve. 
  
 
Dan McGowan
9th February 2023