Are God's People Paying Attention?

Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand. [Revelation 13.9] 

Wow. Just wow.

The reason the book of Revelation has been so illusive in its meaning is simple: God's Word has been ignored. Hence, there will be no understanding of the book of Revelation until God's people have begun to listen to and understand all of God's Word.

The key to understanding Revelation is found in the phrase, "ears to hear." This phrase is 'idol-speak' as the Bible goes - it is used exclusively to alert God's people that idolatry is afoot. The prophet Isaiah revealed this fact, establishing that idolatry was the problem, and then, establishing "ears to hear" in its role in the problem of idolatry.

Here is where Isaiah identifies idolatry as the problem:

Come, descendants of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the LORD! For the LORD has rejected his people, the descendants of Jacob, because they have filled their land with practices from the East and with sorcerers, as the Philistines do. They have made alliances with pagans. Israel is full of silver and gold; there is no end to its treasures. Their land is full of warhorses; there is no end to its chariots. Their land is full of idols; the people worship things they have made with their own hands. [Isaiah 2.5-8]

And, here is where Isaiah reveals where the inability to hear is resultant to the problem (idolatry): 

Harden the hearts of these people. Plug their ears and shut their eyes. That way, they will not see with their eyes, nor hear with their ears, nor understand with their hearts and turn to me for healing.” [Isaiah 6.10]

Not to be overshadowed in Isaiah's association between idolatry and ears that do not hear is the fact that deafness is clearly associated with idolatry in the Psalms:

Their idols are merely things of silver and gold, shaped by human hands. They have mouths but cannot speak, and eyes but cannot see. They have ears but cannot hear, and noses but cannot smell. They have hands but cannot feel, and feet but cannot walk, and throats but cannot make a sound. And those who make idols are just like them, as are all who trust in them. [Psalm 115.4-8]

The idols of the nations are merely things of silver and gold, shaped by human hands. They have  mouths but cannot speak, and eyes but cannot see. They have ears but cannot hear, and mouths but cannot breathe. And those who make idols are just like them, as are all who trust in them. [Psalm 135.15-18] 

So, when we read ears to hear in the book of Revelation, we should understand that we are being alerted to idolatry. And, the very statement that precedes our subject passage form Revelation about ears to hear above is this:

And all the people who belong to this world worshiped the beast. They are the ones whose names were not written in the Book of Life that belongs to the Lamb who was slaughtered before the world was made. [Revelation 13.8]

Worshiping the beast is NOT worshiping God! Worshiping the beast is idolatry. Therefore, John the Revelator follows up with idol-speak:

Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand. [Revelation 13.9] 

Now, it is incumbent upon God's people who recognize (understand) this truth, to identify the digression of humanity into the gross idolatry described in Revelation.

Idolatry is most often associated with the world and its ways. We should understand that the world has seven continents... Now, stay with me here as this takes a minute to see. 

There is a dragon described in Revelation 12:

Then I witnessed in heaven another significant event. I saw a large red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, with seven crowns on his heads. [Revelation 12.3]

This dragon is eventually identified in Revelation 12 as Satan. Satan is worldly. Satan has seven heads and the world has seven continents. The description of Satan in Revelation 12 is a description of him in heaven before he was cast to earth. And this description identifies Satan's seven heads with ten horns with seven crowns on his heads. What follows then describes Satan's fury upon earth against the woman (mankind) and God's Son (born of that woman).

THEN, Revelation 13 mentions another creature: a beast. This beast has also seven heads with ten horns, but instead of seven crowns on its seven heads, there are now ten crowns on the ten horns. Think "succession."

Then I saw a beast rising up out of the sea. It had seven heads and ten horns, with ten crowns on its horns. And written on each head were names that blasphemed God. [Revelation 13.1]

The seven heads and ten horns should cause us to understand that this beast is a later manifestation of the dragon, Satan. However, at his revelation as "the beast" he now has ten crowns that have moved to the ten horns. But, when is now in Revelation 13? Is it "now" as in currently, or is it "now" in the point of history Revelation is describing? Please stay with me...

In a matter of "succession" what does it mean that the seven crowns on the seven-headed, ten-horned dragon's seven heads are now ten crowns on the seven-headed, ten-horned beast's ten horns? The crowns progressed from the heads to the horns, and now (Revelation 13), the crown count has increased to ten to match the ten horns.

It was pointed out that seven heads are the seven continents indicating the worldliness of Satan. Crowns represent power. The progression of the seven crowns from the dragon to the ten horns of the beast indicates an increase in the number of crowns (powers). Again, this should be understood as now for the time Revelation 13 is describing but may still be in the future for us at this time. Perhaps the crowns (powers) are not ten yet in our time... But they are increasing in number, and, when they reach ten, THEN the rest of Revelation transpires.

Ten crowns (powers), in modern understanding of power should be considered as individual nations found randomly across seven continents. Power, in modern terminology, is measured in military terms. The pinnacle of military power is nuclear capacity (nuclear warheads stockpiled). There are currently nine nuclear-capable nations in the world, but Iran is desperately trying to become the tenth!

Are God's people paying attention?

Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand. [Revelation 13.9]

If God's people today do not understand idolatry's role in their day, how will they ever understand what the book of Revelation describes for end times? The only way to understand idolatry's perpetual digression as described cover to cover in the Bible is to hail Jesus (the Living Word of God) as Lord ALONE:

“If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. [Matthew 16.24 (also, Mark 8.34 & Luke 9.23)]

To follow Jesus, we must actively give up our own way - the ways of the world (the seven continents), take up our cross (willing to die in open defiance to the ways of the world - its solutions apart from God), that we might then, and only then, effectively and singularly follow Jesus ALONE! Only when Jesus is "everything we hear" are our eyes opened to see the gross idolatry all around us. Only when Jesus is everything to the Church will she be prepared to knowledgeably and confidently face the events of Revelation.

I apologize for the length of this article, but not for its content! God's people simply must understand that turning to anything of the world is turning away from God. The Church must identify and reject the idols of today in preparation to identify and reject (not worship) the beast as described in Revelation 13!

Father, help Your people to understand that as long as Revelation remains a mystery for the future, it is certainly an indictment of idolatry for today - an indictment of not listening to Your Word (all of it) and therefore not seeing the idols that progressively abound. May Your people give Your Word (Jesus) all priority, giving up their own ways, taking up their cross, and following Him! So be it.