Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Revelation 13 before reading the devotional below.
Superstition has no place in Christian theology, and yet the book of Revelation and this chapter in particular have caused some to include it in their thinking. The mark of the beast. 666. I once had a Christian tell me that a certain organization was suspicious and perhaps demonic because they had 666 in their phone number. Whatever the point of this chapter is, I’m sure it’s not that.
There’s a reason that we have so many epic stories of good versus evil. All the way back to the time of David and Goliath, we’ve been glued to stories where the good guy (often the underdog) wins. Revelation has a dragon, a beast, a marvelously brilliant pregnant lady, and a Lamb that is the unlikely hero. What does it all mean? I don’t know, but I notice an ongoing separation of God’s holy people who have remained faithful from the rest of the world. I also notice that status doesn’t matter — all humans are at the mercy of this great heavenly war.
I don’t fear the end times or the mark of the beast. I’m not searching the newspaper for signs. Those who practice superstition are generally wrong, and when they seem right it’s typically a lucky guess. Probability suggests that’s bound to happen. I have my eyes fixed on Jesus, this Lamb, also called the “author and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:1-3). It is only by looking to him that we can truly live in freedom. If we look around for prophetic signs of the end times, we will live in fear and give even greater power to the darkness.