Revelation 12

This week we discussed the story in Revelation with the woman, the child, the dragon, and the war in heaven with the angels. The woman represents humanity, and the child who is given birth is Jesus. The dragon represents Satan, and the powers and principalities of this earth. In the story, the Son "sheperds all nations", while the dragon tries to lead the earth astray. The dragon is thrown down while the son is raised up, and the woman (humanity/God's people?) are kept safe in the end though the dragon tries to drown them.

There are several things that I latched onto as we discussed. The first is that the dragon tried to raise himself up and was thrown down, and that Jesus descended before he ascended which respresented a choice of humility and servanthood over pride and haughtiness. Sam pointed out some scriptures in Colossians? in which Paul pointed out that it was God who raised Jesus to the highest place. I also think about Jesus' message to his disciples that the first shall be last and the last shall be first. I think of how often I seek to be recognized when what is needed is to fade in to the background and allow God to work. In the heavenly economy, it's the servant of others who is in the highest place.

There was also lots of discussion about bringing how we divide the secular and the spiritual. During the Enlightenment, there was a movement toward trusting science and technology to arrive at the truth while relegating religion to a separate sphere resulting in our faith being taken out of the marketplace of ideas and relevancy to the problems of the day. However, our faith is central to the issues of our day. Moreover, we should not separate the mundane of everyday life from the spiritual, for Jesus is not in the stained glass and the monasteries and the mountaintops any more than he is in our relationships, or our everyday routines, our finances, and in the power structures of our society. We must make Jesus central to all of life, and not put 'religion' into a separate sphere.

There was also a discussion of the principalities, and powers (Ephesians 6). Sam pointed out that these powers are not just spiritual (again, an effect of the dualism which separates the sacred and the secular), but real, tangible, and earthly. The powers and principalities seem to refer to government, business, or any other group that possesses authority here on earth. I'm glad this was brought up since it becomes too easy to make things into a whole discussion on spiritual warfare, angels and demons. It's the reason for the phrase, "so heavenly focused that they are of no earthly good.' I think our understanding of all of this has to do with bringing our faith to bear on our everyday lives through prayer and action. Furthermore (this may just be me going off on a tangent), another way I think we can avoid being complicit with the 'powers and principalities' is through the local and through community. I have more to say on that, but I have no more time....