20.08.2025
Saint Francis
The Gift of Discernment amid False Teachings
Revelation Series Part 5
Sermon for August 10, 2025
9th Sunday after Pentecost – Pr. Bea Chun, St. Francis Lutheran Church
Grace to you and peace
from the One who is,
and the One who was,
and the One
who is to come.
Welcome back to our sermon series on the Book of Revelation.
Today is Part 5 of the series.
We have spent the previous Sundays
hearing about the beauty, order, power, and majesty of God's reign;
the endless worship of angels, elders, saints,
and a multitude too great to number.
We also learned about the writer John,
who was banished to the island of Patmos.
We learned about the seven churches —
where they were located,
what their circumstances might have been.
We traveled back in time quite a bit
and imagined the sights, sounds, and circumstances
of the first readers to whom this book of Revelation might have been addressed.
And all along you have been asking me:
“Pastor Bea,
when are you going to talk about all the horrible things in Revelation,
all the scary visions,
all the frightening images?
When are you going to talk about that?”
Well, today is the day!
Today we have landed in chapter 13,
where we encounter
the Beast from the Sea (verses 1–10),
the Beast from the Earth (verses 11–18),
and also the dragon.
The dragon is mentioned only in passing,
so briefly you might not even catch it —
but the dragon is behind everything.
The dragon is how the two beasts get their power;
it is a stand-in for Satan.
The dragon is the ultimate source of evil authority,
the cosmic adversary empowering the beasts to oppose God’s people.
Through the beasts, the dragon exercises political and religious oppression.
But before I say more about this,
let me say a few words about the concept of the dragon itself.
You may or may not know that I have many Chinese family members —
my last name is Chun, which might give you a hint.
From my Chinese family members,
I have learned a deep reverence for the Chinese dragon (龙, lóng).
In Chinese culture,
the dragon is a powerful, auspicious, and positive symbol,
representing strength, wisdom, good fortune,
cosmic order, vitality, and protection.
To be born in the Year of the Dragon
is to be born in the best of all years!
Each year, the Chinese New Year
is greeted with the joyful dragon dance
to welcome a year of happiness and prosperity.
In contrast, the biblical dragon —
the one we meet in the Book of Revelation —
is a symbol of chaos and evil.
For myself, I have separated these two dragons.
They are not the same for me.
I enjoy the positive Chinese dragon tradition,
and I separate it from the satanic dragon described
in the Book of Revelation.
So today, we encounter this satanic dragon,
or rather, we encounter the henchmen of this dragon.
We encounter in our reading:
first, the Beast from the Sea,
with its ten horns and seven heads,
and all those blasphemous names on its heads,
and then the Beast from the Earth,
who has two horns like a lamb but speaks like a dragon,
and who makes all the inhabitants of the earth worship
the Beast from the Sea.
These beasts have been the subject of countless speculations.
They have appeared in countless paintings,
so gruesome and terrifying
that one gets nightmares just from looking at them.
They have inspired countless novels —
from fundamentalist fiction to cyberpunk stories.
People have wondered:
What is this all about?
Is this a nightmare?
A prophecy?
A foretelling of the future?
Will there be a time when we encounter these beasts?
When will that time come?
My response to this is:
This time is already here,
and it has always been with us.
The people in Gaza — they are encountering
the beast right now!
So do the people in
Sudan,
Syria,
Yemen,
Myanmar,
Afghanistan,
the Central African Republic,
and many other places
where unspeakable heartache occurs.
So, let me take a moment
and tell you more about these places.
Gaza:
This weighs particularly heavy on my mind:
the ongoing blockade and military operations
have caused a huge humanitarian crisis,
loss of life, and extreme hardship.
Food is so scarce now,
and children are dying of starvation every day,
that every time there is a food drop,
people rush forward like mad
to get hold of just a little bit of that food.
In recent months, there were only four distribution sites —
only four sites,
backed by the US
and coordinated by the Israeli military.
It is no wonder that with so much desperate hunger
and so few distribution sites,
there would, of course, be a stampede of people
trying to get food.
Imagine the father of a little girl
who is at the brink of starvation —
would he not do everything to get a cup of flour
or a little bag of rice?
But the Israeli military could not control these desperate crowds
and began shooting at them.
And in this way,
according to a report
released by Human Rights Watch on August 1, 2025,
more than 800 Palestinians were killed
just in the last two months —
while they were trying to get food.
These are deaths in addition to all the other deaths
from military action.
And here I have to take a moment
to say how very proud I am to be a Lutheran
because of our church’s bold response to these horrors.
You may have heard that the ELCA recently gathered
in Phoenix, AZ, for a Churchwide Assembly.
The Churchwide Assembly is the highest
legislative and decision-making body of our church.
It meets every three years to make major policy decisions,
pass resolutions, and set the direction of the church.
And during this assembly in Phoenix, AZ,
just two weeks ago,
the Lutheran Church passed a resolution regarding Palestine and Israel.
This resolution
calls for members of the ELCA
“to advocate for human rights
and a just peace for Palestinians and Israelis
by supporting policies that end the occupation.
To join the World Council of Churches
in calling for an immediate end to the mass killing in Gaza.
To urge the Office of the Presiding Bishop
to petition U.S. leaders to recognize and act to end the genocide against Palestinians,
halt military aid to Israel used in Gaza,
and support Palestinian statehood and U.N. membership.
To reject forced displacement and settler violence.
To promote prayerful engagement and solidarity
with those working for justice and peace.”
This resolution passed overwhelmingly,
with a vote of 742 to 38.
It makes me very proud to be a member of this church.
Because yes,
the people in Palestine,
they know the beast!
They experience it every day,
and we must stand with them.
And what about Sudan (and South Sudan)?
This is a place of great violence and oppression.
Years of civil war, ethnic conflict,
famine, and political instability
have displaced millions and caused massive suffering.
It has caused the greatest number of refugees in the world.
So yes, the people of Sudan are certainly familiar with the beast.
And so are the people of Syria.
In Syria, a decade-long civil war
has devastated the country,
with millions killed or displaced.
The war includes sectarian violence,
foreign interventions, and humanitarian disasters.
And then there is Yemen,
which so rarely makes the news,
and which is the site
of a brutal ongoing civil war,
with widespread famine,
disease, and destruction devastating the civilian population.
There is Myanmar,
where the Rohingya Muslim minority faces relentless persecution
and ethnic cleansing, with hundreds of thousands displaced.
There is Afghanistan,
which continues in violence
and political turmoil,
where repression of women
and minorities creates daily insecurity and hardship.
And there is northern Nigeria,
where insurgency by Boko Haram and other militant groups
spreads terror, displacement, and severe humanitarian needs.
And on and on it goes.
And here, in the United States,
in the prison system,
every year
there are between 1,200 and 1,600 deaths
that have no specific explanation.
Surely, these prisoners —
often forgotten and out of sight —
they have seen the beast as well!
Many Bible researchers have identified the
Beast from the Sea as the Roman Empire
with its oppressive imperial power.
The ten horns symbolize complete political authority —
the kind of authority you find in a totalitarian regime.
This Beast from the Sea
is assisted by the Beast from the Earth —
a beast that has two horns like a lamb but speaks like a dragon.
Meaning it looks like a lamb, but its speech and actions are evil.
It uses lies and propaganda to deceive people.
It acts as a false prophet,
and forces people into compliance
or else they will have to face economic hardship:
“It causes all, both small and great,
both rich and poor, both free and slave,
to be given a mark on the right hand or the forehead,
so that no one can buy or sell who does not have the mark.”
(Revelation 13:16-17)
And that mark, which everyone must carry,
is associated with the number 666.
And what does 666 mean?
It means utter imperfection.
The number 7 is the number for perfection;
the number 6 means falling short of perfection;
and triple six means falling utterly short of perfection —
or being pure evil.
So, what am I saying here?
The dragon, the beasts, and other fearsome features
we encounter in the Book of Revelation—
they have always been with us.
They were the menace to the first Christians
to whom John wrote the Book of Revelation.
And in every age,
people have suffered unspeakable ills
at the hands of great evil powers.
And people are suffering still!
These powers are greater than what human beings
can overcome.
They cannot be corrected with reforms,
or eliminated with improved conditions,
or defeated by our tireless humanitarian efforts.
Although
we should never give up our efforts,
because they are an expression of love
and of solidarity with the victims.
So we should never give up,
and never stand by silently.
At the same time, we should be
under no illusion
that evil of this magnitude
can be overcome by efforts and good deeds alone.
Only God can overcome such evil.
God can and God will.
Our task is to trust in God,
have faith,
persevere,
not listen to the lies of the evil powers,
not be seduced by them,
or collaborate with them,
but be steadfast in our faith,
clear-eyed about our choices,
and discerning about where our loyalties lie.
And so, my prayer for us
in these turbulent times is this:
May we receive the gift of discernment from our God,
to recognize the forces that seek to divide and destroy,
to stand firm in faith and hope,
to come alongside the suffering victims
and to walk boldly in the way of justice, love, and peace.
For though the beasts rage and the dragon roars,
we belong to the One who has overcome all evil.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
The text: Revelation 13:1-18
The Beast and the Dragon
And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, and on its horns were ten diadems, and on its heads were blasphemous names. And the beast that I saw was like a leopard, its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. And the dragon gave it his power and his throne and great authority. One of its heads seemed to have received a death blow, but its fatal wound had been healed. In amazement the whole earth followed the beast. They worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?”
The beast was given a mouth speaking arrogant and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months. It opened its mouth to speak blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. Also, it was allowed to wage war on the saints and to conquer them. It was given authority over every tribe and people and language and nation, and all the inhabitants of the earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that was slaughtered.
Let anyone who has an ear listen:
If you are to be taken captive,
into captivity you go;
if you kill with the sword,
with the sword you must be killed.
Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.
The Second Beast
Then I saw another beast that rose out of the earth; it had two horns like a lamb, and it spoke like a dragon. It exercises all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and it makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in the sight of all, and by the signs that it is allowed to perform on behalf of the beast it deceives the inhabitants of earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that had been wounded by the sword and yet lived, and it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast so that the image of the beast could even speak and cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. Also, it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be given a brand on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell who does not have the brand, that is, the name of the beast or the number for its name. This calls for wisdom: let anyone with understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number for a person. Its number is six hundred sixty-six.
