November 12: THE RISE OF ATHEISM
When they finish their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them. Revelation 11:7
In the context of history, the phrase when they finish their testimony refers to the closing years of the one thousand two hundred and sixty (v.3) prophetic days – literal years – of darkness. The testimony of God’s Word had been suppressed by the institutional church. God’s word wore sackcloth during the Dark Ages, while false teachings about God imposed by the papal apostasy had effectively obscured His loving character and the way of salvation. Another political power, a beast, arose out of the chaos. People were so put off by the teachings of the false church (supposedly preaching the Bible) that they did not want anything to do with the wicked God portrayed by the church. The political power that arose out of the bottomless pit at this time was atheism. The French Revolution came upon the scene in full force by 1789, accompanied by a tidal wave of sexual immorality and a loud public denouncement of God. Bibles were banned, and the people were ordered to round up Bibles to be burned in the streets of Paris. The burning of Bibles spread rapidly to other cities across France. All this was done in the name of “Liberty.” The grand closing of the Dark Ages came in 1798 when Napoleon ordered his general, Berthier, to remove the pope from his throne at the Vatican in Rome, the counterfeit “holy city.” In the eyes of the onlooking world, this seemed a deadly wound (Revelation 13:3) to the papacy.
Across Europe, all eyes were on France. Within the French borders, it was a fearful time. No one could trust anyone. Neighbors, even family members, would turn in the names of those suspected of not supporting the new political movement. Public beheadings at the guillotine occurred by the thousands.
And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified (v.8). In the original Greek, the phrase translated their dead bodies is actually “the dead body of them”, once again illustrating the single entity of God’s word: body, just as it speaks with a single mouth (v.5). Many elevated Paris as a great city to be looked up to; but God’s Spirit revealed to John a place of gross immorality, as Sodom (Jude 7) had been. This condition was a direct consequence of the failure to know God; just as Egypt came to symbolize atheism under the leadership of Pharaoh, who said: “Who is the LORD, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, nor will I let Israel go” (Exodus 5:2). The territory under the control of the atheistic beast manifested the spiritual characteristics of great cities mentioned in the Bible that stood in opposition to God: wickedness and moral degradation of Sodom, the atheistic arrogance of Egypt, and the rebelliousness of Jerusalem.
The rejection of the Lord is always a forerunner to disaster. Even those who profess to follow Him must stay close to Him through the study of His word and prayer. This is the only way to incorporate the true and resist the counterfeit, all the way through to the day of His coming!
“At that day you will know that I am in the Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” John 14:20-21