01 June 2025

01 June 2025 - 7th Sunday of Easter

Transcript

Reading:  

Revelation 9:7-11

Write:  

The appearance of the locusts was like that of horses ready for battle. On their heads they wore what looked like crowns of gold; their faces were like human faces, and they had hair like women’s hair. Their teeth were like lions’ teeth, and they had chests like iron breastplates. The sound of their wings was like the sound of many horse-drawn chariots racing into battle. They had tails like scorpions, with stingers; with their tails they had power to harm people for five months. They had as their king the angel of the abyss…

Reflect:   

I said last week I was going to tell you how helicopters showed up in the book of Revelation. This is the verse that it shows up in. I also told you at the beginning of the series about a book written in the nineteen seventies called “The Late Great Planet Earth” written by a man named Hal Lindsay. I do not recommend reading it, even though I read it back in those days (before I considered being a priest). It was a rather weird book, written by a man trying to force a description of Revelation into a modern-day explanation because he was convinced we were on the brink of the return of Christ before the new millennium.

So, he said that the above quote from chapter nine described a helicopter. How? Crowns of gold could simply be the sun glinting off of a metal frame. The face like a human – well, there had to be a pilot. The hair like a woman’s hair – how else do you describe the rotors of helicopter? Teeth? Gun turrets. And helicopters are noisy! The tails like scorpions – the tail rotor of helicopters, that have a tail rotor, might seem as though it were a scorpion’s tail. You see. I told you it’s really kind of strange the way some people tried to force feed a description for their own agendas. This is what made the book of Revelation scary to so many people

I talked about the dragon last weekend with seven heads and ten horns. But let me repeat my comment: the seven heads was an attempt to mock God by Satan. Seven: remember that number. The ten horns were an attempt to claim power – but we know he has no power compared to Christ – repeat no power. He makes us think he has some power to keep us intimidated and worried and distracted from what we are called to be as the children of God. But, remember who wins. I think a lot of the imagery in John’s visions can be overlooked. They are distractions from the core of what Revelation is trying to tell us.

All the descriptions of all the beasts that are part of “team Satan” fail in what they are trying to accomplish. They can do nothing but fail. God is in control and that is the ultimate message of the entire book of Revelation, and the frustration of the devil. Oh, yes, they do appear to deceive many people. But the holy ones of God – the saints – us – cannot be deceived, if we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.

Now I want to move on to another verse that has likewise caused much consternation among many people.

Reading:  

Revelation 13:18

Write:  

Wisdom is needed here; one who understands can calculate the number of the beast, for it is a number that stands for a person. His number is six hundred and sixty-six.

Reflect:   

When I pulled into the parking lot at St. Joan of Arc for the Tuesday Mass, my odometer read 17,666 miles. Oh, no!...

This has to do with a particular name of a particular person in a particular time around the time in which Revelation was written. Here’s how it works.

If you assign a number to every letter of the alphabet: a is one, B is two, etc. and then spell out the name Caesar Nero with the numbers instead of the letters, and add up all the numbers, guess what number you come up with? Six hundred and sixty-six! But, Hal Lindsay was not to be outdone. To paraphrase him, (it’s been over fifty years since I read his book) he tried to attach this mystical number to someone alive in modern days. The person he chose was Zbigniew Brzezinski – I think he was the national security advisor for President Reagan. I have not tried to add up letters and numbers to find out if that name equals six hundred and sixty-six. But it goes to show how silly some people can be when they try to force their definition of something onto Scripture.

A couple more points on this. It is true that there are a few – a few – predictive prophecies in the Bible. But predicting the future is not what Bible prophecy is all about. Let me repeat that: predicting the future is not what Bible prophecy is all about. That is why Hal Lindsay’s book is such a mess. Bible prophecy is about encouraging people to follow the faith. Yes, there are some predictive prophecies. But the majority of the Bible and the book of Revelation is not about predicting something yet to come. It is exhorting the people, encouraging the people to seek out worship of God. Why John was led to do so with such strange visions and stories is probably tied up with the amount of persecution that the church in his day was going through. He had to write in a code that would be understood by Christians, but would cause major confusion for someone who was not Christian and did not understand. Let me repeat that: he had to write in a code that would be understood by Christians, but would cause major confusion for someone who was not Christian and did not understand.

People that get caught up in trying to make Revelation a prediction of something yet to happen are no better off than the pagans in John’s day who tried to read Revelation and make sense of it.

Another point. We have to go back to the Gospels. Do you remember when Peter asked Jesus how many times he must forgive his brother? Peter asked seven times. Jesus said no, seven times seventy times. Well, that is not four hundred and ninety. You cannot say: I forgave you four hundred and eighty-nine times. You get one more and then I’m through with you.

No, Peter was asking Jesus if he had to remain in a covenant relationship with his brother regardless of what was going on – thus the seven times (I told you: remember that number). Jesus said to Peter, and to us, you have to go to the maximum of what a covenant means. In other words, there are never too many times that we must forgive someone. Just look at your own life and how many times Jesus has forgiven you.

Yes, there is prudence. And it may be a case where, though you have forgiven someone, you cannot let them hang around you anymore. We still have to forgive, but we do not have to put ourselves in danger, physically or spiritually.

So, whether it is seven times seventy or seven hundred and seventy-seven, God is speaking about maintaining ourselves in a covenant relationship… with him. So instead of seven hundred and seventy-seven, those who are fighting God settle for six hundred and sixty-six! They fail to come into a covenant with God.

The book of Revelation also talks about how those who are following Satan will have that tattooed in some way on their hand and their forehead.

Well, we now go back to the Gospels. Do you remember Jesus talking about phylacteries? They were little boxes with Scripture that Jews would tie on their wrist or on their forehead in response to a line from Deuteronomy that said you are to keep God’s word ever in front of you. Well, the opposite of that would be to put the number six hundred sixty-six in front of you. It is a way of studying how to do things against God’s will. It is a way of studying how to do evil. Can you say... studying how to cheat on your taxes? Whoops!

So this ends my series on the book of Revelation. The primary parts of the story are: 1) Jesus is the victorious King of Kings and Lord of Lords; 2) Mary is the Ark of the Covenant and is the Queen of Heaven and Earth; 3) we are called to pray and the book of Revelation is about worship of God; 4) the devil tries to mock God, but he fails; 5) the beastly visions are really comical; 6) yes, we are in a battle and the martyrs of the church are greatly praised in heaven; 7) [you knew I had to have seven points, right?] With God… we win! Amen.

Obviously, there is much more that could be said about the book of Revelation. And there are some Catholic writers who have tried to explain it. One of the best books is “The Lamb's Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth” by Dr. Scott Hahn.

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