Revelation: Overcomers Part 1

I have a mark on my forehead that few people notice today.  The scar has faded over time.  I got it when my brother and I were horsing around, and I hit my head on the corner of the TV.  But when I look at that scar, I don’t remember any pain.  I only remember my older brother helping me, carrying me across the road, through deep snow to our neighbor’s house for help.  I remember the kindness of our neighbor who cleaned my wound and put a bandage on it.  When I look at the mark on my forehead, I only think of love.

The Bible says that God’s people bear a mark on their forehead that identifies them as His beloved.  We first read about it in Ezekiel 9:4, but the theme is picked up in Revelation 7:2-3:

And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God; and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads.”

People who haven’t even read the book of Revelation have heard of the Mark of the Beast, a sign on the forehead that identifies people who worship the Antichrist, but few people know that the Redeemed have a mark on their foreheads as well.  This invisible, spiritual mark identifies God’s people as His own.  This seal is Jesus’ stamp of approval for all who put their trust in Him, who overcome “because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, [who] did not love their life even when faced with death.” (Rev 12.11)

The first generation of Christians who received John’s book of Revelation took heart when they read about God’s seal upon them.  Not only did it remind them of a king’s signet, but it also spoke of preservation.  Just as a seal keeps contaminants out of food, so the Holy Spirit keeps believers from the spiritual toxins of the world.  This dual-purposed seal gives Christians both the protection and the authority of Almighty God—something that we need when we face tribulation.

Christians knew a lot about persecution by the time John wrote about his apocalyptic vision.  They were persecuted by Jewish leaders and from Emperor Nero, who had blamed them for the burning of Rome in the summer of 64 A.D. Likely, Nero himself had started fires in the quarters near his palace so he could expand his own property, but the flames had gotten out of control.  As a cover-up, Nero made Christians his political scapegoats.  Fox’s Book of Martyrs describes Nero’s persecution as follows:

Nero even refined upon cruelty, and contrived all manner of punishments for the Christians that the most infernal imagination could design. In particular, he had some sewed up in skins of wild beasts, and then worried by dogs until they expired; and others dressed in shirts made stiff with wax, fixed to axletrees, and set on fire in his gardens, in order to illuminate them. This persecution was general throughout the whole Roman Empire; but it rather increased than diminished the spirit of Christianity. In the course of it, St. Paul and St. Peter were martyred. 

To their names may be added, Erastus, chamberlain of Corinth; Aristarchus, the Macedonian, and Trophimus, an Ephesians, converted by St. Paul, and fellow-laborer with him, Joseph, commonly called Barsabas, and Ananias, bishop of Damascus; each of the Seventy. 

Emperor Domitian began his persecution of Christians in A.D. He required that subjects address him as “Lord and God,” and Christians naturally refused to obey.  Foxe’s Book of Martyrs says:

The emperor Domitian, who was naturally inclined to cruelty, first slew his brother, and then raised the second persecution against the Christians. In his rage he put to death some of the Roman senators, some through malice; and others to confiscate their estates. He then commanded all the lineage of David be put to death.

Among the numerous martyrs that suffered during this persecution was Simeon, bishop of Jerusalem, who was crucified; and St. John, who was boiled in oil, and afterward banished to Patmos. Flavia, the daughter of a Roman senator, was likewise banished to Pontus; and a law was made, “That no Christian, once brought before the tribunal, should be exempted from punishment without renouncing his religion…

Dionysius, the Areopagite, was an Athenian by birth, and educated in all the useful and ornamental literature of Greece. He then travelled to Egypt to study astronomy, and made very particular observations on the great and supernatural eclipse, which happened at the time of our Savior’s crucifixion. The sanctity of his conversation and the purity of his manners recommended him so strongly to the Christians in general, that he was appointed bishop of Athens. Nicodemus, a benevolent Christian of some distinction, suffered at Rome during the rage of Domitian’s persecution.  Protasius and Gervasius were martyred at Milan.  Timothy was the celebrated disciple of St. Paul, and bishop of Ephesus, where he zealously governed the Church until A.D. 97. At this period, as the pagans were about to celebrate a feast called Catagogion, Timothy, meeting the procession, severely reproved them for their ridiculous idolatry, which so exasperated the people that they fell upon him with their clubs, and beat him in so dreadful a manner that he expired of the bruises two days later.

John himself had been boiled in oil because of his testimony.  Having miraculously survived, it was assumed that he could not be killed so he was exiled to Patmos.  There, he wrote this book of Revelation to encourage those who similarly suffered for Christ.  Christians were marked with Jesus’ stamp of approval.  Even if they were not protected physically, they were preserved for eternity by the Holy Spirit’s seal.    To be continued next week . . .