I found the first half of Revelation 13 to be a hard read. It talks about one of the weapons Satan uses, that of political powers. Verse 7 talks about the beast conquering the church, and verse 10 about believers being taken into captivity and killed by the sword. The last half of verse 10 then came as quite a surprise:
This calls for...
for what? Taking up your own sword, fighting back, giving as good as you get? No!
This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness
on the part of God's people.
I found this breathtaking! I know it's true, but when it's written in such stark contrast with the awful things evil does to the church it's quite something to read and so very counter cultural (especially where we're living where violence breeds violence, and revenge is a given). Whatever the state does to believers, they are called to "overcome evil with good" (Romans 12.21) and Jesus said to Peter, "Put your sword back in it's place, for all who draw the sword will die by the sword." (Matt 26.52) It makes me think that Revelation 13.10 is a helpful verse when dealing with children who want to pay back their siblings when they have been wronged- God calls for patient endurance and faithfulness, not responding in kind.
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