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Daily Radio Bible Podcast
The Center of it All
Today’s readings are Jeremiah 42 – 44, Psalm 48, and Revelation 13. We are reading from the New Living Translation.
We’re told that 666 is the number of a man. A lot has been written about this number – this beast- and it’s easy to get anxious even talking about it. Three 6s – a trinity of numbers, but it’s an unholy trinity. It’s man magnified, exalted, and worshipped. It’s a beastly reality and a stark contrast from the Holy Trinity: the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We’re told that great wisdom is required to understand what these numbers mean and what their ramifications are. I don’t pretend to have that kind of wisdom. But it seems to me that whether it’s the Queen of Heaven that Jeremiah is confronting, or the multi-headed dragon that John describes – the results are the same. When man is deceived by Satan to exalt himself, the results are always monstrous and destruction always follows.
Satan’s great strategy has never really varied, from the beginning in the Garden and this very moment John is describing. Seeds of doubt are sown into the heart’s of men. The love of self and putting man at the center, is offered. A promise is made that one can be like God without God. One can have the knowledge of Good and Evil without God. Man can be at the center. When that happens the monster is born. She may appear at first like an angel of light, a queen of heaven, or a dragon with many heads. It doesn’t matter. The results are just the same.
The Psalms tell of a different way that leads to life and freedom, not destruction; a future and a hope. The Psalmist says,
O God, we meditate on your unfailing love (Ps 48:9 NLT)
Our God is like a fortified wall, a citadel, a beacon. That’s what our God is like, and we will continue to tell it to future generations. Align your heart to his will and purposes; His kingdom and not your own allegiances. Renounce the lie embedded in that number 666 – man exalting and worshipping the self. We worship God and God alone. He alone is at the center.
You are loved!
