If any one has an ear, let him hear.
The whole earth is worshipping the beast, and then one short sentence turns from the crowd to a single person. It is a call to hear that Jesus used often, but with something missing that used to go with it.
The wording here is not new. What is missing from it tells us where we are in the book's timeline.
The formula, "If anyone has an ear, let him hear," is one often used in the ministry of our Lord (Matthew 11:15; Matthew 13:9, 43; Luke 8:8, etc.). It is much the same as the call found in each of the messages to the seven churches (Revelation 2, 3), but shortened. The added clause, "what the Spirit says to the churches," can have no place here, since churches are no longer in existence while these judgments run their course. The call to hear assumes the use of spiritual understanding, as distinct from the natural hearing common to all people.
The call assumes a hearing that goes past the physical. The same summons runs from the Lord's teaching, through the letters to the seven churches, and lands here.
"He who has ears to hear, let him hear" was said by the Lord to His hearers, and to each of the seven churches in Asia, and also said when the beast, representing the future Roman power, is worshipped, signifying that a spiritual discernment was needed to catch the meaning of what was uttered.
The next verse supplies the content. One writer reads it as a rule for everyone, but aimed above all at God's people.
That is a general rule, true of anyone; true even for the beast. If he has been leading others into captivity, he must go into captivity or worse himself... But it is meant above all to guide the saints. They might well conclude, from the wickedness of the beast and his alliance with the dragon, that they were free to resist him. That, I believe, is why this is said: so that the saint is not tempted to forget his place, or God's supremacy and sure judgment. Their place was not to take the sword in their own defence.
The same words also bring relief to people being hunted. But the comfort is unlike what a Christian would expect today, and one writer sets it beside Stephen, who prayed for the men persecuting him.
Anyone who can tell the difference between God's ways in government and God's ways in grace will see at once how such words fit the first and differ from the second. Stephen had to do with God's ways in grace. He was praying for the men persecuting him. What comfort would it have been to tell him that they would be stoned? Here, though, we are in a different period of God's dealings, tied to His ways in government. So the promise given to His saints is that their persecutor will soon be destroyed.
Force is not open to them. What remains is endurance, and it follows a pattern.
Human resistance by force was not the path of obedience. Here the patience and faith of the saints were shown. Whoever took the sword would perish by it. Taking the sword is never Christ's way; His way is patience that does not fight back. But the beast, who did take the sword, would perish.
Their situation looks like defeat. One writer names the rule behind it, and where it leaves them.
This lays down a principle that applies to the beast and to God's saints in every age — to enemies and friends alike... It is the certainty of retributive justice, or in the words of Scripture, "with the measure you use it will be measured to you" (Matthew 7:2). Whoever leads into captivity must go into captivity himself. Whoever kills must himself be killed... They would not worship the beast, but neither were they to resist him, so captivity and death would be their sad lot. Well, be it so; they had a life beyond the utmost power of the enemy. Their names were written in the Lamb's book of life. No power in hell or earth could erase that writing, or rob them of their eternal portion, which rests on the death of the Lamb of God.
The summons is open-ended. Anyone with an ear is included, which makes the choice between two settlements a present one.
Others are urged to hear if they have an ear to do so (v. 9). People should take to heart what a serious folly this is. They would rather settle down in a corrupted and corrupting world than take hold of the freeing grace of the Lord Jesus, with its eternal blessings in heaven.
- Hear — Jesus used this call often. Here it is cut short: no churches are on earth in that day, so the words about the Spirit and the churches drop away.
- Discern — The ear in view is spiritual understanding, not the natural hearing everyone has. It catches what is really being said while the earth worships the beast.
- Restrain — What the hearer catches first is a limit on himself. God's people are not to take up the sword against the beast, even in self-defence.
- Trust — The measure the persecutor uses will be measured back to him. That is God's government, and it holds the saints steady while they wait.
- Endure — What is left is patience that does not fight back, Christ's own way. Captivity or death may follow, but names written in the Lamb's book of life cannot be erased.
If any one [leads] into captivity, he goes into captivity. If any one shall kill with [the] sword, he must with [the] sword be killed. Here is the endurance and the faith of the saints.
Revelation 13 has just described a world-empire that blasphemes God and makes war on His people. Now the verse turns to the reader with two questions: what happens to the persecutor, and what should the persecuted do while he still rules?
(Older translations read the first half as "he that leads into captivity shall go into captivity," and end with "here is the patience and the faith of the saints." Several writers quoted below use that older wording; the ESV reads "if anyone is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes.")
The call to listen echoes a phrase from the letters to the seven churches, but part of it is missing. One writer explains what was dropped and why.
The formula, "If any one has an ear, let him hear," is one our Lord often used in His ministry (Matthew 11:15; Matthew 13:9, 43; Luke 8:8, and others). It is much the same as the one found in each of the letters to the seven churches (Revelation 2, 3), only shorter. The added clause, "what the Spirit says to the churches," could not apply here. Churches are no longer in existence while these judgments run their course. The call to hear assumes spiritual understanding, not the natural hearing common to all people.
The first half of the verse states a rule that binds the persecutor as surely as it binds anyone else.
A great principle runs through all this working and character of the beast on earth: "he that leads into captivity shall go there." So it will be with him. But God will not depart from His principles. Whoever uses oppressing power will be oppressed. The Lord will judge it, wherever it is found: "he that kills with the sword shall be killed with the sword."
The measuring rule the persecutor uses is the one he will be measured by.
It is the certainty of retributive justice, or in the words of Scripture, "with the measure you use it will be measured to you" (Matthew 7:2). Whoever leads into captivity must himself go into it. Whoever kills must himself be killed.
The words state a general rule, but their sharp edge points at God's people. Facing a ruler allied with the dragon, they might well think they were free to fight back.
That is a general rule, true of anyone, true even of the beast... But it is meant above all to guide the saints. Seeing the wickedness of the beast and his league with the dragon, they might naturally conclude that they were free to resist him... Their place was not to take the sword in their own defence. If they did, what would be the result? Even then, whatever their character, whatever the beast's, God would hold to His principles. They must expect what they sought to inflict... If He lets him have his way for a season, what is our calling? "Here is the patience and the faith of the saints" — faith towards God, and patience towards the enemy.
The same rule that condemns the oppressor would condemn a believer who copies him.
What we read in verse 10 is a principle for Christians. The character of the patience and of the faith of the saints is not to resist at all. This is true at all times. If anyone will use the weapons of the flesh, he shall be made subject to them. Whoever draws the sword shall perish by the sword.
Telling a sufferer that his enemy will be destroyed is one kind of comfort. It was not the comfort given to Stephen while he prayed for his persecutors.
Anyone who can tell God's ways in government from God's ways in grace will see at once how these words fit the first and differ from the second. Stephen had to do with God's ways in grace. What comfort would it have been to him, while he prayed for his persecutors, to tell him that they would be stoned? Here, though, we are in a different period of God's dealings, tied to His ways in government. So the promise given to His saints is that their persecutor will soon be destroyed.
The verse ends by naming what the saints are to do. Their pattern is Christ Himself.
In the middle of this tribulation like no other, the saints must take the attitude of "unresisting patience." It was the attitude of our Lord Himself. When the hour of man and the power of darkness had come, He allowed Himself to be "brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opens not His mouth." The faith and patience of the saints would show in their confidence in God, and in their meek endurance of the fiery trial they would have to pass through.
Refusing to fight leaves them defenceless in one sense only.
They must not resist. Their weapons are not of the flesh, but spiritual... Only in this way can they triumph. Their victories are moral and spiritual, not physical. Helpless and hopeless, their resource is in God Himself. The Beast they would not worship, but on the other hand they must not resist, so captivity and death would be their sad lot. Well, be it so; they had a life beyond the utmost power of the enemy. Their names were written in the Lamb's book of life, and no power in hell or earth could erase the writing.
- Hear — the call to listen is the one from the letters to the churches, only shorter. Those churches are no longer in existence during these judgments.
- Measure — the oppressor is judged by his own rule. Whoever leads into captivity goes into captivity. Whoever kills is killed.
- Restrain — the same rule warns the saints. Take up the sword against the beast, and you invite the sword back on yourself.
- Endure — their calling is faith towards God and patience towards the enemy, the attitude of Christ Himself.
- Keep — their victories are moral, not physical. The enemy can take their lives, but he cannot erase their names from the Lamb's book of life.