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We know scientifically how these things work, but just think about them from the viewpoint of your experience. Even though I know how an eagle flies, a snake slithers, and a ship sails, I do not really understand how they work. I cannot really convert them into how I move my own body. In a similar fashion I have trouble explaining how I love my wife. Yes, sex plays a role in that love, but there is something else to it as well. My love for my wife is different from my love for others in a way that is not fully explained by our sexual relationship.
This psalm will indeed be my prayer. It is only if God will take control of my words and guard what I say that I will be able to truly serve Him. I know that when I control what I say I will say the wrong thing at the wrong time. It is all too easy to drift into evil. I pray that God prevent me from that drift.
It is noteworthy that the first beast will have authority for the same length of time as the two witnesses from Revelation 11. Are the two beasts in authority at the same time that the two witnesses are prophesying? Or do they come later? I am not sure what meaning to ascribe to the two beasts in this passage and I wonder about their relationship to the two witnesses from Revelation 11. The two beasts and the two witnesses are clearly meant to be seen as parallels to each other. The two witnesses are servants of God and the two beasts are in opposition to God.
I am not sure what the meaning of most of the metaphors** in this passage. However, it is important to read this passage and to be familiar with its imagery. What do the seven heads and ten horns of the first beast mean? Is the beast a person? Or an organization? Or a government? What does the wound which appears to be fatal mean? Does it represent a leader who survives an apparently fatal injury? Or does it represent that an organization appeared to be destroyed and comes back from that destruction? Personally, I lean towards the former, but it could be the latter. What is meant by the mark of the beast? Is it some kind of tattoo? Is it some kind of technological device which is implanted in people? Or is it some kind of figurative mark that is not literally visible? My inclination is the second of the three options. Is there a relationship between this mark and the seal which was put on the foreheads of God’s people earlier in Revelation? As I said, there are a lot of questions about the meanings of the things talked about in this passage. It is important to read this passage and be familiar with the imagery which John uses here. When we see things happening which fit the imagery presented here, we need to sit up and take notice.
**Please note that I use the word “metaphors” to describe the imagery here not because I do not believe that these things will happen literally as described but because there is meaning behind the imagery. I do believe that when these things happen it will not be immediately obvious that they are the things described in this passage, even though those who are faithful to God will recognize them as wrong.
I truly believe that this prophecy is a prophecy about the coming of Christ, but it is also a prophecy about the restoration of the nation of Israel. In it Zechariah speaks of a day when people of many nations will join themselves to the Lord and God will count them as His people as well. The prophet continues by speaking of God living among His people. I am convinced that this is a prophecy about the those who follow Christ. Further on the prophet speaks of the high priest of his day being a symbol of things to come. This is a prophecy of the coming of Christ Himself.
Beyond that the prophet also prophesies that the day will come when the people of Jerusalem will number so many that they will live outside of the walls of the city. But they will not need the walls because God will be their protector. Look at the city of Jerusalem today. Large numbers of the people live outside of what once were the walls of Jerusalem. And none of them feel any fear because of living outside of the walls.