Sharing Power Vs Giving Up Power

Last night after a strange dream I had a minor epiphany. I solved a problem in Biblical interpretation I've had for a while, concerning the Book of Revelation, which has been for a year and a half a constant source of contemplation and investigation for me.

It has always bothered me that satan seems to share his power with other beings in the Book of Revelation. I see the primary dichotomy in the Book as being between the Lamb Slain, which is vulnerable love incarnate verses the beasts, which represent power and control. People almost naturally worship glory, power, money, everything that gives one control and protects them from harm. But the Lamb is pure vulnerability, weak, seemingly nothing, and yet containing with him the True Divine Power. The Lamb's power is superior but paradoxical, the beasts power is false, but straightforward.

But the beasts power comes from satan. The devil summons the beasts and shares his power and authority with them. This image bothers me. I think of Lord of the Rings: "There is only one lord of the ring, and he does not share power." The image of the devil sharing power seems antithetical to what I understand to be his nature. Last nigh it hit me though, that until the very end of the book God is all but unmoving. God's power is completely DIVESTED in other beings. God does not exert His power to punish the empires of the earth. Nor does He engage in battle with the devil. Rather the power of God is controlled and contained by other beings and things. God's power is hidden within a scroll that only His agent, the Lamb, can open. The horsemen and the angels are given authority over the plagues, and over those they are sent to do battle with. Even humans are given a part of God's authority. The Two Witnesses in Chapter 11 are given a kind of divine control over nature, especially the weather.

The devil remains a player throughout the book. It is involved in all that happens along the way. In chapter 16, all three of the evil beings: both beasts and satan, summon demons to cover the earth. The devil can share power, but only so far as it increases his ability to control. Power can be shared, but it cannot be divested as God does. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I feel the image of God in Revelation is concomitant with the process theology I am so fond of. For while all power derives from God, control over that power is in the hands of created beings, the Lamb being the possible exception. This might make some sense of the trinity as well.

I think of God's power as being empowering. God's power is to make others more powerful, freer. They only use that power properly when they use it for the same ends. But such a use of power could never be a case of God gaining more control. The devil may share power for his purposes. But he would never give the gift of empowering and freedom that God does. More on this later today.