This perspective on the situation is important in many ways, not least because readers of Revelation sometimes think that the Roman empire (and perhaps its similar imperial descendents) is evil and worthy of opposition because it persecutes the church. But Richard Bauckham rightly insists that “it is not simply because Rome persecutes Christians that Christians must oppose Rome. Rather it is because Christians must disassociate themselves from the evil of the Roman system that they are likely to suffer persecution.”3
