Last week we began looking at Revelation 12-14, which describes the Great War between Satan and
the people of God. We learned in Revelation 12:1-17 that the church is
engaged in a war that has been raging since creation began and we ended with
the understanding that although this war has already been won (at the cross), it is not yet over. Revelation 13:1-18 picks up with how
Satan wages this war against God’s people.
All of the material in these three chapters is
meant to call the church to persevere
in the Great War. It is meant to call
believers to be faithful warriors in
the greatest conflict the world has ever seen.
Revelation 13 is actually a
wonderful example of a chapter where there are a lot of details that people can
and do get lost in. The passage about
the mark of the beast here is probably the most famous and most abused passage
in all of Revelation! I say a wonderful
example though because in the midst of those details, the major point of the
chapter is clearly stated: to call believers to endurance, faith, and wisdom,
or to use language stated earlier, to call the church to persevere (13:9-10,18). This chapter neatly divides into two parts,
with verses 1-10 containing a vision of a beast from the sea and verses 11-18
containing a vision of a beast from the earth.
Each of these sections ends with a pause for reflection in which John
shares the purpose of the vision. Revelation 13:9-10 states the purpose
of the first vision is to call the church to endurance and faith. Revelation
13:18 states the purpose of the second vision is to call the church to wisdom.
So the question we asked in chapter 12 is the question we need to ask
again in chapter 13: how can we be faithful warriors in this great
conflict?
[13:1] And
I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten
diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads. [2] And the beast
that I saw was like a leopard; its feet were like a bear's, and its mouth was
like a lion's mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and
great authority. [3] One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but
its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled as they followed the
beast. [4] And they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority
to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and
who can fight against it?” [5] And the beast was given a mouth uttering
haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for
forty-two months. [6] It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against
God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven.
[7] Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And
authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation,
[8] and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has
not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the
Lamb who was slain. [9] If anyone has an ear, let him hear: [10] If
anyone is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes; if anyone is to be slain
with the sword, with the sword must he be slain. Here is a call for the endurance
and faith of the saints.
[11] Then
I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and
it spoke like a dragon. [12] It exercises all the authority of the first
beast in its presence, and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the
first beast, whose mortal wound was healed. [13] It performs great signs,
even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people,
[14] and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the
beast it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for
the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived. [15] And it was
allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the
beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of
the beast to be slain. [16] Also it causes all, both small and great, both
rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the
forehead, [17] so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that
is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. [18] This calls for
wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast,
for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666. (Revelation
13 ESV)
I.
The Church Must Know Her Enemy and Their Tactics
a.
The Enemies
The first enemy that we need to pay attention to
in this chapter is the Dragon (13:2,4). In Revelation
12:9 we learned the identity of the dragon: he is “that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver
of the whole world.” I point him out
first because he is seen to be the authority
behind the other enemies seen in this chapter.
The next enemy we see is the Beast from the Sea (13:1-10).
Notice that his description is very similar to the dragon’s 12:3.
Who or what is this beast? A good
case can be made for at least two options.
Option number one is that this beast represents a culmination world powers opposed to God’s people. Revelation
17:7-14 seems to interpret this beast: [7] But
the angel said to me, “Why do you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the
woman, and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her.
[8] The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to rise from the
bottomless pit and go to destruction. And the dwellers on earth whose names
have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will
marvel to see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come.
[9] This calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains
on which the woman is seated; [10] they are also seven kings, five of whom
have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he does come he must
remain only a little while. [11] As for the beast that was and is not, it
is an eighth but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction.
[12] And the ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet
received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour,
together with the beast. [13] These are of one mind, and they hand over their
power and authority to the beast. [14] They will make war on the Lamb, and
the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and
those with him are called and chosen and faithful.” (Revelation 17:7-14
ESV) Daniel 7 is another relevant passage
because it is being alluded to here in Revelation
13:1-2. In Daniel 7, there are four beasts and they represent empires
(Daniel 7:1-8,17,21-23).
Option number two is that this beast is the
individual that the Bible calls the
Antichrist. He is spoken of in 1 John 2:18 and 2 Thessalonians 2:3-12. The
reason for taking this beast to be this individual is because in 13:18, the mark/number of the beast is said to be the mark/number of “a man.”
That, along with the fact that both the dragon and the second beast
are individuals seems to indicate that this beast could be an individual too.
I sort of combine the two and take this beast to be a symbol for both the culmination of world powers that Satan will use
to wage His war upon God and His people and the individual(s) who will lead
them. The Bible does teach that a
final, future opponent to God’s people called Antichrist will arise. But the Bible also teaches that the “spirit of antichrist” is already at
work in the world (1 John 4:3) and
that many “antichrists” have already
come and are in the world: “Children, it
is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many
antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour.” (1 John 2:18 ESV). This means that this beast will raise his
head throughout church history to persecute God’s people, but in the end will
do so in a more comprehensive way, led by this individual called the
Antichrist.
The third enemy seen is the Beast from the Earth (13:11-18). Revelation
19:20 clearly identifies this beast as “the
false prophet”: And the beast was
captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs
by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who
worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that
burns with sulfur. Notice that
though this beast looks “like a lamb,”
he speaks “like a dragon” (11). He seems to be an individual, but notice that
as the first beast exercises political power
waging this war on God’s people, the false prophet exercises religious power and deceives the nations
so that they will worship the beast (12-14).
The final enemies seen in this chapter are the Earth Dwellers (13:8,12,14). “Those
who dwell upon the earth” is a phrase designating rebellious humanity
throughout Revelation. They are a
contrast with the heaven dwellers (6). Notice that in Revelation 13:8, “those who
dwell upon the earth” are identified as “everyone
whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book
of life of the Lamb who was slain.”
This seems to be the reason given for why they so readily worship the
beast, because their names were not written in the Lamb’s book of life before
the foundation of the world. Like it or
not, the Bible teaches predestination
and election. We may disagree about
what it teaches about it and how it works, but we cannot disagree about whether
or not it’s in the Bible. It’s time we
put our big boy pants on and deal with it!
Also, the same Bible that teaches predestination and election teaches
that whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved (Rom. 10:13), and there is no
contradiction there! This has been a
sharp debate raging in our convention recently and I want to take this
opportunity to challenge you to be
informed and to study Scripture
on this matter.
b.
Their Tactics:
A major tactic of our enemy is to imitate the ways and works of God. We see a Satanic
Trinity (the Dragon, the Beast, and the False Prophet) in this chapter that
imitates the Triune God. Just as Jesus
is the image of the invisible God (Col.
1:15) and the exact imprint of His nature (Heb. 1:3), the beast bears the image of the dragon. Just as the Son receives authority from the
Father, so the beast receives his authority from the dragon. Just as the Holy Spirit seeks to glorify
Jesus, so the false prophet seeks to magnify the beast.
The next imitation is how the wounded beast (13:3,14) imitates the slain Lamb (5:6).
His healing seems to be an imitation of Jesus’ resurrection and it
causes the world to marvel over and follow him.
The third imitation is how the worship of the beast (13:4) imitates the worship of God (Ex. 15:11). These
statements are made about Yahweh throughout the Old Testament. Ironically, believers know the answers to
these questions here in 13:4:
God!
Fourthly, the miracles of the false prophet (13:13-15) imitate the miracles of the
two witnesses (11:5) and God’s
creative work (Gen. 1-2). Always remember that Satan can perform
miracles too. Whether or not something
supernatural is happening cannot be the only criteria for evaluating a
religious movement. The final imitation is how the mark of the beast (13:16-18) imitates the sealing of
God’s servants (7:1-8, 14:1).
Another one of the enemy’s tactics seen here is deceiving those who dwell upon the earth (13:14). Satan’s M.O. is deception. It has been said that imitation is the
highest form of flattery, but in this chapter we see that imitation is the
highest form of deception. This is why the imitation: to deceive the
world into committing idolatry and so they can be damned forever in hell. Notice that this implies that the dragon
hates his own followers!
Another tactic seen is the enemy making war on God’s people (13:5-7a). He does this in two ways. First He blasphemes
God’s name and His people (13:5-6) for 3.5 years. This means to slander of God and God’s people.
Second, He persecutes God’s
people (13:7). A nearly identical phrase
was used in 11:7, stating that making war and conquering also includes killing
the saints. This is one of the functions
of the mark of the beast in this chapter: to ostracize God’s people and set them
apart for slaughter.
The final tactic of the enemy we see here is his demanding the worship of the world
(13:4,12-15). This is what the Great War
is ultimately over: WORSHIP. Satan has
always desired the worship that belongs to God alone. Notice a few things about worship here. First,
there is no neutrality in
worship. Neutrality is one of Satan’s
deceptions. We either worship God or the
dragon. Notice that in worshipping the beast, one actually worships the dragon (13:4)
because he is the authority behind
the beast. The same is true when we are
given over to the lusts of our eyes, the lusts of our flesh, and the pride of
this life (1 John 2:15-17). When we
fall in love with the world, we are actually falling in love with the authority
behind the world: Satan. Selfishness is
devil worship. Materialism is devil
worship. Consuming pornography is devil
worship. Why, because the dragon is the authority behind this fallen world
system that is beckoning for your worship.
When you bow to the system, you are bowing to the dragon.
Second and finally, worship is ultimately a matter
of heart allegiance. It is a matter of worth-ship: a matter of what your heart places ultimate worth upon
and yields allegiance to. That is not
all that worship is, but that is what is primarily brought out by this passage
about worship. The mark of the beast
draws a line in the sand, polarizing humanity and causing them to demonstrate
their allegiance to either the Lamb or the dragon. Who will you swear allegiance to today?
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