We are currently looking at Revelation 12-14, which describes the Great War between Satan and
the people of God. Revelation 12 describes this war in terms of a conflict between a
dragon (Satan) and a woman & her offspring (God’s people). This war has been raging since creation began
and although Jesus has already won
this war on the cross, the war itself is not
yet over. Revelation 13 picks up with how Satan continues to wage this war
upon God’s people until Christ returns.
Again, all of the material in these three chapters
is meant to call the church to persevere
in this Great War. That purpose is
clearly stated in Revelation 13:9-10,18.
Revelation
13:9-10 states that the first vision is meant to call the church to endurance and faith. Revelation 13:18 states that the second vision is meant to call the
church to wisdom. So today we want to consider those callings
and what the cost of being faithful to those callings will be.
[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
II.
The Church Must Know Her Calling and It’s Cost
a.
We Must Count the Cost
Verse 9-10 contains the first explicit exhortation
to believers in this chapter (there are two).
The statement “If anyone has an
ear, let him hear,” is an exhortation for believers to listen up and heed the
instruction being given. What is the message they are to heed?
The message that they are to heed is that there is
no escaping the suffering that the
church is destined to face. “If anyone is to be taken captive, to
captivity he goes; if anyone is to be slain with the sword, with the sword he
must be slain” (10). That is a cost-counting statement. This is the cost that the church must count
in the Great War, specifically imprisonment
and death. We could also expand that to include slander, exclusion, and poverty
from the rest of this chapter (13:5-6,17).
Make no mistake, this is what it will cost you to
follow Jesus: EVERYTHING! Are you ready
to count this cost? Are you ready to die
for your King? Are you ready to go to
jail for Him? Are you ready to let your
children starve to death for refusal to take the mark of the beast? The reason that Jesus calls the church to
count such a cost is because He knows that if you’re not willing to part with everything in this world in order to
have Him, then essentially you are willing to sell Him out for something in
this world.
This is not just a cost that one must count one
day in the possible future, it is required for anyone who would call him or herself Jesus’ disciple. [23] And
he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take
up his cross daily and follow me. [24] For whoever would save his life
will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. (Luke 9:23-24 ESV) As Bonheoffer said, “When
Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”[1]
b.
We are Called to Endure (13:9-10)
John tells the church why they must count the cost of slander, exclusion, poverty,
imprisonment, & even death: because God has called her to endurance in this Great War. “Here
is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints” (10b). This is one of the major functions of the book
of Revelation: to call believers to endure,
or persevere, in the face of internal
and external opposition. All of the
promises to the conquerors are exhortations to endure (2:7,11,17,25-26; 3:5,11-12, 21). Consider the promise to those who
conquer in Thyatira: “[25] Only hold
fast what you have until I come. [26] The one who conquers and who keeps
my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations,” (Revelation 2:25-26 ESV). The saints in chapter’s 6-7 are those “who had been slain for the word of God and
for the witness that they had borne” (6:9)
and those “coming out of the great
tribulation” (7:14). How
were the saints described in chapter 12?
They were described as those who had conquered the dragon “by the blood of the Lamb and the word of
their testimony, for they loved not their lives unto death” (12:11) and as “those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of
Jesus” (12:17). In Revelation, God’s people are people who
endure!
Are you enduring in the face of the temptations,
persecutions, and sufferings that you face?
The message of Revelation could not be clearer: true saints are those who endure!
You want a New Year’s resolution?
Instead of trying to lose weight, why don’t you resolve to endure by God’s grace this year? When your marriage gets difficult,
endure! When your children are difficult,
endure! Ask God to help you make this a
year where you getting back up, where you keep enduring in this race and war
that we are in.
c.
We are Called to Have Faith (13:9-10)
John says that this is a call for not only the endurance,
but also for “the faith of the saints.” What is faith and what does it mean to have
it? Romans
4:21 describes Abraham’s faith as being “fully
convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.” Hebrews
11:1 says “faith is the assurance of
things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” So faith is trusting God, but that trust springs from certain convictions about
God that we are assured, or fully convinced of.
What is interesting is that in this chapter that is calling believers to
have faith, believers are also supplied with the unseen convictions necessary. This chapter is saturated with unseen
convictions about the sovereignty of
God.
We first see that God is sovereign over the blasphemy of the beast (5a). The beast “was
given” the mouth that uttered all those blasphemous, slanderous words. God is also seen to be sovereign over the power of the beast (5b). The beast “was
allowed” to exercise his authority for 3.5 years. God is also seen to be sovereign over the mission of the beast (7). This is incredible: he is “allowed” to make war on the saints and
conquer them. That means that for all
wrath that the dragon can muster to pour out upon God’s people, not one hair on
their head will be harmed unless God permits it. Notice also that God is sovereign over the influence of the beast (8). What’s remarkable about Revelation 13:8 is that it implies that none of God’s people will worship the beast because they have
always belonged to God! If we’re truly
Christians, the dragon will never take us!
The dragon will have not have even one of God’s sheep. But there is more. God is also seen to be sovereign over the ministry of the false prophet (14-15). The “great
signs” by which the false prophet deceives the world are only things that
he is “allowed” to do! Finally, God is also seen to be sovereign over the suffering of His people (10). Whatever suffering God has prepared for us,
we will face. We will not escape it; we
must embrace it.
Can your theology handle a God so sovereign? Can your heart trust Him? I pray that these unseen convictions would
move your heart to trust that God is ultimately in control in His world at all
times. His world is never out of
control.
d.
We are Called to Have Wisdom (13:16-18)
The second explicit exhortation to believers comes
in verse 18 as a call for them to be wise. John says that this vision about the second
beast and the mark he requires all humanity to receive is a call “for wisdom” (18). It is ironic that the passage about the mark
of the beast is a call to wisdom and understanding for believers, because
there is often very little wisdom applied when interpreting this passage! I have heard that the mark of the beast is
everything from tattoos to bar codes to computer chips to computers themselves
and people have used this passage to identify countless individuals as the
antichrist throughout history. So in
this call to wisdom, may we apply wisdom in interpreting this passage!
The first step in doing so is simply approaching
this passage with humility. This is a
difficult passage and we should recognize that.
Second, let’s try to see what we can say about this passage at a bear
minimum. Whatever the mark of the beast
is, it is something that marks all of his followers with without distinction. This is
first and foremost an imitation or contrast to how God marks, or seals,
His followers (7:1-8; 14:1-5), who
are also a multi-ethnic multitude from every social stratum in the world,
without distinction. We could say that
he mark of the beast is an imitation of the mark of the Lamb, which was a mark
of ownership and protection. Just as God’s
mark is God’s & the Lamb’s name, so the mark of the beast is the mark of
his name (17b). What is ironic is that
whereas God’s mark will actually protect His people, the beast’s mark only
appears to give protection and provision; it will not protect his followers
from God’s wrath in the end.
This mark is also a mark of allegiance: without it, one cannot “buy or sell” (17). Why do I
say that? Think about it. If someone says, “Take this mark and worship
the beast or you can’t but food or make a living,” then suddenly you are forced
to pick a team aren’t you? Heart
allegiance is being revealed as the human race’s hand is being forced to choose
a side. There is no neutrality here: you
must choose to lose your life here so you can keep it forever or keep it here
only to lose it forever.
Finally, notice that his mark is called “the number of his name” (17c). According to John, there is a number
associated with the mark that can be calculated
by one with understanding (18a). It’s “the number of a man,” and that number is
“666.” These last two clues seem to be clues to back-calculating the name of this
individual, at least for John’s audience.
In other words, John’s original audience probably did not have the
trouble we have making identification here.
“The invitation to one with
understanding to calculate this number…suggests the use of gematria, an ancient
code using the numerical values of letters.
Both “beast” and “Nero Caesar,” written in Hebrew characters, add up to
666, but many interpreters expect a future, greater fulfillment in a world
ruler who is violently opposed to God and his people.” [2]
The biggest issue in this text is not what the
mark of the beast is or who 666 stands for, but a call to mark who has the ultimate allegiance of our hearts! It is a call to not love the world, the
things in the world, or the god of this world.
That’s how you use wisdom in avoiding the seduction of the dragon. As we said last week, when you bow to the
system, you are bowing to the dragon.
Also, for God’s people, the Antichrist will not be a mystery when he
arrives, just as the individual in Revelation
13:17-18 was not for John’s readers.
Another “Nero-like” individual will arise and enlist the world in persecuting
God’s people.
I’d like to close with reading a passage that
embodies the cost, endurance, faith, and wisdom called for in this
chapter. It is an Old Testament passage
that is alluded to here. In Daniel 3, Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar
erected an image and demanded all to worship it or die as well. There were 3 individuals, Shadrach, Meshach,
& Abednego, who chose death over
disloyalty to God. When they were
brought before the king and threatened with being thrown into a fiery furnace,
here is how they replied: [16] Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have
no need to answer you in this matter. [17] If this be so, our God whom we
serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver
us out of your hand, O king. [18] But if not, be it known to you, O king,
that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set
up.” (Daniel 3:16-18 ESV) May we
be so wise, so bold, and so faithful before the world we live in, and may we
choose death before disloyalty to our God every day of our lives!
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