Revelation
13:2-18
Let’s pray:
Lord God,
thank You that You reign forever and ever.
Thank You that the kingdom of the world will become Your kingdom and you
will set things right. I pray that You
will open our hearts and our minds to hear and apply Your Word in our
lives. Grow us up, I pray. May we all walk with You in boldness and
faith. May we patiently endure and
faithfully love you amidst the trials that we face. Guide our time, we pray. Amen.
Last week,
Carl shared about the dragon (that is Satan or the devil) who pursues a woman
about to give birth. The first half of
chapter 12 relates the heavenly battle which ultimately drives Satan out of
heaven forever. You have to relish verse
10, “For the accuser of our brothers who accuses them before our God day and
night has been hurled down.” At that
time, Satan will no more accuse. That is
a victory to celebrate.
Satan though
is filled with fury because he knows his time is short. He wants to destroy the woman who had given
birth to the future ruler who was taken up to God. She is protected by God. Then, he departs to make war on all the other
believers since he cannot catch the woman.
We left off
with the dragon that is Satan standing on the shore of the sea. It is clear that we are on earth and not in
heaven. We don’t know which sea, perhaps
a sea created by the river spewed out of his mouth and swallowed by the
earth. It seems fitting that what
happens next would come out of all the hatred and rage that the dragon could
spew out of himself.
And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. He
had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns, and on each head a
blasphemous name. The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those
of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion.
Revelation 13:1-2
The beast
from the sea has the same image or form as the dragon, ten horns and seven
heads. This beast though has ten crowns
rather than seven crowns like the dragon.
The appearance of the beast as a combination of animals draws strong
parallels to Daniel chapter 7. There in
Daniel, he is speaking about different empires which ruled the known world
before Jesus was born. The Babylonians
were represented as a lion. The Medes
and Persians were represented as a bear.
The Greeks were represented as a leopard. The Romans were represented by a beast like
no other and had 10 horns. It is as if
the beast from the sea will have attributes of all of these empires: speed of a
leopard, strength of the bear, the roar and jaw strength of the lion, and the
power of the undescribed beast with 10 horns.
The dragon gave the beast his power and his
throne and great authority. One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a
fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was
astonished and followed the beast. Men worshiped the dragon because he had given
authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, “Who is
like the beast? Who can make war against him?”
Revelation 13:2-4
The dragon gives
up his power to this beast-- not only that but also his throne and his
authority. This is one of the strange
things for me. And yet, it seems as
though it is somewhat like the ring of power in the Lord of the Rings. Although the Lord of the Rings is fiction, it
is explained that Sauron the great evil created the One Ring in order to
enslave all the free peoples. Here,
Satan has given his power to the beast so that he could entrap the world and
all the people including believers.
Here the
beast begins to show shadows of being like Jesus. Jesus as the Lamb appears as though He has
been slain. Jesus did in fact die for
our sins. He was raised to life because
his sacrifice was perfect and death could not hold him. Here we see the beast seems as though it had
a fatal wound. It did not die but was
healed from the wound.
The whole
world is deceived. Rather than worship a
resurrected Savior, they marvel at someone who was near death but
survived. The power of the dragon and
beast must be great because the world can see nothing that compares to it. (“Who
is like the beast? Who can make war
against him?”)
The beast was given a mouth to utter proud
words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for forty-two months. He
opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling
place and those who live in heaven.
Revelation 13:5-6
This
description again takes us back to Daniel chapter 7 where it speaks about the
fourth beast saying that “He will speak
against the Most High and oppress his saints and try to change the set times
and the laws. The saints will be handed over to him for a time, times and half
a time.” --Daniel 7:25 This time,
times and half a time is understood to refer to 42 months or 1260 days (or a
year, two years, and 6 months). Twelve
plus twenty four plus six equals 42.
The beasts
are the same in these two references.
That is why you hear people speak of the return of the Roman Empire in
some form as a precursor to the end of all things.
The hatred
of God is also in the beast as it is in the dragon. What is blasphemy? It is literally the same word in the
Greek. It is to speak in a way which
injures another. The Pharisees said
Jesus was speaking blasphemy whenever He said God was His Father. The Pharisees said that Jesus was tainting
God or bringing God down by saying that He was His Son. The beast will show no restraint he will speak
evil of God, His Name, Heaven, and anyone associated with God.
He was given power to make war against the
saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe,
people, language and nation.
Revelation 13:7
Here is a
painful verse. With the unbridled
hatred, the beast will have power to harm the saints even to the point of
conquering them.
We spoke
last week about the Christians in Syria and Iraq who are facing severe
persecution at the hands of the Islamic State (or IS). Don’t you want to ask God, why? Why does this have to happen? Why can’t they be protected?
Jesus was
very clear that believers would face trouble.
(John 16:33) However, He told us
to take heart that He had overcome the world.
Keep in mind that while the beast is allowed to have great power, he is
not allowed to have infinite time. While
forty two months is a long time, it is not forever.
We are also
told not to fear those who can only harm the body. While the beast can conquer and kill, he
cannot destroy the eternal soul. Just
before raising Lazarus from the dead, Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live,
even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” --John
11:25-26
All inhabitants of the earth will worship
the beast—all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging
to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.
Revelation 13:8
This beast
is also interpreted to be the Antichrist or the man of lawlessness. It is said of him in II Thessalonians, when
he “is revealed, the man doomed to
destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is
called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming
himself to be God.” --II Thessalonians 2:3-4
Even though
the beast does terrible things to the believers, this does not change the mind
of the rest of the world. Not only do
they turn a blind eye to the beast, they worship him.
That is an
interesting phrase about Jesus the Lamb.
He was slain from the creation of the world. This is another confirming verse about God’s
plan of salvation. He did not have plan
“A” for the Jews with the Old Testament covenants and the Law. Then, after they messed that up, he had to
think of a different way to save the world.
No. All along God had a plan to
redeem all peoples.
The Lamb was
slain from the creation of the world.
Before Satan fell? Certainly,
from the earliest beginnings of this creation.
God knew. Jesus knew. In fact, He already had that attribute of
being slain. Isn't that remarkable? God’s love is displayed through Jesus
forever. Is that not wonderful? God cannot change. He is immutable. Therefore, he should have the characteristics
of sacrifice and love always. As we see
here in this short phrase, it is true.
Psalm 150:2, “Praise Him for His
surpassing greatness.”
He who has an ear, let him hear.
If
anyone is to go into captivity,
into
captivity he will go.
If
anyone is to be killed with the sword,
with
the sword he will be killed.
This calls for patient endurance and
faithfulness on the part of the saints.
Revelation 13:9-10
These hard
things shall come to pass. It has been
decided. Your destiny and my destiny are
known in heaven. God knows exactly where
we will go. He knows exactly what we
will do. He knows what trials and
challenges we must face. He knows
whether the road will be tough or easy to travel.
It is
important to stop and consider and perhaps meditate on this. If you are to go … you will go … If you are to be … you will be …
I had my mom
and dad together on the phone the other day, and I started down one of these
conversation paths that was not helpful for my mom. Guys can just be insensitive about how we
talk about things. Let me talk to the
guys for a minute. Whenever you’re
thinking about danger or risk or injury or scary stuff that could possibly
happen to you, as a general rule, it is better to keep it to yourself than to
hash through it with your mom or your wife or fiancée. People who love you deeply generally don’t
want to consider losing you.
So back to
my unwise conversation: I got to talking
about traveling with my parents. That
led to talk about flying and then how we feel about it. I brought up the fact that Melissa is about
as nervous as a nine tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs whenever she
flies. If there is a bump, thump, or
noise of almost any kind during a flight, Melissa wants to know what it
is. I remarked that it’s immaterial what
the noise is. Either the plane will
continue to fly safely, or it will crash.
There is not really any alternative is there?
It was about
that point that I realized I had gone a bit too far with my mom in on the
conversation. Talking about sitting back
and relaxing in the face of even a teeny tiny chance of injury or dying, that’s
just not the kind of stuff mothers and wives and fiancées have any desire to
hear.
But that’s
what the verse says isn’t it? Whatever
is going to happen is going to happen.
That’s it. We can’t reverse it or
stop it or change it. What options do people
have in this case? They choose to hold
to Jesus, the Lamb and face what comes.
Or, they can reject Jesus and worship the beast. If they worship the beast, you can be sure
that their name is not written in the Lamb’s book of life. Better to hold to Jesus and die physically
and be with Him than to turn to the beast and be thrown into the lake of fire.
What then
should our response be in the face of the challenges we face? The same instruction goes for us. We should patiently endure the light and
temporary trials we experience. We
should exhibit faithfulness in the midst of hardship. We should not speak against God. We should not shake our fist at Him. We should probably not even ask God questions
out of a spirit of jealousy. Do you know
what I mean? We definitely should bring
our cares to the Lord. We need to ask
Him about things that we need help with, even our burdens that we think we
ought to be able to carry. I’m talking
about the “Why me?!” kind of questions that cast a pall of guilt on God. We should be faithful to God as Job was, “The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;
blessed be the name of the LORD.”--Job 1:21
Then I saw another beast, coming out of the
earth. He had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon.
Revelation 13:11
I won’t use
the word trinity to describe this threesome, but the triad of evil is now
complete. The dragon that is Satan was
cast down from the heavens. The beast
known as the Antichrist came up out of the sea, and now another beast, the
false prophet, has arisen from the earth itself. Like the Antichrist who had a fatal wound
which made him appear to have something in common with Jesus, this beast has
two horns like a lamb and attempts to appear harmless and gentle. And, there are three which gives another hint
of God, but totally not like Him. The
beasts are not begotten from the dragon but created things raised up out of the
sea and earth.
I don’t know
what dragon speech sounds like, but it may not have been so much the quality of
voice but rather what he said. Jesus
described Satan this way. “He was a murderer from the beginning, not
holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his
native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” --John 8:44 This beast as we will see is going to be a
deceiver beyond compare.
He exercised all the authority of the first
beast on his behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first
beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. And he performed great and miraculous
signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to earth in full view of men.
Revelation 13:12-13
He may not
have the appearance of power, but this beast will exercise great
authority. He will be persuasive in
getting the whole earth to worship the beast from the sea. He will have power to perform signs and
wonders to deceive.
Jesus warned
of this in Matthew 24: 22-25, “If those
days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the
elect those days will be shortened. At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look,
here is the Christ!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. For false Christs
and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive
even the elect—if that were possible. See, I have told you ahead of time.”
John is
seeing what will come to pass as foretold by Jesus himself.
Because of the signs he was given power to
do on behalf of the first beast, he deceived the inhabitants of the earth. He
ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the
sword and yet lived. He was given power to give breath to the image of the
first beast, so that it could speak and cause all who refused to worship the
image to be killed.
Revelation 13:14-15
There are
similarities here with the golden image set up by Nebuchadnezzar which resulted
in Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego being thrown into the fiery furnace. Except in this case, the image or statue is
able to speak. The signs which this
beast can perform are definitely capable of shock and deception.
He’s made
signs in nature with fire from heaven.
He’s made signs in the religious arena by creating an idol which can
speak. He will expand his influence into
the marketplace and cunningly draw everyone into subjection to the first beast.
He also forced everyone, small and great,
rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his
forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the
name of the beast or the number of his name.
Revelation 13:16-17
I spent only
a short period of time looking at this topic of the mark of the beast. I wanted to find a source somewhere that had
a list of all the different things throughout history that have been attributed
to the mark of the beast. I’ve heard
tattoos. Today, it’s RFID implantable
microchips. The social security number
has been called the mark of the beast.
Another is the imprinting of coinage and money with gods (the Greek word
for mark is also used to describe striking coins or engraving something). This was somewhat of a concern in the early
church for dealing with coins that had false gods on them. The thought was that using coins which
acknowledged a false god was denying Christ in order to have a more
economically advantageous situation in life.
Think of that one?! Would you be
willing to not use currency if it said something against God?
This item
makes it very clear to me what one of my greatest weaknesses is. Our culture is extraordinarily
materialistic. I may be right in saying
that we live in the most materialistic culture of all time. We think nothing of waste because things are
so readily available. There is disposable
everything. Yesterday morning, I was
getting Elijah dressed, and it occurred to me that I love disposable
diapers. I love disposable diapers so
much that I think we’ve been slow to start potty training because it’s so easy
not to. We also have standards in just
about every arena of life. I apologize
to Melissa every now and again because we have old stuff, and it breaks or it
doesn’t look nice, or it is uncomfortable in some way.
When I pray,
I have an eye to material blessing as an indicator of God’s regard for me. If you have a lot, the God must love
you. If you don’t, then maybe you’re
doing something wrong. This is a devastatingly
dangerous view to have of the Almighty.
I can’t tell you (largely because I don’t know myself) how much we miss
out on the true nature of God and the healthy dependence relationship we should
have with Him. We are so overly blessed
materially, it has created a lifestyle so far removed from “give us this day our
daily bread,” that we don’t even have a hope to be daily dependent on Christ
because we don’t need anything.
Years ago I
read a story which may help illustrate this.
I think this comes from Patrick Morley, but I did not have time to
figure out for sure if he was the originator.
A native American from Ecuador or Brazil or another South American
country had gotten saved and then grown significantly in the Lord. After developing relationships over time with
different missionaries and even learning English, he came to the United States
for a visit. He stayed for a few weeks
or so, but finally said that he had to return home. They asked the man why he needed to go,
didn’t he like it here. “Oh yes,” he
replied, “but I cannot see God here. You
have everything you can imagine. You can
go to a store that has enough food in it to feed people for weeks. You go and buy food when your own house has
enough food to eat for days or even weeks.
Your lack of need makes it very difficult to depend on God. I want to go home so that I can be closer to
God.” Back home for him meant a much
less certain position for provisions and employment and healthcare and just
about anything you can think of.
I’ll make
one last point on this topic. For me,
this is true. I do not know if it is
true for you. I don’t want to prescribe
something to you that is not correct.
Just looking at today’s passage, we have read about how the first beast
will have the power to conquer even the saints.
They will be subject to the sword and captivity. We’re talking about believers here, you and
me. This is serious stuff. When I think about that, I have a response of
wanting to ask God questions, but I don’t have a fear reaction or at any rate not
a strong reaction.
When I think
about the mark of the beast and not being able to buy or sell. Well, now that’s a whole different
thing. Suddenly, I’m quaking in my
boots. This is a real problem. I’m concerned, even worried, to read about
it. I’m addicted to stuff you see. Even if I want to behave in a frugal way as
defined by my culture, I still want to know that I can have stuff if and when I
want it.
Like I said,
I don’t know how you feel, but if you relate to what I’m saying here, if you
resemble that remark, I encourage you to bring this to the Lord. I think this is not a good place to be. I want to be able to rest on Jesus and take
his yoke on me in every area of life. I
don’t want to live in fear or doubt in God’s love or His sufficiency to care
for me. This is an area that I will be
bringing to Him where I know that I need to grow up.
This calls for wisdom. If anyone has
insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man’s number. His
number is 666.
Revelation 13:18
Indeed, this
does call for wisdom.
Regarding
the number of the beast, “Whew!” There
are tons of different calculations that have been done to predict who the beast
would be. I won’t even go there as far
as all the different things I’ve seen much less even hazard a guess on how many
possibilities have been named out there.
I will tell
you one though. The internet also has
the number 666. Yes, the internet itself
could be the beast. Most internet
addresses begin with WWW. The letter W
in Latin is derived from a letter in ancient Phoenician called wav. The numerical value of the letter wav is, you
guessed it, 6. So you can see that the
internet could be the beast.
Clearly,
insight is required. First off, the
verse says to calculate the number of the beast not calculate the beast from
the number. I think you have to have the
beast, or know who the beast is, first to see how the number applies. I don’t think you’re going to be able to
calculate it the other way around. There
are just way too many possibilities. You
could probably work out the numerical value of the letters for peanut butter in
some language add them together and conclude that peanut butter is the beast.
What is
important that we can take away on this?
Well, the
number is man’s number. If that’s true
then, the beast will likely be a man or a representation of a man. We like to have a sliding scale of right and
wrong that way we can always hope to be “good enough.” But with God, there’s not an options for good
enough. It’s either God’s side or the
enemy’s. Jesus said that “He who is not with me is against me, and he
who does not gather with me, scatters.” --Luke 11:23 Unredeemed man is therefore a representation
of evil and the beast.
The number six
is the number given to man by God. God
set aside the Sabbath, the seventh day, for rest and for man to focus on
God. The other six days (and also six
years in the case of the land as well as slavery) belong to the man to do
work. Apart from Christ though, we can
do nothing. (John 15:5). If we take all that we can do in six days
apart from Christ, at best, it is nothing.
In reality, it will likely be something much worse.
I think we
tend to underestimate the severity of our sin.
We think that one little sin is, well, little. I know I tend to think this way. How do I know? Well, I don’t bother to confess all my sin or
even the sins I know about to God. If I
don’t think it’s worth confessing, then I must not think it’s that bad. We want to brush over our sin.
There is a
problem though. And, it’s not
little. Sin, even one sin, has to be
dealt with. We cannot be right with God
if there is sin. God is perfect and holy. He has a temporary solution for us and for
our sin. He put us here. He constrained sin. What was the first thing God did once the
first sin had been committed? First, he
made coverings for Adam and Eve to cover their nakedness. The second thing he did was separate them
from the tree of life. Why? To constrain sin. Then, God flooded the earth at the time of
Noah because of how evil had spread on the earth when man had an 800 year
lifespan. Our lifespan was cut to 80
years. Why? Just to constrain sin. You see if it’s not dealt with, one little
sin will beget another little sin and pretty soon, well, you’ve got a mess.
I John 5:17
is pretty clear that there is sin that does not lead to death, but Jesus
clearly said that anyone who sins is a slave to sin. That means that you can’t stop sinning by
yourself. Sin unchecked will always lead
to more sin. God is restraining evil by
His Holy Spirit, with His angels, and through His children, us.
It reminds
me of the king of Babylon there in Daniel 5.
Belshazzar saw the handwriting on the wall. Daniel interpreted it, and Belshazzar had
been weighed in the scales and found wanting.
(Daniel 5:27) Many verses talk about God searching hearts, testing us
(Psalm 7:9, Psalm 139:1, 23, Revelation 2:23, Proverbs 17:3). Psalm 62:9 says that man is either a breath
or a lie. “If weighed on a balance, they
are nothing.” Isaiah 40:15 talks about
the very nations as a drop in the bucket or dust on a scale. Nations!
Six is
incompleteness. (Ruth’s measure of
barley, Ruth 3:15) Six is inadequate.
The beast in
all his power and authority is still nothing.
He is inadequate. His days are
limited. God loves honest scales and
honest measurements. Even now, the
number of the beast is known. It is
666. It is man’s number. It doesn’t add up. It can’t stand. It is passing away.
18 For
this is what the LORD says—
He
who created the heavens,
He
is God;
He
who fashioned and made the earth,
He
founded it;
He
did not create it to be empty,
but
formed it to be inhabited—
He
says:
“I
am the LORD,
and
there is no other.
19 I
have not spoken in secret,
from
somewhere in a land of darkness;
I
have not said to Jacob’s descendants,
‘Seek
me in vain.’
I,
the LORD, speak the truth;
I
declare what is right.
20 “Gather
together and come;
assemble,
you fugitives from the nations.
Ignorant
are those who carry about idols of wood,
who
pray to gods that cannot save.
21 Declare
what is to be, present it—
let
them take counsel together.
Who
foretold this long ago,
who
declared it from the distant past?
Was
it not I, the LORD?
And
there is no God apart from me,
a
righteous God and a Savior;
there
is none but Me.
22 “Turn
to Me and be saved,
all
you ends of the earth;
for
I am God, and there is no other.
23 By
Myself I have sworn,
My
mouth has uttered in all integrity
a
word that will not be revoked:
Before
Me every knee will bow;
by
Me every tongue will swear.
24 They
will say of Me, ‘In the LORD alone
are
righteousness and strength.’”
All
who have raged against Him
will
come to Him and be put to shame.
Isaiah 45:18-24
Let’s pray:
Lord God,
thank you that you have brought us into Yourself. Thank You that we will be made complete,
spotless and pure by the blood of the Lamb.
Strengthen each one of us. Give
us courage in the face of uncertainty and trials. May each one here have confidence in their
hope in You. I pray that hearts would not
be doubtful but full of belief and emptied of unbelief. Thanks and praise to You that You are the
victorious champion. That You are God
and there is no other. There is none
like You. All glory to You in Jesus
Name. Amen.
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