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Good afternoon!
I hope that everyone is doing well today.
Today we are going to be looking at Revelation chapter thirteen.
And this chapter is still a part of that interlude between the seven trumpets and the seven bowls that are still to come.
And so in this interlude God is describing to us in vivid terms the reality that the spiritual warfare that we saw last week portrayed is now spilling over into the very real physical realm here on earth.
We are now beginning to see the events that will characterize the last days of the end times.
That final period of Great judgment.
We are going to see three primary features that characterize this period.
We are going to see the pouring out of Gods judgment through the bowls of wrath, we are going to also see a civilization called Babylon that is meant to represent those who rebel against God.
And then finally we are going to see the final persecution of the Church at the hands of her greatest enemy Satan.
And here in chapter thirteen we are going to read about the appearance of the antichrist and the beginning of his persecution of the church.
At this point in our story the persecution of the church should be no surprise.
We have been prepped for this all along and particularly in the last chapter.
In the last chapter we were presented with this picture of a great spiritual battle between Satan and the angels of God.
And here now in chapter thirteen the reality of the battle is going to be found here on earth and so martyrdom should be expected at this point in our story.
Even though at some time in the future of the church martyrdom is coming we rest in the hope and promise that Jesus is already victorious.
The war has already been won.
And so Satan may attack but he does so as a defeated foe.
So Let’s take a look at our passage.
We first read in verse one.
This is the first beast that we are to see arise.
This beast was actually already introduced in chapter eleven when we spoke of the two witnesses and it is this beast that would eventually bring about their deaths.
This verse is directly related to Daniel chapter seven.
In Daniel seven we read about four beasts who come up from out of the sea.
In Daniel seven the four beasts represent a succession of four earthly kingdoms.
Those kingdoms could not arise from out of the oceans though could they.
Right?
They arose from the people of this earth.
And I believe that is what the reference to the sea is.
We see a similar reference in Isaiah chapter fifty-seven verse twenty (Isaiah 57:20).
There the wicked are described like raging waters.
And so we shouldn’t expect mythical beasts to arise forth from the oceans.
But rather two men will arise from out of a people who are raging against God Almighty.
And here in verse one we have the description of the first of these two men.
Look I will probably refer to these two individuals as men.
They could be women for all I know.
But, it is simply the language that my mind grabs for.
So it is likely what I will say this morning.
But recognize we are never given their actual gender within the scriptures.
Interestingly enough unlike most all of these visions where I place so little value in all of the details of the beasts and such this one is a bit different.
And I do so for a few reasons.
One of these is that I find little value when we have come to some sort of conclusion on what these details actually represent.
Look.
We will not need these details to determine whether or not we have entered into the last days.
There will be no doubt.
Second, when looking at these visions there is often times very little agreement on what they actually stand for.
Ahhh..
But not true for this beast.
Which I find simply extraordinary.
So, I will share with you what nearly everyone believes these details represent.
The ten crowned horns represent ten worldly leaders.
These leaders play absolutely no part in our story.
That’s why I say these details carry so little value often times.
But, I believe that we can say that these ten leaders will be of significant assistance to the rise to power of the first beast.
The seven heads represents the fullness of its power.
Most tend to see the early roman empire as being reflected by the seven heads.
Which, I have no problem with, however I will say that it is really difficult to connect seven successive emperors with the seven heads.
If not impossible.
Again I don’t have a problem with most of these historical connections in that they foreshadow something much greater that is still yet to come.
This first beast is the end times Antichrist who can be seen at work in some of the past emperors of Rome as well as in many of the more recent totalitarian states today as well.
Finally this beast is said to carry a blasphemous name upon its heads.
Real quick.
He is going to claim to be divine.
That’s what this means.
Jesus was eventually accused of blasphemy because he declared that he would sit at the right hand of the Father and he did so before the sanhedrin.
He made a very clear claim to be divine.
Everyone present knew that was what Jesus had done.
That is what blasphemy ultimately is.
It is the declaration that one is divine.
It is for this reason that Jesus was crucified.
And so this beast is going to bear some name or title declaring him to be divine.
Verse two gives further description of the beast and it reads.
This beast combines some of the representations that are found in Daniel seven concerning the first three beasts that Daniel saw.
And so what we should see is that this new and final beast here is a concentration of power that has never been seen before.
But this is not merely political or military power that we are seeing concentrated in this single individual.
This individual has become the embodiment of satanic evil.
We see here that this beasts power and authority comes from the dragon or satan himself.
Then in verse three we read.
So, first a question.
What is a mortal wound?
If anyone takes a mortal wound that means that wound has killed the individual.
But here is the important part of this it only seemed to have a mortal wound.
And so it is going to appear as though this beast dies and then miraculously comes back to life.
Of course any who were to witness such an event would be amazed and that is exactly what will happen.
The whole earth will marvel at what has happened and they will follow the beast for the miracle that has occurred.
Then in in verse four we read.
The goal of the beast, this person of immense power, their goal is not simply power as we think of it.
The goal of the beast is to capture the hearts, the minds, and the loyalties of men and to cause them to worship them.
And because the beast walks in the power and authority of the dragon it is really the dragon that is being worshiped.
The spiritual war that we are constantly engaged in whether we realize it or not is the very struggle for every sole around us every day.
That is what we need to see here in this verse.
Then in verse five we read.
So he isn’t all of a sudden granted a new mouth nor is this saying that he didn’t have a mouth and now somehow does.
Right.
That just doesn’t make sense.
This is speaking of the words that he speaks and the power and source of the words that are given to him.
He is given the power to speak in ways that will entrance the hearts and minds of mankind and those words.
And the beast will seek to sway men from the one true God and to the worship of the dragon.
This idea continues in verse six.
And so this individual is given the power to speak words that will seek to sway mens loyalty from God to the dragon.
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