The Beasts and the Dragon

Revelation 12:17 ESV

Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea.

Revelation 13:1–4 ESV

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. 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. 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. 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?”

Revelation 13:5–9 ESV

And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months. It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. 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, 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. If anyone has an ear, let him hear:

Revelation 13:10 ESV

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.

Revelation 13:11–14 ESV

Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. 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. It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people, 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.

Revelation 13:15–18 ESV

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. 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, 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. 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.

We’ve said from the beginning of our study in Revelation that…1) We’re going to let Scripture interpret Scripture; 2) Where the Bible speaks, we will speak, and where it is silent, we will be silent; 3) Sometimes, we’re just not going to know.

There is so much overlap in this text with Daniel 7. In Daniel 7, Daniel sees a terrifying vision—one that he says filled him with an anxious spirit and fear. In that vision, Daniel sees 4 beasts that represent 4 world super powers…now, each of them come up out of the sea (what does the sea represent?)

A lion with eagles wings — Babylon

A bear — Medo-Persians

A Leopard w/ four wings and four heads — Greece

Most terrifying and strongest…had 10 horns…plus one little horn that raises up and plucks up three of the 10 horns by the roots. This little horn has eyes like a man and a mouth speaking great things — ROME

And, so, now, John’s vision continues with Daniel’s vision. But, John’s vision is of only ONE beast and this beast has 10 horns.

The anti-Christ will be the culmination of all demonic powers in world history.

This beast is most likely the “little” horn that will arise and become a world leader.

Now, some scholars believe that the ten horns on the “beast’s” head symbolize a coalition of nations that this leader will rule over…or…ten world leaders that will serve this one leader.

The anti-Christ and his companion will be a demonic extension of the dragon (Satan).

Everything about the anti-Christ will blaspheme the Triune God.

Death & Resurrection

Triune “power” — dragon, first beast, second beast

Worship

Warfare against the people of God

THE WORD OF WARNING FOR BELIEVERS—ENDURE & BE WISE

He will be powerful and most likely charismatic. He’ll be gifted.

Make no mistake, though—he is the enemy of the living God. He will persecute & wage war against Christians.

Forced worship

Forced conformity

2 Thessalonians 2:1–12 ESV

Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.