The Unholy Trinity

Revelation 13

It is said, ‘Imitation is the sincerist form of flattery.’ This is true when admiration motivates the mimicry.

Karaoke is an example. At our family gatherings, we sometimes pass the microphone around and sing. We pull up a song on YouTube that was popularised by a talented artist and we try to sing it like they do. Sometimes it comes off impressively. Most often it comes off hilariously.

I don’t think any of the original artists would feel threatened by our performances. More than this, I don’t think anyone would pay money to be an audience. We’d have to pay them for the pain and suffering induced!

Trying to be like someone we admire is a compliment. But when adversarialism is the motivation for mimicry, imitation is not flattery, it is fraud.

In Revelation 13, we are warned that the devil is an impostor. This follows on from chapter 12 where he was shown to be a murderer and a slanderer.

The overarching warning is: The devil is worse than you imagine.

What is Christianity’s most distinctive belief?

It is the Trinity.

To confess one God eternally existing in three persons — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — is the essence of our faith. It sets Christianity apart from all other beliefs. Judaism is monotheistic, but not trinitarian. Islam is monotheistic, but not trinitarian. Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses are not trinitarian.

Does it matter?

If you want to be with God in heaven, it most certainly does.

To deny the deity of the Son is to be an unbeliever. To deny the deity and personhood of the Holy Spirit is to be an unbeliever.

One proof that this is true is what the devil chooses to counterfeit. Just as a counterfeiter is intent on copying real money in order to deceive and profit, so the devil is intent on copying real divinity in order to deceive and profit.

He copies the Trinity.

1. The Fraudulent Father (13.1a)

Revelation 13:1 KJV

And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

Scholars agree that the beginning of this verse is about the devil, who is called the dragon. The opening phrase belongs with the paragraph that precedes it. This is a rare occasion when the verse and chapter division is a little off.

(Don’t let that bother you. The chapter divisions were added in AD 1227 by Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, and the verses by Stephanus in AD 1555. Chapters and verses are not in the manuscripts.)

The original Greek reads ‘and stood upon the sand of the sea’. There is no pronoun to identify who this is. Is it the Apostle John? Or is it the dragon (the devil)?

It all depends on where you divide the paragraphs.

Let’s read it again from the preceding paragraph without the chapter division.

Revelation 12:17–13:1 KJV

And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ, And stood upon the sand of the sea.

It is the dragon — Satan — who stands on the sand of the sea. He is drunk with rage because Michael, an archangel, has triumphed over him and his demonic horde and cast him to the earth. His access to heaven and to God is now and forever cutoff.

Because the devil was not able to make it as the divine being he aspired to be, he now fakes it. He takes his stand on the sand of the sea as an impostor.

To understand this, you must know what the sea represents. The Bible tells us.

Revelation 17:15 KJV

And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

The sea represents the kingdoms of this world.

Do you understand the perversity? At the very moment that all heaven is rejoicing over the triumph of Christ’s global kingdom because of the downfall of the devil . . .

Revelation 12:10 KJV

And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

. . . the devil dragon is masquerading on earth as God the Father.

The fraud continues in what he does. He calls forth . . .

2. The Counterfeit Christ (13.1b-10)

First is described what he is like and then is described what he does.

A. What the Antichrist is like (13:1b-4)

Revelation 13:1–4 KJV

And I saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

This beast is called from among humanity (the sea) and empowered by the devil dragon to dominate in his name and to his glory.

The seven heads and ten horns we have read before. It mirrors the appearance of the dragon, but with one exception. The dragon had seven diadems or crowns; the beastly antichrist has ten.

Firstly, let’s revise what the seven heads represent. It is Rome, which is set on seven hills (heads; see Revelation 17.9). It is not wrong to also think of the seven heads as seven actual earthly empires starting with Egypt and culminating with Rome. The point is a global empire.

The ten horns are ten rulers (see Revelation 17.12) governing a province each under the beastly antichrist. This administration is put in place just prior to the Battle of Armageddon when Christ returns. In other words, this is a last ditch effort to overthrow the majesty of God.

Secondly, what are we to make of the crowns? The dragon has seven; the beast has ten? Does this make the beast superior?

No. The seven belonging to the dragon are the number of perfection. Global domination belongs to him.

The ten belonging to the beastly antichrist correspond to the ten rulers he appoints under him. It is a similar dynamic to King Herod at the birth of Christ who reigned under Caesar Augustus. Herod had a crown, but Caesar had the crown.

There is one more visual characteristic to this beast — a blasphemous name. His name badge reads Jesus Christ. In so far as he is an impostor, the display of that name is blasphemous.

He is an impostor in name. He is also an impostor in notoriety. Why does all the world wonder after him? Because he appears to have risen from the dead!

Do you see in verse three that he had a fatal wound that healed?

No wonder he is acclaimed by all the world! He is a ruler and he is resurrected (or so it would seem — remember he is a counterfeit).

The devil dragon succeeds in deceiving the world into giving the beast antichrist unrivaled authority. He is compared to a leopard for speed, a bear for strength, and a lion for majesty. These same descriptors are in Daniel 7 and are divinely interpreted to be the empires of Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece. The beastly antichrist, then, is the summation of all these historical kingdoms and more. His empire is pictured as the fourth beast in Daniel 7.7.

So enamoured are the citizens of this world with the beastly antichrist that they worship him and regard him as invincible. Notice the devil dragon is not jealous of this worship. Why should he be? He, too, is worshipped . . . and he has successfully counterfeited Christ, who also was and is worshipped.

In summary, the beastly antichrist is a counterfeit. He was already on the earth when the devil dragon was cast out of heaven and he was already doing the devil dragon’s will. In the first half of the tribulation (three and a half years), this beastly antichrist behaved like a lamb. He brought global peace and enabled the Jews to rebuild the Jerusalem temple.

But now that the devil dragon is raging, there is no more ‘Mr Nice-guy’ for the beastly antichrist. His true colours show through and he ruthlessly counters the righteousness and hope that Jesus Christ represents.

B. What the Antichrist does (13.5-10)

Revelation 13:5–10 KJV

And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. If any man have an ear, let him hear. He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

The antichrist boasts and battles. He boasts of a divinity and a resurrection that is fake. He battles against all the saints because they expose his lies. There is no kindred or nation where he does not pursue and hunt down believers. Many are martyred.

Notice the time marker: 42 months. This keeps coming up — three and a half years or 1260 days — it must be taken literally. This is the Great Tribulation — the last three and a half years before the end, the Battle of Armageddon at the return of the real Christ.

In verse 8, there is a reference to identity that is eternally important. A book of life exists in which are written the names of every man, woman, or child who belongs to Jesus Christ by faith and the redemption of His blood.

This book is a watershed. Your name is either recorded in it or it is not. Later, in chapter 20, we will learn the destiny of anyone whose name is not written in the Lamb’s book of life is the Lake of Fire for eternity. Why? Because of what verse 8 says: they worship not the true Christ, but the antichrist. The pledge allegiance not to the Creator God, but to the impostor god, who is the devil.

Why does this matter?

Because the genuine Jesus Christ — called here the Lamb — was slain as a sacrifice for all sin. He died a real death — his real body broken on the cross; his real blood shed by the nails — to atone for your sin. And He was raised on the third day with a real resurrection.

This is the grace and mercy of God - that from the foundation of the world He determined to save all who would believe by the sacrifice of His Son. Anyone who rejects this profound love in preference for the vile blasphemy of the antichrist and the devil dragon is irredeemable.

Your name is either in the book or it is not.

Put another way, as this world approaches its end, people will either have the mark of the beast or they will not. No-one can have it both ways. You are either in the Lamb’s book as a believer or you are marked by the beast as an unbeliever.

Belief. Sounds like religion, doesn’t it?

There is nothing more powerful than earth than when civil government and religion come together as one.

That is the role of the third member of the unholy trinity.

3. The Sham Spirit (13.11-18)

This Holy Spirit impostor is described in verse 11.

Revelation 13:11 KJV

And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.

His appearance in unthreatening — just as religion appears to be open, welcoming, and helpful. Yet his gentle facade cannot conceal the vile voice of the dragon.

This intrinsic evil concealed under religous robes comes out in what this false prophet ‘causes’.

Revelation 13:12–16 KJV

And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

A. He causes all on earth to worship the antichrist . . . counterfeiting the activity of the Holy Spirit to enable believers to worship Jesus Christ.

B. He causes great wonders as signs to motivate belief . . . counterfeiting the fire that came down at Pentecost on the heads of believers as they spoke the gospel fluently in languages they had never studied — and also the sign gift miracles of healing and prophecy that authenticated the new testament message until the canon was complete.

C. He causes an image of the beast who appeared to have resurrected to be placed in the Jerusalem temple — the abomination that causes desolation . . . counterfeiting the worship of Christ in heaven and in church.

D. He causes any who do not worship the beast to be killed . . . counterfeiting the law of Moses that prescribed death to blasphemers.

E. He causes all to receive the mark of the beast . . . counterfeiting the mark of God recorded in the Lamb’s book of life.

To put maximum pressure on the remnant of believers, this compulsory mark of the beast is essential for buying and selling.

Revelation 13:17–18 KJV

And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

Can you imagine?

In a small sense we can. For a time during the recent pandemic, you either had the vaccine or you did not. Your vaccine status determined whether or not you could keep your job.

How desperate it will be in the last days. Yet to suffer for Christ for a moment and have eternity will be far better than to placate the unholy trinity of the dragon, antichrist and false prophet and lose eternity.

The number of the beast is the number of a man — indicating where he comes from (humanity). That number is 6 — just short of perfection, which belongs only to God. The number is repeated three times — 666 — because it is an unholy trinity forever less than the Holy Trinity.

An impostor. That is who the murderous, slanderous devil is. To be sure, he is a master of deceit. It will be very attractive to submit to the rule of the antichrist and to even worship him as prompted by the false prophet. The dragon will disguise himself as an angel of light. It will seem to make sense.

But it is all counterfeit.

Don’t be left holding the bag of fake currency.

Trust in the One who is faithful and true.

Don’t be a karaoke singer — mimicking what someone else has already done.

Sing a new song — the song of heaven in praise to the one true and triune God.