Revelation 13 - An Overview

Revelation 13 - Do You Believe in Monsters?

Revelation 13 - Do You Believe in Monsters?

In this chapter of Revelation (chapter 13) we have the part that everyone wants to know about. Who is the Beast or the Antichrist? Who is the false prophet? What is the mark of the Beast? And what does “666” mean? Admit it when you think of the Revelation those are the topics that first come to mind. You don’t usually think of the encouragement and correction given to the seven churches that this was first sent to. You don’t think of the encouragement we can receive today knowing that the redeemed of God have been cared for and will continue to be cared for by the Creator of the universe. We do often think about walking the streets of gold and no more tears but that is usually after we thought about the Beast, the false prophet, the mark of the beast and the number of man, 666.

Today we are going to begin a look at Revelation 13 and I anticipate it taking us 3 to 4 weeks on this chapter. But before we look at chapter 13 let me remind you that there were 6 things that I told you we would not be doing in our study of Revelation:

1. We will not be naming the Antichrist, or the false prophet.

2. We will not be looking at the newspapers, news broadcasts, or internet articles to interpret “where we are” in the course of events in the Revelation.

3. We will not be setting a date concerning when Christ will return.

4. We will not be defining what the mark of the beast is.

5. We will not be specifically defining the meaning of 666.

6. One last thing we will not be doing; we will not be agreeing on everything.

Three or four of the things we will not be doing are right here in this chapter. So hang on it is going to be a very interesting ride. Today we will be reading the entire chapter but I am going to attempt to give you an overview of the chapter and get into the specifics in the coming weeks. So let’s go ahead and pray then we will read Revelation 13.

Revelation 13:1-18 1Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. 2 Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. 3 And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast. 4 So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?” 5 And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months. 6 Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. 7 It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. 8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.9 If anyone has an ear, let him hear. 10 He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity; he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.11 Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. 12 And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. 13 He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. 14 And he deceives those who dwell on the earth—by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. 15 He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. 16 He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, 17 and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.[1]

Where does one start an overview of that? Well, first let me ask you: Do you believe in monsters? If so where are they found? Are they hiding under the bed, or in the closet? Are they hiding out in the woods just waiting for you to walk by so they can jump out and devour you? Well let me just be honest with you; I believe in monsters. Maybe not the kind that hides under the bed or in the closet but there are indeed monsters. We see in this chapter 3 different monsters. One of them we met last week, the fiery red dragon who represents Satan. He is still on the scene here and is being very active. Last week we left him full of wrath having been excluded from being able to accuse and prosecute the redeemed of God before the throne of God so now he is preparing to go to war against the redeemed of God on the earth and at this time we see him call up his worst cohorts; a sea monster and a land monster. We will look at each one of these, the sea monster and the land monster, a little more deeply in the coming weeks but today I want us to see how these three beings correspond or interact with one another, what are their relationships to one another?

Back in February, March and April of 2013 I preached a series of sermons from John’s Gospel entitled “The Seven I Am’s of Jesus”: “I am the True Vine”, “I am the Bread of Life”, “I am the Light of the World”, “I am the Door, “I am the Good Shepherd”, “I am the Way the Truth and the Life”, and finishing up on Resurrection Sunday with “I am the Resurrection and the Life”. It was, all in all, a good sermon series but there was one sermon that I did not preach but if I had I would have named it “The Five I Wills of Satan” from Isaiah 14:12-14. I am not going to preach that sermon this morning, maybe someday, but let me read to you Satan’s “I wills”. 12“How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! 13For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; 14I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’[2] With just a cursory look at these three verses, without going into any depth at all, we can see that Satan, Lucifer, the Serpent of old, the Dragon has a goal and that goal is to be God, to supplant the Creator and governor of the universe. That is his desire and in chapter 12 we saw that he attempted to kill Christ our Hero at every turn. He failed at that and was cast out of heaven because our Mediator, Jesus, is there and he can no longer accuse the redeemed of God so he turns his attention to the redeemed of God on the earth. In chapter 13 he begins to pull out all the stops. He does this by calling up the sea monster. We will talk about his heads and horns and crowns more next time but look at verse 2 close to the end: The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. If you will remember back in Luke 4 this is what Satan offered Jesus in the wilderness temptations. Satan is the prince of this world and obviously he has the authority to give power, a throne and great authority over the nations and peoples of the earth. This monster or beast is given the power to rule over the peoples of the earth. You can see that 7 times in the first seven verses it is told to us that this beast is given or granted authority and power: Verse 2-the dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority, Verse 4-the dragon who gave authority to the beast, Verse 5-he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies and he was given authority to continue for forty two months, Verse 7-it was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. But don’t we know from Matthew 28:18 that Christ Jesus has been given all authority in heaven and earth by God?

There is one thing in the description that I skipped over but need to point out. Verse 3: 3 And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast. In verse 12 it says that he had a deadly wound and was healed and in verse14 it says that he was wounded by a sword and lived. This Beast had been wounded in such a way as to have for all intents and purposes been killed yet he was alive. Remember that for just a minute because it will make much more sense in just a minute.

Let me go back a little and point out again that Satan’s plan is to supplant God, to overthrow Him and be god himself. He has throughout history attempted to show himself as God to be sure he has set himself up as a counterfeit god. And as a counterfeit god he has, in this monster from the sea, set up a false messiah an Antichrist. Look at what it says in verse 4: 4 So they worshiped the dragon (Satan) who gave authority to the beast (Antichrist); and they worshiped the beast (Antichrist), saying, “Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?” He has power over the nations to rule and to reign and he was dead but now he lives and he causes others to worship the dragon. So we see that there is a counterfeit god and a counterfeit Christ or Antichrist. Christ has been given all authority, He was crucified for our sin but rose and lives, and He always seeks to glorify His Father in heaven and that is what it appears the Antichrist is doing for Satan.

Satan has his Antichrist now all he needs is someone to proclaim the greatness of the Antichrist. Verse 11: 11 Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. That description is fairly important. Jesus warned His disciple in Matthew 7:15-16 15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits[3] This second beast looks like a lamb but his words are the same words as Satan, he sounds like the dragon; that is part of his fruits. This false prophet exercises the same authority that the Beast/Antichrist exercises over the nations while in the presence of the Beast and he works acts of wonder and power even causing fire to fall from heaven causing people to worship the Beast and devote themselves to him. He deceives the nations to the point that this false prophet causes the people of the earth to make an idol that looks like the Beast/Antichrist and then somehow, by demonic power, technology or ventriloquism causes the idol or image of the beast to speak. Through the dragon who gave power to the false messiah the false prophet counterfeited life in the image of the beast just like the Holy Spirit breaths spiritual life into every believer who was dead in their trespasses and sin. Those who would not worship him are summarily killed.

What we see here is a counterfeit god, the Dragon, a counterfeit messiah, the Beast/Antichrist and a counterfeit holy spirit or an unholy spirit in the false prophet or beast from the land. We have here an unholy trinity, counterfeiting the Holy Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

This is interesting and very comforting if you ask me. In verse 8 it says: 8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, That part is kind of scary but look at the rest of that verse: whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Very clearly, those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life will not worship the Beast. Matthew 24:24 24 For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.[4] The important part there as it relates to this is the “if possible”. In other words it is not possible to deceive the elect because we have the Holy Spirit. But the deception will be so strong that Jesus goes on to tell his disciples; “See I have told you beforehand”. That believers will not be deceived is important as it relates to the next part of this passage.

Verse 16-17: 16 He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, 17 and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. I am not going to talk about what this mark is today but here again we see another counterfeit. In chapter 7 we saw that the redeemed of God was sealed and we read in 2 Timothy 2:19 19 Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.”[5] The Lord knows those who are His, how much more comfort would one need? Those who are the sealed of God are forever sealed because they worship God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. However those who are not the sealed of God will willingly be sealed to the Beast. The seal of God guarantees eternal life, liberty from the curse of sin, and the effect of sin. But the seal of the Beast guarantees that one will have life on the earth. He will not kill you because you worship him and you will be able to purchase food, even though there is very little food to purchase if you go back and realize all the natural disasters, 1/3 of the water poisoned, 1/3 of the sea turned to blood and 1/3 of the sea animals dying, 1/3 of all the plant life destroyed and 1/3 of the shipping industry destroyed. But you get to have life, such as it is. That is what the sealed of the Beast gets. But if you were to jump ahead a few chapters, 21-22 you would see what the sealed of God gets.

Let’s cover one more thing before I start applying this to our lives today. Those who receive the mark of the beast will do so out of worship of the beast. They will not receive something they do not want, they will wear the mark of the beast proudly. I say this to make it clear that those who have been sealed by God, believers, need not fear accidently or forcibly receiving the mark. I say that, and I will talk more about this in coming weeks, but I say this because there are the internet rumors and word of mouth rumors that if you take the vaccine for covid 19 they will implant a microchip in you which will be the mark of the beast and you are forever damned. Let me bluntly say; that is false, it is a damned lie because people are trying to twist Scripture to cause fear and achieve their political goals. I am not telling you to take the vaccine, that is your business, most likely I will take it. But I am telling you that taking it will not give you the mark of the beast so don’t let that be the reason you do not take it. When the time comes to take the mark of the Beast the choice will be made because someone worships the Dragon who empowers the Beast and he will worship the Beast as well. He will follow the spiritual leadership of the second beast, the false prophet because he or she is promised life on the earth. He or she will be able to buy and sell, and work for a living where the sealed of God, well they will just have to depend on God.

To end this overview of chapter 13 we need to note that Satan, the fiery red dragon is alive and well and very active. He has been opposing God, the things of God and the people of God from the beginning but has intensified his attack since he lost his position of accuser and prosecutor when our Mediator, Christ Jesus was seated on His throne. He cannot overthrow God so he will attempt to overthrow God’s redeemed. There have always been false messiahs, antichrists. But in the last days there will be the Antichrist who Satan will empower to be a powerful political and military leader and more importantly he will be worshiped. He will persecute the redeemed of God relentlessly and some will be martyred. Satan will also raise up a false prophet that will cause the world, those who are not the redeemed of God, the sealed of God, to worship the Beast/Antichrist by working miracles and signs even causing a statue of the Antichrist to breath and speak counterfeiting life. The people on the earth will be called on to take a mark signifying that they indeed worship the Antichrsit/Beast so that they can live under his regime. This unholy trinity will force the people of the earth to worship the Beast and the Dragon. But the sealed of God, the redeemed, will not take the mark of the Beast/Antichrist.

Some people have made claims as to when all of this is going to come about, but everyone who has predicted to know has been proven wrong. There have been predictions concerning just exactly who this Antichrist is, but all the predictions have been wrong. To be certain we do not know when the rise of the monster from the sea; the Antichrist will occur nor do we know who he will be. It will happen but when and who we do not know. So what do we know? Very quickly four things - First: We know we must be ready. If you think you can wait until you recognize the Antichrist to come to the true Christ than it will be too late, you will be deceived. Second: Though the Beast/Antichrist may have power over the people of the world he has no real power over the redeemed of God. He may kill the body but you are the sealed of God, the redeemed. Third: He and his false prophet may deceive the people of the world but he cannot deceive the sealed of God. You have the indwelling Holy Spirit. Fourth and final thing we know: The seal of the Lamb, those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book since the foundation of the world is a guarantee into heaven, the abode of God. But the seal of the Beast, whatever that mark is, is a guarantee of entrance into eternal hell. You need to understand that in the end everyone will have one mark or the other. If it were today what would your mark be? Let’s pray.

[1] The New King James Version. (1982). (Re 13:1–18). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

[2] The New King James Version. (1982). (Is 14:12–14). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

[3] The New King James Version. (1982). (Mt 7:15–16). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

[4] The New King James Version. (1982). (Mt 24:24). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

[5] The New King James Version. (1982). (2 Ti 2:19). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.