Who is the Beast?

Revelation 13 NIV

The dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its 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. 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 filled with wonder and followed the beast. People 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 wage war against it?” The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months. It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world. Whoever has ears, let them hear. “If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity they will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword they will be killed.” This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of God’s people. Then I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people. Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth. It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666.

Introduction: For most of my life I have heard about the Anti-Christ. Who is this Anti-Christ? I googled it and here are some of the candidates according to some…John Wycliff thought the Pope of his day was, as did Martin Luther, whereas the Pope thought Martin Luther was the Anti-Christ. When I was in college Prince Charles was a candidate put forth, In the U.S. the following presidents have been considered candidates (Ronald Reagan, John F. Kennedy, Barak Obama, Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton) Others outside the U.S. - Osama Bin Laden, and Saddam Husein. It would be so much easier if we just knew. So who is the beast? Is the Beast The Antichrist? And What as Christians Should we do with this knowledge?

Last week we talked about the Dragon, in order to introduce us to the Beast, because the Beast was introduced in Chapter 11 as the one who will martyer the Church.

25-Who are the Beasts?

Multiple Theories, But this is the theory that I subscribe to for the reasons I will mention as we go along, but also for these other reasons.

The Book of Revelation is primarily written to the 7 Churches in Asia Minor.

When we walked through the letters to the 7 churches it was clear that Jesus was encouraging them to patiently endure and be faithful to the Gospel in the face of persecution, Pagan Worship, and Emperor Worship

Jesus says this is in the section of the book of what must “Soon Take Place”

So, this lends us to a reading that will make sense to the original readers, the 7 Churches, and that they know what John is talking about that will encourage them in their soon tribulation they will go through.

Who these Two beasts are, They are less powerful than Christ. - Image from Chapter 10 - The Angel representing Christ who hands John the scroll (Standing on the Sea and on the land.

God is Sovereign, in his Authority, he allows for a time (3.5 years as a symbol for short time and limited time) that Satan would empower a nation to do his bidding.

First Beast: Primary Imagery coming from Daniel Chapter 7.

Daniel 7 LEB

In the first year of Belshazzar the king of Babylon, Daniel saw a dream and visions of his head as he lay on his bed; then he wrote down the dream and the summary of the words as follows: Daniel explained and said, “I was looking in my vision in the night, and look, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. And four great beasts were coming up from the sea, differing from one another. The first was like a lion and had the wings of an eagle. I was watching until its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the earth and it was raised on its feet like a human, and a human heart was given to it. And look, another beast, a second one, looking like a bear. And it was raised up on one side and three tusks were in its mouth between its teeth, and so it was told, “Arise, eat much flesh!” After this I was watching and look, another beast like a leopard; it had four wings of a bird on its back, and the beast had four heads, and dominion was given to it. After this in the visions of the night I was looking and there was a fourth beast, terrifying and frightful and exceedingly strong, and it had great iron teeth, and it was devouring and crushing, and it stamped the remainder with its feet; and it was different from all the other beasts that preceded it and it had ten horns. I was considering the horns, and look, another little horn came up among them, and three of the earlier horns were rooted out from before it, and there were eyes like the eyes of a human in this horn and also a mouth that was speaking boastfully. “I continued watching until thrones were placed and an Ancient of Days sat; his clothing was like white snow and the hair of his head was like pure wool and his throne was a flame of fire and its wheels were burning fire. A stream of fire issued forth and flowed from his presence; thousands upon thousands served him and ten thousand upon ten thousand stood before him. The judge sat, and the books were opened. “I continued watching then because of the noise of the boastful words of the horn who was speaking; I continued watching until the beast was slain and its body was destroyed, and it was given over to burning with fire. And as for the remainder of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but a prolongation of their life was given to them for a season and a time. “I continued watching in the visions of the night, and look, with the clouds of heaven one like a son of man was coming, and he came to the Ancient of Days, and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and kingship that all the peoples, the nations, and languages would serve him; his dominion is a dominion without end that will not cease, and his kingdom is one that will not be destroyed. “As for me, Daniel, my spirit was troubled within me, and the visions of my head terrified me. So I approached one of the attendants and I asked him about the truth concerning all this; and he told me that he would make known to me the explanation of the matter. ‘These great beasts which are four in number are four kings who will arise from the earth. But the holy ones of the Most High will receive the kingdom, and they will take possession of the kingdom forever, forever and ever.’ “Then I desired to make certain concerning the fourth beast that was different from all the others—exceedingly terrifying, with its iron teeth and its claws of bronze; it devoured and crushed and stamped the remainder with its feet— and concerning the horns that were on its head, and concerning the other horn that came up and before which three horns fell, and this horn had eyes and a mouth speaking boastfully, and its appearance was larger than its companions. I continued watching, and this horn made war with the holy ones and it prevailed over them, until the Ancient of Days came and gave judgment to the holy ones of the Most High; and the time arrived and the holy ones took possession of the kingdom. “And he said, ‘The fourth beast is the fourth kingdom that will be on the earth that will be different from all the other kingdoms, and it will devour the whole earth and it will trample it and it will crush it. And as for the ten horns coming from it, from this kingdom ten kings will arise, and another will arise after them. And he will be different from the earlier ones, and he will subdue three kings. And he will speak words against the Most High, and he will wear out the holy ones of the Most High, and he will attempt to change times and law, and they will be given into his hand for a time and two times and half a time. Then the court will sit, and his dominion will be removed, to be eradicated and to be destroyed totally. And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the nation of the holy ones of the Most High; his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey him.’ This is the end of the account. As for me, Daniel—my thoughts terrified me greatly and my face changed over me, but I kept the matter in my heart.”

Why Beast? Nations can act Beastly - Reminds us of the Story in Daniel where Nebuchadnezzer actually goes mad in his mind and is driven to live like a wild animal (Daniel 4:28-33)

26-The Four Beasts in Daniel are the Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, and then the Romans.

Succession makes sense. As The 4th beast as described by Daniels Version is a lot like the Roman Empire, and it is during this Empire that the Ancient of Days sends the Son of Man (Jesus’ name for himself) to establish His Kingdom forever.

Here in Revelation - The Beast (ie the 4th Beast takes on all of the characteristics of the first 3)

They all come out of the Sea (The Place of Chaos in Jewish Thinking) or as Chapter 11 says the Abyss. This along with the fact that it is the Dragon (ie Satan) who is pulling the strings behind the Beasts power and authority ties the Roman Empire and some of its characteristics to the Demonic.

27-Other Imagry that supports the Beast being the Roman Empire or its succession of emperors.

Revelation 17:9–13 LEB

Here is the mind that has wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits and they are seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and whenever he comes it is necessary for him to remain a short time. And the beast that was, and is not, is also himself an eighth, and is of the seven, and he is going to destruction. And the ten horns that you saw are ten kings, who have not yet received a kingdom, but they will receive authority as kings for one hour with the beast. These have one opinion, and they will give their power and authority to the beast.

Rome sits on 7 hills. - But the heads are also seven kings in succession.

Not getting into who exactly they are (difficult to tell what John is thinking about), but he says, that 5 of them have already come - So in Revelation they are already in the midst of the succession of the 7 kings.

The 10 kings are likely governors over 10 provinces of Rome, who like provincial governors do help drive the economic engine for the Roman empire in their territory.

The Roman Empire is given power by Satan for a limited time

to Blaspheme God,

Persecute the Church,

Align the entire empire of people made up of every tribe, people, language, etc. to Worship Satan (except those who believe in Jesus of course)

Reminder that each of the towns that the 7 churches were in had temples to a myriad of the Roman/Greek gods.

Ephesis - Artemis, And the Temple to the Emperor Domitian was being built.

Pergamum - The Place Where Satan Lives (Hmmm, John is connecting this town with the Dragon/Satan from Chapter 12) - Temple of Zeus, Athena, Dionysus, Hera, Demeter, and Aschlepas (whose symbol was the serpant/dragon), Temple of Rome and Augustus - Twice Neochorate.

Conclusion - Pressure for the entire empire to Worship these gods and the Emperor throughout history. - In fact a number of Emperors, felt that the decline in the empire was due to getting away from its roots (especially when Christianity Spread, and pressured everyone to worship these gods again.) -

Domitian’s Persecution was because he loved the Roman way, and wanted everyone to worship the gods and the emperors.

Trajan/Pliny - Christianity spread, Pliny a governor found the Temples were almost empty, and the sellers of sacrifices found few buyers. So when he found out if someone was a Christian, he would ask them to recant and Curse Christ. He asked three times. If no, then Roman Citizens were imprisoned, non-Citizens were killed.

Marcus Aurelius - There were endless invasions, floods, epidemics, and other disasters. People began to blame Christians for bringing the wrath of the gods upon the Empire - So Marcus persecuted them.

Septimius Severus - Unit the Empire in Worship - All religions were fine as long as they were subservient to the worship of the Sun.

Decius & Valerian - Wanted to restore Rome to her glory days - Rome was struggling, and the belief was it was because people abandoned the ancient gods. Forced worship of the roman gods across the empire. - Those who did not were guilty of treason.

Diocletian - The Greatest of and Last of Roman Persecutions (next emperor was Constantine who made Christianity the official religion).

What is the deal about the fatal wound by sword.

Resurrection type story - Like the two witnesses point to the church’s final resurrection, and the fact that the church grew in persecution, this is likely a resurrection type story.

Nero Revivus Myth: The Nero Redivivus legend was a belief popular during the last part of the 1st century that the Roman emperor Nero would return after his death in 68 AD. The legend was a common belief as late as the 5th century.[1] The belief was either the result or cause of several pretenders who posed as Nero leading rebellions.

Domitian - “Juvenal wrote that, ‘Under Domitian, Rome was under the control of a Bald Nero.” - Roman Poet at the Time.

Beast 2

From the Earth

A Counterfeit Jesus - like a lamb, and spoke like a dragon - Demonic.

Did the bidding of the Beast

So this would be like the Governors mentioned above and the Religious Establishment locally who enforced the Roman way of worship - like Pliny.

Very deceiving - Using the Magic Arts

Two images from the O.T.

The battle between Elijah and the Prophets of Baal, but here the False Prophet seems to be right because he can produce the fire from heaven.

Making people worship images of the first beast - This is a depiction of setting up the Temples to worship the Emperors of the Roman Empire, but it reminds us of the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

This Second Beast from here on out will be called the False Prophet, because this Beast operates the system of worship for the Roman Empire.

Samuel Fletcher - of BYU, “Temples, Coins, and Persecution: Why the Pagans Persecuted the Early Christians.

Temples were the Banks of the Day, not just places of worship - They were at the center of the economy.

When Chrisianity Grew less people gave financially and in their presence to the Temples.

This impacted the economic stability of the Empire.

Therefore, people were pressured to worship for the economics of things, and if not you were sanctioned economically or even with your life.

This brings us to the Mark of the Beast.

28-What is the Mark of the Beast?

What is it not.

A Tatoo, a Branding, in the 80’s a Bar Code tatoo, then people said a computer chip, and now the Vaccine has been suggested. - It is none of these, Why?

Not anything physical on the body.

Compare to the Mark on the 144,000 - we will also see this in the next chapter.

Psalm of Solomon 15:6-9 - Common language for those who are saved and those who are not.

6. For the mark of God is upon the righteous for salvation.

7. Famine and Sword and Death will be far from the righteous; for they shall flee from the devout as those pursued by war,

8. but they shall pursue sinners and overtake them, and those who do lawlessness shall not escape the judgment of the Lord;

9. they shall be overtaken by those experienced in war, for the mark of destruction is on their forehead.

We will see in the next chapter that one loses their salvation if they take the mark.

There is only one thing that is unforgiveable according to Jesus - Blasphemy of the Spirit.

Example - Man in prison who has satanic tatoos. In prison he gave his life over to Jesus. Are we saying that the blood of Jesus is too weak to pay for the mistake of a mark on the body?

What is it?

If the only unforgiveable sin is Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, and we have said that the Mark on the Believer is both God’s name, and the Holy Spirit, then what is this mark.

It is about Allegience and Ownership. It is not visible. Those who are aligned with Satan are marked as his, and those who align with Jesus are marked as His.

What is 666?

A Mystery? or Did John think people could actually calculate the number?

Gematria is an alphanumeric code of assigning a numerical value to a name, word or phrase according to its letters.

Aleph = 1, Beta = 2

Nero Ceasar in Hebrew adds up to 666 - This theory has been gaining steam, and especially of Domitian is seen as the return of the Bald Nero.

Gematria is likely - Iraneaus the disciple of Polycarp, the disciple of the Apostle John (A lot of years gap, so don’t get too excited, but he is the closest interpreter of Revelation we have of the Revelation)

- The Earliest Commentator, and the closest link to John who wrote Revelation is Ignatius. He says the 666 equals 6,000 meaning the full years of apostasy, matching the 6 days of creation. The name calculated he gives a number of options, but says we would do well to not be certain of any of the options. His two favoirite is Latienos, and Teitan.

Conclusions - The Mark of the Beast is not a physical thing

Like the readers of John the issue is alegience to World Systems over Christ.

There may be symbols of this allegience. Examples being the certificate issued by Decius for those who bowed offered sacrifices to the emperor so that they could buy and sell, or say the swastica, or a reverse mark like the Jewish star. But all of these can be forgiven, but what can not be forgiven is rejection of Jesus over other gods, human worship, or satan worship.

So what is all of this saying to us?

29-Satan Uses World Systems to Oppose God.

Questions: I thought this was talking about THE Antichrist who will come in the future?

From 1 John, then 2 John.

The Lexham English Bible Chapter 2

18 Children, it is the last hour, and just as you have heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen, by which we know that it is the last hour.

The Lexham English Bible Chapter 2

20 And you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. 21 I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because every lie is not of the truth. 22 Who is the liar except the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This person is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. 23 Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father either; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.

The Lexham English Bible 2 John

7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess Jesus Christ coming in the flesh. This person is the deceiver and the antichrist!

To be sure Jesus does say there will be a final Man of Lawlessness that will come before he comes again, but for the 7 Churches - The Roman Empire is the Beast in their day.

The Fact that the Bible talks about multiple Beasts should tells us something. There have been and will be in the future beastly nations that pop up from time to time. - The Nazi Regime, PolPot, The Suppression of Christians in China, The Taliban,

This is the Kolaidascoping Effect. Just as John could see the Beasts of the O.T. as Archetypes of the Beast of His day, We can learn from the Christians of John’s day on how to respond to the Beastly nations of our day. - Warning though, it may not be a one-one relationship. In other words, we can not construct a timeline of events in the future. But we can recognize when Institutions try to enforce us to worship something other than Jesus.

And Satan can and has empowered some beastly nations throughout history to not only persecute the Church, but other groups as well. This is the Biblical Reality that Christians Navigate.

According to Paul,

13 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4 for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7 Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

But at the same time God allows Satan short periods of time to be the puppet master behind the scenes to attempt to enforce people to worship something, or someone other than God.

It is sooo easy then as Christians to see this Scripture, to hear this reality, and even to remember the history of nations and go the route of following every Conspiracy Theory that comes our way.

We don’t want to be Bamboozled by The Devil’s Ploys.

So How do Christians Respond or live in this reality.

30-How Do Christians Respond?

Recognize that our battle is not against flesh and blood. - The Beast is being empowered by Satan who is our real enemy. And last week it said that we win, not by doing battle with the beast using the beasts weapons of war. We win by Washing our robes in the blood of the Lamb, Clinging to Jesus, and Clinging to the Gospel.

We need to work on our discernment on when to obey governments, and the distinction here is that Christians are to obey the laws of governments until those laws or policies would cause us to deny Christ, disobey Christ, or worship anything or someone other than Christ.

Let the one who has ears let him hear - Patience and Endurance.

This is what he said at the end of each letter to the 7 Churches, and

Theme to Ephesus, Thyatira, Philadelphia,

Patiently Endure like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. - John Quotes Jeremiah 15

Jeremiah 15:2, and 43:11 is where John gets the basic language of verse 10. The people wondered to Jeremiah what would happen to them when Babylon comes and takes them over. The response is well, basically you will go where you are destined to go. If you are destined for plague, then you will go to plague, if you are destined to be killed by the sword, than that will happen, etc...

- In other words Trust God with his plan, but you will win no matter your fate when you stay faithful to Christ.

4. Stay Faithful to Christ

Theme for Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira,

Conclusion: