Revelation 13:1-14:3: Worship is Warfare

These are probably some of the most common questions people want to know when they read the book of Revelation, and we will answer it, but it’s not the most important question.

The most important question is how do we obey Christ and overcome when Satan and his two pet Beasts wage war on the saints?

How do we fight in this spiritual war and stay faithful unto death?

But before we can learn how to fight, we need to learn who we’re fighting.

So let’s start with point number 1...

I. Believers War Against Satanic Kingdoms of Men

Revelation 13:1-2 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.

Now before we can start talking about who this Beast is, we need to talk about where this Beast comes from.

John says this Beast comes out of the sea and the Dragon gave him his power and authority.

The Dragon is of course Satan, who just showed up in chapter 12.

He was defeated by Christ and thrown down in Jesus’ death and resurrection, and when Christ ascended into heaven to reign at the right hand of the Father (Ps. 110:1), Satan went after the next best thing: the church.

Revelation 12:17 He went off to make war on [the saints]....on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea

His goal was to crush the Church, and kill it in its infancy.

The gospel is the power of God to save sinners, but if there was no church to carry that gospel, the world would never be saved.

It would stay dead and cursed, always falling short of giving God the glory due to His Name.

So Satan called for some help.

He called forth two Beasts, two minions, to help him wage his war on the saints and the Kingdom of God.

The first beast he calls is the Beast from the Sea. The Sea Beast.

John says he had ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads.

Well who in the world is this? John makes it pretty clear.

If you go to Revelation 17 John sees this Beast again.

Rev 17:3 I saw a woman [she is the Harlot Babylon who John later calls the great city which in Revelation 11:8 is defined as the city where their Lord was crucified meaning Jerusalem. That’s why she’s drunk on the blood of the saints].

I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns.

Then verse 9...

Revelation 17:3, 9-11 This calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated; they are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he does come he must remain only a little while. As for the beast that was and is not, it is an eighth but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction.

The seven heads are seven mountains or seven hills.

If I say to you the Big Apple, what am I saying?…New York.

What about the Windy City?…Chicago.

What about Sodom and Gomorra?…That’s right! L.A.

But here’s the idea. Rome was famously called the City of Seven Hills. John’s first century audience would have known instantly he was talking about Rome.

Roman History

Then John says these seven heads are doubly symbolic. They are also seven kings. Five were, one is, one will be, but only for a little while.

Well, what is that? They are seven kings meaning they are rulers, Emperors. Five were meaning Five had died.

So you have Julius Caesar who founded the Roman Empire.

Augustus - He’s the one that orders the census mentioned in Luke 2.

Tiberius - He was the Emperor who ruled through Jesus’ life and the gospels and the birth of the church

Then you had Caligula and Claudius.

One is being Nero.

This is another huge example that shows us Revelation was written before the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 and was talking about things that were going to be fulfilled in the first century.

John says the Beast is, as in alive in his day. The beast cannot be “is” if John was talking about someone thousands and thousands of years into the future.

And Nero, in particular, really was a monstrous beast.

Even Roman historians talked about his cruel nature, and one, Apollonius, specifically called Nero a beast (Sproul, Last Days, 192).

He called himself Almighty God and Savior.

He murdered his own mother and kicked his pregnant wife to death.

One of his favorite pass times was seeing people tortured and killed.

The Roman historian Suetonius said Nero would even put on animal skins like a beast to attack and rape male and female prisoners and called it a “game” (Sproul, Last Days, 191).

And ultimately Nero’s beastliness showed itself in his 3.5 year, Empire wide persecution of the church where he would burn Christians as the original Roman candles to light up his garden parties (Chilton, Days of Vengeance, 329).

Of all the Emperors, Nero truly was a “Beast.”

And then, after Nero, the seventh will be, but only for a short while. That’s Galba who kicked off the Year of the Four Emperors, a year of civil war in the Roman Empire and he reigned only 7 months.

As for the eighth that belongs to the seven, we don’t have time to get into all of it, but I think John is saying that Rome will continue after the events of Revelation under a new era called the Flavian Dynasty.

The first set of Roman Emperors were the Julio-Claudian Dynasty and they reigned from Augustus to Nero.

Then you had the Year of the Four Emperors and civil war after which Vespasian rose to the throne, and he’s the eighth.

He’s not part of the 7 heads, he’s an eighth remember? But he is a continuation of it.

He’s still part of the Roman Empire, its just a whole new Dynasty under him.

Under Vespasian Emperor worship and persecution of Christians really took a back seat starting with his reign because His focus was on bringing stability back to Rome.

So the Sea Beast in Revelation in Revelation is the Roman Empire, and if you want to be technical about it, its, the Julio-Claudian Dynasty of the Roman Empire that most promoted Emperor worship and persecution of the church ultimately culminating Nero himself, the head that “is.”

Yes. Vespasian was the Emperor who ordered the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, but all he was doing was finishing what Nero started.

And ultimately with Vespasian, the eighth, there was New Rome that still went forth to destruction because it would eventually in 476 AD.

That helps explain the 10 horns. John says the 10 horns are 10 kings, 10 governing rulers. So the 10 horns represent the 10 different provinces that made up the Roman Empire.

When they give their power and authority to the beast to make war on the Lamb that’s talking about how the whole empire, every provincial ruler, went along with Nero’s persecution of the church.

The Sea Beast is Rome. Now that’s a big claim. And it looks like it fits. But do we really know for sure. Could this all just be a giant coincidence or is there anything in the book that confirms it for us?

That’s where we go back to Revelation 13.

John says the beast rises out of the Sea.

Now the sea is symbolic in revelation for chaos, evil, and…the Gentile world.

And if you look at Italy on a map, Rome is literally in the middle of the sea, surrounded by water.

Not to mention, if you were in Israel or Asian Minor where John was writing these letters and you looked out across the Mediterranean Sea what would you see?

Rome. The beast rising up out of the sea.

Then John says he was like a leopard with feet like a bear and a mouth like a lion.

This is probably the most convincing evidence that John is specifically talking about Rome.

These beasts come from Daniel 7 where Daniel sees a vision of four beasts representing four world empires.

The mouth of the Lion represents the ferociousness of Babylon.

The Feet of the Bear represents the strength and power of the Medo-Persian Empire.

And the Leopard represents the speed and vastness of Greece (Kik, An Eschatology of Victory, 249).

The only Empire left is, the only one not mentioned, is Rome. Why? Because that’s the Beast they are looking at.

Remember, John is in exile. Roman soldiers are probably reading his letters. He can’t just come out and say I’m talking about Rome and Nero.

But if you knew your Bible, and the four beasts from Daniel, exegetically, John could not be shouting it any louder.

I’m talking about Rome and that nut job Nero on the throne!

And here, the Beast of Rome combines all the beasts that came before it into one monstrous Empire.

When Daniel saw the fourth beast all he said was that it was, terrifying, dreadful, and exceedingly strong (Daniel 7:7). This is why.

Rome was all the beasts combined. Man at the height of his strength and power. Teeth of iron.

Why? To ultimately show the glory of the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, who rules a Kingdom that shatters every other Kingdom no matter how strong they think they are.

And then John says...

Revelation 13:3-4 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?”

Mortal Wound

So one of the heads had a mortal wound. Something that looked like it was going to kill the beast, but it comes back to life in a faux resurrection.

Well what is this wound? I think there are basically two good options and both of ‘em will get you to the same place.

The first option is this is the Roman Empire’s resurrection after the assassination of Julius Caesar.

You remember Shakespeare’s famous play, “Et Tu Brute?”

The head of the Empire was assassinated before it even really started, and afterwards it looked like Rome itself was going to split apart in the civil war between Marc Antony and Octavian.

Well Octavian eventually one and took the name Augustus Caesar and established the Empire beyond anything Julius Caesar achieved.

In this case, the Greek word translated one would take its other definition meaning something that is first, so the first head.

The other option and the one I’m more inclined towards because I think it has a more biblical basis, is this.

When you hear a wounded head of a monstrous beast, what do you think of?

Christ crushing the head of the Serpent. The Sea Beast even looks just like the Serpent. He’s made in his image.

He’s a scarlet beast, the Dragon is red, and he has seven heads and ten horns just like Satan in Revelation 12 (Rev.12:3).

So this mortal wound could be a reference to Christ’s defeat of Satan in His death and resurrection and the explosion of the church under the reign of Tiberius.

Tiberius was the third Emperor and Phil. 4:22 says that members of his own household had come to faith in Christ.

In fact the growth of the church was so explosive that Tiberius submitted a resolution to the Roman Senate requesting that Rome recognize Jesus Christ as Divine.

Now, this doesn’t mean Tiberius became a Christian, but it did mean he wanted Rome to recognize Jesus as one of their gods.

So within just a few years of Christ’s resurrection, after crushing the head of the serpent, it looked like he was about to crush the head of the Beast as well.

That the Kingdom of Christ was on the road to shattering the kingdom of men sooner than anyone had expected.

But Tiberius died in 37, And Caligula came to the throne and was basically the one who ramped up Emperor worship into whole new a frenzy, hence the blasphemous names on the beast’s head.

Either way, whether physically with Julius or spiritually with the explosion of the church it looked as if Rome had a mortal wound only to rise again stronger than ever.

Whole World

And because of that strength, the whole earth marveled. They worshiped the Dragon and followed the Beast.

Now this is important for you to know this cause it doesn’t always get translated.

This is not the word Kosmos as in the entire planet or the whole world as we would normally understand it.

Its not even the word οἰκουμένη which means whole inhabited world or the whole Roman Empire.

This is the Greek word γῆ which means earth as in land.

And depending on the context, in Revelation its usually used to talk about the Land as in the Land of Israel, or the Promised Land.

All those who dwell on the Land are the 12 Tribes of Israel that rejected Christ to worship Satan and the beast.

But wait, Israel didn’t worship Satan or follow Rome. They hated Rome.

But what does Christ say? They call themselves Jews, but they are the Synagogue of Satan. They are the church of the Dragon (Revelation 2:9, 3:9).

And what did they say when they murdered Christ? We have no king, but Caesar! (John 19:15).

In their rejection of Christ, Israel became worshipers of Satan and disciples of the Beast.

That’s why John said they followed the Beast. That’s a not so subtle jab because that is the same word Jesus used throughout the gospel when He said follow me (Matt. 4:19, 10:38, 16:23-24).

Here’s the irony. When the Son of God, the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature (Heb. 1:3), died and rose again, had a mortal wound, they did not marvel or follow Him.

Instead they partnered with Rome to cover it up.

In the same way the Beast is the Anti-Son of the Anti-Father Dragon. He is the radiance of Satan’s shame and rebellion, red, 7 heads, 10 horns, just like the Dragon.

And when the Beast just appeared to die and rise again, they worshiped.

They rejected the Lamb and followed the Dragon.

They put their hope and trust in Rome. What did they say when Jesus was going around healing people and casting out demons?

John 11:47-48 What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.

And so they partnered with Rome, this Satanic Beast to murder Christ and persecute His Church.

When faced with a choice between Christ and Caesar, they chose Caesar. They rejected God and committed idolatry.

This is why God calls them the Harlot.

They turned from God to Rome saying Who is like the beast, and who can fight against? The same language used for God in the Old Testament.

O God, who is like you? (Psalm 71:19).

Who is like the Lord our God who is seated on high (Psalm 113:5).

Exodus 15:11 Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?

After this the Beast makes war on the saints.

Revelation 13:5-7 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.

The Beast is given authority for 42 months. 3.5 years. That number could be symbolic for what we might call a “broken 7.”

7 is a number for perfection and wholeness making 3.5 a number for brokenness.

But it could also be literal talking about Nero’s 3.5 years of persecution which lasted from November 64, that’s month 0, until Nero killed himself June 9, 68 AD. 42 months and 9 days.

Either way, the Beast makes war makes war on the saints.

He blasphemes God and God’s tabernacle, that’s the Church. He commanded the whole Empire to worship him as God and he lied about Christians to convince all the Provinces of the Empire to go along with his persecution.

Under Nero, Christians were arrested, burned alive, thrown to lions…all kinds of atrocities under his reign which is why the message of Revelation from Christ to the Churches is: Conquer. Stay faithful unto death.

And in Revelation 17:14 we are given this hope They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.

That’s the first Beast. Rome coming out of the Sea embodied in the monstrous Nero.

The Sea Beast represents Satanic Kingdoms of men that rebel against Christ and persecute His church.

The next Beast is the Land Beast. And that’s point number 2...

II. Believers War Against Worldly, Satanic Religion

Revelation 13:11-12 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.

If the Sea Beast Represents the Gentile Empire of Rome, the Land Beast Represents the Apostate Leadership of Israel.

Again the word earth is the word, γῆ, meaning Promise Land. So this Beast rises out of Israel and it had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon.

Throughout Revelation, Christ is the Lamb..The Lamb that was slain, but this Lamb Beast is a false lamb reminding us of the animal sacrifices of the Old Covenant.

That would possibly make the two horns, if we follow the king motif from the Sea Beast, the priesthood and the Herods, the political rulers of Israel who together partnered with Rome to persecute Christ and the Church.

Now this lamb looks innocent enough, but it speaks like a dragon, which means it does the Dragon’s work. They were the Synagogue of Satan after all.

Well, how does the Dragon speak? Two ways: 1. Seductive False Teaching, and 2. Accusing the Brethren.

Later on John calls this Beast the False Prophet and we know that’s what the Jews were.

They constantly denied Christ and led people away from him, and Jewish false teachers were a constant problem in the early church.

And didn’t Jesus say False Teachers are wolves in sheep’s clothing? (Matthew 7:15). They look like lambs but speak like dragons?

And like Satan, they accused the brethren.

All throughout Acts, the Jews are constantly bearing false witness against the Christians trying to provoke Rome to help them persecute the church.

All of that is why whenJohn says it exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, is a huge clue that John is talking about the Leadership of Apostate Israel.

They exercise all the authority of the first beast in its presence because all of their authority was dependent on Rome’s approval and blessing.

Before AD 70 Rome allowed the Jews to kind of run their own affairs. They could have trials, put people in prison, and even inflict capital punishment.

But only by the authority of the first beast. That is, in its presence. After AD 70 that all change.

This explains why the Land Beast, Apostate Israel, caused everyone in the Land, all of Israel, to worship the first beast.

They did not want to lose their place or their nation remember?

So instead of following Christ, they followed the Beast.

Then John says...

Revelation 13:13-14 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.

Do you remember how Jesus said in the Olivet Discourse which was about the destruction of Jerusalem Matthew 24:24 For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.

This is that.

The fire from heaven language mimics the Two Witnesses from Revelation 11.

They can turn water to blood and bring fire from heaven so they are the Law and the Prophets, Moses and Elijah.

I think they represent the witness of the New Covenant Church from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ.

So this False Prophet is a False Moses and False Elijah.

They prophesy the glory of the beast with great signs and they lead many astray because 1 Cor. 1:22, the Jews look for a sign.

And just like the Two Witnesses call down the fire of God’s wrath to consume their enemies, the Land Beast calls down the wrath of the Dragon to murder and persecute the church.

Then...

Revelation 13:14-15 ...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. 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.

Now what is this image?

The first thing we should think of is the 2nd Commandment.

Exodus 20:3 You shall not make for yourself a carved image .

In other words, do not worship idols.

Well what is an idol?

An idol a statue, symbol, or monument that you worship to worship your god.

And Israel had made an idol of Rome. No King but Caesar.

Now that could be it.

There might not be a physical idol and John is just using a word picture language for Israel’s love and adoration of Rome.

But could it be more?

Was there a statue or monument that became an image or representation for No king but Caesar?

Was it not the Temple and Old Covenant Worship in general?

Consider this. The Land Beast is a False Prophet. A False Moses.

And what was Moses commanded to do? Build the Tabernacle.

Likewise, the Dragon, Sea Beast, and Land Beast all together form an unholy, Anti-Trinity.

The Dragon the Father, the Sea Beast the Son, and the Land Beast the Holy Spirit who bears witness to the Anti-Son.

And when the Holy Spirit gives breath, gives life, what does He build. The Church. The Temple of the living God.

So following the Biblical pattern, the False Prophet would build a Temple to Rome, and what better Temple than the one they already had?

Image = Temple

Just think about it.

If Jesus is the True Temple, the one the sacrificial system and everything in the Old Covenant pointed to, then every time the Jews worshiped there instead of worshiping Christ they were saying, “No king, but Caesar.”

So the Temple, and all of Israel’s Old Covenant worship became an image or idol that said, Caesar is Lord.

The Temple and Old Covenant worship became a monument of their unbelief and the symbol that the Jews had rejected Christ to worship the Beast.

Everything in the Old Covenant ultimately pointed to Christ.

He was the fulfillment of everything Judaism was.

After Christ if you wanted to worship God you had to do so through Christ.

So Old Covenant worship became something else. The Synagogue of Satan and worship of the Beast.

Every sacrifice and every prayer offered in the Temple in rejection of Christ became an act of worship that said, No King but Caesar.

Jesus is not the Sacrificial Lamb, He is not the True Temple, and He is not the eternal Son of God.

After Jesus, Old Covenant worship became Satanic worship because it was the ultimate denial that Jesus was the Christ.

Like the days of Isaiah, their worship and sacrifices became an abomination to the LORD because it trampled the blood of Christ.

Temple worship became a new religion that stopped pointing to Jesus and started pointing to Satan and the Beast.

And if they made an image of the Beast, there was no greater image that Israel had turned from God to Rome than their rejection of Christ and continued worship under Old Covenant Judaism.

In a very real sense the Temple became an image of the Beast.

That’s why John says, they gave it breath.

Jesus had said their Temple was desolate (Matthew 23:38). It was lifeless. Empty. Dead.

But they kept worshiping there. They gave it life even though Jesus said it was dead and buried.

And under the False Moses the Temple became a new golden calf.

And anyone that did not worship the image, anyone that held fast to Christ, the True Temple, instead of going back to the Old Covenant, was slain.

That’s the Jewish persecution of the Church.

Jesus said Luke 21 They will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons…You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death (Luke 21:12, 16).

The Old Covenant Temple became the idol of Israel’s worship that embodied their rejection of Christ and their devotion to Rome.

Then verse 16...

Mark of the Beast

Revelation 13:16-18 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.

What is the Mark of the Beast? Is this the Mark? That the Mark? Everyone’s always looking out for the Mark.

But to understand what the Mark actually is, you need to understand the covenantal background for it.

John didn’t just make it up out of thin air. It meant something.

In Deuteronomy 6 there was an Old Covenant Mark.

You shall love the LORD your God with all their heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might and you shall take this Word and bind it on your head and your hands (Deut. 6:6-8).

The Head symbolizes ownership. You belonged to Yahweh.

The Hand, your work. Everything you did was for the Lord.

So the Old Covenant “Mark” of Yahweh was a mark of whole hearted devotion and obedience to the Lord.

And not only is there an Old Covenant Mark, there is a New Covenant Mark as well.

In the book of Revelation, God sets a Seal on believers’ foreheads.

And just like the Mark of the Beast is a name, the Seal is a name…the name of God.

The New Covenant seal is the seal of the Holy Spirit that says believers are adopted by God and belong to Him.

So given all that background, the Mark of the beast is not so much a physical mark as it is a spiritual one.

Its a Mark of Worship.

Its a counterfeit seal that says you belong to the Beast.

Who do you live for and who do you worship?

Whose name is written on your forehead?

The Beast or the Name of the Father through the blood of the lamb.

Just like the Seal of God marked the believer with God’s Name on their forehead, the Mark of the Beast marked the Satanic Covenant believer with the Beast’s name on their head and on their hand as a way of saying Caesar, not Christ, is Lord.

All that we are and all that we do is for him.

And how did they show that? How did they take the Mark?

By continuing to worship under the Old Covenant.

I think the head and the hand from Deuteronomy 6 are what give us a clue.

Just like the Temple and Old Covenant Judaism became the image of the Beast, Old Covenant worship became his Mark, the outward manifestation that you had rejected Christ and crowned Caesar as king.

Old Covenant worship became the outward manifestation of the Mark of the Beast that rejected Christ again and again and again and said, We have no King but Caesar.

Caesar is Lord. We belong to him and everything we do is for him.

That’s why his number is 666.

Notice John says 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.

Here’s what that tells you. The Beast was alive in John’s day.

John was telling those churches, if you think about it, you can figure out his name, and when they did they would know who it was.

Nero’s Number

It was the number of a man.

You see back then they didn’t have separate systems for numbers and letters.

Their alphabets also worked as their numbers.

So A would be 1. B would be 2. C would be 3. 10, 20, 30, 40, 100, 200, 300.

And that would give everyone’s name a numerical value.

The technical name for it is Gematria, but it was basically like a riddle or a game. Here’s the number, who am I talking about?

And when you took the Hebrew name, Nero, Nerōn Kaisar, his name added up to 666.

The nun 50, resh 200, and so on and so on. Nerōn Kaisar, 666.

Well why Hebrew? John said you needed wisdom remember?

You can’t just go to Greek.

Roman soldiers are going to be reading this, and you don’t want to get yourself killed or bring more trouble on your churches by saying outright Nero is the beast, so you have to hide it somewhere.

And all throughout Revelation John has been writing in Greek, but he keeps giving us Hebrew names.

Abaddon. Armageddon.

And low and behold, Nerōn Kaisar, 666.

Solomon’s Number

But that’s not all. God is a Master Author and there is another side of this coin.

In Deuteronomy 17 Kings are commanded to trust the Lord and not multiply their horses or weapons of war, wives, or gold (Deut. 17:16-17).

All of these correspond to different abominations that defile the Land and cause it to vomit out the people who make it sick.

Multiplying horses is shedding innocent blood.

Wives, sexual perversion.

And gold idolatry.

Well in 1 Kings 10, Solomon starts by multiplying gold and we are explicitly told in verse 14 Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was 666 talents of gold.

From there he multiplied chariots and horseman and then he multiplied wives that led him to worship other gods.

666 Talents of gold was Israel’s first step towards apostasy and their eventual downfall.

So not only is 666 the number of Nero, its also the number of Apostasy and turning away from the Lord.

By definition its the number of idolatry.

So the Mark of the Beast on your head or on your hand was a spiritual seal of Christ or Rome.

Apostasy or Faithfulness?

Who do you belong to? Who do you serve?

Do you worship Christ and follow Him, or do you worship the Dragon and follow the Beast by rejecting Christ and holding fast to the Old Covenant.

And all in all, that’s why the Mark of the Beast is still relevant for us today.

It tells us there are only two paths.

Christ or Satan.

There is no middle ground.

You cannot serve two masters, and someone’s name is going to be written on your forehead.

Who is Lord?

Will we follow Christ or go the way of the world?

In Revelation, the Mark of the Beast is Emperor worship parading around in the form of Old Covenant worship.

Today, its anything, any cultural pressure that forces us to choose between our love and devotion to Christ and something else.

And here’s the kicker. That something else is always Satanic.

Every religion or worldly philosophy that is not Christ comes from Satan.

Christ over all. He must reign until all His enemies are put under His feet.

So we have three Great Enemies in our spiritual war.

The Dragon wants to devour us to stop the gospel and the Kingdom of Christ from bringing life and salvation to the world.

To do that he calls up two minions. Two accomplices.

A Sea Beast representing Rome and ultimately all Satanic, rebellious human governments.

And a Land Beast representing the Leaders of Apostate Israel and ultimately worldly, Satanic human religion.

And all three, this Unholy Trinity are united in this war.

The Dragon works spiritually to deceive, steal, kill, and destroy.

The Sea Beast persecutes the saints and slays them with the sword God entrusted to them to punish the wicked.

And the Land Beast slays them and ostracizes them from society for refusing to turn from Christ and worship the way of the World.

Well what do we do in this war? How do the saints fight?

Thats our conclusion. Point number 3...

III. Believers Wage War through Worship

Revelation 14:1-3 Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder. The voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps, and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth.

Worship is warfare.

Why does the Sea Beast and why does the Land Beast persecute the saints? Because they worship Christ.

While this war is raging, the 144,000 are with the Lamb.

They represent the Elect.

The 12 Tribes of Israel times the 12 Apostles times 1000 the number of perfect fullness or completion.

The 144,000 represent God’s church. When John wrote Revelation it was the church alive in that day, but today it includes us.

All those who have been redeemed from the earth.

Hebrews 12:22-24 “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God... and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant.

We stand on Mount Zion with the Lamb, sealed with the Father’s Name on our forehead.

And every time you see the Church, the 144,000 in the book Revelation they are worshiping God.

That is how they conquer.

Remember the whole purpose of the book is faithful unto death.

Revelation 12:11 And they have conquered [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.

Satan and the Beasts win, they conquer, when the church shrinks back. Dims their light. Capitulates to the world.

But Satan and the Beasts are conquered when we and hold fast to Christ and Him no matter what.

Every time you worship Christ, your waging war. Every time you pray with your family, resist temptation, serve Christ and His Kingdom, you are conquering the Dragon and all his Beasts.

And don’t miss this. When we come together on the Lord’s Day to celebrate Christ, that’s warfare.

Every Sunday is a battle.

We come together to proclaim the glory of Christ and His Dominion over heaven and earth.

Our worship we charge the gates of hell that Christ has promised will not prevail against us (Matthew 16:18).

Every time we come together we are treading serpents, scorpions, and all the power of the enemy underfoot because Christ crushed the serpent’s head (Luke 10:19).

Our warfare is to worship. And our war will not be over until all nations worship Christ through the preaching of the gospel.

But by the grace of God we will overcome. We will conquer. We will be faithful unto death because look at the song God's grace has given us the right to sing in Revelation 15:2-4.

Revelation 15:2-4 And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire—and also those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands. And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations! Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.

Let’s Pray

Scripture Reading

Psalm 97:1-9 “The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad! Clouds and thick darkness are all around him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. Fire goes before him and burns up his adversaries all around. His lightnings light up the world; the earth sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of all the earth. The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all the peoples see his glory. All worshipers of images are put to shame, who make their boast in worthless idols; worship him, all you gods! Zion hears and is glad, and the daughters of Judah rejoice, because of your judgments, O Lord. For you, O Lord, are most high over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods.”

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