From this chapter arises the terrifying beast from the sea. Satan sets him on a throne to rule the surviving earthly population and blaspheme against Almighty God.
Wes
Welcome to the Two Journeys Bible Study Podcast. This is Episode 16 in our Revelation Bible Study Podcast entitled The Beast from the Sea, where we’ll discuss Revelation 13:1-10. I’m Wes Treadway, and I’m here with Pastor Andy Davis. Andy, what are we going to see in these verses that we’re looking at today?
Andy
We’re going to look at one of the most dramatic chapters in the Book of Revelation, which is saying something because there’s so much drama and so much terror and judgment in the Book of Revelation. But this chapter predicts the future coming of what is spoken of in 1 John 2 as the Antichrist who is coming, who Paul calls the man of sin in 2 Thessalonians 2. But here he’s revealed as the beast from the sea, the one world ruler who will dominate what’s left of the population on earth after the seven trumpet judgments, who will consolidate his power and rule as a terrible tyrant seeking the worship of all the people on earth. We’re going to walk through those verses today. And I think what’s so powerful for us as Christians is to know that “forewarned is forearmed.” Christians who read the Bible and have good, sound exegesis will be ready for this ruler long before he comes.
Wes
Let me go ahead and read verses 1-10 in Revelation 13.
And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads. And the beast that I saw was like a leopard; its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority. One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast. And they worshipped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshipped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?”
And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for 42 months. It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. Also, it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation, and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain. If anyone has an ear, let him hear:
If anyone is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes;
if anyone is to be slain with the sword, with the sword must he be slain.
Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.
Andy, as we wrapped up last time, we were confronted with the sentence, “And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore.” How does that sentence at the end of chapter 12 set up this chapter that we’re looking at today?
Andy
We need to know who the dragon is, and we learn who the dragon is back in the previous chapter, 12:9, where Satan’s four names are used. He’s the ancient serpent, the devil, Satan, the dragon, who leads the whole world astray. So, we know the dragon is Satan. Satan is standing at the shore of the sea, and that leads us very much, I think, and we’re going to see this to an allusion to Daniel 7 and the beasts that come up out of the sea in Daniel 7. So, he is standing there ready to summon from the turbulent sea the beast from the sea that we’re going to talk about today.
Wes
What does the beast in verse 1 represent? How does John describe him, and why do you think both Daniel and Revelation liken wicked persecuting human governments to powerful and deadly beasts?
Andy
Right. So, the last question comes from the understanding we have of the beast from the sea, from Daniel 7 and the vision there. There’s a tremendous connection between Daniel 7 and Revelation 13. So, you really have to immerse yourself in that chapter and understand how that imagery is used but also altered to some degree or changed in this final vision. So fundamentally, I believe that the sea represents the turbulence of the nations, of all nations, peoples, languages, men of every culture. It’s portrayed as a sea because there’s a sense of turbulence and a sense of storminess, disorder, and chaos, really. Out of that comes these four beasts in Daniel 7 and this one beast in Revelation 13.
There’s a very strong correlation between the two. In Daniel 7, the beasts that come out of the sea clearly represent human empires, the Babylonian, the Medo-Persian, the Greek, and then the Roman. They’re portrayed as animals, as beasts, because I think of their power and their ravenous, mindless, destructive nature. So, the beasts destroy people. They destroy lives. They kill people. So, the Medo-Persian empire is portrayed as a bear, and he’s told, and he’s commanded to get up and eat his fill of flesh, and there’s a rib in his mouth. He’s just ripping flesh off this bone. So that’s a sense of the mindless destructiveness of these empires.
They don’t really care at all about the human cost of their ambition. A conqueror has a powerful enough army. He overflows the boundaries of his nation into other people’s lands, farms, houses, and cities and takes them, and he kills who he needs to kill, just like the Nazis did when they were clearing out Ukrainians and Russians to make Lebensraum, which is room for the German people to live. The human cost is meaningless because they consider them subhuman. So, the idea is that of a mindless, conscious-less killer. That’s what the beast is like. Kind of like you picture a great white shark, and its eyes are just completely devoid of it seems even life, of any compassion at all. It just eats because it’s an eating machine.
Concerning how this particular beast is described, it says he had 10 horns and seven heads with 10 crowns on his horns, and on each had a blasphemous name. So, what I see is this, the beast is portrayed as both an individual, a tyrant ruler, and the empire he rules. So, we know there’s no one human being that has superhuman capabilities like Superman and can rule the entire human race. Instead, he is the leader of a corrupt and wicked empire. So, the beast is the empire, but it also is personified in the man. As we see in World War II, for example, President Roosevelt talked about stopping Hitler. It was more stopping Nazi Germany, but Hitler represented the entire Third Reich. So, it is here the beast is a man who rules an entire world system, and so therefore the 10 horns, we’ll see this in Revelation 17:12-13, represent 10 kings who band together to give their power to the one ruler who rules over them all. So, they represent maybe regions or zones of the planet earth.
That has been in my opinion by then, the deck has been completely reshuffled by the plagues and the devastations that come with the seven trumpets. When there’s no drinking water, the borders or boundaries of the nations get erased, mass migration happens, and people aren’t looking at that anymore. Everything’s been all mixed up and reshuffled. So now you can imagine 10 geographical regions with rulers ruling over them, and this one beast, the Antichrist, the ruler, is able, as we see in Daniel 8 and in Daniel 11, to seize by intrigue and by Machiavellian schemes power over the entire thing.
So, the 10 horns represent 10 nations, and the 10 crowns represent the power that those sub-rulers have. So, he becomes, in a very evil way, a king of kings. I want to say one more thing that I mentioned in my sermon when I preached this. This terrible chapter which has the dragon, the beast from the sea, and then the beast from the earth representing a parody of the Trinity where the dragon represents God, the Father, and the beast from the sea represents the Antichrist, meaning the substitute Christ. And then the beast from the earth acts like (we sometimes call it the false prophet) acts like the Holy Spirit, whose job it is to exalt and magnify Jesus Christ. So, there’s a grotesque parody, and so therefore we have this idea of blasphemy. And it says in verse 1, “On each head is a blasphemous name.” Everything about this empire is blasphemy. It’s a direct challenge to God and to Christ.
Wes
We see this blasphemy arise elsewhere in the passage. We’ll deal with that in just a little while in verses 5 and 6, but talk a little more about the nature of the blasphemy the beast speaks, and why is blasphemy so central to scripture’s depiction of the beast’s reign?
Andy
blasphemy is of two types. One is speaking directly against God and Christ and saying wicked things about God and about Christ. The second kind of blasphemy that we have here is just claiming to be God
Yeah, it’s a terrible thing because you think what it is, it’s something you speak against God. When we think about how the power of language is so essential to the human race being in the image of God, the greatest use of our language is to praise and worship Almighty God and Christ. That’s what our tongues are made for, our minds, and our speech. Blasphemy is exactly the opposite. We’re denying God His glory or speaking directly against him. So I would say blasphemy is of two types. One is speaking directly against God and Christ and saying wicked things about God and about Christ. The second kind of blasphemy that we have here is just claiming to be God. That itself is blasphemous.
Wes
As we move into verse 2, what beast does John see represented in the beast from the sea? And what is the manner in which the dragon gives the beast his power, throne, and great authority reveal about human governments more broadly?
Andy
Yeah. Again, there’s a strong connection to Daniel 7 and the four beasts that come out of the sea. Three of them, the first three, are identified as specific types of beasts. The first is a lion, the second is a bear, and the third is like a leopard. So, all three here are here in Revelation 13:2. Only they are combined into one. So, it’s like this kind of terrible consolidation of every great wicked tyrannical government that has ever been all rolled up into one. Or you could look at the attributes of each of these beasts.
So, a leopard we think of as being extremely agile, fast, and maybe clever in some sense. A bear is all about power, like trampling down with its feet, and it says it has feet like those of a bear. So, the ability to crush you with its trampling. And then the mouth like that of a lion, I think we think of two things that the lion’s mouth does. One is a loud roar, and the other is teeth that can tear its prey to shreds. So, this is a terrifying combination of all of these animals. It’s a terrifying government is what it is, and it says the dragon gave the beast his power and his throne in great authority.
So, the idea here is just like Jesus said in the great commission, “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28:18). So, in this grotesque parody, the Trinity, the dragon gives the beast his power and authority. But more relevant, also directly is, when Satan tempted Jesus in the desert, he showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their glory (Matthew 4:9) and said all this has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. And he really does to some degree have that power. He is the god of this age. And so he is able to give all authority over the entire earth to this one final world ruler, something he has never done before. As a matter of fact, he frequently pitted one empire against another in order to kill as many human beings as possible. But now he’s consolidating everything in a great push to fight against God, against Christ, and against God’s people.
Keep in mind the very end of Revelation 12, and that is verse 17. There, at the end, it says that the dragon was enraged at the woman who represented the people of God or Israel, something like that, and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring, those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus. Those are believers, Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians alike, believers on earth, and he is making war against them. He’s going to wage war against them. We’re going to see in the text we’re studying today, he’ll wage war successfully. He’s going to be killing lots of them. So fundamentally, it’s a warfare against God and against his people.
Wes
What do we learn about the beast in verse 3, and what is the effect of what’s recounted here?
Andy
One of the things that Jesus said and then Paul taught also is that the antichrists have the power to do great signs and wonders. As Jesus said, to deceive even the elect if that were possible. Paul talked about the power of deceptive miracles, so signs, and wonders. So, it seems like the greatest miracle that the beast from the sea will do will be to be raised from the dead, apparently anyway. And it says one of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. And the whole world was astonished and followed the beast. So, there are just revelations challenging to interpret. They’re different interpretations. Some people think that this just represents a revived Roman Empire, not one particular individual.
But because the individual does miracles, this seems to line up with what Jesus said he would be able to do. By the power of false signs and wonders, he is able to deceive the whole world. I think this is that there was some perhaps assassination attempt or even successful assassination, like a bullet going through his head or something like that. And he’s done, he’s out, his brains are spattered, or something. I don’t know what it is. Just like he’s dead, there’s no doubt about it, and then he comes back to life again. So, the ability to raise the dead, there’s usually something only God could do, but in this sense, there’s perhaps a massive Satanic deception. It says it seemed to have had a fatal wound. So, I doubt that it’s a genuine resurrection, but instead a parody of it and some kind of mock-up like a stage magician who’s able to do some kind of trick that deceives the whole world.
Wes
It seems like that marveling that happens as a result of this apparent resurrection leads directly into what we see in verse 4. The issue of worship comes up strongly here in verse 4, and then again in 12 and 15, which we’ll look at next time. But how is this worship a direct challenge to God and to Christ? And how does the statement, “Who is like the beast and who is able to wage war against him?” a direct affront to Almighty God?
Andy
Right. So yeah, first of all, the way I see this whole thing unfolding is that the seven trumpet judgments, which is a devastation of growing things- of trees, of grass, and I would imagine of all growing things- including all crops, devastation on the ocean in which a third of the living creatures in the sea die, devastation on drinking water in which a third of it is poisonous, reshuffles the entire deck of the entire world. All the national borders are out the window. Then we have perhaps these 10 rulers that come together in some kind of a consortium to try to figure out what to do. This guy, by conniving cleverness, is able to take over control of the council, let’s say. Then the assassination thing happens, and he comes to life, and everyone’s amazed and astonished.
Then he really puts the hammer down. He really starts just taking authority, and everybody’s in awe of this guy. They’re astonished. They really believe that he’s supernatural, and they also believe there is no point in opposing him. Who is like the beast, and who can make war against him? Why shouldn’t we worship him? They’re in awe, stunned, and amazed, and so they’re going to worship fundamentally. It says, first of all, the dragon, which is what Satan wants. They’re going to worship Satan. And they’re also going to worship the beast, and they say, “Who is able to make war against him?” And so, this is the very thing that 2 Thessalonians says will happen, where he will set himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God. I think this, as we’ve argued in other places, is the abomination of desolation. It is the blasphemy of taking over rulership of God’s temple, perhaps the Jewish temple that the Jews, in their unbelief, wanted built. And he built it but then used it for his own worship. So, people worship the beast.
Wes
Having addressed the blasphemy, what is the significance of the expression there was given him a mouth and authority? Who gave the mouth and the authority, and why were they given for a set amount of time?
Andy
Yeah, it’s interesting. It says in verse 5, the beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies. And he also has power to exercise authority for 42 months. So obviously, all of our capabilities ultimately come from God. And so God is the one that gave him a mouth. But I think here it seems to be more, that Satan gives him a platform. Let’s put it that way. He gives him the ability to speak to planet Earth, and that would be by using media technologies that would be available at the time, and it’s not hard to see now. The world is more united than ever before by technologies.
Think about 200 years ago. Could one person say something and have the entire world be aware of it instantly? No, it’s impossible. But now, I don’t know how many people on earth have a smartphone, but a lot, I would say literally billions. So, you just think about that, and it’s like there is the ability for one person, if he has the levers, knobs, and controls of the media, will be able to speak to the entire earth. So it could be that that’s what it means, that the beast was given a mouth to utter his blasphemies and his proud words.
Then, secondly, he’s given a timeframe. He’s given authority to reign for 42 months. Now that is God’s. That’s not Satan. That’s not the man himself. I don’t even know if he knows that his time is short or his time is limited, but God is going to limit it. Jesus said, “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect, they will be shortened” (Matthew 24:22). And so, 42 months should be a very familiar number to us by now because it comes at us three different ways, 42 months here, a time times and half a time in the book of Daniel, and 1,260 days. So, all of that is the same timeframe, three and a half years, which is a fascinating number. Half of that final seven that we’ve talked about in the 70 weeks of Daniel.
Wes
Now what specific aspects of the blasphemy that’s spoken are mentioned in verse 6?
Andy
He opened his mouth to blaspheme God and to slander his name, his dwelling place, and those who live in heaven. So first and foremost, God, he’s blaspheming God and speaking directly arrogant words against God. What’s really amazing because God is omnipotent. God holds all power at every moment in his hand. Every bit of power that every human being has or that Satan himself has is in God, for in him we live, move, and have our being. God could shut it down anytime he chooses. But here is this defiant creature, openly with his mouth, taking God on and blaspheming him directly. That’s what it says. He opened his mouth to blaspheme God and to slander his name, to speak against him. Also, it says he slanders his dwelling place, which is heaven, and those who live in heaven. So those are the saints that live in heaven. So, he’s just taking on everything holy, everything that we hold dear, and he’s speaking blasphemy against it.
Wes
Now, 13:7 also speaks of authority given to the beast to make war against the saints and defeat them. Who gave that authority and why? What does it teach about the reach and the limits of the beast’s power?
Andy
Okay, so verse 7, the second half of the verse says plainly he was given authority over every tribe, people, language, and nation. That is the one world ruler verse. And the one world religion verse is all the peoples and nations worship the beast, and they worship the dragon. That’s earlier. So, you have one religion, and you have one unifying world ruler, one government. It’s right there in Revelation 13:7b, the second half of that verse.
Satan’s ultimate purpose is …to kill the people of God. He wants to kill those that love God and love Christ.
Concerning, however, his power, it seems to be Satan’s ultimate purpose is he wants to kill the people of God. He wants to kill those that love God and love Christ. So, he’s coming after them, and he makes war against the saints. And he’s given power, authority, not only to make war against them but to conquer them. This comes directly from Daniel 7:21 and Daniel 7:25. Both of those verses say the same thing: he has been given power to kill the people of God. But keep in mind Jesus said, “Do not fear those who kill the body, and after that, can do nothing more to you” (Matthew 10:28).
But I’ll tell you whom you should fear. Fear the one who has the power to destroy both soul and body in hell. That’s God. Satan and his henchmen, including Antichrist, the one world ruler, can do nothing more than kill the body. These are the people of God. They’re actual saints. He’s making war against the believers in Christ and killing them, but he can’t do anything concerning their souls. They have a martyr’s welcome into heaven. They are, at that point, absent from the body present with the Lord. The second coming hasn’t happened yet. The resurrection hasn’t happened yet. As we saw with the fifth seal earlier in Revelation 5, they’re under the altar waiting for vengeance to come on those who killed them. But I believe was that the overwhelming majority of martyrs that, in the end, will have given their lives for Jesus Christ have yet to be martyred, perhaps even have yet to be born. So, in the future, these martyrs will come, and they’ll pay for their faith in Christ with their lives.
Wes
How does the worship of the beast really divide the whole world into two camps? And how might we see this as the fulfillment of everything Satan has been aiming for all along?
Andy
So, we have this one world government, and we have one religion, but it’s not true. There are actually two religions on the world at that point, the false one, which is consolidated under the dragon, and the true one, which is the worship of God and of Christ. These are genuine believers in Christ. These are the saints. What Satan is trying to do is stamp out the second one so that there will be literally no one on earth that believes in Jesus. But he can’t do it. Jesus did ask, however, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth? So that’s a question he asks, but the answer is he will, because the triune God will make certain of it. I’ve prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. Simon, Simon, Satan has demanded to sift you, all of you, like wheat, but I’ve prayed for you that your faith won’t fail (Luke 22:31-32, paraphrase).
So, he will try to extinguish faith in Jesus Christ, but there will still be a delegation of faith-filled believers waiting for him on earth, that’s the rapture verse 1 Thessalonians 4, who will be waiting for him when he comes and who will be gathered by the angels from all the nations on earth to meet the Lord in the air. So, they’ll be waiting for him when he comes, but Satan will try as best he can to stamp them out. So, they’re all going to try to worship now. So, the entire world is divided, in verse 8, into two categories. All the inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast, all those whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life from before the foundation of the world.
Now, by the way, Revelation 13:8 is an important verse on the sovereignty of God. We believe in election, and we believe, before the foundation of the world, God knew the elect. He knew their names, and their names were written in the book of life. Now, before the foundation of the world clause in this verse could either be tied to the slain, the Lamb was slain from before the foundation of the world, or their names were written in the book before the foundation of the world. Honestly, both are true in one sense. Before the world began, the triune God knew how it was all going to play out, and the covenant between the Father and the Son concerning the elect was formed before he said, “Let there be light.”
So, Jesus knew, before he was incarnate, that he would die on the cross for our sins. Before he ever entered the world, he knew that all of the animal sacrifices, including Abraham’s near sacrifice of his son, Isaac, all of that was pointing toward his own death on the cross. So, in eternity past, he knew he would take that role. So, he was slain from the foundation of the world. That’s an incredible statement, the Lamb that was slain in the mind of God before the foundation of the world. We could also say, perhaps, as this verse says, that the saints’ names were written in God’s book before the foundation of the world. That also, in some sense, is true.
Wes
What’s the meaning and purpose of verse 9?
Andy
Jesus said it all the time, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” And what it means is, you’ll understand this only if that understanding is given to you. If it has been granted to you to understand, you’ll get it. So, I think fundamentally, as Daniel 12 said, “Those who are wise will understand and they’ll know what to do.” And so, we, by reading this, it’s basically it’s like code language to wink wink, “Oh, you true Christians who are indwelled by the Spirit, read Revelation like you’re doing right now. You’ll understand and you’ll know what to do.” But everyone else will not. They’re going to all fall into essentially the beast’s control. Both worship and government will be there, not knowing who he really is and the deception. But these verses cut right through that deception and tell us exactly what’s going on.
Wes
How does verse 10 serve as a warning, and how would this verse support the perseverance of the saints?
Andy
This language is similar to the prophets that were tied to the Babylonian exile and Jeremiah. Ezekiel also had this where he took a barber’s razor and cut his own hair, then divided up the hair into categories. Fundamentally, some of the people in Ezekiel’s time would die within the city, some would die out in the country, and others would die of plague. So, if your role is to die by the sword when the Babylonians come, that’ll be your job. I don’t want to say job, but your fate, I would say, is a better word, your fate. If your fate is to run into the city of Jerusalem with the gates closed and all that, you’ll die of famine or of plague. And there’s a tiny, tiny number of hairs that Ezekiel reserves that are the remnant that will survive the whole thing.
So that kind of language, Jeremiah uses it too. It’s like, “Where should we go?” Well, if you’re destined for the sword, then you’ll go to the sword. If you’re destined for the plague, then for the plague. If you’re destined, that’s where you’re going to go. He does the same thing here in verse 10, “If anyone is destined to go into captivity, into captivity, they will go. If anyone’s destined to be killed with a sword, they will be killed with a sword.” So fundamentally, God has figured out the destiny of each of his people and what they’re going to go through with. I think that brings comfort. It’s like you may be called on to be martyred. That’s God’s choice. If that is, nothing will change it, but it’s in the hands of God. So fundamentally, then, this calls for, as he says, patient endurance on the part of the saints.
What this means is, strengthened by the words in this chapter, strengthened by the insights that come from it, we are called on to stand firm in the day of testing, to not forsake our testimony of faith in Christ. To believe in him even if it means our lives. Or as Job 13:15 says, “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him.” So fundamentally, as Jesus said, “He who stands firm to the end will be saved.” So, this calls for patient endurance. We’re going to have to get through this. It’s the most horrible trial that will ever come on the people of God is at the end of the world.
Wes
Andy, what final thoughts do you have for us on these verses that we’ve looked at today?
Andy
There’s a lot that we’ve covered, Wes, and we think about the future. I want to make an application to the present situation. It’s an election year. We’re going through this presidential election. It’s dismaying to many Christians the choices that we have to make because no one of the candidates, even at the local level, just truly, in every respect, represents us and what we are yearning for and that we want to see, certainly not at the national level. Revelation 13:1-10 says, “If you think this is bad, wait until that comes. This is nothing compared to that.”
don’t be afraid of what’s going on in the political scene. It is going to get worse, but everything’s under control. God knows what he’s doing.
So, what it tells me is don’t be afraid of what’s going on in the political scene. It is going to get worse, but everything’s under control. God knows what he’s doing. All of these things have been ordained from before the foundation of the world. Trust in him. Also, it tells me that Christian parents have a responsibility to teach their children and their grandchildren eschatology. These are not minor details that we don’t really need to get to, what really matters is believe in Jesus. It’s like, no, it’s in the Bible. We’re called on to read this and study it. Forewarned is forearmed. So, teach these things to your kids and grandkids, make certain that they understand what’s going to happen.
Wes
This has been Episode 16 in our Revelation Bible Study Podcast. We want to invite you to join us next time for Episode 17, entitled The Beast from the Earth, where we’ll discuss Revelation 13:11-18. Thank you for listening to the Two Journeys podcast and may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
Wes
Welcome to the Two Journeys Bible Study Podcast. This is Episode 16 in our Revelation Bible Study Podcast entitled The Beast from the Sea, where we’ll discuss Revelation 13:1-10. I’m Wes Treadway, and I’m here with Pastor Andy Davis. Andy, what are we going to see in these verses that we’re looking at today?
Andy
We’re going to look at one of the most dramatic chapters in the Book of Revelation, which is saying something because there’s so much drama and so much terror and judgment in the Book of Revelation. But this chapter predicts the future coming of what is spoken of in 1 John 2 as the Antichrist who is coming, who Paul calls the man of sin in 2 Thessalonians 2. But here he’s revealed as the beast from the sea, the one world ruler who will dominate what’s left of the population on earth after the seven trumpet judgments, who will consolidate his power and rule as a terrible tyrant seeking the worship of all the people on earth. We’re going to walk through those verses today. And I think what’s so powerful for us as Christians is to know that “forewarned is forearmed.” Christians who read the Bible and have good, sound exegesis will be ready for this ruler long before he comes.
Wes
Let me go ahead and read verses 1-10 in Revelation 13.
And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads. And the beast that I saw was like a leopard; its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority. One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast. And they worshipped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshipped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?”
And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for 42 months. It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. Also, it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation, and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain. If anyone has an ear, let him hear:
If anyone is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes;
if anyone is to be slain with the sword, with the sword must he be slain.
Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.
Andy, as we wrapped up last time, we were confronted with the sentence, “And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore.” How does that sentence at the end of chapter 12 set up this chapter that we’re looking at today?
Andy
We need to know who the dragon is, and we learn who the dragon is back in the previous chapter, 12:9, where Satan’s four names are used. He’s the ancient serpent, the devil, Satan, the dragon, who leads the whole world astray. So, we know the dragon is Satan. Satan is standing at the shore of the sea, and that leads us very much, I think, and we’re going to see this to an allusion to Daniel 7 and the beasts that come up out of the sea in Daniel 7. So, he is standing there ready to summon from the turbulent sea the beast from the sea that we’re going to talk about today.
Wes
What does the beast in verse 1 represent? How does John describe him, and why do you think both Daniel and Revelation liken wicked persecuting human governments to powerful and deadly beasts?
Andy
Right. So, the last question comes from the understanding we have of the beast from the sea, from Daniel 7 and the vision there. There’s a tremendous connection between Daniel 7 and Revelation 13. So, you really have to immerse yourself in that chapter and understand how that imagery is used but also altered to some degree or changed in this final vision. So fundamentally, I believe that the sea represents the turbulence of the nations, of all nations, peoples, languages, men of every culture. It’s portrayed as a sea because there’s a sense of turbulence and a sense of storminess, disorder, and chaos, really. Out of that comes these four beasts in Daniel 7 and this one beast in Revelation 13.
There’s a very strong correlation between the two. In Daniel 7, the beasts that come out of the sea clearly represent human empires, the Babylonian, the Medo-Persian, the Greek, and then the Roman. They’re portrayed as animals, as beasts, because I think of their power and their ravenous, mindless, destructive nature. So, the beasts destroy people. They destroy lives. They kill people. So, the Medo-Persian empire is portrayed as a bear, and he’s told, and he’s commanded to get up and eat his fill of flesh, and there’s a rib in his mouth. He’s just ripping flesh off this bone. So that’s a sense of the mindless destructiveness of these empires.
They don’t really care at all about the human cost of their ambition. A conqueror has a powerful enough army. He overflows the boundaries of his nation into other people’s lands, farms, houses, and cities and takes them, and he kills who he needs to kill, just like the Nazis did when they were clearing out Ukrainians and Russians to make Lebensraum, which is room for the German people to live. The human cost is meaningless because they consider them subhuman. So, the idea is that of a mindless, conscious-less killer. That’s what the beast is like. Kind of like you picture a great white shark, and its eyes are just completely devoid of it seems even life, of any compassion at all. It just eats because it’s an eating machine.
Concerning how this particular beast is described, it says he had 10 horns and seven heads with 10 crowns on his horns, and on each had a blasphemous name. So, what I see is this, the beast is portrayed as both an individual, a tyrant ruler, and the empire he rules. So, we know there’s no one human being that has superhuman capabilities like Superman and can rule the entire human race. Instead, he is the leader of a corrupt and wicked empire. So, the beast is the empire, but it also is personified in the man. As we see in World War II, for example, President Roosevelt talked about stopping Hitler. It was more stopping Nazi Germany, but Hitler represented the entire Third Reich. So, it is here the beast is a man who rules an entire world system, and so therefore the 10 horns, we’ll see this in Revelation 17:12-13, represent 10 kings who band together to give their power to the one ruler who rules over them all. So, they represent maybe regions or zones of the planet earth.
That has been in my opinion by then, the deck has been completely reshuffled by the plagues and the devastations that come with the seven trumpets. When there’s no drinking water, the borders or boundaries of the nations get erased, mass migration happens, and people aren’t looking at that anymore. Everything’s been all mixed up and reshuffled. So now you can imagine 10 geographical regions with rulers ruling over them, and this one beast, the Antichrist, the ruler, is able, as we see in Daniel 8 and in Daniel 11, to seize by intrigue and by Machiavellian schemes power over the entire thing.
So, the 10 horns represent 10 nations, and the 10 crowns represent the power that those sub-rulers have. So, he becomes, in a very evil way, a king of kings. I want to say one more thing that I mentioned in my sermon when I preached this. This terrible chapter which has the dragon, the beast from the sea, and then the beast from the earth representing a parody of the Trinity where the dragon represents God, the Father, and the beast from the sea represents the Antichrist, meaning the substitute Christ. And then the beast from the earth acts like (we sometimes call it the false prophet) acts like the Holy Spirit, whose job it is to exalt and magnify Jesus Christ. So, there’s a grotesque parody, and so therefore we have this idea of blasphemy. And it says in verse 1, “On each head is a blasphemous name.” Everything about this empire is blasphemy. It’s a direct challenge to God and to Christ.
Wes
We see this blasphemy arise elsewhere in the passage. We’ll deal with that in just a little while in verses 5 and 6, but talk a little more about the nature of the blasphemy the beast speaks, and why is blasphemy so central to scripture’s depiction of the beast’s reign?
Andy
blasphemy is of two types. One is speaking directly against God and Christ and saying wicked things about God and about Christ. The second kind of blasphemy that we have here is just claiming to be God
Yeah, it’s a terrible thing because you think what it is, it’s something you speak against God. When we think about how the power of language is so essential to the human race being in the image of God, the greatest use of our language is to praise and worship Almighty God and Christ. That’s what our tongues are made for, our minds, and our speech. Blasphemy is exactly the opposite. We’re denying God His glory or speaking directly against him. So I would say blasphemy is of two types. One is speaking directly against God and Christ and saying wicked things about God and about Christ. The second kind of blasphemy that we have here is just claiming to be God. That itself is blasphemous.
Wes
As we move into verse 2, what beast does John see represented in the beast from the sea? And what is the manner in which the dragon gives the beast his power, throne, and great authority reveal about human governments more broadly?
Andy
Yeah. Again, there’s a strong connection to Daniel 7 and the four beasts that come out of the sea. Three of them, the first three, are identified as specific types of beasts. The first is a lion, the second is a bear, and the third is like a leopard. So, all three here are here in Revelation 13:2. Only they are combined into one. So, it’s like this kind of terrible consolidation of every great wicked tyrannical government that has ever been all rolled up into one. Or you could look at the attributes of each of these beasts.
So, a leopard we think of as being extremely agile, fast, and maybe clever in some sense. A bear is all about power, like trampling down with its feet, and it says it has feet like those of a bear. So, the ability to crush you with its trampling. And then the mouth like that of a lion, I think we think of two things that the lion’s mouth does. One is a loud roar, and the other is teeth that can tear its prey to shreds. So, this is a terrifying combination of all of these animals. It’s a terrifying government is what it is, and it says the dragon gave the beast his power and his throne in great authority.
So, the idea here is just like Jesus said in the great commission, “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28:18). So, in this grotesque parody, the Trinity, the dragon gives the beast his power and authority. But more relevant, also directly is, when Satan tempted Jesus in the desert, he showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their glory (Matthew 4:9) and said all this has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. And he really does to some degree have that power. He is the god of this age. And so he is able to give all authority over the entire earth to this one final world ruler, something he has never done before. As a matter of fact, he frequently pitted one empire against another in order to kill as many human beings as possible. But now he’s consolidating everything in a great push to fight against God, against Christ, and against God’s people.
Keep in mind the very end of Revelation 12, and that is verse 17. There, at the end, it says that the dragon was enraged at the woman who represented the people of God or Israel, something like that, and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring, those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus. Those are believers, Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians alike, believers on earth, and he is making war against them. He’s going to wage war against them. We’re going to see in the text we’re studying today, he’ll wage war successfully. He’s going to be killing lots of them. So fundamentally, it’s a warfare against God and against his people.
Wes
What do we learn about the beast in verse 3, and what is the effect of what’s recounted here?
Andy
One of the things that Jesus said and then Paul taught also is that the antichrists have the power to do great signs and wonders. As Jesus said, to deceive even the elect if that were possible. Paul talked about the power of deceptive miracles, so signs, and wonders. So, it seems like the greatest miracle that the beast from the sea will do will be to be raised from the dead, apparently anyway. And it says one of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. And the whole world was astonished and followed the beast. So, there are just revelations challenging to interpret. They’re different interpretations. Some people think that this just represents a revived Roman Empire, not one particular individual.
But because the individual does miracles, this seems to line up with what Jesus said he would be able to do. By the power of false signs and wonders, he is able to deceive the whole world. I think this is that there was some perhaps assassination attempt or even successful assassination, like a bullet going through his head or something like that. And he’s done, he’s out, his brains are spattered, or something. I don’t know what it is. Just like he’s dead, there’s no doubt about it, and then he comes back to life again. So, the ability to raise the dead, there’s usually something only God could do, but in this sense, there’s perhaps a massive Satanic deception. It says it seemed to have had a fatal wound. So, I doubt that it’s a genuine resurrection, but instead a parody of it and some kind of mock-up like a stage magician who’s able to do some kind of trick that deceives the whole world.
Wes
It seems like that marveling that happens as a result of this apparent resurrection leads directly into what we see in verse 4. The issue of worship comes up strongly here in verse 4, and then again in 12 and 15, which we’ll look at next time. But how is this worship a direct challenge to God and to Christ? And how does the statement, “Who is like the beast and who is able to wage war against him?” a direct affront to Almighty God?
Andy
Right. So yeah, first of all, the way I see this whole thing unfolding is that the seven trumpet judgments, which is a devastation of growing things- of trees, of grass, and I would imagine of all growing things- including all crops, devastation on the ocean in which a third of the living creatures in the sea die, devastation on drinking water in which a third of it is poisonous, reshuffles the entire deck of the entire world. All the national borders are out the window. Then we have perhaps these 10 rulers that come together in some kind of a consortium to try to figure out what to do. This guy, by conniving cleverness, is able to take over control of the council, let’s say. Then the assassination thing happens, and he comes to life, and everyone’s amazed and astonished.
Then he really puts the hammer down. He really starts just taking authority, and everybody’s in awe of this guy. They’re astonished. They really believe that he’s supernatural, and they also believe there is no point in opposing him. Who is like the beast, and who can make war against him? Why shouldn’t we worship him? They’re in awe, stunned, and amazed, and so they’re going to worship fundamentally. It says, first of all, the dragon, which is what Satan wants. They’re going to worship Satan. And they’re also going to worship the beast, and they say, “Who is able to make war against him?” And so, this is the very thing that 2 Thessalonians says will happen, where he will set himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God. I think this, as we’ve argued in other places, is the abomination of desolation. It is the blasphemy of taking over rulership of God’s temple, perhaps the Jewish temple that the Jews, in their unbelief, wanted built. And he built it but then used it for his own worship. So, people worship the beast.
Wes
Having addressed the blasphemy, what is the significance of the expression there was given him a mouth and authority? Who gave the mouth and the authority, and why were they given for a set amount of time?
Andy
Yeah, it’s interesting. It says in verse 5, the beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies. And he also has power to exercise authority for 42 months. So obviously, all of our capabilities ultimately come from God. And so God is the one that gave him a mouth. But I think here it seems to be more, that Satan gives him a platform. Let’s put it that way. He gives him the ability to speak to planet Earth, and that would be by using media technologies that would be available at the time, and it’s not hard to see now. The world is more united than ever before by technologies.
Think about 200 years ago. Could one person say something and have the entire world be aware of it instantly? No, it’s impossible. But now, I don’t know how many people on earth have a smartphone, but a lot, I would say literally billions. So, you just think about that, and it’s like there is the ability for one person, if he has the levers, knobs, and controls of the media, will be able to speak to the entire earth. So it could be that that’s what it means, that the beast was given a mouth to utter his blasphemies and his proud words.
Then, secondly, he’s given a timeframe. He’s given authority to reign for 42 months. Now that is God’s. That’s not Satan. That’s not the man himself. I don’t even know if he knows that his time is short or his time is limited, but God is going to limit it. Jesus said, “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect, they will be shortened” (Matthew 24:22). And so, 42 months should be a very familiar number to us by now because it comes at us three different ways, 42 months here, a time times and half a time in the book of Daniel, and 1,260 days. So, all of that is the same timeframe, three and a half years, which is a fascinating number. Half of that final seven that we’ve talked about in the 70 weeks of Daniel.
Wes
Now what specific aspects of the blasphemy that’s spoken are mentioned in verse 6?
Andy
He opened his mouth to blaspheme God and to slander his name, his dwelling place, and those who live in heaven. So first and foremost, God, he’s blaspheming God and speaking directly arrogant words against God. What’s really amazing because God is omnipotent. God holds all power at every moment in his hand. Every bit of power that every human being has or that Satan himself has is in God, for in him we live, move, and have our being. God could shut it down anytime he chooses. But here is this defiant creature, openly with his mouth, taking God on and blaspheming him directly. That’s what it says. He opened his mouth to blaspheme God and to slander his name, to speak against him. Also, it says he slanders his dwelling place, which is heaven, and those who live in heaven. So those are the saints that live in heaven. So, he’s just taking on everything holy, everything that we hold dear, and he’s speaking blasphemy against it.
Wes
Now, 13:7 also speaks of authority given to the beast to make war against the saints and defeat them. Who gave that authority and why? What does it teach about the reach and the limits of the beast’s power?
Andy
Okay, so verse 7, the second half of the verse says plainly he was given authority over every tribe, people, language, and nation. That is the one world ruler verse. And the one world religion verse is all the peoples and nations worship the beast, and they worship the dragon. That’s earlier. So, you have one religion, and you have one unifying world ruler, one government. It’s right there in Revelation 13:7b, the second half of that verse.
Satan’s ultimate purpose is …to kill the people of God. He wants to kill those that love God and love Christ.
Concerning, however, his power, it seems to be Satan’s ultimate purpose is he wants to kill the people of God. He wants to kill those that love God and love Christ. So, he’s coming after them, and he makes war against the saints. And he’s given power, authority, not only to make war against them but to conquer them. This comes directly from Daniel 7:21 and Daniel 7:25. Both of those verses say the same thing: he has been given power to kill the people of God. But keep in mind Jesus said, “Do not fear those who kill the body, and after that, can do nothing more to you” (Matthew 10:28).
But I’ll tell you whom you should fear. Fear the one who has the power to destroy both soul and body in hell. That’s God. Satan and his henchmen, including Antichrist, the one world ruler, can do nothing more than kill the body. These are the people of God. They’re actual saints. He’s making war against the believers in Christ and killing them, but he can’t do anything concerning their souls. They have a martyr’s welcome into heaven. They are, at that point, absent from the body present with the Lord. The second coming hasn’t happened yet. The resurrection hasn’t happened yet. As we saw with the fifth seal earlier in Revelation 5, they’re under the altar waiting for vengeance to come on those who killed them. But I believe was that the overwhelming majority of martyrs that, in the end, will have given their lives for Jesus Christ have yet to be martyred, perhaps even have yet to be born. So, in the future, these martyrs will come, and they’ll pay for their faith in Christ with their lives.
Wes
How does the worship of the beast really divide the whole world into two camps? And how might we see this as the fulfillment of everything Satan has been aiming for all along?
Andy
So, we have this one world government, and we have one religion, but it’s not true. There are actually two religions on the world at that point, the false one, which is consolidated under the dragon, and the true one, which is the worship of God and of Christ. These are genuine believers in Christ. These are the saints. What Satan is trying to do is stamp out the second one so that there will be literally no one on earth that believes in Jesus. But he can’t do it. Jesus did ask, however, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth? So that’s a question he asks, but the answer is he will, because the triune God will make certain of it. I’ve prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. Simon, Simon, Satan has demanded to sift you, all of you, like wheat, but I’ve prayed for you that your faith won’t fail (Luke 22:31-32, paraphrase).
So, he will try to extinguish faith in Jesus Christ, but there will still be a delegation of faith-filled believers waiting for him on earth, that’s the rapture verse 1 Thessalonians 4, who will be waiting for him when he comes and who will be gathered by the angels from all the nations on earth to meet the Lord in the air. So, they’ll be waiting for him when he comes, but Satan will try as best he can to stamp them out. So, they’re all going to try to worship now. So, the entire world is divided, in verse 8, into two categories. All the inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast, all those whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life from before the foundation of the world.
Now, by the way, Revelation 13:8 is an important verse on the sovereignty of God. We believe in election, and we believe, before the foundation of the world, God knew the elect. He knew their names, and their names were written in the book of life. Now, before the foundation of the world clause in this verse could either be tied to the slain, the Lamb was slain from before the foundation of the world, or their names were written in the book before the foundation of the world. Honestly, both are true in one sense. Before the world began, the triune God knew how it was all going to play out, and the covenant between the Father and the Son concerning the elect was formed before he said, “Let there be light.”
So, Jesus knew, before he was incarnate, that he would die on the cross for our sins. Before he ever entered the world, he knew that all of the animal sacrifices, including Abraham’s near sacrifice of his son, Isaac, all of that was pointing toward his own death on the cross. So, in eternity past, he knew he would take that role. So, he was slain from the foundation of the world. That’s an incredible statement, the Lamb that was slain in the mind of God before the foundation of the world. We could also say, perhaps, as this verse says, that the saints’ names were written in God’s book before the foundation of the world. That also, in some sense, is true.
Wes
What’s the meaning and purpose of verse 9?
Andy
Jesus said it all the time, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” And what it means is, you’ll understand this only if that understanding is given to you. If it has been granted to you to understand, you’ll get it. So, I think fundamentally, as Daniel 12 said, “Those who are wise will understand and they’ll know what to do.” And so, we, by reading this, it’s basically it’s like code language to wink wink, “Oh, you true Christians who are indwelled by the Spirit, read Revelation like you’re doing right now. You’ll understand and you’ll know what to do.” But everyone else will not. They’re going to all fall into essentially the beast’s control. Both worship and government will be there, not knowing who he really is and the deception. But these verses cut right through that deception and tell us exactly what’s going on.
Wes
How does verse 10 serve as a warning, and how would this verse support the perseverance of the saints?
Andy
This language is similar to the prophets that were tied to the Babylonian exile and Jeremiah. Ezekiel also had this where he took a barber’s razor and cut his own hair, then divided up the hair into categories. Fundamentally, some of the people in Ezekiel’s time would die within the city, some would die out in the country, and others would die of plague. So, if your role is to die by the sword when the Babylonians come, that’ll be your job. I don’t want to say job, but your fate, I would say, is a better word, your fate. If your fate is to run into the city of Jerusalem with the gates closed and all that, you’ll die of famine or of plague. And there’s a tiny, tiny number of hairs that Ezekiel reserves that are the remnant that will survive the whole thing.
So that kind of language, Jeremiah uses it too. It’s like, “Where should we go?” Well, if you’re destined for the sword, then you’ll go to the sword. If you’re destined for the plague, then for the plague. If you’re destined, that’s where you’re going to go. He does the same thing here in verse 10, “If anyone is destined to go into captivity, into captivity, they will go. If anyone’s destined to be killed with a sword, they will be killed with a sword.” So fundamentally, God has figured out the destiny of each of his people and what they’re going to go through with. I think that brings comfort. It’s like you may be called on to be martyred. That’s God’s choice. If that is, nothing will change it, but it’s in the hands of God. So fundamentally, then, this calls for, as he says, patient endurance on the part of the saints.
What this means is, strengthened by the words in this chapter, strengthened by the insights that come from it, we are called on to stand firm in the day of testing, to not forsake our testimony of faith in Christ. To believe in him even if it means our lives. Or as Job 13:15 says, “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him.” So fundamentally, as Jesus said, “He who stands firm to the end will be saved.” So, this calls for patient endurance. We’re going to have to get through this. It’s the most horrible trial that will ever come on the people of God is at the end of the world.
Wes
Andy, what final thoughts do you have for us on these verses that we’ve looked at today?
Andy
There’s a lot that we’ve covered, Wes, and we think about the future. I want to make an application to the present situation. It’s an election year. We’re going through this presidential election. It’s dismaying to many Christians the choices that we have to make because no one of the candidates, even at the local level, just truly, in every respect, represents us and what we are yearning for and that we want to see, certainly not at the national level. Revelation 13:1-10 says, “If you think this is bad, wait until that comes. This is nothing compared to that.”
don’t be afraid of what’s going on in the political scene. It is going to get worse, but everything’s under control. God knows what he’s doing.
So, what it tells me is don’t be afraid of what’s going on in the political scene. It is going to get worse, but everything’s under control. God knows what he’s doing. All of these things have been ordained from before the foundation of the world. Trust in him. Also, it tells me that Christian parents have a responsibility to teach their children and their grandchildren eschatology. These are not minor details that we don’t really need to get to, what really matters is believe in Jesus. It’s like, no, it’s in the Bible. We’re called on to read this and study it. Forewarned is forearmed. So, teach these things to your kids and grandkids, make certain that they understand what’s going to happen.
Wes
This has been Episode 16 in our Revelation Bible Study Podcast. We want to invite you to join us next time for Episode 17, entitled The Beast from the Earth, where we’ll discuss Revelation 13:11-18. Thank you for listening to the Two Journeys podcast and may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
