Revelation 13:1-10

In our text this evening, we will have to roll up our sleeves and do some intellectual work. John was seeing the same beast seen by Daniel in the 7th chapter of his book of prophecy. The interpretations between the two visions should therefore be somewhat uniform, and we will see that. Before getting into our text this evening, I would like to read the relevant portion of Daniel, in 7:3-8, 19-27. This is Daniel’s vision of the beasts he saw and their interpretation, which was given to him by one of those heavenly inhabitants who stood by and answered Daniel’s questions.

And four great beasts were coming up from the sea, different from one another. The first was like a lion and had the wings of an eagle. I kept looking until its wings were plucked, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man; a human mind also was given to it. And behold, another beast, a second one, resembling a bear. And it was raised up on one side, and three ribs were in its mouth between its teeth; and thus they said to it, ‘Arise, devour much meat!’ After this I kept looking, and behold, another one, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird; the beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it. After this I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong; and it had large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet; and it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. While I was contemplating the horns, behold, another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots before it; and behold, this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth uttering great boasts. (7:3-8)

Then I desired to know the exact meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others, exceedingly dreadful, with its teeth of iron and its claws of bronze, and which devoured, crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet, and the meaning of the ten horns that were on its head and the other horn which came up, and before which three of them fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth uttering great boasts and which was larger in appearance than its associates. I kept looking, and that horn was waging war with the saints and overpowering them until the Ancient of Days came and judgment was passed in favor of the saints of the Highest One, and the time arrived when the saints took possession of the kingdom.

“Thus he said: ‘The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, which will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth and tread it down and crush it. As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will subdue three kings. He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time. But the court will sit for judgment, and his dominion will be taken away, annihilated and destroyed forever. Then the sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him.’ (7:19-27)

We have already seen the beast from our text this evening, but this is the Old Testament equivalent of that same text. Daniel was told about this individual so that the warning would go forth. John was told about this to put it into some kind of historical prophetic context. We will refer to it as necessary for understanding, so if you have your bible open, you may want to keep a finger in Daniel 7.

I broke our text down as follows:

KV1: The Beast from the Sea

1: And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names.

1-2: The Beast from the Sea described

3-4: The Beast from the sea worshipped

5-7: The activities of the Beast from the sea

8-10: The pre-eminence of the Beast from the sea

This Beast from the sea, we will see in the text, is the one the Dragon gives all his power and authority to in order to run the world. He is the one that John in his epistles identifies as the Antichrist. Again, I think we can see this in the text without a lot of effort. With that, let’s just dive right into the text.

KV1: The Beast from the Sea

There is a distinct difference between the KJV and the rest of the translations I could poll in that the KJV is accomodating a textual variant having John stand on the shore of the sea. According to the Life Application Commentary on this passage, the stronger textual evidence says “he,” that is, the dragon, stood on the seashore, perhaps summoning the beast himself. I don’t know that, but I will take their word for this. It does mean that the first part of verse 1 should belong to 12:18 because it closes out the thought on the Dragon, but because the ideas are connected, it is not out of place to open 13:1.

We have seen this beast in a foreshadowing of events, in our past study as the “beast who comes up out of the abyss” to kill the two witnesses in Rev. 11:7. This is what makes me think that Revelation 12 through 14 are a summarization of the events to date from a heavenly perspective, like the Chronicles in the OT are a summary of Samuel and Kings from heaven’s perspective. There is a bit of metaphor and a bit of John speaking in riddles to obscure things from the persecutors of the Church as well as real information being communicated, sometimes seemingly out of order as a summary in case you missed something (Gee, us? Yeah, us…)

At any rate, if the Dragon is standing on the seashore and summoning the one upon whom he will place his power and authority, we need to pay attention to his characteristics, which are described here. Let’s get into the text.

1-2: The Beast from the Sea described

Let’s just jump right in.

The Greek word for “beast” used here is θηρίον, denoting a wild and savage animal that is bent on devouring whatever is put in front of it. This is not like a dog a cat, or even a trained bear. It comes out of the sea, which has been by some commentators equated with the gentile nations, but because of that reference in Rev. 11:7 (When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them and kill them.) and in Rev. 17:8 (The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and go to destruction. And those who dwell on the earth, whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will wonder when they see the beast, that he was and is not and will come.), I think it best to equate the sea with the abyss. The Dragon stands on the seashore and summons the first of two assistants (we will see the second next time) in his endgame.

2: And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority.

We have already considered that this is the same beast Daniel 7 introduces, and I believe that this is the favoured one of Lucifer, sharing at least a physical resemblance seen in 12:3-4. I believe it to be the embodiment of Lucifer, perhaps even to be possessed spiritually by him after his death. We’ll see that in a little bit. Lucifer the Father indwelling Lucifer the Son? Again, we will see momentarily.
This beast, the wild ravenous animal that it is, is described as having the same 7 heads and 10 horns as the Dragon, even having diadems on each head. Real power and authority. It tells us that on his head are blasphemous names. What are those names? I don’t know, and I do not want to guess. This beast, seen first in Daniel 7, has characteristics of all the earlier beasts in Daniel 7 seen here in Rev. 13. It has the mouth of a lion. The body of a leopard. It has feet like a bear. And apparently, it speaks like a Dragon, because the Dragon gives all of his power and authority to it, and even gives the beast his throne, though I do not know what that means. It is at its base the seat of authority where a king of sorts judges or rules the world. That to me is a horrible thought considering who this is; the son of Satan ascending to rule the Earth out of the bottomless pit. Next paragraph.

3-4: The Beast from the sea worshipped

This horrible beast will be worshipped by men on Earth, and there is a specific set of events that will occur to cause that worship. Let’s see.

3: I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast;

It seems that there will be an assassination of sorts. It will be successful, and the beast will die. It says “one of his heads will be slain.” There are only so many ways that can be read. But then it says that fatal wound was healed, meaning that this individual will “come back to life.” The false son of the false father will perhaps undergo a false resurrection. No doubt this will cause the whole Earth to be amazed and follow after (worship) this beast. I have found a clip of what this might look like in human terms. The movie is called “Years of the Beast,” and was produced in 1981, directed by D. Paul Thomas. I share it for educational purposes under the fair use rules. The clip is about 3 minutes. [share video]. This would seem like a miracle that would get people’s attention. I know we have plenty of Charismaniacs today like the folks at Bethel or Hillsong that claim they can raise the dead, but this will be a real rising from the grave by any visible criteria.
What I think will be happening at this point is that the individual who is actually living at the time of the death will really die. I do not think this one will necessarily rise again, but I would speculate this will be Lucifer the Father rising after spiritually inhabiting the corpse of this individual giving a sort of resurrection to the corpse. I could be wrong, but we know Satan is capable of “entering into” someone because he did so with Judas. He even perfectly controlled Judas, a willing participant at the time. This person will be dead, so there will be no will to yield. If I am wrong, it is a simple case of supernatural possession. Either way, it is a false resurrection but will look real enough that no one will spot the difference if such a thing can even be spotted.

4: they worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?”

All of this will cause the worldwide worship of this beast, and further of the Dragon because it is he who will be seen as the real miracle worker here. He will be a world leader, and his followers will be completely sold out and dedicated to him. He will be able to enforce their loyalty also, but we will see more about that in a future study. But it will seem like God Himself has come to the Earth…but it will. All be a lie, all to lead the people on the Earth at that time to hell forever. Some of this will tie into that enforcement, but again, we will see this in at least one future study.
All of this will have been kicked off with a peace treaty at the beginning of this 70th week of Daniel, the 7-year tribulation period, followed by a period of great global upheaval and destruction, including at the cosmic level. This will all happen at about the 3.5-year point. And it will get worse still. At the time, it will seem that this individual is unbeatable and supreme. But at this point, he will have approximately 1260 days left in his reign over the Earth. However, he will have specific things he will be doing.

5-7: The activities of the Beast from the sea

The things he will do here will definitely offend the saints. I am offended for them when I read what he will be like. Then again, I grew up in a relatively free country and I don’t like bullies. He will be a bully, and freedom under his rule will be an illusion at best.

5: There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him.

One of the things I absolutely hate is when someone is arrogant toward me, or toward members of my family. As some of you know, I have had to deal with some of that when my kids were younger and the arrogance of the schools was leveled at and fired at me personally. I had unspoken (for the most part) threats of removing my kids because I wouldn’t just play ball with the agendas they were running on all of them. One of them flat-out told me that there were no absolutes, to which I quipped, “Oh, absolutely?” It made them laugh and promise to use that sometime, but it did make it a little better from that point. Here, the arrogance of “I know better than you” will be undeniable, and even hostile to believers in Christ. At this point, believers will begin being sorted onto national no-fly lists, imprisoned for their beliefs, and even perhaps beaten or killed for them. It is my belief that the reference to 42 months (3.5 years, 1260 days) is so that the people of God will know there is an endpoint, and just when it will be so they can dig in and hold on, but that is speculation on my part.

6: And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven.

For his own part, the Antichrist, that beastly bully, will not keep his views or opinions a secret. It says here that he will speak “blasphemies” against God. That Greek word is βλασφημίας and is indicative of speaking evil against someone. “In classical Greek, it meant primarily ‘defamation’ or ‘evil-speaking’ in general; ‘a word of evil omen,’ hence, ‘impious, and irreverent speech against God.'” (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia) In the New Testament, in this passage in particular, it means “to utter impious words” (Ibid.) He is very specific in his slandering of the YHVH in this verse, He speaks evil and impiously with and about His name and His tabernacle (presumably the one in Heaven, since this individual will claim the one on earth at this time), and in fact, all those who dwell in Heaven.
Now I’ve had my name dragged through the mud once or twice. I had been asked to go to the police station to speak with detectives about a murder I didn’t know about at the time. I was standing there looking at the receptionist in her bulletproof room, and I told her what I was there to do. She smiled and nodded, and picked up the phone to call the detectives upstairs. I know she didn’t know this, but I can kind of read lips. As she lowered her voice, I automatically read her lips. She called me a suspect. How would you feel? I simply smiled at her as she told me where to sit and wait. I mean, she was just doing her job. My worst fear at the time was that I was going to be taken down to the ground and handcuffed. That didn’t happen, and the detective later told me I had been excluded as a suspect after about 5 minutes of chatting honestly with him. And HE LIKED me.
I’ve had “friends” tell other people I am lazy, if you can imagine. I’m not lazy, my boss at the flooring store will tell you. I have medical issues. Heck, you all know I’m a diabetic heart patient with injuries and other issues, and I wish it wasn’t so, but it is what it is. The energy that I have is low, and I have to portion it out. If that makes me lazy, then you’re a moron, and I can take vitamins. I do, actually. It helps. My point here is you can’t fix stupid. Here’s a beast of a person that is calling the Ancient of Days, YHVH Himself, evil and shameful things from His own Earthly house. Now THAT’s dumb. And as I said, you can’t fix stupid. Remember, at this point, he has approximately 1260 days of rule left. And it will get worse.

7: It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him.

You see, he will start to persecute, or “ποιῆσαι πόλεμον” [“make war,” not just violence of action but on their ideas as well] the saints, the people of God Himself. God will allow this and they will be overcome. They will begin to lose. I am reminded of the past 5th seal and the souls under the altar. You should be as well. This does not mean they will not act, it means they will lose. I will say more in a moment, because there is a thought coming in the text.
With this poiesai polemon, he will be given authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation. There will be no one on earth that is not subject to him. Nobody will be able to resist, nobody will want to outside of the tribulation saints, who are overcome and will have enough of their own problems from that.

8-10: The pre-eminence of the Beast from the sea

In fact, this individual will be given by God all the authority He is willing to allow. That will be quite a bit. He does this because His servants are His and He knows how to defend and protect them. Even if they are killed by this monster, God does not leave His people undefended. He will perfect them until their own personal day of Christ Jesus when He allows them to be killed and join Him in the Heavenlies. However, on earth, he will have absolute sway and authority. He will be the ultimate bad leader for the ultimate group of the planet who will not turn from their sins to the living God.

8: All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.

All who are on Earth who are not already chosen by God will worship this monster. God is very specific in this verse, penned by the Apostle John. He tells us that everyone whose name has NOT been written in the Lamb who has been slain from before the foundation of the world’s book of life will worship this horrible beast. They will give their honour to him, they will give their wills to him, they will give themselves over to his authority and do his bidding. Everything WE do for Christ now, they will do for the beast. Beloved, evil will rule the planet. This is why.

9: If anyone has an ear, let him hear.

This is always a “sit up and pay attention” kind of verse. It is the verse, in the midst of all the other verses about the chaos and evil that will reign, that makes the true child of God sit up and pay attention because they are the ones with the ears to hear. So hear this. It is a warning to the people then of the evil that will befall them, and it is meant for the building up and encouragement of those saints specifically. It is the verse that calls out to God’s people, “Hold on! The enemy has 1260 days left in his rule. Dig in and hold on.” It even gives special knowledge on what that will mean then. Next verse.

10: If anyone is destined for captivity, to captivity he goes; if anyone kills with the sword, with the sword he must be killed. Here is the perseverance and the faith of the saints.

Even though this will be a time when the enemy of all men is reigning supreme over the earth, with God’s permission, no less, God still has a requirement to walk in a worthy manner. Go and live for the Lord Jesus in the midst of this evil kingdom! Whatever happens to you in doing that will be the will of God. If anyone is supposed to end up in captivity by this monster and his servants, they will end up in captivity.
There is a warning here as well to the servants of the living God. Do not take up arms against the enemy. It is the fate of those who will live by the sword to die by the sword. If you do not wish to die by the sword, do not take it up. It then says here is the “perseverance” [ὑπομονὴ, patience, a remaining under] and “faith” [πίστις, a persuasion held so strongly that it modifies your behaviour] of the saints [ἁγίων, genetive, masculine, plural, meaning “holy ones,”]. This is the most common way of referring to God’s people in the New Testament. So if you find yourself living under this, Go and live for Christ! Whatever happens to you is the will of God. You belong to Him, and if He wanted you to fight, he wouldn’t give this warning, saints. You are not even to rise in your own defence.

There is a great deal here that should at least raise your eyebrows, if not your hackles. Why are we warned of this if we will not be here? Maybe at least some of us will be. Read the letter to Thyatira in Rev. 2 again. If you will not walk with Him now, you may find yourself here. If you remember the fictional story of “Left Behind,” one of the people left behind was a pastor for whom it was all just in his head. Until a few seconds after the harpazo event occurs, that is.

Also, I fully admit that while I hold a pretribulation rapture position as a part of my classical premillennialism, I may not necessarily be correct. If I am not, I may find myself facing these days. I hope I am right of course, but if I am not, who knows? This isn’t the only way the Scriptures can be interpreted. Until then, if it is in my lifetime, I walk in faith and hope, just like those then will have to do.

That’s what I saw in the text this time. Next time, we will look at verses 11-18, finishing chapter 13.