What does Satan use to make war on and persecute the church? He uses two different Beasts. In Revelation 13:1-10, we see Satan summon the first Beast from the Sea. This Beast is governmental systems that persecute the church and seek to coerce them into submission to the State rather than to Christ.
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The Beast and the Battle for Worship
Revelation 13:1-10
For a great many people throughout history, it is a very dangerous thing to be a Christian. In our own day, if you are a Christian in North Korea, you must live in extreme secrecy. Christianity is illegal. If a person is caught with a Bible, or Christian symbols in their home, they can be arrested, tortured, or even executed. And if one member of a family is arrested, the other family members can be arrested up to three generations. The people are under constant surveillance, and children are taught to tell their teachers if their parents read from a secret book or pray in their homes. North Korea has consistently ranked as the worst country in the world for Christians to live in. Parents are afraid to teach their children the gospel, because the child may repeat something they have been told which will endanger the entire family. Churches cannot meet openly for fear of arrest. Thus very small groups of believers meet, and then only in extreme secrecy.
It is estimated that around 200,000 Christians have been imprisoned for their faith. Adhering to a religious belief in North Korea is considered a political crime because it can threaten the ultimate allegiance of the people to the Kim family, who are given a god-like status.
In North Korea, there are huge statues of the leaders of the government. Every family is required to have a picture of the current leader in their home. This portrait must be hung on the most prominent wall of the apartment, and nothing else may be hung on that wall. When a North Korean moves into a new apartment, this photo must be hung first. It must be kept clean. Homes are inspected, and if a photo is found to be dusty, punishments are given. In case of emergency, the portrait must be protected first before anything else. Someone in the family must wipe the glass every morning. Often family members will bow before the portraits every morning and evening, saying greetings. The people are taught to reverence the Kim Il Sung “who saved us from death and emancipated us from slavery.”
What is taking place in North Korea has taken place in various forms and degrees in other governmental systems around the world for thousands of years. And I believe it is what we are reading of today in Revelation 13.
Revelation 12 closes with the statement in verse 17 – “So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.” Satan is at war with the church. And what two great weapons does he use in his war against her? He uses Persecution and Deception. Force comes through the coercion of anti-Christian government systems that seek to force people to abandon their faith in Jesus Christ. His other weapon is False Religion, producing lies and deceptions in order to lead the people of God astray.
We saw Satan using both of those weapons in chapter 12. In Revelation 12:13 it says, “And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child.” Then in Revelation 12:15 we read, “And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood.” This refers to the flood of lies and deceptions that come in the form of religious heresy from the devil.
Well, here in Revelation 13, we are going to see both of Satan’s weapons in vivid display. They come in the form of two different Beasts. There is a Beast from the Sea, which represents anti-Christian governments that oppress and persecute Christians. And there is a Beast from the land, which represents False Religious systems that bring about heresy and Satan’s lies to confuse and deceive people.
This morning we are only going to deal with the first Beast. We will examine the second Beast next week.
This morning we are going to look at the Identity, Invincibility, Blasphemy, and Conquest of the Beast.
1. The Identity of the Beast (13:1-2)
And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Here in this vision we see the dragon, representing the devil, standing on the sand of the seashore, where the sea and land meet. And we are going to see the dragon summon from the sea a Beast, and then he will beckon from the land a second Beast. The first of these Beasts will bring Persecution. It is political and military in nature. The second Beast will bring Deception. It is religious and spiritual in nature.
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.
The Beast has 10 horns and 7 heads wearing crowns. This is the same description we have of the dragon in Revelation 12:3. This tells us very clearly that this Beast is in league with the devil. He is empowered and inspired by Satan. He is the image of the devil. He is the devil with skin on.
The blasphemous names on his heads does not mean that there were curse words written on his heads. It means that he had taken to himself divine titles that only belong to God. This Beast was a rival to the true and living God.
It is popular today to identify this Beast as the Antichrist, which they believe to be an individual man, who will rule the world at the end of human history. I do not believe this Beast is a man at all. Let me tell you why.
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.
He has elements of a leopard, bear, and a lion. Do the mention of those three beasts cause you to think of anything from the Old Testament? In Daniel 7:4-7, Daniel had a dream and wrote down the dream. In his dream there were four different beasts: a lion, a bear, a leopard, and a terrifying beast with 10 horns. It is clear that in Revelation 13, John’s vision harkens back to this dream that Daniel had. So, what do the four beasts represent in Daniel’s dream? They represent 4 kingdoms: the Babylonians, the Medo-Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans. These are political/governmental systems, not individual men.
Notice that in Daniel’s vision, there were 7 heads, because the leopard had four heads, and the lion, bear, and fourth beast all had one head, making seven in all. There were 10 horns, because the fourth beast had ten horns. In Revelation 13, we have one composite Beast, which has seven heads and ten horns. The Beast in Revelation 13 has features belonging to all of the other four beasts, and is a single composite of them all.
So, what or who does this Beast in Revelation 13 represent? The Beasts in Daniel represent empires or kingdoms or governmental systems. Thus, that must be what this Beast in Revelation 13 represents.
He cannot represent a single man, the Antichrist, because Revelation 17:9 says, “The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits, and they are seven kings…” The seven heads have a double meaning – they are both kings and mountains. Then in Revelation 17:12 it says, “The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour.” So, apparently there are 17 kings in all. This can’t refer to one man. It refers to many kings and kingdoms which will govern the world before the second coming of Christ.
My understanding is that Revelation chapters 11, 12, and 13 are the “little book” which John took and ate in chapter 10. When he ate it, he was told, “You must prophesy again concerning many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.” So, here John is given a different message, a second message, and this message was not just concerning God’s judgment upon Israel and the destruction of Jerusalem. It is concerning many nations. It is international in scope, and not restricted to the first century. Therefore, the Beast we are reading about in Revelation 13, would not be restricted to only the first century, or only the last 7 years of earth’s history. This Beast would be any and all political systems that persecute the people of God and seek to take God’s place in their allegiance.
In John’s day, the beast was Rome. The Caesars were given the title “Augustus”, which means The Great, The Majestic, The Venerable. This was a title indicating the person holding it was to be worshiped. According to Roman imperial theology, the Caesars were gods. That’s why all citizens had to burn a pinch of incense and confess “Caesar is Lord.” Many temples were devoted to the Caesars throughout the empire. Nero demanded absolute obedience and erected a 120 foot tall statue of himself.
However, there have been plenty of other governmental systems demanding a person’s highest allegiance (worship) over the centuries. The Beast is a picture of all of them.
2. The Invincibility of the Beast (13:3-4)
And I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. The popular interpretation of this is that the Antichrist will be killed, and come back to life. But, as we have seen, the Beast is not one individual. It stands for oppressive governments that persecute Christians. So, what would this part of the vision stand for? I believe it pictures one of those governments dying, but the beast not dying. In the fifth century, the Roman empire fell. Did that mean that the Beast was now dead, and would never revive? Not at all! The Beast has seven heads, so you can kill one of the heads, but the Beast lives on because it has six other good heads. The Beast may suffer a temporary fall, but it continues to surface throughout history in different places and in different ways.
In the 20th century, the Beast surfaced in the persecution of Christians in communist countries in Eastern Europe and China. In the 21st century, the Beast has surfaced in countries like North Korea or some Muslim nations. Whenever and wherever a government rises up and persecutes the people of God, you are seeing an expression of this Beast from the sea. One government may die, but another will rise in its place, and the Beast continues on his campaign to make war on the church.
The whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast… they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?”
They have already seen that you can’t kill the beast. If he disappears in one location, he pops up in another. If one head receives a mortal wound, the Beast continues to live because he has plenty more heads. The people are amazed at Beast’s power and authority. They say “Who is able to wage war with Him?” He seems invincible. He’s so powerful, no one is able to resist Him. If you do resist, you are killed and disposed of.
They worshiped the Beast. That person or institution that you give your obedience, allegiance and loyalty, is the one you worship. You can say you worship God all you want, but if you obey the Beast instead of God, you are really worshipping the Beast.
In our day there is a battle for worship. Either man will worship the true and living God, or something else. All men worship something. The Beast is competing with God for man’s worship. Only the Beast obtains this worship through force and coercion and pain and torture. God obtains this worship through His gracious and supernatural power upon the hearts of sinners.
3. The Blasphemy of the Beast
There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies
The kings, Caesars, presidents, and dictators that are prominent members of the Beast speak out arrogant words and blasphemies. They call themselves God or gods, Augustus, Majestic, Revered. They require others to worship them by bowing to them, offering incense to them, saying “Caesar is Lord,” or “The Great Leader has saved us and emancipated us from slavery.” All of these are Antichrists, because they set themselves against and oppose Christ as the true Lord of all humanity.
You see, Satan wants the worship that people give to God alone. He is not content to worship God Himself. He wants the worship of others. Remember when He tempted Jesus to fall down before Him and worship Him, if he would just give Him all the kingdoms of the world. He craves worship. And this is the way he is going to get it. All will worship the Beast, giving it their highest allegiance, and because the Beast is only a visible manifestation of him, he is really receiving their worship.
And authority to act for forty-two months was given to him
Again we see this expression, that we have been seeing several times already in chapters 11, 12, and 13. 42 months, 1260 days, time times and half a time. All of them are equivalents of the same thing. The only disagreement is what these time periods refer to. Preterists often identify this time period with the length of the Jewish War, from November 66, to June 70. Futurists take this period of time as the last half of the Great Tribulation, which is the final 7 years of the history of the world.
In contrast to those views, I believe this period of time is symbolic for the age of the church – the time between the ascension and the second coming of Christ. What are we told will happen during this period of time?
The true people of God will be persecuted during this time – 11:2
The true people of God will bear witness to Christ during this time – 11:3
The true people of God are cared for and nourished by God during this time – 12:6
The Beast is allowed to speak blasphemies and given authority to act during this time – 13:5
4. The Conquest of the Beast (12:7-10)
It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them
Remember what we learned from Revelation 11? The two witnesses are granted authority to be God’s witnesses and they prophesy for 1,260 days. I told you then that I believe these two witnesses represent the church that is called to proclaim the gospel and make disciples. For most of those 1,260 days they are successful. In fact they are invincible. If anyone tries to stop them, they work miracles and overcome them. However, 11:7 says, “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.” Their dead bodies lie in the streets for 3 ½ days before God resurrects and raptures them. Interesting – 3 ½ years of successful witness, followed by 3 ½ days where they are overcome by the Beast.
I think all of this points to a time at the end of world history, when antichristian governments and leaders are able to silence the public witness of the church, and it looks like she has died. Of course the church has not died, because she can’t. But she may be driven underground at the very end for a short period of time. It seems that Revelation 13:7 is alluding to that future devastating persecution of the church.
And authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him.
It seems that this final great persecution of the Beast is going to be worldwide, not just localized to a few nations.
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.
See how effective the Beast is. He is able to elicit the worship of all the world. Well… all of those in the world whose names were not written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb. That tells us that there are two groups of people in the world – those whose names were written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, and those whose names were not written in that book from the foundation of the world. Those whose names are in the book of life refuse to worship the Beast and are willing to love Christ more than life, and are killed by the Beast. The rest worship the Beast.
It is common to hear preachers say when someone answers an altar call, “Another name has just been written down in glory!” However, according to this verse, that’s not true. The name wasn’t just written down. That name was written in the book of life from the foundation of the world!
So, we see here that all the world will worship the Beast. They will give it their highest allegiance. But the Christians won’t do this. They can’t give the Beast their highest allegiance, because they have already given that to Jesus Christ.
Conclusion
- God Has Ordained The Church’s Persecutions.
13:5 – “authority for the Beast to act for forty-two months was given to him”
13:7 – “It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them”
13:7 – “authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him”
13:10 – “if anyone is destined for captivity, to captivity he goes”
All of these verses tell us that the authority to persecute God’s people was given to the Beast. In the book of Revelation, when there is a passive verb, and no subject is mentioned performing the action, we are to understand God as the one doing the action. In other words, God grants the Beast this authority. That’s why we read, “if anyone is destined for captivity, to captivity he goes.”
This is how the apostle Paul understood the afflictions of the church. 2 Thess. 3:3, “so that no one would be disturbed by these afflictions; for you yourselves know that we have been destined for this.”
If God has given the Beast the authority to persecute the church, then God has a wise plan to bring good out of that persecution. God has ordained our every experience of persecution. They do not happen to us willy nilly, in some kind of chaotic haphazard fashion. Of course this does not remove the pain and heartache that Christians must endure, but it does let them know that God has a plan in the midst of their pain, and they can trust Him.
- God Will Sustain His People Under Persecution.
Where do I get that idea? From Revelation 13:8. Those that worship the Beast, do so because their names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world. That must mean that they would have worshiped the beast if their names were not written there. That must mean that God will keep His elect from worshiping the Beast! He will preserve their spirit and soul and body complete to the end. Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.
Those whose names were written in the book of life will never apostatize. They will never reject Jesus Christ, and worship the Beast instead. God will keep them to the end!
- God Will Make All Things Right In The End.
13:10 – “if anyone kills with the sword, with the sword he must be killed.” If the Beast kills you with the sword, then he must be killed by the sword. In other words, “What goes around, comes around.” God will have the final word. God will make sure that justice is served on all His creatures in the end.
In this lifetime, we often see the wicked prospering, while the faithful believer suffers, and it seems unfair. And you know what, that isn’t fair. But the problem is, we are being too short-sighted. God is not finished with this world yet. There is coming a final great day of judgment, and in that day, God will mete out His justice. God will punish all evil wherever He finds it. We can be assured of that.
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