Revelation Chapter 13

Revelation Chapter Thirteen

Here the emergence of the Antichrist and the false prophet is foretold. Here we have the manifestation of the wicked one's ultimate goal--"to be like the most High" and receive the worship of men which belongs to God and Christ alone. What is brought into focus here is something of the kingdom and the program of Satan and the Antichrist.

Rev. 13:1-10.

1 Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name.

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

3 And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast.

4 So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, "Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?"

5 And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months.

6 Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven.

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

8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

9 If anyone has an ear, let him hear.

10 He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity; he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

Basically what we see here is Satan giving authority to Antichrist.

The preferred reading in verse 1 is not "I stood" but "he stood" (meaning the dragon who was enraged with the woman). What John sees is a beast (Antichrist who heads the final world government consisting of ten kingdoms) rising up out of the sea (nations of the world) given authority by Satan to war against the saints (v. 7). The crowns are on the ten horns (political power), not on the seven heads (the source of authority), which is the dragon who delegates his authority to the beast. This beast describes both the empires of Satan and the leader of the final beast empire, Antichrist.

Verse 2, this beast is a composite of Daniel's pictures of past political powers, see., (Dan. 7:2-7). This beast is a person who will gain the political and religious power of the world at that time and even claim to be the true Messiah.

Verse 3, it says here that "one of his heads was mortally wounded" this means that it was a death wound. This means that this beast died, but his deadly wound was healed. Because the beast is a false messiah, he will be a counterfeit of Christ and will even stage a false resurrection making it easier for people to be deceived. Therefore it will be the fact that the Antichrist has come back to life that will bring the world to submission. Notice that the whole world follows after the beast because they are amazed and the cause of their marvelment is the fact that the Antichrist is a dead man whose "mortal wound is healed." The same cause and effect is stated later when it is explained to John, "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 will wonder, whose names are not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast, that was and is not and will come" (Rev. 17:8).

When the Antichrist is revealed, after the restraint is removed at the midpoint of the seventieth week, the whole earth will be amazed--both at who he actually is and that he is a dead man come back to life. This shocking reality will cause most of the world to give their full allegiance to him.

This is not a true resurrection, this is a being raised from the dead. Jesus was the first to be resurrected, there were others in the bible who were raised from the dead, Lazarus for instance, but he was not resurrected from the dead. I say this because, what happened to Lazarus in due course? He died again, as did all others who were raised from the dead. Jesus, on the other hand was resurrected from the dead unto life everlasting never to die again. So when I make reference to an individual who died and who was raised, note that I am making a distinction from being raised from the dead and being resurrected from the dead.

Verses 4,5&6, now notice who is worshiped, the dragon, (the devil) who gave the beast his authority, and the beast, (Antichrist). Notice how they are worshiping, they say, "how can anyone make war with such a person as this, this is the resurrected messiah." He was given a mouth to speak great things and blasphemies, he speaks great things about himself and causes great things to happen to deceive people into worshiping him, he speaks injuriously against God, see, (Dan. 7:8,11,20,25; 11:36;), by His irreverent speech that calls what is human "divine," what is evil "good," and what is good "evil." When Christ cuts the great tribulation short (Matt. 24:22), he is not cutting short the allotted time period, the 42 months that he was granted in which to operate. Rather it is the persecution of Antichrist against God's elect, which will occur within the forty-two months, (starting at the midpoint of the seventieth week), be "cut short" before the time period comes to an end, the 42 months will still run its course. This persecution of God's elect will be cut short by the sign of the day of the Lord, which will be seen by all the world, in the sun, moon, and stars, as foretold by Isaiah(13:20; 24;23), Joel(2:10,31; 3:15), and by Jesus himself (Matt.24:29). His authority to act is cut short, not his life. Notice that he was given his power and authority to do (V. 2), by the dragon. He is given authority to act (V. 7), by God. God limits what he can do and the amount of time in which he has to do it, God is on our side.

Verse 7, he was granted (God allows him to do this) to make war with the saints. In both the Old and New testaments this term refers to those who are set apart or separated by God for Himself, those who are holy and elect. In other words the saints are citizens of the spiritual kingdom of God, it is not a term normally used specifically for the nation of Israel in general. The translation of the word saints is from the Greek word HAGIOS, this same word is used by John in describing the bride of Christ (Rev. 19:8), of which we have already said, certainly includes the church. To emphasize this warning to the saints, John then adds, "If anyone has an ear let him hear" (V. 9) which is the same warning that Christ gives to the seven churches. These saints are the offspring of the woman.

He was given authority over every tribe, tongue and nation. That does not mean that everybody capitulates to him. The fact that he is given authority to rule world wide does not mean that there is no opposition to him, it does not mean that there are no individuals or nations that are trying to resist this world takeover by this person who is empowered by Satan.

Verse 8, all, here is not mutually inclusive of every person on earth, it is limited to the people who are subject to his will and power, it will only be those whose names are not written in the Lamb's book of life. God will allow him authority to kill some believers physically but he will never conquer their spiritual life. The Antichrist declares himself to be deity and possesses the supernatural power of the demonic world (2 Thess. 4:9). His doctrine will teach the divinity of man (Gen. 3:5). All on earth who aspires to achieve godhood will worship this beast.

Verse 9, here he is warning genuine Christians, those who have an ear to hear, that what they think concerning the last days is of critical importance and that the price of faulty doctrine will be high. Prophecy that need not be fulfilled literally is not prophecy at all, but mere 'wishful thinking," especially as it pertains to the genuine church entering into the last days.

Verse 10, believers will be severely persecuted in that day. Some will be sent into captivity, others will be slain. But God will appropriately punish those who perpetrate those deeds. Those who send into captivity will themselves be sent into captivity, those who kill by the sword will themselves be killed by the sword.

"Here is the patience and the faith of the saints". At that time the perseverance and the faith of the saints will be tested as never before in the history of the church. Nevertheless, the faithful Lord gives His saints the certain promise that "Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I will also keep you from [protect you within the sphere of danger and rescue out from within] the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell upon the earth" (Rev. 3:10). This is why the church is carefully instructed, in the last days, to "abide in Him so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming" (1 John 2:28). For those who persevere, "Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus", they will be called blessed and find eternal rest (Rev. 14:11,12,13). Those saints will not experience the eternal punishment soon to be meted out on the unbelieving world at the day of the Lord.

Rev. 13:11-18.

11 Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon.

12 And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.

13 He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men.

14 And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived.

15 He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.

16 He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads,

17 and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.

Verse 11, introduces us to a second beast that comes up out of the earth, denoting that he appears silently and gradually as plants come up out of the earth. Notice that he has two horns like a lamb, the idea is that he wants people to believe that he is harmless. Then it says that he spoke like a dragon, meaning that he is crafty. So this second beast appears to be harmless but he is very crafty, in that he is of a spiritual kingdom professing to be derived from Christ the (Lamb), when in actual fact it is the dragon that gives him his authority, this being revealed by his speech in which he gives forth false doctrines and cruel decrees. A lamb was also the symbol of the priesthood of the imperial cult enforcing the worship of Caesar by deceiving people by performing demonic supernatural activity.

Verse 12, this second beast exercises all the authority of the first beast and causes people to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. This second beast is the enforcer for the first beast, the Antichrist who was raised from the dead. So the job of the second beast is to direct humanity towards the first beast. He promotes the same interest, pursues the same design to draw men from worshiping the true Messiah to worship the Antichrist. We will see a little later that this second beast is none other than the false prophet.

What is the difference between these two beasts? In Israel's history there has been at least twenty-two major false christs and there were always religious leaders associated with these false christs. The false christs were primarily political, and they tended to be military. This made sense to the Jews, for they were looking for their Messiah, the king to come and rule over them. These religious leaders would tell the people that this is the messiah, you are to follow him, so the religious leader would direct attention and loyalty to the political leader.

When we talk about false christs, know that they are individuals that have come down through history and said, "We are the promised one; we are the one of whom Moses and the prophets spoke; we are the deliverer that God has said would come." So they come trying to sell a bill of goods, saying, "We are the one that fulfills what the scriptures spoke of." They were false christs.

I would like to suggest to you that the Antichrist is somewhat different. The Antichrist does not come along saying that he is a son of Abraham, a son of David, of the tribe of Juda or the one having the right to be ruling as the anointed one. No, the Antichrist will be both against and in the place of the true Christ, but he does not say that he is the fulfillment of what the prophets foretold. He just says, "I can bring in a golden age, I can resolve the problems of the world", but he is not telling the world that he is the one that fulfills the messianic role. He will be a political ruler; he will be easily accepted by the Jews because they have accepted political rulers throughout their history. Matt. 24, talks about false christs and false prophets. The false prophets are doing impressive false signs too authentic their false message that these false christs are the Christ, follow him. You have two identities, false christs and false prophets

We have the same thing happening here in Rev. chapter 12. We were introduced to the Antichrist in the first ten verses. Now we have the second beast, the false prophet who is the religious leader. This individual will be empowered by Satan just as the first beast was empowered by Satan. Verse 13&14, tell us that he is going to do impressive miracles to delude the people into believing what he is saying about the Antichrist is true. People are going to buy into his lies, big time, as he (the second beast) says, "He (the first beast) is the messiah, follow him, obey him, listen to him, submit to his authority because he will resolve the problems of the world. Now is that not exactly what is happening in verses 12,13&14?

Now what do we know about this second beast?

(a) He comes out of the earth (v.11).

(b) He wants people to think that he is a lamb (v.11).

(c) He has all the authority of the first beast (v.12).

(d) He directs people to worship the first beast (v.12).

(e) He performs great signs, even to make fire come down from heaven (v.13). Who else made fire come down from heaven? Eliajh. Who was Eliajh? A prophet, yes, but he is also to be the forerunner of the true Christ. "Behold I will send you Eliajh the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord" (Mal. 4:5). Here is a false Eliajh, the ultimate false prophet doing great false miracles even as Eliajh did true miracles.

(f) He deceives people by these signs (v.14), because signs were given as proof that something was authentic.

What is his purpose in doing all the things we just listed? Now that he has the people convinced of the falsehood that the first beast is the messiah, it is only easy for him to get the people to do what he wants them to do in Verse 14, "to get those who dwell on the earth to make an image of the beast whose deadly wound was healed."

Not only does the Antichrist make an image of himself and erect it in the temple, setting himself up as God. The second beast, after deceiving the people and causing them to believe that the Antichrist is the messiah, tells the people of the world to make an image of the beast.

The common interpretation of that passage is that all the inhabitants of the earth are commanded to make one single image of the beast, the one that is erected in the temple. But since the Greek word for "image" is a collective noun, it is more likely that each person is commanded to make his own individual image so that everyone will have their own personal image of the beast. This is the sentiments of the noted N. T. Greek scholar Dr. Robert Grundry. He says that, "Image in this text can be taken (and here is best taken) as a collective singular, like our English word crowd or people. That collective noun could therefore represent a great number of separate images." He also noted that the context of verse 16, which clearly uses the collective singular of the word "hand" is perfectly in keeping with the collective singular use of "image."

Verse 15, the word "breath" here should cause every person alive--in particular those who refuse to worship "the beast or his image"--tremendous concern especially when one understands the full meaning and implications of the word. The Greek word here, PNEUMA, is usually translated as "spirit" (even in "Holy Spirit" or in "evil spirit") and sometimes as "life" as in the KJV. The meaning of this passage then is that after the people are commanded to make their own image of the Antichrist, some form of spirit or life will be put within their "image" so "that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed".

In the last days, the worship of "the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood" spoken of in Rev. 9:20 is specifically said to involve the worship of demons, which are of course spirit beings. In other words the idols of 9:20 and the image of 13:14,15 will be indwelt by Satan's demons, to form a world wide monitoring system to enforce the worship of Antichrist (whose likeness the images will bare) and to destroy any human being, within the domain of these images, who refuses to comply with that worship.

Fortunately those demonic images, despite their fearsome powers, will be blind, deaf, and immobile--unable to see, hear or walk (Rev. 9:20). The idols in themselves are nothing more than immaterial creations of man's own making. It is the demons that give these inanimate objects life. And although the demons are limited to these inanimate objects, they, (the demons) can see and hear, even though their movement is restricted to the objects that they indwell. For this reason 9:20 makes no reference to the idols' inability to speak. The reason is clear. They will be able to talk once the false prophet of the Antichrist gives "breath {spirit life] to the image of the beast, so the beast can speak and cause people to be killed" (Rev. 13:15). Each demon's movement will be limited by the inanimate object it indwells. This would seem to allow the possibility that true Christians, as well as others who refuse to bow down to the image, will have some chance to avoid detection and destruction. But if they do come into the presence of these images, the demons will know it, and those persons will be killed for their failure to worship the image.

How then will these images suddenly be indwelt and empowered by demonic spirits? This false prophet tells the people of the world to make an image (collectively, meaning each one make their own image) in (v.14). Verse 15, seems to indicate that the images only come to "life" later when the "second beast" gives a "spirit" to these images. People therefore will make their individual images without even knowing the diabolical purpose for which they will soon be used.

The people will make their images during the euphoria of the world's initial worship of the Antichrist at the midpoint of the seventieth week, when he sets himself up as God in the temple and demands to be worshiped. The individual images will then, without the world's knowledge or understanding, be suddenly indwelt by the horde of Satan's fallen angels and demonic spirits that will have been cast down to earth just before that time. It is obvious, therefore, that the demonic spirits that indwelt the man-made images of Antichrist will already have come down to earth with Satan when they are commanded to take control of the images. By that supernatural and pervasive scheme Antichrist will exercise universal control over the earth in every area that the images are.

Verse 16,17,18, here we are told that this second beast causes people to receive a mark, without which they will not be able to buy or sell. The significance of the forehead is that it represents our wills, our volition, while the hand represents our activities. Somehow the Antichrist will get people to will to take his mark causing them through their wills and their actions to serve him.

The bible warns us that if we have the mark of the beast, we will then share in the terrible fate of the beast (Rev. 14:11). No one should fear "accidentally' taking the mark of the beast. To do so involves worshiping the beast (Rev. 13:5), and the decision will be clear enough that it will be a life and death matter. What we are really talking about here is who gets our allegiance. In a real respect the spirit of Antichrist is active already (1 John 2:18). The Antichrist spirit is in anybody who tries to draw people away from Jesus, saying, "Worship me." This spirit is often present now in the worship and veneration we give to governments, dictators, military leaders, denominations, preachers and other human figures. Systems being taught in our schools, media, and intellectual circles are often much like that which will ultimately lead people to Antichrist, because he will be the consummate figure of humanism. Will we give the spirit of the world our minds and our work? If our allegiance is to God we will not serve the spirit of Antichrist today and we will not take his mark upon us then.

I do not know how the mark will be imprinted on the hand or the forehead. Given modern technology, however, there are numerous ways this could be done. A tiny microchip, for example, could be imbedded just under the skin, which could be read by some scanning device that would "read" the chip, identify the buyer or seller, and validate the sale. I understand that they now have these chips that can be placed under the skin of an animal or a person, with it they could track whoever has the chip as to where it goes and where it has been.

Just think in terms of the crime that is going on today, break and entry, the raping of women, the child abuse, the murder and any other crime you can think of. Can you imagine what would happen if somebody came along and said "I could put an end to all of this crime, I mean I can make it safe enough that you will not have to lock your doors anymore, because if we put one of these chips, now this is not going to be harmful, in fact it will be helpful, we won't need to have money anymore, we won't need credit cards anymore, no more using things that can be counterfeited. What I propose to do is make things equitable for everybody, all it takes is to put this little chip under your skin, your money will be in a giant computer, you will go to a retail outlet and a scanner will scan your personal chip and we can add or subtract to your account as necessary. But more than that, through satellites we could track where anybody has been within ten feet anywhere in the world, so we could find out who robbed the bank, or raped the girl or broke into your house". Doesn't that sound good. Do you not think that people would readily accept such a chip. I am only using a scenario, I am not saying that is how it will happen. How easy it would be to bring in a one monetary system for the whole world and establish a cashless society that can be controlled by the Antichrist.

However it is done, the mark will clearly identify the person with either the name of the beast or the number of his (Antichrist's) name. Those who accept the mark of the beast will forfeit any further opportunity for salvation and will discover during the day of the Lord that they are marked irrevocably for God's judgment.

There has been much speculation about verse 18, in trying to identify the Antichrist by means of the number 666. There have been many who have tried to calculate the number of the beast, this has led to much confusion. Let me say though that throughout scripture the number seven is the number of completion or God's number of perfection. The number six is a number of imperfection and incompleteness or the number of man. It is possible that this number does not mean six hundred and sixty six, it may mean the number of incompleteness repeated three times, 6,6,6. This being the case, it is ever short of God's perfect seven, showing that however the Antichrist will try to say that he is God, his case will be presented in such a convincing way that if it were possible he would even deceive the elect. But as his number indicates, it is humanity fallen, filled with pride, defying God. Believers can rest assured that when the Antichrist comes they will be able to recognize him by this number.