Revelation Chapter 13

Revelation 13:1

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. (ESV)

With Israel tucked out of the way, the Satan goes off to make war against the Christians and his first stop is on the sand of the sea. Now we see a beast rising out of the sea. Most scholars agree that this beast coming out of the sea is the antichrist with the sea being a symbol of the Gentiles; so the antichrist is coming out of or will be a Gentile. This is easy to believe; however I want to paint for you a very different kind of picture that will possibly have very little to do with anti-christs or Gentiles, and I would ask that you would go on this ride with a clear conscience and let scripture speak to us. There are many notions as to who this person will be with the latest of theories being Barack Obama. Let’s throw nonsense aside and study truth, so let’s jump directly in.

The identity of the beast in scripture is so very clear if we look and we are even given its name several times if we can accept it. The name of the beast is Leviathan. The bible speaks about it several times and we often dismiss it as being loch ness monster or a dinosaur or something but this is simply not the case. Below I have put all the references to Leviathan that we will periodically reference when we speak about it. First you will notice that Leviathan is not a kind of sea creature but is a single sea creature with that being its name. You will also notice in these verses that this creature is obviously in the sea with that being its dwelling place. “O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. Here is the sea, great and wide, which teems with creatures innumerable, living things both small and great. There go the ships, and Leviathan, which you formed to play in it.” Though it lives in the sea it can most certainly rise up out of the sea. “You crushed the heads of Leviathan; you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.” You will notice that this verse says “heads (plural) of Leviathan (singular)” This lines up with what we see in this verse regarding seven heads and will later discuss whether these heads are literal or figurative. But speaking of rising out of the sea, scripture says, “When he raises himself up the mighty are afraid; at the crashing they are beside themselves.” And again it says, “No one is so fierce that he dares to stir him up.” This then raises an interesting notion that perhaps even Satan was not fierce enough to stir him up (he wouldn’t dare) but he raised himself up, therefore he is not necessarily an underling of Satan but perhaps they find themselves in a limited partnership of sorts. Another reason I say this is because of the comparison between Satan and Leviathan. You will notice from Revelation 12:3 that Satan was only seen with 7 kingly crowns and in this verse we see Leviathan has 10. I do want to stop short of calling him more powerful than Satan but they are indeed very much similar.

ref: Job 3:7; Job 41; Psalm 74:14; Psalm 104:23-26; Isaiah 27:1

Revelation 13:2

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. (ESV)

In a prophecy in the book of Daniel, there is a vision of several beasts (representing kingdoms) coming out of the sea similarly described with attributes like a leopard, bear and lion. After that, a fourth beast comes up that is different from the others and is seen with 10 horns. Continuing this argument about this beast being Leviathan, the difference from the other beasts is pointed out in Job, “on earth there is not his like.” Daniel continues saying he is “terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong.” Likewise God says “Around his teeth is terror” and “I will not keep silence concerning...his mighty strength”. Speaking of being dreadful He goes on to say “When he raises himself up the mighty are afraid.” Going on Daniel finds out that “He shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High.” In the same way God asks, “Will he make many pleas to you? Will he speak to you soft words? Will he make a covenant with you to take him for your servant forever?” Leviathan comes to make war against the saints and if he wasn’t already powerful enough, Satan then gives this beast his power and his throne and great authority. With this authority, as stated before, he will also speak words against the Most High, which may have a relationship with the blasphemous names on its heads. From this point most of the destruction we will encounter in Revelation will come from the beast(s), with Satan being curiously absent from the scene. There is no real need for him to exert energy at this point as Leviathan, who is without fear, will accomplish with the help of his power everything that he sets forth to do. If there is any comfort that can be gleaned from this situation it is that though Leviathan is extremely fierce, how much more is to be said about the Lord?

ref: Daniel 7; Job 41

Revelation 13:3

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.

In verse 1 we saw Leviathan come up and was said to have 7 heads. Later in Revelation 17 we receive more insight as to what these heads represent. It is said that they are “seven mountains on which the woman is seated; they are also seven kings.” Scripture goes on to say that the beast is an eighth king, and though it belongs to the seven, it is going to its destruction. So it seems this mortal wound would occur to one of the seven heads (probably the seventh). With it being one of the heads that was wounded, it is somewhat confusing as to how the mortal wound being healed will affect the 8th king, Leviathan. Now we need to inquire about this mortal wound, who and what caused it and who healed it. With the seven heads being a part of the beast it is difficult to separate the two when we speak about them especially since later on it says people will worship the beast whose mortal wound had been healed. So for simplicities sake we will say this wound is done to Leviathan. A few verses after this it is said that “for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived.” Leviathan’s mortal wound was caused by a sword so if we go to the book of Job it says that, “though the sword reaches him, it does not avail, nor the spear, the dart, or the javelin.” The sword had reached Leviathan and yet he lived. This is even more powerful and yet confusing if you couple it with a few other verses. Earlier in Job speaking of Behemoth it says “"He is the first of the works of God; let him who made him bring near his sword!” And in another place scripture says, “In that day the Lord with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent.” I don’t know exactly how we can deny or have not been able to see that this sea creature will be in the end times with a scripture like that but nevertheless it would appear that it is the Lord that brings the sword near Leviathan in order to deliver the mortal wound that is healed. As for the healing of that wound, keep that in the back of your mind as we will discuss it at a later date. You may be asking, since one of those verses regarding the sword of the Lord is speaking about another mysterious creature and the other might possibly be speaking about when he is ultimately defeated by Jesus how can we be sure that someone else did not inflict this wound? Also in the book of Job we see that man is not capable of inflicting injury (especially deadly injury) to him. We see God asking Job over and over again, can you do this, can you do that; and in fact see Him telling us that when we see Leviathan we will be made low, if we dare to put our hands on it we will remember and never do it again, and basically the weapons of this world are not capable of harming it. Yet even after reading all of that we somehow think that we will be able to live out this tribulation period unharmed and that it will somehow be easy to resist following such a creature. I would argue just what God has told us, that when Leviathan raises himself the mighty will be afraid. With his Godzilla like stature not able to be harmed, fear may very well grip us and many will abandon the faith. This creature is without fear and there is nothing like him on earth. He sees everything that is high and is king over everything that is proud, so we will truly have to cling to the words of God when He said, “if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” If we choose to go on living in the pride that we adore so much it will be extremely easy to find ourselves as subjects to the king Leviathan. If we humble ourselves and turn from our wicked ways we just might make it out of this world with our names still written in the Lamb’s book of life.

ref: Revelation 13:12-14; Job 41, 40:19; Isaiah 27:1; 2 Chronicles 7:14

Revelation 13:4

And they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, "Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?" (ESV)

Be careful at what you find wonder in. The whole earth has marveled at the beast and it has brought forth from them worship toward the beast and toward Satan for giving his authority to the beast. This word marvel means to wonder or to wonder at, to be had in admiration. In the new testament this word is used several times. This was used in context with something extraordinary happening or something outside the norm. Often people marveled when Jesus would perform certain healings that they had not seen. Pilate marvelled when he was questioning Jesus and Jesus gave no reply. Yes, even Jesus marvelled on a few occasions; and those having to do with faith. One instance was when He saw the faith of the centurion, “He marveled and said to those who followed him, ‘Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.’” In another time He marvelled for a different reason concerning faith; after performing signs in His hometown it was said that He marvelled at their disbelief. That being said I can’t help but wonder if He will also be marvelling at both faith and disbelief at this time. He had already warned us earlier that He prefers either the hot or the cold and so it seems here that we will be left with a choice; we will either remain faithful to the testimony of Jesus or decide to worship Satan and Leviathan. Scripture does not give us a third option that I can see. The beast was already extremely powerful and is now even a more formidable foe due to Satan giving his authority to him. Once this happens, the worshippers will ask “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?” Going back to the book of Job, God prophesied about this happening by saying “Lay a hand on him. You will remember the battle and never repeat it!” Speaking of battles, Daniel had something to say about this as well. When speaking about one of the kings it is said that “he shall honor the god of fortresses instead of these. A god whom his fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and costly gifts. He shall deal with the strongest fortresses with the help of a foreign god. Those who acknowledge him he shall load with honor.” This god of fortresses is indeed Leviathan. The Lord describes his back as having rows of shields that cannot be separated. His very body is made to be a fortress that cannot be penetrated at all and is powerful beyond comprehension. He breathes out fire and is afraid of nothing, and none of the weapons of war are able to affect him. You will also notice that those that acknowledge him as the god of fortresses will honor him and we can move forward in thought and say that that honor comes in the form of worship because of his mighty strength.

ref: Matthew 8:10; Mark 6:1-6; Revelation 3:15-16; Job 41; Daniel 11:37-39

Revelation 13:5

And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty- two months. (ESV)

“And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things.” Daniel explained the beast in this way, that the things he spoke were great in the sense that they had meat and consequences to them. We tend to look down on entities like the beast and wonder how it is that though be a great creation of God, that he might now speak blasphemies. We think ourselves better and even think that if left to ourselves we would somehow naturally come to God; that it is something a good person would do and we are in fact good. However this is not something we would ever do. Even if we received a fatal wound from God and then was healed by that very same God, it would not be in us to turn to Him; rather we would proceed to do exactly as Leviathan will do. But by the mercy of God, He called some and chose them to be written down in the Lamb’s book of life. How do we know this? It is because we often speak haughty and blasphemous words. It comes extremely natural to point out the things that God is not able to do. We also like to proclaim things that He will do that He has not spoken on. We believe we have a good idea on the way He thinks and what He will likely do in a situation but I tell you today that very often we are wrong in those assumptions. Furthermore when we lay our expectations on God and say He has to do this or can’t do that, we don’t realize that this is a form of blasphemy. We think ourselves so haughty that we are able to think as the God of all creation thinks. I tell you today that this is a lie.

Continuing on the Leviathan theme in Job, God does speak on this very act by him, tying him to the horn that Daniel saw. It is said that “Leviathan sees everything that is high..he is king over all the sons of pride.” It is no wonder he is able to speak these haughty words being able to see to the heights. He is king over all the prideful. The prideful, meaning someone who is truly full of pride, are very difficult to corral. They are so far from being able to be talked to and reasoned with on a normal level but they do have Leviathan as king which says a lot about his power. But in the same conversation with Job, God told him in a roundabout way of someone who is able to control such a creature. Referencing of our Savior while mocking Job, God spoke these words, “"Adorn yourself with majesty and dignity; clothe yourself with glory and splendor. Pour out the over flowings of your anger, and look on everyone who is proud and abase him. Look on everyone who is proud and bring him low and tread down the wicked where they stand. Hide them all in the dust together; bind their faces in the world below. Then will I also acknowledge to you that your own right hand can save you.” There is only One who is able to look upon all that are proud and bring them low. In fact remember this very passage of scripture of which God is speaking about Jesus because we will very soon see every bit of this come to pass. But first we must make it through the time, times and half a time.

ref: Daniel 7:8; Job 41; Job 40:10-14

Revelation 13:6

It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. (ESV)

Often we think of blasphemy as something that can be exercised only against God but this is simply not the case. The simple definition of the word is: slander, detraction, speech injurious to another’s good name, impious or reproachful speech injurious to divine majesty. So now we see the beast speaking this way about God and toward those who dwell in heaven. This group includes, God of course followed by the 24 elders, the 4 living creatures, Michael and his angels, and those beheaded Christians who had been given white robes to wear. Thus far in scripture these are the only beings that we have seen in a permanent sort of sense in heaven. So all or some of these groups are being blasphemed since they are the ones that dwell in heaven. That being said, ANY of God’s creatures are able to be blasphemed against and as Christians we must become aware of this in order to prevent us from opening our mouth to utter blasphemies. “When the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you.’” Satan, Leviathan, Behemoth, and all of Satan’s angels are also creations of the Most High God. Michael knew this but somehow we think we are exempt from such responsibility of power. I say that because we do hold great power with the name of Jesus and with the Holy Spirit that dwells within, that we should be mindful about misusing that power in a way that God did not intend. Paul spoke about the way we are to act and feel about the principalities that exist in life. He said, “So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” We say all sorts of outlandish things and downright blasphemies just as the beast is doing. We stand proud and belittle Satan as if in our own power we are able to even lay a hand on him. Paul said that a messenger of Satan was sent to harass him (presumably continually) in order that he may not be full of conceit and possibly turn away from the Lord. Jesus’ power is made perfect in our weakness but we don’t really sound like we are weak at all when we proclaim that the devil gets scared when we open our bible, and say silly things like his kingdom shakes when our feet hit the floor. If that be true our lives would not be in such disarray. No the truth is that we are to be weak because that is what we are. If we humbly claim that weakness then God is pleased to become mighty in us. If we refuse to be weak and pridefully boast in our strengths then what Paul spoke about may come true in our very own lives: “you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. Your boasting is not good.” May we be weak that he be made strong and may we not blaspheme what we do not know as was said in another place; “But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively.” So it would appear that the incidents that we are reading about in Revelation are at least in part due to our pride and refusal for Christians to humble themselves before the Lord so we are handed over to Satan that our souls may be preserved on the day of His coming. Very humbling words indeed.

ref: Jude 1:9-10; 2 Corinthians 1:1-10; 1 Corinthians 5:5-6

Revelation 13:7

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, (ESV)

“As I looked, this horn made war with the saints and prevailed over them, until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given for the saints of the Most High, and the time came when the saints possessed the kingdom.” Here is where we get off the express train of believing God really is Sovereign. Satan has given this horn his power and now Leviathan is going out to make war on the rest of God’s people. This little word allowed is something of a thorn in our side. This word in the original language means: to grant, to give to one asking, to let have, to give over or deliver. There is no doubt that these saints belong to Jesus. They are His. So in keeping with the definition, this is not a haphazard thing that God is just “allowing”, or has turned His back on and let them do what they want. There most likely was a permission that was granted; that He literally handed the saints over to the destruction by the beast. Now we don’t really like the sound of that, that He would hand His children over to be possibly tortured or killed and yet we are happy to accept that He would do this to His only begotten Son. If it pleased Him to crush Jesus, how can we really believe there is no way that He would let that happen to us? He granted us to be turned over most likely for the testing of our faith. So just as Jesus had said, if we remain faithful we shall inherit all things. Not only was he given permission to make war on the saints but also to exercise authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. You will notice the absence of war against everyone who is not one of the saints. If you are truly His then it appears war will come against you; if not, it doesn’t appear it will be too tough a time for you.

ref: Daniel 7:21-22

Revelation 13:8

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. (ESV)

Leviathan has come and is given power over everyone and is making war on the saints. The saints are the first group of people in this scenario; who are under the authority of the beast of which many will be conquered. The defining characteristics of these saints is that they have ALWAYS had their names written in the Lamb’s book of life and thus will not worship the beast. It appears that before the earth was even created that there existed this book of life of the Lamb and before mankind was created there were names written in it. In the book of Revelation there is only one criteria named that kept your name from being written in the book of life and that is that you (will) marvel and/or worship the beast. Now in Revelation 20 we will see that our names being written in this book is the criteria for keeping us from being thrown into the lake of fire and it also appears that some of these people are/were dead. That would therefore mean that in some capacity unknown to us the dead seem to be aware of what is going on during this time and will either worship the beast or will not. For some reason we don’t like the way all these things sound. We call God sovereign and omniscient but are so hung up on the free will aspect of man that it seems impossible that He could know before He created us if we were going to worship the beast or not. Either He is all knowing or He isn’t. Perhaps impossible is not the proper term for our belief but rather unfair. Is it unfair that God gives us free will and then says to us that He is powerful enough to know what we were going to choose? Most people, including Christians make their exit here. It is crazy to contemplate that whether you are a believer right now or not, that your name is or is not already written in this book. If your name is not written in the book, you have no hope for you will choose the beast over the Lamb and thus be cast into the lake of fire. That is your end game. Even if you said to yourself right now that you will not worship the beast that does not matter because God knows that you are lying. The truth of all of this is that God has chosen from among all men whom He will save and whom He will not. We have already made our choice, we have all turned away from God, none of us are good, not one. God has chosen some of us to come to Him. Without Him choosing us, none of us would ever in a thousand life times choose life.

It would be easy for the Christian after hearing this news to think that it therefore doesn’t matter if I don’t share the word of God with people because their fate is already sealed before I came into the picture. This would be a bad assumption and a very damaging one as well. God proclaimed this to Ezekiel, “If I say to the wicked, 'You shall surely die,' and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul. Again, if a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits injustice, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die. Because you have not warned him, he shall die for his sin, and his righteous deeds that he has done shall not be remembered, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the righteous person not to sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning, and you will have delivered your soul.” So then there remains a punishment for not warning the wicked about turning from his ways; that even though their punishment comes, we too will receive some sort of punishment as well. Now what that punishment will be I cannot definitively say but any time God starts speaking about me being responsible for someone else's blood, it doesn’t sit well with my spirit. You’ll notice that the outcome of the wicked person has no bearing on whether you should have warned him or not. If he was going to listen, only God knows. If he was going to continue to rebel, then that was a part of God’s knowledge as well but since we don’t know we must remain faithful and follow His commandments. That brings us to the last point I’ll make of the book of life that we hate to discuss; the blotting out of names from this book. There seems to be another aspect of getting your name written in the book other than just not worshipping the beast. Unless Jesus misspoke, there are some whose names were written down and then at some point will be blotted out. It is difficult to imagine that belief in Jesus and His works are not the first prerequisite for having our names entered into this book; since it is indeed His book, so this is where we will begin. To recap, the names in the book will NEVER have worshipped the beast and will at some point in their lives accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. That would lend that at the point of being blotted out of this book that Jesus would no longer be their savior. So while salvation is an extremely free gift of which we play no part in other to accept it, keeping our names written in the book does seem to require some work and righteousness. We must keep the commands of God as faithful yet unworthy servants. Looking back at the Ezekiel verse as one example we must want the wicked to turn from their wickedness in order to deliver our own souls. That among other things when added to accepting Jesus as Lord makes us righteous; yet if we turn from that righteousness those former righteous acts will not be remembered. This should be a very sobering thought for us all; that we should walk away and diligently want to do all the things necessary, so that our righteous acts will be remembered.

ref: Ezekiel 3:18-21; Revelation 3:5; Romans 3:10-12

Revelation 13:9

If anyone has an ear, let him hear: (ESV)

A short phrase that says so much. In Proverbs and the books of the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah, God spoke over and over again about having an ear that is inclined to hear instruction. When we hear a truth of God it is not first nature to hear the word and accept it with gladness, that it may benefit our lives and teach us about walking on the correct path. Although that’s what it ought to do we often find ourselves speaking exactly like the ancient serpent in the garden asking ourselves, “did God really say”. We do these things in order to justify ourselves. Moving a little closer to the lesson in Revelation 2-3, when Jesus was speaking to the seven churches about those that have an ear to hear, let them hear what the spirit is saying. The following is what followed or preceded that command.

Ephesus: “To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.”

Smyrna: “The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.”

Pergamum: “To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.”

Thyatira: “The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father. And I will give him the morning star.”

Sardis: “The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.”

Philadelphia: “The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.”

Laodicea: “The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.”

You’ll notice how the command is always to conquer first. If you conquer then you are able to do such and such. That very much sounds like we are actually supposed to be doing something in order to receive these promises. Not once in all those words of Jesus did He promise to remove us from this terrible situation we are finding ourselves in with Satan and Leviathan but rather He tells us to conquer to the end. The reward for conquering to the end is gifts of all the things we associate with eternal life: eat from the tree of life, not thrown into the lake of fire, hidden manna, rule over the nations, gift of Jesus as the morning star, not blotted out of the book of life, never leaving the temple of God, having the name of God written on us, and sitting with Jesus on His throne. He has put the ball in our court, that if we have an ear and listen that we should conquer, we receive our portion in all these things. In order to do that we must make it through the reign of the beast. It is not talking about conquering the beast as in killing him but conquering by remaining faithful until Jesus returns. This is so simple but so profound because we don’t want to hear any news about us being punished, tortured, beheaded, and killed by one of God’s creation but that is exactly what He is telling us to listen to. If anyone has an ear, let him hear.

Revelation 13:10

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. (ESV)

Make no mistake, this verse here is not a random warning to a random people; but is a command aimed directly at the saints. This is a call for our endurance and faithfulness. In this time period we are subject to this power on earth in order to test our endurance, faith and love for Jesus. Now many people don’t like the wording of us being subject to the power of the beast and I don’t blame them a bit. Paul said in Romans (who was also persecuting Christians) to, “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.” This is an extremely difficult teaching to accept because it means that the authority and institution of power is by God himself, including Rome, Babylon, US and the kingdom of Leviathan. God has appointed these things to happen and if Paul is correct then if we don’t become subject to them; including being taken into captivity and/or being slain by the sword, then we will incur judgement. I too wish this was not written in the word but it is a call for our endurance and faith. The only other option we will have during this period will be to conform. If we decide that God has not called us to captivity and/or death by the sword there is apparently only one remaining option; receiving the mark of the beast. With this teaching we should actively be warning and preparing God’s children as well as our own to endure the time that is to come, because apparently once a person decides to conform and receive the mark on their forehead or on their hand then it will be too late for them. They are consigned to the lake of fire. If anyone has an ear, let him hear.

ref: Romans 13:1-2

Revelation 13:11

Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. (ESV)

Do you ever sit back and think and study where our theology comes from, especially the things in scripture that are not so clearly spelled out? For instance you can ask almost any Christian that ever lived about who the antichrist in the bible is and they likely will point you toward Leviathan. This just goes to show that we really do just accept whatever teaching is handed to us. If you had to put the term antichrist to any being in scripture it would probably have to be this second beast, but to eliminate confusion I won’t speak about either of them as the antichrist, though I do want to make a case for this beast. This second beast has two horns like a lamb. If you were looking for the antithesis of the Lamb, you would likely begin searching for someone who looks like the Lamb and so far this beast fits the bill. The difference between this beast and the Lamb is that this beast speaks like a dragon. Jesus had a few things to say about the way the dragon speaks; “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.” Though this beast looks like a lamb it speaks lies just like a dragon. Jesus is the truth, so whatever He speaks is truth. Even if it had previously not been the truth, by the mere speaking of His voice it would then take over that attribute of being truth. A prime example of this is when He made all foods clean. Foods were not made clean because He died on the cross or whenever Peter saw the sheet come down from heaven with all sorts of animals on it. No, they were made clean by His very word when He said, “‘Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?’ ( Thus he declared all foods clean.)” By exclaiming one simple sentence, hundreds of years of traditions were flushed down the drain. So unlike Jesus speaking, when this beast speaks it is like the dragon, speaking lies just like his father, Satan.

ref: John 8:44; Mark 7:19

Revelation 13:12

It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed. (ESV)

This second beast exercises all the authority that Leviathan has, including that which was already his and that which he received from Satan; and does so in his presence. This phrase in its presence is an interesting term that we too often skip over. It is most often associated with being before God, as in “they were both righteous before (in the presence of) God.” The simple definitions are: in the presence of, in an occupied space, in a place where one turns their eyes. When we say things like being in the presence of the Lord and such, I would venture that we don’t often think too much about what that even means. The scripture quoted said they were righteous before God, or we can take it as meaning they were righteous before the very face of God. Both our righteousness and wickedness seem to dwell in that very place where He is turning His eyes. We don’t really believe that God is watching what we do but over and over again scripture says that some of the things we do are a pleasing aroma before God; and if the good we do reaches this place before His face surely the evil we commit does also. In fact it is what Jesus was doing in the temple when it was said, “he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box.” Imagine the things we pull off in the presence of our Holy God, and that should be enough to make us want to beg forgiveness!

Now going back to the verse this beast exercises authority in the presence of the sea beast. We don’t know the extent of Leviathan’s gaze but it almost seems that the authority played out here exists in whatever place the beast is able to look upon. Part of that authority is exercised in order to make the people of earth worship Leviathan. It is somewhat ironic that since we exercise and love free will so much that the two beasts make earthlings worship the beast. Could God do this very thing? Absolutely, and would be righteous in doing so; but as free as we claim to be people will be made to worship. So the question remains, what does it mean to be made to do something that we may not want to do? Earlier in this Revelation we found out: “For they loved not their lives even unto death.” We must be willing in a very real way to suffer unimaginable things for the sake of the testimony of Jesus and the salvation of our souls. If we waver in this, scripture teaches that we will be made to worship the beast and once that happens there is no inheritance left other than a lot in the lake of fire. Choose this day, whom you will serve.

ref: Luke 1:6; Mark 12:41

Revelation 13:13

It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people, (ESV)

An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, and it appears here that they are going to get it. How often before coming to Christ or thereafter have you asked for a sign? It seems like something we have all done at some point in our lives saying things like, “Just do such and such God, and I’ll believe you.” Or maybe it was just me. Either way Jesus said the only sign we are given is the Son of Man being three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Yet we are so wicked we even try to make the only sign given to us into something that it's not, squeezing it into only 1 ½ - 2 days. Nevertheless, we continue to ask for signs and the false prophet is more than happy to oblige us in the very request where Jesus told us no. It is interesting that this is the thing that John and James had asked Jesus if they could do. They wanted to call fire down from heaven and consume the people that had rejected Him and yet Jesus rebuked them. This is also the act of which we are expecting Elijah to come back and perform for us during this time even though Jesus had already explained to us that Elijah had already came. So I can’t help but wonder when this sign is performed if many religious people will consider this to be the second coming of Elijah. We would do so well if we could just accept what Jesus had taught us without fitting His words into a mold. And speaking of obeying God, He had even warned us (through Israel) about this very time way back in Moses’ day. It was written, “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, 'Let us go after other gods,' which you have not known, 'and let us serve them,' you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” This is a test the Lord God has set before us to see whether or not we love Him. This prophet tells us he will perform a sign and then goes out and does it and we will marvel. Once he has our attention (and our trust), he will say “let us go after other gods which you have not known”; and people won’t think twice about it. This agrees with what is written by the prophet Daniel, “He shall honor the god of fortresses instead of these. A god whom his fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and costly gifts. He shall deal with the strongest fortresses with the help of a foreign god. Those who acknowledge him he shall load with honor.” This foreign god, of which we have not known, is the one he will direct us to. Show this god the honor, he will say, and worship him and we will load you with honor. This foreign god is none other than Leviathan. We have not known that this is the god of fortresses all along and though he brings great fear, the prophet who performs this sign will promise us land and honor if we but worship him; and many will oblige, quite possibly including some of those we now call brothers and sisters in Christ. Choose you this day whom you will serve.

ref: Matthew 12:38-42; Luke 9:54; Deuteronomy 13:1-5; Daniel 11:38-39

Revelation 13:14

and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived. (ESV)

This is a heck of a deception. Surely God would understand us following someone who is able to make fire come down from heaven. I mean this is not something that you see everyday and would make this being extremely powerful and frightening. But no, for scripture proclaims: “For this reason God sends them a strong delusion so that they will believe what is false, so that all will be condemned — those who did not believe the truth but enjoyed unrighteousness.” God draws a line in the sand and makes us choose either Him or the delusion so that none are without excuse saying, "I did not know". Let it sink in no matter how glorious or how great a spectacle something on this earth can be, especially these end time events; that we are not to stray outside any of the commandments of God.

This next part is very humbling and ought to really make us think before judging others, especially the Israelites we read about in the bible. Okay, so we have Satan thrown from heaven who then gives all his power to Leviathan. Leviathan, a very formidable sea monster, comes up receives this power and begins to make war on God’s people and people naturally begin worshipping him. Then we have the false prophet come up and begins performing signs and one of the first things it does is have the people make an image of Leviathan as an object of worship. This just adds insult to injury in my opinion. Not only are we as a people so foolish as to worship the beast, we will settle for worshipping an image of him. Often times I think we look upon the Israelites of old and say how ignorant it was to make a calf of gold, or to make bronze or wood idols in order to worship. These people have been seeing things God had done and yet would rather choose to make a household god from a piece of wood. How dumb and disrespectful can one person be? Well I’m afraid here we will find out. The beast has come on the scene and receives worship but that is not quite insulting enough toward god, so an image is made and people are so against the idea of a holy God that worshipping an image throws up no red flags at all. And I’m certain there will be justifications made such as; the beast was wounded mortally and yet is still living so his very image is worth worshipping. I would almost argue that no scare tactic or threat will be needed to accomplish this task because we so desperately want to be wicked that it would come natural to perform such detestable acts. Put away your idols Christians for the time of judgement is near.

ref: 2 Thessalonians 2:11

Revelation 13:15

He was permitted to give a spirit to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast could both speak and cause whoever would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. (HCSB)

For continuity sake I don’t like to skip into different translations often unless one is clearly superior to the other in the understanding of a verse. Many translations refer to this spirit as “breath” or “life”, but spirit more accurately describes the greek use of this word for it is the same word that is used to describe the Holy Spirit. Please don’t misunderstand me however, this spirit is not the Holy Spirit but just the same word. Whatever translation you prefer to use, the main point is that this image was something inanimate, made and created by mankind, and is now being given life. This has to be incredibly powerful for those who will be witnesses to this event. How can anyone not fall into this trap? There is a graven image made by human hands that suddenly begins speaking. This would cause even the most seasoned Christian to at the very least wonder about what is happening here. We have often heard about the author of life and the giver of the spirit and that being Jesus but here we see the second beast doing exactly this to an image of Leviathan, so it is almost understandable how people would believe and worship this image as god. And since this delusion is so powerful we might have had an out except that we had received warning about this very thing saying, “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God.” The Lord spoke to us and told us not to do this, so it does not matter in the least if miracles are performed to make the impossible possible, but the fact remains we are not to have idols. I do enjoy how God clarifies very specifically for us what kind of idols we are not to make, leaving us no doubt. Nothing in heaven, or on the earth or in the water under the earth is to be made into an idol for worship. In these last few verses we have seen all of these examples in scripture. We saw Satan, the dragon, from heaven, Leviathan from the sea and the false prophet from the earth; and are told not to bow down to them nor serve them. So surely since God has given such a commandment, He will protect those that try to remain faithful. Surely this weapon formed against the righteous shall not prosper. Well the back part of that sentence says that is exactly what it will do. The image of Leviathan will prosper, killing all who refuse to worship it. So if we are alive during this event and are remaining faithful to the end, we have a very good chance of being killed by an image. So is that Isaiah verse a lie since the weapon made will most definitely prosper in killing Christians? Once again we have decided this prophecy is so positive we must proclaim it as our own even though it was not promised to us but to the Israelites. The verse clearly states that their children (Israel) will be taught by the Lord; which if you’ll remember is happening in the wilderness at the time that the dragon goes to attack them. They are kept far from terror and fear for this is their heritage and their righteousness and vindication will come from the Lord. However for us who happen to not be Israeli, we are subject to the destroyer who wreaks havoc. And while it was not the Lord who made this image that will destroy, it is the Lord who allows permission for the false prophet to give a spirit to this image. It is up to us however to continue to remain faithful.

ref: Exodus 20:4-5; Isaiah 54:11-17

Revelation 13:16

And he requires everyone — small and great, rich and poor, free and slave — to be given a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, (HCSB)

In this scared and fear driven world we live in the next few verses often present fear and uncertainty to Christians and non-Christians alike. First we must clarify the creature who is requiring this act to be done. You no doubt have noticed by now that I have been trying to stop short of calling the beasts men. There are many theories and explanation about who the first and second beasts are with some of the most prominent ideas being the papacy, USA, Nero, Hitler, and even Obama. Some of these have reasonable arguments and some are spoken out of ignorance. While it may be proven that these beasts are actually men of some sort, scripture also says a lot about them being amazingly different than any man we could perceive so it seems safer to call them what John called them. By studying their actions and not automatically assuming they are something else should make us more successful in identifying these beasts when they appear to us. So the “he” it is speaking of in this sentence is the second beast. He is the one that is causing everyone to receive a mark on their right hand or forehead. This intrigues me because it would seem in appearance that surely Leviathan (the first beast) has enough power to perform all the actions that we have seen this beast perform. It is not by accident that these events are unfolding in this way, though it may escape our knowledge about these events at the moment.

Meanwhile everyone is required to be given a mark and it be placed on their right hand or forehead. We will get to the repercussions of this in a later lesson, but for now lets talk about the placement of this mark. If we pay attention at all, anytime there is any kind of news regarding microchips in the skin or technology regarding the keeping of our personal financial records in microchip form we are quick to claim that this verse is now happening. This word mark is literally a stamp, imprinted mark or branding. While I do believe in this time we should definitely be sensitive to the warnings of the Holy Spirit, everything that I see in scripture implies that this is a very visible mark. Also, unlike many of the microchip theories it seems like we will know what will be going on. We are constantly afraid that we will be going along fine in our Christian walk when all of a sudden we get duped by some procedure we didn’t see coming and now we are cursed forever. God has very clearly warned us that we should not receive a mark on our right hand or forehead or for any kind of mutilation or tattoo for that matter. Though we will be required to get this mark (for a very specific reason), it is not outside of our faith to deny this procedure and to remain true to what God has commanded us not to engage in. Will it be unpleasant to not receive this mark, most certainly; but the alternative would be much more difficult to bear.

Revelation 13:17

so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. (ESV)

Everyone is required to receive a mark on their right hand or forehead for a very specific purpose that is not spoken about very often. No one can buy or sell unless they have the mark. This seems to almost have nothing to do with a worship of the beast for people were already doing that. It looks to have very little to do with some sort of fear tactic as people are already being killed by the idol they have set up if they refuse to worship. This seems to point very specifically toward the idea of money; if you want to buy or sell you have to receive a mark. In its essence this does not point toward worship of the beast but our worship of money to fulfill Jesus’ words. “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” It may be easy for some to not worship a terrible sea monster. It might be somewhat easy for someone to refuse to worship an image, even if that image was able to inflict death upon you. What is not so easy is to be in a position to not need money. Here Jesus is telling us that there are two masters, Himself and money, and that you CANNOT serve both. Now if you’ve ever heard anyone teach on this subject you likely heard something about being able to use money just don’t worship it or even that He wasn’t really talking about money at all. But Jesus says nothing about using money for good or anything like that but instead says that if we do not hate money, then it is Him that we hate. Can you honestly say, reading this right now, that you hate money? If you cannot then you are in quite a position, for by that you are saying that you despise the Lord. So in order to make His word complete it seems that at a certain point, He will leave us with no choice. If we choose to receive a mark, that we may continue to buy and sell, we would have sealed our fate by our hatred of the Master. If we decide we love Jesus instead then there will be no more trips to the grocery store or to the mall. We won’t be able to buy the newest gadget or even purchase fuel for our car. We will truly hate money as we will be forced to put our trust in God. It would then seem that we will have to succumb to that hated word in this society; socialism. Christians will have to rely on and help other Christians in order to survive in this economy just as they did in the early church. Perhaps then we will understand what Paul was actually teaching about when he said if a man doesn't work, he doesn't eat. This was not said to the people that we see standing out on the corners begging for money but was said exclusively to the Christian congregation, I believe for a time such as this. We will have to come together in order to basically live since we are not able to buy or sell. And this makes me wonder if we will have to do this in private. At first glance it would seem that we would have to move about in hiding trying not to be obvious in the fact that we have not received the mark but in this common culture, the “keeping up with the Jones’” attitude just might be enough to make many stray from the faith. As we would see land and possessions being given away and sold off to people and the rest of the world prospering off of the beast, would we be able to remain faithful as we will be forced to work harder than everyone else merely to survive? I wonder if the Son of Man will find faith on the earth when He returns?

ref: Matthew 6:24; 2 Thessalonians 3:10

Revelation 13:17-18

the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom:let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666. (ESV)

Making assumptions in scripture often lead to misinterpretation and a misunderstanding of this type of warning. If you have ever been around anyone who has encountered the number 666 you might’ve seen a rush of fear or hesitancy come through them. This is partially because we misunderstand what is actually going on here. First, we often think that this is only a number being marked here but that is not entirely accurate. Scripture makes clear that there is an either/or type of distinction regarding the mark. The mark can consist of a number, 666; or can simply be the name of the beast. This is important because if we go through our lives thinking that if we can just ignore getting 666 marked on us then we are home free but that is not the entire story. Further evidence of this being true is that later scripture makes some sort of distinction between the two (although the distinction may not be exclusive). In ch. 14 it says, “they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.” So here it talks about receiving the mark of the beast’s name but in ch. 17 it says, “also those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name.” So there is some sort of difference between the name of the beast and the number of his name. This is important moving into the next verse because God has already identified the name of the beast as Leviathan, but the number of his name may be something different. This calls for wisdom, in that knowing the number of its name requires calculation for it is the number of a man. Now I wish I had full wisdom in the way that this actually will work. Of course there are ways that we have added numerical value of people’s names in greek and other languages in order to get to the number 666, and while some of these ideas may hold water there is probably another aspect to this that we have not been given. I say that because all the information we have received about the beast implies that he is, in a very real way, a sea monster; and yet the number of his name is the number of a man. Honestly, I don’t know exactly what this means in order to speak definitively on the subject. Putting this idea with what we saw when Jesus walked on the earth, it would be easy to believe that perhaps the beast takes possession of a man like demons do but this may not be what happens. However it does look like there is some sort of difference between his name and the number that leads me to believe that his name is one mark and the number of a man is a different mark.

ref: Revelation 14:11; Revelation 15:2