Revelation #23 Revelation 13:11-18: End Times, War Against Believers: The Beast From The Earth
Revelation #23 Revelation 13:11-18: End Times, War Against Believers: The Beast
From The Earth
The dragon failing to kill the Messiah is
thrown out of the throne room of God. The dragon failing to destroy the
Heavenly Woman, now wages a proxy war against the members of the Church. The Dragon has delegated its power to the
Beast from the Sea. It is through this Beast that the members of the Church are
being persecuted. The Beast conquers a
believer when it coerces or tricks a follower of Jesus to renounce their faith.
In search of the historical context, we have
found that the Roman Empire and the head of the Roman Empire are the weapons
of war used by the Dragon. The Beast from the Sea is Emperor Domitian, he is
John’s anti-Christ. It was suggested that any government that oppresses and
persecutes the disciples of Jesus, personified in the leader of that government
is a Beast.
The Dragon calls another Beast to aid the
first. This Beast rises out of the
ground. Let’s figure out who or what this Beast is.
Revelation 13:11-18 (MSG)
11 I saw another Beast rising out of the
ground. It had two horns like a lamb but sounded like a dragon when it spoke.
It was a puppet of the first Beast, made earth and everyone in it worship the
first Beast, which had been healed of its deathblow.
13 This second Beast worked magical signs,
dazzling people by making fire come down from Heaven. It used the magic it got from the Beast to
dupe earth dwellers, getting them to make an image of the Beast that received
the deathblow and lived. It was able to animate the image of the Beast so that
it talked, and then arrange that anyone not worshiping the Beast would be
killed. It forced all people, small and
great, rich and poor, free and slave, to have a mark on the right hand or
forehead. Without the mark of the name of the Beast or the number of its name,
it was impossible to buy or sell anything.
18 Solve a riddle: Put your heads together
and figure out the meaning of the number of the Beast. It's a human number: six
hundred sixty-six.
The Dragon, the ancient serpent, the accuser
of God’s people, the devil brings a second beast into to play to help carry out
its war against Jesus’ disciples. The task of this beast from the earth is to
promote the worship of the first beast, the anti-Christ. Later in John’s vision
this beast from the earth will be called the False Prophet (Revelation
16:13,19:20, 20:10).
This second beast, subordinate to the first,
has two horns like a lamb. This is a
masquerade attempt to look like Jesus the Lamb of God. Its dragon voice reveals
the true story. Have you ever wondered
what the dragon’s voice sounds like, what it says? It is the whisper of enticement, the bait on
the hook, the appeal to ego. The
serpent in the Garden said eat and you will be like God. So, the voice of the
dragon triggers egoism, individualism, and skepticism in your thoughts. What’s
wrong with self-empowerment, and independence, and living according to your own
values? Be free. Is not your personal
pleasure paramount? The voice whispers, do what you think is best, you can’t
please everyone, so you have got to please yourself.
Having named the first beast the Roman
Empire with its leader Emperor Domitian, we make a transition into
understanding that the first beast represents civil power that is
anti-Christ. A system of government that
ultimately rejects the rule of God and demands your allegiance is the form that
the first beast takes throughout history. This beast from the earth represents a religion that supports the rule of civil government. The framers of the Constitution wrote into
law that there would be a free exercise of religion, which prevented a similar
situation from developing in the United States that was present in England. The King of England was also the leader of
the Church of England. To rebel against the King was also to rebel against God.
For the forming government of the founding fathers, there was to be no state
religion.
Historians tell us that Empire and Emperor worship were very much part of life
during the time John wrote. Temples were
dedicated to Rome and its leaders, and priests conducted rituals in honor of the
divinity ascribed to the Empire and its leaders. The Romans allowed the worship of
any local deity if you also recognized the religion of Rome. The emperor is divinely chosen and therefore
demands obedience. This second beast’s objective is to capture the religious
loyalties of the populace for the first beast (Ladd, p 185). You can worship
any god you like, but you must also include worshiping civil authority.
As previously suggested it is best to
understand the mortal wound to the first beast and its subsequent resurrection as
a parody of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Remember it is Christ verse
Anti-Christ, Lamb verse Beast. John writes in such a fashion that it seems that
the sides are evenly matched. It’s the hype before the big showdown. It’s a
suspense builder. Who is going to
win? The sides are evenly matched. If you stand back from the details and
consider the whole, John has written a very informative and exciting story
about Jesus and the results of His ongoing ministry.
Keeping with the symmetry between Good and
Evil, the second beast matches up with the Holy Spirit. John has revealed the
Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Spirit, then the opposition, the Unholy Trinity,
Dragon, Anti-Christ, and the Second Beast that John will call the False Prophet.
This second beast performs miracles. John calls them magic tricks. Heed what the
Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica.
2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 (MSG)
The Anarchist's coming is all Satan's work.
All his power and signs and miracles are fake, evil sleight of hand that plays
to the gallery of those who hate the truth that could save them. And since
they're so obsessed with evil, God rubs their noses in it—gives them what they
want. Since they refuse to trust truth, they're banished to their chosen world
of lies and illusions.
It was the prophet Elijah who called down
fire from heaven as a sign that the living God was Yahweh, the God of Abraham,
Issac, and Jacob (1 Kings 18:38, 2 Kings 1:10). In Jewish tradition there is
the expectation that Elijah would come again paving the way for the Messiah
(Malachi 4:5). Jesus told us that
prophecy was fulfilled with John the Baptist.
So here again we have evil “afoot.”
The dots aren’t hard to connect.
In ancient times the prophet who called down fire from heaven, who is to
come again to pave the way for the Messiah, the second beast is saying that’s
me, I’m leading the way to your Messiah. There is no historical record of
priests of the Roman Empire calling down literal fire, so again this may be a
part of John's symmetry between good and evil, maybe like what happened to the
120 gathered in the upper room on Pentecost when the Holy Spirit manifested as
tongues of fire.
As for talking statues, believe it, I read a
tiny portion of one historical document that attributed Simon Magus whom we
read about in Acts (Acts 8:9-24), as having the ability to make statues speak
(Clementine Recognitions 3:47). “There was a widespread popular belief that
god’s inhabited the statues and that through magical rituals they could be made
to speak” (Rotz, p. 207). Have you ever seen Jeff Dunham make Achmed the Dead
Terrorist speak? Clever ventriloquism,
false lighting, and speaking tubes can create the illusion of speaking statues.
The beast from the sea is a deceiver. John’s
original readers would have to have dealt with the pressure to be involved in
various public displays of loyalty to the Empire. Failure to do so brought down
a heap of trouble. When Trajan was
Emperor failure to worship him was a capital offense (Mounce, p. 261). It would
be so easy to give in to the pressure. To ride the fence. Some folks believe in Christ but do
the same thing today. There are other
things in their lives that they worship along with the One True God. There are countless ways to compromise being
a Christian in an anti-Christ culture.
Get rid of your idols, the things that absorb your money, your time, and your aspirations other than Kingdom pursuits. Don’t allow your testimony to be
compromised that is the way the first Beast overcomes believers and kills their
faith.
Rev 13:16-17 (MSG)
[The Beast from the Earth] forced all
people, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to have a mark on the
right hand or forehead. Without the mark of the name of the Beast or the number
of its name, it was impossible to buy or sell anything.
If God’s people are sealed, John tells us so
the God-rejectors are marked. It’s
either-or in the apocalypse, no middle ground, all in or all out, no fence to
ride, you are on God’s side or the Dragon’s side. No one is exempt, everyone no
matter your station in life, you are either on the winning side or the losing
side. Without the Mark of the Beast, you are prohibited from buying or selling,
which means there is tremendous economic pressure to submit. An economic boycott
goes into effect for all who refuse the mark of the beast (Mounce, p. 263).
“Buying and selling is the world’s game, and you can’t go far in it without
selling your soul to the boss who runs it” (Eller, p. 133).
That brings us to 666.
Rev 13:18 (MSG)
Solve a riddle: Put your heads together and
figure out the meaning of the number of the Beast. It's a human number: six
hundred sixty-six.
Forget about refusing the mark, you already
have been branded. Here in the United
States if you don’t have a social security number you are stuck economically,
unless of course, you’re a transgressor of borders. If you’ve got a social
security number you’ve got the mark of the beast. OK, maybe not, but that little speculation is
almost as good as what the scholars have come up with. Bottom line, nobody
today knows what John's original readers would have understood by 666. There is
no consensus.
Consider this suggestion. The number 7
represents completion with perfection. 6
can represent incompletion, discontinuation, or failure. The effort to achieve the plan was not a 7 it
was a 6. The work of the Dragon, the Beast from the Sea, and the Beast of the
Earth is destined not only to be a 6 but six hundred and sixty-six, indicating that
it’s a total and complete failure.
666 is the brand of failure. Believers can
find encouragement that, despite evil’s apparent power and triumph, the
hardships being endured by the faithful are just a prelude to ultimate victory.
Life is tough, things go from rough, to
intense, to catastrophic. From our last
lesson, Revelation 13:10 tells us no matter what happens in this life
passionately and faithfully hold our trust in God. This is a call to endure
the tough times, God rewards you with the strength to persevere.
Hebrews 10:32-36 (MSG)
Those were the hard times! Kicked around in
public, targets of every kind of abuse—some days it was you, other days your
friends. If some friends went to prison, you stuck by them. If some enemies
broke in and seized your goods, you let them go with a smile, knowing they
couldn't touch your real treasure. Nothing they did bothered you, nothing set
you back. So don't throw it all away now. You were sure of yourselves then.
It's still a sure thing! But you need to stick it out, staying with God's plan
so you'll be there for the promised completion.
Remember, to stick it out you are going to
need the support of others. Fellowship
is essential to endure. Lock into a
group of like-minded believers and build your community.
Having identified the Beasts as civil and
religious authorities you need the discernment that the Holy Spirit gives to
distinguish between what is righteous and what is deception. Pray for it and as you study the scripture
you will develop a sense of direction the Holy Spirit will be your teacher and
guide.
Isaiah 30:19-21 (MSG)
Cry for help and you'll find it's grace and
more grace. The moment he hears, he'll answer. Just as the Master kept you
alive during the hard times, he'll keep your teacher alive and present among
you. Your teacher will be right there, local and on the job, urging you on
whenever you wander left or right: "This is the right road. Walk down this
road."
Friends, actualize that grace and more grace
that will keep you on the right road.
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