Revelation Chapter 13 Verse 1

 Notice, this is not the dragon that we saw back in Chapter 12 (so, this is

not Satan himself). John is clear that he saw a dragon in Chapter 12. The

word in the Greek is “drakon,” and it means most literally “great

serpent.” We translate that as “dragon” even though the existence of

the dragon as we have imagined it is not proven. In Chapter 13, John

sees a “beast.” This is the word “therion” in the Greek. So, we know

this is not exactly the same thing as the dragon of Chapter 12. We find

out in verse 2 that the beast gets his power, throne and authority from

the dragon, however, so, I submit to you that this is the Antichrist.

 We know from other parts of the Bible that give an identical description

of this beast, (specifically the Book of Daniel), (and we know from just

right here in this chapter), that this beast is a “him” (see the word “his”

right there in verse 1) and notice he rises up out of the “sea.” Revelation

Chapter 17 gives us some explanation on what John sees and we read

there in Revelation 17:15, “The waters which you saw, where the harlot

sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and tongues.”

 So here is the beast, the Antichrist, and John sees him rising out of the

singular sea… All nations, all peoples, one world united as one

overarching entity which will be the situation and solution during the

Tribulation period.

 This beast has seven heads which we have already looked at as could be

representative of “head” quarters for the New World Order, the

reestablished Babylon, the revived Roman Empire as Rome is the “land

of seven hills” being literally surround by seven hills… Again,

Revelation 17:9 tells us, “The seven heads are seven mountains on

which the woman sits.”

 And upon those heads, or within that confederation, that New World

Order, ten horns, all with crowns, so ten kings or ten rulers from ten

nations/peoples coming together to rule the Nuovos Seclorum the New

Order… but only for a short period of time (42 months) which is entirely

in lock step with Daniel Chapter 7!

 As you recall Daniel proclaimed his vision of the four beats, the lion the

bear and the leopard and finally the exceedingly strong beast… which

John completes the picture for us here in Revelation Chapter 13, this

fourth beast had the power of all of the others, why? Because they

joined forces! The ten-nation conglomeration…

 Daniel 7:7-8, “After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth

beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth;

it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its

feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had

ten horns. I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, a

little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns

were plucked out by the roots. And there, in this horn, were eyes like the

eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words.”

 So, the beast, the ten nation New World Order…rising out of

international togetherness, with power that has never been seen, bears a

blasphemous name upon its head…, with the power of all the world

within his grip…

Revelation Chapter 13 Verse 2

 What John sees here is entirely aligned with Daniel 2, the vision of the

statue and Daniel 7 the vision of the great beasts. Nebuchadnezzar’s

dream that we read of in Daniel Chapter 2…he sees a vision like a man

and the man has a head of gold, chest of silver, stomach of brass, legs of

iron and his feet are a mixture of iron and clay (which actually makes a

very weak substance) and on those feet, ten toes (Daniel Chapter 2

Verses 36 – 45) and each of these portions represent a governing world

order beginning with Nebuchadnezzar as the head of gold.

 Daniel states clearly to Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 2:38, “You are this

head of gold.” And then goes on to say in Daniel 2:39-45, “But after

you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours; then another, a third

kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. And the fourth

kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces

and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will

break in pieces and crush all the others. Whereas you saw the feet and

toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be

divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the

iron mixed with ceramic clay. And as the toes of the feet were partly of

iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly

fragile. As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with

the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron

does not mix with clay. And in the days of these kings the God of heaven

will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom

shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all

these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Inasmuch as you saw that the

stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in

pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold—the great

God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The

dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure.”

 In Daniel Chapter 7, he sees a vision of four great beasts coming out of

the sea (just like John) and these four beasts, the first is like a lion, the

second is like a bear, the third is like a leopard, and the fourth beast is,

well Daniel writes (Daniel 7:7-8), “After this I saw in the night visions,

and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It

had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling

the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were

before it, and it had ten horns. I was considering the horns, and there

was another horn, a little one, coming up among them, before whom

three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots. And there, in this

horn, were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous

words.”

 Lines precisely up with what John sees here. So, what does it all mean?

The vision/prophecy of Daniel, the revelation of John…you see it

explains, it describes, it embodies the four successive empires that

would rule during the time Israel was a nation beginning with the rule

and reign of the King of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar described as the

head of gold and as the lion who loses his wits, or his wings, in Daniel

Chapter 7. Then Alexander the Great, the mighty chest of silver as

Alexander was a great warrior and pounced on his enemies as the

Leopard…, then coming after him to persecute and war with Israel, the

Medes and the Persians, a mighty empire of harsh rule and judgment

symbolized by the belly of bronze and fierceness of the bear, and then

finally the most terrible beast, symbolized by the industrial acumen, the

legs of iron and the feet of iron mixed with clay, the beast more terrible

than the others…, seven heads, ten horns, the collective New World

Order that will take us to the time that God sets up His kingdom on this

earth…

 And so, John’s vision is the same beast that we find in the Book of

Daniel hundreds of years before. Mind you, the beasts, the statue, the

dreams and the visions, people will go round and round with ideas and

interpretations and so you go research and study for yourself and see

what God will show you…, but there are some sure items in this portion

of text to point out…items that are clear…

 One is that when you compare Daniel 7 with Revelation 13 you find the

descriptions to be in the reverse of each other. In other words, Daniel

names the lion first while John names the lion last…why? Simple,

Daniel was looking forward, John is looking back…, Daniel sees the

beast in terms of the future, John sees the beast in terms of the past…

 Second, notice that man sees the empires of power as a glorious

statue…, Nebuchadnezzar’s vision…such is man’s perspective. God’s

perspective however is seen in Daniel Chapter 7 and Revelation Chapter

13…, through a series of monstrous beasts…, man’s rule over

man…man conquering man…man looking to self…a self-made man,

self-sourced person we might say…society says well done, God sees the

tragedy of it all…isn’t that interesting? The same subject yet man’s

perspective is “hey this is good, this is fine, a glorious statue,” yet

God’s perspective, “this is monstrous.”

 And then finally, no matter how you slice and dice this vision with its

clear parallels to the Book of Daniel, what is clear is that the rule of

man, man’s ways, the world system… all coming to an end because

behind it all is the dragon and his demise is sure…

Revelation Chapter 13 Verses 3 - 4

 Now, we are told a little further down (verse 14), that the false prophet

comes and says to the people who dwell upon the earth that they should

make an image to the beast which had the wound by a sword and did

live. This man will be a world leader. There will be an assassination

attempt, apparently successful, but he miraculously survives the deadly

wounds. Though, according to Zechariah, it could be that it leaves him

blinded in his right eye and without the use of his right arm.

 Zechariah 11:17, “Woe to the worthless shepherd, who leaves the flock!

A sword shall be against his arm and against his right eye; His arm

shall completely wither, and his right eye shall be totally blinded.”

 Yet the very fact that he survives this assassination attempt causes the

world to marvel and it brings him into a prominent position in the minds

of many people, because it is by a definite miracle that this man

survives. "One of his heads were wounded to death, but the deadly

wound was healed."

 And it says here that he is worshipped. Worship belongs to God alone.

And let me just encourage you for a moment to be a worshipper. The

opposite of pride is not humility. Pride goes before a fall and God resists

(is actively against) the prideful. Pride is the origin and source of all sin

as it was pride that caused the fall of Satan. Pride is the spirit of evil, put

most plainly. Humility is not the off-setting spirit. People that don’t

know God can still be incredibly humble. The opposite of pride is not

humility, its worship…

 Worship of God most High is the spirit of holiness. It is the operation

and partnership and work of the Holy Spirit in a heart. If you deal

with pride and from pride flows all sorts of problems, the cure is not to

become humble. The cure to pride and what it does to a life and how it

poisons a heart…is to worship God. This is why you can be entirely

humble and still sense that you are very far from God…why? Because

you are humbly in sin!

 Worship is so entirely important and its not just singing songs at church,

it’s choosing to honor God over self. That is worship because it involves

a rejection of pride. The cure for every problem in a person’s life is

worship. I’m entirely convinced of that. That is to unplug from any

other source and become dependent upon God.

 This worshipping of the Antichrist aligns with the previous scene of the

abomination of desolation that will happen at the mid-point of the

Tribulation period. Paul wrote in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, “Let no one

deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling

away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,

who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is

worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself

that he is God.”

 This is also entirely what Jesus predicted in John 5:43, “I have come in

My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his

own names, him you will receive.” Now check this out. This is what

Satan has wanted all along. To be worshipped. Satan said to Jesus in

Matthe 4:9-10, ““All these things I will give You if You will fall down

and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it

is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you

shall serve.””

 Now something I want to show you in this example is that Jesus links

worship with serving. And that is a fact. If you worship God, you will

serve Him. If you want to know what you worship, look for what you

serve. Our culture is fixated on serving self. Just like Jesus said one will

come in his own name… In a culture addicted to making

myself/yourself the god of your life, be a Christian… Make Jesus the

God of your life and serve Him.

 One small step further. Jesus said that the other that would come, it

would be him they would receive. So, Jesus links receiving with

worshipping with serving… If you have received Jesus then there will

be an element of worship in your life and that worship will show up in

you serving God over yourself…

Revelation Chapter 13 Verse 5

 Notice John says he “continues” for 42 months, which is 3.5 years…

Revelation Chapter 13 Verses 6 – 8

 And so, he turns against God completely and anything having to do with

God….why? Because Paul said it in 2 Thessalonians 2:4, “He will

oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is

worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming

himself to be God.” He himself will claim to be God and John tells us

here…the people will bow…Jesus said, you reject Me and I come in My

Father’s name but one will come in his own name…him you will

accept…well here it is…

 In the previous chapter we were given a glimpse of the dragon making

war with the woman and with her children. With Israel and with

Christianity. Here, we see that the weaponry he uses is the military

might of all nations which was given to him. Handed to him by the New

World Order.

 And essentially, wherever a Jew or a Christian is found they are killed.

We will see that again later in this chapter as anyone that does not

worship the beast is killed… If you are killed for your faith, then you are

not overcome. Last chapter we read they overcame him by the blood of

the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their

lives to the death… What good is it if a man gains the whole world yet

loses his soul…, turn that around…, it is well if a man loses the whole

world yet gains his soul… They are not overcome in their faith but

physically, anyone found not worshipping the beast during the Great

Tribulation will be overcome physically to the death.

Revelation Chapter 13 Verse 9

 Who is John talking to then? Those that are left…that may be

fortunate enough to find a Bible…he’s not talking to the church…how

do I know that? Where’s the Spirit? Every other place, “He who has

an ear to hear let him hear what the Spirit says…” Not here…John is

saying here, heads up! Heads up to where this is all going…wide-eyed

they’d be reading this seeing it unfold right in their yesterday…and

where is it all going? …Verse 10

Revelation Chapter 13 Verse 10

 Patience is so much easier when we know the end of the story.

Anxiety subsides, frustration halts. That’s called hope. John is saying to

them and even to us…the end of this and him is sure…you may be in a

difficult marriage, persecuted on the job, fighting illness, undergoing

severe pressures financially, or just plain weary…understand…this is

the patience of the saints…don’t stop doing what is right, and become a

worshipper! And if He doesn’t, Roman 8:18, “For I consider that the

sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the

glory which shall be revealed in us.”