The Beast that overcoming the Saved!
Revelation 13:5-10
Overcoming of the Beast from the Sea!
Revelation 13:1-4, 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 marvelled 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.
Somewhere in the world a child be born and the child’s name will someday be antichrist. This is not a movie fantasy, or a religious illusion, or a dream, or a fearful imagination. This is a divine promise, antichrist will come.
There will be a man who will be Satan’s false Christ who will deceive the whole world, pretending to be the world’s Messiah, the Saviour, the world’s King, and even pretending to be the God of this world. The whole world will accept him.
The whole world will fall victim to his power. He is Satan’s man. His agenda is to destroy the nation Israel so that they cannot be saved, so that they cannot have a Kingdom. His desire is to prevent their salvation and prevent the Kingdom.
He will fight against all who believe in that day and massacre them all over the world.
He will attempt to take over the world on behalf of Satan from Christ Himself. When Christ returns, attempt to engage Him in battle which will defeat Christ and allow him as the representative of Satan to reign supreme. This is Satan’s final effort to stop the Kingdom of Christ, to take the place of God, something he has been attempting to do since the very time of his fall.
He said, “I will be like the Most High.” The compelling, driving issue in the mind of Satan is to be above God, to be the sovereign, to be in charge. To work out his diabolical plan in the world, he must do it through humanity, and that means he needs a man to lead other men. So, there will come a demon-possessed man.
This man is not unfamiliar to any student of Scripture. Daniel talked about him. Jesus affirmed the reality of his coming by affirming what Daniel said. Jesus reiterated it in the sermon on the Mount of Olives, Matthew 24.
Paul talked about him in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, describing him as a man of sin, a son of perdition who would come with great power and lying wonders and the whole world would go after him.
But the most dramatic New Testament description of this individual is found in our text in Revelation chapter 13. As we have carefully and thoughtfully worked our way through the chapter, I trust that its significance has unfolded on your minds.
We looked at his ancestry, which is clearly identified from verse 1 where he is described as having ten horns and seven heads. That same description is given in Revelation 12:3, of the great red dragon who is none other than the devil and Satan.
So here is a human figure whose ancestry is obviously satanic because of the similarity in the description. He has the family likeness of the dragon himself, none other than Satan. The likeness also continues as he is identified as bearing blasphemous names.
Of course, the arch-blasphemer is none other than Satan himself who blasphemed God by thinking himself to be potentially equal to God. V 1 the ancestry of this individual, he is connected to Satan. If ever there has lived in the history of the world a child of the devil, this man will be that child.
V2, his authority. We saw that description of him that is drawn out of Daniel’s prophecy, describing him with the combination of the leopard and the bear and the lion. Other empires in the history of the world were so described.
But this individual who is synonymous with his empire will be the consummation of all the power of all the world empires in one great final energy, one great final satanic power. The dragon gives to him power and his throne and there it says great authority. He has the power to act with no accountability and no one and nothing to stop him. Satan gives him freedom to carry out the satanic agenda, and God steps back and lets him have at it.
V 3, shows us his approval. The whole earth was amazed and followed the beast. We are looking again into a future time called the time of great tribulation, the seventieth week of Daniel, a seven-year period just prior to the coming of Christ to establish his earthly Kingdom.
Just before the return of Christ that Satan pulls this tremendous enterprise together, and the whole earth is amazed and follows the beast.
What gives him this approval is one of his heads had fatal wound was healed. Some Bible scholars see it as a reference to the Roman Empire being one of those seven heads. The Roman Empire dies, the sixth head, and then is revived in the final ultimate form, the revived Roman Empire. It could refer to a kingdom that passed off the scene that is rejuvenated. It would be a worldwide kingdom, but it would be cantered in a rejuvenated Europe.
Others would say it is the suggestion of a resurrection, that somewhere along the line the beast is killed, and he rises from the dead. There are some other verses that might lead us to that conclusion.
Revelation 13:12, it says they worshiped the first beast whose fatal wound was healed.
Revelation 13:14, the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life.
Revelation 13:15, again indicating the image of the beast there who, having been killed, now speaks. Some would say that this is a resurrection, that what’s going to happen is somewhere along the path of these holocausts and judgments coming from God and the terrorizing of the demons that are belched out all over the earth and all these things that the antichrist is doing, he’s going to get killed.
Then he is going to rise from the dead. When he rises, he will not be a man anymore, not just a brilliant oratorical genius, or military genius only, or great charismatic leader and or economic marvel, but he is going to be more than that.
Not just a man of great military prowess, but he is going to be a demon-possessed man rising right up out of the abyss. He will be demon possessed as some very special demon takes him over. Some would suggest this would be a real resurrection.
Some have gone so far as to suggest it could be a resurrected Hitler, or it could be a resurrected Stalin. Some have said it could be a resurrected Judas Iscariot since he alone is called also the son of perdition. He alone in the Bible of any man is called a devil.
It is also possible to conclude that that cannot happen because Satan does not have the power to give life. He has the power to take it but not to give it. The best comfort at this level that this is a fake resurrection, which means it’s either a fake death or a fake resurrection. Not something hard to imagine that this man could be killed and they could fabricate some kind of electronic man who could make the whole world believe he was still alive.
It may well be that that is the function of the false prophet, that he gives some breath to the image of the beast, in V 15. Maybe it is this sort of satanic false, fabricated resurrection that causes the whole world to be engulfed in amazement and follow the beast.
Some have suggested that this is a claim that will be made by the antichrist himself that he is the Christ spirit reincarnated. More people would be inclined to accept reincarnation than resurrection. This concept of reincarnation appeals to much of the religious world.
The theory of reincarnation rapidly is engulfing the world and gaining millions of followers, and it may well be that he is able to convince the world that once he was here as the Christ and now the Christ’s spirit is back again in him. He is able to convince the world through the lying signs and wonders that he indeed is the reincarnation of the Christ spirit.
He does something that gives the world the sense that something that is gone is back, be it a kingdom or be it the man himself, and the whole world approve him. They have always wanted a supernatural conquering hero and now they have one, one that transcends death.
That time people are going to be looking for somebody who has the power to transcend death. Because as we go through the seven seals and the seven trumpet judgments and even on to the seven bowl judgments, death is everywhere.
Everyone must be living in the terror and horror of death because people are dying by a many ways. A fourth of the world is killed, a third of the world is killed, and those two things only in two events, to say nothing of the rest of the death.
So, if this individual can somehow convince people that he is the life that transcends death, he will gain their approval. Worship. It is not enough to him to have acclaim, but he wants adoration. V 4, “And they worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast and they worshiped the beast saying, ‘Who is like the beast? And who is able to wage war with him?’”
Fascination turns to worship. Whether they know it or not, some may, some may not, but in effect they are worshiping Satan himself who is behind this demon-possessed individual.
It may well be that the demon that indwells him is none other than Satan. They are probably worshiping the dragon. Because he is the force behind this demon-possessed man. 1 Corinthians 10, which says the gentiles sacrifice to demons.
They think they are sacrificing to an idol, but behind the idol that does not exist is a demon that does. The world is worshiping a man, but their adoration goes beyond the man to the source of the power, namely Satan himself.
He wanted to be like God, to be worshipped like God and considered high and lofty as God. 1. Antichrist Arrogance. V 5, And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty- two months.
It says twice there “there was given to him.” There was given to him a mouth that spoke arrogant words and blasphemies, and there was given to him 42 months to function. Clearly, the giver in both cases is God.
Because there is no way that Satan would want to limit the operation of antichrist to forty-two months. Here you have the sovereign God establishing the limits. It is God who gives him the authority to act during this period, the last 3 ½ years of the time of the tribulation, known as the time of great tribulation, and it is God also who gives him a mouth.
God steps out of the way and lets him say whatever he wants to say, and Satan is primarily an arrogant blasphemer. The sin that damned Satan was the sin of Pride. He is arrogant. Pride of such a nature has led him to blaspheme God and want to dethrone God and replace Him with himself. It will be characteristic of the unhindered antichrist who will be free to do whatever he wants and say whatever he wants for this period to blaspheme continually.
Daniel 7:8, 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.
Daniel 7:11, “I watched then because of the sound of the pompous words which the horn was speaking; I watched till the beast was slain, and its body destroyed and given to the burning flame.
Daniel 7:20, and the ten horns that were on its head, and the other horn which came up, before which three fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth which spoke pompous words, whose appearance was greater than his fellows.
Daniel 7:25, He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, Shall persecute the saints of the Most High, And shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hand For a time and times and half a time. Daniel tells us it will be 3 ½ years or 42 months.
Daniel 11:36-37, “Then the king shall do according to his own will: he shall exalt and magnify himself above every god, shall speak blasphemies against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the wrath has been accomplished; for what has been determined shall be done. 37 He shall regard neither the God of his fathers nor the desire of women, nor regard any god; for he shall exalt himself above them all. Utterly, absolutely, and totally irreligious because the only one that Satan worships is himself.
He will show no regard for any other god. He will magnify himself above them all. The antichrist will claim to be Christ, God and exalt himself above the true God.
2 Thessalonians 2:4, 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. Antichrist arrogance is unequalled.
It is the arrogance of Satan. It is the arrogance that caused Lucifer to be kicked out of heaven. God allows him 42 months for this arrogant operation. That time is delineated several times back in Daniel’s prophecy as well as in the book of Revelation.
We saw it in Revelation 11:12. Blasphemy is not incidental but central to his operation. When he speaks, it is blasphemy, total disregard for God, setting himself up as God. That is the heart and soul. That is the characteristic of the antichrist’s operation. It is not subtle and not covert. Once he gets into power, it is open, outrageous, and monstrous blasphemy.
V 6, Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. He literally identifies himself with the blaspheming world. By the time the world has felt all the blows of the unleashed power of God, they are either going to believe and repent and be saved or they are going to blaspheme God and shake their angry fists in His face.
Revelation 16:9, And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory.
When the fourth bowl comes, and men were scorched with fierce heat, they blasphemed the name of God. When the fifth angel poured out his bowl they do the same thing.
Revelation 16:10-11, Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues because of the pain. 11 They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and did not repent of their deeds.
Antichrist literally rules a whole world of blasphemers. By this time the events reach a certain point in the unfolding of the great tribulation events. People get past the point of conversion, and whatever God does by way of judgment elicits not faith, not cries of repentance, cries for mercy, but cries of outright blasphemy.
These blasphemers have been well trained by a blaspheming world ruler who represents a blaspheming dragon, none other than Satan. V 6, blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, God identifies Himself as says is “I am that I am.”
It is the summation of all His attributes. They will blaspheme God. They will blaspheme His attributes and characteristics. V 6, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. Not only heaven but those who dwell in heaven.
They will blaspheme God’s character, They will blaspheme God’s abode, and They will blaspheme everybody who dwells with Him.
They are literally engulfed in the blasphemy of Satan and the antichrist. They are going to blaspheme. The Holy angels and those redeemed and glorified saints who are before the throne of God, serving Him day and night in His temple, those who hunger no more and thirst no more, those upon whom the sun beats down no more, are glorifying the Lord in heaven already.
Antichrist will lead the whole population in blasphemy of them. 2. Antichrist Activity. V 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.
It was given to him by God, who never relinquishes His sovereignty. He rules the world, but the object of his venom and his blasphemy and his hatred is the saints.
Daniel 7:25, He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, Shall persecute the saints of the Most High, And shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hand For a time and times and half a time.
He goes after them. He will wear them out. He will destroy them.
Daniel 9:27, Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, Even until the consummation, which is determined, Is poured out on the desolate.” In the middle of the week, he stops the sacrifice and grain offering which Israel is carrying on, and he abominates and desolates the temple.
This kicks off the middle point, the fury of his hatred of the saints and his murderous intent.
Daniel 11:38, But in their place he shall honour a god of fortresses; and a god which his fathers did not know he shall honour with gold and silver, with precious stones and pleasant things. He will be a great soldier, and he will command a great army. Jesus warned in Matthew 24:15, that when the abomination of desolation hits you better run because antichrist is coming after you with all his fury.
Revelation 6, we see martyrs already who have died in the early part of his reign of terror, under the altar crying for retribution, crying for vengeance. Revelation 7, we see a great multitude from all over the globe, standing before the Lamb, standing in heaven, those who had come out of the great tribulation, had their robes washed white in the blood of the Lamb. Again, many of those would have been martyrs of the killing machine run by the antichrist.
Revelation 11, he kills the two witnesses.
Revelation 17:14, These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful.” Ultimately, we will triumph when he tries to turn his battle on Christ.
But the antichrist will lead a worldwide slaughter of believers as well as attempting to wipe out the Jews. The antichrist is even so vicious, he will kill his own. Revelation 17 talks about how he even chews up and swallows the false church.
Revelation 17:6, I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marvelled with great amazement. False religion has always killed the saints, and it will in its final and consummate form. V 7, It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. Antichrist does not have the power to destroy their faith, but he does take their lives. There is nothing that can destroy their faith.
Is that not true?
Romans 8:37-39, 37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Nothing!
It is not a question of antichrist destroying their faith, the faith that Christ grants us is an indomitable faith, we are more than conquerors, but he will overcome them in the physical realm and take their life.
V 7, And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. Refers to the whole of the unregenerate population. 3. Antichrist worshippers. V 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.
We can see so many ways where the mentality of our own nation is moving to the point where this can happen. All who dwell on the earth will worship him. Everybody but the elect. All who dwell on the earth will worship him is what verse 4 essentially said, they worshiped the dragon, and they worshiped the beast.
2 Thessalonians 2:10, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. Because they did not receive the love of the truth to be saved.
The rejecters, the unbelievers.
Notice it does not say the non-elect. It says those who would not believe. That is always there to balance that off. Those who are saved are the elect, those who are lost are those who did not believe. Unbelief damns and faith save.
V 8, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. A limiting factor is that everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain will worship him.
The elect will not. They will not. That is a great statement about the elect. Believers are identified this way in the book of Revelation as those whose names were written before the foundation of the world in the book of life. The elect.
The book of life is mentioned 7 times in this book of Revelation. The book of life is simply the book in which God inscribes the names of the elect. It is the book in which He gives the names of His people.
Matthew 24:24, “False Christs, false prophets will arise, show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.”
But is it possible? No, and that is why the thing is phrased that way. The eternal registry of the elect has no excommunication capability. How he adds that all who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life which belongs to the Lamb who has been slain.
The elect cannot be lost by virtue of the decree itself of election, but they cannot be lost doubly by virtue of the atoning work of Christ, which is so proficient as to guarantee the eternality of their redemption. We have been redeemed not with perishable things like silver and gold, but with the precious blood as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.
The Father will not look at the work of Christ and reverse it. That is why it is impossible for the elect to be ultimately deceived and lost. God has written down the names of the elect in the book of life, and He did it before the foundation of the world.
When was that? Sometime before there was a creation as we know it. Then during the history of this world, His Son came and fulfilled elective purpose in purchasing the eternal salvation of the elect, which cannot be altered.
So that antichrist, no matter what he does, will not triumph over the elect, will not triumph over those who belong to Christ, for whom Christ has died and purchased an eternal redemption.
Revelation 15:2-3, And I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who have the victory over the beast, over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God. 3 They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying: “Great and marvellous are Your works, Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, O King of the saints! Who is singing the song of Moses?
The elect. The redeemed, and when the smoke clears and the battle is done, they are victorious. He may take their life, but he does not take their faith. V 9, If anyone has an ear, let him hear.
Application of all of this, particularly for those who are alive at that time. Which is God’s way of saying, “Listen up, you better be listening, you better be aware of this, it is reality, and it is coming.” An interesting note here. There is a phrase missing from this verse. This very verse, same words, has appeared 7 times prior in the book of Revelation chapter 2 and 3.
Each time it appeared there, it went like this, “If anyone has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” It is a curiosity of some note that that ending phrase is left out. It is not here.
Why not? Because the church is not here. Those who affirm a pre-tribulation rapture will inevitably rejoice. The point is to those who are there in that time to listen because this is going to be reality and for all of us to listen, for all of us to be aware of what is coming. It is a call for spiritual understanding.
It is a call to realize the direction the world is going. It is a call to all of us to realize that some saints are going to be alive at that time.
If the church is gone, then there will be a new group of believers being gathered during that time, and those who will be gathered will constitute the saints who need to hear and need to understand. Direct instruction to those who live at that time is given as conclusion.
V 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. A proverb with a message. He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity; If God has destined you for that, you are going. Accept it, do not fight it.
You know antichrist is coming. If God has destined you to experience the captivity of antichrist and even execution at his hand, that’s God’s destiny, you go.
What do you mean by that? Do not fight it. We have got a lot of militant Christians today. I could only imagine if some of the militant Christians today are around in
this time in the future, those kinds of people, they are going to be gathering their own army to make war with the antichrist. A lot of Christians are going to be put in prison. Matthew 25 Jesus said, “When you went to prison and you visited the least of these, my brethren, you visited me.”
Believers are going to be incarcerated and imprisoned and executed. If you are going to be destined for captivity, to captivity you go. God has ordained it. You will suffer at the hands of antichrist. That is the way it’s going to be. Don’t retaliate.
V 10, he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. This is an amazing upholding of capital punishment. Even if a believer kills an agent of antichrist. Amazing. We do not shoot the abortionists. We do not fight back with carnal weapons.
If we are destined to captivity and martyrdom, we go. He says if you try to strike back and you kill with the sword, then with the sword you must be killed. You do not even have the right to take a life when it is a member of the army of the antichrist to defend yourself. We do not want the saints in that day to be taking out their weapons and fighting that kind of warfare.
Keep in mind that this is not a negation of any issue of war. We have addressed that subject many times. This is for those who are under persecution for righteousness’ sake and for the faith of Christ not to kill their persecutors. Our weapons are spiritual.
V 10, Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. By patient endurance like Jesus, who because of the joy set before Him willingly endured the cross, who when He was reviled, reviled not again but committed Himself to a faithful Creator.
Here is the perseverance and faith of the saints.
- We do not retaliate.
- We do not take out weapons.
- We do not get swords and fight the antichrist army.
- We do not get our guns and start blazing away.
- We endure with trust that God is in control.
- Let Satan have his day.
- Let Satan have his hour.
- Let antichrist shoot his rubber darts.
- Let him loose his demons, kill believers.
The future is still God’s, and we are God’s, and the future is ours. That is our faith, and we patiently endure through it all to the glory of the Kingdom promised to us.
In the end, we will be victorious.
Revelation 11:15, Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!”
The monster from the abyss cannot destroy our faith. He cannot destroy our Kingdom because he cannot destroy our King. For those who are alive at that time, you may be destined for captivity, you may be destined for martyrdom, do not strike back, endure patiently. That is the faith of the saints.
God will be glorified and so will we, and so will all God’s people. In the end the assault of the antichrist on the King and the Kingdom and the subject of the Kingdom fails miserably. All he does in the end is collect those people who are going with him to an eternal hell. Nothing is gained.
For God is indomitable, Christ is undefeatable, and Those of us who are the elect are more than conquerors.