Revelation chapter 12 closed with the dragon, Satan,
knowing that his time is short, is enraged with the woman,
Israel, going off to make war with her children. In the
first verse of chapter 13, we find the dragon standing on
the seashore and a beast like an individual coming up out of
the sea. The sea represents the Gentile nations from which
this beast comes. He is the final Gentile world leader, also
known as the “little horn” (Daniel 7:8, 20, 21, 24, 25); the
willful king (Daniel 11:36); the coming prince (Daniel
9:26), and the “man of lawlessness” (2 Thessalonians 2:3).
In Revelation 13 he is both a person and an empire, he is
one of the five which have fallen (Revelation 17:10). The
“sand of the sea” represent the people who make up the
nations, standing on “the sand of the sea,” represents
Satan’s power over them. Remember that Isaiah likens the
nations to a roaring and restless sea that cannot be quiet
and whose waters can only churn up refuse and mud; a fitting
picture of a world without peace with God. They have no
peace because they have rejected the true Prince of Peace
and will turn to their own solutions to life and to the
antichrist as their means to world peace, but in reality,
this will be not much more than a self-centered pursuit for
comfort and personal affluence (Isaiah 17:12-13; 57:20-21;
Revelation 17:1, 15).
The beast John saw coming up out of the sea has ten horns,
seven heads, on the horns ten diadems, and on the heads are
written blasphemous names. In his vision, John saw the final
Gentile beast like kingdom and king.
In prophecy, it is sometimes hard to determine when a
passage is speaking about the king or the kingdom. In
addition, a passage may refer to the king in one verse and
the kingdom in the next, or vice versa. This is the case
here. Verses 1 and 2 look more at the kingdom, the empire;
verse 3 includes both, and verse four and following refer
more to the individual, the satanically controlled or
possessed dictator. Therefore, “the beast” may refer to the
end time kingdom, the empire, or to the dictator or both.
The seven heads represent the nations Satan has used to
persecute Israel, beginning with Egypt.
In his vision, John saw one of the heads, that is, one of
these world powers with a fatal wound that was healed. Some
believe that Revelation 13:3 refers to some resurrected
being of history such as Judas or Nero or even to one of the
more recent rulers like Napoleon or Hitler. Some have argued
that the “if” implies this is only an apparent death.
Nowhere in Scripture is it indicated that Satan has the
power of resurrection.
We will deal with the fatal wound in our study of Revelation
17.
“And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the
beast.”
In this following after and worship of the dragon and his
beast, the people of the world, except for the bondservants
of Jesus, will acknowledge two things: (a) his uniqueness
“who is like the beast” and (b) his power “and who is able
to make war with him.” This will bring absolute sovereignty
to his reign. This worship of the dragon shows that not only
will demonism be rampant, but openly visible. The world will
worship the devil through the system of the beast. Satan
will openly be the god of this age. Look at the world of the
twenty-first century and the United States.
The horrible blasphemies of the beast demonstrate the
anti-religious, anti-God element in the character of the
beast. His blasphemies against God and God’s people,
however, are ultimately aimed at promoting the worship of
the beast himself. He will speak against God and His name.
This includes mocking God’s holy character and essence.
Perhaps he will even claim he has defeated God or that God
is dead. He will speak against God’s dwelling place and
those who dwell in heaven; this could include making fun of
the goodness and righteousness of believers and of those who
have sacrificed their lives for Jesus Christ while the beast
and his followers live in the riotous pleasures of sin.
Sound like our present age.
Satan has always hated the people of God and done everything
in his power to persecute the people of God whether Israel
or the church, but he has been restrained by the hand of
God. Without that restraint, God’s people would have
perished from the earth. During the reign of the beast, it
will be given to him by the sovereign plan of God to make
war and even to overcome the saints, that is, kill them.
This rule of the beast will end in slavery to Satan and to
the flesh. Men will think they have freedom to do as they
please, but find themselves with no mind of their own,
dominated by the beast and by their flesh.
In verse 4, we are told that the world will marvel at this
beast and wonder, “Who is like the beast, and who is able to
wage war with him?” To the world of unbelieving and
rebellious people, this beast will seem invincible and the
answer to their question is simply, no one! His power will
come from Satan; it is demonic and supernatural, far beyond
the abilities of ordinary men, and far beyond anything, the
world knows today. He will be so powerful, self-sufficient,
and impressed with his power, he will actually honor no one
except “the god of fortresses” (Daniel 11:38) or military
power and conquests.
Repeatedly, the Scriptures tell us that this last time
dictator and his government will be satanic inspired. No
human being can be as cunning, as ruthless, lawless, vile
and blasphemous as this man can without being either demon
possessed or at least under the total control of Satan. He
will derive his strength from the same source as Adolph
Hitler, who controlled Germany with such hypnotic magnetism
that his leadership was practically irresistible. Several
books have been written that document Hitler’s involvement
with Eastern occultism, invisible forces that he called
“Unknown Superiors,” in reality; demons that controlled and
terrorized him manipulated him. Forces outside himself
possessed Hitler. Hitler’s hatred of the Jews and his belief
in the superiority of the Aryan nations were undoubtedly
derived from Hinduism with its belief in the cast system,
the idea that certain people are born inferior to others and
that weeding out the undesirables is part of good
leadership.
In this chapter, that gives us God’s revelation of this evil
end time world ruler, an interesting phrase is repeated six
times. The phrase, “was given to him,” occurs twice in verse
5, twice in verse 7, and in verses 14 and 15. The repetition
of “and it was given to him” indicates an unleashing of
powers of incipient evil of which this world cannot, in its
wildest imagination, dream overcome. However, we must not
forget that all of this occurs by the will of a sovereign
God who uses Satan as His instrument of judgment on a
stubborn, rebellious, unrepentant, and unbelieving world.
Throughout history, God has repeatedly used Satan’s schemes
and evil men as instruments of His judgment (Isaiah
10:5-13).
The beast will be given authority to act for forty-two
months. In view of what we learned from chapter 12, this
means from the middle of the Tribulation to the return of
Jesus Christ. His authority will extend to all peoples, to
all the earth dwellers or earthlings, those whose names have
not been written in the Lamb’s book of life. True believers,
those who do not worship the beast nor receive his mark are
excluded; they do not worship him, but rather in many cases,
they will die for their faith.
