Episode 19. Revelation 13 – The Beast Rises

 

You can watch the video of this study at 8pm AEST on my YouTube channel here.

Revelation 13 is probably the most famous chapters in the book of Revelation, if not the whole bible. It contains the famous mark of the beast, 666. It talks about the rise of two beasts, coercion to false worship, not being able to buy and sell and all sorts of other famous things.

My most famous article, or at least one of them, was a piece I penned in late 2021 titled, A Meditation On The Mark Of The Beast, in which I argued that even though I did not believe that the jabby jab was the mark of the beast, still the state was using beast like coercive tactics in its push to get everyone jabbed and therefore in good conscience I could not take it or support it. I said at the time,

“In my observation, there appears to me to be roughly three types of pastors when it comes to whether we are seeing the beginning of the Mark of the Beast in our current day. The first kind is the pastor who is absolutely convinced that this is the Mark, and that this is the beginning of the tribulation. I know good guys who are convinced that this is the case and have been saying so publicly for some time now. Sometimes they are willing to give a little bit and say it may just be a precursor, but they are generally very adamant this is the Mark. The continued Beastly behaviour of our governments is not quickly proving these guys wrong.

The second kind of pastor is the one who wants no talk of the Mark of the Beast around him in relation to our current context. He rejects outright any thought that we may be entering the tribulation. He recognizes that many people have thought many things were the Mark of the Beast in history, and they were all wrong. He is the guy who is quick to point out that this is a healing device, the government may not be handling this situation ideally, but they are seeking to get to people a medical treatment that can end this pandemic. For this pastor, to apply the teaching of the Mark of the Beast here is unnecessary fear mongering. Yes, there is coercion, some of these pastors think the coercion is wrong, others think it a necessary evil to get the vaccine numbers up. These pastors are the most likely to see any talk of the tribulation and Anti-Christ in this time as irresponsible.

The third kind of pastor, and this is the category I would put myself in, is the pastor who is very concerned with the Beast-like behaviour of the government, but also recognizes along with the pastors in the second category that there are countless examples of predictions about the end times being wrong, and so is also hesitant to call this the Mark of the Beast. However, there is another key difference between pastors in this group and the second group. We see many of the hallmarks of the Beast-like behaviour of governments in this time, and from this we observe an old pattern at work. A pattern about how evil works, and a pattern about how we are to find richness and application from Revelation in every era from the time of Nero until now. So, in a bit we will look at Revelation 13, but before we get there, we need to jump into 1 John and 2 Thessalonians and establish some things.”[1]

I stand by everything I said in that piece and think that events really did vindicate it. Jesus told us that no one would know the day or the hour, therefore, making predictions about the coming of the end is foolish. However, it is equally foolish to ignore that Jesus also showed us how evil works and Revelation 13 is a powerful window into the devil’s strategies. Too many pastors throw out the baby with the bathwater.

I have argued earlier in this series and will again tonight that Revelation is in part designed to give us a window behind the curtain of how evil works in this world, and also how Jesus is defeating it. The reason that so many Christians in history have thought they were in or were entering into the tribulation is because this chapter has a timeless quality to it. If Jesus does not know the day nor the hour, then neither does the devil. But this does not stop him from trying to take his control and, therefore, we should expect to see beastlike and tribulation like events in the world where the devil seeks to wrestle back control of this world for a short time before the end, but is instead swatted down to try again in the future. One of these times that which is restraining him will be taken away and he will achieve his global power again, but only for “an hour.” (cf. Rev. 17).

We are foolish to be so over-confident in our eschatology that we make predictions about the future that we should not. But we would be equally foolish to ignore the great wisdom taught in a passage like Revelation 13, and I want to explore that tonight.

As with every other chapter in Revelation, chapter 13 is steeped in Old Testament images. Here are some examples:

1.     The Beast: The beast clearly harkens back to the imagery of Daniel 7-8. This beast is a direct amalgamation of the four beasts from Daniel's vision. In Daniel 7 Daniel 7:2-8: Daniel sees a vision of "four great beasts" coming out of the sea, each representing a successive pagan empire (typically interpreted as Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome).

1.1  John's beast combines features of all four of Daniel's beasts:

1.1.1       Like a leopard (body): From the third beast (Dan. 7:6; Greece, known for speed of conquest). Feet like a bear: From the second beast (Dan. 7:5; Medo-Persia). Mouth like a lion: From the first beast (Dan. 7:4; Babylon).

1.1.2       The Ten Horns and Crowns: Directly from the fourth beast in Daniel 7:7-8, 20, 24 (Rome), symbolizing power and kingship. The ten horns are often interpreted as a succession of emperors or vassal kings.

1.1.3       The Blasphemous Mouth: Daniel's "little horn" with "a mouth speaking great things" and that "shall speak words against the Most High" (Dan. 7:8, 11, 20, 25) is the clear model for the beast's blasphemous mouth (Rev. 13:5-6). For John's audience, this was a direct reference to the Roman Emperors who accepted divine titles like Dominus et Deus ("Lord and God").

2.     The False Prophet - Primary Source: Deuteronomy 13 & The Exodus Plagues

2.1  The Lying Signs (13:13-15): The core theme comes from Deuteronomy 13:1-3, which warns that if a prophet arises who performs a "sign or wonder" but then leads people to worship other gods, they are a false prophet to be rejected. The second beast perfectly fits this description.

2.2  Imitating God's Prophets: The beast's ability to call down fire from heaven (13:13) directly mimics the true prophets of God, most notably Elijah on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18:38). This signifies a deceptive power that is convincing and seemingly divine.

2.3  The Image of the Beast: This draws on the story of Nebuchadnezzar's golden image in Daniel 3, where everyone is commanded to worship the image on pain of death. For John's readers, this paralleled the imperial cult, where statues of the emperor were erected for veneration.

Theological Themes

There are some powerful theological themes in Revelation 13 as well,

1. The Parody of God: The Beast system is not just opposition to God; it is a deliberate imitation of God. It has a false resurrection, a false trinity (Dragon, Beast, False Prophet), a false mark of salvation, and demands worship like the true God. This shows the deceptive nature of evil.
2. The Tyranny of Empire: Drawing from Daniel, the Beast embodies the repetitive biblical theme of worldly empires that oppress God's people, exalt themselves, and ultimately are judged by God.
3. The Call for Faithful Witness: The influence of Daniel 3 and 7 reinforces the main message to John's audience: remain faithful even to death, do not worship the beast, and trust that God—not the emperor—is ultimately sovereign. The saints conquer "by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony" (Rev. 12:11), not by political power.

Let now go through the chapter and look at our questions.

Chapter 13

1. Who, or what is the beast? (Daniel 7 – 8, cf. Especially 7:17 and 7:23 is relevant here).  

 

2. What does it mean to say the beast rises out of the sea?

 

3. What do the horns, the diadems and the numbers mean? What do the blasphemous names on its head mean?

 

4. The beast is like a leopard with the feet of a bear and the mouth of a lion. What does this mean?

 

5. Whose power does the beast work by?

 

6. What does verse 3 mean?

 

7. Vs 4, the world worshipped the beast. But who is it? (vf. 9:11, 11:7, 14:9-11, 17:3, Daniel 7, 2 Thess. 2).

 

8. Compare this to Daniel 7:23-25, what do you notice is similar?

 

9. V.6, who are those that dwell in heaven? (cf. Jude, and the glorious ones, Daniel 7, Job 38:7).

 

10. Why is it allowed to make war on the saints and to win? How much authority will this beast have on the earth?

 

11. Vv.8-10, what encouragement should we take from these verses?

 

12. Who is the second beast? What does verse 11 tell us?

 

13. What does verse 13 remind us of? (chapter 11:5)

 

14. How will it achieve what it says in verse 14?

 

15. What does it mean to say it gave breath to the image of the beast?

 

16. What is the mark of the beast? (cf. Revelation 7:3, and Ephesians 1:11-13, Ez. 9:4). What is the number of the beast? (Note the Greek word for beast is “therion”, in Hebrew its numerical value is 666). (“for it is man’s number” or “for it is a man’s number”.  Daniel 3:1, the height of the image that Nebuchadnezzar sets up.  3 Maccabees 2:28-32, Mentions Jews being marked with a sign of the Greek God Dionysus, without which they could not buy or sell equally.   

 

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[1] https://younggospelminister.blogspot.com/2021/12/a-meditation-on-mark-of-beast.html