The Beast from the Sea: Revelation 13:1-18

The dragon stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea.

The dragon—defeated in heaven but raging on earth—stood at the shoreline. And from the chaos of the sea, a beast emerged. The dragon's agent. The antichrist.

It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name.

Ten horns—complete political power. Seven heads—complete wisdom. Ten crowns—complete authority. Blasphemous names on every head. The beast mimicked the dragon's form and claimed divine titles.

The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion.

Daniel's four beasts combined into one. Leopard—swift. Bear—crushing. Lion—devouring. All the empire-beasts of history merged into this final monster.

The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority.

The dragon's gift. Power transferred. Throne granted. Authority delegated. Satan empowered his representative.

One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed.

A fatal wound—healed. A death—reversed. A counterfeit resurrection. The beast mimicking Christ's death and rising.

The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast.

Global following. Wonder—the same word used for miracles. The world amazed at the beast's apparent power over death.

People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?

Dragon worship through beast worship. The question: Who is like the beast? An inversion of Who is like God? The beast claimed divine incomparability.

The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months.

Forty-two months—three and a half years. The limited time of evil's reign. Proud words and blasphemies—the constant output.

It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven.

Blasphemy specified. God's name slandered. His dwelling attacked. Those in heaven maligned. The beast's mouth was a weapon against all things holy.

It was given power to wage war against God's holy people and to conquer them.

War against the saints. Power to conquer—physically, temporarily. The beast could kill. But killing was not final victory.

And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation.

Global authority. Every tribe, people, language, nation—the same scope as Christ's redemption. The beast claimed the whole earth.

All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb's book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.

All—except those written in the Lamb's book. The division: beast-worshipers and Lamb-followers. The book written before creation. The slain Lamb predating the world.

Whoever has ears, let them hear. If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity they will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword they will be killed. This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of God's people.

The call for patient endurance. Captivity and death coming for saints. No promise of escape—promise of faithfulness. Endurance required.

Then I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon.

A second beast—from the earth. Looking like a lamb—religious appearance. Speaking like a dragon—satanic message. The false prophet.

It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed.

The second beast served the first. Its role: make earth worship the beast. The counterfeit trinity: dragon (false father), beast (false son), false prophet (false spirit).

And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of everyone.

Signs and wonders. Fire from heaven—Elijah's miracle counterfeited. Visible to all. The deception looked impressive.

Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth.

Deception through signs. The miracles served lies. The impressive validated the false.

It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed.

An image. Breath given to it. The image speaking. Death for non-worshipers. The ancient idol now animated by demonic power.

It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.

The mark. All people forced. Right hand or forehead—the location of Jewish phylacteries, of God's name. The beast's counterfeit. Economic control—no buying or selling without the mark.

This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666.

666. The number of a man. Falling short of seven—perfection. Six repeated three times—the unholy trinity's number. The beast is ultimately human, limited, finite, defeated.