Revelation 13: Activities of the Enemy on the Earth

[Note: We have commented before that we need reminding that the whole of this book is prophecy and we need to recognize that there are lots of analogies, picture language, etc., which leaves it open for varied interpretations of what they might mean. This is especially so in the following chapters. The different ‘beasts’ could be specific humans, they could be demonic beings, or forces, or even movements. In these notes we will seek to keep such interpretations to a minimum.]

12:17 Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.

[Note: Recap-reminder, i.e. flowing on from chapter 12

• v.1-10 The Beast out of the Sea
• v.11-18 The Beast out of the Earth

v.1-10 The Beast out of the Sea

v.1 The dragon stood on the shore of the sea.

And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name.

[Note: Some have suggested ‘the sea’ refers to the populations of the world. Satan watches over the world. See 1 Jn 5:19. i.e. a being comes out of the world, with mixed authorities or governments and is anti-God.]

v.2-8 The time of the beast

v.2 The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority.

v.3 One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast.

v.4 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?”

v.5 The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months.

v.6 It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven.

v.7  It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation.

v.8 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.

[Note: Everything about this ‘beast is threatening and potentially destructive but it has a world-wide following. Satan is worshipped via the beast who has his power; it is anti-God for three and a half years [see before – a limited divinely decreed period] and is blatantly anti-God and attacks God’s people but all unbelievers worship it.]

v.9,10 A warning and a call

v.9,10 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.

[Note: Persecution will occur, so remain true.]

[Additional Note/Summary: At the end of overview chapter 12 we saw Satan thwarted in his intention to destroy Israel. As he stands overviewing the world, a multi-faceted, multi-headed monster, a creature, arises in the world that has a destructive nature [Satan is known as a destroyer] and Satan gives this monster power and authority which wins over the world. A part of the beast seems fatally wounded and yet recovers. Whether knowingly or unknowingly people worship Satan and the creature. Within the economy of God this deceptive and destructive creature is given a limited time to deceive the world and appears to triumph even over the people of God and all unbelievers worship it. This would seem to be a time that fits the description, ‘The Great Tribulation’]  

v.11-18 The Beast out of the Earth

v.11 Then I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon.

v.12 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.

v.13 And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people.

v.14,15 Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth. 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.

v.16,17 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.

v.18 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.

[Note: Yet another beast comes from the depths of the world of a specifically deceptive nature, and supports the first beast. It has Satan’s power to perform wonders and it leads major deception, imposing a mark on every person. It is a human deceiver. 666 – 3 is the number of deity, 7 is the number of perfection and thus 666 may suggest a mock divinity in human form.]

[Comment/Summary: while the first beast still exists, another being, another creature, emerges but the phrase ‘out of the earth’ as against ‘out of the sea’ [world population] seems to suggest out of the underworld, the demonic. And it speaks like Satan and exercises his power and leads people astray like he does. It supports or bolsters the first ‘beast’, reinforcing its activity and imposing itself on the life of every person. The sense of the whole of this chapter suggests a rise of ungodliness and unrighteousness and evil unparalleled in history.]

For those who may wish to make a study of this chapter, to perhaps think some more about what you have been reading, use the link below: