Revelation 13:11-18 The Beast Rising Out of the Earth

Woodland Hills Church of Christ

The Beast Rising Out of the Earth

Revelation 13:11-18

Introduction: How aware do you believe you are of the work of the dragon in our country and in the world? Revelation 12:17, “Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.” Following this, the dragon called up two beasts, political and cultural powers to attack the woman’s offspring and those who keep God’s commandments. This is not just people doing immoral things; it is an attempt to destroy God’s kingship.

The mistake that has often been made in a study of Revelation is to either think of the book as strictly historical, first to third century Roman persecution, or strictly prophetic of events that are yet to come.

Taking either of these two views misses the fact that “all scripture” is applicable for every generation. Nothing comes from the mouth of God that isn’t intended as “reproof, rebuke, and instruction in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16-17).

Therefore, consider: We see in Daniel “beasts” rising up out of the sea that are interpreted as empires that will foster injustice, cause people to worship their power, and do battle against God’s people. Then in Revelation 13, we again see a beast rising out of the sea, this time a composite beast that embodies all the beasts of Daniel. Therefore, for over 1000 years, from Babylon to Rome, beasts rose up out of the sea, not only to persecute God’s people, but to also to coerce people to serve the Dragon and reek havoc on the earth.

According to Psalm 2, God has gone to battle against the Dragon and these beasts by setting Jesus on the throne, who rules the nations with a rod of iron. Jesus has now defeated the Dragon, but in his final efforts against God’s creation and God’s people, we still see him raising up “beasts.”

Now, why is Revelation written, and why does it still apply today? The answer is plain. While there are no more world empires, there continues to be nations and pressures on nations to become like a beast.

• • Enforce absolute authority and power to the government and defeat any honor to God as a competing authority
  • Destroy the “foundations” by overturning God’s laws, especially on morality. Justice, righteousness, and morality cannot stand if the Dragon and his beasts are going to win. Remember, Paul referred to the beast as the man of lawlessness. See 13:1, 6. Cf. Isaiah 5:20.
  • Therefore, the Dragon uses his beast to bring about a cultural change, and though at times he uses force, the Dragon raises up a second beast, whose job is the deceive the people. This earth-beast is the subject of our text this morning.

1. The Picture of the Earth Beast
   1. We are immediately able to see how the Dragon is a perverse imitator of God. He does so by creating an unholy satanic trinity.
      1. The dragon puts himself in the position of God demanding worship from all the people of the earth.
      2. The sea-beast puts himself in the position of Jesus and causing the earth to marvel when one of his heads is killed but then comes back to life. He promises all the peoples of the earth “life” in the form of riches and prosperity.
      3. The earth-beast corresponds to the Spirit of God speaking through apostles and prophets and the testimony of the saints. But he is a false prophet (16:13). To deceive people, he looks like a lamb, but when he speaks, it is the voice of the dragon.
   2. Notice the “signs” that are done by the earth-beast in order to deceive the people. We see similarities to what God’s two witnesses did in 11:5-6, who reflected Moses and Elijah. But the earth-beast also does signs and calls down fire from heaven.
      “Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.” (2 Thessalonians 2:3–4 ESV)
   3. “The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.” (2 Thessalonians 2:9–10 ESV)
   4. Notice also the earth-beast convinces people to make an image of the beast so that it can appear that worshiping the image gives life. In fact, not worshiping the image, gives death. By the end of the first century, every city of the seven churches had temples dedicated to the deity of Caesar.
   5. Verse 12: The purpose of the earth-beast is to cause the world to worship the sea-beast. Worship is simply the principle of where a person will put his/her loyalty. Therefore, in order to convince people to worship the beast, it is important that this false prophet convince the world that the beast is a real deity that is able to provide them food and prosperity. On the other hand, those who would not worship the image would starve or be put to death.
   6. Consider how that culture would look to the world at that time: “These Christians worship a God they believe is real and gives them life and prosperity. But look at them! Where is their God now? Why are we living so well and they are not? Judge for yourself! Who is the stronger god?”
   7. Thus the earth-beast was to force everyone to receive a “mark” on their hand or forehead that would indicate their loyalty to the beast (to the government) above all other authorities. Of course, this is not a literal mark like a tattoo. The mark becomes clear when a person shows evidence of loyalty to the Roman cult.
   8. Our media and news organizations have often filled the role of the earth-beast. Many are no longer journalists, but fill the role of advocating whatever positions they deem favorable.
   9. Finally, we see the sea-beast given a number. The number and the explanation demonstrate its weakness and eventual failure. The number 666 is one short of the power of God and the number seven and it is also described as the number of a man, indicating as the life of a flower or grass that appears and then vanishes, so will this great force. It is dependent on human strength, and therefore will fail.
2. Living Under the Rule of a Beast
   1. I think it was helpful to the Roman Christians, as well as helpful to us, for God to describe Rome as a beast. Peter described the character of one who is a beast: “But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction…they have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children!” (2 Peter 2:12-14)
   2. However, as we saw with the letters to the churches, when Christians were living in the midst of the beast’s rule, it was far more difficult to recognize the ruling powers as a true beast. The same is true for us today. Gordon Fee states:
      “Despite much that was wrong with the empire, and despite the less than exemplary character of some of its emperors, most of the people in the churches to whom John was writing would have been served well enough by the Empire, since by and large it functioned as a kind of benevolent dictatorship.”
   3. The same is true today. We are greatly benefited by living in this country regardless of who is in power. These benefits can cause us to miss the the danger of those who are moving the nation in a “beastly direction,” not realizing that prosperity was a way for Rome to enforce their wicked rule.
   4. It is important to remember that the beast had “blasphemous names” on its heads (vs. 1). Its mouth uttered “haughty and blasphemous words” (5), and his mouth uttered “blasphemies against God” (6). This has become common among many political leaders today.
   5. Remember, according to Psalm 2, for political leaders to rage against God and Christ is not unusual. The battle of the kingdoms of the world against the Kingdom of God is the very message of the Bible! Isaiah 24:21
      “On that day the Lord will punish the host of heaven, in heaven, and the kings of the earth, on earth.”
   6. First century Christians were also challenged by the fact that experiences of persecution were different throughout the empire. We have often made the mistake of believing that Roman persecution was universal, executed from the Emperor down. Not true as we have already seen in the the letters to the churches. (Like COVID for us) This would make it even more difficult to broadly condemn the whole empire.
      Therefore, “For the church then and today, Christ offers the image of the beast as an opportunity to see global superpowers in a totally new way.” (Scott Kercheville)
   7. Bottom line: We have always been patriotic and generally proud of our country because of the freedoms we are granted that are not allowed throughout the world and throughout history. But if our country continues to move in a more beastly direction, we must be careful that we do not blend patriotism into worship.
      Consider that there were areas of our country where those in power banned worship for up to 18 months – and many churches caved to the pressure under the guise of obeying the government.
3. Visualizing the Application
   1. It is a major challenge to imagine what the circumstances would be in which we would need to stand up to the powers over us. That was exactly the challenge of Peter when he told Jesus he would never deny him. He couldn’t envision the circumstances where he would cave.
   2. Therefore, consider two actual biblical events that should help us:
      1. Daniel 3: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Consider how easy it would have been to for these three young men to simply “hit the ground.” I can just imagine them whispering to each other how stupid this is and that they would never worship that image. Easy peasy. No one knows any different.
      2. Daniel 6: For 30 days it is illegal to pray to anyone except the king would be thrown in the fiery furnace. Listen to the words:
         “When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously.” (Daniel 6:10)
         Daniel! How can you not see how simple this is! You can continue to pray! Just don’t open your windows and make it obvious that is what you are doing!
   3. As was evident during COVID, when that day comes, it will be easy for Christians to reason their way into compromise. “My family needs to eat! After all, it’s just a posture, a signature, a few words. It’s just a meaningless, outward appearance.”

Conclusion: Revelation is teaching about the battle we are in. The Dragon is making war with the offspring of the woman. Are we fighting the Dragon and his beasts, or compromising?

Berry Kercheville

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