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The Beasts of Revelation
Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon.
While the first wild creature came out of the sea, this one arose from the earth. In the Book of Revelation, the earth seems to represent the realm that is distinct from the heavens. We see this illustrated in the heaven dwellers and the earth dwellers being referred to as two cities. The city whose origin is heaven is bridal in nature (Revelation 21:2) while the harlot city is of the earth. One is destined for glory; the other is doomed to destruction.
This second beast had two horns like a lamb, and spoke like a dragon. Since the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart (Matthew 12:34; 15:18), this animal has the heart of the dragon. Yet He tried to come across like the Lamb. What is it that tries to imitate the Lamb but has the heart of the enemy? Religious deception certainly seems to fit the bill. Remember Jesus’ words.
Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
Religious deception has been around since Adam’s fall. We see it in the Old Testament in the worship of Baal and other idols. We see it in Jesus’ day in His confrontation with the religious leaders in Israel.
It is simply not true that religious deception will only be encountered in the future. I am sure that Revelation Chapter 13 does have application to future events, but it is relevant today as well. And these verses certainly were appropriate to the believers in the first century to whom this letter was written. One evangelical scholar calls this beast:
“false religion as the servant of the secular power.”
He writes:
In John’s day the beast operated through the priests who acted as the propagandists of the Caesar-cult....[5]
George Eldon Ladd states:
That the second beast represents religion employed in support of the worship of the beast is seen from the fact that hereafter he is called the false prophet (16:13; 19:20; 20:10). The first beast represents civil power, satanically inspired; the second beast represents religious power employed to support civil power....
His single objective is to capture the religious loyalties of men for the first beast. [6]
And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
The main focus of the enemy in religious deception is to cause people to trust in something other than God – to cause them to bow to man’s established order on the earth. Men promise Utopia as they attempt to institute various forms of governmental systems, either through the political process or through violent revolution. “Trust us, we’ll collect your taxes and set educational and legislative priorities, and ultimately, we will establish genuine peace and justice among men.”
One main part of the enemy’s strategy is to generate a religious zeal among the citizenry to support his plans in the political arena. We see this repeated throughout history.
Governments love to “play God,” to command the admiration and loyalty of their subjects, and to assume to themselves ever more numerous prerogatives – including those which belong to God alone. Not a few empires have required that their subjects actually worship them as deities (as did Pharaoh of Egypt, Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Darius of Media-Persia, and numerous Roman emperors).[7]
Though Pharaoh might have thought of himself in godlike terms, the true God had a controversy with him and a plan for His people. So, He sent Moses to confront the Beast.
God had a reason for elevating Pharaoh in the earth. If you had asked the Hebrew slaves what it was, they probably would have said that it was to rule the world. While that would have been true, it was only valid up to a point. In fact, God had plans for His own name to be exalted.
For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”
(Romans 9:17 NIV)
The Lord drew the enemy forth into great visibility so that He could then display His glory in delivering His people and establishing His purpose. It is at such times when God arises in power that the enemy’s religious and political structures are shaken and God’s people are delivered from bondage.
After Egypt, a similar scenario played out again many years later in Israel’s history. The political and religious systems of Babylon worked together to conquer the world and to crush the people of God.
Babylonia was a theocratic society, governed by the priestly order, which sanctioned a kingship that was subordinate to the religious order, but powerful enough to carry out the law that regulated Babylonian society.[8]
Working together, the religious priesthood system and the political power of the King of Babylon maintained a societal order under which God’s people suffered in bondage. Even at such times of the enemy’s seeming invincibility when Nebuchadnezzar proudly declared himself as the one who had established the Babylonian glory, the Lord arose in judgment and humbled him, causing him to live like an animal for a season of time. At the end of that period, Nebuchadnezzar stood to his feet with his sanity restored and a different outlook on his own importance.
And at the end of the time I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me; and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever: for His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His Kingdom is from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; He does according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand or say to Him, “What have You done?”
Eventually Babylon was brought to its knees when God judged the whole system.
Again, and again throughout history, the enemy has operated through both political and religious systems to oppose the people of God. In the first century Roman Empire, the priesthood led in the worship of their gods but they also persuaded men to bend the knee to Caesar. “Caesar is Lord.” At the same time, there arose a people who humbly declared the exclusive Lordship of Jesus Christ. Suddenly the conflict between the Beast and the believers came into focus.
On the one hand, you have a coordinated political effort to entice men to bow to the enemy’s national and international plans. And on the other hand, you see another group who are bending their knees to the Lamb. These two kingdoms have been standing opposed to each other for centuries; the conflict continues in our day.
In our nation today, we have an established religious system called secular humanism. Media and educational elites sustain it by promoting evolution, narcissism, and sensual lifestyles. Anything is permissible, as long it does not require anyone to acknowledge the sovereign rule of Jesus Christ. Lying at the heart of this darkness is “a theology”, a doctrine informing us that we are to seek the answers to life’s questions within ourselves. The essence of Satan’s strategy is to convince mankind that by our own strength and abilities we can produce peace and prosperity on earth. For Americans then, our greatness as a nation lies in our “Yankee ingenuity” rather than in the blessing of a merciful and gracious God.
However, others are standing up and acknowledging God. “You talk about human rights, what about His? Since He created the whole universe, our nation ought to give weight and credence to what He thinks. Perhaps we ought to consider His word in the decisions we make.” The battle lines are drawn and the war is well under way. There is no neutrality. It is time to arise and find our place in the conflict.
He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men.
Keep in mind that John is seeing a highly symbolic vision. He sees a wild animal that in some ways is similar to a lamb, but with the heart of a dragon. And in the vision, this creature calls down fire from heaven. Who comes to mind from this scene? Of course, Elijah the prophet called down fire from heaven in the Old Testament. So, John sees a counterfeit Elijah type ministry.
Elijah ministered at a time when there was great spiritual warfare in Israel. Baal worship was prevalent in the land. The king’s wife, Jezebel, was trying her best to kill all of God’s prophets. In the midst of that environment, Elijah stood up to reveal the glory of God. When he called down fire from heaven, the nation was suddenly struck with the reality of God’s presence exposing the enemy’s lies.
Today, there is a spiritual energy operating through those who allege that perversion is good and that light is really darkness. Believers must understand that we are engaged primarily in a spiritual war, not simply a cultural or political one. Political involvement alone will never get to the root of what ails our land. While there is indeed spiritual influence motivating those opposing Christ’s rule in our nation, nevertheless it is simply no match for the majesty of the true God living within His people. Even as Elijah manifested God’s power to confirm the truth, the enemy’s ability to “confirm” the counterfeit in our land is one expression of a false Elijah type ministry.[9] We in the Church desperately need the Lord to arise in His might to reveal His glorious presence, to expose the lie, and to establish His truth.
And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.
Here we see the lamb-imitating dragon-beast bringing forth an image and giving it breath so that people would bow to it. Human history basically revolves around the forming of two images. The first one occurred when God became a man, and the image (Greek, EIKON) of God was revealed in human form.
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
Jesus is the glory of God, manifested in human flesh. In Him dwells the fullness of deity. The image of God was perfectly revealed among men when He was put into human terms so that we could draw near and worship Him.
In the Old Testament, the Lord had made it clear that men were not to make any graven images. The only One who could fashion the image of God was God himself. Anything man would craft to represent the Lord would, in fact, misrepresent Him since our finite perspective of Him falls so far short of His true nature. So, He formed a body for His Son in the womb of Mary and then shaped Him over thirty years as He grew in wisdom and favor with God and man. Finally, He presented Him to the world. But God’s purpose was further revealed when Jesus ascended back to heaven and sent the Holy Spirit to establish the image (Greek, EIKON) of God in His people (Romans 8:29).
The question we face is whether we believe that the Holy Spirit is powerful enough to forge the image of God in us. Sometimes when I look at my own stumbling, I wonder. Then I look around at other believers in the Church and I really get nervous. But the truth is, He has more than enough grace to accomplish what He has set out to do in our lives (Philippians 1:6; Romans 8:29). And human history revolves around God’s stated purpose and active work to fashion His own image in frail human beings who desperately want to believe in His ability to do so.
Simultaneously, there is another image emerging even in our own generation. When you consider our society, you see many people who are just trying to make ends meet. They do not know the Lord, and they do not seem religiously zealous concerning too much of anything. On the other hand, there are others where an image has formed and come to life within them. They espouse a world-view with what seems like an anointing from Hell. They manifest a fiery zeal as well as a supernatural influence as they try to redefine normalcy to the rest of us. They tell us how homosexual marriage is proper and should be socially approved. Abortion also is beneficial and women must never lose legal access to it. But they do not speak from a simply intellectual perspective. There seems to be a fire, a breath, an “anointing” upon them as they push their views on our society. At the root of their zeal, lies an attitude that says, “If you don’t bend your knee to what we’re saying, we’ll kill you.”
The same type of spirit operated in the former Soviet Union. There were Communist citizens who were just trying to live their lives and survive within that system. On the other hand, there were those who were “on fire” with the Communist vision. If you did not bend your knee to their agenda, they would throw you into prison. Because Christians would not bow to the image formed by a false gospel within these oppressors, many were sent to Siberia.
You could also see the same obsession in Nazi Germany. There were Germans just trying to survive under an oppressive regime. But there were others who were on fire (for example, the S.S.) with the Nazi vision. If you did not bow to the “image” that had formed through false ideology and come to life within them, you were sent to a concentration camp.
Today, in many Muslim nations, many citizens are simply walking according to their religion and trying to live decent lives. They work hard to support their families and raise their children. At the same time, we see a growing number in whom a “living image” has formed through the preaching of fiery zealots stirring them to rise up against all infidels. Their agenda is that all the earth must come under a Muslim political theocracy. The religious zeal in many to establish this vision lies behind many terrorist activities. In some nations, if you do not bow to this ideological image, you can be killed. Already, in our generation, we see a growing number of Christian martyrs, slain by the Beast for their faith.
If we can see how the Beast has functioned in our own century, perhaps we will wake up to how he is emerging in our nation, in our generation. It is happening right now. The question we all must face concerns what we should do in the war against the Beast. Again, there is no neutrality. Some believers are homeschooling their children. That is an act of spiritual warfare against the Beast. There are others who have their children in public schools, but who sit down regularly with them and do their best to undo the daily flow of humanistic deception that accosts them. That also is warring against the Beast. Other obvious activities of spiritual warfare could be:
intercessory prayer
intelligent worship (declaring the sovereignty of Christ over the nations)
evangelism
raising children with godly values and sending them for training to be journalists, educators, public servants, etc., where they can influence our culture as salt and light for the Kingdom of God
preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, the truth about His call to disciple the nations rather than simply seeking to escape difficulty.
The point is that we must be faithfully obedient to the present rule of our King who intends to reign in the heavens until His enemies are made a footstool for His feet (Hebrews 1:13, 10:13). The war we are engaged in is not primarily cultural; it is spiritual.
God is raising up in our generation a godly people to bring the influence of His kingdom into the areas of the media, the arts, politics, education, etc. Serving Him in our vocation is in reality an act of spiritual war. Such combat has many more ingredients than simply prayer (of course, prayer should undergird everything we do). But the great struggle for the soul of our nation is simply going to require long term planning. It will involve raising godly children who will be willing to serve selflessly in careers that have long been dominated by the wicked.
In fact, the course of our country may very well get worse before it gets better. But we cannot sit back and simply hope that Jesus will come and rescue us from the task in front of us. Our call is to overcome evil with good, not seek to simply wait for Him to come and rescue us from the war that He drafted us into.
Today, the battle is heating up and the hour is desperate. It is not as though we can just go along for the ride and plan to retire in a few years to a beach. Our nation is at stake, and there is a draft call going out. So, the question is: “What are you doing in response to the Beast? To what course of action is the Lamb calling you?”
One response is to plant churches that honor the headship and centrality of Christ.[10] We must build in a way that exalts the Lordship of Jesus. Such churches will ultimately grow because in the end, the Beast is doomed. The Bible pictures for us the King of kings riding through the earth with a sharp two-edged sword coming out of His mouth. He wins – and if we are to participate in His victory with Him, we must get on the specific white horse He has supplied for us to ride (What is the victorious course in this life that He has specifically called you to follow Him in?) and gallop behind Him to victory.[11]
And he causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark (Greek, CHARAGMA – a stamp, an engraving) on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.
Six is the number of man. We see this truth in that the first man Adam was created on the sixth day. Whatever originates from man is always a six (i.e., one short of seven [a symbolic number for perfection, completeness]) while that which is of God is always seven. In the Book of Revelation, we see the purpose of God revealed in the seven seals, the seven trumpets, and the seven bowls. The number six will always come short of seven. Even if you intensify it and make it six, six, it still is not seven. Six, six, six intensifies in a complete way whatever proceeds from man, but it still never achieves the perfection of seven. That which man authors will always fall short of the excellence of God – in every generation.
If people did not take the stamp of the wild animal in John’s vision, they were not permitted to buy or sell. Today in America, if a schoolteacher puts a Bible on his or her desk and says something about Jesus, they can lose their job. This is nothing other than economic persecution. Such things went on in Nazi Germany and in the Soviet Union. Now, in some measure, they are happening here.
Immediately following John’s vision of the Beasts (there is no chapter break in the original vision that John received), he saw the Lamb on Mount Zion and His followers bearing God’s name (Revelation 14:1, 22:4), His seal (Revelation 7:3) upon their foreheads.[12] Herein lies the Good News. All of us had been etched with the enemy’s mark. John’s vision reveals that all who were not written in the Lamb’s book of life were followers and worshipers of the Beast (Revelation 13:8). There are only two who vie for humanity’s attention – the Lamb and the Beast. We were once in darkness; now we follow the Lamb. What this means is that the blood of Jesus is greater than the mark of the Beast. The blood of Jesus can cleanse hearts from sin and turn men to participate submissively in His kingdom. Today we walk in concert with the One who runs the universe – the One who has all authority in heaven and on earth. Those who follow the Lamb are clearly on the winning side.
Previously, John had a vision of a seven-headed wild animal arising out of the sea, emerging from the turbulent activity of the nations. But later, the Lord spoke again to John concerning this beast.
The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits, and they are seven kings; five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while.
(Revelation 17:9 - 10 NAS)
Again, the five kings (systems of government) that had fallen were Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece. Rome was still standing at the time John received this word. But there was to be a seventh head. Is it possible that there is yet to come a worldwide head to this whole singular Beast system? In the days of the first six heads, God’s people were a local phenomenon in the Middle East. Thus, the first six heads were all localized empires. While they took up a lot of geographical space, they were not planet-wide. However, today the people of God are in the ends of the earth. Therefore, it seems that the emerging seventh head of the Beast is a worldwide phenomenon arising against the Church and Israel. Notice again what John sees concerning this Beast.
I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast.
(Revelation 13:3 NAS)
One of its heads was slain and was then healed. It is important to realize that the seven-headed Beast covers thousands of years. Each head covered hundreds of years. The fatality and resurrection of one of its heads could last anywhere from a generation to several centuries. Is it possible that God intends to arise in His glory and again slay the beast nature of the world system? Could it be that at such a time He would bring His kingdom into great clarity before the eyes of the world?
Today many people foresee a new world order emerging and are working to produce a measure of global unity. Scripture speaks of a time when the world will unify in its aggression against the nation of Israel.
And it will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will be severely injured. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it.
(Zechariah 12:3 NAS)
For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem.
The attempt of some scholars to portray these verses as referring to Rome’s first century destruction of Jerusalem is unsatisfying. The prophet foresees a global campaign. Zechariah Chapter 12 refers to the national salvation of Israel as God pours out the Spirit of grace and supplication upon her. Chapter 13 then points to the resulting cleansing of false ministry from the land. Chapter 14 speaks of the desperation of Israel at the time of God’s deliverance when it seems as though all hope is gone and her national light is about to be extinguished. The book of Zechariah closes with a picture of the whole world having to respond appropriately to the Feast of Tabernacles. One element of this particular Israeli feast was national celebration because of harvest (Leviticus 23:39 - 40) (Deuteronomy 16:13 - 14).
In other words, the nations will have to respond appropriately to the coming worldwide harvest of souls into God’s kingdom as a result of Israel’s salvation.
Some take literally Zechariah’s words about the necessity of nations to go to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles (Zechariah 14:16 - 18). But because of Jesus’ death and resurrection fulfilling many Old Testament types and shadows, we must consider proper worship from a New Covenant perspective. At Calvary, He forever abolished the need to go to a specific geographical place in order to worship God.
Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Our place of worship now is simply in the Spirit. Geography (where we gather to minister to the Lord) is no longer what defines true worship.
But when Israel turns to the Lord, He will arise and fight the military forces of the world and bring destruction upon them. At that time, the seventh head of the Beast system will be fatally wounded. The Beast will go to its knees as God arises. Life from the dead will spring out into the ends of the earth and the glory of God will fill the earth as the waters cover the sea. Nations will shift in their corporate identities, their military strategies, their political directions, and their religious preconceptions. Those who do not do so will experience the dealings of God. But when the Beast reemerges again, it will be only for a short season during which Satan will take his last stand; his end will be swift and final.
The Book of Revelation seems quite clear concerning the beast system prior to the end.
But the angel said to me, “Why did you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns. The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
Very simply, there is coming a time when the Beast is not, when it will cease to exist in its present form. Then after a period of time (a decade? a century? several generations?), during which the nations will be confronted with a clear expression of God’s kingdom, the Beast will again arise from out of the abyss for a short season in order to go to destruction.
John says of the final form of the Beast that its eighth head is really one of the seven (Revelation 17:10). In other words, it will not be a new form but an old one reemerging. Satan will simply have run out of ideas. At that time, great opposition will arise against God’s people for a short season, and the Lord will respond with the final expression of His judgments as He ends the Church age.
Too many Christians look toward the future with a focus on the coming Beast. Yet Jesus’ view of the end of the Church age was different.
Then He said to the disciples, “The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.
The days of the Son of Man would not occur in their lifetimes. While they would see great things in that first century, they would not be privileged to experience the days just prior to the end of the Church age. Just what are the days of the Son of Man?
And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: they ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, as it was also in the days of Lot: they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.
Very simply, the days of Noah and Lot culminated in the day when normal living practices were interrupted by a cataclysmic event of God’s judgment.[13] The days of Noah’s ministry in building the ark were one hundred years. The days of the Son of Man must therefore be the days (decades? generations?) just prior to and culminating in the final day of God’s judgment and the appearing of our glorious Savior.
In any case, Jesus told His disciples that as great as were the days of the first century Church, they would long to participate in the days of the Son of Man and they would not have that privilege. Those days are presently dawning upon the earth and God has a blueprint for getting us there.
In God’s mind, that awesome glorious time prior to Christ’s return is not something to be feared. Rather, godly men of past generations have wished they could be part of it. For too many, the Scripture has been interpreted, “Christ in you, the fear of the future.” However, it reads, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” That glory shall be revealed on earth (Habakkuk 2:14) as well as in the ages to come.
Notice also, that Jesus did not refer to those coming days as the days of the Beast; they will be His days. Jesus’ kingdom will be coming into greater clarity before the eyes of the world in the future. Let us dedicate our lives to His purpose of revealing His glorious person both in us and through us. And let us stand not with simply an expectation of greater darkness filling the earth, but rather of an arising glory upon the people of God. Herein lies the hope of our nation, the nation of Israel, and the nations of the earth.
but truly, as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD.
All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before You. For the kingdom is the LORD’s, and He rules over the nations.
All the earth shall worship You and sing praises to You; they shall sing praises to Your name. Selah
The leaves of the tree (the tree of life) were for the healing of the nations.
And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded.
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