SCRIPTURE READING: Revelation 13:1-18

GOLDEN TEXT:  Revelation 13:10

1. Did the apostle John sea a beast rising up out of the sea? (Revelation 13:1). Did this beast have seven heads and ten horns? Was there a blasphemous name upon each head? Note: Revelation 13 deals with the ‘beast’. The apostle John had a vision very similar to the vision that Daniel had as recorded in Daniel 7:2-7.

2. Did Daniel see one beast or four beasts in his vision? (Daniel 7:2-7). Did the beasts in Daniel’s vision also come up out of the sea? Did three of the beasts look like a lion, bear and leopard? Did the fourth beast have ten horns?

3. Both John and Daniel saw a beast come up out of the sea. What does the sea represent in prophecy? (Revelation 17:15.) Note: The sea is water and the water represents humanity, peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues. So the beast rises up out of humanity. A beast generally signifies an empire that is dominated by Satan the Devil. Did an angel, probably Gabriel, appear to Daniel and tell him that a demon prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood him for twenty-one days? (Daniel 10:12-13). Did he also tell Daniel that when he returned that he would have to fight again with the prince of Persia before the prince of Greece came? (Daniel 10:20-21). These two references to the princes of the empires of Persia and Greece are references to Satan or high ranking demons controlled by Satan and these empires are controlled by the power of Satan.

4. Was the beast that John saw like a leopard, bear and lion? (Revelation 13:2). Who gave the beast its power, throne and great authority?

Note: These are the same type of beasts that Daniel saw, except the beast in John’s vision is a composite of these different beasts. Historically the lion represents Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldean Empire, the bear represents the Medo-Persian Empire and the Leopard represents the Greco-Macedonian Empire.

The beast that John saw had seven heads and ten horns. The first two heads represent the Chadean Empire and the Medo-Persian Empire. After Alexander the Great died, his empire was divided among his four generals and these four represent four heads of the seven heads of John’s beast and the seventh head represents the Roman Empire. The ten horns represent the ten revivals of the Roman Empire down through time and what we are reading about in Revelation 13 is the last revival of the Roman Empire.

5. Did John see one of the beast’s head as if it had been mortally wounded and then healed? (Revelation 13:3). Did the world marvel at this and follow the beast?

Note: The deadly wound is a reference to the fall of the Roman Empire that occurred in 476 A.D. Seventy to eighty years later in 554 A.D. the Roman Empire was revived. This was called the Imperial Restoration of the Roman Empire under Justinian. Now the Roman Empire is once again a political and military power guided and directed by a church. Down through time there have been nine revivals of the Roman Empire and the last one is yet to come.

6. Did the world worship the dragon who gave authority to the beast? (Revelation 13:4). Does the dragon represent Satan the Devil? (Revelation 12:9). Is Satan the god of this world? (2 Corinthians 4:4).

Note: If Satan is the god of this world then the god that the world worships is Satan.

7. Was power given to this beast to exercise his authority for forty-two months? (Revelation 13:5).

Note: Forty-two months is equal to 1,260 days or three and one half years.

8. Did the beast blaspheme God, His name, His tabernacle and those in heaven? (Revelation 13:6). Did the beast make war with the saints and overcome them? (Verse 7). Does the beast then have authority over all nations?

Note: God’s saints have always been under attack by those influenced by Satan, but in this end time period it will really be bad.

9. Will all who dwell on the earth worship the beast whose names have not been written in the book of the Lamb? (Revelation 13:8). Note: The word ‘worship’ can mean to show reverence and adore or to be subject to. The word worship in this verse does not mean that the people will adore the beast but they will be subject to the beast or die.

10. What two spiritual qualities will the saints have to possess at this time? (Revelation 13:9-10).

Note: With all of the horrible end time events going on, true Christians will have to endure to the end and it will take a lot of patience and faith to make it or to die trying.

11. Does John now see another beast with two horns? (Revelation 13:11). Is Jesus compared to a lamb? (John 1:29, 36).

Note: This beast will look like a messenger of Jesus Christ but when it speaks it should be obvious to a saint who knows God’s truth that what he is saying is from Satan.

12. Does this second beast exercise the authority of the first beast? (Revelation 13:12). Does he tell the people of the earth to worship the first beast?

Note: This second beast is the false prophet and this person will be like Judas Iscariot in whom Satan possessed (Luke 22:3).

13. Does this false prophet do great signs and can he even call fire to come down from heaven? (Revelation 13:13-14).

Note: Elijah is the only prophet who has been able to call fire down from heaven and God caused it to happen (2 Kings 1:9-14). Malachi prophesied that Elijah would come before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD (Malachi 4:5). This false prophet will proclaim that he is Elijah and that he is fulfilling this prophecy and most of the world will be deceived and believe him. Only the true saints will know that this is not true.

14. Will this false prophet have the power to give life to this image of the beast? (Revelation 13:15).

Note: The false prophet will be promoting the government structure of the ancient Roman Empire. To ‘speak’ is a reference to the political power and the ‘power to kill’ is a reference to military power behind it.

15. Does this false prophet cause the ‘mark of the beast’ to be imposed upon all mankind? (Revelation 13:16-18). Is the number of this beast 666? What happens if you don’t receive the mark of the beast?

(Revelation 13 NKJV) Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. {2} Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. {3} And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast. {4} So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, "Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?" {5} And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months. {6} Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. {7} It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. {8} All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. {9} If anyone has an ear, let him hear. {10} He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity; he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

The Beast out of the Earth

{11} Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. {12} 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. {13} He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. {14} 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. {15} 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. {16} He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, {17} 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. {18} 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.

2. (Daniel 7:2-7 NKJV) Daniel spoke, saying, "I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the Great Sea. {3} "And four great beasts came up from the sea, each different from the other. {4} "The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings. I watched till its wings were plucked off; and it was lifted up from the earth and made to stand on two feet like a man, and a man's heart was given to it. {5} "And suddenly another beast, a second, like a bear. It was raised up on one side, and had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. And they said thus to it: 'Arise, devour much flesh!' {6} "After this I looked, and there was another, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird. The beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it. {7} "After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.

3. See Scripture Reading

(Revelation 17:15 NKJV) Then he said to me, "The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues.

(Daniel 10:12-13 NKJV) Then he said to me, "Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words. {13} "But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia.

(Daniel 10:20-21 NKJV) Then he said, "Do you know why I have come to you? And now I must return to fight with the prince of Persia; and when I have gone forth, indeed the prince of Greece will come. {21} "But I will tell you what is noted in the Scripture of Truth. (No one upholds me against these, except Michael your prince.

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(Revelation 12:9 NKJV) So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

(2 Corinthians 4:4 NKJV) whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.

7. See Scripture Reading

(Numbers 14:34 NKJV) 'According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, for each day you shall bear your guilt one year, namely forty years, and you shall know My rejection.

(Ezekiel 4:6 NKJV) "And when you have completed them, lie again on your right side; then you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days. I have laid on you a day for each year.

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Jesus the Lamb of God

(John 1:29 NKJV) The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

(John 1:36 NKJV) And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, "Behold the Lamb of God!"

12. See Scripture Reading

(Luke 22:3 NKJV) Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve.

13. See Scripture Reading

(2 Kings 1:9-14 NKJV) Then the king sent to him a captain of fifty with his fifty men. So he went up to him; and there he was, sitting on the top of a hill. And he spoke to him: "Man of God, the king has said, 'Come down!'" {10} So Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, "If I am a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men." And fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty. {11} Then he sent to him another captain of fifty with his fifty men. And he answered and said to him: "Man of God, thus has the king said, 'Come down quickly!'" {12} So Elijah answered and said to them, "If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men." And the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty. {13} Again, he sent a third captain of fifty with his fifty men. And the third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees before Elijah, and pleaded with him, and said to him: "Man of God, please let my life and the life of these fifty servants of yours be precious in your sight. {14} "Look, fire has come down from heaven and burned up the first two captains of fifties with their fifties. But let my life now be precious in your sight."

(Malachi 4:5 NKJV) Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.