Revelation 13:1-10--The First Beast

Revelation 13:1-10
English Standard Version

The First Beast
13 And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads. 2 And the beast that I saw was like a leopard; its feet were like a bear's, and its mouth was like a lion's mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority. 3 One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast. 4 And they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?”

5 And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months. 6 It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. 7 Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation, 8 and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain. 9 If anyone has an ear, let him hear:

10 If anyone is to be taken captive,
    to captivity he goes;
if anyone is to be slain with the sword,
    with the sword must he be slain.

Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.

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Notice that this first beast has 10 horns and 7 heads just like the dragon that was described in the last chapter.  It comes from the sea (the Gentile nations) and it has characteristics of all four kingdoms prophesied by Daniel.  This beast will be like a leopard (like Greece/Macedonia, specifically the kingdom of Alexander the Great, who was able to conquer the known world with great speed like that of a leopard), it will have feet (paws) like a bear (like the vision of the Medo-Persian Empire, a divided kingdom allowed to trample several other godless nations), the mouth of a lion (representing Babylon and fierceness through which that kingdom devoured men and nations since the time of Nimrod, a mighty hunter of men), and it would have the power and authority of the dragon (which symbolized the Roman Empire in Daniel's vision, but we know now it more fully represented the kingdom of this world, of Satan, and of his Antichrist.  He will try to get people from all nation to worship him and the dragon (that is Satan).  He is allowed to perform many signs and wonders to deceive people--the greatest of which will be a false "resurrection" of sorts.

One of the heads of this beast will receive what appears to be a mortal wound, but it will be healed so that the whole world will marvel at what appears to be a miraculous healing.  This will validate for many that he is the "chosen one" that they need to follow because his life has been spared.  People of the earth will worship the dragon (Satan) because he has given power to the beast of the sea (the Antichrist) and the world will ascribe the Antichrist worship that only the true Christ deserves--“Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?”  They believe their question is rhetorical, but they are going to receive an answer from the true Christ soon and very soon.

The Antichrist is allowed to say haughty and boastful things and to be given great power and authority for 42 months (the first three-and-a-half years of the tribulation period).  It is not until the middle of the 7-year Tribulation period that Antichrist will be revealed for who he really is (more on that later, but you can also read about this in the book of Danie).  He was allowed to make war with the saints of God and to conquer them (remember those Tribulation martyrs that we saw gathering near the throne of God asking Him how much longer until the Lord poured out His wrath on the kingdoms of this world?)  He was given authority over all the nations and people and tongues of the world to make a coalition of people that have been divided since the Tower of Babel.  Remember what God said there? “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech.”  Satan has been trying to go back to this time of great rebellion despite God's attempts to slow and delay him until the time was right--now the time is right for all the rebellious peoples of the world to be gathered together in opposition to the Son so that the Son may pour out the wrath of God on those who are His enemies and utterly defeat them.

Everyone whose name is not written in the Lamb's Book of Life will be deceived by Satan and his Antichrist.  They will all become their worshipers and servants because they are captives of sin, the flesh, and the devil.  It is their destiny, because they rejected the one and only Son of God who is the only Way and the only Truth and the only Life for this cheap imitation).

No one is going to escape the coming judgment that the Lord has in store for the wicked.  They will not be freed from their captivity at this point.  They will not be able to hide or use trickery, diplomacy, or bribery to save their own lives when the judgment comes.  With a simple word from His mouth, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords will destroy all human flesh of those who think they are going to stand in opposition to Him.  It really won't be much of a fight--He will speak the word and it will be finished--I always imagine Him saying, "It is finished" just like He did from the cross and how He will do once again when He has restored all things to their original state in Revelation 21:6.  We end with a call for endurance for the saints, especially those who are going to live through the Tribulation.  Though times will be extremely dark, darkness can never be victorious over light because darkness is simply an absence of light--it cannot displace or dispel the light, even that is what Satan and the Antichrist are foolishly trying to do.

One note I'll make here is that it is interesting that this man appears to come up from among the Gentiles.  This explains why the world is so accepting of him, but it also explains why many of the Jews will be suspicious of him.  They know the prophecies about Messiah--that He was to be of the tribe of Judah, born in Bethlehem, and so forth.  It would seem that many won't care to try to examine this false Christ to see if he meets these basic qualifications.  In fact, it will become very clear to the Jews that are left that the Antichrist is not the true Christ, and they will understand the times they are in and run to the place of protection that the Lord has prepared for them.