80. Revelation 13-18 - Two Beasts And The Great Harlot Series

IN GOD'S IMAGE 80 - REVELATION 13-18 - TWO BEASTS AND THE GREAT HARLOT

This message is part of a series of 90 sermons based on the title, “In God’s Image – God’s Purpose for humanity.” This series of free sermons or the equivalent free book format is designed to take the reader through an amazing process beginning with God in prehistory and finishing with humanity joining God in eternity as His loving sons and daughters. It is at times, a painful yet fascinating story, not only for humanity, but also for God. As the sermons follow a chronological view of the story of salvation, it is highly recommend they be presented in numerical order rather than jumping to the more “interesting” or “controversial” subjects as the material builds on what is presented earlier. We also recommend reading the introduction prior to using the material. The free book version along with any graphics or figures mentioned in this series can be downloaded at www.ingodsimage.site - Gary Regazzoli

Last time we came face to face with the ultimate source of evil, the great red dragon.

• So far we have identified a number of sources representing the forces of evil.

• They were the despotic and cruel Roman emperors, his conquering armies, grasping businessmen, corrupt government agencies and false religious institutions, and finally a fierce supernatural red dragon called the “destroyer” and his evil cohorts.

• God is not going to allow these destroying evil forces to have their way forever and He is going to step in and bring this cycle of destruction to an end.

This is the focus of the book from this point on, the destruction of the destroyer and his evil cohorts both natural and supernatural.

• These evil agents have invaded God’s good earth and infested all areas of life with their wickedness.

• We see this represented now by the two beasts sponsored by the dragon, one that comes up out of the sea, the other out of the earth.

• Revelation 13:1 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.

• This is the same beast that was identified earlier, but now we get more details.

• What we see here is John adopting the same practice Daniel used to portray the natures of conquering empires as wild beasts.

• But John takes this symbolism further by combining these evil traits from Daniel’s first three beasts and combines them into the fourth fearsome beast.

• Revelation 13:2 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.

• This beast is used by Satan to inflict his wickedness on people by controlling the political arm of the Roman Empire.

• The Roman Empire rampaged across the earth crushing all in its path.

• Julius Caesar’s famous quote, “I came, I saw, I conquered.”

• Revelation 13:3 One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed.

• This is referring to the reincarnation of this type of evil power down through the ages.

• Regardless of the age, the dragon will infect each political system with his destructive evil influence.

• John in speaking to the churches, is again contrasting two types of power at work.

• The Lamb too had suffered a fatal wound but rises from death to give life while the beast rises from the dead to take life.

• The Lamb “conquers” by faithfully suffering death for others while the beast inflicts death on others.

• The Roman Empire prided itself on its system of justice, but their justice was implemented from the perspective of “might is right.”

• God’s justice in contrast is implemented from the perspective of “love.”

• Revelation 13:7 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.

• As mentioned earlier, the dragon inspired the beast to wage war with God’s people.

• Nero, for instance, blamed the burning of Rome on the Christians and unleashed violent persecution on the Christians.

• Christians were arrested and thrown to wild beasts in the circus or were crucified.

• Many were also burned to death at night in Nero’s gardens to serve as lighting while Nero mingled among the watching guests or rode around the fires in a chariot.

• Revelation 13:8-10 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.