Our Fight With Satan's Minion, Beast #1 (Revelation 13:1-10) Series

So Satan picks out certain nations to give his authority, and power, and throne to. And he does this, to accomplish two main things: The first, is to attack God's people. Satan gives his throne, and power, and authority to humans, and to human empires, to wage war with Christians. He wants us in prison. He wants us dead. And he will be successful. We will be defeated. We will lose.

The second thing satan wants to accomplish through the Beast, is to deceive people into following the Beast, rather than the Lamb. There's something about military might that sucks people in, and leads them to all kinds of stupid, blasphemous ideas. They see chariots, and soldiers, and tanks, and aircraft carriers, and they say, "Who is like the Beast, and who is able to conquer it?" They treat human empires like gods. They pledge their allegiance to the wrong flag. They bow down, and swear loyalty to the Beast.

And this is true across the world. The Beast has many heads (or, perhaps, once we include Revelation 17, we'd say instead that there are many beasts). And across the world, people may marvel at different heads, worshipping them. But the heads are all connected to one beast, sent by satan.

And so Revelation 13 challenges us to rethink how we view human empires, and human leaders. We, like the first century Roman Christians, have a tendency to compromise ourselves. We put a Christian flag in one corner of church, and a U.S. flag in the other. We act like the Lamb and the Beast can both be worshipped, and followed. But there can be only one Lord, and you have to make a choice. From John's perspective, this is not a tough choice. In the end, the Lamb is incomparable. The Lamb willing suffered, and died, non-violently, to purchase us, and make us into a kingdom of priests. To the One Seated on the Throne and to the Lamb, belong all glory, and honor, and praise.

So we understand, looking at this passage, what satan hopes to accomplish through the beast. He wants to harm God's people. And he wants to deceive people into following the Beast, rather than the Lamb. And we see, that satan will be partially successful. God's people get conquered. We lose.

But there's something else, underneath all of this, that I'd like you to see. God's master plan in all of this, is just below the surface. Let's reread verses 5 and 7:

(5) and "it was given to him" a mouth speaking great and slanderous/blasphemous things,

and "it was given to him" authority to act for 42 months,

(7) and "it was given to him" to make war with the holy ones

and to conquer/overcome them,

and "it was given to him" authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation/Gentile nation,

(8) and all the ones dwelling upon the earth will worship/bow down,

[the one] whose name isn't written in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world.

Four times, we are told that "it was given to him." This is a divine passive-- it's a way of talking about God.