Once upon a time there was an eccentric old king who wanted to give his throne to one of his two sons, but he didn’t know which one. So he decided to organize a horse race, in which the son who owned the slowest horse would become king. Each son was afraid that the other would cheat by running his horse at less the speed than it was capable, so they consulted the king’s advisor. He had only two words of advice, which insured that the race would be absolutely fair.
I’m not going to give you those two words just yet, but don’t you think it strange that a king should decree that the loser wins and the winner loses. That’s not the way our world works; and yet, there is such a King in heaven. His name is Jesus, and he tells us that the losers will inherit His Kingdom, not the winners.
Do you feel like a loser sometimes? Then this message is for you. If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Revelation 13, Revelation 13, where we see how the losers in this world really end up winning in the end. In this chapter, Satan, the old dragon, is mad. He has been frustrated in his attempts to destroy God’s people, the Jews, so he releases a 10-horned, 7-headed beast on the earth. Look at it…
Revelation 13:1-2 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. 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. (ESV)
What in the world is this beast? Well, Daniel, the Old Testament prophet, gives us a clue. He had a similar vision, which he describes in Daniel 7. Only, instead of just one beast, Daniel saw four beasts coming out of the sea. The first was like a lion. The second was like a bear. The third was like a leopard, and the fourth he describes as a “terrifying and frightening” beast, which was “very powerful” and had “10 horns,” just like this beast here in Revelation 13.
As it turns out, these four beasts are four world-powers, which Daniel saw long before most of them came on the scene. The first was the Babylonian Empire – the lion. The second was the Medo-Persian Empire – the bear. The third was the Greek Empire – the leopard, and the third was the Roman Empire – this “terrifying and frightening” beast. Daniel’s 4th beast is the same beast we have here in Revelation 13, the Roman Empire, which will actually rise again during the great tribulation to come.
Revelation 13:3 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. (ESV)
The Roman Empire was fatally wounded when the Barbarians ransacked the city of Rome in AD 476, but the Roman Empire will not stay dead. Indeed…
THE EMPIRE WILL STRIKE BACK with a vengeance unequaled in the history of the world.
Rome will indeed rise again out of the ash heap of history to dominate the world once again. Only next time she’ll come with “10 horns” (vs.1), or 10 powers. According to Daniel 7:24 and Revelation 17:12, 10 rulers will join forces to create this new world-power, and they will dominate the world during the great tribulation.
In fact, we see the stage being set right now for this in the nations that once made up the old Roman Empire. That empire stretched from Great Britain in the north down through Europe. It ringed the Mediterranean basin and extended into some parts of the Middle East. Well, many of these same nations are coming together in an alliance now called the European Union. They include nations from Western Europe, Eastern Europe, and even Turkey, which is now in the process of joining. That was not possible before the breakup of the Soviet Union.
It sure looks like the Roman Empire is emerging again just like Daniel and Revelation predict. In fact, several years ago (July 2006), the President of the European Union announced the publication of all EU news in Latin, the language of the old Roman Empire (Jimmy DeYoung, Prophecy Today, July 11, 2006). Even if some question whether or not the European Union is indeed a revival of the Old Roman Empire, the European Union sure sees themselves in that light.
They are the 7th head on this beast from the sea in Revelation 13. The other six heads represent the six world empires that came before: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Ancient Rome. The seventh head represents the Revived Roman Empire in its final form before Jesus comes again to set up His Kingdom.
The Empire will indeed strike back with a new emperor ruling the world. Verse 3 says, “The WHOLE EARTH marveled as they followed the beast” as embodied in its ruler. Revelation 17:10-11 calls this beast a “king.” Revelation 6 calls him a “conqueror.” Daniel 9 calls him “the prince who is to come.” 2 Thessalonians 2 calls him “the man of lawlessness.” And 1 John 2 calls him “the anti-Christ.”
Now, the emperor ruling Rome at the time John wrote the book of Revelation was Domitian. Pliny the Younger, a first century historian, called Domitian “the beast from hell who sat in its den, licking blood”. As such, he prefigures this future “beast” (or the antichrist), described here in Revelation 13.
Pliny describes Domitian as a military genius, a master builder, and a skilled administrator, perhaps one of the best who ever governed the Empire. However, there was something wrong with Domitian. He enjoyed catching flies and stabbing them with a pen. He liked to watch gladiatorial fights between women and dwarfs. And he was so suspicious of plots against his life, he greatly increased the number of imperial spies and killed many of his own officials.
Domitian was the first emperor to take on the title, “God the Lord”, and he insisted that other people acclaim his greatness by addressing him as “Lord of the earth,” “Invincible,” “Glory,” “Holy,” and “Thou Alone.”
This led to the persecution of many Christians and Jews, who acknowledged but one God, YHWH. First Century Christians declared, “Jesus is Lord,” not Caesar; and for that, many lost their lives or where exiled. In fact, John himself was in exile when he wrote the book of Revelation.
However, Domitian’s reign did not last. 15 years after he came to power, court officials assassinated him in A.D. 96, not long after John penned these words here in Revelation 13 (“Persecution in the Early Church,” Christian History, no. 27; www.PreachingToday.com).
This “beast” from hell” prefigures the “beast from hell” to come. He will be a military genius and a skilled administrator, and the whole earth will marvel as they follow this “beast”.
Now, people wonder how anyone would follow such a ruler today, but all you have to do is look at Donald Trump’s popularity in the current presidential race. Donald Trump is known as an unprincipled, ruthless businessman, who can get the job done, and that’s just what people are looking for today. With ISIS, Russia, Iran, China and North Korea posing very real threats in our world today, people are looking for a leader who can deal with those threats. They don’t really care if he’s the devil himself; they will follow him if they believe he can get results.
And that’s exactly how the Bible describes this future world ruler. He will be able to get results where many have failed before. Daniel 9 says that this “ruler who will come” will broker a 7-year peace treaty in the Middle East, and indeed the whole earth will marvel at such a feat! It’s really not that far-fetched, is it? The stage is in fact set for a revival of the Old Roman Empire and the rise of a new world ruler.
The Empire will indeed strike back; but as believers in Jesus Christ, we don’t have to fear. We don’t have to marvel at that power like the rest of the world. In fact, we don’t have to wonder at any earthly power. We don’t have to be astonished, because God’s power is far greater.
When George H. W. Bush was vice-president, a year before he was elected president, he attended the funeral of Soviet leader, Brezhnev.
The July 18, 1987 issue of the Washington Post quoted Bush’s comments about the funeral. He said, “An amazing thing happened… Things were run to a military precision; a coldness and hollowness pervaded the ceremony – marching soldiers, steel helmets, Marxist rhetoric, but no prayers, no comforting hymns, no mention of God.
“I happened to be in just the right spot to see Mrs. Brezhnev,” Bush said. “She walked up, took one last look at her husband and there – in the cold, gray center of that totalitarian state, she traced the sign of the cross over her husband's chest. I was stunned. In that simple act, God had broken through the core of the communist system.” (George Bush, quoted in the Washington Post, July 18, 1987; www.PreachingToday.com)
Just a few years later the whole system came crashing down and the Iron Curtain was gone! So don’t fear any earthly power. Don’t be astonished. Don’t marvel like the people of the world, because God’s power is greater than any earthly power. Instead, if you want to win in the end…
WONDER AT THE POWER OF GOD.
Stand in awe of HIS might and worship HIM alone. Don’t worship any earthly power like the world does.
Revelation 13:4-8 And they worshiped the dragon (or Satan), 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?” And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months. It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. 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, and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain. (ESV)
The powers of this world often oppose the people of God, and they may seem victorious for a time, but their time is limited. Even the Antichrist, during the Great Tribulation, will exercise his authority for only 42 months, or 3½ years (vs.5). He will spend the first 3½ years of the 7-year tribulation consolidating his power around the world. Then in the last 3½ years he will act, tyrannizing the world and attacking God’s people. But his time will quickly come to an end, so we don’t need to fear any earthly power.
Instead, we should fear the Lord, and only the Lord.
David McCullough in his book Mornings on Horseback tells this story about young Teddy Roosevelt:
“Mittie (his mother) had found he was so afraid of the Madison Square Church that he refused to set foot inside if alone. He was terrified, she discovered, of something called the 'zeal.' It was crouched in the dark corners of the church ready to jump at him, he said. When she asked what a zeal might be, he said he was not sure, but thought it was probably a large animal like an alligator or a dragon. He had heard the minister read about it from the Bible. Using a concordance, she read him those passages containing the word 'zeal' until suddenly, very excited, he told her to stop. The line was from the Book of John, (John 2)17: ‘And his disciples remembered that it was written, 'The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.’ (Greg Webb, Leadership, Vol. 10, no. 1)
Do you know, we SHOULD be afraid of the “zeal of the Lord,” because it COULD eat us up? Our Lord is good, but He isn’t safe.
Annie Dillard put it this way: “Why do we people in churches seem like cheerful, brainless tourists on a packaged tour of the Absolute? …
“On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside of the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning.
“We should all be wearing crash helmets [to church]. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return.” (Annie Dillard, “Teaching a Stone to Talk,” Christianity Today, Vol. 40, no. 9)
Do we realize what we have here today? We have the gospel, which is “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). God wants to do some awesome things in our lives, and God wants to use us is some awesome ways.
So let’s quit playing church. Let’s quit worrying about those who oppose us. And let’s utilize the power we’ve got – the power of the Gospel and the power of God’s love. If you want to win in the end, don’t marvel at any earthly power. Instead, worship God alone, and…
WAIT FOR HIM TO ACT.
Persevere until the Lord comes through. Endure until Jesus gets the victory. Keep on trusting God no matter what happens, because God always wins in the end.
Revelation 13:9 If anyone has an ear, let him hear: (ESV)
In other words, pay attention, God says…
Revelation 13:10 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. (ESV)
Now, this translation (ESV) makes it sound like the believer’s captivity and death are certain, that there is nothing we can do to stop it, so we must endure it with faith. But this is one of those very rare verses in the New Testament where scholars are not sure about the original text, whether some of the verbs are passive or active.
The English Standard Version and the New International Version use the passive verbs, but the New American Standard Bible and the King James Version both use the active verbs, which gives the verse a whole new spin. In those versions, the translation reads, “If anyone LEADS into captivity, to captivity he will go. If anyone KILLS with the sword, with the sword he must be killed.”
In other words, the captors will become the captives, and the killers will be killed under the judgment of God. During the Tribulation, Satan and his followers will seem to have won, but in the end, they lose BIG TIME! So endure, not so much because your captivity and death are certain, but because God will turn things around in the end.
Dear believing friend, no matter what you’re going through, hang in there. Don’t give up. Persevere, because in the end WE WIN, even though it looks like we’re losing right now.
There is a story of an old dog that fell into a farmer’s well. After assessing the situation, the farmer sympathized with the dog, but decided that neither the dog nor the well were worth saving. So he planned to bury the old dog in the well and put him out of his misery.
When the farmer began shoveling dirt into the well, the old dog was hysterical. But as the farmer continued shoveling and the dirt hit the dog’s back, a thought struck the old dog. It dawned on him that every time a shovel load of dirt landed on his back, he should shake it off and step up. And that’s what he did, blow after blow. “Shake it off and step up. Shake it off and step up. Shake it off and step up,” he kept saying to himself.
No matter how painful the blows or how distressing the situation got, the old dog fought panic and just kept shaking it off and stepping up. It wasn’t long before the dog, battered and exhausted, stepped triumphantly over the wall of that well. What he thought would bury him actually benefited him. (Bruce Shelley)
And that’s the way it is for every believer in Jesus Christ. What we think will bury us can actually benefit us if we shake it off and step up. If you want to win in the end, worship God alone and wait for Him to act on your behalf. Be patient and faithful until you step triumphantly into glory!
Remember the king who wanted to give his throne to one of his two sons, the one who owned the slowest horse? The king’s advisor gave them two words of advice to insure a fair race. Did anybody figure out what those two words were? They were “SWITCH HORSES.”
That’s what God does here. He switches horses. He turns the tables so that His people always win, even when it looks like they have lost.
I urge you, get on the winning side, God’s side, even though it looks like the losing side today. Trust Christ with your life, even though it might temporarily bring captivity and death; because in the end, it brings freedom and life.
