CHAPTER 13
v. 1 and I saw a beast rising from the sea having ten horns and seven heads and on its horns ten crowns and on its heads names of blasphemy.
v. 2 and the beast I saw was like a leopard, and its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s, and the dragon gave it its power, and his throne and huge authority.
v. 3 and one of its heads was as if it had been killed to death, and the wound of its death was healed; and the whole earth was amazed by the beast.
v. 4 and they worshiped the dragon who had given the beast its power, and they worshiped the beast saying “who is like the beast? And who is able to make war with him?”
v. 5 and there was given to him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and he was given authority to do things forty-two months.
v. 6 and he opened his mouth, blaspheming toward God, blaspheming His name, and his tabernacle, and those living in heaven
v. 7 and he was given the ability to make war with the saints and he overcome them, and was given authority (power) over every tribe, and people, and language, and nation;
v. 8 and all who live on the earth will worship him, those who’s names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world.
v. 9 if anyone has an ear, let him hear.
v. 10 if anyone goes into captivity, to captivity he goes; if anyone kills with the sword; by the sword he’ll be killed. Here is the patience and faith of the saints.
Commentary
v.1 Beast A dangerous, untamed animal. The Sea is often a reference to multitudes (Gen 22:17; 32:12; 41:49; Joshua 11:4; Judges 7:12; 1 Sam 13:5; 2 Samuel 17;11, etc.) Concerning horns See 12:3. ten See Daniel 2:40-45. heads See 12:3, also for crowns (diadem), etc.
v.2 leopard also lion, and bear see Daniel 7:15-27.
v.3-4 they worship See 2 Thessalonians 2:4
v. 5-6 blasphemies Matt. 12:31, 15:19; Mark 7:22; John 10:33; Ephesians 4:31; Colossians 3:8; Rev. 2:9; 13:5,6; 17:3, etc. 42 months is Three and a half years: See Numbers 35:6; 2 Kings 2:24; Daniel 7:27; 12:7, also, time, times & half a time, three & a half, above- (Revelation 12:14).
v.7 overcome Matthew 16:18 all worship see above, vv. 3-4
v 8 All who live on the earth worship the beast. This itself is wondrous. It’s difficult to get any group of people to worship the same thing in the same way. Amazingly, because of the condition of the human heart, it is possible for satan to attain the worship of the multitudes, while the worship of the one True God has always been the work of a minority.
v 9 ear to hear, see all of the messages of Jesus to the churches in Revelation 2-3.
v 10 the patience and faith of the saints is that eventually those who do evil will receive their judgment in time.
Message:
In Due Season: the patience and faith of the saints
First, you are a saint. You may not feel like it; I certainly don’t. But the Bible teaches that we are called since before the foundation of the world (Romans 8), and we are set apart to God’s service (Hebrews 10:10, etc). We are made holy by the blood of Jesus, not by anything we have done or not done. As Spurgeon said, it’s all of grace (a small book worth reading for those who can make the time https://www.ccel.org/ccel/spurgeon/grace/files/grace.html). So, our patience and faith is that judgment will eventually come to those who deserve it. This may seem like an odd sort of comfort. Jesus said
Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Matthew 5:43-48
So, we are to be like God, forgiving, loving, giving, even caring for people who have done us wrong. Yet, even for this, there are limits. Think about Hitler, whose Nazi empire was responsible for the war that resulted in 70,000,000 casualties, or Stalin, who was responsible for the horrific deaths of 15,000,000 of his own people. Some people move beyond the possibility of repentance. They are completely given over to evil. If there isn’t an especially hot place in hell for such extreme cases, I think most of us would agree there is something wrong with the universe. In the Tribulation the Beast and the False Prophet will murder millions of people, as real villains did in the past century. We can rest in the settled fact that such evil will not win in the end. There is justice. There is a very old saying “the wheels of God’s justice grind slowly but exceeding fine”.
Jesus calls us to an extraordinary kind of grace that forgives even the most heinous misuse. Yet, honestly, most of us reach our maximum limit of patience long before anyone even approaches the atrocities of history. We have a choice each day, sometimes many times in the day, to pursue and become like Jesus, who prayed forgiveness even those who were crucifying Him, or, as Milton described Lucifer in Paradise Lost:
Nor what the potent Victor in his rage
Can else inflict, do I repent, or change,
Though changed in outward lustre, that fixed mind,
And high disdain from sense of injured merit,
Milton had the insight, and I think was right, that those who do evil often think themselves right-and they are unwilling to repent. Satan thought he deserved better, and was willing to make war, and lose his place in heaven to get what he thought was his due. Jesus deserved better, but was willing leave heaven to die on a cross to make peace. We are most like Christ when we forgive and pursue peace, and most like Lucifer when we fight for our rights and are willing to separate on small issues. I’ve seen this willingness to make war in churches and families and also in myself. Maybe as we contemplate both the Incarnation of Jesus and the onset of the New Year, we would all do well to consider what price we might be willing to pay to become better peacemakers. It is not perfect people that are saints. It’s the peacemakers that will be called the Children of God. And we can have rest in the fact that God will take care of judgment, if we will take care of love.
Prayer for Today
Father,
As Your child, I should be treated better. Jesus should have been treated better too. As Your child, Your servant, I beg You to give me the strength to forgive and love as Jesus did. Grant me Your grace.
Teach me to rest in Your ability and willingness to judge in righteousness.
Bless those who curse me.
In the name of Jesus, who endured every curse to set me free
Amen.
