Revelation 13:1-10 The Two Beasts
And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. 2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. 3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. 4 And they worshiped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshiped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? 5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. 6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. 7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindred's, and tongues, and nations. 8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. 9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.
10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.
In the last chapter, chapter 12 we read how God cast the Dragon/Satan out of heaven to the earth with a third of the angels because they had started a war against God in Heaven.
And today we will be looking at chapter 13 and we will see in this, the story of two beasts. One who was risen up out of the sea and the second risen up out of the earth. Each of these beast were given great powers from Satan to do his biding.
So lets break this chapter into two parts and start by looking at the first beast.
1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
Interestingly enough this beast in some was resembles the description of Satan in chapter 12:3 ~ And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems.
Both have seven heads and 10 horns but the beast here that comes out of the ocean has 3 more crowns than Satan. Now it may seem fit that this beast in some way is higher in authority than Satan being it has 3 more crowns but this isn't the case. Satan is the great deceiver and I think he is in some way trying to show the beast is more powerful than him for some reason. Satan has suffered several losses so far and he may have wanted to create the illusion that somehow this beast is a kind of new and improved version of himself.
This beast it says had written on its heads “the name of blasphemy”. This suggests to me that this name on its 7 heads would somehow imply it has some divine status. Maybe that it is god or christ.
2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
A leopard, a bear, and a lion are what makeup this beast visually. These are all things in which humans would be familiar with, and would look at these things as things of strength, power, cunningness, stealth, speed and I am sure we could include some other things.
It seems almost that if you were to ask someone what would the ultimate predator look like if you could combine parts from differing animals, it would be this beast. And Satan gave this beast power, his seat, and authority.
3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. 4 And they worshiped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshiped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?
The world will be easily deceived, and they will be easily deceived because they do not know God. Even many Christian's will be deceived, the weak will be, the ones that don't read their Bibles and study scripture, the ones who go to churches that are weak in their teaching and don't prepare Christians properly.
5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. 6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.
Anyone that tells you that there is something better or something more powerful than God, is a blasphemous liar. Anyone that tells you there is more than one God, is a blasphemous liar. Anyone who tells you that they are in some way divine, is a blasphemous liar. Anyone who tells you that you can be a god yourself is a blasphemous liar.
7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindred's, and tongues, and nations. 8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. 9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.
Jesus came to earth as a lamb ready for the slaughter. Amen Jesus will return as a lion. Amen If we believe scripture then we should prepare ourselves for war because it will happen scripture says. I think we as well need to transition ourselves from the lambs that we are - to the lions that we need to be, as Jesus will be, in order to serve Jesus well.
10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.
These are words of exhortation, exhortation means “to strongly encourage or urge someone to do something” that would be us the Christian. This verse is not saying anything against us who will be at war against the beast, but rather it is saying what will happen to the beast, what we the saints must do.
This is a battle cry to the saints to fight against the coming evil. And if you look around this country today the war has already begun. The question is will you fight for God and for righteouseness or will you sucumb and bend a knee to evil and allow it?
Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.
