Lesson 37
Revelation
Chapter Thirteen
The Rise and reign of
the Beasts!
Review:
13:5-6 The Beast's activity detailed; His
blasphemous character!
- 1st we find here his evil character manifested.
"a mouth
speaking arrogant words and blasphemies;"
Dan 7:8 great boasts,
His arrogant boastful words will be designed to
elevate him to the level of God; to claim deity for himself!
This section speaks to the beasts
new status as the GWD; a step up from his position as the leader of the RRE
attained during the first half of the Trib!
Vs:6
expands on his arrogant words
- The B.L. is that he
attempts to magnify himself above all gods. Dan 11:37
13:7 The Universal
Dominion of the Beast!
- "It was given
to him" indicates that the source of his power and authority to make
war with the saints and victory over them is from Satan.
- parallels
with Daniel
13:8 Universal worship of the beast - qualified!
He will appear to have the answer to all of man's
problems. A humanistic philosophy of life will dominate the world scene.
But we need to remember that ultimately man is not
worshiping man in humanism but is in
reality worshiping Satan!
- For the individual who
goes thru life, rejects Jesus Christ as Savior, therefore the unbeliever, when he dies, his
name is blotted out of the book of life.
Being not in the book results in going to the LOF 20:15
- For the believer, the
absolute promise is your name is not blotted out of the book of life! You have eternal life!
13:9 Call to Positive volition; To pay attention to the preceding!
- At the end of each of
the addresses to the 7 churches we had this phrase; slightly different; what
the Spirit says to the churches is missing here in ch-13;
- this
is very significant; Why?
Verse does two things:
A reminder to the saints
of the Tribulation that God is still in control of history.
An encouragement for the
saints
Observations:
1. Taken as a whole, the
first 10 verses of Rev 13 predict a future world government which from God's point of view
will be a revival of the
2. This government will
be empowered by Satan, and its primary objective will be forcing the whole
world to worship Satan through his on the scene agent, the GWD.
3. The purpose of Satan
to take the place of God in this future great tribulation is the motivating
power behind Satan's activities today.
4. Satan's desire to be
like God originally plunged the universe into sin. (Isa 14:14)
5. His program has never
changed, and he is seeking today as throughout his career to lure men to obey
him instead of God.
6. In the great
tribulation this purpose will become transparently clear and after its
manifestation those involved will be brought under divine judgment.
This is another, alloj, another of the same
kind, same kind of evil as the first beast; with the same source of power.
- This beast is called in 3 places the false
prophet!
Because he is called the false prophet; we know that he is
a religious character and the reference to the coming out of the earth ensures
that we understand that he is a creature of the earth and that the focus in
worship is from the source of the earth and not heaven.
When a thing is of the
earth it can not please God! Lk 16:15
His Description: 3 characteristics emphasized
1. He has 2 horns like a lamb; horns indicate strength and power and
authority.
2. While being like a lamb indicates his religious nature;
3. He speaks as the
dragon; indicates he speaks with the power and authority of Satan!
** We have now been
introduced to the third and final member of the unholy trinity; the Satanic
trinity.
#1. The dragon or Satan is the counterfeit father "I will
be like the most High"
#2. The first beast is the counterfeit Christ, Messiah.
[demand worship]
#3. The second beast, the false prophet is the
counterfeit Holy Spirit.