Revelation 13

¹ 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. ² 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. 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. ⁴ And they worshiped the dragon, 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?” ⁵ And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months. ⁶ It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. ⁷ 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, ⁸ 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. ⁹ If anyone has an ear, let him hear: 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. ¹¹ Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. ¹² It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed. ¹³ It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people, ¹⁴ and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived. ¹⁵ And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain. ¹⁶ Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, ¹⁷ so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. ¹⁸ This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.

Artistic depictions of scenes from the book of Revelation are a mixed bag! Some are terrible. Some are good. All are usually a bit odd, as efforts to depict in pictorial form apocalyptic imagery must inevitably be! Revelation 13 positively begs for artistic depiction, given its vivid and detail imagery. Here is one such attempt from the past:

That is an interesting image, though, regrettably, it only includes two of the major players in the chapter. Here is another artistic effort that is about as good as any other. This is from a 1530 edition of the Luther Bible:

Here we see all of the major players from this amazing chapter:

• Fire from the dragon.

• The seven-headed beast coming out of the sea.

• The lamb-like beast coming out of the earth.

• The peoples of the earth.

As you can see, there is a lot going on in Revelation 13! Let us jump right in!

The Beast out of the Sea: The Rage of the World’s Powers.

To get at Revelation 13 we need first to remember how Revelation 12 ended.

¹⁷ Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea.

So the devil, frustrated and angry, calls forth his hellish assistants to help him attack the people of God. Revelation 13 depicts these assistants.

¹ 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.

The diadems speak of authority and power. Robert Mounce notes that “[t]here is little doubt that for John the beast was the Roman Empire as persecutor of the church” and makes the interesting observation that the beast comes out of the sea “just as the Roman troops did when they invaded the eastern Mediterranean.” But Mounce correctly goes on to add, “Yet the beast is more than the Roman Empire” and that the “complete fulfillment” of this imagery “awaits the final denouement of human history.”[1] I agree with this. There can be an immediate reference point for these images alongside a recognition that they will be fulfilled in the end in a fuller sense.

² 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.

At this point we should recognize that John appears to be both alluding to and altering/combining the four beasts out of the sea that Daniel spoke of in Daniel 7. Note the similarities between our text and these verses from Daniel 7:

• ^4a-b The first was like a lion and had eagles’ wings…

• ^5a And behold, another beast, a second one, like a bear…

• ^6a After this I looked, and behold, another, like a leopard…

• ⁷ After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.

It is worth noting that in Daniel 7 the beasts are clearly references to worldly powers (i.e., Daniel 7:17-18—‘These four great beasts are four kings who shall arise out of the earth. But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, forever and ever.’”) This will help us in our interpretation of Revelation 13, which continues thus:

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.

Much has been made of the wounding and healing of one of the beast’s heads. Is this a reference to Nero who many Romans and apparently even many Jews of the time thought would or had come back from his own death? Many commentators suggest it could simply be a reference to the beast’s great strength and demonic power. Or, most interesting of all in my opinion, could it be a reference back to the prophesied wounding of Satan announced in Genesis 3?

¹⁵ I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

Regardless, “the whole earth marveled” at the healing that followed this wound. Next we see the chilling relationship between the dragon and the beast.

⁴ And they worshiped the dragon, 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?”

Notice that to worship the beast is to worship the dragon who sent him forth and enables and empowers him. Whenever we worship an emissary of Satan we are, knowingly or unknowingly, worshiping Satan himself. Notice too the actions of the beast:

⁵ And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months. ⁶ It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. ⁷ 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, ⁸ 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.

The beast blasphemes and does his diabolical work in the great tribulation, the forty-two months. He makes war against God’s people. He deceives the entire non-Christian world. He persecutes and mocks and attacks followers of Jesus.

This beast from the sea is usually thought of as a picture of the world’s fallen powers. In Revelation 17 the waters are equated with the nations and peoples of the earth.

¹⁵ And the angel said to me, “The waters that you saw, where the prostitute is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages.”

This beast is a picture of a fallen world hostile to the people of God. I do not deny that he may very well be a charismatic individual, the Antichrist, but his damage is wrought through the power structures of the nations that he deceives and wields power over and seduces and controls. The world will indeed grow increasingly hostile to the people of God and governments and entities and powers will persecute the followers of the Lamb.

The Beast out of the Earth: The Deceit of False Religion

The beast from the sea is traditionally thought to be the Antichrist. The second beast, the beast from the earth, will be identified as “the false prophet” later in Revelation.

¹¹ Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. ¹² It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed. ¹³ It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people, ¹⁴ and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived. ¹⁵ And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain. ¹⁶ Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, ¹⁷ so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. ¹⁸ This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.

You will notice that the first beast seems to do the bidding of the dragon and that the second beast seems to do the bidding of the first beast. His work is likewise demonic. Observe:

• It has authority.

• It leads people to worship the first beast (which, in turn, makes them worshipers of the great dragon).

• It performs miracles.

• It deceives the world.

• It leads the world to make an idol of the first beast.

• It is allowed to give breath to the idol so that it speaks and slays those who will not worship the beast from the sea.

• It marks the inhabitants of the world with a mark needed for commerce.

Finally, we are given the infamous and enigmatic “number of the beast,” 666. It would be impossible to list all of the attempts to define this number or to attribute it to this or that person. Frankly, it can be made to apply to just about anybody if you play with the numbers long enough. Perhaps the most consistently recurring suggestion is that it is a reference to Nero, the persecutor of the church, and, using gematria, or the ancient system of attributing numerical values to letters of the alphabet (i.e., George Eldon Ladd mentions “a wall-scribbling from Pompeii which reads, ‘I love her whose number is 545.’”[2]), Nero can be made to work. But, as we have said, it can be made to work with just about anything. It could simply be a reference to pure evil, six being the imperfect number. Perhaps it is used three times here to refer to the three evil manifestations of Revelation 13: the dragon, the Antichrist, and the false prophet.

And this possibility leads us to one of the most disturbing realities about this chapter, and that is this: this chapter is filled with evidences of the devil’s desire to blasphemously parody the one true God. Consider:

• The dragon, the beast from the sea, and the beast from the earth are a hellish parody of the Trinity. (The dragon puts his stamp on the beast from the sea, the Antichrist, and the false prophet points all people to the Antichrist.)

• There is a demonic kind of resurrection in the wounded head of the beast from the sea that is healed and then marveled at by the nations (v.3). Danny Akin observes:

The word wounded is the same word in Greek translated “slaughtered” in 5:6,9. There it addresses the vicarious death of the Lamb. Chapter 13 verse 14 adds that the beast “had the sword wound and yet lived.” The word lived is “the very term used for Jesus’ resurrection in 2:8” (Osborne, Revelation, 495).[3]

• The language of verse 7 about the beast from the sea (“And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation”) seems not only to parody the Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20 and Acts 1:8 but also the imagery of Revelation 7:9 (“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb…”)

• The false prophet, the beast from the earth, looks “like a lamb” (v.11).

• The false prophet performs miracles.

• The false prophet marks people in mockery of Revelation 9:4 where we are told that God’s people “have the seal of God on their foreheads.”

What we have in Revelation 13 is therefore a satanic parody and mockery of the true God—Father, Son, and Spirit—that will deceive all who are not followers of Jesus. It is a picture of a world that has definitively turned away from the truth of the gospel and from the God who created it.

The Bride of Christ: Persecuted but Victorious

All of this, of course, sounds very dire indeed. And, yes, there is pain here, there is suffering here, there is martyrdom here. And yet…the book of Revelation is still a picture of the victory of the Lamb and of His church. In the middle of our chapter, Revelation 13, we read:

⁹ If anyone has an ear, let him hear: 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.

Yes, “here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.” Faith? Faith! All of this is not meant to break our faith, it is meant to bolster our faith! Why? Because in addition to the pictures of ultimate victory that we have already seen we read this in Revelation 15:

² And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire—and also those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands.

That is a clear reference to our text! Alongside the suffering and pain and the martyrdom, we are still told that the church is victorious! Why? Because for a crucified and resurrected people, death has no final power over them!

Similarly, in the chapter immediately preceding our chapter, in Revelation 12, we read:

¹¹ And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.

So, yes, read and understand, but do not fear! Understand what these terrifying images mean but understand too what they do not mean.

The parody, demonic trinity of dragon/Antichrist/false prophet are no match for Father, Son, and Spirit.

There is, in fact, something pitiful about this false trinity. It is shoddy. It is shabby. It is fake. It is doomed to fail.

Jesus, however, the Lamb of God, is the death killer, the dragon slayer, the beast destroyer, the false prophet vanquisher. Jesus is the true resurrection. Jesus is the true miracle worker. Jesus does not perform tricks, slights of hand, magic tricks.

Jesus never deceives.

Jesus never tricks.

Jesus never disappoints.

And Jesus’ victory for His people is certain and sure.

The Lamb remains greater than the dragon, and the triune God makes this wretched imposter look like the tawdry thing it is.

All hail the King of Kings! All hail the Lamb! All hail King Jesus!

Crown him with many crowns,
The Lamb upon his throne;
Hark! how the heavenly anthem drowns
All music but its own:

Awake, my soul, and sing
Of him who died for thee,
And hail him as thy matchless king
Through all eternity.

Crown him the Lord of love!
Behold his hands and side,–
Rich wounds, yet visible above,
In beauty glorified:

No angel in the sky
Can fully bear that sight,
But downward bends his burning eye
At mysteries so bright!

Crown him the Lord of peace!
Whose power a scepter sways,
From pole to pole,–that wars may cease,
Absorbed in prayer and praise:

his reign shall know no end,
And round his pierced feet
Fair flowers of paradise extend
Their fragrance ever sweet.

Crown him the Lord of years!
The Potentate of time,–
Creator of the rolling spheres,
Ineffably sublime!

Glassed in a sea of light,
Where everlasting waves
Reflect his throne,–the Infinite!
Who lives,–and loves–and saves.

Crown him the Lord of heaven!
One with the Father known,–
And the blest Spirit, through him given
From yonder triune throne!

All hail! Redeemer,–Hail!
For Thou hast died for me;
Thy praise shall never, never fail
Throughout eternity!

Crown him the Lord of life
Who triumphed o’er the grave,
And rose victorious in the strife
For those he came to save;

His glories now we sing
Who died, and rose on high.
Who died, eternal life to bring
And lives that death may die.

Crown him the Lord of heaven,
Enthroned in worlds above;
Crown him the king, to whom is given
The wondrous name of Love,

Crown him with many crowns,
As thrones before him fall.
Crown him, ye kings, with many crowns,
For He is King of all.

And the church says, Amen!

 

[1] Robert H. Mounce. The Book of Revelation. Rev. ed. The New International Commentary on the New Testament. (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1977), p.246.

[2] George Eldon Ladd. A Commentary on the Revelation of John. (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1972), p.186.

[3] Daniel Akin. Exalting Jesus in Revelation (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary) (p. 248). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.