The Greek word for beast refers to a “wild beast.” People become “brutish” when they assume as King Nebuchadnezzar did that they are self-made. Due to his foolish pride, Nebuchadnezzar eventually became like a beast, eating grass like an ox, until he lifted his eyes toward heaven and blessed the Lord. Then, the Lord restored his ability to rule again. Nebuchadnezzar learned the hard way that those who walk in pride, God is able to abase. [2]
King Saul experienced the anointing of the Holy Spirit, but later set up a monument to himself. After that, the Spirit of God departed from Saul and an evil spirit came upon him. Saul tried to kill David seven times. Saul ordered the massacre of God’s priests, as well as their spouses and children. He became an antichrist. He consulted a witch. He ended up committing suicide. [3]
The beast [antichrist] rises up out of the sea. The sea symbolizes people in turmoil. His seven heads, ten horns and ten diadems represent kingdoms of the world and their leaders. Diadems are what Olympic champions wear after their victories. These heads blaspheme the name of God. To blaspheme is to speak against God!
“Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority.” [4]
The beast, the antichrist, is a skillful predator. Like a leopard, he blends with his surroundings so he can approach his prey undetected. Like a bear’s paw, he can severely wound his prey with one quick strike. Like a lion’s mouth, his bite is powerful and deadly. The devil’s goal is to empower and enthrone these kind of people... to ensure that they have authority to carry out his cruelties against God’s people.
The Bible tells us the ”why” of such leaders. These leaders gain power and authority due to deception. Paul wrote, “They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.” When King Rehoboam and his nation abandoned the Law of God, God spoke to Rehoboam, saying, “They [your people] will, however, become subject to him [Shishak King of Egypt], so that they may learn the difference between serving me and serving the kings of other lands.” [5]
Jeremiah spoke of wild beasts as God’s judgment on transgression and backsliding. “Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased.” [6]
Solomon compared a wicked ruler to a lion and a bear. “As a roaring lion, and a ranging bear; so is a wicked ruler over the poor people.” Peter and Paul spoke of evil enemies as lions. [7]
“And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast.” “He was wounded by the sword and lived.” “And they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, ‘Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?’” [8]
The antichrist seems to resurrect from the dead. Afterwards, instead of exclaiming, “Who is like the Lord God?” people are exclaiming, “Who is like the beast?” The death of Jesus Christ on the cross and His subsequent resurrection was about God demonstrating His love for us. Jesus opened the way for us to receive the Holy Spirit’s fruits of love, joy and peace! The captives of Satan are more into war, bloodshed and vengeance on enemies. They are not praying for the Lord to turn swords into plowshares, or spears into pruning hooks... not anticipating a world where war no longer exist. Therefore, they are impressed with the beast who was struck with a sword and recovers. They impressed with him because he seems invincible.
“And he [the beast] was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for 42 months. Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His Name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.” [9]
This beast, a political leader, speaks proudly against God and the Name of Jesus. Inspired by Satan, he aims to cancel Christians. People from all nations and languages serve his agenda.
The Lord said to Pharaoh, “I raised you up, to show in you My power; and that My Name may be declared throughout all the earth.” The Lord called Babylon’s king His servant, saying, “All nations shall serve him, his son and his son’s son. God called the king of Babylon his battle axe to destroy the nations. God used Pharoah and Babylon’s king to help His people yearn for His help, and God helped and rescued them. [10]
The devil prefers people to serve him. The devil said to Jesus, “All this power will I give You, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.” When Pilate was about to crucify Jesus, Jesus said to Pilate, “You could have no power at all against Me, except it were given you from above.” We must not compromise with the devil. [11]
“All who dwell on the earth will worship him [the beast], whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” [12]
The only way to stand against the devil and his world leader is by the power of God. Jesus urges us to overcome evil with good. Jesus said to him who overcomes, “I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.” [13]
Only those whose names are recorded the Lamb’s a book of life will enter heavenly Jerusalem. “And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defiles, neither whatsoever works abomination nor makes a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” Moses spoke of this book, “Yet now, if You will not forgive their sin, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written.” Daniel spoke of it, “And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which stands for the children of your people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time your people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.” Jesus spoke of it, “Rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.” Paul spoke of it, “I intreat you also, true yokefellow, help those women which labored with me in the Gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellow laborers, whose names are in the book of life.” [14]
“If anyone has an ear, let him hear.” [15]
Jesus said to each of the churches in the Book of Revelation, “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches.” [16] This is a good prayer to pray for your loved ones and for the nations. “Please Lord Jesus give us ears to hear what Your Spirit is saying to us.”
“He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity; he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.” [17]
The above passage contains a quote from the Prophet Jeremiah. Here is the full passage: “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Even if Moses and Samuel stood before Me, My mind would not be favorable toward this people. Cast them out of My sight and let them go forth. And it shall be, if they say to you, ‘Where should we go?’ then you shall tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord: such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for the captivity, to the captivity. And I will appoint over them four forms of destruction, says the Lord: the sword to slay, the dogs to drag, the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. I will hand them over to trouble, to all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.’” [18]
The people of Jeremiah’s day had resisted the voice of God for so long that God determined to let some of them to die by sword, some by famine, some by dogs, some by birds and some by beasts. Likewise, the beast of Revelation 13 is the fruit of the world’s rejection of its Savior.
“Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon.” [19]
The Jamieson Fausett Brown Commentary suggests the second beast with the two horns like a lamb is a spiritual leader whereas the first one was a political leader. He “promotes the same interest... which is to draw men off from worshipping the true God... and subject the souls and consciences of men to the will and authority of men, in opposition to the will of God.”
Jesus warned us against false prophets who look like sheep but inwardly are ravening wolves. Paul warned against false apostles who transform themselves into apostles of Christ. [20]
The second beast is a worship leader. He leads people to worship the antichrist. “And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.” [21]
“He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men.” This is the very miracle which the two witnesses in the last chapter performed. Miracles of a demoniacal kind! Like the Egyptian magicians in the time of Moses, he is able to imitate a miracle of God by some deceptive means. [22]
“And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived.” [23]
A miracle is not enough to warrant belief in a professed revelation unless that revelation be in harmony with the Bible.
“He [the second beast] was granted power to give breath to the image of the [first] beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.” [24]
The Old Testament counterpart of the New Testament antichrist was King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. King Nebuchadnezzar set up a golden image to be worshipped. He made a decree that everyone should worship his image or die in a fiery furnace. Three of his officials refused to do so because of their love for God. They were cast into a fiery furnace. They would have perished except that a four person appeared with them. Nebuchadnezzar said that the fourth person looked like the Son of God. He was. The three officials came forth from the fire unharmed. Then, the King of Babylon decreed that no one should speak against their God. May the Lord grant us all the grace to always love and profess Him. [25]
“He causes all, both small and great, rich, and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.” [26]
Sometimes slaveowners and kings brand people as a cattle rancher brands his cattle. In this way, the slave, the owner and potential people stealers know without a doubt to whom the slave belongs. The antichrist brands people with the number 666. Some have suggested that this a trinity of humanism – body, soul and spirit – yielded to the glory of humankind rather than to God. 666 because God created man on the sixth day of creation.
Jamieson Fausett Brown Commentary states that the numeric value of the name Balaam in Hebrew is 666. Balaam was a false prophet who betrayed God and God’s people for the sake of personal gain. He counseled the enemy of God’s people, a foreign king, to employ his nation’s women to seduce God’s men so they that would sin with them sexually and become vulnerable to defeat. Later, the Lord shows John a harlot riding on the back of the beast. The devil uses lures of sensual pleasure to steal people’s hearts from God. [27]
The Lord told the Israelites. “You shall bind them [the commandments] for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.” Our eyes need to remain on God. We need to keep our hands serving Him. [28]
An angel previously warned, “If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand... the smoke of their torment ascends up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night....” Those who take the mark of the beast are “cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.” [29]
Those who refuse the mark end up with God. The Lord showed John those who had gotten the victory over the beast, his image, his mark, and over the number of his name. They were standing on the sea of glass with harps of God. They lived and reigned with Christ. [30]
Let the world reject us and abandon us if that what it takes to remain faithful and true to the Lord. If the government and the people of our nation have become one big crime syndicate, we still need to honor and serve the Lord. This life is short. The next life is eternal. God’s Word says, “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” I want to be received by my Lord Jesus and my Heavenly Father into heaven when I die so I will hold onto my relationship with Him and pray that His grace will help me to keep testifying for Him. [31]
[1] Revelation 13:1
[2] Jamieson Fausett Brown Commentary; Daniel 2; Daniel 7:4-7; Psalm 73:22
[3] 1 Samuel 10:10; 15:12; 16:14; 18-20; 22:18-20; 28:6-12; 31:4-6
[4] Revelation 13:2
[5] 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12; 2 Chronicles 12:1-8
[6] Jeremiah 5:6
[7] Proverbs 28:15; 2 Timothy 4:17, 1 Peter 5:8
[8] Revelation 13:3-4, 14
[9] Revelation 13:5-7
[10] Exodus 9:16; Jeremiah 27:6-7; Jeremiah 51:20-24
[11] Luke 4:6; John 19:11
[12] Revelation 13:8
[13] Romans 12:21; Revelation 3:5
[14] Revelation 21:27; Exodus 32:32; Daniel 12:1; Luke 10:20; Philippians 4:3
[15] Revelation 13:9
[16] Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22
[17] Revelation 13:10
[18] Jeremiah 15:1-4
[19] Revelation 13:11
[20] Matthew 7:15; 2 Corinthians 11:13-15
[21] Revelation 13:12
[22] Revelation 13:13; Exodus 7:11-12, 22, 8:7
[23] Revelation 13:14
[24] Revelation 13:15
[25] Daniel 3
[26] Revelation 13:16-18
[27] Numbers 22-24, 31:16
[28] Deuteronomy 6:8
[29] Revelation 14:9, 11; 19:20
[30] Revelation 15:2; 20:4
[31] Hebrews 9:27
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