The First Beast
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.
The Second Beast
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. (ESV)
5The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for forty-two months.
In verses 5-7 it says three times that the beast “was given” different things. This shows that the beast has no power of his own, but that all power that he has is given to him from God. That is reassuring to know that the devil and his allies are powerless on their own and can do nothing to us that God does not allow.
5The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for forty-two months.
This is a sad chapter, people on earth are worshipping satan, and not God who created them. It is also sad because they are rejecting the Lord. This reminds of the presidental race sure a canidate can say words, that can be proud, but can the candidate carry them out. satan couldn’t he is just trying to pump them up and say all this stuff, and have a hope that is totally going to fail, and he will get taken down and be thrown in to the lake of fire, in the coming of Christ the Lord. Marantha!
Woahhh Beth oh my gosh your sooo right ha i didnt realize that!!
Well this chapter is kinda scary to me. Just the thought of the devil having power over everything is just frightening. I dont understand how so many people can worship satan like they do.
…….and i jjust got where the whole 666 thing came from.
16He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead,
17so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name.
This will be an extreme test for the believers that face this. Can you imagine not being able to buy anything at the store because you are a Christian? How would you eat, live, etc.? This is intense persecution. I would like to think that I would have the faith and courage not to take the mark of the beast but how many times have I shied away or cowered under even mild persecution? This passage inspires me to act as strong now as I think I would act in the end times.
6He opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven.
This sort of reminds when the Philistine, Goliath defied God’s people, the Israelites. David was the only one who took courage and went against the Giant fearlessly. David was zealous for God as we should be also. When others curse God’s name we should warn them because they don’t fear God.
17so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name.
18This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man’s number. His number is
666.
Ths is going to be a very tough and trying time for the people who are still on earth. i think i remember that Jesus is going to come back after all this and take those who believe in Him with him, but don’t take my word for it. This will be a very hard decision to turn against if you can’t do anything without the mark
17so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name.
18This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man’s number. His number is 666.
Like Dan said, it really would be hard for christians in this time. They can’t buy things, or make any money. The only way you can is to get the sign of the beast. For all the people who become christains after the rapture will have it hard, but with God’s help, htey can last through it.
10If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity he will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword he will be killed. This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints.
God has called for us to face persecution, and some of us to die. We shouldn’t get freaked out though because it is all part of His perfect will, and He will use it for His glory. But like Dan said, we often find ourselves shying away from mild persecution, so we have to wonder if we will be able to have the boldness to face tough persecution like denying the mark of the beast or dying for Christ. But if that is God’s will for us we need to patiently endure it, knowing that He will be glorified. And thankfully He will be with us like He promises, and we will never face something we won’t be able to bear.
Beth, I really liked your comment. As I was reading through the chapter I noticed the same thing, the beast “was given” things 5 different times. All that he is doing is not of his own power or origin, but allowed by God.
Yeah Beth I was thinking the same thing, the beast was given the power to do those things he didn’t have his own power, God gave it to him.
18.) This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man’s number. His number is 666.
The is a scary realization, that the beast’s number is man’s number. This shows how evil and messed up mankind really is.
Great insight, Beth! It is often hard for me to understand why God let’s bad things happen to people every day, as well as in the future. In regards to this chapter, it is hard for me to understand why God would want to let the vast majority worship Satan so completely. Even Satan is completely compelled by God’s plan. Having faith that God will work everything together for good motivates me to trust His will.
wow Beth, good call:) that is actually comforting to know that God has power over EVERYTHING…even the devil.& kyle!!that was good…with the presidential candidate runners…so true
8All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.
in a way, this is comforting, knowing my name is in the Lams book of life…but its also disturbing, for non belivers.Revelation has evangelism written all over it!The things that are going to happen are so scary, i cannot even come close to imagining hell on earth.what we think is a tough or a bad situation is only a speck compared to what this chapter is describing!!knowing this, i would not want anyone to have to go through what is described above….and like jenae said, how could people worship satin!?!
when we are tempted, the temptation looks soo good, and once we give into it, the consequences are huge.thats why we need to be strong in building our faith up so we can recognize temptation and quickly turn away from it…turn away from satin, who makes worldly things look good, but then, look at what the end results are if you are of this world……i really dont even have to think twice to comprehend if its worth it….I would rather be made fun of for not falling into sin, then to become of this world.because nothing here is permanent….
okay i think i side-tracked enough:) but its really urgent to realize that man is against us, yet we need to be bold and spread the truth, even if it comes to persecution!
10 If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity he will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword he will be killed. This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints.
16 He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead,
17 so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name.
18 This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man’s number. His number is
666.
Wow! Really great comments everyone!! It’s scary knowing that a time will come when you will have to choose between giving in to the devil by having his mark, or radical persecution (v16-18). God tells us to have endurance and be faithful through the toughest of situations (v10). We need to know that if this happened while we’re still on earth, that we would not ever deny Christ. The next time we have the choice to proclaim God’s holy name and possibly get mocked, or take the easy way out and avoid that kind of situation, we should think of this chapter and do the right thing :)
The world will do anything so they can guiltlessly do sin. Of course as we know this is impossible because of the ultimate end to sin is hell for eternity, a place without God but with suffering. People will accept anything to stay away from God so the beast to them is a huge accomplishment. Like Beth said, God allowed the beast to have power it was not of his own accord. This chapter pretty much shows how depraved the world really is.
“If I could only be Perfect,” I was just now thinking to myself, “If I could only be Holy and set apart… Then!.. Then and only then will I know what it means to have unfailing love.” WHAT A FOOLISH THOUGHT!!!!!!!!
We have Christ, He was perfect for me! Because of His awesome sacrifice I DO have unfailing love, we all do. And what changed my stupid thought was this phrase in verse 8-
“the book of life belonging to the Lamb”
everything belongs to Christ, even the things “given” to the beast as it says in this chapter. We need to worry about anything at all, you know why? Cuz Christ has everything planned out even since before the beginning of time! It astonishes me to know how much I forget this, what a wretched man I am!
Lets look to Christ for His salvation that He gives and not rely on ourselves, but strive through faith in Him to BE like Him!
9 He who has an ear, let him hear.
John makes it so clear that this isn’t just a cool story that he is telling people to entertain them. This is a real future, and those who read his book need to prepare themselves, either by repenting and becoming Christians or (as Christians) by evangelizing to those who are unsaved and still are under God’s wrath. We need to realize where we fall and where those we love fall and make sure everyone is heeding John’s warning about the pouring out of God’s wrath and the beast that is to come.
5 The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for forty-two months.
6 He opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven.
7 He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation.
Wow about three in a half years with this beast that speaks prideful words and blashemies God. I don’t understand how God could allow the beast to have the authority to make war against his followers and slander His name. But I know there is a reason for everything that He does but it is ridiculous to me that this beast will slander our God’s holy name! In verse 7 it tells us that he will be given great power to try to destroy the saints but he has only a fraction of the power and strength of out Lord! With Him on our side nothing can stand in our way so there is no need to fear this beast. Who would you rather fear?….a beast that was only given his power and can only harm our bodys or the God of all the universe who can destroy both body and soul?
True that Brett, thanks for pointing that out, I didn’t see that comming.
10If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity he will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword he will be killed. This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints
Persecution will come. It is enevitable if we live out the Christian life the way God intended it to be. What kind of persecution we recieve should not matter, but how we handle persecution is the true test of faith, if we give up or complain about it to Christ then how are we growing in our walk with Him? We need to patiently endure the trials of Satan with an eternal hope of meeting Christ; this will be our motivation through the toughest of times.