Revelation 13:1-18 Lesson 485

Revelation 13:1-18 Lesson 485

Read both the "King James Bible" and the "New Living Translation."

In this lesson:

John's vision continues.
Two beasts and the talking statue.

Satan brings evil.

Study Tip:

Read each Bible passage a second time, it helps reinforce lessons learned and you will catch important points you might have missed with the first read.

The Revelation of Saint John the Divine

The King James Bible

Revelation 13:1-18
666

1And 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.

2And 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.

3And 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.

4And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

5And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

6And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.

7And 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.

8And 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.

9If any man have an ear, let him hear.

10He 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.

11And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.

12And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.

13And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,

14And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

15And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

16And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

17And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

18Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

Margin notes:

"I stood upon the sand." (13:1) - This is John, the author of this book, speaking.

"Saw a beast rise up out of the sea." (13:1) - This is the antichrist, the first of two beasts (false prophets, satanic leaders) Satan will use to make war on Christians (12:17). Preterists believe the beast represents the oppressive Roman Empire while futurists feel it is a prediction of an evil world government (or its satanic leader) that will rise up just before Christ returns. Still other Christians (Historicists) are convinced the beast represents both the religious persecution that came out of Rome and the persecution to come.

"The dragon." (13:2) - Satan.

"And his seat." (13:2) - "And his throne."

"Wounded to death." (13:3) - "Fatally wounded."

"And all the world wondered after the beast." (13:3) - "And all the world was amazed that the beast (false prophet, satanic leader) survived." The beast will deceive people that, like Jesus, he has been resurrected from the dead.

"They worshipped the dragon." (13:4) - Again, the dragon is Satan. The job of the beast is to get people to to worship Satan.

"Who is like unto the beast?" (13:4) - Unbelievers will worship the beast just as believers worship God. See 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4.

"There was given unto him a mouth speaking great things." (13:5) - God will allow him to deceive unbelievers as prophesized in Daniel 7:25 over 2500 years ago.

"And his tabernacle." (13:6) - "And His dwelling (heaven)."

"To make war with the saints." (13:7) - "To make war on Christians."

"And power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations." (13:7) - "And he was given power over all people, languages and countries." This power will last only forty-two months (13:5) while Jesus will have "everlasting" power (Daniel 7:14).

"All that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life." (13:8) - Means, all non-believers will worship the beast (leader).

"The Lamb." (13:8) - "Jesus."

"He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword." (13:10) -Means, "Those (Christians) destined for prison will go to prison, those destined to die will be killed." This refers to a time of great anti- Christian persecution.

"I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth." (13:11) - While the first beast (satanic leader) uses force to coerce, this second beast is a religious leader, a false prophet (Revelation 16:13; 19:20; 20:10) who will use trickery and deceit. Some scholars (Preterists) believe the second beast symbolizes pagan priests of the past who encouraged people to worship Roman emperors as gods. Others (futurists) feel he stands for a future false prophet who will rise up and form an unholy trinity with the dragon (Satan) and the "beast" from "the sea" (13:1) in order to challenge the Holy Trinity (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost). Still others (Historicists) believe the beast is symbolic of the persecution of the past and the future.

"Two horns." (13:11) - The second beast will not have the power of the first beast with ten horns (13:1).

"He spake as a dragon." (13:11) - "He spoke like Satan." Because he is Satan's representative.

"Causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast." (13:12) - "Ordered everyone in the world to worship the first beast."

"He doeth great wonders." (13:13) - As prophesied in 2 Thessalonians 2:9.

"He causeth all." (13:16) - "He makes everyone."

"Receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads." (13:16) - This "mark of the beast" is a tattoo or other permanent marking that will identify the followers of the beast.

"No man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark." (13:17) - "No one can buy or sell anything (food, clothing, housing, etc.), except those who had the mark." This will make it difficult for Christians to survive without following the antichrist.

"Here is wisdom." (13:18) - "This requires wisdom."

"And his number is Six hundred threescore and six." (13:18) - "And his number is 666." In John's day many Christians believed the number 666 referred to the Roman emperor Nero who persecuted Christians and was worshipped as a God. Futurists believe 666 represents an antichrist leader yet to come. Throughout the centuries well meaning people have claimed that 666 stood for people ranging from Nero to the Catholic Pope to Napoleon Bonaparte to Adolf Hitler.

To read more of what John says about the antichrist see 1 John 2:18-23 and 2 John 1:7.

New Living Translation

Revelation 13:1-18
The Beast out of the Sea

1 Then I saw a beast rising up out of the sea. It had seven heads and ten horns, with ten crowns on its horns. And written on each head were names that blasphemed God. 2 This beast looked like a leopard, but it had the feet of a bear and the mouth of a lion! And the dragon gave the beast his own power and throne and great authority.

3 I saw that one of the heads of the beast seemed wounded beyond recovery-but the fatal wound was healed! The whole world marveled at this miracle and gave allegiance to the beast. 4 They worshiped the dragon for giving the beast such power, and they also worshiped the beast. "Who is as great as the beast?" they exclaimed. "Who is able to fight against him?"

5 Then the beast was allowed to speak great blasphemies against God. And he was given authority to do whatever he wanted for forty-two months. 6 And he spoke terrible words of blasphemy against God, slandering his name and his dwelling-that is, those who dwell in heaven. 7 And the beast was allowed to wage war against God's holy people and to conquer them. And he was given authority to rule over every tribe and people and language and nation. 8 And all the people who belong to this world worshiped the beast. They are the ones whose names were not written in the Book of Life before the world was made-the Book that belongs to the Lamb who was slaughtered.

9 Anyone with ears to hear
      should listen and understand.

10 Anyone who is destined for prison
      will be taken to prison.
   Anyone destined to die by the sword
      will die by the sword.

  This means that God's holy people must endure persecution patiently and remain faithful.

The Beast out of the Earth

11 Then I saw another beast come up out of the earth. He had two horns like those of a lamb, but he spoke with the voice of a dragon. 12 He exercised all the authority of the first beast. And he required all the earth and its people to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. 13 He did astounding miracles, even making fire flash down to earth from the sky while everyone was watching. 14 And with all the miracles he was allowed to perform on behalf of the first beast, he deceived all the people who belong to this world. He ordered the people to make a great statue of the first beast, who was fatally wounded and then came back to life. 15 He was then permitted to give life to this statue so that it could speak. Then the statue of the beast commanded that anyone refusing to worship it must die.

16 He required everyone-small and great, rich and poor, free and slave-to be given a mark on the right hand or on the forehead. 17 And no one could buy or sell anything without that mark, which was either the name of the beast or the number representing his name. 18 Wisdom is needed here. Let the one with understanding solve the meaning of the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. His number is 666.

This second Bible text from the "New Living Translation" (Tyndale House, Publishers, Wheaton, Illinois) is a paraphrase and not an accurate word for word translation of the Bible. However, it is a helpful tool when read with the "King James Version."

Strengthen your relationship with God by studying the Bible every day.

Application thought for the day:

What does this segment teach about Satan?
Should we still fear Satan today?

Thanks to the writings and commentary of John Wesley and Adam Clarke. Also, "The Layman's Bible Study Notebook" by Irving Jensen published by Harvest House Publishing, Irvine, California; the "Life Change Series" published by NavPress Books, Colorado Springs, Colorado; the "Life Application Study Bible" published by Tyndale House Publishing, Carol Stream, Illinois; "The Quest Study Bible" published by The Zondervan Corporation, Grand Rapids, Michigan; "Robertson's New Testament Word Studies"; "The MacArthur Bible Commentary" by John MacArthur published by Thomas Nelson, Nashville, Tennessee; "Wisdom of the Bible" CD by Topics Entertainment, Inc., Renton, Washington for their inspiring pictures; "My utmost for His Highest" by Oswald Chambers published by Barbour publishing, Inc., Uhrichsville, Ohio; The "Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge" by Reuben Archer Torrey; "Hope For Each Day" by Billy Graham published by J. Countryman, a division of Thomas Nelson, Inc., Nashville, Tennessee; "Easton's Bible Dictionary" by Matthew George Easton; "Unger's Bible Dictionary" by Merrill F. Unger, published by Moody Press, Chicago, Illinois; "Halley's Bible Handbook" by Henry H. Halley, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan; "The Living New Testament" published by Tyndale house; "The New Living Translation" published by Tyndale House; BibleGateway.com for all their wonderful links; and of course the "King James Bible." All were critical in putting these lessons together.
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