Verse By Verse Through Revelation
Chapter Thirteen
Revelation 13:1 “And 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.”
- This beast is different than Satan (the dragon). There are a slight differences here from what we read in chapter twelve (Revelation 12:3).
- This beast is empowered by the dragon (Revelation 13:2; 13:4). So, they are not the same.
- This vision is similar in ways to what Daniel saw concerning the kingdoms before and during the time Jesus came into the world (Daniel 7:1-14). Those beasts were kings (Daniel 7:17).
- Blasphemy written upon the heads of this beast (Revelation 13:5-6 and Revelation 17:1-3).
Revelation 13:2 “And 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.”
- A leopard, with a mouth as a lion, feet as a bear. This is imagery [like; as]. The point being, this beast is scary. He is going to make war with the saints and overcome them (Revelation 13:7).
Revelation 13:3 “And 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.”
- “One of the heads”, which had the name of blasphemy, was wounded. Then it was healed. The world wondered at this (II Thessalonians 2:1-12).
Revelation 13:4 “And 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?”
- “They” are the world (Revelation 13:3).
- The world wondered to the point that they worshipped Satan and his beast. This happened of old too (Psalms 106:37-38).
- Satan brings the promise of power to those he wanted to entice (Luke 4:5-7).
- Yet, they are not considering who their adversary is (Revelation 17:14).
Revelation 13:5 “And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.”
- We again see forty-two months (Revelation 11:1-3 and Revelation 12:6).
- Their power is limited in time (Revelation 19:17-20:10).
Revelation 13:6 “And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.”
- Man has spoken against God throughout the ages (Psalms 74:4-10).
Revelation 13:7 “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.”
- Making war with the saints. Remember what we read about concerning the two witnesses in chapter eleven (Revelation 11:3-7).
- The target is the same as the dragon (Revelation 12:17).
- The dragon [Satan] empowered the beast (Revelation 13:4).
- War with the saints (Ephesians 6:10-12).
Revelation 13:8 “And 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.”
- As we looked at in the notes on verse three (Revelation 13:3), the world worships this beast (cf. II Thessalonians 2:1-12). As they do the dragon (Revelation 13:4).
- Hyperbole is shown here in “all that dwell upon the earth…” We know that is not literal (Revelation 2:8-10, Revelation 2:23-24, and Revelation 3:7-12).
- It should be no surprise to us that most worshipped the beast. The faithful are in the the minority (Matthew 7:13-14 and I John 5:19).
- The clarification is given that those who worship the beast DO NOT have their names in the book of life of Christ (Philippians 4:3; cf. Revelation 3:5).
- God’s people do not worship anyone or anything but God (Exodus 34:14, Deuteronomy 4:15-19, Deuteronomy 10:20, Luke 4:1-13, John 4:24, Acts 10:25-26, Philippians 3:3, and II Corinthians 6:14-7:1).
Revelation 13:9 “If any man have an ear, let him hear.”
- Matthew 11:15, Matthew 13:9, Matthew 13:43, Mark 4:9, Mark 4:23, Mark 7:16, Luke 8:8, Luke 14:34-35, John 8:43, Acts 28:21-29, Revelation 2:7, Revelation 2:11, Revelation 2:17, Revelation 2:29, Revelation 3:6, Revelation 3:13, and Revelation 3:22
Revelation 13:10 “He 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.”
- Those that led others into captivity and those that killed with the sword were going to face the same themselves. This we have seen going back to the prophets of old (Isaiah 33:1 and Jeremiah 25:12-14). Think about what Peter was told (Matthew 26:47-52; cf. John 18:11).
- In principle, consider the reap what you sow and with what judgment ye judge applications (Job 4:8 and Matthew 7:2).
- The patience [endurance] and faith of the saints (Hebrews 6:12). We will read this statement again (Revelation 14:6-13).
Revelation 13:11 “And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.”
- So, this other beast has physical characteristics of a lamb. In this context, this beast is all about deception. To appear as a lamb, but really be a predator (Matthew 7:15-20 and II Corinthians 11:12-15).
- His words are as a dragon. Think about who the dragon is (Revelation 12:9).
- Saints should have then and especially know now, don’t believe every word that is spoken by those who appear to be among the sheep (I John 4:1).
Revelation 13:12 “And 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.”
- The first beast had great authority (Revelation 13:2). Was empowered by the dragon (Revelation 13:4). Had power to war against and overcome the saints (Revelation 13:7). This second beast can use all that same authority.
- Remember that authority is limited in time (Revelation 13:5).
- The first beast was worshipped (Revelation 13:8). We learn here that this beast is causing that.
- False prophets cause people to err (Jeremiah 23:32).
Revelation 13:13-14 “And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And 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.”
- This is not figurative language. False prophets could work wonders (Matthew 24:24) empowered by Satan (II Thessalonians 2:9).
- Yes, that means working miracles (Revelation 19:20).
- They made an image [idol] to the beast that was wounded and did live (cf. Revelation 13:3).
- This would not go unpunished (Revelation 14:9-10 and Revelation 16:1-2).
- Think back to what Nebuchadnezzar  did (Daniel 3:1-6).
Revelation 13:15 “And 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.”
- Now, here is something we haven’t seen in times past. Normally, idols could not speak (Psalms 115:1-8). This was used to teach against idols in times past (Jeremiah 10:1-6).
- In this case, the false prophet [second beast] caused the idol of the beast [Rome/emperor] to be able to speak.
- Those whom refused to worship the image faced death (Revelation 20:4).
Revelation 13:16-17 “And 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: And 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.”
- Earlier in Revelation the faithful were marked with a seal in their foreheads (Revelation 7:1-3). Those that will come out of this tribulation are from all nations (Revelation 7:9-14).
- The other side had their mark too. If one did not have it, they faced economic hardships. We saw the impact of poverty and persecution on the faithful in Smyrna (Revelation 2:8-9).
- Economic persecution has been used by sinners through the ages (Nehemiah 5:1-6, Ezekiel 22:27, Amos 5:11, Amos 8:4-6, Micah 6:10-11, etc.).
Revelation 13:18 “Here 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.”
- Here is wisdom… Let him that hath understanding (Hosea 14:9).
- Understanding that this is the number of A MAN! Why would you trust in the seal of man, vs. the seal of God (Psalms 40:4, Psalms 118:8-9, Jeremiah 17:5-7, Micah 7:5-7, Acts 5:29, and Galatians 1:10)?
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