Revelation 13:1-10
The Beast from the Sea
1 Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. 2 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. 3 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. 4 So 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?”
5 And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months. 6 Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. 7 It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. 8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
9 If anyone has an ear, let him hear. 10 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.
The beast from the depths of the sea was seen by John as he stood on the seashore in this vision of the world approaching the final judgment before sin is cast down forever from our presence on earth by God’s righteous settling of all matters and all of creation is made new. John observed what was to come as evil reared its ugly seven heads with their respective horns of power of nations or rulers with each having crowns of temporary temporal authority given them. These crowns of unrighteousness sat on heads named with blasphemy as they opposed the Lord God and His Lamb, and the beast out of the depths itself looked like a leopard of powerful capabilities but with massive bear feet of destruction and a great open mouth like a fearful lion. This beast was enabled by the dragon who we heard defined as the devil and Satan, a beast used by the adversary to kill and destroy as its master has always done among this world. The vision John observed saw the beast wounded as if to die but recovered and misled those left on the earth to follow him instead of turning from their blasphemies of sins like idolatry and immortality. Many will choose idolatry and look at the resurrected or healed beast of power and worship it instead, sadly. They would look at its warring abilities and side with that temporary power instead of resting in and following the Almighty God who raised Himself from the grave to save us by faith who trust and receive Him and His work as the eternal and only effective Passover Lamb of God. Only the Lamb can save us and is worthy of our worship, the One who alone has the power to keep us from the judgment to come. Only He is omnipotent. No one else has the divine power but the divine Son of God, not any created angel or other creature such as this beast out of the depths full of deceptive works. Such blasphemous words against the Lord God and temporary temporal authority will end and all who follow will likewise perish with him and his master in the end. This blasphemous one will curse God and malign His name, temple, and all others with Him in heaven in a last attempt to fight back with all eternal futility. Of course, we read here that only those who are not of God, whose names are not already in the Lamb’s Book of Life will suffer this end of eternal judgment and condemnation of suffering. The Lamb has suffered for we who are His from the time we were created along with the universe and this earth we now stand upon. This is our certain hope of being able to withstand all and stand (Ephesians 6:13) with Him before the face of God (Job 19:25-27) at last! Our patience through these times of great tribulation will see us through based on our calling of this absolute hope of God’s predetermined promise to possess our souls (Luke 21:18-19). We have ears to hear the truth and do not fight back against this onslaught of evil with weapons of evil, but with the truth of God’s goodness of the gospel of His word. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment