REVELATION 33 – The Beast of Revelation

            We were talking last week about this terrible beast in Chapter 13 that came up out of the sea having ten horns and seven heads, and I pointed out how that it is a mirror image of the sign of the great red dragon that appeared in heaven. There were some differences there, ten diadems instead of seven diadems on his heads. On his heads were blasphemous names and he had the form of the leopard and the bear, a mouth like a lion, and we talked about how those fit in with the prophecy of Daniel – about the world powers that would be overcome by Jesus Christ.

13:3: I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain and his fatal wound was healed and the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast (4) and they worshipped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast. They worshipped the beast saying “who is like the beast and who is able to wage war with him. This is a difficult part of Revelation because we tend to think literally. We tend to read things literally. We’re not steeped in Hebrew tradition – Old Testament tradition.

One of the things we need to realize here, and Chilton points this out very consistently, is that throughout Scripture what you see is a battle between the seed of the woman, who is Christ, and the seed of the serpent, who is the devil and his minions – the forces of evil as it were. As you recall in Genesis, it says that the seed of the serpent would bruise the seed of the woman on his heel. But that he would crush the head of the serpent. Throughout Scripture you see that occurring. You see for instance in Judges, and I mentioned briefly about Sisera and Jael where the general of the enemy army is fleeing for this life, he has wounded Israel but they are chasing after him. He gets to her tent and she says ‘come in.’ She gives him hot milk, covers him up and then puts a tent peg through his head. She crushes his head. You see that, for instance, where the armies are against the wall of Israel and the woman drops a mill stone off the wall and crushes the head of the opposing general. So you see that over and over again throughout Scripture. Chilton points out that we’re seeing that again here.

13:3: I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain and his fatal wound was healed...Chilton points out that the forces of darkness, the forces of Satan, appeared to have the upper hand at the cross of Christ. They bruised the heel of the seed of the woman at that point. Yet, through that act God crushed the head of the serpent. There appeared to be defeat for the church then there was a resurgence of the church, so that it looked like the beast was going to be overcome. His head had been slain and he appeared to have a fatal wound, and yet you see the state, the Romans coming into more and more power. You see the Israelites, the apostate church becoming more and more powerful and beginning to overwhelm the church. This is the way it appeared to the people of John’s time. So what you see then in this passage is this beast that appears to be overcoming a fatal wound and overwhelming the church. Chilton firmly believes that what’s being talked about here is the false prophet; the leadership of Judaism who were preaching against the Christian church. 13:5 And there was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies; and authority to act for 42 months was given to him.

Q: What is the serpent? What does that represent, symbolize?

A: The serpent is Satan. Remember back in chapter 12 it says “another great sign appeared in heaven and behold a great red dragon; and in verse 9 it says the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan…

Q: All of these things that are acting in the way of Satan are then Satan?

A: Yes. It says in verse 9 The great dragon was thrown down. The serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan.

So what you see is the forces that are acting in consonance with Satan are lumped in as the dragon, or the beast. Here’s something else to notice. In chapter 12 we see the dragon, the sign of the dragon. In chapter 13 we see a great beast coming up out of the sea who looks almost exactly like the dragon but not quite. The dragon had seven diadems on his head and this beast has ten diadems.

Q: Is that a manifestation of Satan then?

A: Yes, exactly.

11: And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon. (12) And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence. And he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast whose fatal wound was healed.

What was going on here is that during this period of time that the leadership of Israel, who should have been preaching against Rome, were saying you must bow down and worship Caesar. They said we have no king but Caesar. They were apostate. They were saying blasphemies. They were saying to the Christians, you must obey. Even the apostate church was doing this.

Q: Are you saying the beast here is apostate Israel?

A: It’s the false prophet in the sense of the Jewish leadership preaching against Christ. Chilton says: “Just as the beast from the sea was in the image of the dragon, so we see another creature who is in the image of the beast. One is coming from the sea, one is coming from the land. We’re told the identity of this beast in chapter 16 verse 13 which says: And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet…” So you’ve got the dragon in chapter 12, you’ve got the beast coming up out of the sea in chapter 13, and you’ve got the beast coming up out of the earth in chapter 13. In chapter 16 it refers back to the dragon, the beast and the false prophet, so we see the consonance there is the false prophet is this beast coming up out of the land. The one that has two horns like a lamb and he spoke as a dragon. He is the false prophet. “He is representing what Jesus had foretold would take place in Israel’s last days: many will come in my name saying I am the Christ and will mislead many. Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. Matthew 24:5&11.

Q: Is that why it has two horns like a lamb?

A: Yes. Because it was pretending to be Christ.

Q: Try to apply that to current circumstances. Keep in mind the Jones cult committing suicide 20 years ago. The false prophet thing continues today.

A: Absolutely. It’s no different. People preaching against Christ are false prophets. People preaching against Christ, John says in 1 John, are the anti-Christs. The ones who deny that Christ is the son of God. They are the anti-Christs.

Q: Were there any historical recordings at that time that brought this point out?

A: Yes. Josephus very clearly says that there were men who arose and said ‘I am Christ. Follow me.’ There were people who proclaimed to be prophets of God. That is very clear. Even in Acts men said that they were prophets when they were not. So that’s very, very clear that that was going on during that period of time.

Chilton says: “The Jewish false prophets had the appearance of a lamb as Jesus had warned, ‘beware of the false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves.’ Matthew 7:15.” So what we see here is that Jesus was warning people against the fact that there will be people who rise up in the church, who will be dressed in sheep’s clothing. They will walk like a pastor, talk like a pastor, act like a pastor, but they won’t be a pastor. They’ll be a wolf because they’re not preaching Jesus Christ.

 “This is a reference not only to the false prophet’s disguise as a member of God’s flock, but to his specifically messianic pretensions.” In other words this false prophet is saying ‘I am Christ, follow me. Or I am the messiah, follow me’ and we know from extra-Biblical documents that there were men who were doing that.

To quote Chilton, “How does the dragon speak? He uses deceptive, subtle seductive speech to draw God’s people away from the faith and into a trap. The book of Acts records numerous examples of draconian false witness by the Jews against the Christians – a major problem for the early church.” Remember that’s what happened to Paul. The Jewish leadership were false accusing him. They were saying “he’s not speaking about our religion. He’s a heretic. He needs to be put to death.” How about Stephen? The same charges were made against Stephen that were made against Christ. They took Stephen out and they executed him because they were in consonance with Satan. They were working for Satan because they were not working for God. They were against God and they weren’t paying attention to what God’s word really said.

Q: When we get to verse 18, that case is Nero?

A: You’re right. Here is the number of the beast for the number is that of a man in verse 18. Commentators believe that there was a myth that arose about the time of Nero that even though Nero died he had been raised from the dead. Other commentators believe that the beast is a government or a government entity. Chilton addresses that – he doesn’t believe it. In verse 1 in the beginning of it. He talks about the beast is clear (tape cut out) it’s also not a constitution, he says, but a person. We’ll see that when we get to verse 18. Specifically Chilton believes it’s the emperor Nero. This is because … the Bible … the two could be considered one. In other words, Adam is, we are.. as Adam… as Adam’s sin as ungodly. We are seen as Christ, as the body of Christ because we are in Christ. The Bible can speak of Christ in the same breath it can speak of the church because we are His body.

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