Revelation Chapter 13
Arriving during the first half of the tribulation is a person that we know as the anti-christ, but in this chapter John describes him as a beast. We know that the anti-christ will be held in great reverence of people because he will issue a false peace on the earth. The question is why is the anti-christ described as a strange and scary looking beast if he is a man. John knew that there would be an anti-christ coming on the earth; he wrote about it in I John 2. He warned people not to listen to nor believe the anti-christ. So we know that the anti-christ is a man and not a literal beast, but yet both Daniel and John describe him as a beast. I would like to propose that John who is seeing all of these events in the spiritual realm, he is seeing the anti-christ as a beast because he is viewing the spiritually evil characteristics that are the true makeup of this man. What we do know for sure is that this man will be the world’s greatest deceiver and people will fall for his lies.
In his book Revealing Revelation, Amir Tsarfati describes the sea that the beast (the anti-christ) rises up out of, is actually a sea of Gentile people. He explains that this is similar language as in Daniel chapter 7 where the four beasts that Daniel saw were four Gentile empires – Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. These kingdoms did not literally rise out of the water, it is a figure of speech meaning to rise in power.
Revelation 17:15The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues.
Let's Reflect
1. What is written on the head of the beast or the anti-christ?
2. We are told right away that this beast gets all of his power from the dragon who we already learned is Satan himself. During the tribulation what will the people on the earth do when they see the beast?
3. This “wonderful” peace maker will not be so wonderful towards those who have accepted Jesus as their Savior during the tribulation period. What do verses 7 and 10 tell us about how the saints will be treated by him?
4. One sure sign that this is the anti-christ is that he will speak blasphemies against God and blasphemies against God’s what?
5. In verse 11 we learn of another beast coming into power. This beast is later identified in chapter 16 as the false prophet. So now there will be a man on the earth claiming to be the Messiah and there will be another man who will be a false prophet speaking credence to the false Messiah. And both of them will be empowered by the dragon, the devil. What does the second beast (the false prophet) want all the people on earth to do?
6. This false prophet will have great powers that will make him very believable. He will be able to call down fire from the sky in front of people’s eyes. What does he instruct the people to make and to worship as seen in verse 14?
7. This idol will seem to come to life as it will speak. And those who do not fall down and worship this idol will be ordered to be put to death. And to show their allegiance to this anti-christ, all people, children and adults, will be ordered to take the mark of the beast. What is that mark?
