(*All Bible verses are from the NIV unless otherwise noted)
Chapter 13
5 The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months.
6 It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven.
7 It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation.
8 All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.
9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.
10 “If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity they will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword they will be killed.” This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of God’s people.
Rev 13:5
The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies:
Look back at verse 1. Consider the ways the Jewish leaders and Rome blasphemed the name of God, not only denying the Messiah but hunting down and killing those who had received the truth! The leaders of Israel had made the Law of Moses their god, and pagan emperors set themselves up as gods!
Throughout the ages, countless servants of God have sacrificed everything to bring the Gospel message to the poor and broken. Yet, there have been other so-called prophets, apostles, pastors, and leaders who have harvested material wealth and neglected the spiritual welfare of their people. While true disciples spend their lives ministering to others, there are others who revile God’s name by exploiting the very ones to whom they claim to minister!
Rev 13:5
And to exercise its authority for forty-two months:
Once again, we see the equivalent values of 42, 1,260, and 3-1/2, rooted in the 360-day lunar calendar (11:3 and 12:6).
These expressions of time are used so often that they are most likely symbolic, suggesting a limited amount of time ordained by God and known only by Him. John tells us in the very first verse that the truth that the vision contains is “signified,” that is, presented in sign form:
Rev 1:1 The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show [Greek, semaino – to signify, indicate, communicate] his servants what must soon take place…
This is also consistent with the other symbolic numbers used in the revelation, such as the 24 elders, the 7 seals, trumpets, and vials, and the 144,000 redeemed by the Lamb.
That’s not to say that prophetic expressions of time never play out in literal ways. Many scholars point to Daniel 9 as an example. The prophet prays for Israel’s freedom from Babylonian captivity, and the angel Gabriel comes to him and assures him that God will not desert His people. Gabriel explains that there would be a prophetic calendar of “seventy sevens,” or 490 years before the “Anointed One, the ruler,” would come. The calendar would commence with a decree to rebuild the city of Jerusalem:
Dan 9:24 “Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place. 25 “Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench but in times of trouble. 26 After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One1 will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed.
From historical sources, we know that Artaxerxes I (surnamed Longimanus—”Long-Hand”) Issued the decree to rebuild Jerusalem c. 458 BC, and is recorded in Nehemiah 2:7-8. After “sixty-nine sevens”, or 483 years from that decree, the Anointed One (Messiah) would be killed, and the city and the Temple would be destroyed. Just as Gabriel announced, after nearly 483 years, the Messiah was crucified (c. 30 AD), and in 70 AD, Roman legions destroyed the Temple and the city of Jerusalem.
Rev 13:6
It opened its mouth to blaspheme God:
The pride and hardheartedness of the Pharisees, the ruthless power of the Empire, and the mandatory worship of Caesar were in themselves blasphemies against God! Consider our modern culture. Are there philosophies and lifestyles that were once recognized as lies and deceptions of Satan that have become normalized and acceptable? What ideologies, political movements, social interactions, and educational trends that oppose the Christian faith have become so commonplace that they almost escape our attention? In what ways do these blaspheme the truth of God?
Rev 13:6
To slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven:
Faithful followers of Jesus are God’s dwelling place:
Luke 17:21 …nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.”
1 Cor 3:16-17 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.
Rev 21:3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.
Revisit the notes on 2:13 and the lies that fueled the persecutions against the communities of believers. Christians were accused of being atheists, cannibals, haters of men, traitors to the state, immoral, and incestuous! All this was against people whose beliefs were rooted in a passionate belief in the Creator God, strict morality, and selfless acts of love.
Rev 13:7
It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them:
The ancient church was “conquered” but did not submit:
2Cor 4:8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.
Rev 13:7
And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation:
Rome, as Satan’s representative, ruled many kingdoms and peoples of the ancient world.
1 John 5:19 We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.
2 Cor 11:14-15 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.
Eph 2:1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
Christ’s triumph saves us from the prison of sin and death, but the enemy of life continues to distract and tempt the people of the earth:
Matt 4:9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
Luke 8:12 Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.
John 3:19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.
Throughout the ages, Satan has used governments and world leaders to advance his destructive agenda. But through it all, the Church has not only survived but has grown and changed the history of humankind.
Rev 13:8
All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world:
As in verse 4, the Greek term proskuneo is used here. Worship is both the service done in the name of a deity and the everyday practical submission to that deity’s ways. Worship of something has as much to do with the attention and service we give someone or something as it does with the religious practice of bowing in adoration.
The “dragon” has been identified as Satan, the devil (12:9). The “beast” represents all the machinations the Enemy uses to deploy his attack on God’s people.
2Cor 4:4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
1Pet 5:8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
1John 5:19 We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.
In this way, Satan is the ruler of “worldly things”. He is all things that distract us and deplete our resources, both materially and spiritually.
- Satan‘s lies tell us we must fight others to live when Jesus tells us that to live is to die to self and the world (Phil 2:3-10);
- He whispers that to be rich, we have to acquire and take from others when Jesus says to be truly rich, we must give to those in need (Matt 25:35, Luke 6:38);
- The Enemy deceives us, saying that to be full, we must stuff our pockets and our bellies, while Jesus tells us that his spiritual bread and living water bring true satisfaction (John 4:10-14, John 6:51).
Rev 13:10
If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity they will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword they will be killed:
These words are directed at those who rebel against God, not the faithful. Manasseh (c. 709-643 BC) ruled Judah for fifty-five years. He encouraged the worship of pagan idols and reversed the religious changes made by his father, Hezekiah (2 Kings 21:1-18, 2 Chron 32-33). Jeremiah prophesied against him and those in Judah who followed his evil ways:
Jer 15:1 Then the LORD said to me: “Even if Moses and Samuel were to stand before me, my heart would not go out to this people. Send them away from my presence! Let them go! 2 And if they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’ tell them, ‘This is what the LORD says: “ ‘Those destined for death, to death; those for the sword, to the sword; those for starvation, to starvation; those for captivity, to captivity.’
Rev 13:10
This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of God’s people:
Rom 15:4 For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.
Heb 10:35-36 So do not throw away your confidence it will be richly rewarded. 36 You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.
The Greek term used here is hupomone, which means cheerful or hopeful endurance, constancy, or patient continuance (waiting)2. Faithfulness is pistis, meaning trust, firm persuasion, confidence, and reliance3.
As the beast wars against God’s children, our response is to be hopeful, waiting in trust and confidence in God’s promises.
1Cor 13:3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Irenaeus wrote: The all-powerful Word of God, who never fails in justice, acted justly even in dealing with the Spirit of Rebellion. For it was by persuasion, not by force, that He redeemed His own property…for thus it behooved God to achieve His purpose; with the result that justice was not infringed, and God’s original handiwork was saved from perishing. (Irenaeus, Against Heresies, v. i.1.)
Augustine: First, justice conquered the devil, then power; justice because he had no sin and was most unjustly put to death by the devil; power because he lived again after death, never to die thereafter. (Augustine, On the Trinity, xiii.18.)
Footnotes
*All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.comThe “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™
