Morning Bible Study: Revelation 13:1-10

The Two Beasts
13 1  Then I saw a beast rising up out of the sea. It had seven heads and ten horns, with ten crowns on its horns. And written on each head were names that blasphemed God. 

2  This beast looked like a leopard, but it had the feet of a bear and the mouth of a lion! And the dragon gave the beast his own power and throne and great authority. 

3  I saw that one of the heads of the beast seemed wounded beyond recovery-but the fatal wound was healed! The whole world marveled at this miracle and gave allegiance to the beast. 

4  They worshiped the dragon for giving the beast such power, and they also worshiped the beast. "Who is as great as the beast?" they exclaimed. "Who is able to fight against him?" 

5  Then the beast was allowed to speak great blasphemies against God. And he was given authority to do whatever he wanted for forty-two months. 

6  And he spoke terrible words of blasphemy against God, slandering his name and his dwelling-that is, those who dwell in heaven. 

7  And the beast was allowed to wage war against God's holy people and to conquer them. And he was given authority to rule over every tribe and people and language and nation. 

8  And all the people who belong to this world worshiped the beast. They are the ones whose names were not written in the Book of Life that belongs to the Lamb who was slaughtered before the world was made. 

9  Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand. 

10  Anyone who is destined for prison will be taken to prison. Anyone destined to die by the sword will die by the sword. This means that God's holy people must endure persecution patiently and remain faithful. NLT

Commentary

(the following commentary is from www.easyenglish.bible/bible-commentary/revelation-lbw.htm)

"Verse 1 John saw a beast rise out of the sea. In the ancient world, people often thought of the sea as a place where evil things belonged. So, this awful beast came from the place of evil things.

People also used the sea as a description for the mass of the peoples. This beast rises from among people to become greater than them. This beast is actually an evil man.

The beast had 10 horns and 7 heads. The 10 horns are like those of the fourth (4th) beast in the Book of Daniel (Daniel 7:7). There the 10 horns mean 10 kings. The 10 kings rise out of the fourth (4th) kingdom. The 7 heads also mean 7 kings (Revelation 17:10). (This means that the beast was such a great ruler that he controlled many other kings.) Each horn has a crown. Each head has a name that insults God.

This beast was an agent of the dragon (Satan) to fight against God’s people.

This beast was the head of the fourth (4th) kingdom in Daniel. That kingdom is the last great kingdom on earth before Christ comes to rule.

Verse 2 Daniel saw four (4) beasts (Daniel chapter 7). The first one was like a lion with wings. The second one was like a bear with three bones in its mouth. The third one was like a leopard but it had 4 heads and 4 wings. The fourth (4th) beast was terrible and strong. It had iron teeth and many horns. Each of these beasts meant a kingdom that would fight against God’s people.

The beast that John saw was the ruler of that fourth kingdom. This kingdom had all that was bad in the other three. It fought against God’s people and it killed many of them.

The beast set himself up as the ruler of the world. He opposed Christ and God’s people. He was against God. He was Satan’s answer to Christ. He was the man of sin and he was called the Antichrist (1 John 2:18).

The dragon (Satan) gave his own power to this beast. The beast was a man whom Satan possessed.

Verse 3 One of the beast’s 7 heads had an injury. But the beast did not die because of it. He lived and he became famous. The whole world went after the beast. He became the most powerful man on earth.

The heads seem to mean kings that the beast controls. The injury should have caused the beast to die. But the beast had Satan’s power. And the beast’s power astonished everyone. This was why the people followed him.

Verse 4 To the people of the earth, the beast was like a god. He was so strong. Nobody could fight against him. They worshipped him. They recognized that the power of the beast came from the dragon. So, they worshipped the dragon (Satan) instead of God.

Verse 5 The beast spoke great things. And he insulted God. The beast did this with the authority of Satan. God allowed him to do this but only for 42 months. This is the same three and a half years as in previous verses (11:2-3; 12:6). At the end of that time, the Lord Jesus will come. Jesus will bind Satan and the beast.

God allowed the beast to rule. The beast could only do what God permitted. God set the boundaries of his rule.

Verse 6 The apostle Paul wrote to the Thessalonians. ‘This man will oppose God. In fact, this man will oppose everything that people call God. This man will oppose all that they worship. He will say that he is more powerful than any god. He will even sit in the temple of God. He will say that he is God.’ (2 Thessalonians 2:4).

The beast insulted God and all who belong to God. The name of God means all that God is.

Verse 7 The beast fought against God’s people. He killed many of them. He seemed to achieve what he aimed to do. He defeated God’s people on the earth. But they will go into heaven to be with the Lord.

He had power over all the earth. The people of the earth accepted him as the leader of the world. But his power came from the dragon. And God allowed him to use that power for just a short time.

Verse 8 The people of the whole world joined in worship of the beast. But those who trusted in God did not worship the beast. God has written their names in the book of life.

The idea of the book of life is that God keeps a record of his people. God has a register of the names of those who trust him. God sees the end of things before they start. Therefore, he knew who would trust him. He recorded their names before he made the world.

The book of life belongs to the Lamb (Jesus). It is because of his death that eternal life is possible. We can have eternal life only because of the Lord Jesus.

Verse 9 It was important that God’s people should listen. They would hear what would come. Then what the beast would do would not surprise them.

Verse 10 During those three and a half years, God’s people will suffer. Many of them will go to prison. The people of the Antichrist will kill many more of them. It is certain that this will happen. Although this is so, God’s people must be strong. They must continue to trust in God. They must suffer with patience. God knows what will happen. When those days have ended, he will save all his people."