”The Dragon’s Demonic Duo” | Wednesday PM | Revelation 13

Revelation chapter 13. Tonight, I want

Revelation 13 · chapter mention

to preach on this entire chapter. And

here's what I've titled it. It's a

little bit of a harsh title, so I'll

warn you. But this is what I think

describes the chapter. Well, here's what

I've titled the sermon, the dragon's

demonic duo. All right. We're going to

talk tonight about the dragon who we

know from chapter 12 is Satan. We're

going to talk about his demonic duo.

These two guys uh who he's going to

raise up and they're going to come on

the scene. Well, they've already been on

the scene. They're going to really

become active.

Satan has spent his entire existence

from the moment he fell from heaven

trying to steal the wonder and the glory

and the worship from the one true God.

Satan has always desired to be

worshiped. Isaiah 14 and verse number 14

says I Satan is is the words of Satan. I

will ascend above the heights of the

clouds. I will be like the most high.

Satan has always from the time he fell

from heaven desired and not only desired

but he has tried everything he can try

to be like God to steal God's glory to

steal God's wonder to steal God's

authority and power and to steal God's

worship. One of the ways in which Satan

will attempt to garner worship to

himself is going to be to produce a

counterfeit to Almighty God's Holy

Trinity. There's coming a day when Satan

will, and really he's already putting

things in motion to make this happen.

and he is going to try as his last

attempt to defeat Almighty God, he will

try to produce to reveal a counterfeit

to God's holy trinity. Satan's demonic

counterfeit to God's trinity will look

like this. You will have Satan. He is

called the dragon in the book of

Revelation. He is a counterfeit to God

the Father. You will have the antichrist

who is called the beast in our passage

and he will be a counterfeit to Jesus.

And then you will have the false prophet

who is called the false prophet in our

passage and that will be a counterfeit

to the Holy Spirit. So what Satan will

attempt to do and he's going we're going

to see it in chapter 13. He's going to

produce a counterfeit to God's Holy

Trinity. Now this counterfeit is

worthless. It falls short in every way.

It's not even comparable. It's I I won't

even call it the opposite because

opposite uh would would indicate that he

has some equality. But there is no

equality. It's not even the same.

They're not even in the same world. God

has already defeated Satan. And in fact,

Satan knows that. Chapter 12, Satan gets

kicked out of heaven for the final time.

He's defeated. He comes back to earth.

He's very upset. The Bible says he

realizes that he has a short time.

That's 12:12. He has a short time left

on this earth. And so he is going to in

these final three and 1/2 years of

tribulation, this final three and a half

years before God's ultimate judgment,

Satan is going to try one last thing,

and that will be to produce a

counterfeit, worthless

alternative to God's Holy Trinity. And

God prophesies. God knows it's coming.

God prophesied about it. He revealed it

to John. And John wrote it in Revelation

13. And tonight, I want us to consider

it. In the final three and a half years

of tribulation, this demonic counterfeit

will rule the world. Satan will set up

the Antichrist. And the Antichrist will

establish and rule a one world

government. Satan will then set up the

false prophet to demand and direct

worship to the beast and to himself, the

dragon. It will be a one world

government run by the Antichrist. That

will be a one world religion run by the

false prophet. That will be the setting

of these final three and a half years.

This fake, phony, false, wicked,

blasphemous, unholy counterfeit to God's

holy trinity is prophesied and described

for us in Revelation 13. Now, I have in

my notes to read all of Revelation 13 at

this point, but I'm not going to do

that. I want to show you the outline and

then we're going to walk through it as

we as we look at it tonight just because

there's a lot of content and so I just

want us to walk through it and read it

as we go tonight. The dragon has already

been introduced and identified in

chapter 12. We know that the dragon who

we will see his name mentioned in

chapter 13. When you see the dragon,

think Satan. We've already identified

the dragon is Satan. In chapter 13, we

are introduced to his two primary

demons. the Antichrist and the false

prophet. These two individuals have

actually already been present to some

degree during the tribulation, but they

have not been extremely active up to

this point. We've seen them a few times,

but they've not been overly active. But

at this point, Satan is going to set

them up and they're going to become

extremely active in the world. The

passage can be divided into two

sections. First section, verse 1 through

verse 10, the antichrist.

Second section verse 11 through verse 18

the false prophet. So we're going to

talk about these two individuals. Verse

1-10 tells us about the antichrist.

Verse 11 through 18 tells us about the

false prophet. So number one tonight the

antichrist.

Verse number one of chapter 13. And I,

that is John the Apostle, I stood upon

the sand of the sea, and saw a beast

rise up out of the sea, having seven

heads, and 10 horns, and upon his horns

10 crowns, and upon his heads the name

of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw

was like unto a leopard, and his feet

were as the feet of a bear, and his

mouth as the mouth of a lion, and the

dragon gave him his power, and his seat,

and great authority. And I saw one of

his heads as it were wounded to death,

and his deadly wound was healed. And the

world wondered after the beast. And they

worshiped the dragon, which gave power

unto the beast. And they worshiped the

beast, saying, "Who is like unto the

beast? Who is able to make war with

him?" There was given to him a great him

a mouth speaking great things, and

blasphemies, and power was given unto

him to continue 40 and two months. That

is the final three and a half years of

the tribulation.

Revelation chapter 13, John is given a

Revelation 13 · chapter mention

vision of a demonic duo that Satan will

deputize to carry out his plan in the

final three and a half years of the

tribulation. John's visions begin with

the prophecy of the Antichrist. Now, you

say, "I don't see the word Antichrist in

here." It's not. The word Antichrist

does not appear in the in the book of

Revelation. In fact, it's only used six

times in the entire New Testament. All

of them are by John, but not in

Revelation. He uses it four times in

first John. He uses the word two times

in second John. Those are the only six

times you find that word in the New

Testament. However, in the book of

Revelation, the Antichrist is referred

to as the beast. And the word beast is

used to refer to the antichrist some 28

times in the book of Revelation.

And we find it here in these verses. We

see the beast. So when we see dragon, we

think Satan. When we see the word beast,

we think antichrist. That's how your

mind ought to uh interpret this passage.

I want you to notice a few things about

the beast. About the antichrist.

First of all, in verse one and two, we

see the way of the beast. The way of the

beast. I stood, John said, upon the sand

of the sea, and I saw a beast rise up

out of the sea. The sea here is a

reference to the people and the nations

of the world. You can write, if you're

taking notes, write to the side this

reference. Revelation 17 verse number

15. That passage just a few chapters

ahead says, "And he saith unto me, the

waters which thou sawest where the horse

sitth are peoples and multitudes and

nations and tongues." So in chapter 17,

God is going to identify the sea. So

when the when chapter 13 says, I stood

on the sand of the sea and I saw a beast

rise up out of the sea. That is a

picture of the peoples and the nations

of the world. What are we saying? The

antichrist will be human. He's going to

come from the people of the world. He's

going to be a man just like you and I.

Adrien Rogers said he will be a devil of

a man. And I I think that's well put.

Warren Wearsby said in his commentary,

he will be a man, but he will be

energized from hell. So, we have a human

who will rise up from the people of this

earth and he will be the antichrist. See

his arrival. We see his appearance at

the end of verse number one. He will

appear on the scene to bring about a one

world government. The number 10 is a

reference to 10 kingdoms. He will rule

over the entire world. He's going to set

up a one world government. He's going to

rule over that one world government

until God says his time is up. And then

we see his ancestry in verse last part

of verse two. The beast which I saw was

like unto a leopard. His feet were as

the feet of a bear. His mouth the mouth

of a lion. And here it is. And the

dragon gave him his power and his seat

and his authority. The dragon, Satan, is

the source of the Antichrist authority.

The devil grants him his power, his

position, and his prestige. Right there

in verse number two, everything he has

is ultimately he's on a leash from God.

But his power that God has given Satan,

Satan will then give power to the

Antichrist to sit and rule over the

world. So that's the way of the beast.

Notice secondly the wound of the beast

in verse number three.

And I saw one of his heads. He has these

10 heads and seven horns. He said, I saw

one of his heads as it were wounded to

death and his deadly wound was healed

and all the world wondered after the

beast. There will be an apparent

assassination attempt upon the life of

the antichrist.

What exactly that is, we're not sure,

but we seem to get a glimpse of it

through a prophecy that God gave the Old

Testament prophet, Zachchariah. You can

write this reference down. Zechariah 11

and verse 17. Here's what the prophecy

says. Woe to the idol shepherd that

leaveth his flock. This is a reference

then to not the true Messiah, but the

false Messiah, the counterfeit Messiah,

the one who will leave his flock. So,

we're talking about the Antichrist.

Here's what he says. The sword, the

sword shall be upon his arm and upon his

right eye. His arm shall be clean, dried

up, and his right eye shall be utterly

darkened. So this antichrist, this

person is going to have a wound.

Zachchariah indicates that it will come

through a sword. He's going to have a

wound in his arm. He's going to have a

wound in his eye. And according to verse

number three of chapter 13 of

Revelation, it is a deadly wound.

Meaning it is a wound that would kill

the Antichrist except for a miraculous

recovery. And that's going to be

important. It's going to come back up

when we get to the false prophet. So the

Antichrist is going to have this wound

that should have killed him, but it does

not kill him. He recovers. He will

somehow be able to make a miraculous

deathdeying recovery. And because of

that recovery, it's going to convince

the world that he is God and that he

must then be worshiped. So he's going to

have this wound. He's going to make a

miraculous recovery from the wound. And

the world's going to look at that and

say, "Well, this guy must be deity." And

they're going to begin to worship him as

God. And then we see in verse number

four, the wonder of the beast.

And they worshiped the dragon, which

gave power to the beast. And they

worshiped the beast, saying, "Who is

like unto the beast? who is able to make

war with him. So the beast now through

this wound and this healing has now

generated worship towards the dragon who

is Satan. And that was Satan's plan all

along. Satan's desire again is to steal

the worship that belongs to God. That's

what he's doing in the world today. By

the way, Satan is at work doing this

very thing right now. Although he is not

doing it through the antichrist yet, he

is still very active in attempting to

steal the worship and the glory that

belongs to God. Well, in this prophecy

at the midpoint of the tribulation, he

will be somewhat successful

in that those who see the antichrist

will begin to wonder at him. They will

begin to worship him. In verse number

five and six, we see the words of the

beast.

Verse

number five says, "And there was given

unto him a mouth speaking great things

and blasphemies and power was given unto

him to continue 40 and two months. And

he opened his mouth in blasphemy against

God to blaspheme his name and his

tabernacle and them that dwell in

heaven." So now the antichrist, he has

some sort of stage, some platform in the

world. Uh the world has seen him recover

from this wound. They have begun to give

him uh worship and have have begun to

wonder at him. And so he turns and now

begins to blaspheme the God of heaven,

his church, and his people.

He begins to blaspheme all that God is

and all that God does.

And then in verse 7, we see the war of

the beast.

And it was given unto him to make war

with the saints and to overcome them.

and power was given him over all

kindreds and tongues and nations. So

there are Christians still living on the

earth. There are still saints who are

present at the time that this is taking

place. But this guy is going to get uh

he's going to make war with the saints

and he's going to overcome them. He's

going to have power over them for this

season of the tribulation.

He would turn against and and these

saints, they're called, we call them the

tribulation saints.

And the antichrist is going to turn out.

He's going to set out to execute and

destroy all those who are believers in

Jesus Christ.

If you have were saved during the

tribulation

and you have made it to this point, at

this point Christians are are going to

be executed very swiftly.

And then in verse number eight and verse

number 12, we see the worship of the

beast.

Verse 8, and all that dwell upon the

earth shall worship him whose names are

not written in the book of life of the

lamb slain from the foundation of the

world. And then in verse number 12, and

he exercised all power of the first

beast before him, and causeth the earth,

and them which dwell therein to worship

the first beast, whose deadly wound was

healed. So they're going to begin to

worship this guy. They're going to lift

him up. They're going to begin to exalt

him. The antichrist is going to deceive

the world into worshiping him. And the

Bible is very clear that all those who

are alive on earth at this point in the

tribulation. All of them who have not

received Jesus Christ as their savior

will worship the antichrist. Look again

at verse number eight. And all that

dwell upon the earth shall worship him.

Now there is an exception given whose

names are not written in the book of

life of the lamb slain from the

foundation of the world. So there will

be some Christians who are still alive

who refuse to worship the Antichrist and

they will most likely be executed very

quickly. Now I want to stop and give you

just a small side note by way of

application tonight and I the Lord gave

me this this afternoon and it blessed me

so I want to just share it with you. I

like how the Bible phrases that all

those who dwell on the earth will

worship him. Everybody's going to be

deceived except those whose names are

written in the book of life. uh those

those names who are not written in the

book of life. So the indication then is

that those who are there are going to be

protected from this deception.

Isn't that a wonderful thing? Jesus

Christ is the same God who saves you,

who redeems you, who who pays your who

pays the penalty of your sin. That is

the same savior who can then protect you

from the deception of the world. And the

same savior who's going to protect his

saints from the deception of the

antichrist in the tribulation is the

same savior who can protect you and I

from the deception of the devil in the

world we live in today because he is

still working to deceive people. And

many people are deceived by the working

of Satan. Many people are deceived by

the working that he is doing in the

world around us. But you and I, if we

stay close to Jesus, if we stay close to

the Savior, if we stay into in the word

of God, we won't be deceived by all the

nonsense that the devil is putting out

into the world. That's a wonderful

promise. So, we see first of all the

Antichrist, but then notice the false

prophet.

The second character of Satan's demonic

duo is now prophesied by the Apostle

John. Beginning in verse number 11, we

see his person is demonic.

And I beheld another beast coming up out

of the earth, and he had two horns like

a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. That

this beast comes up out of the earth,

whereas the other came up out of the

sea. Some have argued that this false

prophet then will come from the nation

of Israel. That's a possibility. This

beast is like a lamb, meaning he is of a

pleasant appearance. He speaks as a

dragon. That is, he speaks the same

blasphemous language as Satan. He speaks

like the dragon speaks. And so his

person, we see his person in verse 11,

and it is a demonic person.

He rises to power. And he is, by the

way, he is the counterfeit to the Holy

Spirit that you and I enjoy who dwells

amongst us. Satan is now producing a

counterfeit to the Holy Spirit of the

Holy Trinity. And that is this false

prophet. So his person is demonic. His

power is devilish. Look at verse 12 and

13.

And he exercisth all the power of the

first beast before him, and causeth the

earth, and them which dwell therein to

worship the first beast, whose deadly

wound was healed. And he doeth great

wonders, so that he maketh fire come

down from heaven on the earth in the

sight of men. Who does that remind you

of? There was a true prophet in the Old

Testament who called fire down from

heaven. And now this false prophet will

come on the scene and he will imitate.

He will imitate in some way. We're not

sure how he'll do it, but he will in

some way have the power to call fire

down from heaven. I heard one preacher

expound this to say that it will be a

satellite that explodes and fire will

rain down from the satellite explosion.

I suppose that's a possibility. I

wouldn't hold to that too dogmatically,

though. But we do know that he has

power, but we also know that all his

power comes from Satan. Notice verse

number 12. He exercisth all the power of

the first beast before him. Where did

the first beast get his power from? The

dragon. So where does this beast get his

power from? Also the dragon. So he is

devilish. He is of the devil. And and he

is a devil of a man. If we can quote

Adrien Rogers again,

he's got this great power. In verse 13,

he does great wonders.

He wows everybody.

And then notice in verse 14 and 15 that

his purpose is to deceive.

In verse number 14, he deceiveth them

that dwell on the earth by the means of

those miracles which he had power to do

in the sight of the beast, saying to

them that dwell on the earth that they

should make an image to the beast which

had the wound by the sword and did live.

The false prophet has a mission to

deceive the world into worshiping the

beast. If the antichrist rules a one

world government,

then the false prophet rules a one world

religion and his goal is to bring the

worship to focus to direct the worship

of the world to the antichrist and to

the dragon. He's going to do this

through his miracles, through his great

signs. He is a counterfeit to the

working of the Holy Spirit in that his

presence is to produce worship to the

antichrist. Just as the Holy Spirit's

presence produces true worship to Jesus

Christ.

So what his job is, his purpose is to

deceive. He calls the world to make an

image of the beast and place it in the

temple. Now this is a very momentous

event in the timeline of the

tribulation. This event is prophesied

about in Daniel chapter 9, Daniel 11,

Daniel 9 · chapter mention

Matthew chapter 24. There's lots of

Matthew 24 · chapter mention

reference to it. We would call it the

abomination of desolation.

This false prophet is going to have the

world build an image of the Antichrist.

However, whatever that means, we're not

exactly sure. It could be an idol, could

be a figure, it could be technology.

We're not sure what the image means, but

he's going to produce something for the

purpose of bringing glory to the

Antichrist, bringing worship to the

Antichrist. And as if that isn't bad

enough, he's then going to take that

image and he's going to bring it into

the temple and set it up in the place of

Almighty God. So, he has now effectively

defiled the temple.

Completely defiled it. And so we call

this the abomination of desolation and

it will take place at the midpoint of

the tribulation. So now we have an

anchor on where we're at if you were

wondering. We're exactly halfway through

the final three and a half years are

about to come. So he sets up this image.

Look at verse number 15. This is

interesting.

And he had power to give life unto the

image of the beast. That the image of

the beast should both speak and cause

that as many as would not worship the

image of the beast should be killed.

Somehow in some way, the Bible is not

specific, so we will not be dogmatic,

but in some way he is able to bring life

to this image. Some have argued that

this is simply the person of the

Antichrist, who we've already talked

about, that the false prophet makes it

possible that the Antichrist himself can

sit in the temple. I suppose that's a

possibility. Others have argued that

it's an idol of some kind that he

literally brings life to, some spiritual

life to. Whatever the case may be, the

Bible says that the image is going to

talk. The image is going to speak. The

image is going to kill those who don't

worship it. And the purpose of all of

this is to deceive the world into

worshiping the Antichrist and Satan.

And then I want you to notice the end of

the chapter, verse 16- 18, his plan is

to defile.

Verse number 16, and he causes all, both

small and great, rich and poor, free and

bond, to receive a mark in their right

hand or in their foreheads. and that no

man might buy or sell save he that had

the mark or the name of the beast or the

number of his name. And if you wanted to

know his number, here is wisdom. Let him

that hath understanding count the number

of the beast for it is the number of a

man and his number is 600 three score

and six 666

which is very very popular. You talk to

anybody just about even even if they've

hardly ever read a Bible and they will

know that the number 666 is a satanic

number.

The way in which the false prophet we'll

come back to the number in just a

moment, but let me get you back to verse

16. The way that the false prophet will

force the population of the world to

worship the antichrist will be through

economic warfare. He's going to give

them what is called the mark of the

beast. If they want to buy or if they

want to sell, if they want to eat, if

they want to drink, if they want to do

anything, then they have to take the

mark of the beast.

And there is much debate over what the

mark of the beast has been. Many have

speculated, here's what I know. I ain't

going to be here, so I ain't worried

about it. All right? They can take it.

They can do what they want. It ain't

going to bother me, none. I'll be in

heaven. So the mark of the beast is

given in verse 16 and then in verse 17

and then the chapter concludes in verse

18 with this final piece of information

regarding the antichrist. His number is

666. Now again a lot of people have

debated and speculated about the number

what it is what it what it pictures

what's the uh what's the illustration

here. Honestly we don't know anything

about this number except that it is the

number of the antichrist. Uh so we know

that the number six is is the number of

man. Man was created on the sixth day.

The passage says uh that it the that six

is the number of a man. We know that. So

perhaps there's a connection there

between three sixes and six being the

number of man. Many have tried to

interpret the number. Some have said

that if you give every This is

hilarious. If you give every number of

the alphabet or every letter of the

alphabet a number and each number

increases by six, then spell the word

computer and add the numerical value of

each of the letters in the word computer

and add it all up. Then the final number

is 666. So it must have something to do

with a computer. I I'm not buying that.

Uh it's interesting that that's the

case, but I I just don't think there's

enough there. Others have argued that

Neero, the Roman emperor, was the

antichrist because of his connection to

the number 666. Again, not possible uh

if we hold to a a literal reading of the

of scripture because Neero lived long

time before the tribulation comes. So,

that's not possible. Others have taken

the names of presidents and popes whose

names contain uh they have three names.

Each name consists of six letters. Oh,

well, this guy must be the antichrist

because his name is 666.

None of that holds. While they're here,

here's my opinion. You want my opinion?

Don't waste your time on it. Don't waste

your time on it. The Bible tells us what

we need to know that the number of the

antichrist is 666. Um, so the Bible

simply states it as a number that it's

the number of the antichrist. connecting

any number to an individual or an item I

I think is completely unnecessary and

possibly even foolish to waste our time

on it because God's not dogmatic on it.

Now, is it interesting? There is some

interesting stuff that you can read

about, but please don't don't get down

in that rabbit hole too too far because

can I be can I be blunt? It's a lot of

nonsense. Okay, so here's what we know.

We know that the number is 666. We know

that it is the number of the antichrist.

And here's what I also know. I'm out of

here long before that takes place. So, I

ain't got to worry myself too much about

it. Can I give you two quick

applications? Gave you a lot of

information and I know I went quick

tonight, but I had to because I wanted

to get you get it all in there together.

Let me give you two quick applications

that you can take with you tonight based

on this information from Revelation

Revelation 13 · chapter mention

chapter 13. Number one, rejoice in the

coming rapture of the church.

Rejoice in the coming rapture of the

church. You and I will be raptured out

of Revelation chapter 4. The church is

Revelation 4 · chapter mention

in heaven. We're out of here. After the

church age, we get to go to heaven and

we get to worship and glory with Jesus

Christ. I want to read you some verses

and I you can look over here if you want

to. 1 Thessalonians 5. I'm going to read

verse one through verse 10. I'm going to

read it slowly and I want you to listen

to the words that Paul writes in 1

Thessalonians. He said, "But of the

times and the seasons, brethren, ye have

no need that I write unto you. For

yourselves know perfectly that the day

of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the

night. For when they shall say peace and

safety, then sudden destruction cometh

upon them, as the travail of a woman

with child, and they shall not escape."

He is describing the tribulation period.

Then he says this, "But ye, brethren,

are not in darkness, that that day

should overtake you as a thief. Ye are

the all the children of light. You are

the children of the day. We are not of

the night, nor of the darkness.

Therefore, let us not sleep as others

do. But let us watch and be sober. For

they that sleep sleep in the night, and

they that are drunken be drunken in the

night. But let us who are of the day be

sober, putting on the breastplate of

faith and love, and for a helmet the

hope of salvation. Here you go. Verse

number nine. For God hath not appointed

us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by

our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us,

that whether we wake or sleep, we should

live together with him. Whether Jesus

comes back when we're awake or when

we're sleeping, if we die before the

rapture, or if we're alive at the moment

of the rapture, we have this hope and

this promise. We will live together with

Jesus. We are not appointed to the day

of wrath. We are not appointed to the

day of the Lord. So tonight, as we study

Revelation 13 and you think, man, I

don't want to be here. Rejoice. You

don't have to be. Jesus is going to take

us out of here before it all sets in

motion. Number two, second application,

not only rejoice in the coming rapture,

but reach the world with the gospel of

Jesus Christ.

If you haven't been motivated by the

book of Revelation yet, I think chapter

13 ought to motivate us a little bit.

If nothing else, than verse eight, all

that dwell on the earth at that time are

going to worship him. They're going to

be deceived. They're all going to

worship the the false prophet and

they're going to worship the Antichrist.

I got friends

that I don't want to worship the

Antichrist.

I've got family members. I don't want

worshiping the Antichrist.

I I've got people that I don't want to

be here when this takes place. This is

what's coming. Deception is coming.

Deceit is coming. Destruction is

ultimately coming.

We better get busy telling everybody we

can about the good news of Jesus Christ.

This is not the time to get distracted.

This is not the time to get bitter. This

is not the time to quit. This is not the

time to give up, give in, give out. This

is the time to get focused, get busy,

get on mission, and start preaching the

gospel like we've never before to this

world because this world desperately

needs to meet King Jesus. And one day

every knee will bow and every tongue

will confess that he is Lord to the

glory not of the Antichrist, not of the

dragon, but to the glory of God the

Father. That ought to give you hope

tonight. That ought to motivate you a

little bit tonight. Let's go to the Lord

in a word of prayer and let's thank him

for Revelation chapter 13 and let's ask

Revelation 13 · chapter mention

him to help us to rejoice in the coming

rapture and to reach the world around us

with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Heavenly Father, thank you.