Revelation Ch13v1-18 - Satan's War

Those please to Revelation chapter 13.

Revelation 13 · chapter mention

Revelation 13.

So let's hear God's word together, starting at verse 1.

The dragon stood on the shore of the sea, and I saw a beast coming out of the sea.

It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name.

The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion.

The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority.

One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed.

The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast.

People worshipped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast.

And they also worshipped the beast and asked,

Who is like the beast?

Who can wage war against it?

The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for 42 months.

It opened its mouth to blaspheme God and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven.

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.

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.

Whoever has ears, let them hear.

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 in the part of God's people.

Then I saw a second beast coming out of the earth.

It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon.

It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf.

And made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed.

And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people.

Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth.

It ordered them to set up an image in honour of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived.

The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast,

so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed.

It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave,

to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads,

so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark,

which is the name of the first beast and the number of its name.

This calls for wisdom.

Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast,

for it is the number of a man.

That number is 666.

Well, again, we need the Lord's help,

so let's pray and ask for his goodness to us now.

Our Father God, we thank you for your blessings to us throughout this week.

We thank you for the blessing it is to gather like this as your people,

to hear your word,

to hear your voice,

speaking to us,

speaking to us about your world and what is going on and how we should live in it.

And so we pray that we would be attentive to you this morning,

that these words that we hear and look at together

would penetrate deep into our life

and cause us to be the kind of people,

the kind of church you have called us to be.

So pour out your spirit upon us,

generously we ask,

in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Well, in 1914,

at the start of the First World War,

Allied troops in northern France

dug in to defend themselves against the advancing German army.

It became known as the Western Front.

It was trench warfare.

It was bloody

and it was fierce.

And for four long years,

they faced each other and fought.

Eventually,

victory was achieved.

The Allies had won.

But not without loss of life.

In that area of war,

13 million soldiers died in those four years.

It was costly.

Well, the church is also at war.

Not the war of guns and tanks against flesh and blood,

but a war against the powers of this dark world

and the forces of evil.

It's a war with Satan.

And that battle has been pictured for us here

in Revelation 13.

Have a look at verse 1.

The dragon,

who we know is Satan,

stood on the shore of the sea.

Well, the sea in the Bible represents chaos

and evil.

And that is what the dragon has come to bring.

This is what Satan has come to do.

And he unleashes two terrifying beasts.

The first one we read in verse 1.

I saw a beast coming out of the sea.

Verse 7.

And this beast was given power to wage war

against God's holy people

and to conquer them.

Verse 11.

Then I saw a second beast

coming out of the earth.

And we're told what he will do.

Verse 15.

The second beast was given power

to give breath to the image

of the first beast

so that the image could speak

and cause all who refused

to worship the image

to be killed.

You see, this war is fierce and bloody.

And Satan's purpose is to oppose Christ

and destroy the church.

It's trench warfare.

And we as God's people

are on the front line of this war.

So how are we to face into this battle?

How are we to fight our enemy?

Well, three things we're going to see

from the text.

The first is we've got to know our enemy.

Second, we need to prepare for war.

And third, we need to stand with confidence.

We need to know our enemy.

We need to prepare for war.

And we need to stand with confidence.

So first, we need to know our enemy.

Our enemy is Satan.

And he hates

Carigalline Baptist Church.

He's out to turn you at this very moment

from your love of Christ.

He wants you to stop listening right now

to think and focus on other things.

But as fierce as the dragon might look,

we mustn't be fooled by his threats.

There's two things we need to know

about our enemy.

First, Satan is defeated,

but not yet surrendered.

Defeated, but not surrendered.

Chapter 12, that we saw a couple of weeks ago,

is all about the defeat of Satan

through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Our enemy was defeated.

He was disarmed and overpowered.

At the moment, as Jesus died and rose,

chapter 12, verse 9,

The great dragon was hurled down.

That ancient snake called the devil or Satan

who leads the whole world astray.

He was hurled to the earth

and his angels with him.

Now he is powerless

to accuse God's people.

But he hasn't yet surrendered.

Look at chapter 12, the end of verse 12.

He's not yet surrendered.

He is filled with fury

because he knows that his time is short.

And so he's on a mission, verse 17.

The dragon was enraged at the woman.

The woman here is a symbol of God's church,

God's people.

And he went off to wage war

against the rest of her offspring.

Who are they?

Those who keep God's commands

and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.

Is that you today?

Those who want to keep God's command

and hold fast to the testimony about Jesus?

You're in a war.

But yet, Satan has been crushed.

The dragon has been slayed.

The devil has been defeated.

Our enemy has been stripped of his powers.

But he is not giving up without a fight.

He knows his end is short.

But he's not going to submit quietly.

He is still opposed to the church.

So defeated, but not yet surrendered.

Second, he's wounded, but not yet destroyed.

Wounded, but not destroyed.

Satan unleashes a beast, two of them,

who is ultimately a reflection or an image of Satan himself.

We're told a little bit about him.

Look at verse 3.

This is chapter 13, verse 3.

Isaiah 13:3

One of the heads of the beast

seemed to have a fatal wound.

But the fatal wound had been healed.

The beast is described in similar terms in verse 14.

If you look at the second part of verse 14.

It ordered them to set up an image in honour of the beast

who was wounded by the sword and yet lived.

So wounded, but restored.

So has Satan somehow recovered?

Did God really defeat Satan at the cross?

Has he kind of managed to get back all his strength again?

Well, yes, Satan was fatally wounded

by the death and resurrection of Jesus.

He was delivered a crushing blow that signalled his end.

But he is not yet destroyed.

The fact that he continues with the fight

gives the appearance that his wound has been healed.

Look back at verse 3.

One of the heads of the beast

seemed to have a fatal wound.

A fatal wound that had been healed.

Make no mistake, the wound is fatal.

His end is coming.

He may present himself as having overcome,

but it's all lies.

The crushing blow has already landed.

The sword has already fallen.

The dragon is breathing his very last

and he is desperate

to inflict as much damage as possible.

So as God's people,

we must not be overwhelmed by our enemy.

It's not like God is in a fight that he cannot win

or a battle that he cannot end.

No, Satan is defeated and wounded.

His days are short.

He might not surrender,

but his destruction is coming.

So we mustn't be overwhelmed.

But at the same time,

we must not underestimate our enemy.

He's defeated and wounded

and he's angry

and he remains fully opposed to Christ

and he seeks to destroy the church.

Which means

we must be prepared

for war.

We need to be prepared for this war.

Satan's war with the church

is on two fronts,

which is represented here

by these two beasts.

We're going to look at them each in turn.

First beast

is persecution.

Look at verse 1.

The dragon stood on the shore of the sea

and I saw a beast coming out of the sea.

It had ten horns and seven heads

with ten crowns on its horns

and on each head a blasphemous name.

Pretty scary creature, isn't it?

But who or what

is this beast?

Well, as we've seen

as we've been reading through Revelation,

the images that John sees in his visions

all have their root

and they're all found in the Old Testament.

So with this description of the beast

coming out of the sea,

turn with me, please,

to Daniel chapter 7.

Daniel 7 · chapter mention

Daniel chapter 7.

Daniel 7 · chapter mention

I'm sorry, I haven't got a page number.

If you're using a red church Bible,

if somebody could call it out,

that would be helpful.

8, 9, 3.

8, 9, 3.

Daniel chapter 7.

Daniel 7 · chapter mention

So the context here is that

Daniel along with thousands of God's people

had been taken into captivity

by the Babylonians.

They were a mighty kingdom,

a great empire

that oppressed God's people

and forced them to abandon God

and to worship idols.

You may recall

some of the accounts in Daniel

where they were forced

to bow down to an idol

and if they didn't bow down,

they would be thrown into

a blazing furnace.

And it's in this context

that Daniel has a vision

of powerful kingdoms.

four of them

and the last one

is more terrifying

than the rest.

So let's look at chapter 7,

verse 2.

Daniel said,

in my vision at night,

it says,

It says,

In my vision at night,

in my vision at night,

it says,

but there before me were

the four winds of heaven

churning up the great sea.

Four great beasts,

each different from the others,

came up out of the sea.

Verse 15.

I, Daniel,

was troubled in spirit

and the visions that passed through my mind disturbed me.

I approached one of those standing there and asked him the meaning of all of this.

So he told me and gave me the interpretation of these things.

The four great beasts are four kings or four kingdoms

that will rise from the earth.

But the holy people of the Most High will receive the kingdom

and will possess it forever.

Yes, forever and ever.

Then I wanted to know the meaning of the fourth beast

which was different from all the others

and most terrifying with its iron teeth and bronze claws.

The beast that crushed and devoured its victims

and trampled underfoot whatever was left.

Verse 23.

He gave me this explanation.

The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth.

It will be different from all the other kingdoms

and will devour the whole earth,

trampling it down and crushing it.

So the four beasts of Daniel's vision that he sees

are successive kingdoms that appear and come and disappear

and another kingdom replaces it.

But the point is that with each successive kingdom

they become more oppressive.

And the fourth one, this fourth kingdom is the worst.

Now let's go back to Revelation chapter 13.

Revelation 13 · chapter mention

John says,

John says,

The beast I saw resembled a leopard

but had feet like those of a bear

and a mouth like that of a lion.

And the dragon gave the beast his power

and his throne and great authority.

So it seems that the beast John saw represents

or is a continuation of these kingdoms and empires that appear.

So I think it's best to understand this first beast in Revelation

as representing governing powers

who oppose and persecute the church today.

I want us to be clear on that.

This first beast is an image or a reflection

of the representing governing powers in the world today

who oppose and persecute the church.

The attack is experienced in two ways.

It can come by verbal persecution

verse 5.

The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words

and blasphemies

and to exercise its authority for 42 months.

It opened its mouth.

So these are all words to blaspheme God

and to slander his name and his dwelling place

and all those who live in heaven.

But it's not just a verbal attack.

There will also be physical attack.

Look at verse 7.

It was given power to wage war against God's holy people

and to conquer them.

In fact, this will be experienced by every church all over the world.

Satan is at work through the governing powers

and nations that arise to persecute the church.

Look at the rest of verse 7.

It was given authority.

This is the beast was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation.

You see, John's vision is not just tied to one empire or one kingdom in a particular time and place.

No, he's showing us that the rulers and the regimes of today,

no matter what their language or nation or people or tribe,

they are out to destroy the church,

whether it's a dictatorship or a democracy.

You see, there is no such thing as a Christian state.

There is no Christian utopia where the church and the state somehow merge into one.

No, the governing bodies of today are used by Satan to oppose the church.

I spoke with my friend Raj from India this week.

Some of you have met him.

He was here.

He preached in this church some years ago.

He had messaged me.

He was very down and very discouraged.

And so we had a conversation.

He told me that in recent weeks,

World Vision, you've maybe heard of that.

They do a lot of work with people with vision problems.

A Christian organisation and it's been banned.

1,200 workers removed just like that.

Right now, his own ministry where they work,

the government has decided to take an audit out on their organisation,

which means their assets and buildings can be seized,

their accounts closed.

On top of that, he told me of one colleague

who's in jail because of anti-Christian laws.

While in prison, his wife has been attacked

and received death threats,

telling that her children have to leave.

It helps us to understand what the church

and what our brothers and sisters are going through.

Look at verse 9.

Whoever has ears, let them hear.

If anyone is to go into captivity,

into captivity or prison, they will go.

If anyone is to be killed with the sword,

with the sword they will be killed.

These stories can be repeated thousands of times all over the world.

For your homework, I could suggest this,

to check out Open Doors UK or Church in Chains.

Read about your brothers and sisters.

Know what is happening.

Switch off Facebook.

Switch off looking at all the wonderful gifts

you can buy and order and see what's going on.

The nations, the ruling governing powers

stand against the church today.

We might face verbal and physical persecution

like our friends in India.

But there's a subtle oppression against the church today.

In recent years, our government has basically

torn out and ripped up Genesis 1 and 2

through various legislation and all kinds of promotion.

People don't know who they are anymore.

Their image, their gender,

their sexuality, marriage.

It's all been redefined.

The very foundations of life

are thrown out.

It's a reminder to us that the church's voice

is no longer welcomed.

It's to be silenced.

It's to be crushed.

You see, Satan is at work

through the beast of governing powers

to oppose and persecute the church.

We're in a war.

And it's bloody.

And it's serious.

But it's not just persecution.

There is subtle seduction.

Let's look at the second beast.

Verse 11.

Then I saw a second beast

coming out of the earth.

It had two horns like a lamb,

but it spoke like a dragon.

So what or who does this second beast represent?

It looks like a lamb, we're told,

but it speaks like a dragon.

Well, these images are already familiar to us

throughout Revelation.

The lamb is identified as Jesus.

We even see that back in verse 8

as 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

before the creation of the world.

This is speaking about Jesus.

And the dragon we have seen

is identified as Satan.

So it's as if this second beast

comes along and presents himself

as Jesus.

Or speaks as if he represents Jesus.

But listen very carefully to his words

and it will become very clear

that they are nothing less

than the seductive words of Satan.

You remember Jesus talked about

the wolves in sheep's clothing.

Well, in a similar way,

John is saying,

watch out for dragons

in lamb's clothing.

In other words,

the second beast represents

the false teachers who come along,

who twist the truth of God's word.

Rather than tell you clearly

what God's word has said,

they tell you what your itchy ears

want to hear.

The aim is to lead you astray,

to deceive you.

Look how the second beast

does his work.

Let's look at verse 16.

It also forced all people,

great and small,

rich and poor,

free and slave.

So it doesn't matter

who they are,

where they come from.

It forced all people

to receive a mark

on their right hands

or on their foreheads

so that they could not buy

or sell unless they had

the mark,

which is the name of the beast

or the number of its name.

Now people get very excited

about the mark of the beast.

I mean, who is it?

We're even given number,

aren't we,

in verse 18?

666?

Well, some claim

that the COVID vaccine

was the mark.

If you've had the vaccine,

you've got the mark.

My goodness me.

No, that's not helpful.

That's more deception.

The mark

is symbolic of who

or what you belong to.

Who is your loyalty to?

Is it to the true word of God

or the deceptive word of Satan?

Where is your allegiance?

Is it to the lamb

or to the dragon?

What's your priority?

Is it to the church

or to the world?

Now how we answer that

will mark out,

it will identify

who or what you belong to.

But more than that,

it will determine

how you get on in life.

Because,

look at verse 17,

those with,

those,

if you didn't have the mark,

they couldn't buy

or sell.

They couldn't go about

business.

They couldn't go about

buying and selling

and make a living

for themselves.

You see,

align yourselves

with the deceptive word

of Satan

and you will have access

to all that the world offers.

Why would you align yourself

with Christ and the church?

Because all that's going to mean

is opposition

and persecution.

Don't you want

an easier life?

This is what's going on here.

if your loyalty

is with Christ,

if your allegiance

is to the church,

life is going to get

very hard for you.

It's going to be difficult.

But you know what?

If you're just willing

to compromise a little,

just,

just

twist

a little bit,

then,

then you'll get on

well in life.

You'll be able to

buy and sell.

You'll be able to get

your good job

and earn promotion

and get a salary increase

and you'll be able

to get all your

home comforts

and you'll be

financially secure.

It's very simple.

All you need to do is

don't talk about

your faith.

Why would you cause

an upset

by talking about

Jesus?

All you need to do

is wear the rainbow

badge.

Why,

why,

why,

why start

isolating yourself

from people?

All you need to do

is accept that,

you know what,

there's no absolute truth.

It's whatever's true

for you.

Why be such a fusspot?

All you need to do

is just

compromise

every now and then.

When things get

a little bit

sticky,

just kind of

rein it in

a little bit

and you'll be

comfortable

and you'll be

secure.

Align yourselves

to the right side

and you'll get

on alright.

You see,

this is us,

isn't it?

We can be so

desperate for a

better life,

a comfortable life,

an easy life,

without opposition,

without persecution.

We just want

to take it

easy.

Watch out

for the deceptive

words of

false teachers.

Listen very

carefully and you

will see that they

are the words

of Satan.

So this is the

war we've got

to be prepared

for.

This twin

attack of

persecution

and seduction

and it's

fierce

and it

rages on

every single

day.

So how are we

going to stand

against these

beasts?

How are we

going to fight

the threats

of the dragon?

Well,

we need to

stand with

confidence.

As we face

this war,

the way we

fight is to

stand our

ground on the

truth of God's

word.

Three truths

that are going

to keep us

strong in

this battle.

First truth,

let's remind

ourselves often

that God is

sovereign.

The beasts

appear to be

unrivaled

and dominant.

Look at

verse 4.

People worshipped

the dragon because

he had given

authority to

the beast

and they

also worshipped

the beast

and asked,

who is

like the

beast?

Who can

wage war

against it?

Who can

fight against

him?

He's too

big,

too fierce.

Well,

let's be

absolutely

clear.

Satan's

authority

does not

rival God's

authority.

It's not

a 50-50

war.

It's not

even 75%

God,

25%

Satan.

No,

Satan

cannot do

anything

without God's

decree.

He cannot.

Look at

verse 5.

The beast

was

given

a mouth

to utter

proud words.

verse 7.

It was

given

power

to wage

war.

The end

of verse 7,

and it

was given

authority.

It's the

same with

the second

beast.

Verse 15,

the second

beast was

given

power

to give

breath

to the

image.

You see,

Satan

doesn't

have

ultimate

authority.

He can't

decide to

do whatever

he wants

whenever he

likes.

He can

only do

what God

allows him

to do

or what

God gives

him

permission

to do.

Satan

does not

have free

reign.

He is

on a

leash.

Now,

this shouldn't

cause us

to doubt

God's care

and love

for us.

Rather,

it should

fortify

and strengthen

us as a

church because

it means

that nothing

happens by

chance.

God makes

no mistake

with your

life or

with this

church.

Whatever may

come to us

in this

battle,

we are

ultimately

in God's

hands and

he is

ultimately

in control.

He is the

commanding

officer over

everything.

Nothing

can overcome

us.

And what

Satan uses

to harm

us,

God will

use it

for our

good and

for his

glory.

So let

us stand

confident

that God

is sovereign

over your

life and

over this

church.

Second

truth that

we need to

hold on

to is

victory

is assured.

Satan

is not

only

restrained,

he is

not only

on a

leash,

but his

time is

limited.

Look at

verse 5.

The beast

was given

a mouth

to utter

proud words

and blasphemies

and to

exercise its

authority for

42 months.

Now here's

one of

those strange

numbers that

we keep

coming up

against and

we've been

reminding

ourselves that

they're symbolic,

they remind us

of things,

and this is

part of a

series of

numbers.

Back in

chapter 12

verse 6 we

read about

1260 days.

In chapter

12 verse 14

we read about

a time's

time and

half a time.

And if we

understand time

to be a

year then

that's three

and a half

years.

And now here

in chapter 13

verse 5 we

have 42

months.

Well you

can do the

maths.

1260

days is

equal to

guess what?

Three and a

half years.

And that's

also equal to

42 months.

So they're

not different

lengths of

time but

they refer to

the same

time period.

They represent

the time of

war that the

church is going

to face between

the resurrection

of Christ and

the return of

Christ.

This is not

peace time.

This is

war time.

But the

important thing

is this war

is going to

come to an

end and it's

only going to

last for a

certain time.

It's limited

42 months.

It will

come to

an end.

Now that

should encourage

us and

strengthen us.

Our lives in

this world is

not spiralling

out of control.

It's not like

Satan is on

his march to

victory.

No, Satan

does not

win.

And we, the

church, we

do not lose.

God has the

victory.

And we can be

confident that

this victory

is ours too.

So let's

remind ourselves

of the truth

that God is

sovereign.

Victory is

assured.

And with that

let us together

as one

people, as

Carigalline

Baptist Church,

stand with

confidence.

You see, the

way we fight

this battle, the

way we face

into it, is

to stand your

ground on

God's word.

Because God

is sovereign,

because his

victory is

assured, look

at the end

of verse 10,

this calls for

patient endurance

and faithfulness

of the part

of God's

people.

It also

calls, verse

18, for

wisdom.

Look, when

we're in the

heat of the

battle, when

we're bunkered

down in trench

warfare, when

persecution comes

and it will,

when seduction

tempts you

and it

does, let

us be

wise.

Don't

panic.

Don't fear.

Don't worry.

Instead, remind

yourself of

God's truth.

Wait patiently

for the coming

king.

Hold faithfully

to your

task.

Jesus is the

sovereign,

victorious champion.

Satan does

not win and

we do not

lose.

peace.

I mentioned

my friend

Raj earlier.

He sent

updates asking

for prayer.

What struck

me was he

didn't ask for

the persecution

to stop.

He didn't

ask for more

comfort and

security.

what he

asked for

was that we

would stand

strong.

Here's what

he asked

for.

This is his

prayer request

and I think

this is a good

prayer request

for us too.

Let me read

it to you.

Let's just be

quiet, reflect

and pray

together.

This is

their prayer

and this is

our prayer.

He writes

it is quite a

bad situation

but please

pray that the

Lord will use

this situation

for his

glory.

please pray

for boldness

and courage

to proclaim

the gospel

news in the

midst of

opposition.

It's

overwhelming.

We feel

helpless.

Please pray

that the

Lord will go

before us

and fight

for us.

Please pray

that we will

trust him

and lie

at his feet

and draw

closer to

him.

father we

pray this

for brothers

and sisters

we know

around the

world.

Those we

know personally

those we do

not know

but your

church is

everywhere

and we

pray it for

ourselves.

We don't

pray for an

easy life.

we don't

pray for

more comforts

or more

security

but we

pray for

courage

for patient

endurance

for faithfulness

to go on

teaching and

sharing the

gospel

whether that's

in Sunday

school or

rock or

rooted

or polo

amongst our

friends our

colleagues our

family.

That we

would hold

fast to

our task

in the

knowledge that

you almighty

God are

sovereign over

every event

over every

circumstance of

our life.

That because of

Christ we

stand assured

of victory.

Give us

patience to

wait for the

coming king.

Give us

courage

courage that

we too

would lie at

your feet

and draw

closer to

you.

Help us

we pray

in Jesus

name.

Amen.

Amen.

We're going

to sing a

great song.

We've sung

I hope we

sing great

songs every

Sunday.

I think we

do.

We've sung

some good

ones.