Antichrist: The Beast from the Sea

Amazed at the apparent resurrection of the beast, the whole earth begins to submit to his authority: “They worshiped the dragon because he gave authority to the beast” (13:4). In addition, they also worshiped the beast, declaring, “Who is like the beast? Who is able to wage war against him?” Wonder turns to worship. Divine worship is substituted by Devil worship. Idolatry of the most terrible sort imaginable now blankets the earth. “Who is like the beast?” is a parody of the acclamation of Yahweh (Exod 8:10; 15:11; Pss 71:19; 89:8; Isa 44:7; 46:5; Mic 7:18). “God alone is incomparable, and the beast once more is usurping what belongs only to God” (Osborne, Revelation, 498). Swindoll is insightful as usual at this point:

How like Satan! The one who “disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Cor. 11:14) will provide the world with a copycat “christ” to match all their man-centered ideals of personality, politics, and power. No wonder the whole world will be swept off its feet by this attractive, persuasive figure (13:3)! In fact, we are told the world will worship the dragon through their worship of the Beast. In this rabid fit of hypernationalism that will make Hitler’s Third Reich look like a high school sporting event, the world will cry out, “Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?” (13:4). (Insights, 181)

Satan desires to be worshiped and treated like God. He always has. He always will.

REVELATION 13:5-8

Satan’s reign of terror with the beast will have definite and specific characteristics. These are carefully logged in verses 5-8. The beast is given a mouth “to speak boasts and blasphemies.” He is given this mouth directly by the dragon, but ultimately he is permitted to speak by God. He, like the Devil, is God’s beast and on God’s leash. With this mouth he will utter haughty, boastful, proud words of arrogance. He will also speak “blasphemies,” a word appearing three times in verses 5-6. The objects of his slanders are noted in verse 6: God, His name, His dwelling, and His people (“those who dwell in heaven”). Mounce provides helpful commentary at this point:

The beast opens his mouth to blaspheme God. This activity of the Antichrist is clearly portrayed in 2 Thess. 2:4: “He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God . . . proclaiming himself to be God.” The blasphemy of Antiochus (Dan. 7:25; 11:36) and the use of divine titles by the Roman emperors would for John identify the Antichrist as the one in whom secular authority had assumed the mantle of deity. The expression, “to open the mouth,” is frequently used at the beginning of a prolonged discourse (cf. Matt. 5:2; Acts 8:35) and suggests that the blasphemies of the beast against God were sustained. (Revelation, 250)

These blasphemies, these slanders, indeed will go on for a sustained period of time. John says it will be for 42 months, or 3½ years (13:5). But not only will he speak against God and His people; he will also act against God and His people. In a story all too familiar for those who know the history of the church, the beast will be “permitted to wage war against the saints and to conquer them.” He will persecute God’s people, and many will perish as they take their faithful stand for the Lamb. Conquering the people of God will not satisfy the insatiable appetite of Satan and his antichrist. Again, by divine permission, he will be given authority over the people the Lamb came to redeem: “every tribe, people, language, and nation” (13:7). Indeed “all those who live on the earth will worship him” (13:8). Unbelieving humanity on a world-wide scale will worship the beast as god. Mocking the authentic worship rightly given to the Son of Man in Daniel 7:14, the beast “imitates the glory, authority, and worship of which only Christ is worthy” (Osborne, Revelation, 502). All of this and more will Satan, the beast, and the earth dwellers do. But it will only be for a short time.

Everybody worships somebody. Whom do you worship? Here are two possibilities: Christ or antichrist!

REVELATION 13:8-10

Verse 8 says, “All those who live on the earth will worship [the beast].” But there is a second group on this planet who are not “earth-dwellers” and devotees of the dragon and beast. They follow a different Leader, march to the beat of a different Drummer, pledge allegiance to a different Master. And unlike the earth dweller “whose name was not written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slaughtered” (13:8), their name has been. The book of life is the book containing the names of the redeemed, the saved (see Phil 4:3); those who follow the Lamb have their name in this book. We should note in this the security of our salvation. Our name was written in this book in eternity past. Further, this is a book that belongs to the Lamb who was slaughtered (5:6,9). I love what MacArthur says about this verse:

Seven times in the New Testament, believers are identified as those whose names are written in the book of life (cf. 3:5; 17:8; 20:12,15; 21:27; Phil. 4:3). The book of life belonging to the Lamb, the Lord Jesus, is the registry in which God inscribed the names of those chosen for salvation before the foundation of the world. (This phrase is used as a synonym for eternity past in 17:8; Matt. 13:35; 25:34; Luke 11:50; Eph. 1:4; Heb. 9:26; 1 Pet. 1:20; cf. 2 Thess. 2:13; and 2 Tim. 1:9.) Unlike unbelievers, the elect will not be deceived by Antichrist (Matt. 24:24), nor will they worship him ([Rev] 20:4). Antichrist will not be able to destroy believers’ saving faith, for the Lord Jesus Christ promised, “He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels” (Rev 3:5; cf. 1 John 5:4). Believers have been in the keeping power of God since before creation, and they will be there after the destruction of this order and the establishment of the new heaven and the new earth (21:1ff.).

Believers are doubly secure, because the book of life belongs to the Lamb who has been slain. Not only the decree of election, but also the atoning work of Christ seals the redemption of the elect forever. (Revelation 12–22, 50)

Verse 9 is a simple invitation to pay attention and be spiritually discerning. This is an invitation every generation needs to heed, but how much more as we edge toward the end of history. Verse 10 is somewhat enigmatic to be sure. I believe it best to understand it as a proverb of destiny for those whose name is in the book of life. You can expect to be captured and imprisoned. Your earthly destiny may be to be slaughtered. However, endure and remain faithful. David Platt puts it well:

It is, and it will be, costly to follow Christ in this world, but don’t compromise! Even if it means you’re being slain, hold fast to your faith. Even if it means you lose your job and all your money, hold fast to your faith. Even if it means ridicule and oppression and isolation or imprisonment or death, follow the Lamb! And one day you will stand with him, you will sing with him, and you will be satisfied completely in him. (“Fighting,” 2012)

Satan’s antichrist is coming. But so is God’s Christ, the Lord Jesus. What will you do? Will you be pro-Christ or anti-Christ? Will you worship God and the Lamb, or will you worship the dragon and the beast? The choice is that clear. And the choice is yours. Your eternal destiny hangs in the balance. Your eternal home is at stake. You must take a stand. You are taking a stand right now. Jesus said in Matthew 12:30, “Anyone who is not with Me is against Me.” There is no neutral ground. You are either with Him or against Him. So, what will you do? John Piper is right:

The main point of the book of Revelation is that Christ wins in the end. And that to have your name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, so that you don’t get any mark of belonging to any beastly power, is absolutely essential.

Those who have their names written in the Lamb’s Book of Life are enabled not to give in to any beastly, antichrist power that comes along.

And that’s the most important thing for us individually: that we love Christ so much that we defeat Satan by the word of our testimony and by the blood of the Lamb, and thus find ourselves on the right side of the Lamb when he comes when others are going to say, “O rocks, fall upon me!” because they can’t bear to look upon the wrath that will stream forth from the face of the Lamb of God when he comes the second time. (“United States”)