Daily Bible Reading (Monday, December 18th)

3

Revelation 13 (ESV)

 

The First Beast

And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads. And the beast that I saw was like a leopard; its feet were like a bear's, and its mouth was like a lion's mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority. One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast. And they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?”

And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months. It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling,[a] that is, those who dwell in heaven. Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them.[b] And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation, and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain. If anyone has an ear, let him hear:

10 If anyone is to be taken captive,
    to captivity he goes;
if anyone is to be slain with the sword,
    with the sword must he be slain.

Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.

The Second Beast

11 Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. 12 It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence,[c] and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed. 13 It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people, 14 and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of[d] the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15 And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain. 16 Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave,[e] to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, 17 so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. 18 This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.[f]

Footnotes:

  1. Revelation 13:6 Or tabernacle
  2. Revelation 13:7 Some manuscripts omit this sentence
  3. Revelation 13:12 Or on its behalf
  4. Revelation 13:14 Or on behalf of
  5. Revelation 13:16 For the contextual rendering of the Greek word doulos, see Preface
  6. Revelation 13:18 Some manuscripts 616

3 Comments

So what is so terrifying about the first beast from the sea as we read the first 10 verses? It was allowed to exercise authority. And “it was allowed to make war against the saints and to conquer them.” It was given power over every tribe, race of people, language, and nations as well. And verse eight gives me goosebumps. And what’s to say about the second beast? John makes it clear in verses 12 to 17. Now verse 18 calls for wisdom...thank you Lord Christ for your spoken divine Word. Help us in your understanding and in your Wisdom for I must not rely on my own understanding but I must rely on your knowledge and Truth in your sacred scriptures only....amen.

Satan is definitely at war with the saints. We need to carefully follow the Bible's warnings to beware of Satan's deceptive ways and to resist his temptations through the power of God's Word and the Holy Spirit. We dare not underestimate Satan's power or desire to destroy.

As we see the first beast as ugly and grotesque, the second only has two horns, so he doesn't have the might as the first. He appears as harmless as a lamb, but speaks like a dragon, which would appear odd. As another deceiver from the father of lies, he will be a smooth talker. False prophets appear harmless and meek. He will promise comfort to people if they only worship Antichrist, but those that do will face God's judgement. Satan is subtle and can come in all forms!

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