Agents of
Satan’s
Revelation 13
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Agents of Satan’s Rage
(Revelation 13)

chapter 13, continues to discuss the dragon’s
works of rage (12:17)
lost his footing in heaven
 directs his energies to the earth (church)
 Revelation 13 identifies his
devices of destruction

 sea-beast (13:1-10)
R
A
GE
 land-beast (13:11-18)
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Sea Beast (13:1-10)
Q1, “What does the beast rising up out of the
sea represent?”
 On the seashore (13:1)

who?
 “he” (ASV)
 “I” (NKJV)

beast’s description similar to that of Satan
(cf. 12:3)
DIFFERENCE: SATAN: seven crowns on heads;
BEAST: ten crowns on horns (derived authority)
 REASON FOR SIMILARITIES: beast is Satan’s
agent for evil—made in his image!

3
Sea Beast (13:1-10)
 “sea,” “horns,” and “blasphemy”
– links to Rome
 beast out of sea, Rev. 13:1
 four beasts from the sea, Dan. 7:2, 3
 ten horns, Rev. 13:1
 ten horns, Dan. 7:7
 blasphemous name on head,
Rev. 13:1
 spoke pompous words against the Most High,
Dan. 7:25
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What Is Striking
About This
Beast?
5
Often Associated With “POWER”

10 horns = complete power, command, rule
 composite of all Caesars of Rome

one “horn” in Daniel 7:8, 24, 25
 the Caesars who demanded

to be worshiped as a god
“three” in Daniel 7:8 displays strength (cf.
“three ribs” 7:5)
 with great political strength came great arrogance
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Daniel mentions that the 4th empire was
“dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong”
(Dan. 7:7)
 John shows why:

Rome had the combining features that made
Babylon, Persia, and Greece strong
 lion – strength
 bear – crushing power
 leopard – speed

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Gold
Babylon
Lion
1 head
Silver
Persian
Bear
1 head
Brass
Greece
Iron
Rome
Leopard 4 heads
Iron
Teeth
1 head
Gold
Babylon
Lion
1 head
“like a lion”
Silver
Persian
Bear
1 head
“like a bear”
Brass
Greece
Iron
Rome
Leopard 4 heads
Iron
Teeth
1 head
“like a leopard”
“a beast rising up
out of the sea”
(10 Hor ns)
(Blasphemy Against God)
Deadly Wound (v. 3)

deadly wound in one of its heads
since it had seven heads, it doesn’t die
 wound is healed

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“The point is that the deadly wound was inflicted upon
the beast as a whole and not simply upon an emperor
of the Roman Empire. A “deadly wound” is a wound
that kills, but this beast cannot be killed by such a
death-stroke. One of the heads of the beast represented
an empire in which it had been embodied. When an
empire receives a mortal wound, it is defeated and
disappears, but the beast is not destroyed. It simply
continues on in a succeeding empire, another kingdom
or political entity. The wound that killed one empire,
heals, and the beast continues in power in another
venue. The beast therefore is not the Roman Empire
alone, but it is simply the latest embodiment of a world
kingdom ruled by ungodly men”
Harkrider, Truth Commentary, p. 150.
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Mimicking true religion?
 Nero redivius?

Belief that Nero really did not die but went
among the Parthians only to return to punish
Rome
 Some…he would be raised to life again


“On the other hand, the passage may simply
mean that the Roman Empire seemed on
occasions to be on its death bed, but revived
and came back even stronger. The beast
seemed to be invulnerable.”
“Truth For Today Commentary,” p. 50
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The Beast’s Influence (13:3b-8)
(question 2)
Q2, “Describe the sea beast’s influence.”

worldwide
all the world marveled (v. 3)
 over every tribe, tongue and nation (v. 7)


adoration by the masses
dragon and beast are worshiped (v. 4)
 boasts of the beast’s strength
 all who dwell on earth worship him (v. 8)

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“Who Is Like The Beast?”
(Rev. 13:4)

As of God



“Who is like You, O LORD, among the gods? Who is
like You, glorious in holiness, Fearful in praises,
doing wonders?” (Ex. 15:11)
“Who is like the LORD our God, Who dwells on
high” (Ps. 113:5)
Intimidation:


“Who is able to make war with him?”
“These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb
will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King
of kings; and those who are with Him are called,
chosen, and faithful” (Rev. 17:14)
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The Beast’s Influence
“In this phrase is a strong reason to confirm
the late date for the writing of Revelation.
Worldwide worship of the beast did not occur
in Nero’s reign, whose persecution was
limited to Rome, but only during the reign of
Domitian and later emperors. Additionally, it
was never true under Nero that a refusal to
worship the image of the beast was explicit
grounds for death (13:15).”
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Harkrider, Truth Commentary, p. 151, 152.
The Beast’s Blasphemy
Revelation 13:5, 6
limited to 42 months (cryptic 3 ½ years)
 filled with pride and poured forth blasphemy
(vv. 5, 6)
 blasphemed God (cf. Jn. 15:18, 19)

blasphemed name – law
 blasphemed tabernacle – church (Eph. 2:21, 22;
cf. 13:7)
 blasphemed those who dwell in heaven – angels

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The Octavius of Minucius Felix (chapter 8)
“Behold, a portion of you—and, as you declare, the larger and
better portion—are in want, are cold, are labouring in hard
work and hunger; and God suffers it, He feigns; He either is not
willing or not able to assist His people; and thus He is either
weak or inequitable. Thou, who dreamest over a posthumous
immortality, when thou art shaken by danger, when thou art
consumed with fever, when thou art torn with pain, dost thou
not then feel thy real condition? Dost thou not then
acknowledge thy frailty? Poor wretch, art thou unwillingly
convinced of thine infirmity, and wilt not confess it? But I omit
matters that are common to all alike. Lo, for you there are
threats, punishments, tortures, and crosses; and that no longer
as objects of adoration, but as tortures to be undergone; fires
also, which you both predict and fear. …”
The Octavius of Minucius Felix (chapter 8)
“…Where is that God who is able to help you when you come
to life again, since he cannot help you while you are in this
life? Do not the Romans, without any help from your God,
govern, reign, have the enjoyment of the whole world, and
have dominion over you? But you in the meantime, in suspense
and anxiety, are abstaining from respectable enjoyments. You
do not visit exhibitions; you have no concern in public displays;
you reject the public banquets, and abhor the sacred contests;
the meats previously tasted by, and the drinks made a libation
of upon, the altars. Thus you stand in dread of the gods whom
you deny. You do not wreath your heads with flowers; you do
not grace your bodies with odours; you reserve unguents for
funeral rites; you even refuse garlands to your sepulchers—
pallid, trembling beings, worthy of the pity even of our gods! ”
“For when they know that we cannot endure even
to see a man put to death, though justly; who of them
can accuse us of murder or cannibalism? Who does
not reckon among the things of greatest interest the
contests of gladiators and wild beasts, especially
those which are given by you? But we, deeming that
to see a man put to death is much the same as killing
him, have abjured such spectacles. How, then, when
we do not even look on, lest we should contract guilt
and pollution, can we put people to death? …

“… And when we say that those women who use
drugs to bring on abortion commit murder, and will
have to give an account to God for the abortion, on
what principle should we commit murder? For it does
not belong to the same person to regard the very
fetus in the womb as a created being, and therefore
an object of God’s care, and when it has passed into
life, to kill it” (Embassy, chap. 35).

The Beast’s War
Revelation 13:7
 cf. 11:7-9; Matt. 4:8, 9
 Christians would be made to perish, yet only
true Christianity makes death into a gain
(Phil. 1:21)
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“In the meantime, the method I have observed towards
those who have been denounced to me as Christians is
this: I interrogated them whether they were Christians; if
they confessed it I repeated the question twice again,
adding the threat of capital punishment; if they still
persevered, I ordered them to be executed. For whatever
the nature of their creed might be, I could at least feel no
doubt that contumacy and inflexible obstinacy deserved
punishment. There were others also, taken in by the same
infatuation, but being citizens of Rome, I directed them to
be taken away” (Pliny, Letters to Trajan, X, 96)
“These accusations spread (as is usually the case)
from the mere fact of the matter being investigated
and several forms of the mischief came to light. A
placard was put up without any signature, accusing a
large number of persons by name. Those who denied
they were, or had ever been Christians, who repeated
after me an invocation to the gods, and offered
adoration, with wine and frankincense,
,
which I had ordered to be brought for that purpose,
together with those of the gods, and who finally
cursed Christ--none of which acts, it is said, those who
are really Christians can be forced to do--these I
thought it proper to discharge” (Pliny, Letters to
Trajan, X, 96)
“Others who were named by that informer at first
confessed themselves Christians and then denied it;

, some three years ago, others many years,
and a few as much as twenty-five years ago. They all
worshipped your statue and the images of the gods
and cursed Christ. They affirmed, however, the whole
of their guilt; or their error, was, that they were in the
habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was
light, when they sang in alternate verses a hymn to
Christ as to a god…” (Pliny, Letters to Trajan, X, 96)
Written ~ 112 AD
Admonition (13:9, 10)
(question 3)
Q3, “What is the application to the beast and a
general lesson we can gain from verse 10?”


“if anyone has an ear, let him hear”


Galatians 6:7
reminiscent of Jesus’ exhortation (2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6,
13, 22)
“Here is the patience and faith of the saints.”

patience is required to follow the Lamb, not the
beast
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The Beast From The Earth
(13:11-18; question 4)
beast of the sea represents Rome’s persecution
Q4, “What does the beast coming up out of the
earth represent?”



elsewhere referred as “false prophet” (16:13)
Harkrider notes, “When an empire is united with
divine qualities, there emerges state religion, state
worship, and at its center, the state idol. The Roman
Empire, with its god-Caesar, had become precisely
this kind of political entity. The two beasts were so
intertwined that the false religion of the land-beast
was supported by the authority of the political
power of the sea-beast”
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Identifying Symbols of the
Land-beast (question 5)
Q5, “What is the significance of the descriptive
symbols of the land-beast?”
 two horns like a lamb – a religious appearance
& authority
 spoke like a dragon – an agent of Satan
 exercises all the authority of the first beast –
backed by political power
 causes the earth and those who dwell in it to
worship the first beast – promotes pagan
Caesar worship
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Similar Situation Today
“The Lutheran Church in Denmark is not sure what to do with a
pastor who has gone public with his atheism. In a newspaper
interview, Thorkild Grosboell openly said he believes ‘there is no
heavenly God, there is no eternal life, there is no resurrection.’ The
pastor’s local bishop, Rev. Lise-Lotte Rebel, felt compelled to
suspend him, pending clarification of his views. In response,
hundreds of his parishioners rallied to Grosboell’s side, demanding
his return.
‘The church must be tolerant!’
‘If there is no place for our pastor in this church, then there is no
place for many of us either,’ says the head of the parish council, Lars
Heilesen. ‘The Church must be able to tolerate points of view that are
not necessarily its own. There must be some room allowed to
express one’s doubts openly without being sanctioned.’ . . . Because
it is a state church, however, the Lutheran Church cannot defrock
Grosboell.”
“Pastor Openly Rejects the Creator”
‘Censorship!’
Continued. . .
A government committee seeking to clean up the state church from
charges of corruption has actually come to Grosboell’s defense, claiming
he is a victim of censorship. It has filed a formal complaint claiming a
violation of the Danish constitution and the European Convention on
Human Rights. . . .Denmark's Theological College of Education, considers
Grosboell’s claims ‘refreshing.’
‘I was just misquoted!’
After his suspension, Grosboell told the press that his words have been
misunderstood: ‘I feel that I was misquoted. My statements were
presented in a way that was oversimplified and categorical.’ He says he
believes ‘in something divine, but not in a God who created man and the
ant.’ The media seems shocked by this strange turn of events.
Yet Denmark’s church has been a harbinger of the depths to which
Christians can sink once Pandora’s box has been opened—once
Christians reject the authority of every word in the Bible, beginning with
its historical account of a six-day Creation and a worldwide Flood in
Genesis.
“Pastor Openly Rejects the Creator”
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Whose Victory Is It When Atheists
Are In Pulpits?
Satan is the victor in these scenarios
 The land-beast was of that sort:

he believed “in something divine, just not the
Creator of man and the ant”
 he “causes the earth and those who dwell in it
to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound
was healed” (Rev. 13:12)
 he did so with the protection of the political
powers, “. . .exercises all the authority of the
first beast. . .” (ibid.)

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Deceiving Signs (13:13, 14)
Q6, “What are some of the signs the landbeast performs and were they legitimate?”
 able to perform signs to further his deceit
lying wonders (2 Thess. 2:9-12)
 God’s signs done by first-century Christians were
more persuasive (i.e., Philip and Simon: Acts 8)
 what would the signs of Satan accomplish for
those who do not love the truth?

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Some Things Have Not Changed
(question 7)
Q7, “What are some false signs today that
religions use to deceive people with?”
tongue speaking
 faith healing
 demonic exorcisms
 supposed sightings of Mary
 bread and wine turning to lit. body and blood
 etc.


the deceived will not open the Bible to
investigate—enjoy a sensational religion
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The Lord’s Admonition
 Mark 13:22, 23 “For false christs and
false prophets will rise and show signs
and wonders to deceive, if possible,
even the elect. But take heed; see, I
have told you all things beforehand”
(cf. 2 Tim. 3:13; 2 Cor. 11:14-15).
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Make an Image to the Beast
(v. 14)

It is factual that temples were built to honor
Caesars for worship
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Consequences for not Worshiping the
Image (13:15-18)
Q8, “What are the two consequences for not
worshiping the image?”
1. awarded death
2. economic hardship by not allowing them
to buy or sell

HOW ATTRACTIVE IS CHRISTIANITY FOR
THOSE WHO ARE LIVING FOR THE HERE AND
NOW?
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The Mark of the Beast

to have free course in the beast’s system,
one must have the mark
on forehead (shown) or hand (hidden)
 no reason to believe in a literal mark

 a counterpart to the seal

(7:3)
it is speculated that those who worshiped
Caesar may have been given some kind of ticket
that would allow them to buy and sell in the
system
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Question 9
“Can a Christian compromise the faith to
provide for his family and be acceptable to
God?”
 ANSWER: Verse 18
“here is wisdom”—time for discernment—the
need exists to see things as God does!
 those with understanding are to calculate the
number of the beast: 666
 “six hundred and sixty six, the meaning of which
is the basis of much vain speculation” (Strong’s
5516)

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666
THE PROPER UNDERSTANDING OF “666”
IS BASED ON UNDERSTANDING THREE
TRIADS
1.
“Holy, Holy, Holy” (4:8)
2. “woe, woe, woe” (8:13)
3. “six, six, six” (13:18)
 numbers in Revelation are to be understood
symbolically, not as a riddle or game
 beware of the fruitless pursuits of “gematria”
666
THE PROPER UNDERSTANDING OF “666”
IS BASED ON UNDERSTANDING “7”
 “7” represents completeness and
perfection (Ps. 12:6; Matt. 18:21; Rev. 3:1)
 “6” is a number which represents man
 created on day six; man is not the Creator
 imperfect (Prov. 14:12; Jer. 10:23; Ps. 127:1;
2 Cor. 3:5)
 given to deception (Num. 23:19)
666
 Any system that is “666” is:
 purely of human origin
 is destined to fail when it opposes Christ
 “failure” (6) upon “failure” (6) upon
“failure” (6)
“Revelation” answers who we are to
be committed to in order to be
protected in eternity!
The Beasts Of The Dragon
(Revelation 13)
Allies
SEA-BEAST
LAND-BEAST
Means Of
Influence
Power,
Pressure,
Persecution
Significance
In John’s Day
Roman
Empire &
Emperor
False
Teaching,
False Worship,
False Signs
Agencies to
enforce
emperor
worship
Application In
Any Age
Any form of
intimidation
to silence
Christians
Any form of
deception
(false
teaching and
philosophies)
Revelation 13:8, “If anyone has an ear, let him hear.”
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