02.39. LECTURE No. 39 -- Rev_13:1
LECTURE No. 39 -- Revelation 13:1
Those Who Preach the Truth of This Book Will Suffer for It - A Personal Testimony - The Thirteenth Chapter of Revelation a Prophetic Word Picture of the Coming Antichrist - Men Need to Know Not Only About the True Christ But Also About the Antichrist - Eternal Enmity Between Christ and Satan Prophesied in Genesis 3:15 - Bible Names of the Antichrist - The Importance of Numbers As Used in the Bible - The Beast Which Daniel Saw Compared with the Beast of Revelation the Thirteenth Chapter - The March of Empire During the Gentile Age Revealed by the Lord Through the Image Which King Nebuchadnezzar Saw and Which Daniel Interpreted
A Personal Testimony
IT is my observation that true Christian people everywhere are taking a greater interest than ever before in the study of this remarkable Book of prophecy and perhaps there was never a time when the wicked and the unbelieving and the mere professors of Christ who are Christian in name only, have opposed the truth given in this Book more than they are doing today.
I realize that any preacher of the Gospel, who in the fear of God, and without fear of man, begins to preach and teach the things which are written in the Book of Revelation, will have to pay a dear price in one way or another for the privilege of doing so.
I know whereof I speak because when I first started preaching from the Book of Revelation I was informed by one of the Elders of the Church of which I was Pastor at that time, that what I was preaching was unsatisfactory to the Church and he promptly gave me to understand that unless I stopped preaching from this Book I would lose my job, because, as he put it, my bread and butter depended upon it.
In reply to this statement I gave him to understand that I intended to go right on preaching from the book of Revelation, even though I was threatened with the loss of bread and butter for myself and family. Well, things worked out as I expected. I kept on preaching as I had been doing and in due course of time enough pressure was brought to bear by the unbelieving minority in the Church to make it a real bread and butter proposition.
They withheld their financial support and influenced others to do the same until I was compelled to resign and move my family to Springfield, where I had no job and little hopes of finding one.
All we had at that time which induced us to come to Springfield, was a 30 minute program over KWTO each Friday afternoon, which was an opportunity for preaching the word of God but which afforded us no financial income whatever. But I am thanking God that through the years which have intervened since then, He has increased my time over the air, and that even though I have had to pay a great price in poverty and opposition and misunderstanding a reproach, I have been privileged to visit your homes by way of Radio, with message from the Book of Revelation which I do feel is of timely interest and importance to all Christian people everywhere!
I only wish that more of fellow preachers were willing to preach to their people the wonderful truth contained in this Book and be willing take the consequences! I believe that if they would do this, God would bless them and use them in a mighty way.
God pity the ministers everywhere who have either compromised the truth of God or have withheld the truth of the Book from the people merely because they were afraid of losing their bread and butter!
Oh for men with a mighty faith who understand God’s word, who are willing to preach it to the people and who are able to walk into the ever deepening shadows of this dying age with a conqueror’s tread and give their lives in the end, if need be, as martyrs for the cause of Christ.
In our last message based upon Revelation 12:13-17 we gave what might be called an outline or summary of Israel in the tribulation. And we were able to see that during the coming time of tribulation the Jewish people will be persecuted more than ever before, persecution against the Jews which are now taking place, throughout the world is only a beginning of sorrows for them.
From our study we learned that before the present Jewish crisis is over God will allow them to return to their own land which they are doing today, in order that he might purge them by affliction!
Before their trouble is over, He will allow the Antichrist to deceive them and to desecrate their sanctuary and drive them once again out of their land into the wilderness.
God Has a Place of Refuge Prepared When all this comes to pass, we were glad to learn from God’s word that He has a place of refuge in the wilderness of Edom in the rock city of Petra for the persecuted children of Israel, and there He will plead with them face-to-face like as He pleaded with their fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt and there He will cause them to pass under the rod and bring them into the bond of the covenant and will purge out from among them the rebels and them that transgress against Him.
And then when the tribulation is past, we know that Jesus will come again and lead the faithful believing remnant of Israel back out of the wilderness into the promised land where they will inherit their own land once again and have bestowed upon them all the blessings promised to them in the great Abrahamic covenant.
This we know, that the present persecution of the children of Israel which has already begun and which will continue until the plans and purposes of God for them have been brought to a consummation by the return of the Lord Jesus Christ who is their true Messiah is being brought about by Satan, the old Dragon who has always hated the chosen race of Israel through which Christ came and through which He will even yet accomplish the great purposes of God.
Lesson Text
We are now ready to advance in our study by reading what is written in Revelation 13:1-10 where it says:
“And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his head 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 all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the Dragon which gave power unto the beast:
“And they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him?
“And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemy; and power was given unto him to continue forty 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.
“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. 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.
“If any man have an ear, let him hear. He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: He that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.”
This, my friends, is indeed a very wonderful passage which is just filled with profound and important truth. And I am sure that we will not be able to give an exposition of the entire passage in our present lesson, but we want to study the text as a whole, because the passage presents to us one great personage and the picture of this person would be incomplete without studying the entire passage.
Satan Cast Down to Earth
We have already learned from Revelation 12:7-12 that as a result of the war in Heaven (that is, in the atmospheric heavens above the earth) between Michael and his angels and the Dragon and his angels, the Dragon, which is none other than Satan, will be cast out of Heaven down to the earth and it will be because of his presence upon the earth that trouble and tribulation will come. The Antichrist
It is perfectly logical therefore, that at this stage in the Revelation there would be given to us by Divine inspiration a picture of the Antichrist in whom Satan will eventually incarnate himself for the carrying out of his last diabolical schemes against the purposes of God.
The great personage therefore, presented to us in the passage just read is none other than the coming Antichrist and I dare say that in the light of current events and Bible prophecy, this is a very interesting and timely subject.
For nearly 2,000 years men have studied the Scriptures and have taught the people concerning the origin and the nature and the character and the works of the true Christ. All this has been good and well but strange as it may seem, comparatively little has been taught to the people concerning the coming Antichrist.
The very same Bible which gives to us knowledge and information concerning the true Christ, also reveals to us the origin and the nature and the work of the Antichrist. It shall be our present task therefore, to study the Scriptures and to discover all we can concerning this great personage which according to the Word of God, will be the embodiment of all that is evil.
I must confess that this is not a very pleasant subject. Nevertheless, it is one to which we should give our careful and prayerful consideration. Many people do not like to hear about the true Christ because His righteousness condemns them and His power and authority to judge them strikes fear to their hearts.
Indeed, my friends, if men do not want to hear about the true Christ, how much less are they willing and desirous to hear about the Antichrist. Be that as it may, it is our firm conviction that men everywhere need to know both about the true Christ, who is indeed and in truth the Son of God and the Messiah of Israel and the Saviour of the world, and they need to know also about the Antichrist who is the opposite of the true Christ and who will be the enemy of God and the very incarnation of all that is evil. The Spirit of Antichrist Long Present
First of all we must recognize that while the 13th chapter of Revelation describes to us the nature and person and work of the Antichrist as he will appear during the tribulation period, the spirit of Antichrist has been present in every age of human history.
In 1 John 2:18 it says:
“Little children come, it is the last time: And as have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now are there many Antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.”
From this we understand, that anyone who yields to the incoming and the abiding presence of Satan in their heart possesses to just such a degree the spirit of the Antichrist. A Remarkable Prophecy
It is interesting to note what is stated in Genesis 3:15 where God said to the serpent:
“I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed: It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heal.”
In these words we have the first promise of a Saviour! Nevertheless this promise takes into account the fact that the seed of the serpent would be an opposing force to bruise the heel of him who was to be the righteous seed of the woman. This great truth which applies primarily to Christ who was the seed of the woman and to Antichrist who is to be the seed of Satan has applied in a limited way to all men in every age.
Those who have believed in Christ as the Son of God and as the Saviour of the world; and who have believed the word of God and have sought to obey its precepts, have always been opposed by those who have refused to believe and who have yielded their hearts to the spirit of evil.
In touching upon this point in his book of Lectures on the Apocalypse, Seiss says:
“All through the ages of our world, there has been a Cain for very Abel, a Jannes and Jambres for every Moses and Aaron, a Babylon for every Jerusalem, a Herod for every John the Baptist, and a Nero for every going forth of God’s consecrated apostles.”
Indeed, my friends, how true this has been and no one can doubt the facts in the case but even though the spirit of Antichrist has been present in every age, we must be made to realize that the coming Antichrist is more than a spirit or a system of evil or a mere Satanic influence. From our lesson text in Revelation the 13th chapter it is plain to see that the coming Antichrist will be a person in whom Satan will incarnate himself, thus making him the very embodiment and consummation of all that is evil.
Names of the Antichrist In Revelation 13:1 the Antichrist is spoken of as a Beast but let us not think for one moment that this is the only name which has been given to him in the Scriptures, for the fact is that he has many names given to him in the Bible, some of which we find in the Old Testament and some in the New.
For instance,
- In Isaiah 10:5-6 and chapter Isaiah 30:27-33 this same evil person is called by Divine inspiration “The Assyrian.”
- In Isaiah 14:4 he is referred to as “The King of Babylon.”
- And in Isaiah 14:12 as “Lucifer.”
- In Daniel 7:8 and chapter Daniel 8:9-12 he is called the “Little Horn.”
- In Daniel 8:23 he is spoken of as “A King of Fierce Countenance.”
- In Daniel 9:26 he is referred to as “The Prince that Shall Come”,
- In Daniel 11:36 he is called “The Willful King.”
In the New Testament we have already seen that the Apostle John spoke of him as the Antichrist, and in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-8 the Apostle Paul speaks of him as “The Man of Sin,” “Son of Perdition,” and as “That Wicked” (or Wicked One).
Let us now return to our lesson text in Revelation 13:1 where it says: “And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a Beast rise up out of the sea, having 7 heads and 10 horns and upon his horns 10 crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.”
Here the Antichrist is spoken of under the symbolism of a great beast which John saw rise up out of the sea. Since the name Beast represents the person of the Antichrist, it is natural to believe that the sea, in this instance, represents the masses of the people from among whom the Antichrist will arise. The Numbers 7 and 10 Important But what are we to understand by the 7 heads and the 10 horns and the 10 crowns which were upon the heads of this composite nondescript Beast which John saw?
No. 7
You will remember that in the beginning of our study in the Book of Revelation, we gave a brief lesson or study in Scripture numerics, in other words, the importance of numbers as used in the Scriptures. In regard to the number 7 we said:
“7 is the number of dispensational fulness. Therefore, when the number 7 is used, it represents completeness in relation to the subject in question. If in the Scriptures it is used concerning judgment, it represents the fulness or completeness of judgment. If the number 7 is used concerning grace, it means the fullness or completeness of God’s Grace.”
No. 10 And we also said that:
“Ten is the number of worldly completion, especially as related to the fact of evil.”
Applying these principles to what is stated in our lesson text, we may say that since this Beast had 7 heads, he must be looked upon as being invested with full or complete intelligence; and since he had ten horns, which represent power, he was invested with full or complete worldly power; and since upon the ten horns there were ten crowns, which represent regal authority, he was invested with full or complete power and dominion, that is, from a worldly point of view.
What we have, therefore, in this nondescript Beast is a symbolic presentation of the political sovereignty of this world, as it will be headed up in the person of the coming Antichrist who is so vividly described to us in the chapter we are now studying.
This is confirmed in the second verse of our lesson text where John said: “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.” The Beasts Which Daniel Saw
Now this portion of our lesson text would mean very little if we did not know what is written in Daniel 7:1-28 where Daniel was given a vision of four beasts which bore individually the same marks or characteristics as those mentioned in our lesson text concerning the Beast or Antichrist, Remember it says that this Beast which John saw was like unto a leopard, his feet were as the feet of a bear, his mouth as the mouth of a lion. The Great Image
Now before we take up a study of these symbols of political power, we wish to remind you of the fact that God gave to King Nebuchadnezzar a certain dream in which he saw a great image in the form of a man. The interpretation of the dream and the vision which the King had, was given to Daniel and in Daniel 2:31-33 He said:
“Thou O King, sawest, and behold a great image. The great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. This image’s head was of fine gold, His breast his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs were of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.”
Thus my friends, we see that four different kinds of metal were present in this image and that there was a deterioration in value from the top to the bottom of the image, beginning with gold at the top and ending up with an admixture of iron and clay in the of the image. The Image Destroyed
Now in Daniel 2:34-43 it says:
“Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were iron and clay and break them to pieces.
“Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; And the wind carried them away, and no place was found for them and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.” The Interpretation This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the King.
“Thou O King art a king of kings; for the God of Heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever, the children of men dwell, the Beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given unto thy hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold.
“And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over the earth.
“And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron; forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: And as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.
“And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided but there shall be in it the strength of the iron forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.
“And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly broken. And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men; but they shall not cleave one to another even as Iron is not mixed with clay.” The March of Empire From what is stated here it is plain to see that the image which Nebuchadnezzar saw and which Daniel interpreted as a symbol of the march of empire during “the times of the Gentiles,” symbolized by the image of a man. An Interesting Quotation
Concerning the passage just read in his book on The Revelation, the late Clarence Larkin, well known Bible expositor, said:
“From what has been said we see that the ‘COLOSSUS’ of Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream symbolized the ‘World Kingdoms’ in their Unity and Historical Succession. Gentile dominion is represented by a huge ‘METALLIC MAN.’ The degeneration of the ‘World Kingdoms’ is seen in the diminishing value of the metals used. Silver is worth less than gold, brass than silver, iron than brass, and clay than iron. The weight of the ‘COLOSSUS’ also declines; the specific gravity of gold Isaiah 19:5, of silver 10.47, of brass 8, of cast iron 5, and of clay 1.93.
“The ‘Colossus’ is TOP HEAVY. The character of the governing power also deteriorates from an ‘Absolute Monarchy’ under Nebuchadnezzar, to an ‘Autocratic Democracy’ symbolized by the mixture of the iron and clay of the Feet.
“In other words the governing power passes from the Head, the organ that ought to direct the members of the body, to the Feet, which are only made to carry the body whither the Head directs. We have dealt thus at length on the ‘Colossus,’ for it is only as we understand it, that we can understand the meaning of the ‘Wild Beasts’ that Daniel saw come up out of the sea.”
Conclusion
Now having come to understand these things, we will be ready in our next lesson to study about the four beasts which Daniel saw as recorded in Daniel the 7th chapter which were like a lion and a bear and a leopard and one which had ten horns, all of which correspond to the likeness of the nondescript beast described to us in our lesson text in Revelation 13:1-18.
~ end of lecture 39 ~