Daily Bible Study

Tweet

Day 26 Revelation 13 Revelation 13:1 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 heads the name of blasphemy. 2 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. 3 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. 4 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? 5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. 6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them who dwell in heaven. 7 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. 8 And all who 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. 9 If any man have an ear, let him hear. 10 He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity: he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints. 11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon. 12 And he exercised all the power of the first beast before him, and caused the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. 13 And he does great wonders, so that he made fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, 14 And deceived them who dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them who dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. 15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. 16 And he caused all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: 17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he who had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. 18 Here is wisdom. Let him who hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six. Throughout life people presented themselves as the Messiah to fool the populace. People have run after those people and died for them as in cult activist David Koresh who claimed to be the final prophet. His followers were known as Branch Davidians. He took a group of people to Waco, Texas. An investigation led to a raid of the complex and when the firestorm was over, they found him and many followers were killed in a fire that broke out in the compound. There are many others. Jesus told His disciples they would appear but not to run after them. Matthew 24:4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. 5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. (KJV) John saw three beasts come up out of the sea, the sea representing a multitude of people. One of the beasts had a head wound that killed him, and yet he lived. The dragon, Satan, gave the beast his power and authority. All those who saw him who was dead yet lived worshipped him. Satan is a counterfeiter. He does nothing that hasn’t already been done to bring confusion to people and persuade them he is the one worthy of worship and not Jesus our Savior. As Jesus died, so did the beast. As Jesus rose from the dead, so did the beast. As Jesus gave power and authority to His followers, so did the beast, but only to the two other beasts, not to the entire population of those left behind. The beast, Messiah figure, had an image built of himself, and caused the image to speak. This figure is similar to the one Nebuchadnezzar built and caused all people to worship it. Daniel 3:1 Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. 2 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. 3 Then the princes, the governors, and captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counsellors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, were gathered together unto the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. 4 Then a herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages, 5 That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up: 6 And whoso falls not down and worships shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. 7 Therefore at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds of music, all the people, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshipped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. What was done before, Satan caused the beast who represented him to do again. And all the people worshiped the beast who lived. The beast had the fierce qualities of the leopard, lion, and bear, who represented various conquering powers, first seen in Belshazzar’s dream, interpreted by Daniel. Daniel 7:1 In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters. 2 Daniel spoke and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. 3 And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. 4 The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man’s heart was given to it. 5 And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh. 6 After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it. 7 After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. 8 I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things. The image the beast set up for the people to worship could speak, imitating the one set up in Daniel’s time. Not only were there two beasts whom Satan controlled, there was one more beast who came up from the earth who did signs and wonders and caused everyone to take the mark of the beast in their hand or forehead. This beast was a counterfeit Christ. He did the same signs and wonders Jesus did. Herein are three beasts counterfeiting the godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. These three will deceive the nations so they believe the dragon’s lies and take the mark. The mark is a representation of a man’s name. That person is the Antichrist. Solomon in all his wisdom said there is nothing new under the sun, what was once done, will be done again. Satan takes this to a whole new level when he counterfeits everything Jesus did on earth to make himself appear as the Messiah. All those who take the mark of the beast will have special privileges in buying and selling. Those who refuse the mark will be hunted down and killed by Antichrist. Let’s not forget the first beast who rose from the sea had seven heads, ten horns, and ten crowns. These heads represented the seven continents with ten governments who had ten crowned heads of state all of whom blasphemed God. Everything Satan does through the dragon and the beasts, he does to bring glory to himself and blaspheme God and those left behind who endure the Tribulation will worship him as their one true god. Isaiah 14:12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most-High. Those who accept Jesus as Savior and Lord during this time won’t take the mark of the beast and will see the beast for who he is, the Antichrist. Have you accepted Jesus as Savior and Lord now, or will you go through the Tribulation and face the truth of what Jesus told John would happen in the end times, and then have the opportunity to accept or reject Him? You always have a choice even during the Tribulation. Let’s pray: Father, thank you for giving me Your vision of what will take place in the end times when Satan will rule the earth as Antichrist. Help me see through Satan’s lies, and turn to You when temptation comes my way. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen. Copyright © 24 July 2019 by Valerie Routhieaux Image courtesy of Pixabay