TOPIC:“The Rise of the Two Beasts”
TEXT:Revelation 13:1-18
“And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the
sea…And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth” (13:1, 11).
As we come to chapter 13 in our series of messages on the book of Revelation we have the emergence of the two principal characters active in the Tribulation and final conflict of the ages - the beast out of the sea and the beast out of the earth. These two leading adversaries of God will be used by Satan during the end times to carry out his evil program.
Chapter 13 presents us with a minute description of Satan's activity on earth after being thrown out of Heaven. Realizing that his time is short before being cast into the bottomless pit, Satan will accomplish his evil deeds through the future world dictator and false prophet. Throughout the past ages He has tried to secure a man through whom he could accomplish his evil work. In the beast out of the sea Satan will find one who will be his instrument. Now through this satanic trinity - Satan, Antichrist and the false prophet - thousands of saints will be martyred and untold human suffering will be experienced.
The expression “And I stood upon the sand of the sea” (v. 1) is linked in some manuscripts with the last verse of chapter 12. The two words “I stood” would better be rendered “he stood” as we have it in the American Standard Version, thus making the dragon as the one who stood upon the sand of the sea. The word “sand” seems to speak of the multitudes of people in the world like in Revelation 20:8 where it states “the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.” The words “out of the sea” are taken by some to mean that the beast will come from the Gentile nations of the Mediterranean area. The reason for this is because the word “sea” refers to nations in the Bible many times. Antichrist rises from among the nations of the earth. Both the beast of verse 1 coming out of the sea and the beast of verse 11 coming out of the earth are not animals, but Satan inspired individuals who will exercise his power and extend his program during the Tribulation. Let us now consider what is revealed to John regarding these two beasts.
I.
Consider, first of all, the First Beast who is ANTICHRIST. John writes: “and saw a beast rise up out of the sea” (13:1). As to the identity of the first beast coming out of the sea I believe he is Antichrist, the devil's messiah, of whom Paul wrote about in II Thessalonians 2:6-8. Daniel wrote of this beast as the “little horn” in Daniel 7:8, the “willful king” in Daniel 11:36 and the “prince that shall come” in Daniel 9:26. Paul in . . .