Will You Be Marked By Deception? (Revelation 13:11-18)
GIST: Until Jesus returns, there will be false spirituality that deceives and tries to turn the world away from Jesus, so we must pray for discernment and wisdom as we keep our eyes locked on Jesus.
This morning, we’re coming to the second part of Revelation 13. This continues with the kind of imagery we encountered in chapter twelve. Stepping into more narrative or story-centered illustrations, John was inspired to show us the dragon (Satan) pursuing the woman (the people of God) as she was expecting a child (Jesus). Then, once Jesus came, Satan tried to consume Him but was defeated, so he chased after the Church, but even when the circumstances seemed impossible, they were preserved by God.
Picking up with those same thoughts, chapter thirteen introduces us to two beasts and shows us what this pursuit of Satan will look like. Two weeks ago, we talked about the first beast which symbolizes what we could call antichrists (people, organizations, governments…etc directly opposing Jesus Christ). And this was our gist statement: Until Jesus returns, there will be many anti-Christs who oppose and persecute His people, so we must cling to Him in faith and endure.
Today, we’re going to look at the second beast, and here’s today’s gist: Until Jesus returns, there will be false spirituality that deceives and tries to turn the world away from Jesus, so we must pray for discernment and wisdom as we keep our eyes locked on Jesus.
Let’s read the whole passage, then break it down.
“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, 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 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, 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.”
The first chunk shows us how this spiritual warfare will be waged.
I. Dragon-Lamb: An Attack Of Counterfeits (11-15)
“11 Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon.”
This is how we’re introduced to this second beast. The first came from the sea, a place of chaos. This one comes from the earth. There could be a metaphor connected to this as well, but atleast we know by comparison, this is a more familiar place. It’s also a place we expect to be more predictable. And that’s kind of the picture of this beast from the beginning, right? He looks like a lamb, but talks like a dragon. What does that mean?
This is the first indication we have that this beast represents a counterfeit. John uses two images all his readers at this point would have been very familiar with. All throughout the letter, Jesus has been referred to using lamb imagery. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! And just a chapter before this, John introduced this highly symbolic picture of Satan as a multi-headed dragon bent on the destruction of God’s people. That should lead us to ask, at least ☺️, two questions.
First, what does it mean to have horns like a lamb? As we’ve established before, horns are Old Testament symbols of strength. So, in one way or another, this is yet another way of saying sin will try to appear like it has the same authority Jesus does. It’s just as worthy of honor and respect and obedience…etc.
The fact that the word lamb is used instead of lion is probably also worth pointing out. Often when we’re talking about Jesus’ authority or sovereignty, we’ll see references to Him as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, or something along those lines. However, when we talk about Jesus as the lamb, we’re immediately reminded of the cross. When we think of Jesus as the lamb, we’re thinking of His compassion and love and sacrifice. Guys, John is describing this spiritual warfare as beasts coming against God and His people, but he is also telling us these attacks won’t always look like dangerous monsters! If you don’t hear anything else, I say today, please hear this. Spiritual deception is going to look pretty convincing. It will often package itself as being more compassionate, or more understanding. It might even use spiritual sounding terms. Heck, for that matter, it might even use Jesus’ name to endorse what it’s telling you is right. That’s why we have to pay very close attention to what is actually being said. Sin will look good, but its words will be different.
And that leads us to our second question: what does it mean to talk like a dragon? Look at verse 12. “12 It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed.” Where is this beast getting it’s authority? From the first beast. Where did the first beast get its authority? From Satan. It’s the same picture we saw before. The first beast was empowered by Satan and cause the world to worship him. What we said last time was that this didn’t mean we’d see a widespread planting of “Satan-churches”. Instead, that these beast have the same purpose Satan has—to point us away from our need for Jesus and toward our natural longing to worship ourselves.
Verses 13-15 carry the same message→ “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 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.” What is being expressed here? Sin is deceptive…and convincing. This spiritual attack will come and give all appearances of working. It won’t seem like a fraud. Just like the magicians of Phoarah could replicate some versions of the miracles of God—even though they always fell short of the real thing—people and organization and companies who come carrying the message of sin will still do some amazing things. All the while, however, they’ll be legitimizing sin and pointing people away from true hope.
If you weren’t hear two weeks ago when we talk about this, the whole “beast who seemed to be slain” thing might not make sense, so let me recap a bit. The first beast was a picture of the antichrists who will come. They will be powerful and point people away from Jesus. In fact, they will seem too powerful to overcome. Still, they will be defeated again, and again, and again. But everytime one falls, another will rise in its place until Jesus returns. This second beast is drawing people toward that spirit of sin-worship in regardless of what form it takes.
Sin will often look like the right thing to do. We see this in our world all the time. So much of what is being pushed is being pushed in the name of compassion and justice—which are wonderful things we should be pursuing as well. Unfortunately, when you step away from the rhetoric, their message isn’t honoring God or upholding what His world tells us about compassion and justice. Instead, they are calling us to do what is popular in the eyes of our modern society and feels right in the moment. They’re asking us to make small compromises in our convictions that don’t seem like that big of a deal until we look back to the standard of God’s word and realize how far we’ve fallen!
II. A Mark Of Deception (16-18)
That brings us to the last part of this chapter, which is easily one of the most, if not the most, discussed passage in Revelation. Let’s dive into it ☺️!
“16 Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, 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.”
Now, I know I said this is one of the more discussed portions of Revelation, but I don’t intend to spend an exorbitant amount of time on it this morning. These verses have led to a number of speculations that range from the theologically sound to the irresponsible and, well, pretty crazy. Nonetheless, we essentially have two big pictures here that are frequently discussed: The Mark of the Beast & The Number of the Beast (666). Let’s talk about what both of these are showing us because they’re expressing the same idea.
Mark Of The Beast. Now, this is why studying the whole Bible is so important. So often, passages like this are grabbed in isolation and disconnected from their original context. That’s where we get pictures of this mark dogmatically being something like credit cards or social security numbers or microchips. I’m not saying something like that could never be used corruptly. Of course it could. However, I don’t think that’s the heart behind this passage. Remember, Revelation shows us the same pictures from a number of different perspectives. And this isn’t the first time we’ve seen people marked.
In Revelation 7, in the midst of our first set of sevens, we’re given that beautiful pause. It was a reminder of God’s bigger purpose as we saw this awesome picture of His people in Heaven. In that pause, we same the saints being sealed on their foreheads. When we talked about that, we said this was a symbol of us belonging wholeheartedly to God much like the call in the Old Testament to bind His word on our hands and foreheads was (see Deuteronomy 6:8). This isn’t a physical marking but a spiritual one that signifies that you belong to Him. You thoughts and your actions are driven by His love and calling on your life.
That’s the picture we got with the last marking, so it’s important not to forget that when we see this one. I don’t think this is meant as a physical marking. Remember, this is part of how the world is being deceived. Everyone walking around with forehead and wrist tats isn’t very subtle! The mark is a spiritual one. It means your thoughts and actions are controlled not by God but by your own sinful desires. Just like these beasts, you’re embracing yourself and your sin that’s destroying you while rejecting the rescue of Jesus.
So what’s with the buying and selling restrictions. The influence of sin is pervasive. It doesn’t just touch individuals; it puts a vicegrip on societies. And when the world is controlled by sin, and that is definitely the picture we’re given here, those who strive to live for Jesus will often find themselves in direct odds with those expectations. In John’s original context, we can see this working out in the way Caesar worship was handled. If you refused to worship Caesar as a god, you werr putting yourself in direct odds with societal expectations. What about our world? Is their anything that might be like this in our world today? Surely not, right? What happens to a college professor who believes in intelligent design? What kinds of pressures do Christian bakeries face if they don’t feel comfortable supporting homosexual weddings? What descisions do you have to make if you don’t want to support companies that overtly oppose what Jesus tells us is right? The mark is real guys, and it will continue to become more and more pronounced until Jesus returns.
666? Now, let’s talk about that number. Honestly, this is probably still one of the most recognizable portions of Scripture. Even people who have nothing to do with church know 666 is “Satan’s number”. It’s really become part of Western mythology in a lot of ways. Anytime we see it show up randomly in society, people usually point and make some kind of joke about it. We used to laugh all the time because my Big Grandma’s house number is 6665 ☺️. But what does this number mean?
If you’ve studied this before, you’ve probably heard about a bazillion possible ways to work this out. One of the most popular ways to do this is taking into consideration that ancient letters had numeric equivalents, so a person’s name would correspond to a specific number. Knowing this, people have broken down several names to match this number. The list not only includes most of the Roman emperors, but people like Barack Obama and Ronald Wilson Reagan. Last night, I even watched (well half-heartedly skipped through) a video that said it referred to Danny DeVito based primarily on a roll he played in a One Direction music video (sadly… this was not made as a joke). The most famous and commonly accepted number-name is Ceasar Nero. However, if this requires some creative math to really land on.
I say all this to make a couple quick observations. First of all, of all the numbers we’ve seen in Revelation which have been codes to crack? They’ve all been used to represent some kind of big picture. Completeness. Vast numbers. Times between Jesus’ ascension and return. Therefore, looking for a specific person to match this number doesn’t seem consistent with the rest of the book.
Secondly, the number is thrice repeated. We’ve seen this before, as well. It was used in Old Testament thought for ultimate emphasis. That’s why it’s a big deal that God is called “Holy, Holy, Holy”. So, there is clearly emphasis happening here. There are also three creatures in this picture: the dragon and two beast. It’s frequently referred to as the “unholy trinity”. Which ties back to what this entire section has been talking about: counterfiets. Agents of sin will come trying to appear like God, but they’re not.
And that I think is really the most faithful interpretation of this number. What is God’s number of completion and perfection used not in some obscure reference but again and again in this letter? Seven. But the number of man is 666. We might try to rise to His level, but He’s empahsizing here that we will always fall short. We’re not God. Neither is anyone who tries to lead the world away from Jesus Christ—no matter how powerful they might seem.
Alright, so that was a lot to cover this morning, so let’s hit a couple quick→
TAKEAWAYS
Don’t be intimidated by the influence and impact of sin. It works. It’s powerful. It will seem all-encompassing. But→
Don’t be deceived by its lies. It might try to look like the lamb. It will claim to be the real truth. It will claim to have real compassion. It will call into question what God has told us is true and good. So→
Know the truth by continually looking at Jesus! The only way to really recognize a counterfeit is by being super familiar with the real deal. Get into His word, take your walk with Him seriously, surround yourself with the body of Christ (never trying to walk this path alone), and pray for wisdom and discernment…because we all need it!
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