Revelation 13 Two Beasts
What does Revelation 13 teach concerning the beast? Since the Bible warns us of a final evil we must know how to identify this evil and how to respond to it.
The First Beast

1. The origin of the first beast.
   1. From the Sea Two meanings.
   2. He comes from the abyss or has Satanic origins. Rev 11:17
   3. He comes from the nations. Daniel 7:2-3
   4. Conclusion. Satan is working through the nations to bring about his final kingdom.
2. The description of the beast.
   1. He has the totality of the Roman Power or He has the totality of world power.
   2. Rev 17:12 Horns represent power in the Bible. (10 represents the total or the sum of all its parts) Ten goes back to the 4^th beast of Daniel which represents the Roman Empire. (Read Daniel 7)
   3. He controls all of the capitals of the ancient world empires or perfect authority (7 is the number of perfection, head means authority)
   4. Seven world empires who oppressed Israel. Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Parisian, Greek, Roman, Islamic. All of these ruled the land of Israel.
   5. He has the totality of Dominion of the Roman Empire or He has the Totality of world Dominion. Crowns represent dominion or rule.
   6. He has the Speed of Conquest of Alexander the Great. The Leopard image comes from Daniel 7 and represents the coming of the Greek Empire which was characterized by speed of conquest.
   7. He has the Power and stability of the Medo-Persian Empire. The Bear in Daniel 7 represents the Medo Persian Empire which was by far the most powerful and most stable of all of the ancient world empires.
   8. He has the ferocity of the Babylonians. The winged lion in Daniel 7 represents the Babylonian empire the mouth represents the terror or fierceness of the creature. In other words it will be a terrorist state.
   9. Conclusion The final Anti-Christ beast will unite all of the Roman empire which is currently divided under one authority and rule, It will be a powerful, swift and fearsome empire that will quickly dominate the world.
3. C. The Origin of his power.
   1. His Throne comes from Satan. (Matt 4:8-9)
   2. His authority comes from Satan (Ephesians 2:2)
   3. Conclusion. God divided the nations to prevent this from happening. (Genesis 11, Acts 17:26) Satan who has many deceptions to control the world will put all of his efforts into one final deception that will lead the world in a unified world government. Satan’s attempts have been to unify the world under one banner to establish total control over the world.
4. The Mystery surrounding him.
   1. He has a deadly wound on one of his heads.
   2. He is restored to life again.
   3. The healing is amazing to the world.
   4. Conclusion: Rev 17:8-11 The beast is a restoration of one of the previously destroyed world empires. Either Egypt, Assyria Babylon, Medo-Persia or Greece. One of the heads that was before the Roman Empire will come back to rule the world and the world will be amazed at the reappearance of this world empire that everyone thought was a relic of world history. So look for the beast to rise out of the middle east and not Europe although Europe will be apart of it.
5. The Response of the world.
   1. The world will follow the Beast
   2. The world will worship the Dragon.
   3. The world will be awed by his power.
   4. Conclusion: The beast will not be some subtle conspiracy that will subtly or secretly take over the world the beast will be a all powerful evil empire that will overwhelmingly conquer the world.
6. The Duration of his Rule.
   1. Will be 42 months or 3 ½ years. Daniel 7:25
   2. Conclusion. This is the period of time that we call the great tribulation. The end of time is a 7 year period (Daniel 9:27) The first 3 ½ years will be the Beast coming to power. The second 3 ½ years that is spoken of in this passage is the great tribulation which is once he has cemented his control over the world he carries out his sinister plans to rule the world, establish a world system of worship, to destroy the Jewish people and to persecute the true Church out of existence.
7. The Effect of his Rule.
   1. God will be Blasphemed. A false God will be elevated above the true and living God.
   2. God’s name and place will be slandered. (The beast is going to worship a false god and is going to have a false view of heaven.)
   3. The saints will be slandered. We will be told that we are not the true people of God only the followers of the beast and the true people of god.
   4. The saints will be persecuted.
   5. The beast will have authority over all people of the world.
   6. He will be worshiped by all people, except for the true Christians.
   7. Conclusion: The beast will be a world empire that is also a false system of worship that will be imposed upon the whole world. Those who refuse to go along with their agenda will be persecuted and killed. It will be the worst time of persecution for the Church in all of her existence.
8. II. What should we do to prepare?
   1. To Stand Tenaciously James 4:7, 1 Peter 5:9.
   1. To Endure Patiently Hebrews 10:36, James 1:2-4, Romans 5:1-5
   1. To Prepare Spiritually 1 Peter 1:13-25
   1. To think corporately. Hebrews 10:24-25