Morning Sermon

February 3, 2008

The Mark of the Beast

Text

The dragon is furious. That's where we are in our study of the book of Revelation. The fiery red serpent, the Devil, Satan, is furious at the church of Jesus Christ. And in his fury, he wages war against the church.

Rev. 12:17 "And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ."

There is good reason for him to be enraged. He has lost his power and authority over the nations. Jesus has "disarmed him", and triumphed over him, making "a public spectacle of him." That's what Paul says in Colossians 2:15. John puts it this way,

Rev. 12:7 "And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, 8 but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. 9 So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him."

We know the implications and consequences of that.

Rev. 12:10 "Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, "Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down."

The kingdom of Jesus Christ has come, on the earth. And Jesus expresses it with these words, John 12:31 "Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out."

And, Luke 10:18 And He said to them, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 "Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you."

Thus we have looked at the triumphant proclamation found in,

Rev. 11:15 Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!" ..."We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, The One who is and who was and who is to come, Because You have taken Your great power and reigned."

And so, on his way out, as he awaits the final sentencing and eternal condemnation that will come with Jesus' triumphant return to the earth in bodily form, as he waits for his inevitable doom, the Devil stirs up as much trouble as he possibly can.

Rev. 12:13 "Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child."

So there you have it. And this morning we come to those helpers of the dragon. His servants. And they are pictured in terms of two great beasts, one a beast out of the sea and the other a beast out of the land.

The book of Job seems to have introduced the idea of these beasts when the Lord speaks to Job at the very end of the book. In announcing his power, God says to Job,

Job 40:15 "Look now at the behemoth, which I made along with you; He eats grass like an ox. 16 See now, his strength is in his hips, And his power is in his stomach muscles. 17 He moves his tail like a cedar; The sinews of his thighs are tightly knit. 18 His bones are like beams of bronze, His ribs like bars of iron."

The land beast, behemoth. The most powerful of all the land creatures whom God has made. And then there is the sea creature.

Job 41:1 "Can you draw out Leviathan with a hook, Or snare his tongue with a line which you lower? 2 Can you put a reed through his nose, Or pierce his jaw with a hook?"

But now these beasts are not mere animals, but representations of those forces aligned in opposition to the kingdom of Jesus. And we'll begin with,

I. THE BEAST OUT OF THE SEA. v.1

Let me begin with a general identification of this beast, actually something of consistent agreement among commentators with otherwise varied understandings of the book as a whole. To quote one, this beast "represents the persecuting power of Satan operating in and through the nations of the world and their governments...In this beast the persecuting power of Satan becomes visible." In other words, the beast portrays the anti-Christian governments of the nations of this world.

A. Political and secular forces in opposition to Jesus. But why the sea? I believe there is a connection with the abyss, the deep, and the king of the demons released from that bottomless pit in chapter 9. David Chilton writes, "But after the Fall, the picture of the raging deep is used and developed in Scripture as a symbol of the world in chaos through the rebellion of men and nations against God."

As John writes the book of Revelation in the first century, one nation obviously comes to the forefront in the description of this beast. Chilton continues, "Out of this chaotic, rebellious mass of humanity emerged Rome, an entire empire founded on the premise of opposition to God."

So we see references clearly applicable to Rome, seven heads and ten horns. According to Revelation 17:12, the ten horns or powers of the beast are explained in terms of the governors of the ten imperial provinces of Rome, and the seven heads are somewhat plainly referring to the line of the kings of Rome, the Caesars.

Rev. 17:9 "Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. 10 "There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time."

Five have fallen. Julius, Augustus, Tiberius, Gaius, and Claudius. The sixth rules, Nero. And there will be one more to come. Galba. He reigned only seven months, being assassinated in January AD 69.

All this adds to my conviction for the understanding that Revelation was written during Nero's reign, during the generation of those to whom Jesus spoke, preceding the destruction of the temple by Rome in AD 70 and addressing its concerns to that great judgment. Yet, I see in Rome an example of the very thing that continues throughout this age, and so even if you believe that this book of Revelation addresses the whole age and the destruction that is still to come at the end of the age, most of what I am preaching is still appropriate and applicatory. The focus is the political and secular forces in opposition of Jesus, so clearly, I believe, represented by Rome. But Rome, equally clearly, then, represents all the other anti-Christian governments that wage war against the kingdom of Christ.

The picture here is of a ravenous, ferocious animal. v.2

As a very old commentator notes, "The three animals, thus combined by the writer, symbolize swiftness and ferocity in springing upon the prey, tenacity in holding it and dragging it away, and a ravenous appetite for devouring."

Note also that "these are also the very animals (listed in reverse order) used to describe the first three of the four great world empires in Daniel 7:1-6...The fourth empire, Rome, partakes of the evil, beast-like characteristics of the other empires, but it is much worse."

Dan. 7:7 "After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns."

But notice something else at this point, of great encouragement to us.

v.3 "And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded."

Though the wound was apparently healed, there is this reference to a mortal injury, and though "all the world marveled and followed the beast," still we know from God's promise that the wound to Satan is very real.

Gen. 3:15 "And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel."

But for now, the serpent is successful. This beast is effective. And we see, therefore,

B. Worship and allegiance given to Satan. v.4

And with the reception of that worship, the beast then exemplifies the very height of wickedness in,

C. Blasphemies and persecution. Utter blasphemy. Claiming to be God. v.5-6

With that blasphemy against God and his church, comes the violent and wicked persecution described in, v.7

Apparently with great success! He appears to overcome all opposition. From his perspective, things are going so very well. v.8

But remember, it's only for forty-two months. That short period of 3-1/2 years. And John's revelation includes a great encouragement to us, for the ascendancy and the exercise of authority of the beast will come to a definitive and conclusive end. v.9-10

Destruction to the enemy will come, and God's people must wait patiently for it. "Here is the patience and the faith of the saints."

Let's move on to the second beast.

II. THE BEAST OUT OF THE LAND. Behemoth. v.11

Rather than political and secular forces, this beast represents to us,

A. Religious forces in opposition to Jesus. In Revelation 16:13 and 19:20 we are actually told that this beast is the false prophet. And Jesus had foretold what would happen in Israel's last days,

Mat. 24:5 "For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many...11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many."

Note also that false prophets rise up from within the covenant community of God's people. These are religious forces, appearing as a lamb but speaking as a dragon. Again, Jesus' warning.

Mat. 7:15 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves."

So it is that "the Jewish leaders, symbolized by this Beast from the Land, joined forces with the Beast of Rome in an attempt to destroy the Church." (Chilton) v.12-13

Thus many were led astray, many among the Israelites were deceived. And they rejected Jesus, rebelled against him, and aligned themselves with the Roman government. Just consider their own words,

John 19:12 "From then on Pilate sought to release Him, but the Jews cried out, saying, "If you let this Man go, you are not Caesar's friend. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar." 13 When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus out and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. 14 Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, and about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, "Behold your King!" 15 But they cried out, "Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!" Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar!" 16 Then he delivered Him to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus and led Him away."

"We have no king but Caesar!"

We read of the day Jesus was condemned, Lu 23:12 "That very day Pilate and Herod became friends with each other, for previously they had been at enmity with each other. "

Thus we read, v.14

With that deception, we see such great,

B. Spiritual apostasy. The apostasy of the nation of Israel. They gave themselves to the religious and spiritual deception of this beast, and the whole of the New Testament records their idolatry of serving another god, their failure to honor and worship the one true God as the only God. In rejecting Jesus Christ, they became idolators and cut off from the one true vine. They were left, as a nation, without God.

Consider just one cross-reference, Titus 1:14 "...not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men who turn from the truth. 15 To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled. 16 They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work."

The persecution of this beast was effective, and deadly. v.15

Some have identified and connected this beast, this false prophet, with the other references in Paul's letters to the anti-Christ and to the man of lawlessness. Without going too far down that path this morning, there is certainly much to say for the connection, though I haven't even myself come to full conclusion as to whether or not they are exactly the same. Perhaps the safest cross reference to make would be,

1 John 4:1 "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world."

So even if you expect and anticipate a further, personal Antichrist, at the very least we must all agree, the spirit of the antichrist is already here. And personified for us in this beast from the land. A spiritual apostasy in rebellion against the one and only true God. It is no wonder that many during the time of the Protestant Reformation so freely identified the antichrist with the Roman Catholic Church.

Well, at the risk of skipping over the part most people probably want to know about, what about,

III. THE MARK OF THE BEAST. What about 666? What is the meaning of all this and how does it apply to us? Is this some reference to the United Nations? Or to another world order? Maybe a computer chip implanted in your forehead? Or your social security number?

All sorts of foolish and fanciful possibilities have been offered over the years as an explanation. Let me attempt to expound this whole text as clearly as I can. First of all, the mark. The meaning of that whole idea. We don't need to be hyper-literal, and assume that believing the Bible means believing that some one-world government is sometime going to require all people to be tattooed, or stamped, or implanted with a computer chip as the mark of the beast.

Rather, I believe it wise to see the contrast with this mark, this mark of ownership claimed by the beast, to the mark that God puts upon his people. Namely, as we've already studied, the seal.

Rev. 7:3 "Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads. 4 And I heard the number of those who were sealed. One hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed."

That chapter then identifies those sealed,

Rev. 7:9 "After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!"

Those who are sealed are those who are claimed by God as his. Those who are saved.

A. The mark of the beast replaces the seal of God. That's what we have here. Not a literal stamp on the forehead, but a literal claim of ownership. William Hendriksen writes, "Receiving the mark of the beast seems to mean 'belonging to the beast and worshipping the beast.' The mark of the beast is the God-opposing, Christ-rejecting, Church-persecuting spirit of antichrist, wherever and whenever it shows itself."

What mark should we have? The mark of being set apart to God!

Ex. 28:36 "You shall also make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it, like the engraving of a signet: HOLINESS TO THE LORD."

Or the mark of God's own word stamped upon our lives.

Deut. 6:6 "And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 "You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 "You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes."

We should be marked with the word of God, sealed by that word. And instead, those who reject Jesus, those of first-century Israel especially who aligned themselves with the Roman government in deadly opposition to the church, they were marked and sealed by the beast.

And so, v.16

The implications for first century Christians living in Jerusalem were clear. "Israel has rejected Christ, and is marked with the seal of Rome's total lordship; she has given her allegiance to Caesar, and is obedient to his rule and law. Israel chose to be saved by the pagan state, and persecuted those who sought salvation in Christ. The New Testament gives abundant testimony of this fact. The Jewish hierarchy was involved in a massive, organized attempt to destroy the Church by both deceit and persecution. In pursuit of this diabolical goal, they united in a conspiracy with the Roman government against Christianity. Some of them were able to perform miracles in the service of Satan. All this is exactly what is told us of the Beast from the Land. The False Prophet of Revelation represents none other than the leadership of apostate Israel, who rejected Christ and worshiped the Beast." v.17

And now, the number. Oh, but were out of time, so we can just skip over that part. Will you let me get away with that?

Actually, I don't want to get away with it. Let me give an answer with regard to,

B. The personal identity of the beast. First, symbolic. Six is the number of failure. It is the number of one who comes up short, since seven, after all, is the number of perfection. So who is the beast? He is the one complete and utter failure, 6 upon 6 upon 6. Never measuring up. Never able to become a seven in anything.

And so William Hendriksen concludes his words on this section this way: "The number of the beast is 666, that is, failure upon failure upon failure! It is the number of man, for the beast glories in man; and must fail."

Isn't that a great way to look at it! Another commentator puts it this way, "John intends 666 to be a parody of 777. A number short of completeness repeated three times is a trinity of imperfection. The beast of the earth bears the spirit of utter imperfection. Despite his lofty claims he bears a deadly flaw."

But one more thing in that regard. With specific reference to the somewhat apparent references to Rome, especially if you agree that the book was written during the reign of Nero, is there any sense in which this number would refer to him personally. And the answer is yes.

In that day, Greek and Hebrew letters were often given numerical values, and the Hebrew name of Caesar Nero, using the numerical values, is precisely 666. And so the number of a man, the 6th ruler who now is on the throne, has a numerical value assigned to his name of 666. And indeed, though he initiated horrible and heinous persecution against the Christians in his kingdom, he was a complete and utter failure.

So what shall we say to tie all of this together? Let me go back to a verse I barely touched upon earlier, for the best application is right here in the text. v.10

In other words, the dragon will be defeated and destroyed. The Devil, Satan, with all the help his beasts can give him, will fail. Utterly fail. Jesus is the perfect 7, and they are all failures stuck on the repetition of 6. And so I say to you, the church, "The God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you."

"Here is the patience and the faith of the saints." Here is your hope. Here is your future, your endurance. Here is where you will find the strength to persevere, no matter what might happen in your life. Here it is, in the victory of Jesus over all the beastliness of all the beasts of hell.

And so, beloved, live in the light of that victory which Jesus has won. Here, in that victory of Jesus, is the ground of your faith. Here, in the conquest of these two beasts, is your motivation and strength to "stand against the wiles of the devil."

People of God, Ps. 99:1 "The LORD reigns; Let the peoples tremble! He dwells between the cherubim; Let the earth be moved! 2 The LORD is great in Zion, And He is high above all the peoples. 3 Let them praise Your great and awesome name-- He is holy. 4 The King's strength also loves justice; You have established equity; You have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob. 5 Exalt the LORD our God, And worship at His footstool-- He is holy."

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