HNewsWire: The entire New Testament scriptures teach us a combat lifestyle as we fight against the Satanic new world order.

And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast.” Concerning this coming world dictator, David Levy writes: “Most world dictators have proven to be persuasive speakers, able to motivate the masses to their political ideology. Like Adolf Hitler, who was able to mesmerize a whole nation by his inspiring speeches, the Antichrist will be no exception.”¹⁵⁶

His persuasive speech and cunning is actually anticipated in Daniel 8:23. Historically, in the near view of prophecy, this passage pertained to Antiochus and his persecution of the Jews, but ultimately, it seems to look forward to the rise of the beast (see 8:19). Walvoord writes:

There is no question among expositors that Antiochus is in view in this prophecy. What was prophesied was fulfilled literally through him. However, the prophecy looks beyond Antiochus to a future person (the Antichrist) of whom Antiochus is only a foreshadowing. This coming one is said to “stand against the Prince of princes” (v. 25). This can be none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus the prophecy must go beyond Antiochus and look forward to the coming of one whose ministry will parallel that of Antiochus.¹⁵⁷

So what can we learn from Daniel?

Daniel 8:23-25 And in the latter period of their rule, When the transgressors have run their course, A king will arise insolent and skilled in intrigue (ambiguous speech and deception). 24 And his power will be mighty, but not by his own power (he will operate by Satan’s power and by God’s permissive will), And he will destroy to an extraordinary degree And prosper and perform his will; He will destroy mighty men and the holy people. 25 And through his shrewdness (cunning and craftiness) He will cause deceit to succeed by his influence (his ability to persuade and delude); And he will magnify himself in his heart, And he will destroy many while they are at ease. He will even oppose the Prince of princes, But he will be broken without human agency.

In Revelation 13:3 the words, “the whole earth,” shows the knowledge of this deception will reach everyone. This will be an easy matter with our present media capacity, with TV satellites and world-wide TV reception. This is undoubtedly one of the factors leading to his world-wide authority described in verse 7.

“Amazed” is the Greek qaumazw meaning “to cause one to marvel, wonder, or wonder at.” It is a causative verb. The tense is culminative and looks at the effect, the culmination of this deception of Satan that leads to the amazement of the world.

“And followed after.” Literally the Greek simply says “and the whole earth marveled after the beast.” “After” is opisw, a strong preposition of place, “behind, after.” It stresses that the world marvels and is so amazed that it gawks after the beast, following along in startled amazement. This is part of “the strong delusion” and part of “the lie” that Paul speaks of in 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12.

In this worship of the dragon and his beast, two things will be acknowledged by the people of the world (except for believers): (a) his uniqueness “who is like the beast” and (b) his power “and who is able to make war with him.” This will be the final touch that brings absolute sovereignty to his reign. Also, this will be the one great goal for which Satan has been striving for centuries. This worship of the dragon shows that not only will demonism be rampant, but openly visible. The world will worship the devil through the system of the beast. Satan will openly be the god of this age.

His Aggression and Activity (5-7)

Remember that one of the purposes of the Tribulation is to show the character of Satan and his kingdom. We see it here very clearly through the beast. It includes:

His Blasphemy (The Religious Side)

The horrible blasphemies of the beast demonstrate the anti-religious, anti-God element in the character of the beast. His blasphemies against God and God’s people, however, are ultimately aimed at promoting the worship of the beast himself. He will speak against God and His name. This includes mocking God’s holy character and essence. Perhaps he will even claim he has defeated God or that God is dead. He will speak against God’s dwelling place and those who dwell in heaven; this could include making fun of the goodness and righteousness of believers and of those who have sacrificed their lives for Jesus Christ while the beast and his followers live in the riotous pleasures of sin. Filled with disappointed rage, Satan will use the beast whom he controls to promote such words of blasphemy that it will make the worst blasphemies of history seem trifling by comparison!

His Warfare (The Political Side)

Satan has always hated believers and done everything in his power to persecute the people of God whether Israel or the church, but he has been restrained by the hand of God. Without that restraint, God’s people would have perished from the earth. During the Tribulation, however, his persecution of the people of God will know no limits. It will be given to him by the sovereign plan of God to make war and even to overcome the saints, that is, kill them. As verse 7b shows us, this rule of the beast will end in slavery to Satan and to the flesh. Men will think they have freedom to do as they please, but find themselves with no mind of their own, dominated by the beast and by their flesh.

His Authority (2b, 5b, 7b, 10)

The Source of his Authority (2b)

“And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority.” In verse 4 we are told that the world will marvel at this beast and wonder, “Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?” To the world of unbelieving and rebellious people, this beast will seem invincible and from the human standpoint, the answer to their question is simply, no one! His power will come from Satan; it is demonic and supernatural, far beyond the abilities of ordinary men, and far beyond anything the world knows today. He will be so powerful, self-sufficient, and impressed with his power, he will actually honor no one except “the god of fortresses” (Dan. 11:38) or military power and conquests.

Repeatedly, the Scriptures tell us that this last time dictator and his government will be the epitome of a Satan-inspired government. In fact the beast himself will be literally possessed by Satan from all accounts. No human being can be as cunning, as ruthless, lawless, vile and blasphemous as this man without being either demon possessed or at least under the total control of Satan. Note what Lutzer and DeVries have written in regard to this coming world ruler.

… there is a network of organizations committed to bringing about a unified world order to address our major problems with creative solutions. Leading the pack will be a world ruler with the charisma to unify all religions and to weld a political structure with the muscle to forge global subjection. He will be both priest and king, both messiah and world emperor.

Remember that this ruler will derive his strength from the same source as Adolf Hitler, who controlled Germany with such hypnotic magnetism that his leadership was practically irresistible. Several books have been written that document Hitler’s involvement with Eastern occultism. Indeed, the swastika is a Hindu symbol of divinity. Hitler’s mentor, Dietrich Eckart, predicted that Hitler would be a world leader. Hitler was manipulated by invisible forces which he called “Unknown superiors,” in reality, demons who both controlled and terrorized him. Hitler told his friend Rauschning that he was founding the Man-God order and that splendid being would be an object of worship. Rauschning said of Hitler:

One cannot help thinking of him as a medium … the medium is possessed … beyond any doubt, Hitler was possessed by forces outside himself . . of which the individual named Hitler was only the temporary vehicle.¹⁵⁸

Hitler’s hatred of the Jews and his belief in the superiority of the Aryan nations were undoubtedly derived from Hinduism with its belief in the cast system—the idea that certain people are born inferior to others and that weeding out the undesirables is part of good leadership.

The New Messiah will be the Antichrist of Revelation 13. He will be worshipped on earth and will have awesome authority.¹⁵⁹

In this chapter that gives us God’s revelation of this evil end time system, an interesting phrase is repeated six times (six is the number of manifested evil [cf. vs. 18]). The phrase, “was given to him,” occurs twice in verse 5, twice in verse 7, and in verses 14 and 15. Now what is the Tribulation, especially the last half? It is a time of divine judgments unleashed on the world for its continued rebellion. The repetition of “and it was given to him” indicates God’s judicial unleashing of powers of incipient evil of which this world cannot, in its wildest imagination, dream.¹⁶⁰

But we must not forget that all of this occurs by the will of a sovereign God who uses Satan as His instrument of judgment on a stubborn, rebellious, unrepentant, and unbelieving world (see again Rev. 9:21). Throughout history God has repeatedly used Satan’s schemes and evil men as instruments of His judgment (cf. Isa. 10:5-13).

Speaking of God’s use of Assyria as “the rod of My anger And the staff in whose hands is My indignation” (vs. 5), God goes on to say, “Yet it does not so intend nor does it plan so in its heart, but rather it is its purpose to destroy, and to cut off many nations” (vs. 7). Then in verse 13 we are told, “For he (Assyria) has said, ‘By the power of my hand and by my wisdom I did this, … ’” The Assyrian king was acting from his own evil desires and will, but he was still an instrument raised up by God as a tool of discipline. This is often perplexing for man. He asks, “Why does God permit or allow it to go unpunished and why does He use the likes of the Assyrians or of the beast in judgments?” The prophet Habakkuk had similar questions.

The book presents a picture of a man who trusted God, yet was perplexed. Habakkuk’s questions were two: (1) Why did God permit the increasing evil in Judah to go unpunished (1:2-4)? (2) How could a holy God justify using the Babylonians, a people more wicked than the Jews, to punish the Jews (1:12-2:1)? The answer to the first question is recorded in 1:5-11 and to the second in 2:2-20. Thus the book is a theodicy, a defense of God’s goodness and power in view of the existence of evil.¹⁶¹

In Revelation 13, Satan is allowed to give the beast three things. He gives the beast:

(1) “Power.” This is the Greek dunamis, which it is often used of miraculous powers, the power to perform miraculous wonders (cf. 2 Thess. 2:9; Heb. 2:4; Acts 2:22; 6:8). Satan will perform miraculous feats through this man as a part of his deception (cf. 2 Thess. 2:9-12 and Rev. 13:3-4).

(2) “His throne.” This refers to his position as king or emperor of the revived Roman empire, ruling supremely over the rest of the nations.

(3) “Great authority.” This would refer to the extension of his rule beyond the ten nation confederation as spelled out in Revelation 13:7, “authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation.” Occurring under the sovereignty of God and as an element of His judgment, Satan will undoubtedly have the ability to raise up political rulers (Luke 4:5-8; 1 John 5:19; John 16:11; 12:31; 14:30; Eph. 6:12). During the Tribulation, as the unseen ruler of this world, Satan will have complete rule through the man of lawlessness, the beast, for a short time.

The Time of His Authority (5b)

The beast will be given authority to act for forty-two months. In view of what we learned from chapter 12, this means from the middle of the Tribulation to the return of Jesus Christ.

The Lord Jesus said to the rabble who came to arrest him, “This is your hour, and the power (Greek exousia) of darkness.” What a scene followed in the next few hours! But God will give up the whole earth, except His elect, for three and one-half years to this direful scene of Revelation 13.¹⁶²

The Extent of His Authority (7b-8)

His authority will extend to all peoples, to all the earthdwellers or earthlings, those whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life. True believers, those who do not worship the beast nor receive his mark (vs. 16), are here excluded; they do not worship him, but rather in many cases they will die for their faith. More will be said on the book of life later in this study of Revelation. These Tribulation saints, though many will die for their faith, will overcome the beast and the next words are especially addressed to them in verses 9-10.

The End of His Authority (9-10)

9 If anyone has an ear, let him hear. 10 If anyone is destined for captivity, to captivity he goes; if anyone kills with the sword, with the sword he must be killed. Here is the perseverance and the faith of the saints. (NASB)

9 He who has an ear, let him hear. 10 If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity he will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword he will be killed. (NIV)

As can be seen from the difference in these translations, there is a major textual problem in the last half of verse 10 which affects our understanding of the meaning of this passage. The problem involves whether the first reference to the verb “kill” is an active future (“will kill”), or a aorist passive (“be killed”). The KJV, RSV, Phillips, NASB all follow the reading of the majority of MSS and render it, “If anyone kills with the sword.” Concerning this reading, Johnson writes:

Combining this with the last phrase, the latter part of the verse yields either a warning directed toward Christians for them not to turn to violence and killing to vindicate themselves or a promise of requital to believers that their persecutors will be judged by God.

If, on the other hand, we follow the reading of A¹⁶³ [MSS witness], the translation will be as in NIV … This yields the sense that Christians who are destined by God for death must submit to his will and not resist the oppressor. It is an appeal to loyalty.¹⁶⁴

Following the reading of the KJV or the NASB, Ryrie writes regarding verses 9-10:

The phrasing of verse 9 indicates a call to serious attention. An important principle is about to be announced in verse 10. It is the principle of retribution. After all that has been said about the power of the beast, verse 10 is a word of great comfort. The captor will be taken captive; the killer will be killed. When God’s purposes are finished through the beast, God will take him captive and confine him to the lake of fire. In the knowledge of this is the patience and faith that sustains the saints who endure these persecutions.¹⁶⁵

Note that there are three “if” clauses in verses 9-10:

“If anyone has an ear” is addressed to anyone who might have ears to hear the Word of God. The only possible means of deliverance is through faith in the Word of God.

The second two “if” clauses (regardless of the reading discussed above) warn against anyone taking matters into their own hands to oppose this Satanic system by force. This is Satan’s hour, but it will be short lived and God’s people will triumph in the end. Knowing this and resting in it by faith will give endurance. So here is the assurance that God will bring sure judgment and defeat on the beast.

Finally, we should note one more thing about those who are addressed in verse 9 in the invitation to hear. Walvoord writes:

A close parallel as well as a contrast is also observable between this invitation and the invitation to the seven churches of Revelation 2 and 3 where the exhortation is to “hear what the Spirit says unto the churches.” The omission of the phrase “unto the churches” in 13:9 is most significant and tends to support the teaching that the church, the body of Christ, has previously been raptured and is not in this period. This instruction is not addressed to the churches. The exhortation in Revelation 13 is much wider. It is to anyone who will listen, and the message is not addressed to the church as such but to the entire world.¹⁶⁶

Summary of the first beast:

(1) He will be a Gentile (Rev. 13:15; Dan. 7) out of the sea, i.e., Gentile nations (Dan. 9:27). “The Prince of the people that shall come,” specifically he will be from the old Roman Empire.

(2) Politically he will become the dictator of the revived imperial Roman empire of the last half of the Tribulation (Rev. 13; Dan. 9:27; 7:8). The beast and his system will become the final form of this Gentile world power. He begins as a political peacemaker and leader of a ten nation European confederation, but soon turns into the beast and dictator.

(3) Religiously he supports, as all other Gentile powers before him, the ecumenical religion of Babylon, the harlot system of the first half of the Tribulation (Rev. 17:7), but turns against it in the last half to become himself the object of man’s worship (2 Thess. 2:4; Rev. 13:17:16-17).

(4) He is under the direct control of Satan and is Satan possessed (2 Thess. 2:9; Rev. 13:2). Thus, he is called the beast (tJhrion) because Satan, the dragon is his master (cf. 9:11; 11:7; 17:6; 16:13).

(5) He has many names: (a) The little horn of Daniel 7:8. (b) The king of fierce countenance (Dan. 8:23). (c) The willful king of Daniel 11:36-40 (some refer this to the second beast but this doesn’t fit the circumstances of Daniel 11 or Revelation 13). (d) The prince that shall come (Dan. 9:27). (e) The man of sin or lawlessness (2 Thess. 2:3-10). (f) The rider on the white horse (Rev. 6:2). (g) The beast (Rev. 13:1). (h) The antichrist (1 John 2).

(6) His empire is called and viewed as: (a) The beast with seven heads and ten horns (Rev. 17:8-13; 13:1-2), like a leopard, a bear, and a lion. (b) The feet of the image of Daniel with ten toes made of iron and clay mingled together (see Dan. 2:31-45).

(7) His character and rise to power:

• Because of fear of a nuclear holocaust, population explosion, environmental destruction, etc., the world will be crying for “peace and safety.” This man will come on the scene with great persuasive power, personality magnetism, craft and oratorical skill, and he will persuade the West (Europe and probably the Americas) that he has the answer for peace. (The Americas are likely to be included because they are a part of the harlot system which he controls.) He will gain his ascendancy to power as a peacemaker (Dan. 8:25; 1 Thess. 5:3; Rev. 6:2; Dan. 9:27).