Let's turn in the Word of God with the Word of Revelation chapter 13. Chapter 13, the first 10 verses. The first beast out of the sea, the second beast rising out of the earth. This morning we have beast number one. Revelation 13, beginning our reading at verse 1. where the Bible says, and I saw a beast rising out of the sea with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads. And the beast that I saw was like a leopard. Its feet were like a bear's, and its mouth was like a lion's mouth. And to it, the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority. One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed. And the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast. And they worshiped the dragon for he had given his authority to the beast. And they worshiped the beast saying, who is like the beast and who can fight against it? And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words. And it was allowed to exercise authority for 42 months It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming His name and His dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. Also, it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation. And all who dwell on earth will worship it. everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain. If anyone has an ear, let him hear. If anyone is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes. If anyone is to be slain with a sword, with a sword must he be slain. Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints. Beloved of God in Christ Jesus, we recall this morning how the devil has been opposing God's purpose from the beginning. Tempting Adam and Eve to rebel. Attempting to destroy the Christ child at His birth. Organizing a Jew and Gentile to get together to crucify the Son of God. And when this plan failed, but rather resulted in Christ's victory, in rising from the dead, in redeeming his own from sin and death and hell, the devil had to face his own defeat in his war against mankind and his war against the God-man Christ Jesus. Then you recall in former Sundays how the devil was thrown out of heaven after a battle with the archangel Michael. and subsequently thrown down to the earth, the devil has now turned his attention to make war against the saints. That is to make war against true believers, members of Christ's physical church. But it's not only offensive maneuvers that the devil engages in. It's not only in breaking down and destroying and going after God's people. Not just offensive maneuvers. No, in fact, from the very beginning, the devil has been engaging in defensive. aggressive maneuvers as well, as we will soon see. You see, it's not all war against God, but it's also building up a kingdom for himself. An effort to construct his own kingdom. These things are written, beloved, to give us an ability to understand the times, to get a perspective on the big picture and accurately perceive our own place in it. For the coming of the Son of Man should not take any of us by surprise as those who are asleep at night. No, the Bible tells us we are children of the light. And we are to be awake, to have our eyes wide open to what is happening all the time in the world around us. So from our text this morning, the first thing is the terrifying description of the beast. And I saw a beast rising out of the sea. with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on his horns, and a blasphemous name on its heads." As the beast emerges out of the sea, naturally, the ten horns become visible first of all. And the Bible tells us they're adorned with diadems, or as we would say, crowns. These crowns are coming up out of the sea. A distinguished impression. Fancy. Defined majesty and power. As the beast continues to rise up out of the sea, seven heads also come into view, each bearing a blasphemous name. Now blasphemy, remember, is a proud ridicule of all that is holy, all that is true. Blasphemy is an arrogant, sophisticated opposition to the holy and most high name of God. Blasphemy is a boastful promotion of self-indefiance against Almighty God. And lest we forget, it is a beast. It's a monster. And when we say monster, we say it's big, it's terrifying, it's also grotesque. By which we understand it is not a representative of God's good creation. It is a perverse aberration and amalgamation of self accumulated elements, taken and twisted elements found in God's world and perverting them into an arrogant, rebellious opposition against God. And I saw a beast rising out of the sea. What is the sea? Well, in this vision here, the sea is the birthplace of the beast. Again, I ask you, what is the sea? The sea literally gives rise to the beast. What is the sea? What does the sea represent? in Holy Scripture. Bible scholars are universally agreed, which is somewhat of a rare event, but they're very, very, very agreed here that the C stands for the human race. All of it. All tribes, peoples, and nations of the earth, particularly those who do not know the true God in Christ Jesus. That's what the rest of Scripture tells us. And this, of course, is the vast majority of the human race. And as the nations of the world are dissatisfied, as they're always jockeying for power, they're like the waves of the sea, crashing upon the shore, going out again, coming in again, back and forth, the tumult of the sea. And out of the sea, out of the nations of people, the beast emerges. You say, well, give me some for instance. Give me some passages. Isaiah 57, verses 20 and 21, where the Bible says, but the wicked, they're not the righteous, but the wicked are like the tossing sea, which cannot rest, whose ways cast up mud and mire. There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked. This is also what we read in the book of Daniel. Chapter 7, verses 2 and 3, Daniel said, In my vision at night I looked, and there before me were the four winds of heaven churning up the great sea. Churning up the nations of the world. Four great beasts, each different from the others, came up out of the sea. Listen, a lion, a bear, a leopard, and a fourth one, terrifying and frightening. And these are precisely the animal elements represented in the beast rising out of the sea here in Revelation 13. And the beast that I saw was like a leopard. His body overall gave the impression of amazing speed and agility. Its feet were like a bear's. What does that mean? It means his feet were supersized and had super huge claws with the power to maul. It gave the impression of irresistible force. Deadly force. And its mouth was like a lion's mouth. The image here is of savage tearing of teeth designed to tear flesh and satisfy its own hunger. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority. You remember who the dragon is. The devil. In fact, this terrifying beast is made in the very image of the dragon, right? Remember Revelation 12, verse three, where we were introduced to the enormous red dragon with seven heads and 10 horns. That's exactly what this beast looks like. Are they first cousins? Are they brothers? Seven heads and ten horns representing the perfection of wisdom and the fullness of power. But it's all a facade. Those are attributes which belong to the Most High God, the Eternal God, the Holy God alone. But the devil masquerades as these attributes, as though they're his. Furthermore, the devil deceives the nations into thinking that these attributes are theirs. And isn't this the problem in our culture today? People think they have the attributes of God. All wise, all powerful, all sufficient. And if we're not that individually, certainly if we just cooperate together, we can achieve it through the right kind of government. And so the beast emerges out of all the nations of mankind with blasphemous pride, speed, power, self-serving savagery. You might say that the beast is an incarnation of the dragon. Satan accomplishing his work on earth through all who are too willing and cooperative as human agents to do the devil's bidding. So are we convinced that the sea out of which the beast arises stands for the nations of the world? One more reference we find further ahead in Revelation chapter 17, verse 15. Then the angel said to me, the waters that you saw where the prostitute is seated are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages. How important it is, beloved, that the church of Christ understands how the devil works through official human organizations and world governments. To accomplish his work in exalting the pride of man against the worship of God in Christ Jesus. And I know some of you are saying, well yes, but what about Romans 13? God is the one who sets up governments. Yes He does, until governments themselves take to themselves the powers which belong only to God. And then we have problems. And oh, how many of those problems are emerging in the world today. One of the heads of the beast seemed to have a mortal wound, our text says. But the mortal wound was healed. This description of the beast reminds us of Genesis 3.15, often called the mother promise, but more rightly should be called the divine promise to the devil. I will crush your head. You will bruise the heel of the woman's son, but I will crush your head. A mortal wound. When Christ died, He gave a mortal wound to the dragon, to Satan. Our Lord Jesus surely accomplished this divine promise when He died upon the cross and rose victorious from the dead. But this beast makes its appearance and it appears that He is the one who is victorious. Right? That He is the mighty conqueror. And that Christ and Christianity are the losers of history. This is the way it looks sometimes, and the way it can feel locally throughout history. The way the Bible reads here, it is as though this fatal wound that healed is like a sign of supernatural power. See, I can do battle with God and survive. So it is amazing. And it inspires admiration and worship of the beast. Listen, one of the heads of the beast seemed to have a mortal wound. But the mortal wound was healed and the whole world marveled as they followed the beast. And they worshipped the dragon. For he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like the beast? Who is like the beast? Who can fight against it? And this is what we may expect. Moving forward in our own generation and those to follow, this is what we should teach our children. All mankind will go after the beast. All mankind will say there's no sense trying to stop it. Who can fight against it? You might as well fall in line. Just do what you're told. Our text warns us. Those who do, do not have their names written in the Lamb's book. Our second point involves the universal worship of the beast. Looking at verses 5 and 6, And the beast was given a mouth, uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months. It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming His name and His dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. The beast was given a mouth. A means to communicate. Governments used to have to rely on foot messengers and heralds. But what do we have today? Well, they invented the wireless, and then there was radio, and then there was TV, and there was internet. The World Wide Web, all the social networking. Email, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, text messaging of all kinds. With smartphones, iPhones, you can now have access to the entire world in the palm of your hand. The beast was given a mouth. You think the beast has a means to communicate today? And it's changing our world. What Revelation speaks of is coming true in ways that those who came before us, even our own grandparents, could not have imagined. This mouth is used to sway popular opinion, to wage campaigns, to win political elections, to educate, to organize, to indoctrinate, to unify, to stupefy. And what does our text say the beast uses his mouth for? To utter proud words and blasphemy against God and all who belong to God. To ridicule God's name and the very concept of heaven. The beast does this for 42 months. We recognize that now. He does this. He's been doing this. for the entire Gospel age. This is the anti-God message. What exactly is the beast? There's governments that think they're God. The beast in the end. A one world government. All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast, all whose names have not been written in the book of life, belonging to the lamb that was slain. from the creation of the world. All who are not true Christians, all who do not have their hearts and minds informed by the Word of God will gladly worship the beast. They'll think this is the answer. They will gladly serve the purpose, the philosophy of a one world government. For that is what the beast is, this constant desire of the human race to consolidate power. For it is the devil's plan to have consolidated power, answerable to him and under his control. This plan is also attractive to the vast majority of people because it offers so much peace and so much prosperity. And do we need to mention the word security and safety? Man's first attempt at this was the Tower of Babel. And God thwarted this attempt by confusing the languages of man. So that man had to obey and spread out and inhabit the whole world. Subsequent attempts can be seen in much of the empire building attempts of human history. We think of all the empires of this world. The Chinese Empire, the Babylonian Empire, the Persian Empire, the Greek Empire, the Roman Empire, the Holy Roman Empire, the Habsburg Empire, the English Empire, the German Empire, the Soviet Empire, the American Empire, the European Union Empire. And it just goes on and on. The promise and the goal is always greater peace, greater prosperity, greater security, People are in awe. But all of these empires are confined to one continent or a small portion of a continent. All of these empires had foreign enemies to keep their ambitions in check. Just like the leopard and the bear and the lion are all natural enemies in the wild competing for game and habitat and so keep each other in check. We can be thankful that there are nation-states yet that keep each other in check, keep each other accountable. We're seeing some of that accountability at work in the war that just broke out. It gives us a lot to think on. What is so disturbing about the beast rising out of the sea here in Revelation 13 is that there is now no more competition between the leopard and the bear and the lion. They're all joined into one now. They have all joined forces into one terrifying beast. No more national differences with people moving all over the world. The world is becoming international. With the rise of the beast, the aspirations of individual nations has been combined into the aspirations of all. Don't we all really want the same thing? And this is what we hear, peace and prosperity, security, life, a good life, a happy life, a long life. And the beast says, yes, and I'll be the one to give it to you. All you have to do is worship me, serve me, support me, pay tribute to me, vote for me, agree with me, obey me, and there will be no more war. No more strife, no more destructive competition. Everything will be cooperation under one world government. You see how attractive and how awesome, how inspiring the beast can be. We say, what's not to like? In fact, the Bible says all inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast. The whole world will be under the conviction that this is precisely the solution to solve all the things that threaten us. Hunger, poverty, plague, one world government, one world religion, one world banking and monetary system, one world education, one world philosophy, one world citizenship, one world allegiance. Finally, the promise given to man in the garden will be realized Man finally will, in fact, be wiser than God. And man will have dominion over everything. All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast. It chills your blood for a reason. Because it sounds so good. Like the voice of the serpent in the ear of our Mother Eve in paradise. But it's all designed to serve not the purpose of the human race, but the purpose of the dragon, the ancient serpent, the liar, the deceiver, and the slanderer. And what is the lone voice crying in the wilderness against this utopian one-world regime? Biblical Christianity. And biblically informed Christians who know that ultimately peace and prosperity and safety come from the Lord and from the Lord God alone. And not from the tyranny of a one world government as Christians become public enemy number one whenever the beast comes to power. And we see in verse 7, also it was allowed, the beast was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given to it over tribe and people and language, over every tribe, people and language and nation. And all who dwell on the earth will worship it. Everyone whose name was not written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain. If anyone has an ear, Let them hear. Yes, the beast is given power by Satan. But Satan, let's remember, is allowed power by God. All of this is the providential plan of God that Satan and the proud human race will make such A bragging, blasphemous spectacle of themselves will think so much of themselves, will exalt themselves, and defy the Most High God. And the defying of God's name is becoming increasingly popular in legislation. If you read legislation being written by various nations of the world, referring to the Bible as ancient myth, defying God and His commandments, ridiculing it, mocking it. We should be on the lookout for these things as signs of the times. And then the end will come. And when Christ will appear as King of the ages and Judge of the nations, He will appear upon the clouds of heaven and all the nations will mourn because of Him. This is not a godly sorrow. They're mourning because they realize they have allied themselves with the opponent of the Son of God. They mourn because they realize finally that they are undone. They mourn because they have ended up on the wrong side of history. In the meantime, however, the Bible is very clear that the beast is given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. I would think that this verse in chapter 13 would do away with all theories of a pre-second coming rapture. should be a cure to all incorrect premillennial views that the church is somehow going to be rescued out of all these circumstances. The Bible doesn't teach this. And our text certainly doesn't teach it here this morning. And let's be aware, brothers and sisters, that we are not going to win every battle in this present world. Quite the contrary. We are only more than conquerors through Him who loved us. And look what our Master had to go through in this world. Look what they did to Jesus. Jesus told us the servant is not greater than his Master. In fact, our text tells us that those destined to go into captivity will go into captivity. Those destined to be arrested will be arrested. Those destined to go to jail will go to jail. Those who are to be killed with a sword will be killed with a sword. How this speaks to us today. And the terrible persecution of Christians that is going on in so many countries. Christians around the world suffer for their faith. They lose their jobs. They're booted out of public office. They're passed over for promotions and denied tenure. This is standard treatment for the saints. Even in so-called Christian communities and schools and colleges and universities, Christians sort of, but not too much, of course. all due to the influence of the beast and the dragon. Blaspheming God, slandering his name, making war against God's people. Here is a call, a call for the patience and the endurance and faith of the saints. Can we be patient? Can we endure? Will our faith stand? Only with the help of God. Patience until the whole redemptive plan of God is accomplished. Faith to believe what cannot be seen right now with the physical eye. Faith that trusts God to fulfill his word when the emphasis of the entire world is going in the opposite direction of everything that's really right. Beloved be people of the book. lest you begin to take on the mindset of the beast. Be courageous in your willingness to stand out from the rest. Dare to be a Daniel, and a Shadrach, and a Meshach, and a Abednego. Dare to stand alone. Dare to suffer for the cause of Christ as you incur the wrath of the beast. And all the while, Rejoice that your names have been written in the book of life, belonging to the Lamb that has been slain from before the creation of the world. He who has an ear, let him hear. Amen. Lord God in heaven, encourage our hearts in Christ. And Lord, we pray that we may have gratitude and thanksgiving in our hearts that we are not asleep in the night, but that we are awake as children of light and can live in the day. Lord, even as many times it seems the darkness deepens, Lord, we thank you that we have the light of your truth, that you have given it to us to hold in our hands, to possess in our hearts, that you've given it to us to give away, to share with others, to shine. Lord, help us to do so. Lord, keep our hearts strong. We pray that we may be patient. We pray, Lord, that you'll help us, enable us to endure. And also, Lord, strengthen and increase our faith, our absolute trust in you and in your word. And then your Son, our Savior, in whose name...