Revelation Chapter 13
As we get further into the book of Revelation, we get deeper into the hole of weirdness with Chapter 13. But I think you will see, when all is said and done that everything fits together. This is not really a long chapter, but it is one of the most difficult to understand. Actually, since we began this study, this is probably the most difficult chapter we’ve studied. Eat your Wheaties in the mornings as you begin your study!
Last week, in Rev. 12, we looked at the woman, Israel, who bore a male child, Jesus Christ. The red dragon, Satan, tried repeatedly throughout history to devour Him and was unsuccessful. Ultimately, the archangel, Michael, and his fellow angels kick Satan and his evil minions out of the 3rd and 2nd heavens and down to the earth (the 1st heaven). We learned that in the last 3 ½ years of the tribulation, God makes a way to protect the nation of Israel.
We are going to learn more about THE Beast this week. A second prominent beast also arises in Rev. 13, the false prophet. There were many Bible scholars across the globe who thought that Pope Francis was going to be the false prophet of the book of Revelation, but now that he is dead, he can’t fit that description.
Oh, don’t get me wrong, Pope Francis was absolutely a false prophet, but he is not the false prophet of Rev. 13. Last week, Focus on the Family released a picture on social media with the faces of several evangelical voices who passed away in 2025. Charlie Kirk, Voddie Bachum, Dr. James Dobson, Dr. John MacArthur, and Pope Francis were in this image with a sentiment that read, “we lost many great voices this year”. I was a bit disappointed in Focus on the Family for releasing this and I commented on the picture, “One of these is not like the other ones.” You know who the odd man out is. From here til near the end of the book, we’re going to be learning a lot about the Antichrist(Beast) and his sidekick (the false prophet).
1. Read Rev. 13:1 and describe where the Dragon and the Beast were.
It is important to keep these things in mind as you read this chapter:
1. The Beast described in this chapter has all of his heads before one is wounded.
2. The Antichrist/Beast, does not form the 10 nation confederation. He is an outgrowth of it.
3. The Beast in the form he takes during the last half of the tribulation does not receive his powers until Satan is cast out of heaven and down to earth.
4. This is the same Beast who killed the 2 witnesses in Rev. 11. 5. In the book of Daniel, each beast represents an empire at its height.
Although the Antichrist exists from the beginning of the 7 year tribulation, he does not become the Beast until the last half. We have already seen him in Rev. 6 as the rider on the white horse. He is endowed with a special power from Satan.
2. What is that power in Rev. 13:3?
This information is not new to us because we’ve covered it at some length through the book of Daniel. I believe it is impossible to understand the book of Revelation without a proper understanding of the book of Daniel. 360 out of the 404 verses of the book of Revelation are quotes or illustrations from the Old Testament. Scripture always interprets Scripture. There is never a need to take 1 verse out of context. We will continue to look at the book of Daniel as it intersects with Rev. 13.
Early in the book of Daniel, a Babylonian king named Nebuchadnezzar had a dream. The dream was unnerving to him and Daniel ended up receiving the interpretation for the dream from God. This dream takes us through the history of the world from that time period (the Babylonian Empire) until the end of the tribulation period.
3. Read Daniel 2 and describe the dream that King Nebuchadnezzar had.
In the ancient Near East, people were terrified of dreams because they felt that dreams had some kind of strange power over them.
4. Did the metals in this colossus statue of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream get more expensive or less expensive as time went on?
We’re going to unpack Daniel 2, 7, and 8, and see if we can connect all the dots to Rev. 13. In Daniel 2, Nebuchadnezzar calls together a group of people to interpret his dream; enchanters, astrologers, magicians and sorcerers. The words for these groups of people encompass a large geographical area.
The word for magicians in Hebrew is hartume which refers to Egyptian magicians.
The word for enchanters and sorcerers has connections to the Canaanites. The word translated for astrologers can also be translated Chaldeans and the 2 words are sometimes used interchangeably because the Chaldeans were so well known for their astrology.
Therefore, the people who Nebuchadnezzar gathered together came from far and wide, from Egypt to Babylon. This represents the far-reaching influence of Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian Empire.
Just a few chapters later in the book of Daniel, Daniel is the one who had the dream.
5. Read Daniel 7:1-8 and describe this dream being careful to describe the 4 beasts. Daniel 8 may seem to be a bit out of place after reading Dan. 2 and Dan. 7. However, it is just another way that God fits this puzzle together for us.
6. Read Dan. 8:1-8. Describe the ram and the goat and what happened to them.
7. Read Dan. 8:9-14. Describe the little horn.
8. In Dan. 8:20-22, Daniel’s dream is interpreted. What is the interpretation?
While each of these visions and dreams are separate from each other, they are all related. Below is an excellent chart to use to compare the 3 chapters of Daniel that we’ve looked at. If you move straight across the chart to the right, you’ll find exactly how these chapters correspond to one another. For example, in Dan. 2, the head of gold on the statue from Nebuchadnezzar’s dream corresponds exactly to the lion who had wings like an eagle from Daniel’s dream. All 3 chapters are sharing some of the same information, just in different ways.
(Note: Depending on the researcher, these dates can vary a few years either way.)
Now that we have the basic information from these Daniel passages, we’ll look deeper into the meaning of these very strange images.
9. Look at the above chart. How many mentions of “Little Horn” do you see?
Last week, we learned that the term “Little Horn” is one of the terms used for the Antichrist.
10. Let’s go back to Rev. 13:1 again. What do you see in this one little verse that is consistent with what you’ve just read from the book of Daniel.
The Word of God is so very remarkable! It is supernatural! A book that was written 600 years before Christ corresponds exactly with a book that was written after His death. Two books written by two different men who never knew one another. Only God……The fact that the heads on the Beast were speaking blasphemous names speaks of Satan and his offspring. Friends, as I write this, I believe that a blanket of stupid has fallen upon many in the evangelical world. (Makes me think of Sen. John Kennedy’s new book, How to Test Negative for Stupid.) I always want God to give me discernment so that I can see things as He sees them. There are those who call good evil and evil good and in that regard, they are blaspheming against the name of God. Oh that He would lead us all in the path of righteousness for His name’s sake!
There are 2 kingdoms that are repeatedly spoken of in the book of Revelation, Babylon and Jerusalem. These 2 kingdoms are in opposition to one another. If we go back to the book of Genesis, we discover that Babel (later named Babylon) was the origin of a world-wide movement against God and their leader was a man named Nimrod who very much wanted to be like God. This was about 200 years after the time of Noah. During Nimrod’s day, the whole earth was gathered in one geographical area, the plains of Shinar which was later called the Ur of the Chaldeans where Abraham once lived. This area is near Baghdad, Iraq. God told the people to scatter upon the face of the earth during Nimrod’s time, but they refused to do so. So, God eventually came down and confused their language and they separated into 70 different people groups/tribes or nations. There were 2 major world empires that existed prior to Daniel’s time. First, there was the Egyptian Empire and then the Assyrian Empire.
What I’m about to tell you should come as no surprise to you. There are 7 empires mentioned in the Bible. That number just keeps coming up!
1. Egyptian Empire
2. Assyrian Empire
3. Babylonian Empire
4. Medo/Persian Empire
5. Greek Empire
6. Roman Empire
7. Revived Roman Empire
So, where are we currently? We are currently still in the Roman Empire era since that empire was never actually defeated, it just diminished away. But what we just read in the book of Daniel tells us that there will be a revival of this empire in the last days. Therefore, we can look at it as Roman Empire 1 and Roman Empire 2. Some refer to Roman Empire 2 as the revived Roman
Empire.
The 10 toes made of iron and clay represent a 10-nation confederacy that will arise from the old Roman Empire.
11. Read Rev. 13:1-2 and Dan. 7:8. What is the major difference in the horns in these passages?
There are subtle differences in each of these chapters that we’ve looked at. Those subtleties are very important. Rev. 13 reads that the horns have crowns. When we speak of kingdoms, we are also speaking of a ruling power or king. Kingdoms have kings. These things are synonymous. Rev. 17 clears up the questions we may have regarding these kings/kingdoms by letting us know that they were not immediately given a crown or rule. When they are given that authority, it is only for a short period of time. When we look at the Dan. 7 passage, those kings he spoke of had not been given their rule yet, therefore, they did not have crowns (ie-horns with no crowns).
Scripture often does not differentiate between the king and the kingdom. During the Great Tribulation, there will arise 10 kingdoms out of the Old Roman Empire. From amongst these 10 kingdoms, an inconspicuous smaller power will arise. This smaller power is often referred to as the little horn. We do not know from where this king and his kingdom will come because it could be from any nation within the bounds of the Old Roman Empire. This little horn will almost immediately take out 3 of the 10 kingdoms and then unite the remaining 7 into some kind of world-wide rule.
Below is a map of the Old Roman Empire at its peak. We don’t realize just how enormous that empire really was. The modern-day names of all the countries in this empire are:
1. England
2. Wales
3. Portugal
4. Spain
5. France
6. Italy
7. Austria
8. Switzerland
9. Luxembourg
10. Belgium
11. Gibraltar
12. Romania
13. Moldova
14. Ukraine
15. Albania
16. Greece
17. Hungary
18. Bosnia
19. Slovenia
20.Croatia
21. Bulgaria
22.Turkey
23. Libya
24.Tunisia
25. Algeria
26.Morocco
27. Egypt
28.Syria
29.Lebanon
30.Iraq
31. Jordan
32.Israel
How incredibly amazing was it that back then, they were able to control such a vast area?!!! This is even more amazing in that communication took a long time to travel back and forth. They had roads and a complex level of trade.
They had soldiers stationed in every area and their record-keeping was meticulous. Managing to hold all of this together under a unified control is staggering. And yet, it happened, and it will happen again.
In recent history, the European Union was established in 1993. When this originated, many Bible scholars thought this was possibly the end-time federation that is spoken of in Daniel and Revelation. However, there were as many as 28 countries at one time in the EU, so that number is not consistent with what we read in Scripture. More than likely, instead of 10 nations, what we will see is 10 geographical areas that would include many nations within those geographical areas.
Below is the first poster that was published for the European Union. I want you to notice a few things about this:
1. The structure is a representation of the Tower of Babel back in Gen. 11. 2. The Tower of Babel was never completed because God would not allow it to be completed.
3. In the poster, this tower is not completed.
4. All of the stars are upside down. Upside down stars are a symbol of evil. It is supposedly a sign of the goat of lust attacking the heavens with its horns.
5. There are 11 stars. This is interesting considering that there will be a 10-nation confederation that emerges during the tribulation and 1 nation/king will emerge from amongst the 10. Therefore, there will be 11 nations in total. 3 of those nations/areas will be defeated and the little one (little horn) will combine the remaining ones into a world-wide dictatorship.
6. The people in the poster are made of bricks and they’re all the same indicating that they have been crafted by someone or something.
Is it possible that Satanic powers were behind the formation of the EU? Is it possible that Satanic influence created this poster? It is not only possible, it is probable!
12. Describe the Beast in Rev. 13:2.
13. Now, look back to the chart comparing Dan. 2, 7, and 8. How does the beast in Dan. 7 compare with the one in Rev. 13:2?
14. Is there a difference in Dan. 7 and Rev. 13 in the order of the beasts?
The final beast will encompass all of the preceding ones. He will be worse than, more ferocious than, and more powerful than any who have come before him.
15. Read Rev. 13:3-5. What will happen to the Beast in Rev. 13:3?
Ever hear of someone dying and then arising of their own accord? In the Old and New Testament, there are miraculous signs performed by prophets, disciples, and Jesus where people were raised from the dead, but only 1 time was someone raised of their own accord in their own power and that was Jesus. Keep in mind that Satan is a replicator of the things of Jesus. If he can get people to think he has the same powers, then he can manage many more people into his kingdom of doom.
Jesus raised from the dead. He wasn’t raised by someone. He raised Himself. He is the only One in Scripture who raised Himself. Here, in Rev. 13, we see this Beast receiving a mortal head wound and raising himself from the dead. Have you ever seen someone raise himself/herself from death? Yeah, me neither! The world will be amazed and this will seal the deal with many earth-dwellers once they witness this event. They will voluntarily follow him.
16. But, who do the earth-dwellers worship in Rev. 13:4?
There are Bible teachers who believe that the reference here to the mortal head wound is a reference to the kingdom and not the king. In other words, they believe that the kingdom was dead (defeated) and then it was resurrected. As we’ve already looked at, the Old Roman Empire was never defeated, It just kind of crumbled and fell apart, kinda like Humpty Dumpty. I do believe that it will be put back together again.
The Beast we see in Revelation is the closest we will see in Scripture to Satan incarnating a human being other than one other person.
17. Read Luke 22:3. What happened in this verse?
Judas Iscariot obviously had opened up his soul for evil to enter and so it did. However, Judas was never resurrected. As we reason through this very difficult piece of Scripture, we must consider something else. I
18. If the Beast (the man/Antichrist) will be resurrected, who will be responsible for this resurrection?
Truth is, we are not told who will do this, but there’s only one answer to this question.
19. What do we learn from John 5:21 about who can raise the dead?
Satan has limited power. His power has never been extended to raising the dead to life again. I believe that possibly what we have going on here is an imitation of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Satan loves to replicate the things of Christ. If the Beast (the incarnation of Satan) could raise himself to life, then people would think that there is absolutely nothing that Christ could do that Satan could not. And there my friends, is the great delusion! I want you to also pay close attention to the words, “as if it had been slain”. This is an indication that the mortal head wound was not mortal at all. We are not told that God raised the Beast from the dead. However, I believe that when the abyss is opened in Rev. 9, and demonic entities emerge upon the earth, that one of those entities could inhabit the Beast. You may want to refer back to Lesson 10 where we studied about angels and demons and look at those characteristics. Satan/Lucifer is an angel, a fallen one.
There are some possibilities here for the Beast being raised from the dead. Let’s consider all of them.
1. The Beast/Antichrist actually dies and is resurrected with the spirit of Satan or someone else’s spirit (possibly an antichrist-like person who has already died).
2. The Beast is actually a reference to the Old Roman Empire and a re-establishment of that empire. (We’ve already stated that Scripture often uses kings and kingdoms interchangeably.)
3. The Beast doesn’t really die, but people think he did because they are delusional.
4. The Beast doesn’t really die, but is inhabited with a demonic being who previously lived on the earth.
Okay, there you have it and you must make up your mind as to which one you think is accurate. You should know that Rev. 13:3 is one of the most hotly debated verses in all the Bible. You can see why. I know which one of these I believe will happen. I want you to do your homework and seek the Holy Spirit’s guidance before I share my personal thoughts with you because I could be wrong.
Look back to our list of modern-day countries that were a part of the Old Roman Empire. The Antichrist/Beast will arise from one of these countries. There will be some conglomeration of 10 kingdoms and as I said earlier, that may not be 10 actual nations, but it could be regions or areas where more than one nation could be part of that region. The Antichrist does not form these 10 kingdoms. He emerges from it. It will not take him long to put down 3 of those kingdoms. Right now, we have no idea who these 10 kingdoms will be nor do we know the 3 that will be defeated. It is likely that the Antichrist will have already established himself in some way on the world stage prior to the beginning of the 7-year tribulation. And I am thinking that he may be an insignificant figure in the beginning of the tribulation. Once he emerges from the shadows, he will confirm a peace treaty with Israel for 7 years.
20. Micah 5:5-6 is an Old Testament passage foreshadowing the coming Antichrist. How is the Antichrist in this passage described and what will he do?
21. What land is referred to in this passage?
22. How many shepherds will there be during this time? How many leaders of men?
Oh my word! What a copy cat Satan is! Friends, this is why we need supernatural wisdom and discernment from the Holy Spirit! Satan really does replicate everything Christ does!
23. Read Rev. 17:9-12, focusing heavily on v. 11. What do you think this verse means?
The Beast which:
1. Was
2. Is not
3. One of the 7
4. Yet an 8th
How can you have 7 and “yet an 8th”? Let’s reason through this. We have already mentioned the 7 world empires in Scripture. Let’s revisit that. Daniel speaks of 4 of them (#s 3-6 below) and alludes to a 5th (# 7 below).
1. Egyptian Empire
2. Assyrian Empire
3. Babylonian Empire
4. Medo/Persian Empire
5. Greek Empire
6. Roman Empire
7. Revived Roman Empire
The Beast and his empire will come out of these 7. Look down this list and see if you can find any of these empires (countries) that no longer exist. Egypt is still alive and well. Babylon is still alive and well. Although it is currently in a state of ruin, there are parts of it that are still frequented by visitors. The Ishtar Gate and palace foundations are still there. This area was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019 recognizing its global importance. There is a great sea passage that is currently underway in the area where ancient Babylon once existed and we will discuss that a little later in our study. Persia/Iran is still alive (not so well though). Christians are being persecuted and killed by the thousands. Greece is still alive and well. Rome/Italy is still alive and well. There is only 1 of them that no longer exists as it is named and that is #2, the Assyrian Empire. That area would have encompassed both Iraq and Syria. The prophet, Micah referred to the coming Antichrist as an Assyrian.
You probably remember when Joseph and his family settled in Egypt. Joseph found favor with the pharaoh. But there arose a pharaoh later who did not know who Joseph was.
24. Read Isaiah 52:4. What was the Egyptian pharaoh given in this passage?
This pharaoh was actually an Assyrian! This was the pharaoh who was in power when Moses led the children of Israel out of Egyptian bondage. All of
the pharaohs were not Egyptians. Nineveh was the capital of Assyria. Micah 5:6 tells us that this land is the land of Nimrod, the first Antichrist type in history.
I find it interesting that Nimrod’s name seems to come up frequently as we study and work our way through all of this. Remember the European Union poster we just looked at? The European Union building in Strasbourg, France is fashioned after the tower of Babel. It is named the Louise Weiss building after its namesake. She was a writer and activist and one of the early members of the European Parliament. The building was designed to look unfinished as a symbol that they are still a “work in progress”. However, it is hard to escape the fact that it looks strangely similar (if not exactly like) Pieter Bruegel’s painting of the tower of Babel (2nd picture below).
25. Read Rev. 13:5-10. How long does the dragon/Satan give his authority to the Beast/Antichrist?
26. What else is he able to do according to Rev. 13:7?
27. Compare and contrast Rev. 13:7 and Dan. 7:25?
28. What do you learn about the saints of God in Rev. 13:8-10?
The last part of Rev. 13:10 really grips my heart. “Here is the perseverance and faith of the saints”. These dear tribulation saints know that to resist this monster we call the Beast or Antichrist means death for them. But those precious saints have their names written in the Lamb’s Book of Life and they will not bow to this new world power and its leader even though it will lead to their sure death. Only God knows how the tribulation saints will suffer. It will be horrible! This is why these saints are always seen close to God after their death. These are the same people we see under the altar in Rev. 6 when the 5th seal is broken.
29. Read the rest of Rev. 13. This is our first introduction to the Antichrist’s sidekick, the false prophet who is also referred to as the 2nd beast. What are the characteristics of the false prophet?
What does it mean to come up out of the earth? The Beast came from the sea. Why didn’t the false prophet come from the sea too? We are not told explicitly. There are some possibilities:
1. He came from the pits of hell and has demonic powers. 2. He came from lowly circumstances.
30. What are the differences between the horns on this “lamb” and the horns of the Beast?
The Beast obviously has been endowed with more power than the false prophet. All of his heads and horns point to the vastness of his reign of terror. A lamb only has little nubs. That doesn’t seem fierce at all. This is why the false prophet will be especially deceitful. He will truly be the epitome of a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
31. What is the #1 mission of the false prophet?
If there is one thing I cannot stand, it is someone who is 2-faced. Ever known a mean girl in school? I sure have! I’ve met them all through my growing up years and even in my adult years. Unfortunately, some of those girls never grow out of their meanness. Mean girls are often syruppy sweet to your face, but they stab you in the back the moment you turn away. When I think about the false prophet, I stop in my tracks when I read the words “like a lamb”. Is there any animal more vulnerable than a lamb? A pastor friend of mine describes lambs as nature’s perfect victims. Our culture today is ripe for embracing victimization. Just this week, a woman was taunting an ICE officer and hit him with her car and when he fired and killed her, the media began to make a victim out of her, just like they did George Floyd in MN. In fact, our culture now has a new word “intersectionality” to describe how many “victim” categories a person fits into. And by victim, they mean minorities. For example, if you’re a woman of Middle Eastern descent, single mother, Muslim, then you fit into 4 victim categories! That is how this works. It’s truly nuts! This “lamb” in Rev. 13 speaks like the dragon. Imagine that!
A man who is so syruppy sweet and yet, he speaks blasphemous words. This is an individual that no one should trust. He will appear as the most emotionally vulnerable, victim-like and trustworthy man on the planet. But for the earth-dwellers who are delusional, they will quickly fall prey.
32. When is the false prophet able to accomplish his signs and wonders?
At some point, there will be a statue made of the Beast. This should remind us of the statue from the book of Daniel, the one in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.
33. What kind of power does the false prophet give to this statue?
In 2021, a novel “art” exhibit was unveiled called The Giant. The Giant is an interactive 10-story tall programmable sculpture that is covered in LED screens and can mimic any person. This colossus statue debuted at the American Dream Mall in NJ in Jan. 2025. It can move its head and arms, sing and speak. It is creepy for sure and has gone on tour throughout the world. There are now more than just one giant. If you haven’t seen this come across your social media feed yet, you can go to thegiantcompany.ie and watch videos of it in action.
When you read the last part of Rev. 13, can you imagine the false prophet using the image, voice, and mannerisms of the Beast to make this statue come to life?! This technology is already present and is being used. This would not be a hard stretch to make this happen.
We will see the mark of the Beast as we go on toward the end of the book. The important thing to note is this….the mark is a seal. It seals the fate of those who take it. Once you take this mark, you belong to the kingdom of Satan. It is placed on the hand of the forehead of those who take it. God’s people will be sealed as well. They will be sealed with the Holy Spirit. I have no idea what the mark of the Beast will be.
There is a lot of conjecture about it. Could it be a chip in your hand or forehead? Could it be a thumbprint? Could it be something from the iris that could be scanned? There are a host of possibilities. And for us, it just does not matter because we will be in heaven with Jesus.
34. What does the mark allow the earth dwellers to do?
Once again, we see Satan as a replicator. We’ve seen that over and over again. Read Deut. 6:4-9. These are the most high holy verses for the Jew. These verses are the first words spoken over a newborn Jewish baby. They are the first words said to Jewish children in the morning when they awake and the last words whispered in their ear at night. These verses are the Jewish Shema.
35. Where were these verses supposed to be located?
In next week’s lesson, we will get into the whole 666 thing and what this might mean.
A sweet friend who does this class online brought me a Mezuzah back from Israel. A Mezuzah is a small box that is placed on Jewish doorposts and it contains the verses from Deut. 6. Every time I go out my front door, I am reminded of these verses.
Because Satan is the great deceiver and the father of lies, he duplicates this Shema in a twisted way by the location of the mark of the Beast.
I’ve shared this story before, but I think it is so important that I’m going to share it again. It is a beautiful story. After WWII, an American Jewish rabbi named Elierzer Silver went through Europe to find Jewish children who had been placed in German homes to protect them. Since there were no records of who these children were and where they were located, Rabbi Silver would go to places where children congregate. When he got there, whether it be a playground or a school or an ice cream shop, he would begin speaking loudly, the Jewish Shema, “Hear O Israel! The Lord our God is One….”. The German children would just continue playing. But the Jewish children would stop in their tracks and begin crying. You see, the Word of God had been so deeply implanted in their minds and hearts that when they heard these verses, it touched their soul. That is how many of these children were found after the war. Oh that this generation would recognize us as believers because they know the Word of God. But to know it, they must be taught.
Sweet friends, please know that we are to raise our children with a biblical world view. When they get out into the cesspool of higher education, these educators will do their best to indoctrinate them with the doctrine of demons. Plant God’s Word deep into their little hearts while they are young so that they will be able to distinguish good from evil and truth from lies. They must be rooted in order to recognize the Word of God when they hear it.
Blessings.
