The Beast or the Best
Rev 13, 17 and 18
The story of the woman in Revelation 12 ends in her triumph
over the dragon. In Chapter 13, the dragon continues persecuting believers in
Christ through two beasts that appear.
The first beast represents an anti Christ spirit that leads to the
Antichrist who will control a one-world political order. The second beast
represents false religion from which arises a false prophet who controls a
one-world religious order. Together the two beasts preside over a secular world
system referred to as Babylon ,
which resists anything of Christ. The two beasts and Babylon had features with lessons for our
present life.
The appearance of the
beasts (Rev 13:1, 2, 11)
The first beast resembles the dragon (Rev 12:3) by having
ten horns and seven heads, one of which had a scar. The ten horns represent the
enormous power the beast had[1]. Perhaps
of greater interest are the seven heads that represent the perfect ambiguous
and blasphemous nature of the beast. With its many heads and faces, it is not
easy to identify and defeat the beast system in a society. When one face is losing,
the beast brings up other faces. If you could succeed in chopping off one head,
the other six heads would even grow stronger. The beast is highly deceptive and
elusive. The second beast was similarly deceptive by appearing like a lamb yet
speaking like a dragon. A stark reminder of the wolves in sheep’s clothing
described by the Lord (Mat 7:15). What the second beast spoke drew people away
from God and pointed them to worship the Antichrist. False religion encourages
men to worship Satan and human power, scholarship, and systems.
The multi-faced nature of the complex beast system called Babylon requires that the
witness of Christ be strong in every sector of society. Babylon hijacks control of political and
commercial systems, legal processes and statutes, educational curriculums,
technological advancements, religious institutions, media and arts to promote
humanistic philosophies and a global culture with values that are self-destructive.
The power and
brutality of the beasts
The beasts who presided over Babylon possessed satanic powers to influence
nations and bring people into captivity in their thinking and behavior (Romans
12:2). They apply pressure on them to conform
to the world system, even when it violates Christian conscience (Rev 17:7). The
beasts use two main ways, which are deception and force. They deceived through display of riches and
performing mighty signs and wonders that mislead people. They forced people to worship an image of the beast and to have a mark of the name or number of the beast on the forehead and
right hand. Without it one could not buy or sell. The number was 666.
The downfall of Babylon
The appeal to
humanity
While some people were forced, many chose to worship the
beast (13:8). They marveled at its military and commercial power and exclaimed ‘who
is able to make war’” against the beast. One would expect the world to be angry
and terrified by the beast but that was not largely the case. The world especially kings and commercial
leaders were passionately captivated by the beast and worshipped him (13:.4;
17:2). When Babylon
fell (Rev18:10; Rev 18:11-15) the kings wept and wailed for her, so did the
merchants. Today people are impressed by man's achievements; his power and his
plans for the future and are increasingly secular and human centered. Loving
the world, is loving Babylon
and its destiny. Love of the Babylon is enmity with
God.
God however encourages his people to rejoice at the fall of Babylon (Rev 18:20). He
warns them to come out of Babylon
by being positively different in order to make an eternal difference (Rev 18:4).
‘Come out of her, my people, that ye be
not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.’ Christ taught that until Babylon falls, we should engage, influence
and transform society as salt and light (Mat 5:14-16). We still can sing the Lords
song in a foreign land Psalm 137:3-4. We are in the world but not of the world.
We are ambassadors of the kingdom of God who live on different rules from Babylon . Where commercial prosperity is not
for affluence of a few but for sharing, where giving is the key to receiving
and serving is key to promotion. The kingdom
of God Babylon brings to
bondage. The Babylon system exploits, the kingdom of God Babylon path is wide and
the kingdom path is narrow but leads to life (Prov 14:12; mt28:18; Luk 10:19).
Praise God, believers are destined for ultimate conquest and have already conquered
in Christ. Babylon
system is doomed but the Kingdom
of God
Message by Dr. Kurai Chitima.
Faith Ministries – Johannesburg
Faith Life
Center
Ground and First
Floors Sunset
Bay Building
204B Bram Fischer drive,
Randburg, Johannesburg ,
South Africa
[1] Refer to Daniel 7 and
Revelation 17:12. The ten horns also represent power expressed through ten
kings or nations.
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