Those please to Revelation chapter 13.
Revelation 13.
So let's hear God's word together, starting at verse 1.
The dragon stood on the shore of the sea, and I saw a beast coming out of the sea.
It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name.
The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion.
The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority.
One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed.
The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast.
People worshipped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast.
And they also worshipped the beast and asked,
Who is like the beast?
Who can wage war against it?
The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for 42 months.
It opened its mouth to blaspheme God and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven.
It was given power to wage war against God's holy people and to conquer them.
And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation.
All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast.
All whose names have not been written in the Lamb's book of life.
The Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.
Whoever has ears, let them hear.
If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity they will go.
If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword they will be killed.
This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness in the part of God's people.
Then I saw a second beast coming out of the earth.
It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon.
It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf.
And made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed.
And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people.
Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth.
It ordered them to set up an image in honour of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived.
The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast,
so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed.
It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave,
to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads,
so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark,
which is the name of the first beast and the number of its name.
This calls for wisdom.
Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast,
for it is the number of a man.
That number is 666.
Well, again, we need the Lord's help,
so let's pray and ask for his goodness to us now.
Our Father God, we thank you for your blessings to us throughout this week.
We thank you for the blessing it is to gather like this as your people,
to hear your word,
to hear your voice,
speaking to us,
speaking to us about your world and what is going on and how we should live in it.
And so we pray that we would be attentive to you this morning,
that these words that we hear and look at together
would penetrate deep into our life
and cause us to be the kind of people,
the kind of church you have called us to be.
So pour out your spirit upon us,
generously we ask,
in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Well, in 1914,
at the start of the First World War,
Allied troops in northern France
dug in to defend themselves against the advancing German army.
It became known as the Western Front.
It was trench warfare.
It was bloody
and it was fierce.
And for four long years,
they faced each other and fought.
Eventually,
victory was achieved.
The Allies had won.
But not without loss of life.
In that area of war,
13 million soldiers died in those four years.
It was costly.
Well, the church is also at war.
Not the war of guns and tanks against flesh and blood,
but a war against the powers of this dark world
and the forces of evil.
It's a war with Satan.
And that battle has been pictured for us here
in Revelation 13.
Have a look at verse 1.
The dragon,
who we know is Satan,
stood on the shore of the sea.
Well, the sea in the Bible represents chaos
and evil.
And that is what the dragon has come to bring.
This is what Satan has come to do.
And he unleashes two terrifying beasts.
The first one we read in verse 1.
I saw a beast coming out of the sea.
Verse 7.
And this beast was given power to wage war
against God's holy people
and to conquer them.
Verse 11.
Then I saw a second beast
coming out of the earth.
And we're told what he will do.
Verse 15.
The second beast was given power
to give breath to the image
of the first beast
so that the image could speak
and cause all who refused
to worship the image
to be killed.
You see, this war is fierce and bloody.
And Satan's purpose is to oppose Christ
and destroy the church.
It's trench warfare.
And we as God's people
are on the front line of this war.
So how are we to face into this battle?
How are we to fight our enemy?
Well, three things we're going to see
from the text.
The first is we've got to know our enemy.
Second, we need to prepare for war.
And third, we need to stand with confidence.
We need to know our enemy.
We need to prepare for war.
And we need to stand with confidence.
So first, we need to know our enemy.
Our enemy is Satan.
And he hates
Carigalline Baptist Church.
He's out to turn you at this very moment
from your love of Christ.
He wants you to stop listening right now
to think and focus on other things.
But as fierce as the dragon might look,
we mustn't be fooled by his threats.
There's two things we need to know
about our enemy.
First, Satan is defeated,
but not yet surrendered.
Defeated, but not surrendered.
Chapter 12, that we saw a couple of weeks ago,
is all about the defeat of Satan
through the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Our enemy was defeated.
He was disarmed and overpowered.
At the moment, as Jesus died and rose,
chapter 12, verse 9,
The great dragon was hurled down.
That ancient snake called the devil or Satan
who leads the whole world astray.
He was hurled to the earth
and his angels with him.
Now he is powerless
to accuse God's people.
But he hasn't yet surrendered.
Look at chapter 12, the end of verse 12.
He's not yet surrendered.
He is filled with fury
because he knows that his time is short.
And so he's on a mission, verse 17.
The dragon was enraged at the woman.
The woman here is a symbol of God's church,
God's people.
And he went off to wage war
against the rest of her offspring.
Who are they?
Those who keep God's commands
and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.
Is that you today?
Those who want to keep God's command
and hold fast to the testimony about Jesus?
You're in a war.
But yet, Satan has been crushed.
The dragon has been slayed.
The devil has been defeated.
Our enemy has been stripped of his powers.
But he is not giving up without a fight.
He knows his end is short.
But he's not going to submit quietly.
He is still opposed to the church.
So defeated, but not yet surrendered.
Second, he's wounded, but not yet destroyed.
Wounded, but not destroyed.
Satan unleashes a beast, two of them,
who is ultimately a reflection or an image of Satan himself.
We're told a little bit about him.
Look at verse 3.
This is chapter 13, verse 3.
One of the heads of the beast
seemed to have a fatal wound.
But the fatal wound had been healed.
The beast is described in similar terms in verse 14.
If you look at the second part of verse 14.
It ordered them to set up an image in honour of the beast
who was wounded by the sword and yet lived.
So wounded, but restored.
So has Satan somehow recovered?
Did God really defeat Satan at the cross?
Has he kind of managed to get back all his strength again?
Well, yes, Satan was fatally wounded
by the death and resurrection of Jesus.
He was delivered a crushing blow that signalled his end.
But he is not yet destroyed.
The fact that he continues with the fight
gives the appearance that his wound has been healed.
Look back at verse 3.
One of the heads of the beast
seemed to have a fatal wound.
A fatal wound that had been healed.
Make no mistake, the wound is fatal.
His end is coming.
He may present himself as having overcome,
but it's all lies.
The crushing blow has already landed.
The sword has already fallen.
The dragon is breathing his very last
and he is desperate
to inflict as much damage as possible.
So as God's people,
we must not be overwhelmed by our enemy.
It's not like God is in a fight that he cannot win
or a battle that he cannot end.
No, Satan is defeated and wounded.
His days are short.
He might not surrender,
but his destruction is coming.
So we mustn't be overwhelmed.
But at the same time,
we must not underestimate our enemy.
He's defeated and wounded
and he's angry
and he remains fully opposed to Christ
and he seeks to destroy the church.
Which means
we must be prepared
for war.
We need to be prepared for this war.
Satan's war with the church
is on two fronts,
which is represented here
by these two beasts.
We're going to look at them each in turn.
First beast
is persecution.
Look at verse 1.
The dragon stood on the shore of the sea
and I saw a beast coming out of the sea.
It had ten horns and seven heads
with ten crowns on its horns
and on each head a blasphemous name.
Pretty scary creature, isn't it?
But who or what
is this beast?
Well, as we've seen
as we've been reading through Revelation,
the images that John sees in his visions
all have their root
and they're all found in the Old Testament.
So with this description of the beast
coming out of the sea,
turn with me, please,
to Daniel chapter 7.
Daniel chapter 7.
I'm sorry, I haven't got a page number.
If you're using a red church Bible,
if somebody could call it out,
that would be helpful.
8, 9, 3.
Daniel chapter 7.
So the context here is that
Daniel along with thousands of God's people
had been taken into captivity
by the Babylonians.
They were a mighty kingdom,
a great empire
that oppressed God's people
and forced them to abandon God
and to worship idols.
You may recall
some of the accounts in Daniel
where they were forced
to bow down to an idol
and if they didn't bow down,
they would be thrown into
a blazing furnace.
And it's in this context
that Daniel has a vision
of powerful kingdoms.
four of them
and the last one
is more terrifying
than the rest.
So let's look at chapter 7,
verse 2.
Daniel said,
in my vision at night,
it says,
It says,
In my vision at night,
in my vision at night,
it says,
but there before me were
the four winds of heaven
churning up the great sea.
Four great beasts,
each different from the others,
came up out of the sea.
Verse 15.
I, Daniel,
was troubled in spirit
and the visions that passed through my mind disturbed me.
I approached one of those standing there and asked him the meaning of all of this.
So he told me and gave me the interpretation of these things.
The four great beasts are four kings or four kingdoms
that will rise from the earth.
But the holy people of the Most High will receive the kingdom
and will possess it forever.
Yes, forever and ever.
Then I wanted to know the meaning of the fourth beast
which was different from all the others
and most terrifying with its iron teeth and bronze claws.
The beast that crushed and devoured its victims
and trampled underfoot whatever was left.
Verse 23.
He gave me this explanation.
The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth.
It will be different from all the other kingdoms
and will devour the whole earth,
trampling it down and crushing it.
So the four beasts of Daniel's vision that he sees
are successive kingdoms that appear and come and disappear
and another kingdom replaces it.
But the point is that with each successive kingdom
they become more oppressive.
And the fourth one, this fourth kingdom is the worst.
Now let's go back to Revelation chapter 13.
John says,
The beast I saw resembled a leopard
but had feet like those of a bear
and a mouth like that of a lion.
And the dragon gave the beast his power
and his throne and great authority.
So it seems that the beast John saw represents
or is a continuation of these kingdoms and empires that appear.
So I think it's best to understand this first beast in Revelation
as representing governing powers
who oppose and persecute the church today.
I want us to be clear on that.
This first beast is an image or a reflection
of the representing governing powers in the world today
who oppose and persecute the church.
The attack is experienced in two ways.
It can come by verbal persecution
verse 5.
The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words
and blasphemies
and to exercise its authority for 42 months.
It opened its mouth.
So these are all words to blaspheme God
and to slander his name and his dwelling place
and all those who live in heaven.
But it's not just a verbal attack.
There will also be physical attack.
Look at verse 7.
It was given power to wage war against God's holy people
and to conquer them.
In fact, this will be experienced by every church all over the world.
Satan is at work through the governing powers
and nations that arise to persecute the church.
Look at the rest of verse 7.
It was given authority.
This is the beast was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation.
You see, John's vision is not just tied to one empire or one kingdom in a particular time and place.
No, he's showing us that the rulers and the regimes of today,
no matter what their language or nation or people or tribe,
they are out to destroy the church,
whether it's a dictatorship or a democracy.
You see, there is no such thing as a Christian state.
There is no Christian utopia where the church and the state somehow merge into one.
No, the governing bodies of today are used by Satan to oppose the church.
I spoke with my friend Raj from India this week.
Some of you have met him.
He was here.
He preached in this church some years ago.
He had messaged me.
He was very down and very discouraged.
And so we had a conversation.
He told me that in recent weeks,
World Vision, you've maybe heard of that.
They do a lot of work with people with vision problems.
A Christian organisation and it's been banned.
1,200 workers removed just like that.
Right now, his own ministry where they work,
the government has decided to take an audit out on their organisation,
which means their assets and buildings can be seized,
their accounts closed.
On top of that, he told me of one colleague
who's in jail because of anti-Christian laws.
While in prison, his wife has been attacked
and received death threats,
telling that her children have to leave.
It helps us to understand what the church
and what our brothers and sisters are going through.
Look at verse 9.
Whoever has ears, let them hear.
If anyone is to go into captivity,
into captivity or prison, they will go.
If anyone is to be killed with the sword,
with the sword they will be killed.
These stories can be repeated thousands of times all over the world.
For your homework, I could suggest this,
to check out Open Doors UK or Church in Chains.
Read about your brothers and sisters.
Know what is happening.
Switch off Facebook.
Switch off looking at all the wonderful gifts
you can buy and order and see what's going on.
The nations, the ruling governing powers
stand against the church today.
We might face verbal and physical persecution
like our friends in India.
But there's a subtle oppression against the church today.
In recent years, our government has basically
torn out and ripped up Genesis 1 and 2
through various legislation and all kinds of promotion.
People don't know who they are anymore.
Their image, their gender,
their sexuality, marriage.
It's all been redefined.
The very foundations of life
are thrown out.
It's a reminder to us that the church's voice
is no longer welcomed.
It's to be silenced.
It's to be crushed.
You see, Satan is at work
through the beast of governing powers
to oppose and persecute the church.
We're in a war.
And it's bloody.
And it's serious.
But it's not just persecution.
There is subtle seduction.
Let's look at the second beast.
Verse 11.
Then I saw a second beast
coming out of the earth.
It had two horns like a lamb,
but it spoke like a dragon.
So what or who does this second beast represent?
It looks like a lamb, we're told,
but it speaks like a dragon.
Well, these images are already familiar to us
throughout Revelation.
The lamb is identified as Jesus.
We even see that back in verse 8
as all inhabitants of the earth
will worship the beast,
all whose names have not been written
in the lamb's book of life,
the lamb who was slain
before the creation of the world.
This is speaking about Jesus.
And the dragon we have seen
is identified as Satan.
So it's as if this second beast
comes along and presents himself
as Jesus.
Or speaks as if he represents Jesus.
But listen very carefully to his words
and it will become very clear
that they are nothing less
than the seductive words of Satan.
You remember Jesus talked about
the wolves in sheep's clothing.
Well, in a similar way,
John is saying,
watch out for dragons
in lamb's clothing.
In other words,
the second beast represents
the false teachers who come along,
who twist the truth of God's word.
Rather than tell you clearly
what God's word has said,
they tell you what your itchy ears
want to hear.
The aim is to lead you astray,
to deceive you.
Look how the second beast
does his work.
Let's look at verse 16.
It also forced all people,
great and small,
rich and poor,
free and slave.
So it doesn't matter
who they are,
where they come from.
It forced all people
to receive a mark
on their right hands
or on their foreheads
so that they could not buy
or sell unless they had
the mark,
which is the name of the beast
or the number of its name.
Now people get very excited
about the mark of the beast.
I mean, who is it?
We're even given number,
aren't we,
in verse 18?
666?
Well, some claim
that the COVID vaccine
was the mark.
If you've had the vaccine,
you've got the mark.
My goodness me.
No, that's not helpful.
That's more deception.
The mark
is symbolic of who
or what you belong to.
Who is your loyalty to?
Is it to the true word of God
or the deceptive word of Satan?
Where is your allegiance?
Is it to the lamb
or to the dragon?
What's your priority?
Is it to the church
or to the world?
Now how we answer that
will mark out,
it will identify
who or what you belong to.
But more than that,
it will determine
how you get on in life.
Because,
look at verse 17,
those with,
those,
if you didn't have the mark,
they couldn't buy
or sell.
They couldn't go about
business.
They couldn't go about
buying and selling
and make a living
for themselves.
You see,
align yourselves
with the deceptive word
of Satan
and you will have access
to all that the world offers.
Why would you align yourself
with Christ and the church?
Because all that's going to mean
is opposition
and persecution.
Don't you want
an easier life?
This is what's going on here.
if your loyalty
is with Christ,
if your allegiance
is to the church,
life is going to get
very hard for you.
It's going to be difficult.
But you know what?
If you're just willing
to compromise a little,
just,
just
twist
a little bit,
then,
then you'll get on
well in life.
You'll be able to
buy and sell.
You'll be able to get
your good job
and earn promotion
and get a salary increase
and you'll be able
to get all your
home comforts
and you'll be
financially secure.
It's very simple.
All you need to do is
don't talk about
your faith.
Why would you cause
an upset
by talking about
Jesus?
All you need to do
is wear the rainbow
badge.
Why,
why,
why start
isolating yourself
from people?
All you need to do
is accept that,
you know what,
there's no absolute truth.
It's whatever's true
for you.
Why be such a fusspot?
All you need to do
is just
compromise
every now and then.
When things get
a little bit
sticky,
just kind of
rein it in
a little bit
and you'll be
comfortable
and you'll be
secure.
Align yourselves
to the right side
and you'll get
on alright.
You see,
this is us,
isn't it?
We can be so
desperate for a
better life,
a comfortable life,
an easy life,
without opposition,
without persecution.
We just want
to take it
easy.
Watch out
for the deceptive
words of
false teachers.
Listen very
carefully and you
will see that they
are the words
of Satan.
So this is the
war we've got
to be prepared
for.
This twin
attack of
persecution
and seduction
and it's
fierce
and it
rages on
every single
day.
So how are we
going to stand
against these
beasts?
How are we
going to fight
the threats
of the dragon?
Well,
we need to
stand with
confidence.
As we face
this war,
the way we
fight is to
stand our
ground on the
truth of God's
word.
Three truths
that are going
to keep us
strong in
this battle.
First truth,
let's remind
ourselves often
that God is
sovereign.
The beasts
appear to be
unrivaled
and dominant.
Look at
verse 4.
People worshipped
the dragon because
he had given
authority to
the beast
and they
also worshipped
the beast
and asked,
who is
like the
beast?
Who can
wage war
against it?
Who can
fight against
him?
He's too
big,
too fierce.
Well,
let's be
absolutely
clear.
Satan's
authority
does not
rival God's
authority.
It's not
a 50-50
war.
It's not
even 75%
God,
25%
Satan.
No,
Satan
cannot do
anything
without God's
decree.
He cannot.
Look at
verse 5.
The beast
was
given
a mouth
to utter
proud words.
verse 7.
It was
given
power
to wage
war.
The end
of verse 7,
and it
was given
authority.
It's the
same with
the second
beast.
Verse 15,
the second
beast was
given
power
to give
breath
to the
image.
You see,
Satan
doesn't
have
ultimate
authority.
He can't
decide to
do whatever
he wants
whenever he
likes.
He can
only do
what God
allows him
to do
or what
God gives
him
permission
to do.
Satan
does not
have free
reign.
He is
on a
leash.
Now,
this shouldn't
cause us
to doubt
God's care
and love
for us.
Rather,
it should
fortify
and strengthen
us as a
church because
it means
that nothing
happens by
chance.
God makes
no mistake
with your
life or
with this
church.
Whatever may
come to us
in this
battle,
we are
ultimately
in God's
hands and
he is
ultimately
in control.
He is the
commanding
officer over
everything.
Nothing
can overcome
us.
And what
Satan uses
to harm
us,
God will
use it
for our
good and
for his
glory.
So let
us stand
confident
that God
is sovereign
over your
life and
over this
church.
Second
truth that
we need to
hold on
to is
victory
is assured.
Satan
is not
only
restrained,
he is
not only
on a
leash,
but his
time is
limited.
Look at
verse 5.
The beast
was given
a mouth
to utter
proud words
and blasphemies
and to
exercise its
authority for
42 months.
Now here's
one of
those strange
numbers that
we keep
coming up
against and
we've been
reminding
ourselves that
they're symbolic,
they remind us
of things,
and this is
part of a
series of
numbers.
Back in
chapter 12
verse 6 we
read about
1260 days.
In chapter
12 verse 14
we read about
a time's
time and
half a time.
And if we
understand time
to be a
year then
that's three
and a half
years.
And now here
in chapter 13
verse 5 we
have 42
months.
Well you
can do the
maths.
1260
days is
equal to
guess what?
Three and a
half years.
And that's
also equal to
42 months.
So they're
not different
lengths of
time but
they refer to
the same
time period.
They represent
the time of
war that the
church is going
to face between
the resurrection
of Christ and
the return of
Christ.
This is not
peace time.
This is
war time.
But the
important thing
is this war
is going to
come to an
end and it's
only going to
last for a
certain time.
It's limited
42 months.
It will
come to
an end.
Now that
should encourage
us and
strengthen us.
Our lives in
this world is
not spiralling
out of control.
It's not like
Satan is on
his march to
victory.
No, Satan
does not
win.
And we, the
church, we
do not lose.
God has the
victory.
And we can be
confident that
this victory
is ours too.
So let's
remind ourselves
of the truth
that God is
sovereign.
Victory is
assured.
And with that
let us together
as one
people, as
Carigalline
Baptist Church,
stand with
confidence.
You see, the
way we fight
this battle, the
way we face
into it, is
to stand your
ground on
God's word.
Because God
is sovereign,
because his
victory is
assured, look
at the end
of verse 10,
this calls for
patient endurance
and faithfulness
of the part
of God's
people.
It also
calls, verse
18, for
wisdom.
Look, when
we're in the
heat of the
battle, when
we're bunkered
down in trench
warfare, when
persecution comes
and it will,
when seduction
tempts you
and it
does, let
us be
wise.
Don't
panic.
Don't fear.
Don't worry.
Instead, remind
yourself of
God's truth.
Wait patiently
for the coming
king.
Hold faithfully
to your
task.
Jesus is the
sovereign,
victorious champion.
Satan does
not win and
we do not
lose.
peace.
I mentioned
my friend
Raj earlier.
He sent
updates asking
for prayer.
What struck
me was he
didn't ask for
the persecution
to stop.
He didn't
ask for more
comfort and
security.
what he
asked for
was that we
would stand
strong.
Here's what
he asked
for.
This is his
prayer request
and I think
this is a good
prayer request
for us too.
Let me read
it to you.
Let's just be
quiet, reflect
and pray
together.
This is
their prayer
and this is
our prayer.
He writes
it is quite a
bad situation
but please
pray that the
Lord will use
this situation
for his
glory.
please pray
for boldness
and courage
to proclaim
the gospel
news in the
midst of
opposition.
It's
overwhelming.
We feel
helpless.
Please pray
that the
Lord will go
before us
and fight
for us.
Please pray
that we will
trust him
and lie
at his feet
and draw
closer to
him.
father we
pray this
for brothers
and sisters
we know
around the
world.
Those we
know personally
those we do
not know
but your
church is
everywhere
and we
pray it for
ourselves.
We don't
pray for an
easy life.
we don't
pray for
more comforts
or more
security
but we
pray for
courage
for patient
endurance
for faithfulness
to go on
teaching and
sharing the
gospel
whether that's
in Sunday
school or
rock or
rooted
or polo
amongst our
friends our
colleagues our
family.
That we
would hold
fast to
our task
in the
knowledge that
you almighty
God are
sovereign over
every event
over every
circumstance of
our life.
That because of
Christ we
stand assured
of victory.
Give us
patience to
wait for the
coming king.
Give us
courage
courage that
we too
would lie at
your feet
and draw
closer to
you.
Help us
we pray
in Jesus
name.
Amen.
We're going
to sing a
great song.
We've sung
I hope we
sing great
songs every
Sunday.
I think we
do.
We've sung
some good
ones.