The First Beast
1Then I saw a beast rising up out of the sea. It had seven heads and ten horns, with ten crowns on its horns. And written on each head were names that blasphemed God. 2This beast looked like a leopard, but it had the feet of a bear and the mouth of a lion! And the dragon gave the beast his own power and throne and great authority. 3I saw that one of the heads of the beast seemed wounded beyond recovery—but the fatal wound was healed! The whole world marvelled at this miracle and gave allegiance to the beast. 4They worshiped the dragon for giving the beast such power, and they also worshiped the beast. “Who is as great as the beast?” they exclaimed. “Who is able to fight against him?” 5Then the beast was allowed to speak great blasphemies against God. And he was given authority to do whatever he wanted for forty-two months. 6And he spoke terrible words of blasphemy against God, slandering his name and his dwelling—that is, those who dwell in heaven. 7And the beast was allowed to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And he was given authority to rule over every tribe and people and language and nation. 8And all the people who belong to this world worshiped the beast. They are the ones whose names were not written in the Book of Life that belongs to the Lamb who was slaughtered before the world was made. 9Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand. 10Anyone who is destined for prison will be taken to prison. Anyone destined to die by the sword will die by the sword. This means that God’s holy people must endure persecution patiently and remain faithful.
Revelation 13:1-10
The Second Beast
11Then I saw another beast come up out of the earth. He had two horns like those of a lamb, but he spoke with the voice of a dragon. 12He exercised all the authority of the first beast. And he required all the earth and its people to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. 13He did astounding miracles, even making fire flash down to earth from the sky while everyone was watching. 14And with all the miracles he was allowed to perform on behalf of the first beast, he deceived all the people who belong to this world. He ordered the people to make a great statue of the first beast, who was fatally wounded and then came back to life. 15He was then permitted to give life to this statue so that it could speak. Then the statue of the beast commanded that anyone refusing to worship it must die. 16He required everyone—small and great, rich and poor, free and slave—to be given a mark on the right hand or on the forehead. 17And no one could buy or sell anything without that mark, which was either the name of the beast or the number representing his name. 18Wisdom is needed here. Let the one with understanding solve the meaning of the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. His number is 666.
Revelation 13:11-18
I trust you agree with me. There is a lot here to poke fun at. There are two blocks of text, one for each Beast. I have coloured the portions which I believe to be Parody (P) and / or Satire (S). In my mind satire is more scathing in its ridicule than parody but I will let you choose your classification. This whole passage (Revelation 13) reminds me of Dan Brown’s book The Da Vinci Code. When it first came out people emailed me to ask what I thought about it. I said that I had read it and enjoyed it; it was a good yarn.
“But how can you enjoy it when it pokes holes in Christian truth, Ian?”
“Because I know the Truth and the One Who is True and Dan Brown’s claims make me laugh because they are so outrageous.”
The same is true of these statements in Revelation 13. I think John has added it for our amusement. So let’s play a game!
1. Spot the Lies! Let’s appeal to the LORD of All Glory, the LORD of Heaven and Earth with the words: LORD I object [LIo].
But, as in any court room:
2. State the basis of your objection to each of the allegations laid out before us. I will make the allegations as clear as I can below. After objecting, state clearly what in essence your objection is based on?
3. Choose your response and the best response on God’s behalf which best fits each statement. There is no right or wrong answer. Each response is your reaction.
I will keep the verse number of each allegation. I have been pondering this since writing Gem 2305. For those of you who receive the Gems by email you will find the answer form at the bottom of your email with the alternatives.
God’s Response:
- Ps 2:4 [NLT] But the one who rules in heaven laughs. The Lord scoffs at them.
- Ps 2:4 [MSG] The Heaven-enthroned God breaks out laughing. He’s amused at their presumption.
- Ps 37:13 [NLT] But the Lord just laughs, for he sees their day of judgment coming.
- Ps 37:13 [MSG] But GOD isn’t losing any sleep; to him they’re a joke.
- Ps 59:8 [NLT] But LORD, you laugh at them. You scoff at the hostile nations.
- Ps 59:8 [MSG] But you, GOD, break out laughing; you treat the godless nations like jokes.
Your possible Responses:
- LIo – LORD I object
- ROTFL – Roll on the floor laughing.
- GSITSI – God said it; that settles it.
- OWA – On whose authority?
- PoOJ – Point of Order Judge – may I ask a question?
- TUI – ‘Yeah Right’
- Jesus is LORD
- [Your own creative response] you type it in.
Let the Games Begin
Type the choice of your response and God’s next to the number for each of Satan’s statements in Your Answer Sheet. You will find Your Answer Sheet at the bottom of the emailed notice of the Gem. Fill it in with your choices and send it back via email to [email protected]
- 1 Written on each head were names that blasphemed God.
- 2 the dragon gave the beast his own power and throne and great authority.
- 3 one of the heads of the beast seemed wounded beyond recovery—but the fatal wound was healed!
- 3b The whole world marvelled at this miracle and gave allegiance to the beast.
- 4 They worshiped the dragon for giving the beast such power,
- 4b they also worshiped the beast. “Who is as great as the beast?” they exclaimed. “Who is able to fight against him?”
- 5 the beast was allowed to speak great blasphemies against God.
- 5b he was given authority to do whatever he wanted for forty-two months.
- 6 he spoke terrible words of blasphemy against God, slandering his name and his dwelling—that is, those who dwell in heaven.
- 7 the beast was allowed to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them.
- 7b he was given authority to rule over every tribe and people and language and nation.
- 8 all the people who belong to this world worshiped the beast.
- 8b They are the ones whose names were not written in the Book of Life that belongs to the Lamb who was slaughtered before the world was made.
Second Round
If you dare continue on to the second round and record your response for the statements related to the second beast.
God’s Response:
- Ps 2:4 [NLT] But the one who rules in heaven laughs. The Lord scoffs at them.
- Ps 2:4 [MSG] The Heaven-enthroned God breaks out laughing. He’s amused at their presumption.
- Ps 37:13 [NLT] But the Lord just laughs, for he sees their day of judgment coming.
- Ps 37:13 [MSG] But GOD isn’t losing any sleep; to him they’re a joke.
- Ps 59:8 [NLT] But LORD, you laugh at them. You scoff at the hostile nations.
- Ps 59:8 [MSG] But you, GOD, break out laughing; you treat the godless nations like jokes.
Your possible Responses:
- LIo – LORD I object
- ROTFL – Roll on the floor laughing.
- GSITSI – God said it; that settles it.
- OWA – On whose authority?
- PoOJ – Point of Order Judge – may I ask a question?
- TUI – ‘Yeah Right’
- Jesus is LORD
- [Your own creative response] you type it in.
- 11 He had two horns like those of a lamb, but he spoke with the voice of a dragon.
- 12 He exercised all the authority of the first beast.
- 12b He required all the earth and its people to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed.
- 13 He did astounding miracles, even making fire flash down to earth from the sky while everyone was watching.
- 14 With all the miracles he was allowed to perform on behalf of the first beast, he deceived all the people who belong to this world.
- 14b He ordered the people to make a great statue of the first beast, who was fatally wounded and then came back to life.
- 15 He was permitted to give life to this statue so that it could speak.
- 15b Then the statue of the beast commanded that anyone refusing to worship it must die.
- 16 He required everyone—small and great, rich and poor, free and slave—to be given a mark on the right hand or on the forehead.
- 17 No one could buy or sell anything without that mark, which was either the name of the beast or the number representing his name.
The Church of the West presents too easy a target for satan. We don’t believe we are at war. We don’t know where the battleground is, and our weapons are neither loaded nor aimed at the right target.
Ed Silvoso
Sometimes being B-U-S-Y just means Being Under Satan’s Yoke!
Bob Gass
Smith Wigglesworth when awakened from sleep in the middle of the night to an apparition of satan at the foot of his bed said “Oh it’s only you”, rolled over and went back to sleep.
Ian
Satan builds his strongholds in the shadows of our strengths.
Tom White
Your Answer Sheet
First Round
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 3b
- 4
- 4b
- 5
- 5b
- 6
- 7
- 7b
- 8
- 8b
God’s Response:
- Ps 2:4 [NLT] But the one who rules in heaven laughs. The Lord scoffs at them.
- Ps 2:4 [MSG] The Heaven-enthroned God breaks out laughing. He’s amused at their presumption.
- Ps 37:13 [NLT] But the Lord just laughs, for he sees their day of judgment coming.
- Ps 37:13 [MSG] But GOD isn’t losing any sleep; to him they’re a joke.
- Ps 59:8 [NLT] But LORD, you laugh at them. You scoff at the hostile nations.
- Ps 59:8 [MSG] But you, GOD, break out laughing; you treat the godless nations like jokes.
Your possible Responses:
- LIo – LORD I object
- ROTFL – Roll on the floor laughing.
- GSITSI – God said it; that settles it.
- OWA – On whose authority?
- PoOJ – Point of Order Judge – may I ask a question?
- TUI – ‘Yeah Right’
- Jesus is LORD
- [Your own creative response] you type it in.
Second Round
- 11
- 12
- 12b
- 13
- 14
- 14b
- 15
- 15b
- 16
- 17
Fill in your response for each answer and email it back to me at [email protected]
I will report on the outcome. Especially the creativity I see in the personal responses. In the next Gem I will give you my responses based on the verses in Revelation 13 and the highlights of reader responses and how I would respond to each statement and why I would take issue with each one.