This sermon on the first of two beasts in Revelation 13 addresses what it means to trust God’s faithfulness in tough times and the reality of hardship. Dan Kent contrasts this with a sanitized God, who, many assume, cannot deal with the world’s evil or the spiritual warfare that is being waged.
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Be Alert and Sober Minded
• Dan Kent
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Dan Kent leads us through the first part of Revelation 13, explaining what the vision of the first beast means. It is a composite of the four beasts we find in Daniel 7. Satan gives this beast a throne and authority, just as God gave the Lamb. This entire passage is a form of mimicry. Not only is Satan “the Dragon,” he is also trying to replicate God. Dan calls this “artificial divinity.” This first beast is a pseudo messiah, a being that appears to bring salvation, but in reality it only offers political power. This beast arouses an intoxicating hope that the right government might bring utopia.
This mimicry lures us into unfaithfulness so that Satan can hurt God. The only thing that could keep us from God is our rejection of God. Satan wages war against us by trying to trick us into thinking that his ways are good. In contrast, our faithful testimony wrecks his whole enterprise. Just as Jesus won the war against the dragon through his faithfulness, we compound that victory through our faithfulness.
Therefore John concludes this section on the first beast by saying, “This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of God’s people.”
Remaining faithful means maintaining loyalty to God, by not giving up on his promises. This loyalty is more than mere verbalism. It means obeying Jesus, orienting ourselves to his teachings, and pursuing Christlikeness. This is a contrast to fixating on the antichrist, a label that is used not as a noun pointing to a person, but as an adjective. “Antichrist” has to do with a spirit that compels us to live contrary to the life God calls us to. (See 1 John 4:3).
Patient endurance is also required. This stance is like faithfulness, but it also includes remaining true in the midst of resistance, obstacles and testing. This relates to the imperatives in 1 Peter 5:8–9. We are to stay alert because we seek God in an active war zone. And we are to be sober minded. To think in this way is to think in terms of the realities that we face in the world. We are not ignorant of evil, nor do we assume that God cannot deal with it. God is very aware of the realities that we face and he is not intimidated by them.
We know nothing in the world—no matter how bad it seems—can threaten God, his goodness or his promises. Everything is exactly in line—not with a meticulous plan—with God’s sober warnings and his ability to do what he said that he will do. This we can trust.
Hide Extended SummaryTopics: Discipleship, Faithfulness, Spiritual Warfare
Sermon Series: Dragon Slayers
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The MuseCast: November 11
Focus Scripture:
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Revelation 13:1-10
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 worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped 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 forty-two 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 on the part of God’s people.
