Revelation 13: Jesus Empowers You to Stand Strong

Ever wondered what Revelation's most infamous chapter really means? Beyond the sensational imagery of beasts and the dreaded 666, Revelation 13 delivers a powerful message of hope amidst persecution that remains just as relevant today.

Diving into this apocalyptic text, we explore how the early church would have understood these symbols during a time when the Roman Empire seemed invincible. The beasts rising from sea and earth weren't just future predictions—they represented the oppressive political power and propaganda machine pressuring Christians to worship the emperor or face dire consequences. When we understand that the mysterious 666 likely pointed to Emperor Nero through ancient number symbolism, the chapter transforms from cryptic puzzle to practical encouragement for believers facing real threats.

What makes this passage so powerful isn't its prediction of future events but its timeless reminder that Jesus has already secured the ultimate victory. Despite appearances, evil's authority is always limited and temporary. When we face our own seemingly insurmountable challenges—whether financial difficulties, relationship struggles, or health concerns—this chapter reminds us to put them in perspective. As Pastor Brandon emphasizes, "Yes, we have enemies, but we have no rivals." Our problems may be real, but they pale in comparison to the majesty and power of Christ.

Take a moment today to shift your focus from whatever beast you're battling to the Lamb who has already overcome. When we see Jesus clearly, our challenges shrink in comparison. Subscribe to Bible Breakdown for more insights that bridge ancient texts with contemporary life, and join our discussion group to dig deeper into these transformative truths.

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The More We Dig. The More We Find.

Chapters

• 0:48 Welcome to Bible Breakdown
• 1:41 Revelation 13: Beasts and Blasphemy
• 5:20 The Second Beast and 666
• 7:59 Historical Context of the Beasts
• 11:14 Jesus Has Already Won
• 12:38 Closing Prayer and Encouragement

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:24

Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today. Revelation, chapter 13,. And today's title is Jesus Empowers you to Stand Strong. Jesus Empowers you to Stand Strong. It's another one of those chapters where you are going to immediately recognize some very famous stuff from the book of Revelation and, whereas there's a lot of places for that, we are going to try to focus on what this would have meant to the early church, and it's going to be a lot of fun and it's going to be very interesting, to say the least. So, if you have your Bibles, open up with me to Revelation, chapter 13.

Speaker 1: 0:58

As always, before we get any further, if you're new around here, make sure you take just a second to like, share and subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast. Make sure you leave us a five-star review on the podcast and make sure you go into the Bible breakdown discussion because, as always, the more we dig the more we find, and this is one of those chapters you definitely want to dig a little deeper. Okay, there's just so much going on in this chapter. So, while you're getting your Bibles out, while you're getting your coffee out, while you're getting your tinfoil hat on, because we go in there for all of that today. Make sure we remember first, last and always Like my hope is is like 10 years from now, when people are still listening to this podcast and reading this and we've been going through this a couple of times we're gonna be like, okay, pastor Brandon, I get it. This is all about Jesus wins. Well, the reason why it's so important and why I'm saying it over and over and over again is because I think, if we're not careful, we forget that we get to thinking about what we're going to talk about today, which is beasts and 666s and all this kind of good stuff and all these different things, and we're going to forget that the ultimate goal of the book of Revelation, the primary goal, was not to tell the future. It was not to figure out who the beast is, who the Antichrist is, where they're coming from, all the good stuff. It was not about that. It was about encouraging the early church that Jesus has already won, that this, everything we have, belongs to Jesus. It was to encourage them. So we've got to make sure that we keep it about that, and it's really interesting to talk about all the other stuff, but we got to remember, first of all, that there were seven churches that were in Asia and they were being persecuted by the people of Rome, by the people from Jerusalem and by everyone in between. And God is telling them it's okay, I got you, especially because of a lot of the emperor worship that was going on at the time and they were getting a lot of pressure to worship the emperor, and so what we're going to see today is some of the outflow of that. Now there are so many different parallels that we're going to see here that could very well be talking about future stuff, but we're going to talk about what it would have meant to them today. So we're going to talk about beasts and sixes and all the good stuff. So if you're ready, here we go and all the good stuff. So if you're ready, here we go.

Speaker 1: 3:06

Revelation, chapter 13, verse 1, says this Then I saw a beast rising up out of the sea. He had seven heads and ten horns, with ten crowns on its horns, and written on each head were the names that blasphemed God. This beast looked like a leopard, but it had the feet of a bear and the mouth of a lion. That means he was creepy, and the dragon gave the beast his own power and throne and great authority. So, if you remember from yesterday, the dragon symbolized the devil, so it was saying the devil was now partnering with the beast. Verse three I saw that one of the heads of the beast seemed wounded beyond recovery, but the fatal wound was healed and the whole world marveled at the miracle and gave allegiance to the beast. They worshipped the dragon for giving the beast such power and they also worshipped the beast. Who is as great as the beast, they exclaimed. Who is able to fight against him? Then the beast was allowed to speak great blasphemies against God and he was given authority to do whatever he wanted.

Speaker 1: 4:13

For 42 months he spoke terrible words of blasphemy against God, slandering his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. The beast was allowed to wage war against God's holy people and to conquer them. He was given authority to rule over every tribe and people and language and nation, and all the people who belong to this world worshipped 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. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand. Anyone who is destined for prison will be taken to prison. Anyone who is 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.

Speaker 1: 5:02

Then I saw another beast come out of the earth and he had two horns, like those of a lamb, but he spoke with the voice of a dragon. He exercised all the authority of the first beast and he required that all the earth and its people worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. He did astounding miracles, even making fire flash down from the earth, from the sky, while everyone was watching. And with all the miracles he was allowed to perform on behalf of the first beast, he deceived all the people who belonged to this world and ordered the people to make a great statue of the first beast, who was fatally wounded and then came back to life. He was then permitted to give life to this statue so it could speak. Then the statue of the beast commanded that anyone refusing to worship must die. 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, and no one could buy or sell anything without the mark, which was either the name of the beast or the number that represented his name.

Speaker 1: 6:04

Wisdom is needed here. Let the one who understands solve the meaning of the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is six, six, six, dun, dun, dun, six, six, six. Well, there's a puzzle. What we're gonna do with all that? Well, here's the thing. First of all, remember, it can't mean to us what it didn't mean to them, and there's great things to think about in the future, because, if you notice, there are multiple things happening here that are very interesting. There's 666s, and to this day people are terrified of that number, and then there are these different beasts that are coming up. Can we just get this out of the way?

Speaker 1: 6:47

When hear the word beast, I immediately think of the movie beauty and the beast, and so when I hear you know, kill the beast, that's what I think about all the time is that they have that. Gaston has went and he has, um, he has stormed the castle and he tried to kill the beast, but apparently it didn't work right. Well, there's so many parallels going on that to the early church would have meant something very, very different. Now, first of all, is to realize that Jesus has already won the war, even if the battle rages, that the Lamb will preserve his holy people. Evil may look powerful, but its time is short and its reach is limited. So, whereas many of this stuff may mean future things, the parallel to the world at the time was that the first beast rising out of the sea could have very well represented political power most directly tied to the Roman emperor.

Speaker 1: 7:37

The second beast rising from the earth could have represented false religion or propaganda, because the goal of it was the propaganda of Rome was destined by the gods to take over. So it was bringing focus back to the first beast and also the number 666, if you look that up in some of the old numbering systems called Gematria, which John would have definitely known, that a lot of people say 666 actually can spell the word Nero, and the reason why that's a big deal is because there was a myth going around that Nero actually was going to come back to life again and he was going to come back and he was going to rule Rome again, and that's where a lot of the emperor worship came from, and so it was saying that this propaganda was going to happen and that it was going to inspire people to worship the emperor. And so, whereas there's a lot of future things that's going on, there's a lot of first century stuff that's also happening that John would have very possibly been warning them against. And the thing is is to warn them against panicking because of what looked like Rome winning, because at the time you've got to understand this is right during part of the golden age of the Roman Empire, this is right in between a lot of different things, the Roman Empire is still going to last for quite a while longer and at the time it just looked like Rome was invincible.

Speaker 1: 9:03

Under Domitian, they were experiencing a lot of prosperity, they were a lot of political power, a lot of just financial power. They were just doing really, really, really well and everything was going great. And so, to these persecuted christians who believed that emperor worship was not right and that actually jesus is the king, they looked silly in the eyes of the world. Because the eyes of the world would have said what are you talking about? I mean like, like. Look at this political power. It is. I mean we. We own the world, you know, look, look at this political power, it is. I mean, we own the world. You know, look at this emperor worship and this economic control. This is amazing.

Speaker 1: 9:36

And then there's a prophecy about Nero coming back to life again, and it just looked like everything was going so well for the Roman Empire, almost like in this chapter. It was looking like that the beast and this false prophet and all this stuff was just winning to the point that, unless you were willing to worship them which is to put the mark of the false prophet and the beast, the 666, on your forehead or on your hand then you are done. That's exactly what the Roman Empire looked like at the time, and what I love about this is that, in the middle of all of this craziness we're going to see this in the next chapter god's still winning, god's still in charge and, just like I was telling you a minute ago, jesus has already won. Even if the battle is still raging, the war has already been decided. And so that's what would have been conveyed to the early church is to say, yes, let's take a moment and let's look at our enemy.

Speaker 1: 10:34

Yes, he's big, yes, he's powerful, yes, he has a lot going for him, but have you seen Jesus? So take a moment and this would maybe be really good for all of us is to take just a moment and think about our problems. Yes, we have our problems. Yes, we have financial difficulties. Yes, we have relationship difficulties. Yes, we have physical issues. Yes, yes, they're there. They're there, but now let's think about Jesus, and that all of these things pale in comparison to who he is, and when we think about the goodness and the greatness of Jesus, it makes all of these things seem a little bit smaller. And so that's what Revelation, chapter 13 at least, is doing. Now, it could be doing a whole lot of stuff about the future and the Antichrist and the Catholic Church and all that kind of good stuff, but at least in the early church, what he's doing is he's taking a moment. He's saying, yeah, we got a big enemy. Man ain't nothing compared to my Jesus. Let man ain't nothing compared to my Jesus. Let's pray together right now, God. I pray that that be.

Speaker 1: 11:35

What we remember today is that, yes, we've got enemies. Jesus, you have many enemies, but you have no rivals. There's no one that could compare to you. And though, one of the greatest lies the enemy has ever told us is that he can compare to you that he can rival you. That's not true, and we know that. So I pray today that you'll remind us that we may have enemies, but we have no rivals. That, jesus, you reign supreme. In Jesus' name, we pray, amen Once again. Revelation, chapter 1. Verse 7 says 7 says look, he comes with the clouds of heaven and everyone will see him. My prayer today is that you never see your enemy so so big that you forget that our king is even greater. I love you, I'll see you tomorrow. For revelation, chapter 14.