“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.”
What will the Anti-Christ be like? This Scripture gives us a good description of him. He is a Gentile (v. 1), who is given the power by Satan himself (v. 4). He will be a great political leader, uniting the world under his reign. He will wage war against those who worship God. He will be so greatly admired that people will worship him. He will be the world’s greatest political leader ever.
He will be a man that will cause great destruction. However, we are reminded that God will still be in charge during the Anti-Christ reign. Those who will suffer under his reign might question this, so God provides encouragement to them by reminding them: “this calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of God’s people.”
I think we need this encouragement now as well. As we go through trying times, we often ask, “Where is God?” We question how God could allow tragedy and pain in our lives and in the lives of those we love. And yet the message is the same for us: we need to patiently endure and be faithful. The end is truly near – we will someday soon stand before God and suffering, pain and death will be no more. Our questions will be answered and our doubts will be gone. We need to only have “patient endurance” and wait on the Lord.
This coming Sunday we will talk more about the beast of the sea and the patience that God calls us to have as we continue the sermon series, “Remarkable Revelation.” We will also answer the questions, “Where is America in Biblical prophecy?” and “Why is Israel so important in Biblical prophecy?” I hope to see you then!
