13th Episode - Dragon's Strategy: Two Beasts (Sea & Land) from Revelation 13:1-18

 Sir Issac Newton’s third law of physics states, “Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.” In other words, “The bigger the push, the bigger the kickback.” That is why a gun recoils. As it fires in one direction, it moves in the opposite. That is also how a plane flies and a rocket enters space. Like the law of sowing and reaping, action and reaction has a moral and spiritual parallel, which applies to everything seen and unseen. 

Throughout Revelation, earth reacts to hidden actions occurring in Heaven. In John’s vision of the last chapter, we saw a Great War was fought in Heaven to remove Satan from his place. After being cast down to the earth, an angry Devil now reacts by making war on the Woman and her Offspring. 

Revelation chapter thirteen tells us how Satan conducts his war. Although the images are profound, the message is simple. There are two directions from which Satan attacks God’s people: from without by worldly powers and from within by religious deception. 

Just as God has Two Witnesses on earth, the Dragon has two Beasts to wage war against them. They appear in different forms, but they have the same purpose.1 Stop God’s witnesses by force or usurp them by deceit. Let us outline Satan’s sevenfold scheme.

Transcript

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Hi, I'm Mark Roser, and we're at it again, the Unsealed Book Podcast. I'm your host, and in the last episode, we saw the cosmic war behind history. Satan cast out of heaven now, enraged, making war on the woman and her offspring. So today we're in Revelation chapter 13, and John shows us how Satan wages that war. Then I stood on the sand of the sea, and I saw a beast rising up out of the earth. Some translation says, then he stood on the sand of the sea, and John saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. So Satan being cast down to the earth, as it were, or out of the third heaven, falls like lightning. He still has a place in the first and second heaven. He is still the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that works in the children of disobedience. But what we're going to see here is a most sobering but also misunderstood chapter. But when we read it in the context of Revelation's patterns, the message is going to become clear. But first, a little antidote, as we normally do, just to illustrate. Sir Isaac Newton's third law of physics states every action has an equal and opposite reaction. In other words, the bigger the push, the bigger the kickback. That is why a gun recoils. As it fires in one direction, it moves in the opposite. That's also how a plane flies and a rocket enters space. Like the law of sowing and reaping, action and reaction has a moral and spiritual parallel, which applies to everything seen and unseen. And throughout Revelation, we see this. Earth reacts to hidden actions occurring in heaven that have now been revealed to John, like the casting out of Satan from heaven. In John's vision of the last chapter, that great war was fought in heaven to remove Satan from his place. And now, being cast down to the earth, we see an angry devil reacting by making war on the woman Israel and her offspring, those who have the testimony of Jesus. Now, Revelation chapter 13, we're going to see how Satan conducts his war. Although the images are profound, the message is very simple. There are two directions from which Satan attacks. From without, by worldly powers, and from within by religious deception. So just as God has two witnesses on earth, we're going to see the dragon has two beasts to wage war against them. They appear in different forms, but they have the same purpose. Stop God's witness by force or by usurping them through deceit. So we're going to look at seven points in this pattern. This is Satan's attack by force, by deception, with two beasts, just like God has two witnesses. Now, we need to realize the truth again of God's sovereignty. God is in control, not the dragon or the beast. And in Revelation 13, 10, it states God's sovereignty even over the devil in these two forms of attack. It says, if anyone is to be taken captive to captivity he goes. That is the attack through deception, like the Babylonian captivity. And we will see Babylon later. If anyone is to be taken captive to captivity goes. If anyone is to be killed with a sword, with the sword he must be killed. Here is the endurance and the faith of the saints. That's Revelation 13, 10. We can endure in faith, because we know that there will be the martyrs killed with a sword. It must happen. But also there must be those who, because they do not love the truth, they're taken into captivity. Strong deception comes upon them because they did not receive a love for the truth. Paul said this to the church at Thessalonica, and we'll talk more about that later. But this two-part formula of attack, captivity and sword, calls you and I to endurance, because divine justice will soon be served on the dragon, on the beast, and on all her agents in this world. And God will reward his saints. It's coming soon. But let's walk through Satan's sevenfold activity here with his two-prong strategy, because we know the devil has wiles or schemes and devices. And they will become more apparent as we go through the material of Revelation 13. The first thing we see in verse 1 is a beast rising out of the sea. That's Revelation verse 1, chapter 13. And this beast has seven heads and ten horns. Well, seven heads speak of a complete number of heads. You wound one head, and another head pops up. You think it has been totally vanquished for history, and lo, a few years later, we see the head of the beast appearing again. And ten horns speak of political power. Blasphemous names speak of this beast seeking to take the place of God on earth, and even using false religions to do so. So John sees the dragon standing on the seashore, one foot in the water and one on the land, to summon his agents, the beast with seven heads. So this beast rises out of the sea, and the sea represents the restless nations. Babylon, Daniel, first of four beasts, Persia, Greece, Rome. But the full spectrum of worldly empires that oppose God's people are all governments that have come and claimed what only belongs to God, and all false religions that have misrepresented God. And in every age the beast appears wherever rulers exalt themselves above God. We have many historical examples. We mentioned Rome in the days of John when he writes, having been exiled to the island of Patmos. There was the demand for emperor worship. They persecuted Christians. If you didn't burn incense to Caesar, you were excluded, and even at times put to death. Well, we saw this before. The Assyrian Empire boasting divine status and crushing nations under its military machine. The Assyrians and Tyra, the king claiming to be God, demanding worship. As we see totalitarian regimes of every century of history. Even in the 20th century, this past century, many governments elevated the state above God and demanded absolute allegiance. The Soviet Union from 1922 all the way to 1991. Joseph Stalin, most repressive, from 1924 to 1953, the state was atheistic. They suppressed churches. There was a personality cult around Stalin, and he demanded absolute loyalty to the Communist Party. And millions of Russians perished under Stalin. And of course, we know World War II, Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler, the Fuhrer, he suppressed dissent, persecuted both Jews and Christians who resisted him, and even Jews who didn't resist him. Six million Jews perished in their concentration camp. If there couldn't be a clearer example of the dragon through the beast making war on the woman and her offspring. Benito Mussolini, the cult of Deuce, state-controlled religion, and again the demand for total loyalty to that fascist state. Let's not forget Miles, China, from 1949 all the way to 1976. Atheism, destruction of churches during the Cultural Revolution, the elevation of Mao's little red book as sacred text. Well, North Korea in this present time. I mean, just the abolition of religion and destruction of churches and even temples, total devotion demanded to the revolutionary state. Well, you might wonder, I mean, today we have China, Russia, and Iran, and literally half the world are under, some may not say totalitarian, but certainly authoritarian regimes, which have some total traits and can quickly morph into all-out totalism. Yes, where the state seeks total control over every aspect of life, political, religious, economic, cultural, and even private thought. As of 2026, only a handful of nations may meet the strict definition of totalitarianism. And there's too many to mention, though. Well, these are not the beast in a one-to-one sense. In other words, one becomes the specific fulfillment of all that John saw. No, the beast has seven heads, and they reveal the pattern of beastly power that reappears across the ages. Because the second thing we see about this beast, the beast receives a fatal wound and recovers. This is Revelation 13, 3. One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed. Now, this is not a literal assassination attempt, although we'll talk later in our next episode about the seven uh interpretations of who the beast, the Antichrist, the 666. That'll be next time. But we're staying simply now with what the chapter says regarding the dragon empowering two beast. So it's a theological counterfeit. Just as the lamb was slain and rose again, the beast, he does a false resurrection. And so empires fall, but the spirit behind them re-empowers another empire that rises, sometimes even from the ashes of the former one. This is why John sees seven heads, a complete sequence of beastly powers across history. Well, wounded and revived empires, history's full of them. Babylon fell, yet its spirit of arrogance and idolatry resurfaced in Persia, then Greece, then Rome. The Roman Empire collapsed, yet its political and religious structures revived in medieval Europe. Well, from emperor worship to state atheism, they all reappear, maybe under new banners, but the beast's resurrection is the reoccurrence and reappearance of anti-God power throughout history, seeking to usurp God's place. Well, the world worships the beast, we're told in verse 4. Who is like the beast and who can fight against it? This is a parody of Israel's worship. Who is like you, O Lord? The inhabitants of the earth say, Who was like the beast? Who can fight against it? Well, Satan has always, always desired worship. Through the beast, he receives it. But notice the dividing line. Those not written in the Lamb's book of life worship the beast. Those sealed by God refuse. And in different places at different times, they suffer the consequences. So Revelation is not predicting a single dictator only. It is revealing a pattern. And we'll talk about the Antichrist next time, the son of perdition, as to a singular or plural, as to a man, as to a state or a system. But the world's attraction to political saviors who promise peace but demand allegiance is nothing new. Pharaoh in Egypt, worshipped as divine. Sons of God they were said to be. The Roman Empire, who demanded the incense offering as an act of loyalty. Well, we've had personality cults in modern regimes, as we mentioned. The world still marvels at the power of man, still worships man, his strength, still bows to saviors. And so the beast, the fourth point, is he makes war for 42 months. It says so in verse 5 and 6. The beast was given authority for 42 months. It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies. 42 months, same time frame as the two witnesses in their ministry, the same time frame, the trampling of the holy city, and the woman's wilderness sojourn. So this is the entire age between Christ's ascension and yes, just to the point of his return, the age of the witness and their conflict with the beast. The beast blasphemes God, slanders heaven, persecutes the saints, and exercises global, global influence. This is not a brief future crisis. It's an ongoing reality throughout history. War on the saints. To overcome them by one of two means or both means together. Force. That's persecution, imprisonment, martyrdom, deception by deception, false teachings, false religion, false Christ. Anti, not meaning instead of, meaning in place of. And this prepares us for the second beast. The second beast is called the false prophet. He rises up out of the earth. We read it in verse 11. Another beast rising out of the earth like a lamb, but spoke like a dragon. Revelation 13, verses 13 and 14. But notice it performs great signs, and by the signs it deceives those who dwell on the earth. So the second beast rises this time from the earth. He looks like a lamb, gentle, religious, spiritual, but he speaks like a dragon. This is a deception in religious clothing. The false prophet exercises the authority of the first beast, performs even miraculous signs, causing fire to fall from heaven. Well, that could be a modern look at ballistic missiles, intercontinental ballistic missiles, even nuclear warheads, because he calls fire down from heaven. But his real aim is deception, not just the use of the sword. He establishes false worship, creates an image of the beast, and people cannot buy or sell unless they receive his mark. He enforces allegiance. Well, this is Satan's counterfeit Christianity. Religion without repentance, spirituality without truth, miracles without holiness. Yes, it is the false prophet deception, Satan's most effective weapon, not persecution, but deception, false religion. And history is full of religious movements that looked like a lamb but spoke like a dragon. Balaam used his spiritual authority to lead Israel into idolatry. And we heard of the doctrine of Balaam earlier, as well as the Nicolaitan who lorded over God's people. And Jesus warned his church in the early first section of Revelation, chapters 2 and 3. Later, we'll see when unheeded those seeds in the church become Babylon. And God has people in her that are called out of her. We'll look at Babylon later. But Balaam performing rituals that captivated the masses. We have indulgences in the middle medieval ages where forgiveness of sins was being sold, salvation was being offered for money, and modern destructive cults from Jib Jones to you name it, cloaked manipulation in spiritual language. So the false prophet's voice echoes through every age. And that is Satan's counterfeit. It reaches its fullest expression in Revelation verse 15. It was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast. Wow, so the false prophet has now a counterfeit trinity coming into play. We've got the two beasts and of course the dragon, with a counterfeit church, religion, whether it be Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, or dead, empty Christendom, a counterfeit gospel, which Paul spoke about. If some come preaching another gospel, which we did not preach, Paul says, even an angel from heaven, let him be Accursed, for there is a counterfeit gospel. And another spirit, Paul said to the Corinthians, if they come with another spirit and they proclaim a different Jesus, and that has happened. And we see it today. Not the Jesus of the New Testament, not the gospel Paul preached, not the Holy Spirit, but other spirits, which even create a counterfeit communion, a false resurrection, and a whole system of worship, the worship of the beast, which is counterfeit. So Satan does not create, he counterfeits. Wherever truth is proclaimed, he produces the closest look alike possible with him, his spirit, and his message at the forefront. But what can the saints do? Well, here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints. We overcome the beast the same way the lamb overcame the dragon by the blood of the lamb, by the word of our testimony, by not loving our lives unto death. Well, current events, the connection is so strong around the world today, we see both beasts at work. We see political powers demanding ultimate loyalty. We see religious movements offering a false kind of worship, even claiming miraculous signs. We see global systems beginning to pressure believers to conform. And tragically, we see the rise of the false prophets who speak like lambs but act like dragons. One extreme example, just north of us here, we're in Zimbabwe, the second half of our mission, but the Shakahola forest massacre in Kenya recently, connected to the Good News International Church. Over 400 people died after being deceived into starvation, called to fast until they meet Jesus. Some, though, were strangled or beaten, buried in a mass grave. Authorities began to unearth the extent of this tragic cult. This is Revelation 13 in real time. Religion weaponized by deception. No, it's not a distant prophecy. It's a lens through which we interpret the world we live in right now. That's Revelation 13. Will there be more pronounced and detailed fulfillings of all the facets that we've just looked at? Well, we're going to talk about that in the next chapter to look at specific one-time fulfillment. Where do you see the pressure to confirm, though, right now, either through force or deception? In your own context today, where do you see the beast seeking to silence perhaps your witness? Well, we mentioned North Korea, a regime that demands absolute allegiance. The state becomes the savior, and the government claims loyalty that belongs to God alone. I mean, it's a reminder that this beast still rises from the sea with political power, exalting itself to be like the Most High. But yet, even in North Korea, even in that darkness, the Lamb has witnesses. Secret believers gather quietly in homes, whispering hymns, praying, holding fast to Christ at the risk of their lives. Yes, the beast may conquer their bodies, but it can't conquer their souls. That endurance becomes a living testimony. Well, even right now in Iran, the cost of faith and freedom is painfully visible. Since the nationwide protests that erupted in September, and Human Rights Group, I mean, have estimated now more recently, since September 2022, in January 2026, thousands, tens of thousands shot and killed, uh beaten to death, arrested, put in prison. In January, we have uh strong evidence security forces opened fire on protesters, uh shooting to kill, shooting for their heads in the upper part of their body. Anyone who dared to speak out against their injustices. And before this, and now, uh, since uh they came to power, uh, the Islamic uh revolution, Christians, uh, especially uh those who convert to Christianity from Islam face intense persecution. House churches are raided, pastors are in prison, believers are charged with acting against national security simply for gathering to worship. Well, Iran security forces monitor phones, they track online activity, they want to silence dissent and keep the gospel out. Well, next week we're gonna look at the seven views of the beast, uh, the buying and selling. We're gonna look at Islam as one of the possible fulfillment, but we're gonna look not only at Islam, but all the way from Islam to AI. But let's close in prayer because it's one thing we saw, the prayers of the saints. They ascend up to God and they're offered upon the altar. We want to pray, Father, to you now and ask you for the clarity of your word in a world of counterfeits. Help us, Lord, to keep our eyes fixed on the true Lamb of God, not on religion, not on ritual or rules or personalities and celebrities. Lord, guard our heart from deception, keep us from settling for anything less than the gospel of your holy child Jesus and your Holy Spirit. Lord, strengthen our witness in the face of pressure to conform. Give us endurance, faithfulness, and courage, Lord. Let your spirit be poured out upon us. Father, make us faithful until the jay until the day that Jesus returns. In his mighty name we pray. Amen.