Beware the Beast

Sermon OverviewScripture Passage: Revelation 13:1-8Scripture offers prophecies to warn us of the future and edify us as we live through these Last Days. Revelation 13 describes a man, the antichrist, who will rise to power during the Great Tribulation; we must beware of this beast.This passage first describes the social unrest that proceeds the beast:“And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea…” (Revelation 13:1). The sea symbolizes society in turmoil and distress, as the Bible claims wicked people are like the troubled sea. (Isaiah 57:20). This desperately wicked world is ripe for the antichrist’s entrance.This passage also shares the beast’s satanic attributes:“...like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion” (Revelation 13:2).Third, we see how the beast will seduce the world.Revelation 13:3 claims the beast will seem appealing, charming, and clever. The whole world will marvel at this man, who disguises himself as a man of peace.But this passage also addresses his sinister ambitions.“Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation” (Revelation 13:6-7).He will be driven to deify Satan, defy the Savior, destroy the saints, dominate society and delude sinners.Finally, this passage warns us of the false prophet, who will present the beast to the whole world.Much like the Holy Spirit brings people to worship Jesus, the false prophet is designed to bring people to worship the beast in the End Times.Revelation 13:13-16 explains that the false prophet—who by causing fire in the heavens, worship of an image of the beast, and controlling the world’s commerce through a mark of the beast—will bring the entire world to the beast’s feet.Adrian Rogers says, “If you’re not sealed by the Spirit, you will be branded by the beast.”Apply it to your lifeJesus is coming back soon; would you be bold enough to point people to Him, today?