Rev 13:6-9 Part 1, The Beast Makes War with the Lamb

[Study Aired January 17, 2025]

Rev 13:6  And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.
Rev 13:7  And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
Rev 13:8  And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Rev 13:9  If any man have an ear, let him hear.

Introduction

Rev 13:9  If any man have an ear, let him hear.

That is our last verse in today’s study, but we will deal with it first because this is the verse which will help us to understand the entire revelation of Jesus Christ, and it will especially help us to understand verse seven of today’s study.

The phrase “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches” is repeated seven times in Revelation two and three. The phrase “If any man have ears to hear, let him hear” is found eight times in the four gospels. Every time we read those words we are being told that “many are called but few are chosen” and it is fewer than we want to think. Many will come a long way with Christ, but few will “endure to the end”:

Mat 10:22  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

Many will even eat with us at the Lord’s table, and still not be granted to “endure to the end”:

Mat 22:1  And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said,
Mat 22:2  The kingdom of heaven [“within {us}” (Luk 17:20-21)] is like [Aorist tense] unto a certain king, which made [Aorist tense] a marriage for his son,
Mat 22:3  And sent forth [Aorist tense] his servants to call [Aorist tense] them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come. [Aorist tense]
Mat 22:4  Again, he sent forth [Aorist tense] other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold [Aorist tense], I have prepared [Aorist tense] my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.
Mat 22:5  But they made light [Aorist tense] of it, and went their ways [Aorist tense], one to his farm, another to his merchandise:
Mat 22:6  And the remnant took [Aorist tense] his servants, and entreated them spitefully [Aorist tense], and slew them [Aorist tense (Rev 11:7)]
Mat 22:7  But when the king heard [Aorist tense] thereof, he was wroth [Aorist tense]: and he sent forth his armies [Aorist tense], and destroyed [Aorist tense] those murderers, and burned up [Aorist tense] their city.
Mat 22:8  Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.
Mat 22:9  Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find [Aorist tense], bid [Aorist tense] to the marriage.
Mat 22:10  So those servants went [Aorist tense] out into the highways, and gathered together [Aorist tense] all as many as they found [Aorist tense], both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished [Aorist tense] with guests.
Mat 22:11  And when the king came in [Aorist tense] to see [Aorist tense] the guests, he saw [Aorist tense] there a man which had not on [Aorist tense] a wedding garment:
Mat 22:12  And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou [Aorist tense] in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless [Aorist tense].
Mat 22:13  Then said [Aorist tense] the king to the servants, Bind [Aorist tense] him hand and foot, and take him away [Aorist tense], and cast [Aorist tense] him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Mat 22:14  For many are [Present tense] called, but few are chosen.

This wedding dinner does not take place after the first resurrection. It is presently now taking place and “many are [presently being] called, but few are [being] chosen “in this present time” (Rom 8:18).

Christ tells us plainly that the multitudes who come to Him and hear His Words are not given “ears to hear or eyes that see” in Matthew 13.

Mat 13:10  And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
Mat 13:11  He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
Mat 13:12  For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
Mat 13:13  Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.

“To [the multitudes who come to Him even until this very day] it is not given… to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of God… neither do they understand”. So it is clear that “If any man have an ear, let Him hear” is telling us that only those “few… chosen” will understand what we are studying today, and only those “few… chosen” will be able to understand how it is possible for it to be given unto this beast to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and how it is possible for this beast to be “given power… over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations”, and to understand how it is possible that “all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, yet some “few” are still being called saints whose names are “written in the book of life of the Lamb…”

That is right! The saints “dwell upon the earth.” The saints are born with the number, name and image of the beast, and yet their names are written in the book of life of the Lamb. How can both be possible?

Rev 13:6  And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.

This is the “war in heaven” we covered in the seventh verse of the previous chapter. Who is it that stands with and for God’s name? What is God’s tabernacle? Who is it that “dwells in heaven”? We bear God’s name, we are His tabernacle, and we are seated with Christ in the heavens.

Rev 12:7  And there was war [Aorist tense] in heaven: Michael and his angels fought [Aorist tense] against the dragon; and the dragon fought [Aorist tense] and his angels,

Mat 10:22  And ye shall be hated [present tense] of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth [Aorist tense] to the end shall be saved [Future tense].

1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are [present tense] the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth [present tense] in you?

Eph 2:6  So that we came back [Aorist tense] from death with him, and are seated [Aorist tense] with him in the heavens, in Christ Jesus; (BBE)

Before we are “seated with Christ in the heavens”, we are all this beast, blaspheming God, His name, his tabernacle and those that dwell in heaven.

Rom 2:24  For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written.

Remember it is we, signified by John, who are “standing on the sand of the sea” when we first come to see and recognize who this beast is. It is while we are here on the sand of the sea, “while we are yet sinners” (Eph 2:1) and while we are still in Babylon (Rev 18:4), while the “man of sin” is still “sitting in the temple of God saying that he is God” that we come to see that this beast is the “man who built his house upon the sand”. Both the sand and the sea are unstable and tumultuous.

2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

Last week we saw that the life of the apostle Paul was a life of “blaspheming God, God’s name, God’s tabernacle and those that dwell in heaven.” It was the apostle Paul, as Saul of Tarsus, who supervised the stoning of Stephen, the first Christian martyr. We saw that all of this was accomplished while Saul of Tarsus thought he was doing God a service. Saul of Tarsus was struck down on the road to Damascus, where he thought he was building on the rock, when in reality he was building his house on the unstable and tumultuous “sand of the sea”.

What were all of these things Saul of Tarsus was doing before he repented and became Paul the apostle? Let’s let him answer that question, and then tell me if it is possible for someone who has “blasphemed” to be  in the first resurrection:

1Ti 1:13  Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.

“All things are ours”. We all blaspheme God “in ignorance and unbelief”, thinking we do God a service, while we are defending the doctrines of Babylon. But we never realize that in reality we are ignorant, and we certainly are not thinking of ourselves as unbelievers. This is who we are while we are in Babylon’s grip:

Rev 3:17  Because thou [who have “ears to hear” (Rev 3:22)] sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:

None of us tell ourselves we are blaspheming God deliberately. Like Saul of Tarsus we do so ignorantly, and like Paul we are all first Saul of Tarsus, thinking that we are “rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing” when in reality we are this beast blaspheming God, His name, His tabernacle and them who dwell in heaven”.

Rev 13:7  And it was given [Aorist tense] unto him to make [Aorist tense] war with the saints, and to overcome [Aorist tense] them: and power was given [Aorist tense] him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.

This verse was once impossible for me to understand. How is it possible that we can be overcomers if it is given to this beast to “overcome the saints”? As is always the case, “the natural man cannot receive the things of the spirit of God: for they are foolishness to him”.

1Co 2:13  Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
1Co 2:14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

The question that occurs to any logical mind is, “How is it possible for the beast to overcome the saints, and be given power over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations, and be given the power to have all that dwell upon the earth to worship him if there is anyone “whose names are written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world”? Are not the names of the saints written in that book? If the names of the saints are written in the book of the life of the Lamb, then how is it possible to say “they are overcome by the beast”, and how is it possible to say that power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations, and all that dwell on the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world”? Do not the saints “dwell on the earth”?”

Mat 5:5  Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

Mat 5:13  Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

Mar 4:28  For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.

It is obvious that we all “dwell on the earth” before we are “seated in the heavens” (Eph 2:6). So how is any of this even possible? There is only one way that any of this can possibly be understood by “[any man] that has an ear to hear”, and that is to acknowledge the spiritual truth of these four sections of scripture:

Ecc 9:2  All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.

Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man[kind] shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

1Co 3:21  Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22  Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

Rev 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

Remember that this beast is a combination of everything Daniel saw in four different beasts in Daniel 7. It is also a beast that “comes up out of the sea”, just as the beasts of Daniel 7 did. This one beast here in Revelation 13 is a composite of those same four beasts of Daniel 7. Let’s review that and ask that God will give us “an ear that hears”, because that statement, “If any man has an ear, let him hear”, tells us that what has just been said is impossible for the natural man to “read, hear or keep” (1Co 2:13-14, Rev 1:3)

Dan 7:2  Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea.
Dan 7:3  And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another.
Dan 7:4  The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man’s heart was given to it.
Dan 7:5  And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh.
Dan 7:6  After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it.
Dan 7:7  After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.

Compare these four beasts of Daniel 7, one of which has four heads and one of which has ten horns, with the one single beast we see in Revelation 13.

Rev 13:1  And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
Rev 13:2  And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

In Daniel, our understanding is limited and appears to be speaking of four separate and successive nations. Under these conditions Daniel is told:

Dan 12:4  But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.

When is “the time of the end”?

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples [Greek: tupos, types of us]: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

The ends of the ages are come upon us, and so we are now told this concerning this revelation of Jesus Christ:

Rev 22:10  And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.

Here in this revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to John, that we have the same “seven heads and ten horns” on the same four beasts, but while they seem so disconnected in Daniel, here in the revelation of Jesus Christ, we see that all of those four beasts of Daniel 7 are really just the type and shadow of the spiritual reality which we see here in Revelation 13. These beasts are four merely as the symbols for all, or for the whole of mankind. The number “four”, as we have seen, is the scriptural symbol for the whole of whatever is under consideration.

Jer 49:36  And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come.

Isa 11:12  And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

The number ‘four’ symbolizes the whole of whatever is under consideration. In this case, it is “four beasts”, or the whole of mankind, or all who are in Adam, and here we see that all of that is to be found spiritually within the one composite beast which we all are in Adam:

Ecc 3:18  I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men [H120, ‘Adam’], that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.

Eze 34:8  As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely because my flock became a prey, and my flock became meat to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock;

“The shepherds fed themselves… and my flock became meat to every beast of the field” proves that the evil and wicked shepherds of God’s flock are “every beast of the field”. The destruction of God’s people by beasts is nothing less than their destruction at the hands of their own rapacious shepherds and ministers who “spare not the flock” (Act 20:29).

Act 20:29  For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.

Since we are told that we must “keep the things written therein” (Rev 1:3), it becomes clear that these same four beasts in Daniel 7 and in Revelation 13 are the symbol of us while we are yet “in Adam”, and we see that all that is in Adam is really in us because we are all “beasts of the field” before we become God’s saints whose names are “written in the book of the life of the Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world” and whose names are not “blotted out of the book of life”.

But whose names are written in the book of the life of the Lamb, and whose names are blotted out? Here is the Biblical answer to those questions and this is the answer to how we can be born with the image, name, number and mark of the beast and still be granted a part in that “blessed and holy… first resurrection”:

Exo 32:30  And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people [who had just made the golden calf], Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the LORD; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin.
Exo 32:31  And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold.
Exo 32:32  Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin–; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.
Exo 32:33  And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.
Exo 32:34  Therefore now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee: behold, mine Angel shall go before thee: nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them.
Exo 32:35 And the LORD plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.

What are we to make of all of this? Who has not “sinned against God? The answer is:

Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Rom 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

Since “all have sinned” and since God will “Blot out of His book whosoever has sinned against Him”, it is obvious that all men are first in God’s book, are then blotted out due to their sins which God “makes them” to commit, and then He visits us all, judges our sins in His wrath and reenters the names of His “few” elect back into the book of the life of the Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world. That is the doctrine of all of scripture (1Co 15:22, 1Ti 2:4, 1Pe 2:20), and that is the doctrine of “the sum of God’s Word” (Psa 119:160).

Isa 63:17  O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23  But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.

1Ti 2:3  For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;
1Ti 2:4  Who will [Job 23:13] have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

Job 23:13  But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth [1Ti 2:4], even that he doeth.
Job 23:14  For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me [“To be saved”]: and many such things are with him.

2Pe 3:9  The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
2Pe 3:10  But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
2Pe 3:11  Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
2Pe 3:12  Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
2Pe 3:13  Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
2Pe 3:14  Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.
2Pe 3:15  And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;
2Pe 3:16  As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
2Pe 3:17  Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.
2Pe 3:18  But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

Nevertheless, even after we have “sinned against God”, here is what eventually happens to all who have “sinned against God”:

Jer 33:8 And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed against me.

That is what the Lord does to the few whose names are reentered into “the Lamb’s book of life”, while it can also be stated:

Exo 32:33  And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.

Rom 3:23  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

“Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book”. It should be clear from this verse that all men will be saved in the end, because all men are apparently “written in God’s book… from the foundation of the world”, and “whosoever has sinned against God is blotted out, and only His few elect are reentered into His book in this present time, and in the day when He visits, He will visit their sin upon them”, all the rest who “are in Adam”, at the final judgment, the great white throne judgment, in the lake of fire, where He will “cleanse them from all their iniquity”.

That might be a radical doctrine but it is right here before our eyes if we are given “eyes that see”.

So these words of King David really are true:

Psa 107:1 O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. [Repeated in all 26 verses of Psa 136]

What does this all demonstrate? Here is what is proven by God telling Moses that He will blot out of His book “Whosoever has sinned against me.” It is the same four verses we keep repeating over and over to remind us that this revelation of Jesus Christ is as much a revelation of Christ in us as it is of Christ Himself, because we are “Jesus of Nazareth” according to the Words of Jesus of Nazareth.

Ecc 9:2 All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.

Mat 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man[ kind] shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Act 22:7  And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
Act 22:8  And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.

1Co 3:21 Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

Rev 1:3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

We will pause here and continue in our next study.