BSF Study Questions Revelation: The Hope Lesson 17, Day 4: Revelation 13:11-18

Summary of Revelation 13:11-18

John saw a second beast, coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. It exercised all the authority of the first beast and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast. This beast performed great signs, and it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast. The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast. It forced all people to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads,so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name, 666.

BSF Study Questions Revelation: The Hope Lesson 17, Day 4: Revelation 13:11-18

9) The second beast exercised all the authority of the first beast and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast. It performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people, which deceived them. It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast. The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed.

10a) To deceive believers.

Moses (Exodus 7:1-5): To make himself known and to rescue His people

Elijah (1 Kings 18:30-39): To show the world and His people that God is the One True God

Jesus (John 11:41-44; 20:30-31; Acts 2:19-21): To show others that God is God, to show others that Jesus is indeed the Son of God who has come to redeem God’s people so that people may have everlasting life. To bring others to God so that they can be saved from eternal damnation.

11a) The mark was on their right hands or on their foreheads, and it was the number 666. The mark allowed them to buy and sell goods.

b) The mark is our name written in the Book of Life, the seal of the Holy Spirit. The benefits are immense. We receive the Holy Spirit so that we can have the mind of Christ, so that we can understand God and His Word and live by God’s laws. It means our sins are forgiven, we can be with God, and we receive eternal life with God in heaven. It means we are redeemed!

c) God protects us by giving us no more temptations than we can handle. He gives us weapons to avoid sin, such as prayer, His word, and the Holy Spirit to guide us. He intervenes when He needs to to keep us safe. He sends others to us with messages from God and to protect us from others. He is so, so good! I have way too many times when God has protected me. He has given me an innate feeling when something is not right, and I have bolted, which has saved me many times!

Conclusions BSF Study Questions Revelation: The Hope Lesson 17, Day 4: Revelation 13:11-18

I love the graciousness of God to make Himself known! I love the idea in Ephesians of us being God’s possession. What else could you want besides God to have and hold you?

End Notes BSF Study Questions Revelation: The Hope Lesson 17, Day 4: Revelation 13:11-18

This second beast is subordinate to the first beast and comes from the earth, not the sea.

This beast is a false prophet. (Revelation 16:13, 19:20, 20:10)

This makes 3 evil beings we’ve seen (dragon, the beast from the sea, and the beast from the earth) that form a perverse trinity.

It is important that we are made aware of these false prophets and their signs because we don’t know when they will show themselves. We must always be vigilant for them.

We must all be careful because the image of the beast will appear very real to us. It is what is referred to as the abomination of desolation (Daniel 9:27, Matthew 24:15, and 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4).

If you don’t have the mark of the beast, you will most likely die because you can’t buy or sell goods.

Letters were assigned numeric values in ancient times, which is why the beast’s name is 666.

Bible commentators have put forth dozens of theories on who the person may be with numbers that add up to 666. Interestingly, the letters of Jesus add up to 888. 666 falls way short of Jesus (obviously). No doubt it is an unholy Trinity.

The beast is impersonating Christ. That is all it can do. It has no originality whatsoever.