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The History of the Ages – Lesson 39

Chapter 13 chronicles the rise to power of the Antichrist. If you remember, I talked about the rise of the Antichrist in Lesson 26 just in reference to what Paul says about him in II Thessalonians 2:3-12. I think I’ll do this lesson a little differently. Instead of going through it verse by verse, I’ve assembled a list of things that are said about the Antichrist in this chapter and are mostly supported by other references. It covers the content of the chapter, but adds information about the Antichrist to give a more complete representation of who he is and what he does during the last half of the tribulation period. There are two “beasts” identified in this chapter. One is the Antichrist; the other is the false prophet. I’ll deal with the false prophet in another lesson.  


  1. First, the Antichrist is a man, not a fallen angel, as taught by some (13:18).
  2. He will rise from the “sea” of humanity (in verse 1, John stood on the sand of the “sea”, a reference to the Mediterranean Sea, then saw the beast rise out of the “sea”, a symbolic reference to masses of people).
  3. He has “seven heads” (13:1). This is also a symbolic reference and must be understood when compared to Revelation 17:9-10. According to these verses the seven heads are seven kingdoms. Five are fallen, one is and one is yet to come. When taken in context (who is speaking, John, and when, around 96 AD), these refer to the seven kingdoms that have oppressed Israel in the past or will in the future. The five that have fallen are the Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Medo-Persian and Grecian. The one that is (the sixth), was in power in John’s day and was the Roman. The one that is yet to come (the seventh) is the one we’ve talked about before, the revised Roman Empire under the Antichrist. The Antichrist represents all the kingdoms of the past and those yet future that have been and will be used to chastise a disobedient and rebellious Israel. According to the next verse (17:11), there is an eighth. We’ll wait and look at that when we get to chapter 17. 
  4. He has “ten horns” (13:1). These horns represent the ten kingdoms that are yet to be formed inside the old Roman Empire territory during the tribulation period and ruled by the Antichrist. We’ll have more to say about this later in chapter 17 as well.
  5. He will be a blasphemer (13:1, 5-6). Compare Daniel 11:36-37.
  6. He will possess the characteristics of (will persecute Israel in similar fashion) the Grecian Empire - the leopard of Daniel 7:6, the Medo-Persian Empire - the bear of Daniel 7:5 and the Babylonian Empire - the lion of Daniel 7:4 (13:2).
  7. He will receive his power, throne and authority from Satan (13:2). Compare Daniel 8:24-25 and II Thessalonians 2:9-10.
  8. I must confess that verse 3 is a little obscure. “And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed, and all the world wondered after the beast.” The translation is true to the original. However, as in point 3 above, according to 17:9-10, the “heads” are past and future kingdoms. But later in this chapter we see this, “and causes the earth and those who dwell upon it to worship the beast, whose deadly wound was healed” (13:12). And later, “and commanded them to erect a statue of the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived again” (13:14). It seems clear from these two verses that it is the Antichrist that is wounded, dies and is brought back to life. No other details are given, but this is something that would enable him to exert great influence over people. It is also another possible counterfeit from Satan, creating the image of the crucified and risen Christ.  
  9. And, we’ve talked in the past about the limits of Antichrist’s kingdom, however there is an interesting point made in verses 3-4. After the statement about the deadly wound being healed in verse 3 it says, “and all the world wondered after the beast.” Then it continues in verse 4 explaining that they (a reference back to the world in verse 3) worshipped both the dragon and the beast and said, “who is able to make war with him?” There are two things here. First it tells me that Satan was involved in healing this deadly wound and has presented himself to the world as something other than what he really is (II Corinthians 11:14) so that people would accept him and worship him. The other is that the word translated “world” is ge, a word that is used to distinguish earth from heaven and is generally used to describe the whole earth. Knowing the present state of technology I would assume that this “healing” is something that will be broadcast throughout the world and the spiritually ignorant and uninformed will accept it and be deceived. The statement “who is able to make war with him?” probably assures that none of the larger nations of the world capable of stopping him militarily will from this point entertain any notion that they might get involved. This then gives the Antichrist the freedom to continue his quest to destroy Israel without fear of interference from anyone.
  10. The Antichrist will be a gifted orator (verses 5-6). Compare Daniel 7:8,11,20,25; 8:23 and 11:36.
  11. As a result of the last three points, we can add from verse 6, “he opened his mouth to speak blasphemy against God”. The Antichrist defies God; claims to be God and many believe it (II Thessalonians 2:4, Daniel 11:36-37).
  12. He will make war against both Jews and true believers in Christ and will kill many of them (verses 7, 15). Later in 14:13 the dead in Christ who die during this time are mentioned. In 15:2-4 there is a scene in heaven of those who “have the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark and over the number of his name” and in 20:4 there is a similar description.
  13. Many will worship the Antichrist as God and will be forced to worship his image as well (verses 8, 14-18; 20:4).
  14. He will have a religious leader that will cause many to be deceived (verses 11-17). The next lesson will examine this man, commonly called the false prophet.
  15. In order to survive (to be able to buy or sell), many will be forced to receive the mark of the Antichrist on their forehead or hand (verses 14-16; 14:9; 15:2; 16:2 and 20:4).


There may be more that we’ll see as we go through the rest of Revelation, but this is what I have so far.

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