The Evil Empire
Revelation 13
Did you ever hear the phrase, "the evil empire"? (R) Who most famously used those
words and to what nation did he refer? (R) President Ronald Reagan was speaking about
Russia.
Listen to the words of his speech and some comments as recorded in the words of the
American Spectator as they wrote on the thirtieth anniversary of his speech:
On March 8, 1983, he told his audience of evangelicals: “Yes, let us pray for the
salvation of all of those who live in that totalitarian darkness -- pray they will discover the joy of
knowing God. But until they do, let us be aware that while they preach the supremacy of the
state, declare its omnipotence over individual man, and predict its eventual domination of all
peoples on the Earth, they are the focus of evil in the modern world.”
He urged those assembled to “beware the temptation of pride -- the temptation of blithely
declaring yourselves above it all and label both sides equally at fault, to ignore the facts of
history and the aggressive impulses of an evil empire, to simply call the arms race a giant
misunderstanding and thereby remove yourself from the struggle between right and wrong and
good and evil.”
What Reagan said was exactly right, and sorely needed. But that’s not how liberals saw
it. The left, naturally, went bonkers, accusing Reagan of all sorts of evil and pride and
temptation -- worst of all, of America-centrism. But it’s funny what the left doesn’t remember:
Before Reagan pointed the finger at the USSR, he paused in the speech to point it inward at the
faults and “moral evils” of his own country: “Our nation, too, has a legacy of evil with which it
must deal,” said Reagan. “For example, the long struggle of minority citizens for equal rights….
There is no room for racism, anti-Semitism, or other forms of ethnic and racial hatred in this
country.”
That’s easily the most forgotten line of the entire speech.
Ronald Reagan called Russia an "evil empire." Many people scolded him for those
choice of words. I want us to apply what Ronald Reagan thought about Russia and it being an
evil empire to the words of Revelation 13 and its evil empire.
Last week we looked at John's portrayal of Satan as a seven headed dragon in pursuit of
the Messiah and the woman- the believing community of God. The dragon was thrown out of
heaven and was making war against the believing community of God-those who obey God's
commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus. Now John goes on to write about the beasts
who work along with the dragon Satan to create this evil empire.
The first beast has no name, but it comes out of the sea. Notice how it is described:
1) It has ten horns and seven heads and ten crowns on his horns. Notice how similar that
is to the description of the dragon. But here the crowns are for the horns and not for the heads.
One writer suggests that the crowns are on the horns, because the horns represent strength and
the heads represent rationality. Thus, this beast will emphasize brute strength versus the mind.
We see from Revelation 17 that these heads are seven kings. These heads each have a
blasphemous name written on them. These kings or leaders speak against God.
2) This beast also is pictured as resembling a leopard, a bear, and a lion. This takes the
listener back to the vision of Daniel 7 where he saw four beasts: lion, bear, leopard and a
terrifying beast with 10 horns. In Daniel 7 those beasts represented four empires: the Babylonian
empire, the Medo-Persian empire, the Greek empire, and the terrifying beast of the Roman
empire - the one with ten horns. Thus, this beast of the sea is being identified as the Roman
empire with some qualities of the other empires combined.
3) The beast of the sea gets its power and his throne and great authority from the dragon.
Satan is the source of authority and power for this evil empire.
4) One of its leaders was a counterfeit Christ. It seemed that he died, but he was healed.
This led to the whole world worshiping the beast. Some believe this refers to Nero the emperor
of Rome. Nero killed himself, but then in the chaos and civil war that existed afterwards, a myth
developed that he had not killed himself but was living with their enemies the Parthians.
5) This beast is described as speaking much blasphemy and evil against God.
6) He is also described as having been given power to make war against the saints and to
conquer them. This sounds like the dragon also, because the dragon was hurled to the earth and
he made war against those who obey God's commandments and hold to Jesus. This beast is
doing the same thing.
So, who is the beast? There is no doubt that the readers and listeners of Revelation in the
first century believed the beast of the sea was the Roman empire who was persecuting them. No
doubt John was specifically referring to them. But notice, the beast is a whole empire and not
just one person, though that one person who seemed to have died and rose again is significant.
The beast really is the whole blasphemous anti-Christ empire.
But is there something more to the meaning of the beast? Especially as we live 2000
years later, does this have meaning to us now? Let me describe the beast of the earth first.
The beast of the earth is then described:
1) This beast had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon. This beast has less
power, only two horns. He seemed more gentle like a lamb. Though he looked gentle, he had
the blasphemy and ugliness of the dragon, Satan.
2) The beast of the earth is under the authority of the beast of the sea. In fact, he makes
the people of the earth worship the beast of the sea.
3) This beast of the earth had power to perform miracles, miracles like Elijah. Do you
remember how Elijah on Mount Carmel asked God to send down fire to burn the sacrifice, and
God sent down a fire that burned not only the sacrifice but the whole altar.
4) This beast of the earth was a worship leader. He sets up an image or statue of the beast
who was wounded and lived again. He demands all people on the earth to worship the beast of
the sea. In fact, he makes this image and gives it the ability to speak. That is like the image of
the Holy Spirit in Ezekiel 37 giving life to dry bones.
5) He forces everyone to receive a mark. If they did not have the mark, then they would
suffer financially and economically. They couldn't buy or sell. The mark is the name of the
beast of the sea or the number of his name - 666. He also describes it as representing man's
number. Many believe this number is Nero's name.
In summary, we have these two beasts working through Satan; the secular or
governmental authorities working together with the religious authorities to make war against
God and his people. Satan created this evil empire to do his work.
Who is the beast of the sea? John identifies him later as the false prophet in Revelation
16:13. The first century readers would understand this to be those who taught emperor worship.
The Roman emperors were considered to be as gods and thus to be worshiped. Since Christians
could not do this, because only Jesus is Lord and God of all, they were persecuted. Thus the
beast of the sea were these false prophets who were the religious leaders of this empire.
Do you see what we have here? We have an evil trinity or a counterfeit trinity of God.
The dragon poses himself as God the Father. The beast of the sea poses as the Christ who died
and rose again. The beast of the earth fulfills the role of the Holy Spirit, pointing people to the
anti-Christ. The evil empire has the evil Trinity as its head.
So, what does this mean for us? That is a good question. There is no doubt John was
referring to the Roman empire being the evil empire described here with this evil Trinity ruling
it. So, what about us in living in the 21st century? Let me give you two responses:
1) Be alert to when the secular authorities and the religious authorities work together to
make an empire against God. Believe it or not, Israel had elements of that. That is why I had 1
Kings 22 read. King Ahab worships Baal and is against God- the secular authority. He
surrounds himself with false prophets who agree with his ideas- the religious authority. Only
one true prophet Micaiah existed. They were an evil empire.
Be alert for those kind of things even exist now. What would it be like to be a Christian
in North Korea? In the words of Wikipedia, "The cult of personality of Kim Jong-il and his
father remained important ideological underpinnings of the regime, at times seeming to resemble
tenets of a state religion." The people are to worship their government and their leader.
Christians are eradicated. They are not allowed to exist. Be alert for the evil Trinity creates evil
empires.
2) Secondly, our job is to be faithful to Jesus Christ despite the persecution. Whether
then, now, or in the end times, evil empires will exist, so we need to be faithful to Christ who
will deliver his people in their suffering and death.
So, we must ask these questions, am I progressing in my faith that I will be able to
withstand the temptations of my culture and of my nation?
Am I progressing in my faith that I can discern what is true and what is false even if it
spoken by religious leaders? John writes in 1 John that we are to test the spirits: "Every spirit
that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does
not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the anti-christ." We need to what is
true and false.
We need to prepare ourselves by seeking to grow deep in our relationship with God. I
was reading in John 16 this morning how Jesus told his disciples that he was leaving but he
would send the Holy Spirit. He told them ahead of time there would be suffering. In a sense,
that is what John is now doing for us. Prepare yourselves for there may be suffering. Be faithful
to Jesus.