The most disturbing thing about reading Revelation 13 is the widespread deception. Satan is clever and people are impressed by power. We are warned of 2 beasts; one from the sea and one from the earth and both under the power of Satan who tries to counterfeit God. The saddest thing is that he succeeds in deceiving all but the elect.

God calls us to patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of God’s people. v. 10. How do we endure in patience and faithfulness? We trust God. As you study God’s word you learn about His truth. Satan deceives with lies. God speaks truth for our good. He has from the very beginning and He gives us a choice.

Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it. See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. Deuteronomy 30:11-16.

As you draw near to God and read His words of life you come to know His heart for you. You begin to grasp His love and that He teaches us for our good; not for our harm. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. 1 John 4:9-12.

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. v. 16.

How do we endure in times of uncertainty? We trust God’s love. We draw near to Him in conversation and sense His Presence bringing peace in the midst of confusion. We learn through His word about the One who loves us so much He gave Himself for us. In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise – in God I trust and am not afraid. What can man do to me? I am under vows to you, my God; I will present my thank offerings to you. For you have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life. Psalm 56:10-13.

God speaks to us in our own language, through our own thoughts and unique experiences and as we grow in our relationship with Him we learn to trust His love and truth. We learn to distinguish between the lies of the deceiver and the truth of God. God is love. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16. Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. John 17:3.