Revelation Chapter 13
In our previous blog we discussed
John’s vision of two wonders in heaven. After these visions John is now upon
the seashore. While standing there John watches as a beast comes from the sea.
As the beast begins to arise out of the sea John describes him to us.
Let me first say this about the
sea in this chapter; the sea in this verse, like many other times in the bible
refers to people. This beast will arise from the masses. It is also a symbol of
the abyss in which the beast comes from.
The beast had seven heads and ten
horns, and upon each horn was a crown. John tells us that the beast had the
body of a leopard, feet like a bear; the mouth of a lion and the dragon is the
one giving him his power. This does not mean that the dragon has given him his
own throne, but he did give him the power and a throne and great authority.
The description of this beast
brings us back to the book of Daniel. In the book of Daniel we saw each of
these beasts represented a kingdom that would rule upon the earth. The book of Daniel
is broken down into four main visions by Daniel and a dream by Nebuchadnezzar.
All of these deal with the “times of the Gentiles” in relationship to the
latter days.
In chapter two Nebuchadnezzar had
a dream in which God revealed that there was to be four world wide empires
leading up until the time in which a “Stone Kingdom” or the millennial kingdom
of Christ is set up. In this same chapter we are told that Babylon was the
first of these four kingdoms. As the book progresses we are told who the second
and third empires will be and we are given a clue revealing who the fourth will
be.
Forty-eight years after this dream
Daniel has a vision. In this vision Daniel is standing upon the sea shore and watches
as four beasts come forth from the water. I believe if you study these beasts
you will see the similarity to John’s vision. Remember that John saw a wild
beast which had the body of a leopard, feet like a bear and a mouth like a
lion.
So that is:
- wild
beast
- leopard
- bear
- lion
Now turning back to Daniel’s
vision let us notice what he saw. Daniel describes the four beasts in the
following order.
- Lion
with wings of an eagle (Babylon Empire)
- Bear
(Medio Persian Empire)
- Leopard
with wings of a fowl (Grecian Empire)
- A
wild beast (Roman Empire / Revived Roman Empire under Antichrist)
I
think that it is obvious that these two men were seeing the same thing. Daniel
looking from the present toward the future saw the kingdoms of the world
leading up until the end time in which Antichrist would rule. John saw from the
future in which Antichrist ruled backward through history. This man,
Antichrist, will be a terrible man. He will be composed of men ago:
Nebuchadnezzar, Xerxes, Alexander the Great and Caesar Augustus. He will be a
great humanitarian, the friend of men (especially the Jew) and he will persuade
all that he is there to usher in the kingdom pictured by the prophets. He will
intoxicate men with strong delusion, he will be slain and arise from the dead
having lost none of his power, and the world will accept him.
Now
as we turn back to John’s vision of this man we see that the beast has seven
heads and ten horns, and the horns are crowned. When we see the crowns upon the
head of the beast it speaks of the height of his power. John actually had two
visions of this beast. One is in this chapter and one in chapter 17.
John
also sees this beast in chapter 17 coming up out of the abyss, but at that time
the heads of the beast are not crowned. This means that the beast we see in
chapter 17 represents the Antichrist before he receives his power and kingdoms,
or the Antichrist at the beginning of the week, and the crowned beast we see in
chapter 13 is the Antichrist in the middle of the week.
We
also notice that the beast in chapter 17 is being ridden by a woman, who
represents the papal, one world; church that comes into power after the true
church is removed from this world. As the judgment of God begins to fall upon
the world and wars begin to break forth there will be ten kingdoms that will
unite for mutual protection, and no doubt the fake church will play a large
part in this merger.
Because
of her help she will be rewarded with political power, thus we see the woman
riding the beast or dominating it. But when the beast receives its power or
crowns we see that the beast becomes angry with the woman or “whore” as she is
called and will hate her, make her desolate, eat her flesh and burn her with
fire according to Revelation 17:16.
While
we know that the seven heads of the beast represent seven mountains, which
represent the Roman Empire, we are also told that they represent seven kings.
Revelation 17:9-10
This
tells us that in John’s day five kings had already fallen, the sixth was in
power and ruling in John’s day, and one was yet to come. The last or seventh
king no doubt will be the Antichrist. In this verse John tells us that one of
the heads of the beast had received a deadly wound.
Revelation 17:11
The
only clear explanation is that the seventh head, or the Antichrist is the one
who receives the deadly wound, probably at the hand of an assassin. The body of
the Antichrist will lay dead. Before the
burial, his body will come back to life and he will therefore become the eighth
king as well as the seventh. From Eden until the end time Satan has always
counterfeited the works of God. This is no different. It would not surprise me
if the Antichrist does not lay dead for three days, and at the end of three
days come back to life.
This
will make the world wonder after him and they will proclaim, “Who is able to
make war with the beast?” This will take place at the middle of the week,
the time in which the dragon is cast out of heaven, and it will account for the
drastic transformation in the attitude of the Antichrist. It will be at this
time he will break his covenant with the Jew, desecrate the temple and calling
himself God according to Daniel chapter 9.
Also
consider the following verses.
“And he shall speak great words
against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and
think to change the times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until
a time and times and the dividing of time.”
Daniel 7:25
“And
through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he
shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall
also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without
hand.” Daniel 8:25
“And
the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and
magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the
God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that
that is determined shall be done.”
Daniel 11:36
After John sees and describes the
first beast that he saw which came up out of the sea, he then sees a second
beast coming up out of the earth. Again John begins to describe what he sees.
As
John begins to describe this beast he describes him as being like a lamb. John
does not say that this beast was a lamb but that he was like one in that he had
two horns. Because of this resemblance to a lamb many try to claim that this
beast is actually the antichrist and imitating Christ. While Christ is called a
lamb many times throughout this book we do notice a difference between this
beast and the description given to Christ. Christ is said on multiple occasions
to be a lamb with seven horns while this beast only has two.
This
second beast is actually given a name, the “False Prophet.” This name is used
for him three times in the scriptures begin in chapter 16. Christ spoke of him
when He said the following.
“There shall arise false Christ’s’ and
false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders: insomuch if it were
possible they shall deceive the very elect.”
Matthew 24:24
So
in this chapter we see three main characters: the dragon, the antichrist and
the false prophet. These three will make up the “satanic trinity.” The dragon
will imitate God the father, the antichrist will imitate God the son and the
false prophet will be an imitation of God the Holy Spirit.
The
false prophet will cause an image to be erected of the first beast. He will
give power to the image so that it can speak, and will demand that all people
worship the image. I can imagine that replica images will be sold, people will
have them in their homes, they will be at government buildings and no doubt at
all “mark” application facilities.
As
the followers of Christ are sealed with the Holy Spirit until the day of
redemption, so shall the followers of antichrist be sealed. They will be sealed
with what we call the mark of the beast, which is the name, or number of the
name of the antichrist, 666. All both will be forced to receive the mark of the
beast under the penalty of death.
This
mark will either be a tattoo or a brand in the fore head or right hand. It
seems likely that this will be accompanied with a micro chip. This chip will
contain information such as your banking information, maybe your social
security number, maybe even the kingdom in which you live. We are not far from
this today. With technologies such as debit cards, smart phones, and the
internet. Consider technologies such as “Google wallet” which allows you to pay
for purchases by waving your cell phone over the cash register. We are not far
from just waving our hand over the register. It would be harder to steal a hand
than it would be a cell phone.
This
number, 666, is the number of man. This is the number, which stops short of
perfection, which is the number 7. Man was created on the sixth day. Goliath,
the opposer of God’s people, a type of Satan, was 6 cubits in height, he had 6
pieces of armor and his spearhead weighed 600 shekels. The image of
Nebuchadnezzar was 60 cubits in height, 6 cubits wide and 6 musical instruments
played when people fell down and worshipped it.
In
this day no one can shop without the mark under the penalty of death. If men
cannot buy or sell without the mark then they must be forced to beg, or starve.
The names of those killed will no doubt be published to place fear in the
hearts of all the undecided.
Imagine
the local news containing footage of some “rouge fanatic” that would not accept
the mark of Antichrist. No doubt they will show them lead to the guillotine and
maybe even show them having their head removed.
This
all will continue until the Lord returns and cast the dragon into the
bottomless pit for 1,000 years and cast the antichrist and the false prophet
into the lake fire.