The Beast of the Sea

I wrote last time about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.  I'll skip ahead to Revelation Chapter 13,  because it interests me.

Revelation 13:1-2
The Beast of the Sea:  "I stood upon the sand of the sea, and I saw a beast having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. 2. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and he had feet like unto a bear, and a mouth like unto a lion."

Revelation 17:9
 "The seven heads are seven mountains....And there are seven kings.  Five are fallen, one is and one is yet to come."

The lion represents Babylon, the bear represents Medo-Persia, and the leopard is Greece.

The sea refers to the Gentile or non-Jewish world.  Will the Antichrist be Gentile?  This is very unlikely, since he seeks to be accepted by the Jews as the Messiah, and the Messiah must be Jewish.  However, he will have his rise to power in the Gentile world.

Looking at Revelation 17:9-10, the seven heads are identified as seven kings.  These kings are not in power at the same time.  There is a succession.  These are the empires of the world, leading to the revived Roman Empire, headed by the Antichrist.

In Daniel 7, Daniel describes his dream.  Daniel 7:2-6 "I saw in my vision by night, and behold the four winds of heaven strove upon the great sea. 3. And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse from one another....4. The first was like a lion and had eagles wings.....5. a second like to a bear,... 6. and lo another, like a leopard."

Daniel refers first to Babylon, the lion, which was in existence when he lived, and where he lived.   The second beast is a bear which represents the Medo-Persian empire, and did not come into existence until after the Babylonian Empire.  Then the leopard came, representing the Greek Empire.

But John, in Revelation, puts the order of the beasts backward from Daniel.  Why is that?  Because Daniel saw the empires from the standpoint of future empires, and in the order from his standpoint in history.  John saw the empires from the standpoint of history looking back, and sees them in that order.
But they are the same empires.

What are the ten horns?  I used to hear, until lately, that the horns would be ten countries that comprise the revived Roman Empire.  Lately, however, it's come to light that there is already a plan on the table to divide the world up into ten regions, the US, Canada, and Mexico being one of them.  I've googled it.  I think this is the correct view.

The Antichrist is one of two characters in Revelation 13.  The other one is the Beast of the Land, which is the False Prophet.  There are seven major characters of the Book of the Revelation:  1) the woman of Chapter 12, who is the nation of Israel. 2) the male child of the woman, which is Jesus Christ. 3) the dragon, which is Satan. 4) the archangel Michael. 5) the Jewish remnant. 6) the Antichrist. 7) the false prophet.

Who is the Antichrist?  Is he alive today?  Oh, I've heard lots of people say "So and so is the Antichrist!"  Usually whoever is President.  Or the Pope.  Doubtful.  What will he be like?  Most people imagine he will be horrible, ugly, monstrous, crude, and just plain unattractive.  Not so.  He will be dazzling, the most marvelous leader the earth ever came up with.  Suave, sophisticated, persuasive, cultured, intelligent, a fabulous administrator.  He will not be merely a charismatic person, he will actually be inspired by Satan.

But what's so exciting about this person?  All his coolness?  No, more than that.  He is murdered and somehow comes back to life.  Yes, killed dead as a doornail.  Officially pronounced dead most likely.  He is killed by a head wound: Revelation 13:3-4  "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. 4. And they worshipped the dragon, which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?"  The entire world is astounded by him.  I imagine he has achieved prominence first, and people are surprised at the way he struts around making wild claims about himself.  Someone has had enough of him and kills him.  People suppose that's the end.  When he is back to life, it's completely convincing that there's something very special about him. I suppose he'll tell great stories about the happy place he went to when he died, his after death experience.

I also imagine that when he dies, and then returns from the dead, he will no longer be a person controlled by his own spirit, but he will be indwelled by Satan.  His power is displayed in three ways: 1) return from the dead. 2) his great mouth.  Revelation 13:5 "And there was given to him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months." 3) Worldwide reign over the earth.  Revelation 13:7 "and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues and nations."

He performs miracles, bonafide real miracles.  People believe that this confirms that God empowers him.  However, what many don't realize it that Satan also is capable of performing miracles - signs and wonders that mimic the signs and wonders done by Jesus Christ.

Revelation 13:8 "And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."  Everyone is so dazzled by this man that  they throw their heads down the great bowling alley of life, and worship him.

Next time:  666