seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Revelation 13:11 Then I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. 12 It exercised all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. 13 And it performed great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to the earth in full view of the people. 14 Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth. It ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15 The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. 16 It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, 17 so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.
18 This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666.
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Here's a link to the commentary I read. Once again, please go to the commentary to read the rest. There is a lot of stuff I didn't post here.
Then I saw another beast: This creature represents someone like the beast rising from the sea, because the same word beast is used to describe them both. At the same time, this beast is different
And he had two horns like a lamb: The two horns may express the fact that this beast has authority in two realms, such as religious and political authority. Or, he may have two horns simply because that’s how many horns lambs have (two horns like a lamb).
Spoke like a dragon: Despite his lamb-like appearance, the message of the second beast is the same as the message of the first beast.
With the dragon, the beast rising from the sea, and the beast rising from the land we have an unholy trinity. The dragon is the anti-Father, the beast rising from the sea is the anti-Christ, and the beast rising from the land is the anti-Holy Spirit.
He exercises all the authority of the first beast: The beast rising from the earth is essentially a Satanic prophet, who leads the world to worship the beast and the dragon.
He performs great signs: The beast rising from the sea has the “signs and wonders” to back up his false teaching. A specific miracle of the false prophet is described: he makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. It is important that John highlights this miracle. In the eyes of the deceived world, it answers the miracle of the two witnesses, who minister during this period and are persecuted by the Antichrist and his false prophet (Revelation 11:5). To the deceived world, this also puts this false prophet in the class of Elijah (1 Kings 18). We can imagine the false prophet as saying, “Let the true God answer with fire” and then performing his deceptive wonder.
He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed: The beast rising from the earth will use a deceptive, animated image as the focus point of the worship of the beast.
It may seem strange to us to have the whole world give this kind of worship to the image of a man, but the personality cults of totalitarian governments in the twentieth century are a good example of this kind of worship. All we have to do is remember totalitarian states like the Soviet Union or Communist China, and their omnipresent pictures of Stalin or Mao and we see a pattern that will be ultimately fulfilled by the Antichrist.
He causes all… to receive a mark: Under the government of the beast and his associate, all will be given a mark. Without the mark, one will not be able to participate in the economy (no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark of his name).
Since the ancient Greek word for mark (charagma) isn’t generally applied to people, some have taken this as a symbolic mark. But a literal mark needed to buy or sell is certainly conceivable and practical.
The technology to give people a mark that enables them to buy and sell in the electronic economy is available. There are many different ways it could happen, and such programs are proposed and tested constantly.
A mark on their right hand or on their foreheads: Satan is not a creative being, all he can do is imitate God. We are not surprised to find that this too is a Satanic parody of something God will do; it imitates God’s mark upon his people (Revelation 7:3-4).
The number of his name: This was a common concept in the ancient world. In Greek (and Hebrew as well), letters were assigned a numerical value, such as “A” equaling 1, “B” equaling 2, and so forth. For example, graffiti in the ruins of Pompeii reads “I love her whose number is 545.”
His number is 666: Does this tell us who the beast is, by figuring out the numerical value of a name and seeing if it adds up to 666? Using this method, many candidates for Antichrist have been suggested, such as the Pope or the Papacy, John Knox, Martin Luther, Napoleon, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, and so forth. But the schemes for unlocking the number of the beast are as confusing as they are endless.
It is the number of a man: One persistent opinion, especially in the early church, was that this number identified the Antichrist with Caesar Nero. But to make the name “Caesar Nero” fit, one must take a variant spelling of the Greek form of a Latin name, transliterated into Hebrew characters.
It is the number of a man: The letters of “Jesus” in Greek add up to 888. 666 may be a Satanic counterpart to the name of Jesus, or 666 may be God’s evaluation of such a Satanic counterpart — it falls short.
His number is 666: Or, the number 666 may harken back to Solomon’s wages. 1 Kings 10:14 says that Solomon received yearly six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold. Perhaps this suggests that the Antichrist, like Solomon, is a good man who becomes corrupted.
Modern interpretations of the idea of the Antichrist are full of the idea of some demon-child, marked by obvious evil from his birth, such as in the Omen movies. But the Antichrist may be someone whose evil is only seen after his rise to power.
His number is 666: Christians need not fear the number 666 in a superstitious way; but it is interesting to see the way the world has an attachment to this number — even with things like “666” brand cough syrup.
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So, Satan had to figure out a way to match the sealing of the 144,000 that God sealed. Satan wanted to say "nonny nonny boo boo" [verbal raspberry] to God by attempting to show that he could "seal" troops as well, like no one has ever seen before.
The difference is.... God's troops were willing and Satan's troops had to be forced to take the mark [or die].
God's troops are chosen. Satan's troops were drafted.
I remember when the US government started giving social security numbers to newborns. The idea was for tax purposes. Before this action was taken, a dog named Bruno or Butch could be a dependent. There was no way to track the dependents. Assigning a child a social security number at birth would straighten that out.
I remember some of the women in our church were afraid this might be "the mark of the beast". They figured since the social security number would be their defining number to the government, forever, then this must indeed be the "mark of the beast".
I also remember people saying that getting a tattoo was the "mark of the beast".
And.... of course, the Jews were numbered before they were sent to the gas chambers.
David Guzik, the guy who wrote the commentary I share, thinks the mark was just another imitation of God's sealing of the 144,000. Satan couldn't get his own troops to join up but he had to do something because God had already built up an amazing army.
Not to worry, church ladies, social security numbers are NOT the mark of the beast. We only use the numbers here in the US. The mark of the beast will be global. People will be murdered for refusing to be marked. As a matter of fact, credit card numbers are not the mark of the beast. They may be harmful to some, but they are not the mark. We still have cash... [which is numbered].
AND.... lest we forget.... The earth has to shape shift before the devil makes his move to bring out the two beasts. That is starting, the ring of fire is heating up. Volcanoes that haven't even spirited a drop of steam in centuries upon centuries are heating up. There are earthquakes on flatland where there have been no obvious fault lines. First things first.... first the shapeshifting and then the headwound and then the forced sealing of the masses.
Don't worry.... if 6 people take a trip down route 66.... that is not 666. If you kid has a tramp stamp... that is not the 666 spoken of here. If your social security number has 666 in it... that is not 666.
The earth has to shape-shift.... Satan has to get a mortal hole in his head and come back to life.... and don't forget the bugs that will bite and leave humans wishing to die... then when all that has happened, you can worry about the numbers [if you're still here on earth].
And his number is 666.
666
