seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Revelation 13:1 The dragon[a] stood on the shore of the sea. And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on its horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. 2 The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. 3 One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast. 4 People worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, “Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?”
5 The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months. 6 It opened its mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander his name and his dwelling place and those who live in heaven. 7 It was given power to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And it was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. 8 All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world.[b]
9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.
10 “If anyone is to go into captivity,
into captivity they will go.
If anyone is to be killed[c] with the sword,
with the sword they will be killed.”[d]
into captivity they will go.
If anyone is to be killed[c] with the sword,
with the sword they will be killed.”[d]
This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of God’s people.
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.[e] That number is 666.
a. Revelation 13:1 Some manuscripts And I
b. Revelation 13:8 Or written from the creation of the world in the book of life belonging to the Lamb who was slain
c. Revelation 13:10 Some manuscripts anyone kills
d. Revelation 13:10 Jer. 15:2
e. Revelation 13:18 Or is humanity’s number
I've been using the easy English site here.
John saw a beast rise out of the sea. In the ancient world, people often thought of the sea as a place where evil things belonged. So, this awful beast came from the place of evil things.
People also used the sea as a description for the mass of the peoples. This beast rises from among people to become greater than them. This beast is actually an evil man.
The beast had 10 horns and 7 heads. The 10 horns are like those of the fourth (4th) beast in the Book of Daniel (Daniel 7:7). There the 10 horns mean 10 kings. The 10 kings rise out of the fourth (4th) kingdom. The 7 heads also mean 7 kings (Revelation 17:10). (This means that the beast was such a great ruler that he controlled many other kings.) Each horn has a crown. Each head has a name that insults God.
This beast was an agent of the dragon (Satan) to fight against God’s people.
The beast set himself up as the ruler of the world. He opposed Christ and God’s people. He was against God. He was Satan’s answer to Christ. He was the man of sin and he was called the Antichrist (1 John 2:18).
The dragon (Satan) gave his own power to this beast. The beast was a man whom Satan possessed.
One of the beast’s 7 heads had an injury. But the beast did not die because of it. He lived and he became famous. The whole world went after the beast. He became the most powerful man on earth.
The heads seem to mean kings that the beast controls. The injury should have caused the beast to die. But the beast had Satan’s power. And the beast’s power astonished everyone. This was why the people followed him.
To the people of the earth, the beast was like a god. He was so strong. Nobody could fight against him. They worshipped him. They recognised that the power of the beast came from the dragon. So, they worshipped the dragon (Satan) instead of God.
The beast spoke great things. And he insulted God. The beast did this with the authority of Satan. God allowed him to do this but only for 42 months. This is the same three and a half years as in previous verses. At the end of that time, the Lord Jesus will come. Jesus will bind Satan and the beast.
God allowed the beast to rule. The beast could only do what God permitted. God set the boundaries of his rule.
The apostle Paul wrote to the Thessalonians. ‘This man will oppose God. In fact, this man will oppose everything that people call God. This man will oppose all that they worship. He will say that he is more powerful than any god. He will even sit in the temple of God. He will say that he is God.’ (2 Thessalonians 2:4).
The beast fought against God’s people. He killed many of them. He seemed to achieve what he aimed to do. He defeated God’s people on the earth. But they will go into heaven to be with the Lord.
He had power over all the earth. The people of the earth accepted him as the leader of the world. But his power came from the dragon. And God allowed him to use that power for just a short time.
The people of the whole world joined in worship of the beast. But those who trusted in God did not worship the beast. God has written their names in the book of life.
The idea of the book of life is that God keeps a record of his people. God has a register of the names of those who trust him. God sees the end of things before they start. Therefore, he knew who would trust him. He recorded their names before he made the world.
During those three and a half years, God’s people will suffer. Many of them will go to prison. The people of the Antichrist will kill many more of them. It is certain that this will happen. Although this is so, God’s people must be strong. They must continue to trust in God. They must suffer with patience. God knows what will happen. When those days have ended, he will save all his people.
The beast who came out of the earth was the false prophet. He had two horns like a lamb. He gave the impression that he was gentle like a lamb. When he spoke, he was like a dragon. He was clever with lies. He could easily persuade people to do what he wanted them to do.
Jesus warned about false prophets. He said, ‘They seem as gentle as sheep when they come to you. But inside they behave like wild animals.’ (Matthew 7:15).
The evil team of three was complete: the dragon (Satan), the beast (Antichrist) and the false prophet. Christ received his power from the Father (Matthew 11:27). So, Antichrist received his power from the dragon. The Holy Spirit is the agent on behalf of Christ (John 16:14). So, the false prophet is the agent for Antichrist (Revelation 13:12).
The dragon (Satan) gave power to the first beast (Antichrist). The second beast (the false prophet) has power from the first one. He does what the Antichrist desires. He was like a prophet who served his god.
The false prophet did all kinds of magic acts. He even made fire come down out of the skies. All the people could see the fire. These deeds caused people to believe the false prophet.
He used the powers that he had for the benefit of the Antichrist. He did many great deeds that astonished the people. They believed the lies of the false prophet.
Those who trusted God did not believe the false prophet. They knew that the false prophet’s words were lies.
The false prophet told the people to make an image of Antichrist. And the people obeyed him. They made an image of the first beast. This was the beast that had a sword injury. He should have died. But he lived again.
The false prophet was able to make the image of Antichrist to come alive. This was powerful magic. But the power came from Satan. And the image could even speak. It demanded that all people should worship it. It ordered the death of any person who refused to worship the beast.
The false prophet made an order that all people must accept a mark. Each person must have the mark either on the right hand or on the front of the head. It did not matter who they were. Every person must have the mark.
The mark was the name of Antichrist or the number of that name. Sometimes people used numbers instead of letters for a name. This method was called ‘gematria’. We do not know how they calculated a name. A number was equal to the name of Antichrist. That number was the mark.
Any people who did not have that mark could not trade. They could not buy from the shops. They could not sell anything. Normal life would not be possible for them.
The only people who refused to have the mark were those who trusted God. They would rather die than have the mark of Antichrist. They remained loyal to Christ even if they had to die for it.
The mark showed that the person trusted Antichrist rather than Christ.
The number of the name of the person is 666. This seems to be a puzzle. The number has a meaning. And that meaning is the name of the beast. That beast means the man called Antichrist. An intelligent person should calculate what his real name is. He should work out the name from the number.
Perhaps one day an intelligent person will be able to find the answer. We do not yet know who the Antichrist will be.
In the first letter of John, we read this. ‘You have heard that the Antichrist is coming. Even now many*antichrists have come’ (1 John 2:18). Before the Antichrist comes, there will be many antichrists. Some had already come at the time when John was writing. There have been many antichrists since then. Some are working in the world today. They are people who oppose Christ. They try to destroy all that Christ has done. They are the enemies of the church and of Christians. The antichrists have the same evil purpose as we will see in the Antichrist. They hate the Lord Jesus Christ. They hate all those who belong to him.
Well... setting the scene..... John, the Apostle and close human friend of Jesus the Messiah, is on a deserted rocky island. He's had a vision of Jesus glowing as He did when Peter and John saw Him meeting with Moses and Elijah at the Transfiguration. An interpreter had been assigned to John.... so that John could understand and explain most of what he saw in human terms. There was something called the 7 Thunders.... but John was told to hold that part for later.... because it is a secret. John saw an open door in Heaven.... so of course he took a peak. There was a "strong Angel" who was miffed because he couldn't get the instructions open. The instructions are apparently the instructions for the demise of those ignorant humans who refuse to Believe that Christ is the Messiah. There were seven seals holding the scroll shut... and the "strong Angel" couldn't open them. Jesus took the scroll and the seals popped right open for Him.... He had been a human so He understood how to deal with them.
So far six seals have opened.... there are also six trumpets that have blown that were packed in the first six seals. Life on earth is absolutely miserable... there have been earthquakes, meteor storms, war, plague, famine, death.... animals are attacking humans.... there are bugs that make a human want to die when they get bit by one.... and there are horses with tails that will sting and kill humans. There are three classes of humans in Heaven... they have already been picked up.... the martyrs [like Stephen the disciple].... the 144,000 [12,000 from 12 tribes... all descendants of Jacob who God renamed Israel] and there are so many Believers in Heaven now... they can't be counted.
In Chapter 12 John had a vision.... a new one... this one is happening in the clouds overhead. A woman... about to have a baby.... is being plagued by a dragon. The dragon, it appears, is that Angel God threw out of Heaven... Satan himself. The woman, it appears, is the Nation of Israel. Anyway... before anything could happen to the woman.... God gave her a hiding place. The dragon was left on the seashore..... and now... today.... the dragon.... Satan himself.... is calling up reinforcements.
Out of the Ocean [or sea] comes a beast. This beast is really odd looking but according to the commentaries.... the beast is actually a very powerful human. On top of that.... He's a human who has been murdered [gash in his head] and brought back to life.... fancy that... Satan fashioned his own "christ".... the Anti-Christ. The reason I am saying he's a human.... the commentaries mostly agree that the Ocean [or sea] is a sign for humans on earth... as in "the sea of humanity".
Jesus had John the Baptist who came before Him. Satan was copying a pattern.... so he invaded little fake prophets to sing the Beast's praises. So John saw the Dragon [Satan] the first beast with a gash in his head [Anti Christ] and another beast [ fake prophet].
In this chapter.... Satan has brokered a deal. Anyone who wants to buy or sell anything.... anything at all..... must display a number which is implanted [or tattooed I guess] on the right forearm or the forehead. Yep it's the 666. Back in Revelation 7.... some Believers were sealed..... the 144,000 descendants of Jacob [Israel] were sealed.... they got a sign on their forehead from God. So even in putting the number on the forearm.... Satan is just copying what God has already done. However, without a 666 on the body... a body cannot by a slice of bread. It's a global monopoly.
I've heard and read a lot about the global economy that Satan plans to set up. Some people are upset about the chips some companies are implanting in the hand so they can scan their hand instead of a credit card. Some people claim that Hitler was Satan since he numbered the Jews in the camps. There are reports of people boycotting the World Bank, Bit Coins, Pay Pal and other such financial groups for fear that they are the beginning of Satan's monopoly on trade.
BUT.... According to the Bible.... there have been multiple earthquakes.... earthquakes so huge, mountains and islands have been moved. What computer network is going to survive a mountain moving quake? By the time Satan can set up a monopoly.... a third and a third again... of the humans on earth are already dead. God has already plucked 144,000 descendants of Jacob and a multitude no one can count of human Believers as well. There aren't a lot of humans on earth who aren't already worshiping the beast.
I'm reminded of something like a Mad Max movie when I read this chapter. The air is almost unbreathable..... since a third of the trees and all of the grass have been destroyed..... there is a horrible stench because a third of the ocean has been turned to a thick bloody soup of dead fish..... drinking water is extremely hard to get because wormwood turned the fresh water bitter. The sun, the moon, and the stars are all darker.... so it's always almost dark... no solar energy is going to boot up a bank computer so the chip in the hand can be read.... there will be no electric, no internet, no CNN.... no shopping channel.... Amazon will go dark.... Walmart will have to order there supplies by hand.... oh and the highways are in total ruin.... so supplies are in very short supply.... planes won't be taking anyone anywhere because they won't be able to pump the fuel..... or produce the tickets.... or run the luggage turntable.
I've always wondered why anyone would allow themselves to be marked by the beast. But now... I get it.... the humans that are left on earth are the most ignorant, hardheaded, stiff necked, humans who occupied the earth when the seals were finally broken. There would be a one world monopoly... because terrified humans will cowtow to someone who will give them what they want.... a piece of bread and some potable water.
By the time the six seal is broken... an the sixth trumpet has blown.... there won't be many Christians left on earth.... and those Christians who are on earth... if there are in fact any Christians left.... became Believers after the four horses started their rampage.
By the time the sixth trumpet sounds.... those ignorant humans will be happy to take the 666.
