seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Revelation 13: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.
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
This is way over my head.... so.... here's the easy English commentary on this portion of Chapter 13.
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.
This beast was the head of the fourth (4th) kingdom in Daniel. That kingdom is the last great kingdom on earth before Christ comes to rule.
Daniel saw four (4) beasts (Daniel chapter 7). The first one was like a lion with wings. The second one was like a bear with three bones in its mouth. The third one was like a leopard but it had 4 heads and 4 wings. The fourth (4th) beast was terrible and strong. It had iron teeth and many horns. Each of these beasts meant a kingdom that would fight against God’s people.
The beast that John saw was the ruler of that fourth kingdom. This kingdom had all that was bad in the other three. It fought against God’s people and it killed many of them.
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 (11:2-3; 12:6). 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 insulted God and all who belong to God. The name of God means all that God is.
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.
The book of life belongs to the Lamb (Jesus). It is because of his death that eternal life is possible. We can have eternal life only because of the Lord Jesus.
It was important that God’s people should listen. They would hear what would come. Then what the beast would do would not surprise them.
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
Well..... I'm not sure who the Anti is.... I know there are a lot of little anti's running around.... preaching hate against the church..... actually they are way more crafty than that. They tell just enough truth to persuade but twist the truth.
John told us the church was lying to the members back in 3 John 1:9.
3 John 1:9 I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not welcome us
I've heard people tell me I should believe anything I am told by the preacher or the priest from the church.... they cannot lie. Well that's a lie. They were lying to me my whole life! No one ever took 3 John 1 seriously..... the church was corrupt when the Apostle John.... the close personal human friend of Jesus the Messiah,.... was still alive.... so no.... we can't trust the preachers or the priests.
But wait.... Not all preachers and priests are liars! Just some.... This chapter is written for the future.... not ALL the churches were sour.... just some in John's day. There have been.... and still are... a majority of good faithful leaders in the churches of the world. They went into preaching or the priesthood.... because they were indeed called. They kept their nose in the Bible and their hearts on what the "Holy Spirit" tells them.
Just because a human knows how to thump the Bible..... they are not a great church leader. Humans go bad. King Saul went bad.... he went insane. Judas went bad.... he went insane. God uses mind control..... God uses the "Holy Spirit" to let us know we're doing good... or we need to get back on the path. God tells us what we are reading.
Now... if I'm one of those who will in the future who would turn my back on Jesus..... well God knows that in advance.... God can see the future better than humans can see the present of the past. God has the name of those who will eventually get on the right path..... written down. Satan thinks killing us will make us go away.... but God knows who we are.... and He's not going to let us be eternally dead. Sure.... someone might murder me today.... but I won't die... I'll start the next part of eternity. I'll see those two witnesses jump off their cloud.
In the vision... the beast will be in charge for a short period of time.... In the vision.... there has already been a major earthquake that flattens mountains and raises the sea floor. In the vision... people are in hiding... In the vision.... a mountainlike thing has hit the earth. Anyone still alive on earth.... well they must be rattled.... like a dog that has been hit by a car.... dazed.... working on instinct.... dangerous....
That's just the kind of guy who would believe anything a rebellious "preacher or priest" would spew. They are ignorant humans who are ripe to be preyed on instead of being prayed over. The people who would worship this beast.... well they have a chance... maybe they will wake up and smell the coffee.....
Maybe they will still see the light.... and figure out that... the Beast is Satan's answer to Christ... right down to the fatal wound..... The Beast = anti.
