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‘The Beast’

There are three distinct aspects of the Beast:

1 – the man

2 – the demonic entity

3 – the world system/world government/Beast empire

Revelation 13:1 – “And I stood upon the sand of the sea.”

Sand infers immeasurable.

The word ‘sea’ is a metaphor for the peoples, the masses. 

Revelation 13:1 – “And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea.  He had ten horns [10 nations/kings] and seven heads [7 empires], with ten crowns on his horns, and on each head a blasphemous name.”

The Beast will be a man – that comes from the peoples/the masses – a people group.  But keep in mind he’s also a demon.  He did come out of the Abyss in Revelation 9:11, as king over the ‘locusts’ and he’s called Apollyon (the Destroyer).

Compare Revelation 13:1 – the Beast’s 7 heads, 10 horns and 10 crowns (on his horns) with Revelation 12:3 – the dragon’s 7 heads, 10 horns and 7 crowns (on his heads).

Daniel 7:24 – “The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom.”  The ‘kingdom’ is the Beast Empire.

To further explain the ten horns/nations: – Daniel 2:41-45 – “Just as you saw that the feet and toes (10 nations) were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay.  As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle.  And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay.  In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people.  It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure for ever.  This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands – a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces.”

Revelation 13:3 – “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 astonished and followed the beast.”

Do you remember the ‘War in Heaven’, Revelation 12:7-12.  “And there was war in heaven.  Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.”  Further on in Revelation 13:14 it reads: “the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life.”   The dragon and his demonic angels lost this spiritual war.  Maybe this is where the demonic beast, who of course would have been fighting in this epic, all-critical war sustained this fatal ‘wound of the sword’.  This element comes up again in Revelation 17:8.

Revelation 13:2 – “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.”

Click on The Throne of Satan for an in-depth study on its precise location.

Perhaps, the three beasts will represent countries like: the leopard, may be a Far East country like China?; the bear, may be a country like Russia? and the lion may be a country like Great Britain?.  Please understand I am not stating which countries they will be.  I am only offering some suggestions for your discernment.

The Book of Daniel goes into great detail about these powerful ‘animals’.  God sees wicked nations as ‘animals’ (another metaphor):

Daniel 7:3 – “There before me were the four winds of heaven churning up the great sea.  Four great beasts, each different from the others, came up out of the sea.”

Daniel 7:4 – “The first was like a lion, and it had the wings of an eagle (may be a country like the USA?).  I watched until its wings were torn off [that means it can no longer fly] and it was lifted from the ground so that it stood on two feet like a man [the eagle is able to stand], and the heart of a man was given to it.”

Daniel 7:5 – “And there before me was a second beast, which looked like a bear.  It was raised up on one of its sides [it’s stronger on one side than the other] and it had three ribs [may be Russia’s satellite countries: Estonia, Latvia, Belarus?] between its teeth.  It was told, ‘Get up and eat your fill of flesh!’ “

Daniel 7:6 – “After that, I looked, and there before me was another beast, one that looked like a leopard.  And on its back it had four wings like those of a bird.  This beast had four heads (four other Far East Countries?), and it was given authority to rule.”  It makes sense it was given authority to rule, as the leopard is the main part of this ‘body’.

The Beast will have strong support from these three ‘animals’/nations – the leopard, the bear and the lion.

Daniel 7:7 – “After that, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast (the Dragon/Satan) – terrifying and frightening and very powerful.  It had large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left.  It was different from all the former beasts, and it had ten horns.”  This confirms Revelation 12:3 – “a great dragon having seven heads and ten horns”.

Daniel 7:8 – “While I was thinking about the horns, there before me was another horn (the Beast), a little one, which came up among them; and three of the first horns [nations] were uprooted before it.  (Daniel 7:24 – “he will subdue three kings”.)  This horn had eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth that spoke boastfully.”

Revelation 13:4 – “Men worshipped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshipped the beast and asked: ‘Who is like the beast?  Who can make war against him?’ “

Revelation 13:7 – “He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them.  And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation.”

Daniel 7:21-22 – “As I watched, this horn was waging war against the saints and defeating them, until the Ancient of Days came and pronounced judgment in favour of the saints of the Most High, and the time came when they possessed the kingdom.”

Daniel 8:23-25 – “In the latter part of their reign, when rebels have become completely wicked, a stern-faced king, a master of intrigue, will arise.  He will become very strong, but not by his own power.  He will cause astounding devastation and will succeed in whatever he does.  He will destroy the mighty men and the holy people.  He will cause deceit to prosper, he will consider himself superior.  When they feel secure, he will destroy many and take his stand against the Prince of princes.  Yet he will be destroyed, but not by human power.”  This is another one of those near and far prophecies.  The Book of Daniel was written between 607 – 536 B.C. during the Babylonian Captivity.  The near prophecy: about Antiochus Epiphanes, 215-164 B.C.  The far prophecy: the Beast in the End Times.

Revelation 13:5-6 – “The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise his authority for 42 months.  He opened his mouth to blaspheme God, and to slander His name and His dwelling-place and those who live in heaven.”

Daniel 7:11 – “Then I continued to watch because of the boastful words the horn was speaking.  I kept looking until the beast was slain and its body destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire.”

Blasphemy from the beast is mentioned quite a few times:

• Revelation 13:1 – “On his heads were blasphemous names.”
• Revelation 13:5 – “There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies.”
• Revelation 13:6 – “He opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven.”
• Revelation 17:3 – “I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns.”
• Daniel 7:8 – “This horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth uttering great boasts.”
• Daniel 7:11 – “Then I kept looking because of the sound of the boastful words which the horn was speaking.”

Revelation 13:8 – “All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast – all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.”

Revelation 13:9-10 – “ ‘He who has an ear, let him hear.  If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity he will go.  If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword he will be killed.’  This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints.”

Another near and far (End Times) prophesy: Jeremiah 15:2 – “Thus says the Lord, ‘Those destined for death, to death; and those destined for the sword, to the sword; and those destined for famine, to famine; and those destined for captivity, to captivity.’ “

These words from Christ Jesus: ” ‘For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.’ ” – Mark 8:35

Scripture only: The Beast from the Sea

addtional article: The Assyrian aka the Beast

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