Post by beckrl on Jul 27, 2020 17:30:57 GMT
REVELATION CHAPTER 13
As an introduction into the book of Revelation we need to get familiar with many of the Old Testament books of the prophets because John uses the same imagery that we find in the books of the Prophets. To just mention a few they would be Ezekiel, Daniel, Jeremiah, Isaiah and Amos.
BEAST OF THE SEA
In Revelation chapter 13 John was standing on the sand of the sea and saw a beast come up out of the sea. He goes on to describe this beast from the sea as having seven heads and tens horns, then saw crowns upon the horns and written on it heads the name of Blasphemy. He goes on to describe it looked like a leopard and had feet of a bear, mouth of a lion. John also notices one of the heads was wound almost to death yet it lived. As well John said that the red dragon gave this beast power and great authority.
So let take a minute to figure out this beast of the sea that John described with all these attributes. You might notice from studying the Prophet Daniel of his beast of the sea descriptions that John sees 3 of the four beasts from Daniel with in this beast. Notable all those beasts imagery from Daniel were pagan kingdoms which came upon the land of Israel to dominate the people. So here this beast is a collective image of the previous pagan kingdoms. We might also take notice how both Daniel and John here in Revelation describe these beastly kingdoms as coming up out of the sea. The imagery of the sea here is revealed by John in chapter 17:15 “and he said unto me, the waters which thou saw, where the whore sat are people’s, multitude’s, nations and tongue’s”.
Both Daniel and John were describing the kingdoms rising up from out of the raging waves of the sea that which toss men back and forth from every wind of doctrine (Eph. 4:14). As Daniel would describe that these kingdoms forced all to worship their image of idol’s (Daniel 3:14) Hellenizing the people into their pagan cultures. We see this mentioned later on in this chapter (Rev.13:15).
As John described the beast with seven heads he notice one that was wounded and when it was healed all wondered how it was possible and was force to worship. Revelation 13:3 as in Daniel it reveals that when the beastly kingdom of Greece with Alexander the Great had died it was as if the head had been wounded to death, but Greece remain because it was divided among his leaders (Daniel 8:21-22).
The next parallel that John uses from Daniel is that of power was given to this beast of forty-two months to speak lies and blasphemies against God (Rev. 13:5) as Daniel give the time, times and half, 1290 days (Dan.7:25, 12:7 & 11) spoke great words against the Most High and wear out the saints. The time of forty-two months and time, times half and 1290 days all equate to 3 1/2 years. With the notable addition of 30 days to that of the 1260 days of Daniel 12:11 which indicates an additional month is in view much like that of the Jewish calendar of Adar and Adar II.
In the time of trouble that Daniel mentioned it was under the Grecian, Seleucid persecution by Antiochus IV Epiphanies 168-164BC and we can see that John saw a similar time of trouble of 3 ½ years. I would place that time of trouble under the Jewish revolt of 66AD-70AD.
Revelation 13:7 it was given that he (beast) makes war with the saints and to overcome them. Now make note that John went to a personification to describe the collective beast as he.
Again John mentions from Daniel those things such as making all that dwell on the earth to worship him. We know that it was only persecution upon the land of Israel and the people of Israel. John is seeing all these beastly kingdoms as a collective beast dominating over Israel and the people. Therefore John’s time line is from the first beast unto the last beast kingdom. For this purpose the seven heads are later told of as seven mountains which have seven kings. Five of the seven kings are fallen (Rev.17:8-15).
In my opinion John has describe to his readers the seven heads of Egypt, Babylon, Median, Persian Greece, Rome and then the seventh and last kingdom of Darkness. For this reason mountains have been used to represent kingdoms such kingdom cities were built on high mountains and fortified. We know that Isaiah, Jeremiah and Daniel all used mountain to describe such a kingdom (Isaiah 14:12, Jer. 51:25 & Daniel 2:35). That of the seventh kingdom John has described as coming upon out of the abyss is that of this collective beast as the kingdom of darkness and having a king Abaddon, Apollyon which means a destroyer.
Paul and James both made mention of this force against the saints. Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:12 That their fight wasn’t against men, but against the dark powers, the rulers of darkness of this world, spiritual wickedness in high places. James wrote of the spirit of anti-Christ the spirit that was against the word and work of Christ. For both it was men that they had to deal with such of those in high official places that was against them, but both men understood it was the power and wicked spirit that these men had is what ultimately the fight was about.
BEAST OF THE LAND
Then John describes that of another beast coming up out of the land having two horns like a Lamb speaking like a dragon (serpent). In later chapters John makes the connection between the first Beast of the sea to that of a False Prophet (Rev.16:13, 19:20) that both spoke the same as the dragon that is with and unclean spirit and did works and miracles. So it might be seen that in John descriptions of this beast of the land it would appear to be the same as the false prophet. These two descriptions of a land beast (behemoth) and false prophet give insight to that of the land of Israel, apostate Israel. Those that are Hellenized by the pagan religions and attempt to persuade or by force the people of Israel to accept and worship the pagan kingdoms. Let’s remember the imagery John gives isn’t only of his present day but from the beginning of the foundation (Rev.13:8).
This beast of the land is more powerful than the first in the since he can manipulate persuade the people into worshipping the image and causing the image to come to life that of the wounded head coming to life as we described as representing Greece and causing all to worship this image. Again John is using the same as from Daniel in that king Nebuchadnezzar had made an image and forced all to worship the image. That image was of a man for the king had seen it in his dream (Dan. 2:37-43, 3:1).
So we can see that John is in visioning those things in the past and describing them. This would also be the understanding for the number of the beast and mark. In Ezekiel we find that of a mark is given to those that are sealed from coming judgment (Eze. 9:4-7). John seems to have a reversal from sealing one with a mark on their foreheads to that of condemning the one with a mark.
Now John said here is wisdom, let the man know by the number of the beast (personification) to count for it is the number of a man. Again John has reference back to the image of the man and its number. That image wasn’t of one man nor of one kingdom, but of kingdoms. The number of 616 or 666 has being thought of a number of individuals, but that’s not what John has described as the beast it is imagery of kingdoms.
In summary here is what I see John’s imagery has described to us. The red dragon which gives power and authority to the beast is that of pagan religions. The beast of the sea is a description of seven pagan kingdoms which used their religions and cultures to Hellenized the people of Israel and the beast of the land is descried as those of apostate Israel those that accepted being Hellenized and tried to influence others. The false prophet is another description of apostate Israel attempting to influence the people into accepting the pagan religions and cultures. The Whore that rode the beast is imagery of the city Jerusalem for it has fornicated with all of these kingdoms because of their religions.
Roger Beck
As an introduction into the book of Revelation we need to get familiar with many of the Old Testament books of the prophets because John uses the same imagery that we find in the books of the Prophets. To just mention a few they would be Ezekiel, Daniel, Jeremiah, Isaiah and Amos.
BEAST OF THE SEA
In Revelation chapter 13 John was standing on the sand of the sea and saw a beast come up out of the sea. He goes on to describe this beast from the sea as having seven heads and tens horns, then saw crowns upon the horns and written on it heads the name of Blasphemy. He goes on to describe it looked like a leopard and had feet of a bear, mouth of a lion. John also notices one of the heads was wound almost to death yet it lived. As well John said that the red dragon gave this beast power and great authority.
So let take a minute to figure out this beast of the sea that John described with all these attributes. You might notice from studying the Prophet Daniel of his beast of the sea descriptions that John sees 3 of the four beasts from Daniel with in this beast. Notable all those beasts imagery from Daniel were pagan kingdoms which came upon the land of Israel to dominate the people. So here this beast is a collective image of the previous pagan kingdoms. We might also take notice how both Daniel and John here in Revelation describe these beastly kingdoms as coming up out of the sea. The imagery of the sea here is revealed by John in chapter 17:15 “and he said unto me, the waters which thou saw, where the whore sat are people’s, multitude’s, nations and tongue’s”.
Both Daniel and John were describing the kingdoms rising up from out of the raging waves of the sea that which toss men back and forth from every wind of doctrine (Eph. 4:14). As Daniel would describe that these kingdoms forced all to worship their image of idol’s (Daniel 3:14) Hellenizing the people into their pagan cultures. We see this mentioned later on in this chapter (Rev.13:15).
As John described the beast with seven heads he notice one that was wounded and when it was healed all wondered how it was possible and was force to worship. Revelation 13:3 as in Daniel it reveals that when the beastly kingdom of Greece with Alexander the Great had died it was as if the head had been wounded to death, but Greece remain because it was divided among his leaders (Daniel 8:21-22).
The next parallel that John uses from Daniel is that of power was given to this beast of forty-two months to speak lies and blasphemies against God (Rev. 13:5) as Daniel give the time, times and half, 1290 days (Dan.7:25, 12:7 & 11) spoke great words against the Most High and wear out the saints. The time of forty-two months and time, times half and 1290 days all equate to 3 1/2 years. With the notable addition of 30 days to that of the 1260 days of Daniel 12:11 which indicates an additional month is in view much like that of the Jewish calendar of Adar and Adar II.
In the time of trouble that Daniel mentioned it was under the Grecian, Seleucid persecution by Antiochus IV Epiphanies 168-164BC and we can see that John saw a similar time of trouble of 3 ½ years. I would place that time of trouble under the Jewish revolt of 66AD-70AD.
Revelation 13:7 it was given that he (beast) makes war with the saints and to overcome them. Now make note that John went to a personification to describe the collective beast as he.
Again John mentions from Daniel those things such as making all that dwell on the earth to worship him. We know that it was only persecution upon the land of Israel and the people of Israel. John is seeing all these beastly kingdoms as a collective beast dominating over Israel and the people. Therefore John’s time line is from the first beast unto the last beast kingdom. For this purpose the seven heads are later told of as seven mountains which have seven kings. Five of the seven kings are fallen (Rev.17:8-15).
In my opinion John has describe to his readers the seven heads of Egypt, Babylon, Median, Persian Greece, Rome and then the seventh and last kingdom of Darkness. For this reason mountains have been used to represent kingdoms such kingdom cities were built on high mountains and fortified. We know that Isaiah, Jeremiah and Daniel all used mountain to describe such a kingdom (Isaiah 14:12, Jer. 51:25 & Daniel 2:35). That of the seventh kingdom John has described as coming upon out of the abyss is that of this collective beast as the kingdom of darkness and having a king Abaddon, Apollyon which means a destroyer.
Paul and James both made mention of this force against the saints. Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:12 That their fight wasn’t against men, but against the dark powers, the rulers of darkness of this world, spiritual wickedness in high places. James wrote of the spirit of anti-Christ the spirit that was against the word and work of Christ. For both it was men that they had to deal with such of those in high official places that was against them, but both men understood it was the power and wicked spirit that these men had is what ultimately the fight was about.
BEAST OF THE LAND
Then John describes that of another beast coming up out of the land having two horns like a Lamb speaking like a dragon (serpent). In later chapters John makes the connection between the first Beast of the sea to that of a False Prophet (Rev.16:13, 19:20) that both spoke the same as the dragon that is with and unclean spirit and did works and miracles. So it might be seen that in John descriptions of this beast of the land it would appear to be the same as the false prophet. These two descriptions of a land beast (behemoth) and false prophet give insight to that of the land of Israel, apostate Israel. Those that are Hellenized by the pagan religions and attempt to persuade or by force the people of Israel to accept and worship the pagan kingdoms. Let’s remember the imagery John gives isn’t only of his present day but from the beginning of the foundation (Rev.13:8).
This beast of the land is more powerful than the first in the since he can manipulate persuade the people into worshipping the image and causing the image to come to life that of the wounded head coming to life as we described as representing Greece and causing all to worship this image. Again John is using the same as from Daniel in that king Nebuchadnezzar had made an image and forced all to worship the image. That image was of a man for the king had seen it in his dream (Dan. 2:37-43, 3:1).
So we can see that John is in visioning those things in the past and describing them. This would also be the understanding for the number of the beast and mark. In Ezekiel we find that of a mark is given to those that are sealed from coming judgment (Eze. 9:4-7). John seems to have a reversal from sealing one with a mark on their foreheads to that of condemning the one with a mark.
Now John said here is wisdom, let the man know by the number of the beast (personification) to count for it is the number of a man. Again John has reference back to the image of the man and its number. That image wasn’t of one man nor of one kingdom, but of kingdoms. The number of 616 or 666 has being thought of a number of individuals, but that’s not what John has described as the beast it is imagery of kingdoms.
In summary here is what I see John’s imagery has described to us. The red dragon which gives power and authority to the beast is that of pagan religions. The beast of the sea is a description of seven pagan kingdoms which used their religions and cultures to Hellenized the people of Israel and the beast of the land is descried as those of apostate Israel those that accepted being Hellenized and tried to influence others. The false prophet is another description of apostate Israel attempting to influence the people into accepting the pagan religions and cultures. The Whore that rode the beast is imagery of the city Jerusalem for it has fornicated with all of these kingdoms because of their religions.
Roger Beck