Revelation chapter thirteen is the most well-known of all bible passages on The Antichrist. It contains imagery familiar to pop culture, including the Mark of the Beast and his number — 666. A Premillennial (Futurist) commentary on the Book of Revelation is necessary for those who wish to fully understand such imagery and symbolism. Avoid commentaries from a Historist perspective which interpret Revelation as “already fulfilled” (called Preterism). Preterists’ misunderstanding of typology confuses past “types” of The Antichrist for the “real thing”, namely, the ultimate fulfillment yet to come. Regarding God’s end-time program, such error breeds confusion. Since most of Revelation relates to events that happen well into the future tribulation period, any significance regarding Donald Trump must be foreseen from the present dark shadow of the coming tribulation looming over us. “1And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names. 2And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority. (Rev. 13:1-2) In verse one, The dragon (Satan), pictured standing on the seashore, appears, as if, to beckon The Beast — The Antichrist and his kingdom — out of the sea. The Beast’s ascendancy and rule
The book of Revelation was written by the apostle John, in an apocalyptic literature style. It consists of a series of prophecies about the end times, when Jesus will return and triumph over all the evil residing in the world. Its purpose is to bring hope and encouragement to Christians so that they will continue watching for the return and victory of Jesus Christ, but it is also a warning of the Final Judgment that nonbelievers will endure. The depiction of the cosmic battle that takes place both in heaven and on earth, symbolic language, and introduction of surreal
The Book of Revelation and its fantastic images and gory details has captivated people for centuries. Some have deemed the work of John of Patmos as prophecy, arguing that after its completion it fulfilled historical events or predicted events yet to come. Others view his work as simply another religious prophet’s patriarchal view of “right” behavior for women as it draws a defining line casting women into one of two groups: pure or sexually immoral. And still others proclaim Revelations to be purely “anti-Roman propaganda” as John begins a two point attack against Rome and God’s faithful people who accommodate them, “accomplices in evil”. These points have their merits; however, each view runs the risk of “domesticating” Revelation to the point that it no longer holds positive religious meaning.
(Spenser 916). These fiery images associated with the dragons connect them with hell and therefore with
Dante Alighieri’s epic poem, Inferno, and the Book of Revelation as told by John in the Bible each regale the natural curiosity of humans involving manifestations of endings and possibilities of new beginnings in the afterlife. The purpose of informing God’s people of these manifestations and possibilities is mutual and key to the preparedness of humans for life after death. Still, justice is surely delivered appropriately in Inferno and Revelation, due to God’s brilliant arrangements. Divergence between minutiae is outshone by appreciation of seemingly incredulous similarities between God’s plans in the texts. Analysis reveals that Inferno and the Book of Revelation share countless themes, concepts, and scenes, though they differ slightly in the specific details surrounding the unfolding events.
In the early sixteenth century, scholars were studying the millennial expectations of the ancient worlds that had become such a radical component for the central institutions of Christendom. Advocates of this new millennial belief appeared after the completion of the New Testament. They argued diverse assumptions of this revolution, but found common roots in Revelation 20:1-10, which states that those who died for defending Jesus would sit at God’s right-hand with the power to judge and Satan would be released from his prison and thrown into a fiery lake of burning sulfur where he would be tormented.
In (Revelation 12:3) Satan appeared as a 7 headed dragon that had a crown on every head. He became so jealous and full of pride that he threw a rebellion against God. Isaiah 14 says “ I will raise my throne above the stars of God.” (Isaiah 14 12-15 NIV). A war broke out in Heaven, Michael and his angles fought Satan (Revelation 12:7). This next verse proves that Satan is truly evil, It says “Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born.” (Revelation 12:4 NIV) That clearly shows that he wants nothing good for us and wants to destroy us. Hell was originally for Satan only, but in Genesis God gave us the choice to live in eternally in heaven or go to hell. The
So what does the ‘sea’ or ‘water’ prophetically represent? Revelation 17:15 shows that ‘waters’ represent ‘peoples, multitudes, nations and tongues’. With this clue, we know that these beasts in both Daniel and Revelation came up from the densely populated area. What about the beasts? What do they represent? Daniel 7:17,23 clearly shows that ‘beasts’ represents ‘kings or kingdoms’ so we can apply this to both Daniel and Revelation. Without relating Daniel to Revelation and vice versa, the interpretation of these books could be problematic and they could be misinterpreted.
9. Many interpreters conclude that 666 in Revelation 13:18 is an example of the use of gematria. (a) Describe gematria. (b) If this be true, what does 666 likely represent?
Chapter one is a survey of modern scholarly literature related to the theme of worship in the Apocalypse. It is divides into four subtopics; A) The theme of worship as a whole, B) The hymns in the Apocalypse, C) Revelation 4-5, D) Additional worship scenes.
The second beast is a bear with three tusks in it’s mouth is told to devour many bodies. It is not clear the source of this command though it unlikely to have came from YHWH, but not impossible because we must remember the Israelites are not completely innocent of disregarding the commands of the YHWH. Stephen Cook, in his book, “The Apocalyptic Literature” warns readers about domesticating the Book of Daniel especially the symbols and images. “In Daniel, the heavenly court is intimately engaged in the daily unfolding events of earthly geopolitics. People and powers on earth do not act in autonomous isolation” (Cook, p. 127). Who stood up the lion-like beast on two feet and gave it a human mind? Nevertheless, chaos is not without leadership
The other way beasts are depicted in the Bible are described in Revelation 13:2-7 which reads, “And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority. I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast; they worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, "Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with
Many bible scholars take the position that the antichrist being a confederacy of ten nations. “The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom. After them another king will arise, different from the earlier ones; he will subdue three kings. He will speak against the Most High and oppress His holy people and try to change the set times and the laws. The holy people will be delivered into his hands for a time, times and half a time” (King James Version, Daniel. 7:24-25).
Many bible scholars take the position that the antichrist being a confederacy of ten nations. “The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom. After them another king will arise, different from the earlier ones; he will subdue three kings. He will speak against the Most High and oppress His holy people and try to change the set times and the laws. The holy people will be delivered into his hands for a time, times and half a time” (King James Version, Daniel. 7:24-25).
God is all knowing, however, as His creation, man does not understand fully God’s wisdom and knowledge. This needs to be recognized by the student of prophecy. First, there is a lot of data and information that man does not know, or have access to. This missing information could be vital in wholly understanding a prophetic word, however, without the guidance of the Holy Spirit, man is lost. This missing data can leading to fixing dates and identities of the antichrist falsely. While it is tempting to make such guesses, they are merely guesses, not absolute truth. This missing data leads many students of prophecy to speaking on areas of the Bible that are both silent and have little to say about a particular subject matter. This is dangerous due to the fact that there is little Scriptural evidence to back up an prophetic claims, making it very
It is amazing how much God has revealed to us in His word, the Bible. It’s all there, right in front of us, if we’d only look. Ezekiel 28 is one of the most remarkable of ALL the passages on the Antichrist. From a personal “inside” perspective, it rivals 2 Thessalonians 2 and Revelation. It reveals for us a person who will stop at nothing to gain wealth, and a person who is wise in his own eyes. I list the chapter in its entirety—