1 Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads
a blasphemous name.
Revelation 12:3
And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon
having seven heads and ten horns,
and seven diadems on his heads.
John is standing on the beach. He
sees a beast rising up out of the sea and it has seven heads and ten horns and
the horns have crowns. Each head has a blasphemous name. This beast is similar
to but not describe the exact same as the dragon. Both have seven heads and ten
horns, the difference I see here is the heads have the crowns, not the horns. This
beast is not the dragon named Satan but is coming in his likeness.
Pay attention to the fact this
beast is coming up out of the sea as well as the description given to the
beast.
Now, lets compare this to the
beast found in Daniel.
Daniel 7: 3, 7-8, 15-27
And four great beasts came up
from the sea, each different from the other.
“After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking
in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all
the beasts that were before it, and it
had ten horns. I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, a little one, coming up
among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots.
And there, in this horn, were eyes like
the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words.
“I, Daniel, was grieved in my spirit within my body, and the visions of
my head troubled me. I came near to one of those who stood by, and asked him
the truth of all this. So he told me and
made known to me the interpretation of these things: ‘Those great beasts, which are four, are four kings which arise out of the earth. But the saints of the
Most High shall receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even
forever and ever.’
“Then I wished to know the truth
about the fourth beast, which was different from all the others,
exceedingly dreadful, with its teeth of
iron and its nails of bronze, which devoured, broke in pieces, and trampled
the residue with its feet; and the ten
horns that were on its head, and the other
horn which came up, before which
three fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth which spoke pompous words, whose appearance
was greater than his fellows.
“I was watching; and the same
horn was making war against the saints, and prevailing against them, until
the Ancient of Days came, and a
judgment was made in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came
for the saints to possess the kingdom.
“Thus he said: ‘The fourth beast
shall be A fourth kingdom on earth, Which shall be different from all other kingdoms, And shall devour the whole earth, Trample it and break it in pieces. The ten horns are ten kings Who shall arise from this kingdom. And another shall rise after them; He shall be different from the first ones, And
shall subdue three kings.
He shall speak pompous words
against the Most High, Shall persecute the saints of the Most High, And shall intend to change times and law. Then
the saints shall be given into his hand For
a time and times and half a time. ‘But the court shall be seated, And they
shall take away his dominion, To consume and destroy it forever.
Then the kingdom and dominion, And the greatness of the kingdoms under
the whole heaven, Shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High. His
kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And all dominions shall serve and obey Him.’
It is clear to see, these are the
same beasts. The first beast in Revelation twelve is a kingdom, and this
kingdom is the very same kingdom as the fourth beast in Daniel seven. The angel
says outright the fourth beast is a kingdom, and the vision showed this kingdom
comes about in the last days when we read the leader of this kingdom, the
little horn, was making war with the saints up until the point of the Messiah’s
return.
2 Now the beast which I saw was like
a leopard, his feet were like the feet
of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth
of a lion. The dragon gave him his
power, his throne, and great
authority.
Next we see this beast is made up
of all the parts of the first three beasts from Daniel.
Daniel 7: 4-6
The first was like a lion,
and had eagle’s wings. I watched till its
wings were plucked off; and it was lifted up from the earth and made to
stand on two feet like a man, and a man’s heart was given to it.
“And suddenly another beast, a second,
like a bear. It was raised up on one
side, and had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. And they said thus
to it: ‘Arise, devour much flesh!’
“After this I looked, and there was another, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird. The beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to
it.
The Lion was ancient Babylon, the
Bear was Medo-Persia, and the leopard was the Roman Empire. We have to
understand a few historical things here. The western part of the Roman Empire
fell while the eastern side was dominated by those who became Islam. This
eastern Roman Empire lasted through the Byzantine Empire until the 1920’s. Knowing
this, we can understand all three of these beast were made up of people who
ultimately became what we know as Muslim and of the Islamic faith. It is also
interesting how the Islamic prophecies mirror that of Revelation with one
simple differentiation. Their messiah is our antichrist, and our messiah is
their antichrist. This means, everything we read about the antichrist in the
bible is what their Mahdi does. Knowing Satan is the one who is orchestrating some
of this end times situation, it only makes sense his “prophecies” come true as
well.
3 And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and
his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast.
John then talks about one of the
heads of the beast being destroyed, but healed. The Ottoman Caliphate ended in
1924. Since that time, all of Islam has been trying to revive the caliphate. A
caliphate is the reign of an Islamic ruler. Part of Islamic prophecy is the revival
of the caliphate. In fact, in 2014 there was an attempted revival by the ISIS leader
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. It is my understanding the Islamic Caliphate will be
revived and the leader will emerge as the antichrist.
Then all the world admired and
followed after the beast. Now, we have to understand, it is not every nation in
the world who falls in line with this kingdom, it is likely those who follow
this beast are the surrounding nations of the beast. I say this because we know
the Antichrist goes to war with strong nations.
Daniel 11:39
Thus he shall act against the
strongest fortresses with a foreign god, which he shall acknowledge, and advance
its glory; and he shall cause them to rule over many, and divide the land for gain.
4 So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and
they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast? Who is able to make
war with him?”
Satan is worshipped because he
gave the kingdom its authority. They looked at the kingdom as the most powerful
in the world.
5 And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and
he was given authority to continue for forty-two months.
The kingdom was given the ability
to speak blasphemies against YHWH for three and a half years. I believe this
mouth is the antichrist himself.
6 Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His
name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven.
This king spoke out against YHWH,
His name, His tabernacle, and everyone in heaven.
Daniel 7:36-38
“Then the king shall do according to his own will: he shall exalt and magnify himself above every god,
shall speak blasphemies against the God
of gods, and shall prosper till the
wrath has been accomplished; for what has been determined shall be done. He
shall regard neither the God of his
fathers nor the desire of women, nor regard any god; for he shall exalt himself above them all. But in
their place he shall honor a god of
fortresses; and a god which his
fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and silver, with precious
stones and pleasant things.
We can see the antichrist does
this very thing. He raises himself above every god, including YHWH. He does not
care about YHWH. He does not care about the desires of women. His god, a new
god, is the god of war.
Now, lets consider a few things.
First, Allah, the god of Islam, is a new god. Islam was not a religion until
300AD. Second, Allah is the god of Jihad, which is basically the god of war.
Every jihadist is a threat to the Christian way of life. Third, Islam believes
women are second class citizens. Literally, in the case of rape, a woman would
need four witnesses if they were women, and two if they were men. This means they
are half as credible as men. This is Sharia Law. Sharia Law also goes back to the
statement made about the antichrist wanting to change times and laws. Islam
wishes to implement Sharia in every country across the world.
7 It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome
them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation.
The king was allowed to make war
with the people of YHWH, and destroy them. The king was eventually granted
authority over some of each nations.
8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not
been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the
world.
Everyone who lives on the earth and
does not have their name written in the Book of Life, will worship the
Antichrist.
9 If anyone has an ear, let him hear.
This message is for everyone who
can hear.
10 He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity; he who kills
with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the
faith of the saints.
Anyone who takes men captive,
will be taken captive. Anyone who kills with a sword will die by the sword.
This is where patience comes in on the part of the believers.
11 Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two
horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon.
It is at this point John sees
another beast coming up, but this time from the earth, not the sea. This beast
has two horns.
12 And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his
presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first
beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
This beast used the authority
from the kingdom. This beast makes many on earth worship the caliphate, who is
led by the caliph, who is the mouthpiece of the first beast, who we know to be
the antichrist.
13 He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from
heaven on the earth in the sight of men.
This beast also has power over
the elements, presumably taken from Satan. Something very interesting is the
fact the Islamic prophecies has two people coming, first their Mahdi or
messiah, second is their Issa, or Jesus. Their version of Jesus is nothing more
than a prophet, but he will have certain powers. Issa is supposed to kill their
version of the Antichrist, who is our Yeshua the Messiah.
14 And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he
was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the
earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived.
The second beast is able to deceive
many who are still on the earth with the powers from the beast. He even
commands them to build an image of the beast who was wounded but lived.
15 He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that
the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship
the image of the beast to be killed.
Daniel 3:4-6
Then a herald cried aloud: “To you it is commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, that at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute,
harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, you shall fall down and worship the gold
image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up; and whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast immediately into
the midst of a burning fiery furnace.”
Then, he is able to bring the beast to life making it speak and kill.
16 He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave,
to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one
may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the
number of his name.
The beast causes everyone to
receive a mark, which we know as the mark of the beast. Without the mark or the
number of the name of the beast, you cannot expect to buy or sell.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number
of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.
The number of the beast is 666.
There are some pretty interesting things that go along with this number.
To be continued….
No comments:
Post a Comment