Through studying the bible, we know that there were several rulers named Caesar. Starting with the first Caesar, and continuing to the last Caesar, the Israelites were made to worship them. This was more of a way to stir up feelings of patriotism to Caesar number 1 rather than really worship him as a god.
But towards the end of the first century, Caesar Nero actually believed he was the God and made it mandatory that every Israelite go to the temple once a year to bow down before a priest to confess that Caesar Nero was Lord.
It may have been a nuisance, but everyone complied - except for the believers in Jesus. This was just something they could not do! And that was the start of all the problems between them and Caesar. There were ten different times (or waves) of persecution against the believers, and most historians believe that a total of around 6 million believers were killed in those waves of persecution.
Isn’t it rather odd that the number of Jews killed by Hitler when he persecuted them was also around 6 million?
VERSE 1:
“And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. He had ten horns and seven heads. On his horns were 10 diadems (crowns), and on his heads were blasphemous names.”
The beast John is writing about is the Antichrist. Elsewhere in the bible, John writes about many antichrists, and those are people who say things that purposely try to take the focus off of Christ. The name “antichrist” literally means, “in place of Christ.” But the one John is writing about here is THE Antichrist.
John saw him coming out of the sea. In the bible, the reference to the “sea” is always referring to the Gentile nations. And when the bible references the “land”, it is talking about Israel. So, John saw the Antichrist coming out of the Gentile nations.
We will study it in 4 weeks, but in chapter 17, it even goes to say that the beast will not only come from the Gentile nations, but from the Gentile nations that stem from the old Roman Empire, which makes up the last world empire. This doesn’t mean the Antichrist cannot be a Jew, though. He might be a European Jew, or one that is considered a “secular” Jew, by blood only. This would also describe some of today’s Jews, too, like Henry Kissinger, George Soros, and even Barbara Walters. They are all Jewish by blood, but do not believe in God.
The beast had 10 horns and seven heads. REVELATION 17 identifies the seven heads as the seven mountains surrounding the city of Rome. The Antichrist’s government will initially be based out of Rome.
He had 10 horns, but there were only seven crowns. The “crowns” represented the rulers of these ten different areas, or kingdoms. The reason there are only seven rulers (crowns) is that when the Antichrist first comes to power, he will overtake three of these kingdoms and rule them himself.
On the beast’s heads were written blasphemous names. He has those names on his head because he has rebellion and disobedience in his mind. The picture of a 7-headed beast with 10 horns is meant to scare. It is meant to show something monstrous and hideous! And such will be the nature of the Antichrist who will serve Satan and not God.
VERSE 2:
“The beast I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like a bear’s feet, and his mouth was like a lion’s mouth. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority.”
Daniel 2 gives a description of the different empires that would rule the world. They were shown as a statue of a man. It was a beautiful statue because that is the way mankind sees their worldly leaders. In Daniel 7, the same empires are described as hideous monsters. That is because they are being described by God’s point of view and how He views those leaders.
Here in this verse, John is describing the same empires as were described in Daniel 7, but in reverse order. Why did John put them backwards? Because Daniel was looking into the future while John was looking into the past.
The empires described are: The leopard was Alexander the Great’s ability to pounce and attack; the bear symbolizes the Medes & the Persians because they were large, strong, and vicious; and he lion represents Babylon who was considered the most vicious of all (king of the jungle so to speak.).
VERSE 3:
“One of his heads appeared to be fatally wounded, but his fatal wound was healed. The whole earth was amazed and then followed the beast.”
At this point of time in the Tribulation, the Antichrist will suffer a wound to the head. He will die and come back to life. When he is brought back to life, the whole world will be amazed and begin to think that only a god could come back to life and they will follow him as God. The original Greek transcripts can be interpreted either as “he was wounded unto death” or “he was wounded and seemed to be dead.”
I believe he will be killed, because only a severe head injury would cause the damage described in ZECHARIAH 11:17, when it says this man’s eye will be put out and his arm will be paralyzed. With a severe brain injury we would see motor skills that were lost.
Not only do I believe he actually died and was brought back to life, but I think he went to hell for the 3 days he was dead. In REVELATION 17:8 says the beast that “was” and “is not” came up from the abyss to wreak destruction.
VERSE 4:
“They worshiped the dragon because he gave authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast saying, “Who is he? Who is able to wage war against him?
This man will have captured the world’s attention. He will be so charismatic and persuasive that everyone but the truest of Christians will swoon over him. When he ascends from the depths of hell, he will be indwelt by Satan just as Jesus was indwelt by God when He descended from heaven.
VERSE 5:
“A mouth was given to him to speak boasts and blasphemies. He was also given authority to act for 42 months (3½ years.)
This man is on a roll. He will appear on every talk show in existence. He will continually be written about in every newspaper and talked about on every TV newscast. He will spend much of his time doing nothing but convincing people how wonderful he is and how much he has done for them – all the while doing everything he can to hurt them.
And he was given this authority that will last for the last 3½ years of his reign, or the time of the Great Tribulation.
VERSE 6:
“And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.”
There are three groups of people who are called “saints” in the bible. In the Old Testament the word “saints” is used to describe Israel. In the New Testament, it is used to describe Christians (the church) and in REVELATION, it is used to describe those who are saved in the Tribulation. This verse is describing the saints in heaven.
VERSE 7:
“And he was permitted to wage war against the saints and to conquer them. He was also given authority over every tribe, people, language, and nation.”
To “conquer” means to be in a position where he can be in total control of. And for a time, the Antichrist will control the lives of believers. Some people think that he conquers the church, but Jesus said in MATTHEW 16:18 that the church will NOT be overcome! But for a period of time, 3½ years to be exact, he will have the authority over everyone on earth.
VERSE 8:
“All those who live on the earth will worship him, except those whose name was not written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb who was slaughtered.”
At this point, there will be two groups of people on earth: Those who have received salvation because they have received the Lord, and those who do not have salvation because they have rejected the Lord in favor of following the Antichrist. Everyone will worship him except for those who have received the Lord in heaven.
VERSES 9~10:
“If any man has an ear, let him hear. 10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.”
John is reassuring those believers who are being persecuted that eventually, the ones who are doing the persecution will soon be receiving what they have been giving to them! He is telling them to have a little more patience because their persecutors are going to find themselves going down!
Do you realize just how blessed you are? Sure, you have to put up with unfair things just because of your belief in Jesus, and those in the Tribulation will have to die for nothing more than that same belief …. but we know the end of the story and we know that we will come out on top! We will win. And we will spend forevermore with our beloved Savior, Jesus Christ.
VERSE 11:
“Then, I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; he had two horns like a lamb, but he sounded like a dragon.”
Who did John see? In JOHN 14:16, we read that when Jesus ascended into heaven, He promised to send the Holy Spirit. The other beast, named here is the false prophet, and he is to the Antichrist what the Holy Spirit is to Jesus.
If you took away the horns (or crowns) that represent the Antichrist, the false prophet (or the leader of the one-world government) they would seem humble, gentle, and even Godly. He will actually be the public relations man for the Antichrist. He will give the same information to the people as the Antichrist will; therefore he will sound like the Antichrist in his message. And he will be just as evil as the Antichrist.
VERSE 12:
“He exercises all the authority of the first beast on his behalf and compels the earth and those who live on it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed.”
The first beast is the Antichrist. The second beast is the false prophet. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is to put the focus on Jesus for the people’s benefit. The ministry of the false prophet is to put the focus on the Antichrist for the Antichrist’s benefit. The similarity is exact in nature.
I mentioned earlier that I believe the Antichrist did not just seem like he was dead when he received the head wound, but that he WAS dead. In this verse, we are told that the “fatal”, or “deadly”, would was healed.
VERSE 13~14:
“He also performs great signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven before the people. 14 he deceives those who live on the earth because of the signs he is permitted to perform on behalf of the beast, telling those who live on the earth to make an image of the beast that had the sword wound, yet lived.”
There is a dire warning in this verse for us, too. Even though this false prophet appears to be kind, gentle, and even Godly, he has awesome powers given to him by the Antichrist. The warning to us is that even though some people will appear to us as gentle and humble men of God, not all of them are. Some are set on purposely misleading the saints into doing things or believing things that are not of God. These, too, are false prophets.
We see this in politics today. All politicians want to be seen as nice, honest, and lovable, but when you scrutinize what they do behind the public curtain, you see that some of them appear to lie, cheat, and anything else they can to hang on to the power that politics offers. Not all, but some.
In ACTS 20:29-30, we are told to be aware of these people for they will literally destroy the church as quickly as wolves will devour sheep. Satan has the ability to appear as an angel of light, yet his soul is as detestable unto God as it can be. The same is true of his false messengers.
Some of these people will present themselves, or their ministry, as an idol to you. They will say that if you don’t follow them you are lost, or if you don’t give them money, you will not be blessed. When you see a man of God claim to have special visions from God that contradict what is in the bible, you can be sure he is deceiving you. Or when his primary message is built around your receiving blessings after you send money to him, you can be sure he is a false prophet who is bent on deception.
I know it takes a tremendous amount of money to keep a TV ministry going, but be very aware and cautious of these programs. The same minister who stands before the camera and begs for money can also be seen selling their wares on tables before the program starts, and are the same ones who live in multi-million dollar homes and have their own jet airplanes at their disposal.
My personal suggestion to you is that if you want to give money for the cause of Jesus and to help others, either give it to your local church as the book of Malachi tells you to do when it says bring your tithes into the storehouse (local church), or do some research and find out the address of a missionary group and send it directly to them, not a TV show.
For some reason, I cannot imagine Jesus or any of the Apostles charging people to hear their messages about salvation, or having a bookstore in the synagogue where the preacher's wares are sold at "discounted prices." When I see things of this nature, I cannot help but wonder if this is the situation Jesus found at the temple when He fashioned a whip, overturned tables, and chased the money-changers away.
VERSE 15:
“He was permitted to give a spirit to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast could both speak and cause whoever would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.”
A voice was given to an image, so people would think the image was a Godly and living being. If people did not worship him, they would die. Another attempt by Satan to get rid of all the Godly believers.
How could this statue talk and perform miracles? We don’t know. They are presently working on a new type of computer chip. The present ones work on a sand-based (or silicon) formula. They are trying to develop chips that actually work on a protein-based formula, which would be considered a chip made up of living matter. If this were to happen, we have no idea where that would take us or what the implications might be.
VERSE 16~17:
“And he requires everyone – small and great, rich and poor, free and salve – to be given a mark on is right hand or on his forehead, 17 so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark; the beast’s name or the number of his name.”
Satan, the Antichrist, and the false prophet try to be like the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, but they just can’t seem to get it straight. But that is not all they try to copy. In Deuteronomy, the children of God wore little boxes around their wrist or on their foreheads. These boxes contained God’s word. And they wore these to help themselves focus on the Lord more and to worship Him with all their hearts minds, and strengths.
I believe the mark of the beast is an attempt to copycat this, also, by having to wear it on the back of their hand or their foreheads.
Without this sign, people will not be able to buy anything or sell anything. The Antichrist will cut off all avenues they have of eating, living quarters, and everything else we need in life. But we must remember that even though God may not change the storm that develops around us, He will give us strength to get through the storm. All we have to do is truly and totally rely on Him.
VERSE 18:
“Here is the wisdom: The one who has understanding must calculate the number of the beast, because it is the number of a man. His number is 666.”
Throughout the Old Testament, when God gave us His laws, He didn’t explain why He gave them, He just gave them. In LEVITICUS 11:44, he gave us His dietary mandates but did not explain them. He just said, “Here they are – do them.” As our scientific awareness increased, we began to see the benefits to our bodies if we followed them. Maybe because His information comes to light somewhere down the road, we will find that the reason we are told to not mark our bodies (tattoos, body-piercings, etc.) in LEVITICUS 19:27 relates to desensitizing our acceptance of them so we might be ready to take the marking of 666 upon our bodies that we are told will happen.
* NOTE TO READERS: I have studied very long hours over several years to understand the Book of Revelation. I have criss-crossed every reference I had and have come up with an understanding that I truly believe is correct.
This is not a "deep" study, nor was it intended to be. My intention was to create a study that the average individual could understand and that it could help bring them closer to reading this wonderful book on their own. If your understanding differs, I would greatly appreciate your telling me so that we can come up with possibly an even better project ... and one that can also be used to make congregations comfortable with this book.
Thank you for taking the time to read and consider these studies.
