5. JOHN: REVELATION 13
Have you ever considered just how much Daniel and John have in common? As young men, both had a personal relationship with the Lord. They were both considered beloved of God. Defiantly strong for the Lord as young men, they both grew into long-term servants of God whose ministry involved prophecy. Both lived until their 90’s, when both received the vision of the end of the world, much of which overlaps. Both received these visions as men in captivity to their respective Empires.
Their prophecies were given by the same Spirit, so you would expect common threads running through both. Away, please! with the notion that John was an intuitive thinker who created his own wild vision of the end of the world, with generous borrowings from Daniel’s work. I’ve actually heard that garbage in church settings, and it makes me sick to my stomach.
John was an old ex-fisherman, a life-time disciple of Jesus, and a man full of the Holy Ghost. He was appointed of God to be one of twelve men to lay the foundational teaching stones of the church. His book of Revelation was placed last in the list of accepted books for a reason. And the warning within the book of “don’t add-don’t subtract” has led all true believers of Jesus to understand that John has been given the final word to the church. Oh how we need to listen!
But in the portions we will hear, there will be a clear resemblance to the tune the Spirit played through Daniel, and thus John will serve as confirmation of what we have learned so far. Let us turn to Revelation chapter 13.
John here sees a beast rising from the sea. Daniel (chapter seven) saw the four winds of heaven stirring up the “Great Sea” out of which came four beasts, the fourth of which was the same as the one before us now. The Great Sea is the Mediterranean Sea. The fourth beast of Daniel and John’s beast here are meant to represent the final world power before Christ comes back. Most recognize this to be the power that incorporated all powers before it, centered in the Mediterranean region. So when John sees his beast here, he connects with Daniel in identifying him with the last formation of the Roman animal.
John’s beast has seven heads. This characteristic is missing from Daniel’s, yet the total number of heads seen by Daniel is also seven, if one includes all four beasts that he saw. The Spirit’s object in the Daniel beast seems to be to predict what world powers are coming, one at a time, whereas in John we are being shown a conglomerate of all the world powers at once. The seven heads when thought of as kingdoms are normally considered to be, in chronological order, Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, and the 10-nation confederation that flows out of Rome at the end. Following Daniel’s order, we would start with Babylon, then go to Medo-Persia, then instead of Greece alone would be the four divisions of the Grecian Empire: Greece, Egypt, Turkey, Syria, and finally Rome (in both of its forms.) I must reserve judgment for now as to which of these lists is the correct one for Biblical purposes. Nevertheless, the “heads” of the beast are key elements in identifying antichrist later.
Back to Revelation 13. The beast has ten horns. So does Daniel’s. The number ten in Daniel’s and John’s prophecies is always referring to a ten-nation confederation flowing out of the final world power, Rome. So it is in Daniel 2 and 7, the statue and the animals, toes and horns. Ten. Rome will be colossal and powerful at first. We well remember her might and authority in the first centuries. It will then shrink to the background noise of human history, stretching as those long legs of the statue and then resurfacing as a pair of feet with ten toes. The imagery is perfect. We are headed for another Roman Empire, somehow divided into ten parts. Each part will have its own crown, or seat of government. Thus the beast we see has ten crowns.
Ten nations, somehow bonded together, part strong like iron, says Daniel, part not so strong, like clay. Many have been the speculations: Democracies and Muslim-style kingdoms merging to form a super-power? An awesome nightmare, don’t you think, combining the wealth of Europe and the passion of Mohammed’s men? Is not Europe being overrun by Islam this very moment? But I merely speculate. We need to get back to the main discussion…
Notice that it is the heads and not the nations (horns) that have a blasphemous name. The world powers, and one man in particular in each of these powers have risen to fame on the basis of hatred for and emulation of the Deity we serve. An anti-christ, so to speak, in every Empire, every generation. We have them in our day. They will continue to rise and be obviously the enemy until the final manifestation comes, and by the elect will be easily identified.
But wait. The picture before us is very similar to the one John painted in his last chapter, Revelation 12, verse 3. And this chapter 12 beast is called by the author, the Devil. So is this beast from the sea in chapter 13 also the Devil? No. The clue is in 13:2. The Devil gives the beast before us his authority. This person rising in the Mediterranean region of our planet is Satan, but Satan incarnated in human flesh. This is Satan’s masterpiece. Often the Enemy has been behind these God- and Christ-haters. But to my knowledge never before has he been inside such a man, directing every step. This he will do, I believe, to replicate as exactly as possible what the Father did in our Lord Jesus. Lived in Him, directed and empowered Him. Satan’s object is to be so like Christ as to deceive the very elect, if that were possible. (But God will find a way to alert the elect!)
The beast. He is described in verse 2 as having characteristics of leopard, bear, and lion, the very same as the first three animals seen by Daniel. So this beast is a combination of every power that has ever reigned. Daniel sees the only world power that has ever ruled from the end of Greece’s time until the end of history (Rome) as a separate animal. John sees that same animal as having combined all former rule in itself. But the images are essentially the same.
In 13:3, 12, and 14 we are introduced to the idea of a resurrected ruler (some say kingdom, but a king and a kingdom are inseparable). Thankfully this concept is not new to us, as we have been studying Daniel’s history-gap-history pattern. Simply put, but how simply believed I am not sure: Someone who reigned before will reign again. More of this in chapter 17. Let’s look closer at what happens.
In verse 3, one of the heads of the beast receives a (potentially) fatal wound. We have identified the heads above in terms of nations of the world. But in chapter 17 they are also considered to be individual men. Which way shall we go when thinking about interpretation? I think we need to see the context of the chapter. The world sees this resurrected entity and concludes that it will be impossible to make war with such a one (13:4)! That sounds more like a man than a nation does it not? Let’s see how it fits as we move on.
Again in verses 3, 12, and 14, there is indication that a deadly wound is healed, one who should have died does not, or seemingly dies but comes back from the dead. I am not totally certain that this person experiences an actual death, due to the phrase “as if it had been” mortally wounded. Is this sleight of hand? The false prophet, another beast described later in this chapter, is working all sorts of magic tricks, even trying to duplicate Moses’ and Elijah’s command over elements, such as fire. Could such a one conjure up a death experience for antichrist, so that the world could see it and the resultant resurrection? One thinks of the temptations of Christ and the way Satan tried to get Jesus to try death-defying acts so as to prove His Messiahship. Will Satan resort to these methods?
Whatever, the wound is made by a sword, yet Antichrist lives. The world is in awe. Now, some have speculated that what we are seeing here is Sennacherib, the great Assyrian “antichrist” figure, who decimated Israel and incurred God’s wrath. The story of his demise and slaying by the sword is actually told in your Bible (II Kings 19:35-37)!
It is hard to take lightly such a story, as it seems to tie in. I believe that after you have heard the evidence in chapter 17 you too will be convinced that someone will rise from the dead. Why not Sennacherib? As I pondered this for awhile I began to imagine Sennacherib, or even Antiochus for that matter, trying to prove to people in our generation that he is a resurrected ruler. We remember Saddam Hussein’s attempts to convince us that he was in some way Nebuchadnezzar of old Babylon. The man is crazy, we guessed. Appeal to history is not a powerful tool. It seems to me the man of sin will have to prove his worthiness by a miraculous episode in our own day. And his right hand man, the false prophet, can easily see to that.
I cannot ignore what I have seen of antichrist in the book of Daniel, especially since the Lord Himself has told us to go to that book for answers to the mystery. Though I do not want to write off every other idea, I prefer to stay with Antiochus, as opposed to Sennacherib, about whom little else is said in Scripture. Now, Antiochus died a horrid death. The disease which took him was similar to that suffered by Herod in the book of Acts (12:20-24). He was eaten of worms. But as with all lost and saved persons, a new body is reserved so that persons can be blessed or judged eternally. When Antiochus returns from the dead it will be with a new imperishable body, one that can indeed endure any sort of fatal wound.
As to the use of the sword in our generation, it is not so difficult to imagine any longer, is it? With the Muslim ascent to power, we can readily envision not only the sword, but beheadings, prophesied for believers of the last days.
We readily remember from Daniel the details John now points out in verse 5, the blasphemous words, the three and one half years. No question now who this is. Six hundred years earlier, an angel pointed the finger to a historical figure described in great detail in Daniel 11 and 12, mentioned his blasphemy, mentioned his time limit. It all comes together. Even if only his name, Epiphanes, was on his head, it would be blasphemy enough. He claims to be the manifested son of the living God.
“Great is the mystery of godliness,” says Paul (I Timothy 3:16) “God was manifest in the flesh!” But the mystery of iniquity is that there will be one claiming this “manifested” title for himself and demanding that all give him the honor deserved only by Jesus.
I think I need not detail the rest of the chapter 13 discussion. It is very clear that the one who makes war with the saints (13:7, Daniel 7:21) and who receives worship worldwide (13:8) is none other than the same one who rose to power in the prophecies of Daniel. In chapter 17 I will show you why I consider Antiochus Epiphanes to be the resurrected person who will fulfill this destiny.
6. JOHN: REVELATION 17
The famous harlot, the apostate church-become-governmental-power known as “Babylon the Great” is sitting on a beast in chapter 17. Yes, it is the same creature that we saw in chapter 13. It has seven heads and ten horns, and other characteristics that mark it as the Satan-man, not just as Satan. I have given much time in a previous work (The Scarlet Threads series) to describing the harlot system centered in Rome. I want to skip here to the concise descriptions given by an unnamed angel to a marveling bewildered apostle (note this other similarity to Daniel!). It is in verse 8:
“The beast that you saw [the Satan-man] was [he once existed on the planet], and is not [in John’s day, he is not alive] and will ascend out of the bottomless pit [he will come back to earth from the grave or a special holding place where he has been preserved all these centuries] and go to perdition [ placed by Jesus in the Lake of Fire.]” That is not so easy to believe, but it is not hard to understand. Let us learn to ignore our brain if it conflicts with our faith. Someone who lived before the apostle John is going to return to earth. Once more note that Satan is trying to do what Jesus did in as many ways as possible. Jesus died and rose again. Satan’s man died but will rise again. [And if the people don’t believe that he can demonstrate it again.]
Where will Antiochus come from, if he has a new body? We know his ancient nationality, but when antichrist comes back will he start over as a baby again? I think not, unless the pagan doctrine of reincarnation is allowed to supersede the Biblical concept of resurrection in the end time culture, and there is an accompanying miracle to confirm it.
It seems to me that he will come in his new body, filled with his new master. They have had much time to work out the details of his appearing, as he waits in the Pit. Yes, Antiochus died and went to the place all dead ones go, or so we presume. His spirit only awaits uniting to his renewed body. In that, he is like every human. Then like all of us he rises to be judged. The only difference is that he will be permitted several years to wreak havoc on earth before his public judgment.
The world will be mesmerized by this man, from his mysterious origins, to his invincible body to his Hitler-like captivating ways as an orator.
The Spirit gives us yet another way to look at this mystery in verse 9. We are told that we may look at the seven heads as seven mountains on which the woman sits. This could be the seven actual hills of Rome or the seven world powers that the beast stands for. Or, says the angel we can look back in history for seven kings.
Now of all the kings that have ever sat on a throne, how do we narrow the search to seven? I’m not sure I have the answer fully, but I believe that to qualify for this office, a king would have to have had severely negative relationships with Israel, be defiant to the God of Israel, and perhaps even be mentioned or alluded to in Scripture. Probably the kings would have to match the seven world powers we have identified above as heads. That would bring us to the Pharaoh (Raamses?) of Egypt, Sennacherib of Assyria, Nebuchadnezzar of Baylonia, Xerxes (Ahasuerus, who signed a bill to eliminate the Jews!) of Persia, Antiochus Epiphanes of the Greek Empire, Domitian of Rome, and the future ruler of Revived Rome. These are seven men/heads for whom Israel was a problem to be solved. Seven antichrist figures of history.
The angel explaining all this to John says next that five of the above kings have fallen, are dead. One of them exists, is alive in John's day. One of them is yet to come, but will only reign a short time. This fact led many to speculate that it is a future ruler who will be slain and rise from the dead. That is, number seven comes, dies, rises, and is immediately number eight! But that will not fit with what we just learned, that the beast was alive already but is not now. Whoever he is, he pre-dated John who lived in the first century.
Now, all seven of these rulers either have failed or will fail in their goal of world dominion and annihilation of Israel. Even the seventh will not succeed in sufficiently hurting the Jews. His reign will be short, to make way soon for the eighth. But are there not seven? Yes there are seven. But there are eight. This is the heart of the mystery. One of those seven men listed above is returning to be number eight. He was one of the seven. He is number eight. Let it sink in, and your choices for “who is the antichrist?” are significantly narrowed.
Next we learn that the final Roman kingdom is energized at the very end of all things as a power-base for antichrist. He seems to take three nations very quickly (Daniel 7:8). After they have had their short day, forever ruining “Babylon,” the worldwide politico-religious system, they themselves will be destroyed, along with their master, by Christ at His return.
We must now examine the short work of Paul to add details found nowhere else in Scripture and, again, to confirm that what began in the Olivet discourse, pointing us to Daniel and Antiochus, will stand the test of every available writing on this subject.
