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| Earl Gillespie |
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| The six of seven personages |
Revelation 13:1-10:
On any
given Sunday the media present a smorgasbord of Christian messages, yet one has
to be careful of what is digested because many of these messages seems to have
an agenda separate from the word of God.
The endtime messages that some
are delving into are discarded by many in favor of a spiritualized message of God’s
favors and blessings. Destruction is moving across the land and proponents of science and world leaders are working overtime to explain the many strange and some deadly events, it seems somewhat asinine that the message
from many religious institutions are about money and what God is doing. Many of our pious prelate’s messages have begun to
reflect their unbelief in the second coming of Jesus Christ, therefore they do
not believe in the Book of Revelation. Jesus addressed this issue in his letter to
the church of the Laodiceans where as he said in Revelation 3:18 “I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in
the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be
clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine
eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.”
There are those who strongly believe in a literal translation of the Book of Revelation and through symbology it delivers a powerful message that is relevant in this day and age. There are those who believe that spiritualizing the Word of God is a grievous sin. Revelation 22:18-19 For I testify unto every man that heareth the
words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God
shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man
shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take
away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the
things which are written in this book.
Revelation 13:1-10 And I
stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having
seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads
the name of blasphemy. And the beast
which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear,
and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and
his seat, and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to
death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the
beast. And they worshipped the dragon
which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is
like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? And there was given unto
him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him
to continue forty and two months. And he
opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle,
and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the
saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and
tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him,
whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. If any man have an ear, let him hear. 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.
In
chapter 1:9 we see John on the Isle of Patmos. In chapter 4:1 he is
caught up into Heaven. In chapter 13 we see him standing on the sands of
the sea. In chapter 17 we will see him standing in the wilderness. In
chapter 21:10 he takes his place on a high mountain. John has a grandstand view
of all God’s doings in the Revelation God gave to him to
give to you and me. Here the
sands of the sea represent vast multitudes of people. God told Abraham that He
would multiply his seed as the sands of the sea. In Revelation 20:8 God’s
army is referred to in number as “the sands of the sea.” The sands of the sea
represent multitudes; the sea itself represents unrest and turmoil among the masses. Almost without
exception Bible scholars agree that this “Beast” is the revived Roman Empire
(with its dictator), which rose to power in a similar way just before the birth
of Jesus.
Daniel
records a vision which will help us identify these Beasts in Revelation
13. Daniel is an outstanding personality; Jesus speaks of him in Matthew and
declares that he was a prophet. He also had the gift of understanding and interpreting dreams. As a prophet
God revealed to him the entire course of “the times of the Gentiles.”
This is the time we are living in now. The prophecy of Daniel is
mainly concerned with things that shall befall the
people Israel in the latter days (Daniel 10:14). Here in Revelation 13 we are
dealing with the things that shall come to pass in the last half of the
seventieth week of Daniel’s seventy weeks. In Daniel 7:3, “four beasts came up
out of the sea.” These four beasts represent the four successive forms of Gentile
power, which are Babylon, Media-Persia, Greece and Rome.
Rome fell
in A. D. 476. Since that time she has been an insignificant power, but she will rise again to
become a world power under the leadership of Antichrist after the Rapture. If we
listen to the news reports we will see that there is no need
to spiritualize this event. As Christians we should not be
looking for the revival of Rome, nor for the Antichrist; we
should be looking for The Christ. After the Rapture this super-human
Beast will work miracles that will make the Roman
Empire great again in a very short time.
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Revelation
13:2 further describes the Beast. John saw a beast like unto a
leopard, with feet like a bear and mouth like a lion. In Daniel 7, Daniel saw
the same three beasts in reverse order. The reason for this is apparent: Daniel stood at the
beginning of the age of Gentile world dominion and therefore
saw Babylon first, while John stood at the end of the Gentile age, looking back. This revised Roman Empire
has the characteristics of the three preceding empires. Therefore, this
Beast of Revelation 13:1 will contain the different elements of the other three
Gentile world powers in one great monster.
The dragon gave him his power, his seat, and his great authority. This
enlightens us as to where the Beast-ruler gets such great power as he
demonstrated. Actually, this Beast is the devil incarnate, so far as power is
concerned.
Verse 3:
“And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his
deadly wound were healed: and all
the world wondered after the beast.” In the fifth century after the birth
of Christ, the head of the great Roman Empire was wounded unto death. The
monster empire of Rome was killed. Parts of it have
existed ever since, but the real head died.
Now the Beast is that head raised to life again, consisting of
ten federated kingdoms. A Roman Emperor rules again,
and the whole world wonders at the great miracle of the revived Roman
Empire, "European Union". This empire will not be revived before the Rapture.
If you
read newspapers, news magazines, and listen to the radio, you know
the cry today is “World Government. United States of the World. European Union, One World. Unity among the nations. The common
market.” Such propaganda as “All men are brothers” is the
slogan. All men are brothers from the standpoint of the flesh - but all men
are not brothers so far as God is concerned.
Jesus said to the Pharisees, “Ye are of your father the devil!” (John 8:44).
“Beloved, now are we the sons of God . . . “ (I John 3:1-3). We are not
all brothers. All believers are brothers, and all unbelievers are brothers; but believers and
unbelievers are NOT brothers.
In verse
4, the world worships the dragon which gave exceeding power to the Beast that came up out of the
sea, and the cry was, “Who is like unto the Beast? Who is able to make war
against him?” Who can stop him? Who is able to conquer him?” The
world is looking for a superman, and this world dictator of the revived Roman Empire
will sweep men off their feet. Immediately they will begin
to worship him. They will declare that no one can stand against him, that there is nothing he cannot do. What horrible blasphemy! This is the age of
personality worshippers, in religion,
in church, in politics, in social
life and in every other phase of
life. This is the age of idols.
In verse
5 we discover that in the pride of his heart the Beast boasts and blasphemes. Who he is and what he
has done constitute, no doubt, the sum of the “great things” spoken, and
added to this are the significant words, “and blasphemies.”
There was given him authority to pursue his career for forty-two months.
In verse
6, the Beast blasphemes God, blasphemes the temple, and them that
dwell in Heaven. Words - bad and bold - are uttered. What is said we do not know, but we may be sure that the
utmost of undying hatred to God which the malice of the dragon can suggest, is
publicly and loudly expressed.
In verse
7 he makes war with the saints here on earth, overcomes and butchers
them. (The saints killed here are those referred to in chapter 6 when the
martyrs were told to wait for a little season until their fellowservants be killed in like manner). The Beast
then becomes dictator of all kindreds, tongues, peoples and
nations.
In verse
8, all worship the Beast except those whose names are in the Lamb’s
Book of Life. The slain Lamb who had redeemed them by His Blood, takes special account of these sufferers.
The Book of Life in which their names are recorded belongs to Him. The Beast
conquers and kills, but eternal life is the portion of those martyrs.
Verse 9
sounds out a solemn warning: “If any man have an ear, let him hear!”
Whoever you are, wherever you are, if you have an ear - listen: Are you born again? Are you
washed in the Blood? If you are not, may God help you to be saved this very
moment. If the Rapture should take place now,
YOU would be left behind to go through the horrible reign of the Antichrist.
Read Romans 10:9-13.
Verse 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.” This is
a solemn warning that “with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to
you again” (Matthew 7:2). Whosoever leads into captivity must himself go into
it. Whosoever kills with the sword must himself be killed. What a word of warning - and how
seasonable to saints then crushed under the iron rule of the Beast. That is
what the Beast is doing, killing with
the sword, making slaves of people,
leading millions captive. Those who refuse to worship and bow down to the
Beast will be taken into captivity, and they that endure to the end (unto death) will be among the great
multitude out of every nation, tongue, tribe and
kingdom, mentioned in chapter 7. Those who receive the mark of the Beast will
drop into hell. There will be those who will succumb to the terrible persecution and
horrible suffering while in captivity; they will accept the mark and worship the
Beast. But there will also be those who will endure to the bitter, bloody
end. Regardless of what a believer suffers during the age
of Grace or during the time of the Great Tribulation, the sufferings of this
present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed
in us, and the glory we will share with Jesus in the land that is fairer
than day.
Next
The Second Beast
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