(This is more or less a series, which begins with this post. Each post has a link at the bottom to the following post. Please (at least) read the preceding post, which contains pertinent preliminary thought.)
Rev 13:1-10
1 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.
2 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.
3 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.
4 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?
5 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.
6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.
7 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.
8 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.
9 IF ANY MAN HAVE 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.
There are about a million places I could begin with this – I’d like to give it straight-up without too much my own interjection, but there are still a number of preliminaries I have not touched on. These I will have to fill in as I go – so it may be most conducive to start with the passage that the Lord first quickened to me, then to go straight into the words of Jesus, who – believe it or not – told all these things even while still in the earth for the first time.
So, I will state this outright, and then begin: I believe that the Lord has revealed to me the mystery of the beast from the sea, the beast of the earth, and the mystery of Babylon from Revelation 13 & 17. I expect you to be skeptical (Prove all things – hold fast to that which is True. (1 Thess 5:21)) – but I hope that any of those who know me, or have followed my blog for any length of time know that I am not prone to make assumptions, or jump on theological band wagons. In fact, I typically remain annoyingly skeptical with those theories when people suppose to have unlocked elements of scripture (especially such as the beast of Revelation and latter-day events).
Over just the last century the beast from the sea has been defined as Nazism, Marxism, the Catholic church (actually this one goes back to the 1500s), and most recently the trend is that the beast is Islam. (Yes, I have heard the theory that 666 in the ‘original manuscripts’ was not actually a number but an Arabic word, or symbol for Islam. No, I do not believe this theory, as interesting and convincing as it initially seemed; the main reason is because it requires no understanding to interpret if one reads Arabic, and is familiar with Islam (most people who read Arabic in our time are familiar with Islam ;)) – John said that interpreting the number requires ‘understanding.’ I take that to mean prophetic, or revelatory understanding like that of Joseph, or Daniel, not mere academics.)
I do not have a cute youtube video with eerie music, and stills of ancient biblical art coupled with pictures of modern day politicians and garnished with digital graphics of meteors crashing into the earth.
I did not, in this case have a vision, or prophetic dream – I simply believe that the Holy Spirit pointed out certain passages of scripture and illuminated them to me. After having these passages illuminated I began searching the fuller context of scripture, and passages which speak of the latter days, and found that the ‘theory’ seems to hold true throughout the bible. This has happened in the context of things that I have seen to be going on in the world, and thus I have found that the revelation seems to hold true to current world events as well.
As we are living in the Messianic age, and I have somewhat given my position in my previous post, I will begin with the words of Jesus. Be aware that Jesus’ ministry is all-encompassing in this age – there will not be a digression to an earthly, or more temporal covenant. The culmination of the Messianic age is the return of Jesus Christ to the earth – for this reason His ministry encompasses everything between His first coming to earth, until His return at the end of the age. This is why Jesus gave us the Revelation of things that were to come (Rev 1:1). It is also why Jesus went into such great detail explaining to the apostles things that must be until the end of the Messianic age even within the Gospels (Matt 24, for example). Latter day revelation is a part of the Gospel, itself, because it pertains to the Messianic age, and to the church (who will be here through the duration of the age, tribulation and all – though that is a thought for another post).
But before I quote the passage I will point out this: many seem to believe that the beast spoken of in Revelation 13, and 17 (for they are evidently one-in-the same) represents the single personality of the ‘Antichrist.’ While there may be a degree of truth to that thought in an indirect sense, the beast is more accurately interpreted as a kingdom, dynasty, order, or other organization. The beast has seven heads which represent seven mountains (Rev 17:9 & 10) and ten horns, which represent ten different kings, or rulers (Rev 17:12). The beast is an organization (kingdom, dynasty, or order).
I will tell you what I believe the beast is, and then begin providing my scriptural (and modern news) proofs for it. You decide what you think, and live accordingly – this information will certainly pertain to you should you continue to live in the world from this day forward.
The beginning of my revelation on the topic was this: I had been thinking on the points established at the end of my last post regarding the temple in Jerusalem – that such a thing would be very blasphemy because it is a denial of the Messiah, and antichrist outright because to it would be attributed the presence of the Holy Spirit while denying Jesus Christ.
The God of Whose Religion?
Many people today have insinuated that the God of the Jews, the Christians, and the Muslims is the same God. While the root precedent of this thought is true – all worship One God out of the basis of the ancient tradition of Abraham’s faith – the traditions and religions of each of these groups reveal a very different personality for this One God of Abraham.
When I hear people declaring that the God of Islam, and of Christianity are one and the same – my response to that statement is this: Go and ask any Muslim if he worships the prophet Jesus as God, and that Muslim will tell you immediately that their Allah is different from the Christian God.
Most Christians can see plainly that Allah of the Muslims is not the God that we serve. Even if he were in name, he is not the same God in deed; the personality, and nature of the two religions are so vastly different that they could not possibly be confused for one another in works, or in precepts to those who are informed of both religions.
Here is a harder leap, though for most Christians: compare the God of the Christians with the God of the Jews who do not receive the Messiah.
We could apply the same question to the Jews that we did with the Muslim: ask any Jew if they worship Jesus the Messiah as God (or yet, if they even acknowledge that Jesus was a prophet, or specifically, the Messiah). If they say ‘yes,’ you have found a Messianic Jew – a Christian. But if they do not worship Jesus as God – they do not worship the same God that the Christians do.
Christians boast a LIVING relationship with God, rather than a relationship dictated by rules, laws, and commandments. Christians obey the PERSON of Jesus Christ; unsaved Jews, and Muslims (both) worship a God of rules and regulations – a God who is strictly judicial, and legalistic. But Jesus Christ came so that we could go from being the ‘subjects’ of God to being the ‘friends’ of God.
(Remember, John the Apostle defines the Antichrist plainly in the book of 1 John, so we need not be deceived what it means:
1 John 2:22
Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.
1 John 4:3
And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.)
Christians worship Jesus, who is God incarnated in the form of a man. The Christian covenant with God is based upon the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. He fulfills all the law, and the prophets (Torah – the Word of God), for the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among (and within) us (John 1:14). The current revelation of God to man is ONLY through Jesus Christ – He is the only WAY to the Father (John 14:6).
As I thought on these things, and prayed about them – I began trying to focus on something different, not wanting to be in the flesh. As I forced my mind to change subjects, these words began coming into my mind: ‘Who was, and is not, and yet will come…‘ Now, I knew this was a passage of scripture, and that it spoke of the beast, or the Antichrist – but I was not sure where it was found. I didn’t know if it was somewhere in Revelation, or in the book of Daniel. The words kept coming to mind, so I looked up the passage (I was praying outside at the time and did not have access to a concordance, so it took me a bit of time – particularly since I was thinking it was actually in the book of Daniel.)
In King James the full verse is:
Rev 17:8
The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. [Though, again, the better translation is ‘was, and is not, and yet will come’]
Now it occurred to me – and I believe it was the Lord who quickened this verse to me again, and again, as I thought on the blasphemy of an earthly temple based upon the Old Covenant, and denying the New Covenant bought with the blood of Jesus Christ – the book of Revelation was written circa 95 A.D. Jerusalem was sacked, and the temple was destroyed (in accordance with the prophecy of Jesus (Matt 24:1 & 2)) in 70 A.D., approximately 25 years prior to John’s vision.
The beast WAS, and IS NOT – during the time of John’s vision – and yet WILL COME.
Islam, and many other world religions, or organizations which people have pinned as: ‘THE Antichrist order’ do not fulfill this prophecy of Revelation 17:8. Only an order which ONCE EXISTED, was for a long time destroyed, and THEN REVIVED can meet this qualifier.
I have come to believe that the beast that rises from the sea – the beast of Revelation 13, and 17 is the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin existed in ancient times, did not exist at the time of John’s revelation… and exists again today:
Link: Sanhedrin regroups
The Judges
What exactly is the Sanhedrin? It is the ruling council of the Jewish religion, organized to exist, specifically as Judges in Jerusalem. This ruling council of Judges was first initiated by God in the days of Moses; God took of the anointing – the Holy Spirit that was upon Moses, and imparted it to 70 rulers among the people. In this way, the ruling counselors could share the prophet’s burden by acting as judges among the people in the place of Moses. (You can read this story in Numbers 11; I also wrote a post about it, and its meaning under the new (Messianic) covenant you can read, here.)
Examples of the Sanhedrin acting in the official capacity of judges are seen throughout the Gospels, and the book of Acts. In my first post about ‘WHO is the Israel of God?‘ we looked at the story of the Sanhedrin bringing the woman caught in adultery to Jesus (John 8), likewise the Sanhedrin acts in their official judicial capacity in the next chapter after Jesus healed the blind beggar (John 19:13-34). The Sanhedrin had sent an official delegation to John the Baptist to determine who he was (John 1:19 -28) (we’ll look at some of the specifics of what was said in that conversation in a later post). And of course, it was the Sanhedrin tribunal which finally sentenced Jesus to death.
Link: Sanhedrin to try Pope
In a previous post I pointed out that there were official interactions between Jesus, and the Sanhedrin recorded in the Gospel. In Matthew 23 – shortly before Jesus’ crucifixion, and immediately prior to His description to the apostles of the latter day events (Matt 24) – Jesus begins to prophesy specifically to the Sanhedrin – I do not believe it is coincidence that His prophecy to the Sanhedrin is immediately followed by His description to the apostles of latter-day events.
The chapter begins with Jesus giving a description of the Sanhedrin to the multitudes, and ends with His prophesying directly to them. You can study the chapter in your own time, I will select a few passages from it to discuss in detail – my added commentary is in un-italicized brackets:
Matt 23:1-10
1 Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples,
2 Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat [He is clearly speaking of the Sanhedrin; first He defines WHO ‘Scribes, and Pharisees’ who were ruling counselors in the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem in the time of Jesus, then He defines their position – the seat of Moses: they are rulers over Israel, sitting in the position that God gave to the prophet Moses; again He is CLEARLY describing the Sanhedrin – even as it was initially instigated in Numbers 11. (Remember that term: ‘sit in Moses’ SEAT,’ we will revisit that later)]:
3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.
4 For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
5 But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,
6 And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues,
7 And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi [in these few verses He has described the arrogant nature of the counselors of Israel in His day – they time that He came the day of Israel’s visitation].
8 But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.
9 And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.
10 Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. [In these last verses 8-10 He describes the New Covenant Era, even as I have previously defined it (see last post) Jesus Christ ALONE is Lord, and the fulfiller of Moses’ seat, and EVERY POSITION OF AUTHORITY to the Christian (Rabbi, Master, Father, etc.)]
Then in verse 13, Jesus begins to specifically prophesy to the Sanhedrin. He is not kind, or gentle about it:
Matt 23:13-16
13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. [They have (in their day) denied Messiah, and condemned others for believing Him for themselves. (John 9:22; 12:42, etc.)]
14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.
15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
16 Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!
Jesus goes on like this for the rest of the chapter, in a railing prophecy of Judgment against the Sanhedrin – several times He calls them ‘fools,’ and ‘blind.’ In verse after verse He describes how the Sanhedrin has polluted the will, and law of God – they have made it a religion of rituals and symbolisms, and have rejected the True way of God.
The pinnacle of Jesus’ prophecy is at the end of Matthew 23 – this is difficult to read in the context of a current judgment. Nevertheless, Jesus Christ spoke it, and it was a current judgment in His day:
Matt 23:29-39
29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,
30 And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
31 Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.
32 Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
34 Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:
35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation. [vs. 35, 36 & 37 will be found very important when we discuss Mystery Babylon in a later post.]
37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
I quote this lengthy passage, because there are specific things He states in this passage which gives reference to the latter-day events. For the time being, I call your attention specifically to the last two verses:
38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
This final judgment Jesus spoke to the Sanhedrin before His crucifixion – His final prophetic utterance to the Sanhedrin was that they would be DESOLATE until they were willing to receive the Messiah. This means that they do not have the blessing of God, the Spirit of God, the Power of God until they receive their Messiah, Jesus Christ. A few decades after Jesus uttered this prophecy, and was crucified – in 70 A.D. – Jerusalem was destroyed, and the Sanhedren disbanded. The Sanhedrin, and Jerusalem were left ICHABOD – the glory has departed from them. According to Jesus, it will not return until they receive Him – the Messiah, until they shall say (in Spirit, and in Truth) ‘Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.’
If Jesus called the Sanhedrin desolate until they receive Him… how can the Sanhedrin rise, after 2000 years of destruction – still denying Jesus Christ, the Messiah? Who gives them their power? Who gives them their seat? According to this prophecy of Jesus, it is not Himself – it is not God. According to Jesus Christ, the Sanhedrin (and Jerusalem) is to be left desolate until they receive Him.
Generation of Vipers
Gen 49:1-2 & 16-18
1 And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.
2 Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father.
…
16 Dan [meaning ‘Judge’] shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.
17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.
18 I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD.
Remember, the Sanhedrin was the ruling council of Judges in Israel.
Jesus, and John the Baptist both referred to the Sanhedrin (when interacting with them in the official capacity) as ‘serpents,’ and a ‘generation of vipers’ (Matt 3:7; 12:34; 23:33).
Within His official prophecy to the Sanhedrin, Jesus declared this:
Matt 23:33
33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
The term Jesus uses for ‘hell’ here, in Greek is ‘Gehenna,’ which term Jesus seems to have reserved when speaking of the ‘lake of fire.’ (Jesus also used the common Greek term for hell: Hades, but in context of final judgment, and of burning punishment, He used the term ‘Gehenna.’ From my study of the terms, I believe that when Jesus used the term ‘Gehenna’ He is speaking of the lake of fire. Hades (hell) is a place of holding for the dead before the final judgment. In Revelation 20, we see in the final judgment that death, and hell (hades) are cast into the lake of fire – they are clearly defined as two separate places (or conditions)).
At the end of Revelation 19, the beast is cast alive into the lake of fire (Rev 19:20). How can the beast escape the damnation of Gehenna? I believe this is a specific prophecy Jesus made, contributing to the identity of the beast.
And I Stood Upon the Sand of the Sea…
1 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.
This is actually a very enlightening verse, which gives several clues to the identity of the beast. For years when I read this verse, I always felt that that phrase ‘I stood upon the sand of the sea…’ had some specific significance. I never understood what it meant, however – until now – it is a clue to the identity of the beast.
Gen 32:12
12 And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.
Isa 10:22
22 For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet A REMNANT OF THEM SHALL RETURN: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness.
Hos 1:10
10 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people [the gentiles], there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.
Rom 9:27
27 Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved:
John the Apostle was a Jew who had been saved by the Messiah – HE WAS OF THE REMNANT TO BE SAVED: he stood upon the sand of the sea – the foundation of the original people of God – the Jews.
(The sea, itself, is something that would require greater preliminary of thought to be laid. The beast rises out of the sea – this does not have anything to do, specifically, with Israel (as the sand of the sea does). In revelation 17, an angel describes the sea as ‘the abyss.’ I did a study on death, the grave, and hell; there are three specific places that the bible defines one may pass through when they die BEFORE the final judgment. This is the case in Hebrew, and Greek – three synonymous places are described: death, hell, the abyss. Frankly I don’t fully understand this entirely, so I won’t pretend to. I do know in when the book of Revelation describes the final judgment (Rev 20:12-15) that there are three places the unjust dead are called from before they are judged and cast into the lake of fire. Those three places are: 1) the sea, 2) death, and 3) hell (Rev 20:13).
On studying these I found that ‘the sea,’ and ‘the abyss’ in both Greek and Hebrew are synonymous – that is to say that in common language the sea is the natural sea, but in prophetic language the sea in figure represents throughout scripture, a place of destruction, and is used interchangeably with ‘the abyss,’ (Greek) or ‘the pit’ (Hebrew).)
In any case, the sea, the abyss and the pit all speak plainly of a place of destruction, or DESOLATION. What did Jesus declare to the Sanhedrin? ‘Your house is left unto you DESOLATE.‘
Standing from the place of the remnant of Israel – the Jews who have received the Messiah – John watched the beast rise out of destruction.
And upon his head the name of blasphemy. The Sanhedrin will rise up, declaring its headship – its authority – is from God. This is blasphemy for if they receive not the Messiah, God has given them no authority.
Now my post is running a bit long, but I’ve only gotten started. There is much more. Yet here is my initial warning – and the reason I am even writing out this revelation to share with others: the Antichrist will have quote: ‘intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant, And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt with flatteries…’ (Daniel 11:31 & 32).
I am small, and insignificant. People don’t pay much attention to me, so I don’t expect that much will be made of this revelation I share with you at the stake of my own non-existent reputation. I speak these things because they were whispered in my ear – may I be faithful to shout them from the housetops.
Here is my warning to the beloved church: DO NOT FORSAKE THE COVENANT OF MESSIAH BY FALLING BACK INTO THE OLD COVENANT OF ABRAHAM – he will have intelligence with them that forsake the covenant. When the Antichrist comes, he will take away the daily sacrifice – that means he’s going to remove Christianity – YOU ARE THE DAILY SACRIFICE (Luke 9:23; Rom 12:1). The abomination of desolation will stand in the Holy Place of the temple – YOU ARE THE TEMPLE – the heart of Christians will be deceived. I believe they are already, by and large.
If any man hath an ear, let him hear. (Rev 13:9)
Pnuematic Rain 