The Rise and Fall of the Anti-Christ/The Beast
From The Endtime
| The Rise and Fall of the Anti-Christ | ||
| The Dragon | The Beast | The Abomination of Desolation |
The 13th chapter of the book of Revelation introduces us to the Beast from Hell. "Then I [Saint John] 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."[1]
More details of this Beast are given in Revelation chapter 17: "The seven heads are … seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time."[1] "Kings" in this instance stands not just for a single person, but kingdoms or empires.
The details that are covered in this chapter are fascinating, but at the same time things may seem complicated as we try to decipher what the heads and horns and crowns of this Beast represent. However, please don't be put off by all these details. The main thing to understand is that the Antichrist is the ultimate embodiment of the Beast. We don't have to hang a label on every head and horn—and at the moment we can't—but we do understand a considerable amount of what this vision represents, and so we will try to unravel at least some of the mystery here.
It is a point to remember that the Bible is a book to, for, and about God's people. And so the events described in Revelation are directly related to God's people. If we look back at their history, it becomes clear what the first six kingdoms were.
In the Old Testament the Jews were God's people, but by the time of the New Testament God's people included everyone who received Jesus as his or her savior.[1] The Jews often lived in their own independent nation, but they were, for large periods of time, dominated and ruled by five successive empires. These were, in order: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, and then the Greek Empire of Alexander the Great and his successors. These five empires had all "fallen" by the time of John's vision. The Roman Empire, which was officially declared an empire in 27 B.C., was in power and thus the one that "is" when John wrote this.
Although there have been empires in the intervening centuries from the fall of Rome till now, none of them have entirely dominated God's people in political, civil, and military ways as these first six did. Since the time of John, Christians were and still are scattered in every land, and thus have not been all ruled by any other single empire until this last empire that is yet to come—the seventh head of the Beast, which John described—once again achieves this political, civil, and military dominance over God's people. What have we learned about this final empire of the Antichrist? It is global in its dominion, or very nearly so, it seems.
John writes: "The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the Beast."[1] These ten horns are obviously personalities, because they have no kingdom. Because these ten kings, kingdoms, or powers had "received no kingdom as yet" during John's day, at the time of the Roman Empire, it can be safely assumed that these "ten horns" are all on the final seventh head, the empire of the Antichrist. "These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the Beast."[1]
In chapter 7 of the book that bears his name, Daniel also had a vision of beasts. He describes four that, similar to the heads on the Beast in Revelation, represent the empires that dominated the Jews. In this chapter the first three beasts represent Babylon, Persia, and the Grecian empire of Alexander the Great. The fourth kingdom, a monstrous beast described in the passage following, represents the empire of Rome:
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 watched then because of the sound of the pompous words which the horn was speaking; I watched till the beast was slain, and its body destroyed and given to the burning flame.
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.
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.[1]Out of the head of this beast grew ten horns that correspond to the ten horns on the seventh head of the Beast described in Revelation chapters 13 and 17. Since this beast of Daniel represents the Roman Empire, this is a strong indication that these ten kings, nations, or powers of the Endtime Antichrist Empire will come from the remains of the ancient Roman Empire. Many of the nations of modern Europe were part of the Roman Empire. Today we see Europe becoming more and more a united entity. Could the European Union be a precursor of the core of the Antichrist Empire of the future?
The little horn in this passage that arises after the ten has all the hallmarks of the Antichrist, and indeed it does represent him. Daniel tells us that three of these ten leaders, governments, or countries are plucked up by the roots—overthrown by the Antichrist in his ascent to global power. Whether this happens because of war, internal coups, financial crises, or the leaders and governments of those three that oppose the Antichrist are turned out of office peacefully and replaced by Antichrist supporters, we don't know. Being "plucked out by the roots" and "subdued" seems to denote violence, but in another place where it describes the Antichrist's rise to power it says, "He shall come in peaceably, and seize the kingdom by intrigue."[1]
Whatever the case may be, the Beast in Revelation once again has the full complement of ten horns. The three are replaced by Antichrist supporters, and all ten now "are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the Beast."[1]
You'll have noticed that the Dragon and the Beast described in Revelation bear some remarkable similarities. They both have seven heads and ten horns, but they differ in that the Dragon has seven crowns upon his seven heads, whereas the Beast has ten diadems, or crowns, upon its ten horns.
"The Dragon gave [the Beast] his power, his throne, and great authority."[1] The power behind the throne in all these empires that have had temporal rule over and have often cruelly persecuted God's people through millennia is none other than that great red Dragon, Satan. But now he is cast down to the earth, and he intends not just to be the power behind the throne but the very power himself in the person of the Antichrist.[1]
Things get a little complicated because the Beast is a seven-headed monster, but only the seventh head is specifically the Antichrist. Yet the Antichrist is referred to in Revelation as the Beast. The Antichrist is the incarnation of the seven-headed Beast in the last days, but the whole Beast has been anti-God, and therefore by extension anti-Christ, since it first manifested itself in the ancient Egyptian Empire. Although there were some good personalities associated with and sometimes even ruling those ancient empires, the essence of those empires was anti-Christ, as can be seen by the persecutions they often mounted against God's people. Generally when the Beast is referred to from this point on, it is speaking specifically of the Antichrist. John continues:
We know that this is referring to the seventh head, the Antichrist, because a few verses later on we see that the Antichrist has a false prophet who "causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the … Beast [the Antichrist], whose deadly wound was healed … telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the Beast who was wounded by the sword and lived."[1]
This assassination attempt on the Antichrist is the pivotal moment in his satanic career. A mortal wound is one that you die from. If he doesn't die from it, it cannot be said he was mortally wounded. This "head," in other words, is definitely dead. The Antichrist has been killed. End of story? No! He comes back from the dead. His "healing" is such a "miracle" that "all the world marvels."
Revelation 17:8 again states that "those who dwell on the earth will marvel … when they see the Beast that was, and is not, and yet is." Now things are going to get even more intriguing as we are presented with a riddle. "And the Beast that was, and is not, is himself also the eighth, and is of the seven, and is going to perdition."[1] This Beast of Revelation has only seven heads. So where does this eighth one pop up from? Somehow an eighth personality has entered the equation.
When the Antichrist first rises to power and confirms the seven-year Covenant, he is the head of the seventh great empire. But he is not yet really completely anti-Christ; he hasn't yet been fully possessed of the Devil. But "in the middle of the week," three and a half years after confirming the Covenant, he is killed and resurrected. This "resurrection" would serve as his credentials to divinity. It seems that it is at this point the Antichrist becomes possessed completely by the Devil. He looks like the very same man, the seventh head, only he is now the eighth.
The Bible records a definite behavior change at this point. The man is obviously evil of heart to begin with, but now he is no more Mr. Pretend-Nice-Guy. He will no longer be the same man who brought world peace, solved the thorny problem of Jerusalem, and made the Covenant. Now "the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition [Hell or damnation], who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God."[1]
The Devil is the ultimate megalomaniac. Satan has always wanted to be worshiped as God. He even tried to get Jesus to "fall down and worship [him]."[1] And now he is demanding that the world worship him. Satan in the form of a man is finally going to get what he's been after all the time, kingship of the world, and to be worshiped as God.
The Antichrist Beast will be Satan incarnate, Satan in the flesh, just as Jesus was God in the flesh. And this will result in hell on earth during those last three and a half years of the Antichrist's reign. "And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months."[1]
Notes and References
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