Antichrist, The Beast, Part 2
Revelation 13:1 And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names.
Who is the dragon? That is answered in Revelation 12:9. And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. Chapter 12 of Revelation discusses how the Satan and his angels have been ejected from Heaven to Earth. He is described as having great wrath or thumos in the Greek. Per Strong’s Concordance, thumos means: passion, angry, heat, anger forthwith boiling up and soon subsiding again; glow, ardour, the wine of passion, inflaming wine (which either drives the drinker mad or kills him with its strength). This anger is modified as great or megas (used of intensity and its degrees: with great effort, of the affections and emotions of the mind, of natural events powerfully affecting the senses: violent, mighty, strong) in the Greek. To say Satan is not happy is an understatement. The focus of his angst will be Israel.
Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea… From where does the beast or antichrist emerge? Is he Jewish or gentile? This is a topic of great debate. There are reasonable presentations suggesting he is Jewish. Our eternal salvation is not dependent on this issue. Bible believing people can respectfully disagree.
This blog’s position: The antichrist is a gentile.
The antichrist is the last leader of the times of the Gentiles. In today’s world (January 2015), would the United Nations allow a Jewish man to be Secretary General? Would the Muslim world be agreeable to this idea? Stranger things have happened. Jerusalem, Israel is going to be pummeled prior to the return of Christ. Of those Jews who are not killed, the antichrist will try to disperse the Jews again from Israel. He wants to purge Israel of their people. Luke 21:24 …and they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
Historically, Gentiles have lead invasions of Israel. Gentiles persecute the Jews. Look at the leaders who have done this in the past: Nebuchadnezzar (Babylon), Tiglath-Pileser (Assyria), Antiochus Epiphanes (Greek King, Seleucid Empire), also Nero and the Romans. Would a Jewish leader of a foreign army launch an invasion of Israel?
In the Bible, the sea is equated with gentile nations. There are examples in the Old Testament and New Testament.
Isaiah 17:12 Alas, the uproar of many peoples who roar like the roaring of the seas, and the rumbling of nations who rush on like the rumbling of mighty waters!
Ezekiel 26:3 therefore thus says the Lord GOD, ‘Behold, I am against you, O Tyre (Lebanon), and I will bring up many nations against you, as the sea brings up its waves…
Luke 21:25 There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves.
A primary key to understanding and interpreting Revelation 13:1 is given later in Revelation 17. In regards to the beast coming out of the sea…Revelation 17:15 And he said to me, “The waters which you saw where the harlot sits, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues.
Eventually, a Jewish man will descend from Heaven. And He will rule. Acts 1:11 They (angels) also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”
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