The Gospel of Revelation
Then I 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.
Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority.
And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast.
So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?”
And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months.
Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven.
It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation.
All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
If anyone has an ear, let him hear.
He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity; he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.
Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon.
And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men.
And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived.
He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.
He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads,
and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.
Content source: English Standard Version (ESV) of the Holy Bible.
Image source: Our media Team
In this chapter 13 the apostle John, author of these prophetic visions, introduces us to the last two characters; one is the Beast that rises from the sea. This personage will embody a political power, but he is also a person.
The last character will be the Beast that rises from the earth; This will be a religious leader, as we will see from verse 11 to 18.
Here the fierce war between LIGHT and Darkness, between God and Satan, will be revealed to us. Now will manifest, with all rawness, the terrible struggle that the Creator God and Satan, the most beautiful of all the angels, who had wanted to be like God, started a rebellion dragging a third of the celestial hosts with them from the beginning. . This enemy, even knowing that he has been defeated in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, wants to drag with him, towards his final punishment, all the souls he could conquer.
In this chapter we will see two Beasts, which in their literal translation would be "wild beasts". There is disagreement among biblical expositors of reputations regarding the identity of the beasts. Some consider that the first beast is a person, while others relate this figure to the Roman Empire. Some treat the second beast as the man of sin, while others treat it merely as a prophet, or, as a companion of the first beast, as was John the Baptist, for Jesus Christ.
These difficulties arise, in my opinion, because it is impossible to separate the king from his kingdom. A dictator has to have a fiefdom to rule or govern, otherwise he could not be a dictator. Even though it is difficult to distinguish the two, it seems that the first Beast is the Antichrist, the ruler over the restored Roman Empire. In chapter 16, verse 10, we are told about the throne of the beast. From that mention we can deduce that there must be someone who will sit on that throne, which would be the Beast mentioned here.
After determining the identity of the first Beast, it is not difficult to identify the second. It is a man, the False Prophet, the religious leader, who is in charge of guiding and carrying out, the adoration of the first Beast, which is the Antichrist.
Here is the vision of the beast in the sea: image of the dragon, called an ally by the peoples of the world, in his war against the saints, the ten diadems are on the ten horns (political power), not on the seven heads ( the source of authority), which is the dragon that delegates its authority to the monster
The beast represents an embodiment of political and social evil, this monster is a compendium of the images found in the book of Daniel on the ancient political powers
One of its heads ... wound is a simil of the lamb, the symbol represents both the emperors and the empires
He was given ... blasphemy for the dragon, given authority by God, over those who dwelt on earth
Here, that the apostle John gives us good news. This world dictator will only govern for 42 months, that is, for three and a half years. When John wrote that: "He was also given a mouth that spoke great things and blasphemy," he is indicating that this character will be a great talker, someone who will fill his mouth promising many things, a charlatan. The prophet Daniel also mentions this characteristic.
We need to check everything we hear in our time.
The Antichrist will be a charlatan, will have much charisma, will be able to promote himself, to obtain the favor of this world that rejects Jesus Christ.
This chapter the apostle John reveals to us by the Holy Spirit the things that are to come in relation to the Beasts, a character that still deceived many, and the controversial mark of the beast that many pointed out was the bar code and other more updated they say it's a body implantation chip