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Revelation 13:1 part 1
The Elect were made conquerors over the unsaved, Satan and his demons, the whole world and hell!
By Brother Mike (4-17-22; 45 minutes)
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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
. {name: or, names }
INTRODUCTION
Let me ask you a question! What if God picked you up and placed you on the sand near the sea? Why would He do that to you?
Would He do that to say that He is giving you a vacation at the beach, to go swimming, to play in the sand, to meditate and pray as you listen to the crashing but calming waves, to get your mind off of the stresses in your life, to gain a sense of how great God is as you see how vast the ocean is, or why?
In this study, we will find that God has already stood many upon the sand of the sea. Are you one of them? If so, it is, indeed, a great Passover and resurrection season for you and many others as you shall see.
Now, may our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, unveil to us what it means that the Apostle John stood on the sand of the sea, amen.
Revelation 13:1:
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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
. {name: or, names}
This verse begins with the Apostle John saying, And I stood upon the sand of the sea. The verb translated as I stood is actually in the
Passive Voice
But now, what does the sand of the sea that John was stood upon symbolize? We have already seen numerous times in the book of Revelation that the sea symbolizes the world or the unsaved in the world. Remember, we read,
Ps 98:7
Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein
.
See how the first part of this verse is defined by the latter part of the verse. The first part states, Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof, and then the latter part defines the first part, namely the world, and they that dwell therein. Thus, we see that the sea is defined as being the world.
Then, we read,
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Isa 57:20
But the wicked [the unsaved] are like [or as] the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt
.
Thus, we see that the wicked are like the troubled sea. And, because in God's eyes, all unsaved people in the world are wicked by His standards, we can conclude that the wicked or unsaved are symbolized by the sea.
In summary, then, the sea symbolizes the world or the unsaved people in the world. Both the world and unsaved people in the world are actually interchangeable. That is, the world can refer to the unsaved in the world, and the unsaved in the world can refer to the world, and each can be symbolized by the sea.
Yet, not so often realized, the sea, in the Bible, can also sometimes represent hell itself. For instance, we read about the demoniacs in Matthew 8. There we read,
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And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way
.
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And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time
?
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And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding
.
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And he
[Peter]
said unto them, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation
[a gentile]
; but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean
.
Thus, we see that during Old Testament times, all the unclean animals, including swine, that the Jews could not eat were a picture of all the peoples in the world (the gentiles) who, by definition, were not Israelites. Before the cross, the gentiles were considered unclean, and so God's people were not to associate with them in any way. But after the cross, all nations of people became clean in Jesus Christ, as seen in that God began to save and cleanse a remnant of gentiles from every nation as well as the remnant from national Israel like the Apostles and others. In fact, after the cross, the nation of Israel as a whole were no longer the people of God, but only the remnant from every nation who were saved through the faith of Jesus Christ before eternal salvation ended on May 21, 2011, when Judgment Day began. These ones saved in Jesus Christ are now the true Jews or Israel, and their circumcision is that of the heart or soul by the Spirit alone and not by the hands of men in the flesh. And, ever since the cross, everyone in the whole world that had not been spiritually saved in Jesus Christ, these became the gentiles whether of national Israel or of any other nation.
So, what is my point? Simply this: since the gentiles are now all those who have not been spiritually saved through the faith of Jesus Christ,
Joh 10:9
I
[Jesus]
am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture
.
Thus, Jesus is the door or gate through which one must enter to get into the heavenly Holy Jerusalem ...
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So, when the man found eternal salvation in Christ, he sold all that he had, which means that he gave up everything in his life (he died to himself with Christ on the cross) and instead, bought that pearl of great price; that is, he believed in Jesus Christ and followed him to learn and obey everything the Word of God, Jesus Christ, teaches. Obviously, this is not in any way saying that the man paid literal money for salvation, for this is a parable meant to teach us deeper truth, although I am sure that Satan has abused this verse at one time or another. I do know that the Catholic Church during the latter medieval period most sinfully allowed payment by money or good deeds to pay for sin called Indulgences, and Martin Luther was rightfully most disgusted with these (see
Indulgences and their Role in the Reformation
Now that we have learned that swine represent the unsaved people in the world, especially those who are aggressively against Christ and His word, let's return to the story of the two demoniacs in Matthew 8 before we return to our main verse of study in Revelation 13:1 because now that we have learned that swine represent the unsaved in the world, we can begin to see what is being taught in the account of the 2 demoniacs:
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Indeed, when Judgment Day began on May 21, 2011, and nothing outward and physical like earthquakes and such took place, they all said in their hearts, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction [came] upon them ...
1Sa 13:5
And the Philistines gathered themselves together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the sea shore in multitude: and they came up, and pitched in Michmash, eastward from Bethaven
.
And, again, we read,
Re 20:8
And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea
.
Thus, we can now conclude that the sand of the sea in our verse symbolizes the unsaved people of the world so that our verse of Revelation 13:1 can now read, And I [the apostle John] was stood upon the sand of the sea [the unsaved peoples of the world]. And since we had also learned that the sea can symbolize hell, our verse can also read,
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I [the apostle John] was stood upon the sand of the sea
[the unsaved peoples of hell].
But now, what does it mean that the Apostle John was stood upon the unsaved peoples of hell or the world? Well, that the Apostle John was stood upon the unsaved peoples of hell or the world means that he had conquered or was victorious over them. And how had John conquered them? Christ says,
Joh 16:33
These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world
.
And how did Christ overcome the world? By His death and resurrection on behalf of all His elect, of course. And if Christ had overcome the world, which includes all the unsaved in the world, then in Christ, so did the Apostle John and all the elect overcome or conquer the world. As John says,
1Jo 4:4
Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world
.
So, John who represents all the elect had conquered and was victorious over the world, including all the unsaved and even Satan and his demons, and this is what it means that the Apostle John stood upon the sand of the sea. And remember, it is not John who stood himself on the sand of the sea, but he was stood on the sand of the sea by something or someone else, and that someone else, of course, was Jesus Christ through His death and resurrection, amen. In other words, the apostle John who represents all the elect was made to have conquered all the unsaved of the world or hell through the sacrifice of Christ; that is what it means that the Apostle John was stood upon the sand of the sea.
CONCLUSION
During this study, we sought to understand just the first sentence of Revelation 13, which states,
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Now, until the next time, may Yahweh bless thee, and keep thee: Yahweh make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: Yahweh lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace (Numbers 6:24-26).
1Sa 13:5
And the Philistines gathered themselves together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the sea shore in multitude: and they came up, and pitched in Michmash, eastward from Bethaven
.
And, again, we read,
Re 20:8
And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea
.
Thus, we can now conclude that the sand of the sea in our verse symbolizes the unsaved people of the world so that our verse of Revelation 13:1 can now read, And I [the apostle John] was stood upon the sand of the sea [the unsaved peoples of the world]. And since we had also learned that the sea can symbolize hell, our verse can also read,
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I [the apostle John] was stood upon the sand of the sea
[the unsaved peoples of hell].
But now, what does it mean that the Apostle John was stood upon the unsaved peoples of hell or the world? Well, that the Apostle John was stood upon the unsaved peoples of hell or the world means that he had conquered or was victorious over them. And how had John conquered them? Christ says,
Joh 16:33
These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world
.
And how did Christ overcome the world? By His death and resurrection on behalf of all His elect, of course. And if Christ had overcome the world, which includes all the unsaved in the world, then in Christ, so did the Apostle John and all the elect overcome or conquer the world. As John says,
1Jo 4:4
Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world
.
So, John who represents all the elect had conquered and was victorious over the world, including all the unsaved and even Satan and his demons, and this is what it means that the Apostle John stood upon the sand of the sea. And remember, it is not John who stood himself on the sand of the sea, but he was stood on the sand of the sea by something or someone else, and that someone else, of course, was Jesus Christ through His death and resurrection, amen. In other words, the apostle John who represents all the elect was made to have conquered all the unsaved of the world or hell through the sacrifice of Christ; that is what it means that the Apostle John was stood upon the sand of the sea.
CONCLUSION
During this study, we sought to understand just the first sentence of Revelation 13, which states,
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