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Revelation 13:1 part 2
The Beast did rise up out of the sea!
By Brother Mike (5-29-22; 50 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
Chapter 13 of the book of Revelation is all about the Great Tribulation that began at the end of the Church Age on May 21, 1988 according to the Biblical Timeline
May our Lord and Master grant to each of us deep spiritual insight into His word during this study.
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}
In our last study, we looked at the first part of this verse, which states, And I stood upon the sand of the sea. More literally, And I was stood upon the sand of the sea. In this verse, we learned that the Apostle John, being an Apostle, represents all the elect. And so, when we read that [he] was stood upon the sand of the sea, he is a picture of all the elect, including John himself, who were stood upon the sand of the sea. That is, the elect did not stand themselves upon the sand of the sea, but they were all made to stand upon the sand of the sea by someone or something else. And since we learned that the sand of the sea is symbolic of the peoples of the world, for the sand symbolizes the unsaved people, and the sea symbolizes the world, we know that it was the atoning work of Christ on the cross which had made all the elect, which includes the Apostle John, to stand upon the unsaved peoples of the world; not literally, of course, but to have been stood upon the peoples of the world is figurative language to mean that all the elect were made conquerors or victors over the world through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
So, there is much more being said in this sentence than what meets the eye. When the Apostle John says, And I was stood upon the sand of the sea, virtually all commentators completely miss the meaning because they use
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a wrong method of interpretation. Instead of letting the Bible be its own dictionary and commentator; looking up each word everywhere it takes place in the Bible to see how God defines His own terms, it is much easier to simply take things literally because to do things the right way can require a lot of work, and who wants to work? Not many, which is one of the reasons why people can get so misled. Instead of doing the work and letting God define His own terms in the Bible itself, most simply use their own minds and define terms in the Bible according to the way they define them in the world. This is especially true when it comes to prophecy and endtime things. They read verses in the Bible and then look outwardly to find what they think is the closest match instead of looking inwardly into the Bible, comparing scripture with scripture, and letting the Bible be its own dictionary and commentary (see
First Principles of Bible Study
But let's now return our focus onto our verse and ask the question, why does God want us to know right up front that we, the elect as represented by the Apostle John, were stood upon the sand of the sea; that is, that we were made to be victorious over the world of the unsaved through the atoning work of Christ on our behalf. Why would God want us to know this to begin Revelation, Chapter 13? Well, as we shall see, Revelation 13 is all about the Great Tribulation period which we know took place from May 21, 1988 to May 21, 2011 according to the
Biblical Timeline of History
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Now, it is of great significance that the beast (the kingdom of Satan) is said to rise out of the sea (out of hell). In the bible, hell is synonymous with the abyss or bottomless pit. For instance, we read in Luke 8 about the demoniac from whom Jesus cast out the demons into the pigs. It says,
Lu 8:31
And they [the demons] besought him [Jesus] that he would not command them to go out into the deep
.
This term the deep is the same word translated as bottomless pit in other verses, and it is synonymous with hell because the story of the demoniac is a picture of Judgment Day when Christ will cast the demons into the deep, namely hell itself. Hell is not a place of eternal suffering as most of those in the churches incorrectly believe, but it is the Lake of Fire in which the unsaved will be cast to be burned up and annihilated forever, for the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23); it is not eternal suffering. In fact, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is one of the clearest examples of what it means to suffer eternal hell. We read,
Jude 1:7
Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire
. {strange: Gr. other }
So, suffering eternal fire does not mean to suffer eternally, but it means to be burned up and annihilated forever by death just as what
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happened to the wicked people of Sodom and Gomorrah who are given as the example of what it means to suffer eternal fire or hell. O yes, by the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31), for instance, many have concluded that hell is an eternal place of suffering. But we must remember that this is just a parable. It is not meant to be taken the way it appears at first glance, but it is meant to teach deeper truths than what appears on the surface of things. We must be extremely careful, therefore, to not make more of a parable than it is, which unfortunately, many have done to come up with wrong conclusions like that hell is a place of eternal suffering. What kind of God would torture people forever? What kind of a God would make people suffer and so blaspheme His name with their tongues forever? No, the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), and the vast majority of scripture reveals the same. But that is for another study!
So, we can get into more detail about the parable of the rich man and Lazarus at another time, but for now, let's look at another verse to support hell being synonymous with the bottomless pit. We read,
Romans 10:6
But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above
:)
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Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead
.)
Notice that in this context, the deep is where Christ went to pay for our sins when He died
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Re 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 [or marvel], 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
.
In this verse, the beast (Satan and his kingdom) is described as that which was, and is not, and yet is. That the beast was refers to Satan and his kingdom before the cross when Satan could roam freely in heaven and on earth, and he had total rule over the entire world. That the beast is not refers to after the cross when Satan was cast down from heaven to the earth to be bound in the bottomless pit in the sense that he was no longer able to frustrate the gospel from going out to the entire world as he was able to do before the cross during the Old Testament period. No, he wasn't bound so that he could not go about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he might devour and causing all sorts of terrible things, but he was spiritually bound at the cross so that he could not frustrate God's plan to get the gospel to and save all His elect in every nation - Satan no longer had supreme rule over the world after the cross, but Christ did. So, it was that Satan and his kingdom, the beast, was considered as is not after the cross. But then, on May 21, 1988 at the end of the Church Age, Satan was released from the bottomless pit for him and his kingdom to bring judgment against all the churches and congregations worldwide as Satan came as THE ANTICHRIST, the counterfeit Christ, to rule over all the churches and congregations worldwide and bring into them
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false gospels,
false prophets, false Christians, and false teachings to spiritually destroy them. During this time the beast (Satan and his kingdom) is considered as yet is. Indeed, the beast (Satan and his kingdom) was once again ruling over the entire world, even what were once the very churches of God, but then all the churches became Babylon the Great because Satan, the king of Babylon, began ruling over them as God's judgment against them for all their sin, for judgment [had to] begin with the house of God (1Peter 4:17). Thus, in this way, the beast yet is. And then, ever since Judgment Day came to the entire world on May 21, 2011, and Satan was dethroned; nevertheless, Christ is still permitting Satan to rule and bring havoc to the world as judgment against them all. Thus, even today, it still appears that the beast yet is, but actually he is not, for on May 21, 2011 when Judgment Day began, Satan was deposed and dethroned, and Christ is now ruling with a rod of iron, but He is using the beast (Satan and his kingdom of fallen angels and the unsaved) to bring judgment against all the churches and congregations, and even the entire world.
Another verse which speaks about Satan being released out of the bottomless pit is in
Revelation 20
Re 20: 1
And I saw an angel
[Christ]
come down from heaven
, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand
.
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And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years
,
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We also know when the completeness of years, which is symbolized by the literal 1,000 years, ended because we are told that Christ cast [Satan] into the bottomless pit ... till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. And we know that this little season was the Great Tribulation period which began on May 21, 1988 when God's judgment began with the house of God and the Church Age ended (see
Revelation 20:3
Okay, so getting back to your main verse of study, my main point in all this is that when we read in Revelation 13:1 that the Apostle John saw a beast rising up out of the sea, the sea can symbolize hell, and hell is synonymous with the bottomless pit that Satan was bound in at the cross and was loosed from to begin judgment against all the churches and congregations at the end of the Church Age on May 21, 1988. And
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Notice that on the beast's 10 horns are 10 crowns. Crowns are what kings wear! Therefore, since the 10 horns symbolize the completeness of power or strength that the beast has, and the 10 crowns on the 10 horns symbolize the completeness of kingship that the beast's strength or power (horns) bring, this beast (Satan and his kingdom) arises up out of the sea (the bottomless pit) on May 21, 1988 with the completeness of power or strength to have kingship over all the churches and congregations worldwide as well as the entire world itself. So, May 21, 1988 begins the Great Tribulation of Satan and his kingdom (the beast) because now Satan begins to rule all the churches and congregations worldwide with no more possibility of true eternal salvation in or thru any of them ever again. And from May 21, 1988 to September 7, 1994, the first part of the Great Tribulation, there was no possibility for eternal salvation for anyone in the world either. This is why it was a Great Tribulation like the world had never seen; nor again would ever see because in God's eyes, the end came on May 21, 2011 by everyone's destiny being then set in stone. Everyone who was not eternally saved in Jesus Christ by May 21, 2011, including all those who had already passed on, and every baby conceived after May 21, 2011, are now all guaranteed to be cast into the Lake of Fire for their sin on the relatively soon to come Last Day of Judgment Day that we are now in. And all those who were eternally saved in Christ by May 21, 2011, including all those who were saved but had already passed on by then, will all be brought forth on the relatively soon to come Last
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Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me
?
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The Jews answered him [Jesus], saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God
.
In this verse, they thought that Jesus, a man, was making Himself to be God by having said, I and my Father are one, which He was, and they thought that it was blasphemy for a man to make Himself God. So, once again, they thought that Jesus spoke against the truth, for how could an infinite God be a finite man? It seemed to them, and even many to this day, that what Jesus said was a big absurd lie against the obvious truth (see
The Mystery of the Incarnation
As one more example of blasphemy, we read in Mark 3,
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Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme
:
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But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation
:
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Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit
.
Here, we discover what it means to blaspheme the Holy Spirit: it is to say that Jesus had an unclean spirit (a demon, fallen angel, or evil
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CONCLUSION
First of all, we learned that the beast in Revelation 13:1 is Satan and his kingdom. And that this beast did rise up out of the sea symbolizes that Satan and his kingdom did ascend out of the bottomless pit that he was bound in at the cross to bring God's judgment against all the churches and congregations worldwide (the house of God) beginning on May 21, 1988 at the end of the Church Age. At this time, God began to remove the Holy Spirit from the churches and congregations so that the counterfeit Christ, THE ANTICHRIST, Satan himself could take up rule in them and completely and spiritually destroy them by infiltrating them with counterfeit prophets, counterfeit Christians, counterfeit teaching, and counterfeit gospels even to this day to completely deceive them so that they think they are following Christ and worshipping Him, when they are actually following and worshipping the counterfeit Christ, THE ANTICHRIST who came in fulfillment of Holy Scripture, Satan himself.
In that this beast (Satan and his kingdom) had 7 heads and 10 horns symbolized its perfection of rule or authority and its completeness of strength or power, respectively, and in that its 10 horns were each crowned emphasizes that its complete kingship over all the churches and congregations worldwide and even the entire world came about by its completeness of strength or power (its 10 horns). And, finally, in that the beast's 7 heads had on them the name of blasphemy, symbolized that Satan and his kingdom's perfection of rule or authority came
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about by great lies or deception against the truth. Indeed, Satan deceived all the churches and congregations, and the entire world, that he is God even to this day, except, of course, the elect who were written in the Lamb's book of life from the foundation of the world. To God be all the glory, amen.
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).