The Beast
Rev 13:1 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.
Dan 7:7 After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.
Rev 13:11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
Along with the Four Horsemen, the Beast (or Anti-Christ) is the best known, yet least understood of the figures in End Time Prophecy. Let us look at what the Biblical Text actually says and does not say about this enigma of the End Time.
First of all, Revelation 13:18 makes it clear that the Beast is a man, not as some say, a force, a spirit or a world system. Yes the spirit of anti-christ has plagued the Church from it's beginning. There have been many anti-christs and they have done much damage over the past 2000 years. But the embodiment of that spirit will come once, in the last days, as the Beast. The kingdom the Beast will inherit is being formed today, but it awaits his appearing to rule over it. It is the last of the worldly kingdoms that will seek to unite mankind under one government, one system.
Revelation 13 gives a discription of both the Beast and his Kingdom, but we must search the Prophets, the teachings of Christ's earthly ministry, and other parts of Revelation to get a complete picture. The Kingdom of the Beast will consist of a confederacy ruled by 10 major nations. The leaders of these 10 nations will give full control over to the Beast. This world power will be the last in an unbroken line of worldly kingdoms. These seven kingdoms, the seven heads of the beast, are Enoch {prediluvian kingdom founded by Cain}, Babel {postdiluvian resurgence of Enoch founded by Nimrod}, Babylon {built on the ruins of Babel} Medio/Persian Empire, Greek Empire, Roman Empire, Ottoman Empire {who gave their power over to the Third Reich as part of the Axis in WWII}. The last of these powers was defeated by the Allied Forces which formed the UN. Rev 17:11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.
The kingdom is in place, but what of the Man? Rev 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, 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. He is of the seven, one of the seven earthly kings (ie Cain, Nimrod, Nebuchadnezzar, Cirus, Alexander the Great, Julius Ceasar, Adolf Hitler). When the Angel told John of these seven kingdoms he said in Revelation 17:10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. The 'One that is' in John's day was Rome. So if the Beast was {one of the five fallen} and is not {not Rome} but shall ascend out of the Pit {Hell} then he is one of the dead kings that will be resurrected by Satan in the Last Days to rule the eighth kingdom.
Either just before or shortly after the Beast ascends from the Pit, the major Christian denominations, as well as most of the worlds religions, will embrace the spirit of anti-christ and proclaim the Beast to be a god/man. They will point to his resurrection as proof. This will be the climax of the Great Tribulation and the persecution of the true Church. 2Thesolonians 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; We see this falling away now as denominations turn away from the faith of our fathers in the name of diversity and inclusiveness, and as so-called Bible scholars deny the scriptures and the Sonship of Christ Jesus.
As part of this new world religion the False Prophet will create an Image of the Beast that will be completely interactive. This is no miracle, it is known as artificial inteligence, and it is on the horizon now. Along with this, all will receive a Mark, a direct link to the main database of the Beast. These biochips are available now and are implanted under the skin of the hand.
As you can see, all is in place and all that awaits is for the Beast to ascend his throne. But we have no fear of this coming reign of terror because we have a sure hope in our Lord Jesus Christ and the Rapture of the Church.
Rev 1:7 Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.
1 Th 4:17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
The End Is Near