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REIGN OF THE BEAST: PART 2
Although
many of you have heard about this end-times attack by Satan, a reminder is
always valuable.
Friends and loved ones - especially those who are not believers - they need
to be taught - perhaps for the millionth time -
they need to be taught what to expect when the beast rises up and takes
control of the world.
We have seen first hand the kind of control that governments can wield in
view of the recent pandemic.
That was only a small demonstration of what people can be forced to do by
other people that will have a world-wide impact.
There's going to come a time in the future when the beast of Rev. 13 will
become the most powerful person that human history has ever known.
We first learn of him AS THE beast at Rev. 13, but the fact of his power and
reign is also revealed in the OT.
In this study I will summarize the two phases to his rise onto the stage of
world politics.
And then I will concentrate on the nature and activities of his reign.
The following are things to consider as each one of you study the pertinent
passages.
The leader who will become the beast will gain prominence within a
ten-nation international organization.
During a time of great conflicts, especially in the Middle East.
He will resolve the crisis by brokering a 7-year peace experiment with the
nations of the world.
And then, in the second phase of his life, he will be the Satan-possessed
man of lawlessness of 2Thes. 2.
The book of Daniel views this person without making a clear distinction
between the two phases of his life.
So we all need to be very open to the following comparisons.
At Daniel 9:27 we see the benevolent leader who makes the 7-year covenant
experiment that will bring peace to the world.
And then we see that 3 1/2 years later, as a different person, he will break
the covenant by putting a stop to the Jewish sacrifices.
At Daniel 7:8a and 24, we see him as a horn - a leader who comes up among 10
others.
He is seen as a powerful leader who needs to subdue 3 of the ten nations in
that international ruling body in order to establish the 7-year peace
experiment.
At v. 8, the "uprooting" is the symbol in the vision.
At v. 24, "subduing" is the explanation. Hebrew shAphal as a hiphil, make
low, humiliate, subdue.
And so, he is able to influence the entire group of 10 to agree to the
7-year covenant experiment.
But at Daniel 7:8b and 25, we see a change in his personage.
He has eyes like a man and a mouth that utters great things.
He is no longer the benevolent leader, but a person who blasphemes the Most
High and makes war with the saints.
At Daniel 8:23 we see the benevolent ruler who is strong and skillful with
words.
And at Daniel 8:24 we see that he has power that is not of himself.
This seems to indicate a change in personality that indicates the Satanic
possession we learn about in the NT.
At Rev. 6:1-2 we see the benevolent leader as the white horse rider, using
forceful diplomacy to bring peace to the earth.
And at Rev. 6:3-4 we see the Satan-possessed beast, as the red horse rider,
who takes THE peace from the earth.
At Revelation 13.3 we see both phases of his life. This has been studied
before.
The first phase simply recognizes his existence as one of the heads or
rulers who will rise onto the scene of world authority.
The benevolent ruler will be assassinated and then brought back to life by
the power of Satan.
And so, he will begin the second phase of his life as the beast, who is the
man of lawlessness of 2thes. 2.
Rev. 13:3-4, and {I saw} one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his
fatal wound was healed.
And the whole earth was amazed about the beast;"
Revelation 13:5 indicates that "authority to act for 42 months was given" to
the beast.
The starting point for this reign, is the midpoint of the 7 year time period
known as Daniel's 70th week.
The duration of the second half of the week is 42 months, so the beast's
reign will come to an end "officially" when that time period is over.
It's the sounding of the 7th trumpet that will bring to an end the last half
of the 70th week.
Revelation chapter 10 is a parenthetical vision that reaffirms John's
commission to proclaim truth throughout the remainder of his life. But in
the middle (at verse 7) there is a reference to the 7th trumpet and the fact
that when it sounds, "the mystery of God is finished."
The mystery of God is that which was proclaimed by the prophets. The fact
that this revelation is assigned specifically to "the prophets" and not the
"apostles and prophets," as at Ephesians 3:5, strongly suggests that Old
Testament revelation is in view.
In that case, "the mystery of God" refers to God's 6-point plan for the
nation of Israel as outlined at Daniel 9:24.
The first 3 factors in God's 6-point plan for Israel were fulfilled at the
Messiah's first advent through His success as the sin bearer. The last three
points of God's plan for Israel will be fulfilled after the completion of
Daniel's 70th week,
and involve the establishment of the Messianic earthly kingdom.
(1) His righteous reign and "brings in everlasting righteousness."
(2) Fulfills the Old Testament "vision and prophet."
(3) And "anoints the most holy" in the Millennial temple which temple is
described in Ezekiel chapters 40 through 43.
And so at the sounding of the 7th trumpet the 70th week will be completed.
The official reign of the beast will come to an end and the official reign
of Jesus will begin.
Rev. 11:15, Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in
heaven, saying,
“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His
Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.”
It seems that the final act of the beast before his official reign ends will
be the killing of the two witnesses.
The ministry of the two will be for 1260 days, which is the same length of
time as the reign of the beast.
Rev. 11:7 tells us,
When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the
abyss will make war with them, and overcome them and kill them.
And it is at that time that the 7th trumpet will sound.
We learn from Daniel 12:11, that the presence of the abomination of
desolation will remain in the temple for 1290 days.
It is at the midpoint of the week, that the covenant will be broken and the
sacrifices ceased (Daniel 9:27).
And it is at that time that the man of lawlessness, the beast, will initiate
the abomination event and start the great tribulation.
So then it is clear that his 42 month reign will begin at the midpoint and
last for the duration of the 2nd half of the week.
However, God did not assign 1260 days for the tribulation.
Since the beast's reign is 42 months, it would be EXPECTED by those familiar
with the OT, that his "great" oppression of the saints would last for that
duration.
Jesus countered that expectation by teaching that the tribulation would be
cut short.
Jesus taught that the tribulation would end when He arrives in the clouds of
the sky with power and great glory.
"after the tribulation of those days . . . and then they will see the Son of
Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." Mt.
24:29-30.
He taught that this would happen at an unknown day and hour.
"But of that day and hour no one knows. Mat. 24:36.
And so, the tribulation will end at an unknown day and hour before the end
of the 1260 days of the beast's reign.
Jesus taught that if the tribulation were to continue for the duration of
the "expected" length of the beast's reign,
that it is in that situation that "no flesh (elect) would survive.
That is,
1. no believers would remain alive.
and
2. no unbelievers would be alive after the rapture to be saved and go into
the earthly kingdom.
At Mt. 24:22 "for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short."
The elect refers to believers at the time of the rapture - and
those who will become believers after the rapture.
Now although the official reign of the beast will end at the sounding of the
7th trumpet and the end of the 70th week,
he will remain alive for the next 30 days.
But he will be fighting for his very life as God's judgments continue from
the bowls.
And not only that, but the nations will start pushing against him for their
own survival.
But now concerning the official and functional reign of the beast it will
all begin just a few days before the midpoint of the week.
Rev. 12:7-12 gives us the background.
7 And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the
dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, 8 and they were not strong
enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. 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. 10 Then I heard a loud voice in
heaven, saying,
“Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the
authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been
thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. 11 And they
overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of
their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with
death. 12 For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them.
Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having
great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.”
It is at this time that Satan will begin His Messiah strategy.
He will first have the benevolent world leader assassinated and then bring
him back to life.
This is not a resurrection. It is simply a resuscitation that is permitted
by God just this once.
The wound and its healing will take place in connection with the mid-point
of the 70th week. And as a result of the healing, the people will be
influenced to follow the beast. Therefore, it is probable that the wound and
the healing will take place shortly before the mid-point in order to
correlate with the Satanic empowering and the fantastic impact on the
people.
Rev. 13:3-4
I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was
healed.
And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast;
This and the many other miracles will cause MOST of the world to worship
both Satan and the beast.
And they worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast;
and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who is
able to wage war with him?”
Paul describes the miracle activity at 2Thes. 2:9.
The coming of the man of lawlessness is according to the energy of Satan,
with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of
unrighteousness.
All of these things will make it very difficult for the unbelievers of the
world to resist the beast.
In fact, Paul tells us that God will send upon them a working of deception
so that they might believe the lie" (2Thes. 2:11).
In verse 8, it says that "all who dwell on the earth will worship him, that
is, whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the
book of life." That is, those who had not believed and were not going to
believe in Christ would instead direct their spiritual focus onto the beast
and Satan. Now, this use of "all" is certainly hyperbole, but it does
indicate the huge number of people who will be deceived into following after
the beast.
And so as the beast begins his reign, he will elevate himself above every
object of religious worship and proclaim himself to be THE GOD.
He will blaspheme God and reject all objects of religious worship.
Daniel 7:25, He will speak out against the Most High.
A good summary of the blasphemy is given at Rev 13:5-6.
There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and
authority to act for forty-two months was given to him. And he opened his
mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle,
that is, those who dwell in heaven.
All of that simply translates into creature arrogance that denies any
accountability to the creator.
From the perspective of the satan-possessed beast, it expresses the desire
of Satan seen at Is. 14:14,
I will elevate myself above the heights of the Shekinah glory.
I will make myself like the Most High.
oppose the prince of princes.
Dan. 11:36 explains it.
He will exalt and magnify himself above every god and speak extraordinary
things against the God of gods.
At 2Thes. 2:4,
He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of
worship,
so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being
God.
Paul describes these false demonic gods at 1Cor. 8:5, "even though there are
so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods
and many lords."
And then contrasts them with the truth at verse 6.
yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we
exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we
exist through Him.
Now, continuing at Dan. 11:36, no one can be certain about the
interpretation of the following so only various suggestions can be offered.
He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers.
Without focusing on what gods that might include, it simply means that he
will forsake whatever religious culture in which he was raised.
The next phrase, Nor will he show regard for the desire of women, is a very
difficult expression.
There are many choices for its interpretation among the various notable
commentaries.
The Hebrew allows for two ideas.
One is the desire toward women: Historically, men have been awed, hypnotized
and totally enthralled with women.
There are various proverbs that express this in different ways.
Behind every successful man is a woman.
Women rule the world.
History is filled with examples of a ruler's success and especially his
demise because of his enthrallment and even worship of a woman.
There are two very familiar examples in the Bible.
David and Bathsheba and Samson and Delilah.
Solomon's idolatry was because of his many women who turned his heart away
from worshipping Yahweh.
1Kings 11:4
For when Solomon was older, his wives turned his heart away after other
gods;
So the point here would be that he will not be influenced by the power that
women have historically held over men.
Another option is the desire that women have.
It could refer to the desire that all Jewish women held. The desire that
they could be the one who would bear the Messiah.
In that case, the phrase expresses a rejection of both the Messianic promise
and the person of the Messiah.
The third expression is, nor will he show regard for any god:
Of course this would include all the so-called gods of the world's
religions, from allah to budha and so on.
And it's all inclusive so that as the next phrase states,
for he will magnify himself above them all.
But of course this is stated in this way in order to exclude all except
Satan as the god of this world.
And he is designated at Dan. 11.38 as a god of fortresses; a god of military
might and superiority.
This person will not respect any kind of religious expression except what is
directed toward himself and Satan.
He will rely entirely on his military might as stated at Dan. 11:38.
Dan 11:38 -
But instead he will honor a god of fortresses, a god whom his fathers did
not know;
he will honor him with gold, silver, costly stones and treasures.
This possibly means that all the nations who align with him and likewise
honor this god of fortresses,
that is, who worship Satan, will be rewarded with material wealth.
Verse 39 seems to indicate some action needed at the beginning of his reign
in order to bring about the response of Rev. 13:4.
Who is like the beast and who is able to wage war with him?
He will take action against the strongest of fortresses with the help of a
foreign god; he will give great honor to those who acknowledge him and will
cause them to rule over the many, and will parcel out land for a price.
Again, this seems to indicate that the nations that align with him will have
jurisdiction over peoples and lands.
It is very possible that this is what was shown to John at Rev. 17:12-13.
The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a
kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour. 13
These have one purpose, and they give their power and authority to the
beast.
And together the beast and the ten will make war with Jesus and with those
who believe in Him.
Revelation continues at verse 14,
These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them,
because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him
are the called and chosen and faithful.
Now, within the process of making his claim to deity, it seems that the
beast will begin in Jerusalem when he places the abomination of desolation
in the Holy Place of the temple.
Daniel described it at Dan. 9:27, In the middle of the week he will put a
stop to sacrifice and grain offering and on the wing of the temple there
will be abominations, causing desolation.
And Jesus confirmed it at Mat. 24:15-21.
Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of
through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, then there will be a
great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world
until now, nor ever will.
Now of course this will effectively break the 7-year covenant experiment as
he "puts a stop to the sacrifices and grain offerings" that were authorized
by that covenant.
This seems to be in view at Rev. 11 when the beast takes total control over
the city of Jerusalem and the temple for the duration of his reign.
Then there was given me a measuring rod like a staff; and someone said, “Get
up and measure the temple of God and the altar, and those who worship in it.
2 Leave out the court which is outside the temple and do not measure it, for
it has been given to the nations; and they will tread under foot the holy
city for forty-two months.
And then after the abomination event, the massive persecution against the
Jews will begin as Jesus taught at Mat. 24:9-10.
Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will
be hated by all nations because of My name.
At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one
another.
And as shown to John at Rev. 12:13.
And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted
the woman who gave birth to the male child.
When Jesus taught about this, He focused on the people who would be living
in the area of the nation of Israel.
He said, Those who are in Judea.
And the majority of residents in that area would be the Jews.
He warned them to flee the area and it seems the safest place to hide would
be in the mountainous wilderness of Ammon, Moab and Edom. Or what is today,
Southern Jordan.
Rev. 12 shows that this area is in fact a place that will be provided by God
for the beast-resisters of Israel to hide.
Rev. 12:6, 6 Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place
prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two
hundred and sixty days.
Rev. 12:14, But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so
that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished
for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.
At Rev. 12:17, John's vision also shows that the persecution will be just as
intense against the believers in Jesus.
So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the
rest of her children,
who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus
And this is also stated at Rev. 13:7, and it was given to him to make war
with the saints and to overcome them.
This persecution and killing by the beast is also taught in the book of
Daniel.
At Dan. 7:25, The beast will "wear down" the holy ones of God:
The primary idea is that during his reign, he will harass and persecute with
the intent to kill and totally eliminate all of God's people who are on the
earth.
The object of this attack is described as the holy ones of the Highest One,
which of course is God Himself.
And the holy ones are those who have a relationship with God.
What is interesting is that there are two ways to have a relationship with
God.
One, of course is through trusting in the Messianic promise. This provides
forgiveness of sins and everlasting life.
The second way is to be a member of God's chosen race, the Jews.
This is not a salvation relationship, but places the race under the special
physical protection of God, based on the promises made to Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob. They are considered set apart as having a special part in God's plan.
For this reason they are often called holy ones throughout the OT.
However, sadly, this also brings individuals under the direct attack from
Satan.
And all throughout history the Jewish people have been persecuted and killed
by the machinations of Satan.
He has used religion, superstition, cultural and racial bias; lies and
deception as he has weaponized humans to do his bidding.
Now of course this can have a double application since we learn in the NT
that the beast's oppression will be on both the Jewish people and those who
believe in Jesus.
At Revelation 13:5-7, the focus seems to be on the believers in Jesus
because of the NT or church age context.
There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and
authority to act for forty-two months was given to him. And he opened his
mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle,
that is, those who dwell in heaven. It was also given to him to make war
with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and
people and tongue and nation was given to him.
But, as we have already seen, Rev. 12 shows both groups mentioned
separately.
One group refers to the members of the Jewish race, which is the woman in
the passage.
The other group refers to the believers in Jesus as at Rev. 12:17.
So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the
rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the
testimony of Jesus.
In addition, the persecution and killing of people goes beyond the Jews and
Christians and includes anyone who will
not worship the beast. Rev. 13:15
And it was given to the false prophet to give breath to the image of the
beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as
do not worship the image of the beast to be killed.
At Dan. 7:25, another action by the beast is that he will intend to make
changes in time periods and law:
The full extent of these changes cannot be determined at this time. But it
seems that when the beast begins his reign,
he will change everything about how divine law governs the human race.
He will change laws of worship and of morality since everything will revolve
around worship of himself and of Satan.
The word, time periods is the plural of zeman. It is used for time periods
and various occasions or seasons.
Since the beast attempts to usurp the authority and actions of God,
it is a good way to flex his muscles by taking upon himself the divine
prerogative of changing times and seasons.
That divine prerogative is stated at Daniel 2:21, "It is He who changes the
times and the seasons.
The verse also states the duration of this activity. "they will be given
into his hands for 3 1/2 years.
This means that "they" will be the objects of the beast's agenda.
The plural THEY has 3 possible antecedents.
1. The holy ones who will be harassed and worn down.
2. The times and law, which is the nearest and most natural antecedent, and
likewise will come under the beast's authority for the duration.
3. BOTH the saints and "law."
However, the "they" must AT THE VERY LEAST refer to "times and law."
It doesn't matter which option is "chosen" by the interpreter because we
have other passages that establish
that the persecution activity of the beast will be for 3 1/2 years.
For that matter, even during the next 30 days the beast will be attempting
to carry out his agenda.
It is just that his official reign and authority will be over after 1260
days.
And ANY believer who is on the earth at that time will still be vulnerable
to his persecution activity.
And there will be many believers on the earth both before and after the
rapture.
And this is a good place to mention the economic policy of the beast as
administered by the false prophet.
It is mentioned specifically only at Rev. 13:16-17
And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and
the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on
their forehead, and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell,
except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number
of his name.
This amounts to total economic control. For those who reside in the
jurisdiction of the beast, all financial transactions will be conducted only
through the mechanism that is called the mark of the beast.
Those who resist beast worship will effectively become homeless and must
find some way to survive under the radar.
Perhaps there will be a way to use gold, silver or jewels to obtain food and
other necessities.
But it seems unlikely that individual beast worshippers will be willing to
help those outside the system.
By the way, this factor is a huge blow to the theory of imminence.
The technology required to fulfill Rev. 13:14-16 was not in place at the
time of writing and is something that simply could not be developed at that
time.
And in fact has not been developed until this very decade and perhaps not
even complete enough yet.
What then is the expectation of the church concerning Christ's return.
The expectation of the church was and is – NOT that Christ can return at any
moment.
But it is the FACT that Christ will indeed come again, but only according to
the wisdom and timing of the plan of God.
Now, since there is clearly a promise of Christ's return and our gathering
together to Him, it is certainly something that believers should be HOPING
for and waiting for.
This attitude expresses the normal Christian life that looks forward to the
fulfillment of that promise.
At 2Tim. 4:8, This attitude is described as "loving His appearing."
However, the fulfillment of that promise must await the perfect timing of
the plan of God.
As Paul wrote, "which He will bring about at His own time." 1Tim. 6:15.
And as Jesus stated, "you don't need to know the specific times or time
periods which the Father has fixed by His own authority." Acts 1:7.
So, during this time prior to that fulfillment, Christians should still be
"loving His appearing" and be waiting in great anticipation for His return.
1Cor. 1:7, "waiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Now lets look at Dan 8:24-25, which pretty much just gives a summary of what
we have already seen.
First we see that “His power will be mighty, but not by his own power.
Of course this refers to the Satanic power as stated in the NT.
At Rev. 13:4, we see that Satan gave his authority to the beast.
And at 2Thes. 2:9,
The coming of the man of lawlessness is in accord with the activity of
Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders.
Next we see that he will destroy to an extraordinary degree.
And prosper and perform his will;
He will destroy mighty men and the holy people.
The mighty men refers to all who resist him.
And the Holy people probably refers to the Jewish people as indicated
earlier.
Next at verse 25, we see a reference to his deceptive activity - again -
which we saw earlier.
“And through his shrewdness He will cause deceit to succeed by his
influence;
Just as Paul wrote at 2Thes. 2:10, with all the deception of wickedness.
Continuing at Dan. 8:25,
And he will magnify himself in his heart,
And he will destroy many while they are at ease.
The key factor here is the term, at ease.
All of a sudden while the world is enjoying the peace of the covenant
experiment, the beast arises and begins to kill anyone who will not worship
him.
Next, Gabriel stated, He will even oppose the Prince of princes.
The ultimate attack against the plan and character of God will be and in
fact has always been against the person of the Lord Jesus.
But as Gabriel continued, the beast will be broken without human agency.
And as Paul wrote,
The Lord will slay him with the breath of His mouth and bring him to an end
by the appearance of His presence.
As part of the DOL judgments, the battle of Armageddon will see the
destruction of all the armies that have assembled in the valley of Megiddo.
Dan. 11:45 says of the beast,
He will pitch the tents of his royal pavilion between the seas and the
beautiful Holy Mountain;
yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him.
And his end is described at Rev 19:20,
And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the
signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark
of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive
into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone.
Now there is another important issue, and that is the actual geographical
extent of the beast's reign.
Rev. 13:3, states that the whole earth was amazed and followed after the
beast.
And at Rev. 13:7, authority over every tribe, people, language and nation
This language seems to indicate a world-wide influence. However that will
not actually be the case.
There will be areas of the world that the beast does not reach.
Rev. 6:3-11 gives a summary of the beast's activity prior to the return of
Jesus at the 6th seal.
Seals 2-5 show us the effects of the beast's reign and the tribulation
before it is cut short by the return of Jesus.
A brief summary of how I see the seals.
Seal #1 is a person. It describes a world-ruler who conquers through
diplomacy with a threat of violence.
This is NOT a time of war. In fact, the very fact that this individual
"conquers," is an interruption of the historical trend of warfare which has
been prevalent in the world since 70 AD.
His conquering actually establishes a time of peace. This is indicated by
the fact that when the 2nd seal is opened, we have an individual who "takes
THE peace from the earth."
It seems best to view this as representing the beginning of the week and the
establishment of the 7-year peace experiment of Dan. 9:27.
Dwight Pentecost and others agree with this.
Pentecost writes:
"There is general agreement among commentators as to the interpretation of
the seals. The first (6:2) is generally agreed to represent the peace
movements on the part of men as they seek to establish peace on the earth.
It may be associated with the covenant made by the Beast to establish peace
on the earth." (Things to Come, page 360).
Walvoord writes:
"The first three and one-half years are a period in which Israel is
apparently protected under a covenant with the Gentile world ruler."
(Revelation, page 131).
Seal#2 is another PERSON. I identify this individual as the world-ruler
"gone bad." That is, after being killed and brought back to life by Satan,
he becomes "the beast out of the sea," who now oppresses the world for 42
months - the 2nd half of the week.
And it was given to him to take THE peace from the earth and that men should
slay one another.
Jesus mentioned this at Mat. 10:21,
Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child;
and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death.
Seal #3 is another person. This represents the person who will manage the
economic policies of beast worship; operation 666.
This is the "beast out of the land" of Rev. 13:11-17 who is called the false
prophet.
Wherever the first beast's authority will reach, those who do not adhere to
beast worship will not be able to engage in normal economic activity, and
many will be killed for their refusal to worship.
And I heard something like a voice in the center of the four living
creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of
barley for a denarius; and do not damage the oil and the wine.”
The language here does not speak of famine conditions, but economic CONTROL.
Seal#4 is not a PERSON. The rider represents DEATH. During the time of the
beast's reign there will be about 1/4 of the earth's geography that will
experience great material deprivation. This refers to the areas where the
beast's control has not reached. The beast is "given authority" over the
whole earth, but he will not be able to implement his agenda completely. The
beast will still be able to control most of the earth's resources, so those
areas outside his direct influence will be deficient of adequate food and
energy supplies.
The result will be physical death in that geographical area from four
specific sources.
This is 1/4 of the geography. It does not say that 1/4 of the people are
killed.
These are NATURALLY things that occur when there is a shortage of food and
energy resources.
It does not constitute any kind of judgment from God.
And if the beast was in control of this area, these effects would not happen
there.
SWORD: While many of those individuals who do not willingly comply with
beast worship will be killed with the sword (Rev. 13:15), that was covered
at verse 4. This is referring to individuals (or groups) using violence to
obtain necessary items in famine conditions.
FAMINE: Those land areas that are not under the beast's authority will
suffer great economic hardship from famine because they will have very
limited resources, and many will die from that deprivation.
PLAGUE: As a result of famine there will be great outbreaks of plagues.
WILD ANIMALS: And as a result of shortages in food and other resources, the
wild animals will begin to encroach into the civilized areas bringing
violent death.
Seal#5 represents the believers who will be killed during the beast's
persecution activity.
This is probably the main reason that the seals cannot be expressions of
God's wrath.
Seal#6 represents the arrival of Jesus, the rapture, and the start of the
day of the Lord.
And it is at this time that God will prepare to pour out His wrath on the
world.
According to Rev. 7:1-8,The wrath will not hit the earth until after the
144,000 Jewish servants are saved and sealed.
At Rev. 7:9ff John is shown the believers who will be gathered into heaven
at Christ's return that is symbolized by the 6th seal.
And at Rev. 8, seal #7 represents the start of God's wrath that will be
poured out on the unbelievers through the 7 trumpets.
The 7th trumpet will end the time span of the 70th week. Specifically
bringing an end to the 1260 days of the last half of the week. And it will
announce the final wrath of God through the bowl judgments.
Those judgments will happen over the following 30 days and end with the
final battle at Armageddon.
Jesus taught that when He returns it will cut short the great tribulation
bringing it to an end.
As we have studied before, He will then begin to pour out His judgments on
the earth through the 7 trumpets.
Those judgments will last for several months and effectively hinder the
beast from keeping his economic promises to
the nations that have sworn allegiance to him.
As a result those nations will rebel against him and seek to obtain their
needed resources.
This will begin at the 6th trumpet when God will allow the king of the north
to move against the beast.
The advance of the king/N will kill many people as he moves toward the land
of Israel and the battle of Armageddon.
The beast will survive the trumpet judgments, but after his official reign
is brought to an end at the end of the 70th week,
his kingdom will come under even greater wrath from God through the bowl
judgments.
After scrambling to survive during the bowl judgments, the beast will
collect his armies into the valley of Megiddo to confront the king of the
North and the king of the East (Rev. 16:12-16; 19:19), and there they shall
all perish by the sword of Christ (Rev. 19:21). And the beast will be placed
in the lake of fire (Rev. 19:20).
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