REIGN OF THE BEAST: PART 2  


 

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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