Beast from the Sea! 01

Revelation 13:1-4

Beast from the Sea!

Revelation 13:1-4, Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. ² Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. ³ And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marvelled and followed the beast. 4 So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?”

We can understand why unregenerate people would read the book of Revelation and be hopelessly confused but for us it gives certain hope!

Revelation 1:3, Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near. Very familiar statement, “If anyone has an ear, let him hear.” Not just to hear the words, but to comprehend and to understand what is being said. The Lord has given us His Word. No matter how difficult and challenging it might be, we, under the direction of the Holy Spirit study the truth as we possibly can to discern its intent.

Revelation 13:1-10 describe a figure to come in human history that is commonly known as the antichrist. John sees here this astounding vision of this figure. Much of the imagery of this vision parallels the prophecy of Daniel. John wrote this letter probably around 96 A.D., long after most of the rest of the New Testament was written. Revelation being the last book in the order of the New Testament and the last one in terms of chronological writing.

This is the most graphic, unforgettable, and dramatic presentation of the antichrist anywhere in Scripture.

But it is not the first the apostle John, writing in his first epistle to a wide circle of believers and to the church throughout.

1 John 2:18, Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. Before the writing of the book of Revelation, they knew antichrist was coming. Where and how had they heard about antichrist? How did they know such a one was coming?

This was common teaching given to God’s people in New Testament days. John spoke about it. Certainly, the apostle Paul spoke about it.

2 Thessalonians 2:5, Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? Before he wrote this chapter describing antichrist, he had already taught them about him. Here is John saying you already know about antichrist in his epistle.

Paul wrote to the Thessalonians saying that you already know about antichrist. Where was the source of this biblical data that Paul and John were using to teach about antichrist? The source is the prophet, Daniel. Though there are some more oblique references to antichrist in the Old Testament, the very straightforward, direct ones are in the book of Daniel.

Daniel 7:8, I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots. And there, in this horn, were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words.

There were ten horns in this fourth beast that Daniel saw and out of those ten arises a little one. The antichrist then rises out of this group of kings, somehow tearing up some of them as he arises. He is intelligent, an intellectual genius.

Starts small, grows larger. His career surpassing his associates. He becomes a proud orator.

Daniel 7:21-22, “I was watching; and the same horn was making war against the saints, and prevailing against them, ²² until the Ancient of Days came, and a judgment was made in favour of the saints of the Most High, and the time came for the saints to possess the kingdom.

The antichrist, this intellectual genius, this powerful orator who grows out of some confederacy of nations and takes over complete authority, wages war with the saints, has success in overcoming them until God steps in and gives them the Kingdom.

Daniel 7:23, “Thus he said: ‘The fourth beast shall be A fourth kingdom on earth, Which shall be different from all other kingdoms, And shall devour the whole earth, Trample it and break it in pieces.

The domain of antichrist, and the kingdom is a powerful kingdom, military might is its trademark. It has devastating and devouring effect on the world.

Daniel 7:25, He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, Shall persecute the saints of the Most High, And shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hand For a time and times and half a time.

Surely through injustice, seizure, punishment and death, he will massacre those who belong to God. He will intend to make alterations in times and in law. He wants to write his own morality. He wants to write his own history. They will be given into his hand for three and a half years. He brings in a new religion, new morality. He rewrites history. He is the counterfeit Christ.

Daniel 8:23, “And in the latter time of their kingdom, When the transgressors have reached their fullness, A king shall arise, Having fierce features, Who understands sinister schemes. His coming world ruler who wreaks havoc among the saints and all over the globe, up until the return of Jesus Christ to set up His Kingdom. He is an intimidator, and he is skilled in intrigue. He is a master deceiver.

Daniel 8:24, His power shall be mighty, but not by his own power; He shall destroy fearfully, And shall prosper and thrive; He shall destroy the mighty, and also the holy people.

We shall see very clearly in Revelation 13 that he is empowered by Satan himself.

Jesus says in Matthew 24 there will be trouble during that period of the world’s history like no other time ever. Certainly, much of that will be contributed to the wrath of God but much as well to the operation of Satan through this antichrist.

He will prosper, perform his will, destroy mighty men and the holy people. He will go after Israel wanting to prevent their salvation and Kingdom, as well as believers from all the nations.

Daniel 8:25, “Through his cunning He shall cause deceit to prosper under his rule; And he shall exalt himself in his heart. He shall destroy many in their prosperity. He shall even rise against the Prince of princes; But he shall be broken without human means. He will magnify himself in his heart. He will destroy many while they are at ease. Revelation ⁶ when he first comes, riding on a white horse, he comes and offers false peace. In Daniel 9, he signs a covenant of peace even with Israel.

The Antichrist comes while people are at ease and opposes the true prince of princes, the Lord Jesus Christ. No man will be able to deal with him, or to destroy him.

Daniel 7:13, “I was watching in the night visions, And behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, And they brought Him near before Him.

It is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ who will destroy the antichrist.

Daniel 9:26-27, “And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, And till the end of the war desolations are determined. ²⁷ Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, Even until the consummation, which is determined, Is poured out on the desolate.”

The Antichrist is called the prince who is to come. He will destroy the city and the sanctuary, that abomination of desolation. Its end will come like a flood. Even to the end, there will be war, desolations are determined.

He will make a firm covenant with the many for seven years during the time of the tribulation. In the middle of the 7 years, he puts a stop to the sacrifice, the grain offering.

He signs a pact for seven years with the people of God. He brings a certain amount of peace. In middle of the seven years, he disrupts it. He starts his onslaught, his massacre of the Jews, trying to wipe out the nation so the promise of God can’t be fulfilled regarding their salvation and Kingdom. Then goes after the saints of God from every nation, trying to destroy them all. He makes a complete destruction until his own desolation comes at the hands of Christ.

Daniel 11:36, “Then the king shall do according to his own will: he shall exalt and magnify himself above every god, shall speak blasphemies against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the wrath has been accomplished; for what has been determined shall be done.

• He is the wilful king, or the king who does as he pleases.
• He answers to nobody.
• He is the last wicked dictator and the most comprehensive and powerful one the world will have ever known.
• He will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will speak monstrous things against the God of gods.
• He is blasphemous.
• He is proud.
• He is profane.

He will prosper until the indignation is finished, for the decreed will be done. He is going to go right up until the coming of Christ.

Daniel 11:37, He shall regard neither the God of his fathers nor the desire of women, nor regard any god; for he shall exalt himself above them all. He may be a homosexual. Nor will he show regard for any other god. He will magnify himself above them all.

• He will be God, and he will claim to be the Messiah, the Christ. He will honour a god of power, a god whom his fathers did not know.
• He will honour him with gold, silver, costly stones, and treasures.
• He is going to take all his fortune and pour it into the god of force.
• He is going to buy a massive military powerhouse.

He will take action against the strongest of fortresses with the help of a foreign god, probably a reference to Satan himself. He will give great honour to those who acknowledge him. He will cause them to rule over the many and will parcel out land for a price.

• He is going to buy the world off.
• He is going to buy off loyalty.
• He is going to buy off allies.

Daniel 11:45, And he shall plant the tents of his palace between the seas and the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and no one will help him. That would be the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea, right in the land of Israel. Yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him. He will meet his match.

We have the prophecy of Daniel some very specific things outlined about this Antichrist. When John says, “You have already heard about antichrist.” When Paul says, “Remember that when I was with you, I was telling you these things.”

Paul certainly had the prophecy of Daniel as the text for that kind of instruction. Jesus Himself affirmed all of Daniel’s prophecy by quoting it,

Matthew 24:15. By the time 1 John was written, the Thessalonian epistles had already been written and widely circulated.

The early Christians had well-read 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, and there they had much information about antichrist as well as the teaching of the book of Daniel.

2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, ⁴ who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

Then he goes on to describe this man. He says the day of the Lord is not going to come until the antichrist, the man of lawlessness, he is called, the son of destruction, comes first. Then he describes him. We can see the influence of Daniel right there in what he writes.

The abomination of desolation recorded of Daniel chapter 9.

2 Thessalonians 2:8, And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. No human agency will destroy him, but the Lord Jesus Christ Himself will bring to an end his life by the appearance of His coming.

2 Thessalonians 2:9-12, The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, ¹⁰ and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. ¹¹ And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, ¹² that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. He is going to come, powerful, mighty, deceptive, just as Daniel said.

When John says about antichrist even before the book of Revelation was written. Even the light of the very first prophecy in the Bible about a coming deliverer in Genesis 3:15 had mixed in it the dark reality of an antagonizing power to bruise Christ’s heal.

From the very outset, there has been a serpent’s brood to strike against the seed of the woman namely, Christ. Through all the ages, ➢ there has been a Cain for every Abel, ➢ there has been a Jannes and Jambres for every Moses, ➢ there has been a Babylon for every Jerusalem, ➢ a Herod for every John the Baptist, ➢ a Judas for every Peter, and

➢ ultimately, there will be another and final antichrist for the true Christ. Antichristos, Pseudochristos, he is called both. Antichristos, against Christ. Pseudochristos, false Christ. He is against Christ by pretending to be Christ.

He has had many predecessors. There are many false Christs, says Jesus. Someday you will hear, “Here is Christ, and there is Christ,” and there will be many false Christs don’t believe them.

1 John 2:18, “Even now many antichrists have arisen.”

They have been around since the very start, Genesis. There have been many. But there will be a final culminating one who is the great antichrist. A portrait of this manifested antichrist, this man of sin, this son of perdition, son of destruction, little horn, this wilful king who does as he pleases, this prince that shall come, this devil, as Jesus certainly would identify him, is now given much more detail as we get into the book of Revelation.

Revelation 13 is the description of this individual whom we have seen him already in the book of Revelation. The first time we saw him was in chapter 6. He is described there as riding on a white horse, having a bow, a crown, going out to conquer and successfully conquering. That describes the initiation of the peace covenant at the beginning of the seven-year tribulation which he effects with Israel and the world.

We secondly saw him in the book of Revelation, where he is identified as a beast in Revelation 11. Suddenly, he isn’t this pristine and magnificent rider on a white horse, coming with conquering power and glory, he takes on a different look altogether.

Revelation 11:7, When they finish their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them. Describing his activity against the two witnesses, the two great preachers during the time of the tribulation. It is the beast who rises to kill them. In chapter 6, but we couldn’t really tell how wicked he was there.

We saw his wickedness surface in chapter 11. Now we are going to see it full-blown in chapter 13. We will see a lot more about his activity as we move further into this book, into chapters 16 and 17 later.

Satan, in his last effort to thwart God’s plan, his last effort to destroy Christ, his last effort to stop the Kingdom before himself being chained and put in a pit for a thousand years and then cast into the lake of fire eternally, calls forth this final ruler, this man.

He is a man. He is a human being. He is demon-possessed, and powerful. Maybe more powerfully than any other man ever. He is the ultimate, the last wicked dictator, the supremely evil human leader who culminates Satan’s rebellion as the incarnation of his power.

Now, chapter 13 fits perfectly after chapter 12. Chapter 12 Satan’s war with God and Israel and the seed of Israel, the Christ. We saw the beginning of that war, and we saw the history of that war in chapter 12, and now in chapter 13, we are going to see the culmination of it.

It takes us all the way to the end of the great tribulation and the final battle in which Satan engages God and Christ. As he attempts to get what he is always wanted, sovereign rule and worship equal to God. In chapter 12, Satan was cast out of heaven to earth.

In chapter 13, we find him on earth, unleashing his massive effort to defeat God and Christ and set up his own kingdom and doing it through this individual called antichrist.

Just a note

Satan is a spirit. He is not somebody running around in a red suit with a pointed tail and little horns and a pitchfork. Spirit does not have flesh and bones. Because Satan is a spirit, he is limited as to how he can function in the world.

His operation is severely hindered unless he can function through the bodies and the personalities of people. All his demons, along with himself, move in and out of people to do their evil work on earth. This is abundantly clear to anybody who studies the New Testament. We see it repeated.

Luke 22:3, “And Satan entered into Judas and he went away and discussed with the chief priests and officers how he might betray Him to them.” Satan and his demons need human bodies to carry out their earthly agenda. Jesus when He was on earth showed His power over Satan.

How? By identifying those places where demons dwelt through human beings and casting them out. Showing that He had complete power over the fallen spiritual domain. Jesus gave His disciples the power to do the very same thing. He wasn’t doing this just to show how clever He was. He was doing this to make a very clear statement to the kingdom of darkness.

All those human beings who were victims of the kingdom of darkness totally controls it. He showed His power to dispel demons out of the humans they so long to occupy. I think most people don’t understand this! They suppose that a whole world of unregenerate people are running around doing whatever they choose. Not so.

Are you saying that most people are under the control of Satan? No, not all of them. They are all their father, the devil.

Are most people therefore, are influenced by Satan? Yes, they walk according to the course of this world. According to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience.

Most of them have demonic activity going on in them? Yes, but not all of them are throwing themselves on the fire and cutting themselves. Some of them are. Jesus has power over that whole domain. Now, as you come to the end, in Revelation chapter 13, Satan knows his time is short.

Antichrist pulls out all the stops on his rage, pride, and his blasphemy. He wants to operate at full power and God. God has opened the pit and allowed all the temporarily bound demons to come pouring out of that pit, as we saw earlier in Revelation.

God has taken the binders off those 200 million demons that were bound at the Euphrates River and set them loose. God has vacated the entire universe of the demons that occupy space between here and heaven and plunged them all to the earth. He is operating with a most massive force he has ever known. It will be demonism at its historical height, all the demons of earth, sky and the pit, all those released from the fertile crescent are running amok all over the place. Satan is endeavouring to make his final great onslaught against God.

That endeavour involves slaughtering the Jews so that there will be no Israel. Therefore, God’s promise of a kingdom cannot come to pass.

He will be doing everything he can to prevent gentile salvation as well as Jewish salvation. He will kill those who do believe. He will conquer the world, wanting to capture the whole world so there will be nothing for Jesus when He returns He wants to be worshiped as God.

In this massive effort that Satan puts on at the end, this man plays a very significant role because he is the human who basically sits on top of all the human operation in response to satanic power and planning and demonic possession.

According to 2 Thessalonians 2:7-11, will be given the power to do signs and wonders deceptively so that the whole world. As it would fall at his feet as a miracle worker and a genius. It will be a terrible time. It will be the worst time in human history.

God’s wrath and Satan’s fury both at their apex simultaneously. The whole universe falling to pieces under the wrath of God and all hell breaking loose under the wrath of Satan. The chief weapon that Satan has is antichrist. All the demons, millions of them, assisting him in his reign of terror.

We have already gone through the tribulation from God’s viewpoint. Now we are going back again and going back through that same period of time, particularly the last half, from Satan’s side.

We have already seen the unfolding of God’s wrath in seven seals and seven trumpets, and seven bowls are about to come. That is God’s wrath. We are now backtracking to pick up Satan’s perspective and his operation before the final bowls of judgment are poured out from God. Part of that necessitates a look at this individual known as antichrist.

• Revelation 6-11, we looked at that seven-year period from God’s side.
• Revelation 12-14, we look at it from Satan’s side.

His ancestry. V 1, Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name.

John 8:44, You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. All unbelievers really are categorically identified as of their father, the devil.

Jesus said that specifically of the Jewish leaders, “You are of your father, the devil.” Anybody who is not a child of God is a child of the devil. No one has ever in human history been more the devil’s child than this man. That unfolds in this opening verse as well as the rest of the first part of the chapter.

Revelation 12:17, And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

This describes the satanic warfare against believers during the tribulation. V 1, “And he stood on the sand of the seashore.” He is being the dragon. Do you want to know who the dragon is?

Revelation 12:9, So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Revelation 13 begins with the image of Satan as some great dragon standing on the sand of the seashore.

What is the significance of this imagery?

Revelation 20:8, and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea.

This is the time when Satan is released from the thousand-year imprisonment at the end of the millennial kingdom, and he goes out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, and he gathers them together for war and the number of them is like the sand of the seashore.

Simple comparison indicates that Satan taking his position squarely in the middle of the nations of the world who are represented by the sand of the seashore. He is squarely putting his feet down as the usurper, and he is not about to give up his world. He wants to be the god of this world, he wants to be worshiped and adored, he wants to be the focus of everyone’s attention.

He takes his place squarely in the midst of the nations of the world and its peoples. There is this great dragon standing symbolically over the nations of the world as if he possesses them.

Immediately John said, “And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea.” The word beast could better be translated monster. Same term was used earlier in Revelation 11:7, When they finish their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them.

The one who killed the two witnesses near the end of the great tribulation time. But now we are backtracking and seeing the beast as he arises out of the sea. The term Thērion, translated beast or monster, is used to describe some rapacious, vicious, and killing animal. It is is used 46 times in the New Testament and 35 times of them in the book of Revelation.

Here is a powerful monster dual way. We must understand him as both a person and a system. Both a king and a kingdom. He has to represent a kingdom because of the complexity of the description here, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten crowns, and on his heads were blasphemous names. Obviously, this is a complex monster.

Yet he is always described with personal pronouns he and him. Daniel, Paul in 2 Thessalonians, and the book of Revelation see him as a person. He is both this monster, a king, and a kingdom. A way to look at it would be to see the satanic final world empire inseparable from the satanically empowered man who leads like Adolph Hitler.

The dragon, Satan, expelled from heaven after his defeat by Michael and the angels, comes to earth with all his demons. He stands there positioning himself to maintain control of the earth, even during the wrath of God and all the judgments.

He sinks his great feet into the sand to hold his ground, and he summons out of the sea this great personality so he can fight the last battle with God and Christ. The monster coming from the sea is the final satanic empire embodied in the final satanic man.

When it comes out of the sea, there has been a lot of discussion about what the sea means. It would be reason to conclude this that it represents the nations. The nations are like the troubled sea, said the Old Testament prophet.

The sea is representative of the abyss, the abyss, the pit.

Revelation 11:7 says, “The beast that comes up out of the abyss”. Here it says, “The beast comes up out of the sea.”

We would equate that the sea with the abyss.

Luke 8:31, And they begged Him that He would not command them to go out into the abyss.

It is the home of fallen angels. In Revelation chapter 20, when Satan is taken captive at the beginning of the millennial Kingdom, he is thrown into the abyss and shut there and sealed there. It is the pit of demonic torment where the demons didn’t want to be sent when Jesus confronted them in the maniac at Gadara.

This antichrist who dominates this world power is going to be a body containing the spirit that has risen out of the abyss. One of the formidable demons is released from the pit at some point invades the body and the mind of this very gifted man an orator, an intellectual genius, with charm and charisma, astounding leadership ability. This man becomes the body for a spirit from the pit.

The idea of the sea being a symbol for the abyss is not new. In the Old Testament in the book of Job chapter 26, several of the Psalms, Isaiah chapter 27, and 51, Ezekiel chapter 36, we will find there some indications that the sea was often associated with satanic activity and great monsters.

Revelation 21 that in the new heaven and the new earth, there is no longer any sea. The sea always represented what couldn’t be seen, the unseen, the dark, the foreboding, the monstrous, the fearful, the threatening, the place of mystery, the place where things were hidden. Before the sophisticated equipment of modern day where we can plunge into the depths of the sea and study all of this, it was greatly mysterious.

Romans 10:7, or, “‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). Paul quoted from Deuteronomy 30:13, Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ “Who will cross the sea?”

There we have abyss and sea used interchangeably. Satan standing and planted on the earth, conjuring up some powerful demon who has occupied his proper place in the abyss

until the time of release. He now controls this man who controls this empire, which is the monster described. He has ten horns and seven heads. This person is the spitting image of his father.

Revelation 12:3, And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. He is the emissary, the agent, the son of Satan. No one was ever more like the devil or ever will be than this one.

What are these ten horns? Horns always represent power, as in the animal kingdom, both offensive powers to attack and defensive power to protect. They represent strength and force. Here represents the great power of kings who, in the human realm, wield that power. There are ten of them.

It simply represents all the world of human, political, military power that assists the monster. Here comes the antichrist’s spirit out of the pit, embodies this great world leader.

He will already have to have reached a high level of prominence, and he probably reaches that prominence before he becomes the entire possession of this demonic force. This is illustrated in the life of Adolph Hitler who, by certain natural gifts, attained a high level of leadership and then seemed to have been infused from hell and spoke in his great speeches in a voice that wasn’t even his own.

At what point this abyss spirit occupies this world leader? We don’t know, but he will have had to have risen to adulthood and to some significance and prominence and a place where he can then move into this great power.

When he does it, his kingdom will encompass ten horns. Symbolic representing all the world of human and military, political might. They all live and rule at the same time at the end.

Revelation 17:12, “The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast.

Are there exactly ten? Ten is sort of symbolic of the totality. They are representative of the totality.

There would have to be more than ten because the antichrist doesn’t just rule with ten, he rules the whole world. They are the anti-Israel, anti-Christian, anti-God, anti-Christ force that come alongside antichrist himself for the last 42 months, 3 ½ years.

Daniel has described this coalition. Daniel is describing here the fourth kingdom that’s going to come in world history. There were four in the image that God gave to Daniel, it was gold, silver, bronze, and then iron and clay.

Daniel 2:32-33, This image’s head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. Eventually a stone cut out without hands, that represents the Messiah, strikes it at the feet and smashes it all.

Daniel 2:35, Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

• The gold part of the statue represented the Babylonian Empire.
• The silver part, the Medo-Persian.
• The bronze part, the Greek Empire under Alexander the Great.
• The great iron legs representing Rome.
• The ten toes representing the final form of the Roman Empire which comes at the end, which is smashed, and the whole of human history comes crashing down and with it, all human power.

Daniel 2:41, Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay. As the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle. So here will be the final form of the Roman Empire which will be a world empire way beyond Rome, way beyond a European confederacy, and which will ultimately be the final form, smashed and crushed and put to an end by Christ, the stone cut out without hands.

Daniel 2:45, Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron,

the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold—the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure.” The whole gathered power of that final form as God then takes His place and sets up the Kingdom of Christ.

In Daniel chapter 2 in a dream that God gave to Daniel that Nebuchadnezzar would be representative of the first form of world government, it would flow all the way down to the final form in Rome, which would be smashed and crushed in its final form.

There are ten toes and that’s where people talk about the ten toes that are parallel to the ten kings that we see in the book of Revelation.

Daniel 7:20, and the ten horns that were on its head, and the other horn which came up, before which three fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth which spoke pompous words, whose appearance was greater than his fellows.

The four horns that arose from it represent four kingdoms which will arise from his nation, although not with his power. There we have Alexander the Great his kingdom is divided into four. Daniel has outlined the whole flow of human history.

The unification of the kingdom of Babylon, one head. The two arms represent the twofold character of the Medo-Persian. The thighs, again, there is a unification there. The legs, which is Rome and Rome split into east and west.

The kingdom of Greece would be disseminated among four, and that’s exactly what happened when Alexander the Great divided it among the four generals who were his military sons and carried on his might. Daniel lays out for us much of this, and it’s important for us to understand it.

Now, Daniel describes also in his prophecy that there will be some beasts that are going to make clear the character of these four kingdoms. V 2, Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion.

The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. There was one other beast in Daniel’s case, which was called a diverse beast, or unlike the rest, and that is parallel to the final form of antichrist. When the final kingdom comes, though it is the ten-toed, multiple-confederacy world empire under antichrist, having

somewhat of its head in a revived Roman Empire, it will engulf the whole world but it will also embody all of the strengths of Greece, all of the strengths of Medo-Persia, all of the strengths of Babylon. It will be the final form capturing all that and yet mixed with weakness and ultimately crushed.

He sees the final beast looking like the leopard (Greece), looking like the bear (Medo-Persia), looking like the lion (Babylon) because it seems to embody all of that. V 1, Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name.

It engulfs ten horns it embraces all other rulers. Seven heads refer to seven successive forms of government, but we will get into that in chapter 17. It refers to Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, and then ultimately the final kingdom of antichrist.

In Daniel chapter 7, and we will dig into that a little more in the future. The man antichrist shows up, and he is the embodiment of the whole prophetic picture of the end time in terms of gentile human history.

• He is the head of the coalition of all gentile power.
• He is the culminating of all the great empires, Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, and then ultimately the final kingdom, which is the seventh.
• He himself says, Revelation 18, rises out of that and becomes the eighth.

This is satanically designed man possessed by a demon spirit from the pit who has a resemblance to his own father who is none other than the devil. Then he says the horns are crowned it is a regal coalition, and the heads have blasphemous names on each one of them.

Every time a monarch in ancient history identified himself as a god, he blasphemed the true God. Here the final culminating form of human government is blasphemous, it is powerful, it wears crowns, regal dominion, and it blasphemes the true God.

The world uniting under antichrist. Clearly in Scripture the world is going to unite. The antichrist is not going to rule over just a unified Europe, but he is not going to rule over the Common Market. He is going to rule the world.

The revival of the old Roman Empire will begin certainly with the uniting of Europe, and we are seeing that rapidly happening before our eyes. We know where he is coming from, and we have plenty of information about him and the blasphemy which he will bring as he attempts to destroy the people of God and the purposes of Christ.