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Two Beasts
Today is going to be a lot of summarizing and quoting because it is again a difficult passage that spans a lot of information.
So, who or what are these beasts?
"...among premillennial expositors, the trend seems to be to identify all of these terms [the man of sin (2 Thess. 2:3), the little horn (Dan. 7:8), the prince that shall come (Dan. 9:26), the willful king (Dan. 11:36ff), Antichrist (1 John 2:18)] with the first beast and relegate the second beast to a subordinate role as a religious, rather than a political ruler." [1]
This idea, which I happen to agree with, places the identity of the first beast as the antichrist and the second best as a lesser ruler, a kind of lackey that is the second-in-command to the antichrist, most likely as the leader of a religion centered around the antichrist. With the identities of the beasts placed, one still needs to figure out some of the events portrayed here and what they mean.
Rising out of the sea (first beast): Some take this to be a reference that the antichrist will come from a nation surrounding the Mediterranean. More likely it is merely a reference indicating that the antichrist will be gentile, not jewish. "The sea" is sometimes used it signify gentile nations in the Bible.
The physical appearance of the first beast: this combines the attributes of the four animals/kingdoms in Daniel 7:
"In Daniel 7, the lion was Babylon; the bear, Medo-Persia; the leopard, Macedonia (Greece); and the ten-horned beast was Rome. The animal-like traits of the beast (v. 2) combine the components of all four of Daniel’s beasts." [2]
I (and others) take this to mean that the antichrist will epitomize the attributes of these kingdoms and create a worldwide government that spans over the entire earth. Additionally, many also think that these one-world government will be split into ten regions because of comments both here and in the book of Daniel.
Head with the mortal wound: I and others take this to mean that though the antichrist will have great political popularity at first, things will eventually move into worship after an assassination. There will be an assassination in which the antichrist is fatally wounded in the head, but is raised from the dead by Satan. Already popular, this will secure his god-status among the people of the earth and they will actually move into worship of the beast/antichrist. The second beast leads the worship cult of the antichrist (see verse 14) and even performs wonders (presumably by the power of Satan).
42 months: Another reference to the second half of the tribulation, the Great Tribulation in which the antichrist makes war against the people of God as the rest of the world turns in worship to him.
The mark of the beast: 666 is a confusing number, and host to a staggering number of theories. About the meaning of the number itself, I'm not exactly sure - there are so many theories that it's impossible to know for sure. I'm inclined to think that the number is symbolic - whereas 777 would be considered to be a perfect number, 666 would be considered to perpetually fall short of that and therefore be a very fitting number for the antichrist.
As for the mark itself, there isn't full agreement, but I'll tell you what I think, which is a relatively common view. I think that in the last days that money will and trade will be conducted entirely on a digital credit/debit system. We now use cards for this sort of thing, but in those days I think it will be either through an actual tattoo on the skin or possibly a computer chip. Either way, there will be some kind of mark that allows for trade. In earlier times I think that this would be a very difficult concept for people to visualize, but in our modern world the idea that trade is done digitally through a chip or other identifying mark is not at all hard to envision. Those who refuse to take the mark of the antichrist are not only forbidden to trade (for obvious reasons), but are ultimately killed for their refusal to go along with the rest of the world in following the antichrist.
Well...that's my best attempt at this difficult passage - I hope it's helpful in some way. I've tried to synthesize the most common views and interject my own opinion based on the text to the best of my ability, but we'll only know the details for sure when the end comes. May Jesus come quickly!
Two Beasts
Today is going to be a lot of summarizing and quoting because it is again a difficult passage that spans a lot of information.
So, who or what are these beasts?
"...among premillennial expositors, the trend seems to be to identify all of these terms [the man of sin (2 Thess. 2:3), the little horn (Dan. 7:8), the prince that shall come (Dan. 9:26), the willful king (Dan. 11:36ff), Antichrist (1 John 2:18)] with the first beast and relegate the second beast to a subordinate role as a religious, rather than a political ruler." [1]
This idea, which I happen to agree with, places the identity of the first beast as the antichrist and the second best as a lesser ruler, a kind of lackey that is the second-in-command to the antichrist, most likely as the leader of a religion centered around the antichrist. With the identities of the beasts placed, one still needs to figure out some of the events portrayed here and what they mean.
Rising out of the sea (first beast): Some take this to be a reference that the antichrist will come from a nation surrounding the Mediterranean. More likely it is merely a reference indicating that the antichrist will be gentile, not jewish. "The sea" is sometimes used it signify gentile nations in the Bible.
The physical appearance of the first beast: this combines the attributes of the four animals/kingdoms in Daniel 7:
"In Daniel 7, the lion was Babylon; the bear, Medo-Persia; the leopard, Macedonia (Greece); and the ten-horned beast was Rome. The animal-like traits of the beast (v. 2) combine the components of all four of Daniel’s beasts." [2]
I (and others) take this to mean that the antichrist will epitomize the attributes of these kingdoms and create a worldwide government that spans over the entire earth. Additionally, many also think that these one-world government will be split into ten regions because of comments both here and in the book of Daniel.
Head with the mortal wound: I and others take this to mean that though the antichrist will have great political popularity at first, things will eventually move into worship after an assassination. There will be an assassination in which the antichrist is fatally wounded in the head, but is raised from the dead by Satan. Already popular, this will secure his god-status among the people of the earth and they will actually move into worship of the beast/antichrist. The second beast leads the worship cult of the antichrist (see verse 14) and even performs wonders (presumably by the power of Satan).
42 months: Another reference to the second half of the tribulation, the Great Tribulation in which the antichrist makes war against the people of God as the rest of the world turns in worship to him.
The mark of the beast: 666 is a confusing number, and host to a staggering number of theories. About the meaning of the number itself, I'm not exactly sure - there are so many theories that it's impossible to know for sure. I'm inclined to think that the number is symbolic - whereas 777 would be considered to be a perfect number, 666 would be considered to perpetually fall short of that and therefore be a very fitting number for the antichrist.
As for the mark itself, there isn't full agreement, but I'll tell you what I think, which is a relatively common view. I think that in the last days that money will and trade will be conducted entirely on a digital credit/debit system. We now use cards for this sort of thing, but in those days I think it will be either through an actual tattoo on the skin or possibly a computer chip. Either way, there will be some kind of mark that allows for trade. In earlier times I think that this would be a very difficult concept for people to visualize, but in our modern world the idea that trade is done digitally through a chip or other identifying mark is not at all hard to envision. Those who refuse to take the mark of the antichrist are not only forbidden to trade (for obvious reasons), but are ultimately killed for their refusal to go along with the rest of the world in following the antichrist.
Well...that's my best attempt at this difficult passage - I hope it's helpful in some way. I've tried to synthesize the most common views and interject my own opinion based on the text to the best of my ability, but we'll only know the details for sure when the end comes. May Jesus come quickly!
[1] Steve Gregg, Revelation, Four Views: A Parallel Commentary (Nashville, TN: T. Nelson Publishers, 1997), Re 13:11–15.
[2] Ibid, , Re 13:1–4.
[2] Ibid, , Re 13:1–4.
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