Revelation 13:1-18
[7/24/11]
Review:
Revelation 12:13-17 (GW) When the serpent saw that it had been thrown down to earth, it persecuted the woman who had given birth to the boy.
14) (GW) The woman was given the two wings of the large eagle in order to fly away from the snake to her place in the wilderness, where she could be taken care of for a time, times, and half a time.
QUESTION: What has always been the source of the believer’s victory over Satan?
ANSWER: Their source of victory is “the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony.”
QUESTION: When is Satan kicked out of Heaven for good?
ANSWER: He is kicked out this final time in the middle of the Tribulation Period.
15) (GW) The snake’s mouth poured out a river of water behind the woman in order to sweep her away.
16) (GW) The earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river which had poured out of the serpent’s mouth.
QUESTION: How does Satan attempt to destroy the people of Israel?
ANSWER: He uses a super-natural flash flood, but God creates a valley to swallow the river. It reminds me of the serpent that Moses’ rod became swallowing the serpents that Pharoah’s magicians made with their rods.
17) (GW) The serpent became angry with the woman. So it went away to fight with her other children, the ones who keep God’s commands and hold on to the testimony of Jesus.
QUESTION: Again, what happened to the child Israel gives birth to, and when does it happen?
ANSWER: The 144,000 thousand Jews, and, I believe, their converts, are raptured in the middle of the Tribulation Period.
NOTE: Others are evidently saved after this Mid-Term Rapture because Satan goes to make war with them after he can’t hurt Israel.
On To This Week’s Lesson:
Revelation 13:1-18) (GW) The serpent stood on the sandy shore of the sea. I saw a beast coming out of the sea. It had ten horns, seven heads, and ten crowns on its horns. There were insulting names on its heads.
(GNB) And the dragon stood on the seashore.) Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads; on each of its horns there was a crown, and on each of its heads there was a name that was insulting to God.
(MSG) And the Dragon stood on the shore of the sea. I saw a Beast rising from the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads–on each horn a crown, and each head inscribed with a blasphemous name.
QUESTION: What do the “insulting names” represent?
ANSWER: Everyone of the previous six kingdoms worshiped their kings.
QUESTION: Who are the seven kingdoms represented by the seven heads?
ANSWER: 1) Babylon [Hammurabi] 1708 B.C.; 2) Assyria [Sennacherib] 700 B.C.; 3) Babylon [Nebuchadnezzar] 605 B.C.; 4) Medes and Persians [Cyrus] 539 B.C.; 5) Greece [Alexander] 334 B.C.; 6) Rome [General Publius and the Caesars] 146 B.C.; 7) Revived Rome [the Anti-Christ] 20–.
QUESTION: What Old Testament Figure foresaw the same thing?
ANSWER: The large statue/image of Nebuchadnezzer’s dream. [Daniel 2:31-35]
QUESTION: What was the main difference in what these two visions/dreams represent?
ANSWER: Nebuchandnezzar’s image started with his kingdom; the third kingdom. John’s beast started at the beginning of this Babylonian System.
2) (GW) The beast that I saw was like a leopard. Its feet were like bear’s feet. Its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. The serpent gave its power, kingdom, and far-reaching authority to the beast.
3) (GW) One of the beast’s heads looked like it had a fatal wound, but its fatal wound was healed. All the people of the world were amazed and followed the beast.
QUESTION: What does the head with a fatal wound represent?
ANSWER: 1) Most teach that the Anti-Christ will appear to be fatally wounded, only to rise from the dead. 2) I teach that the fatal wound was in the sixth head; that the Babylonian System initially died when the Roman Empire fell, but will resurrect when the Anti-Christ becomes the ruler of the Revived Roman Empire.
4) (GW) They worshiped the serpent because it had given authority to the beast. They also worshiped the beast and said, “Who is like the beast? Who can fight a war with it?”
5) (GW) The beast was allowed to speak arrogant and insulting things. It was given authority to act for 42 months.
6) (GW) It opened its mouth to insult God, to insult his name and his tent-those who are living in heaven.
(MSG) It yelled blasphemies against God, blasphemed his Name, blasphemed his Church, especially those already dwelling with God in Heaven.
QUESTION: What are we told here regarding the Anti-Christ?
ANSWER: 1) The world will worship the Anti-Christ; 2) he will blaspheme God; 3) and his authority will last for 3 ½ years.
7) (GW) It was allowed to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. It was also given authority over every tribe, people, language, and nation.
8) (GW) Everyone living on earth will worship it, everyone whose name is not written in the Book of Life. That book belongs to the lamb who was slaughtered before the creation of the world.
9) (GW) If anyone has ears, let him listen:
10) (GW) If anyone is taken prisoner, he must go to prison. If anyone is killed with a sword, with a sword he must be killed. In this situation God’s holy people need endurance and confidence.
QUESTION: What do we learn from these verse?
ANSWER: 1) The Anti-Christ will hunt down believers; 2) he will imprison and kill them; 3) and God’s people will “need endurance and confidence” during this horrible time.
11) (GW) I saw another beast come from the earth, and it had two horns like a lamb. It talked like a serpent.
QUESTION: Who is this second beast?
ANSWER: He is the false prophet.
QUESTION: What do the two horns represent?
ANSWER: I believe he will be a Jew; and the two horns represent Judah and Israel.
12) (GW) The second beast uses all the authority of the first beast in its presence. The second beast makes the earth and those living on it worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed.
13) (GW) The second beast performs spectacular signs. It even makes fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people.
QUESTION: What does this second beast do?
ANSWER: 1) He makes men worship the beast; 2) he will perform “spectacular signs;” 3) and one of those signs will be making “fire come down from heaven to earth.”
QUESTION: Why is this sign signaled out?
ANSWER: I believe this sign is important because it reveals to us why Israel is deceived into signing a seven- year peace treaty with the Anti-Christ. According to Ezekiel 39:1-7 God will send fire from above to destroy the invading armies of Israel. The false prophet will call fire from heaven and claim that he destroyed Israel’s enemies. Israel will then believe that the false prophet is their long awaited Messiah. He will deceive them into this conclusion, and then lead them to enter into covenant with the Anti-Christ. The Anti-Christ will break the covenant 3½ years into the Tribulation.
NOTE: The vision of these two beasts appears to represent that they arrive in the middle of the Tribulation. I believe this vision is here because the Anti-Christ breaks covenant with Israel in the middle of the Tribulation and moves into the rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem and calls himself God. The Anti-Christ have been around since the beginning of the Tribulation Period gaining credibility with the world.
14) (GW) It deceives those living on earth with the signs that it is allowed to do in front of the first beast. It tells those living on earth to make a statue for the beast who was wounded by a sword and yet lived.
15) (GW) The second beast was allowed to put breath into the statue of the first beast. Then the statue of the first beast could talk and put to death whoever would not worship it.
QUESTION: What does the false prophet do here?
ANSWER: 1) He deceives the people to make an idol of the Anti-Christ; 2) he will make that idol appear to come to life; 3) and the “living” idol will order all who refuse to worship the Anti-Christ to be killed.
16) (GW) The second beast forces all people-important and unimportant people, rich and poor people, free people and slaves-to be branded on their right hands or on their foreheads.
17) (GW) It does this so that no one may buy or sell unless he has the brand, which is the beast’s name or the number of its name.
18) (GW) In this situation wisdom is needed. Let the person who has insight figure out the number of the beast, because it is a human number. The beast’s number is 666.
QUESTION: Why happens here?
ANSWER: The false prophet orders everyone to be branded with a number that has something to do with 666.
QUESTION: What might this “branding” actually be?
ANSWER: I believe it to be an ordering that all people receive a micro-chip on their right hand or their forehead.
Concerning this technology being used in humans,
“A human microchip implant is an integrated circuit device or RFID transponder encased in silicate glass and implanted in the body of a human being. A subdermal implant typically contains a unique ID number that can be linked to information contained in an external database, such as personal identification, medical history, medications, allergies, and contact information.
In 2002, the VeriChip Corporation (known as the “Positive ID Corporation” since November 2009) received preliminary approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to market its device in the U.S. within specific guidelines. The device received FDA approval in 2004, and was marketed under the name VeriChip or VeriMed. In 2007, it was revealed that nearly identical implants had caused cancer in hundreds of laboratory animals.,[4] a revelation that had a devastating impact on the company’s stock price. Some time between May and July 2010, the Positive ID Corporation discontinued marketing the implantable human microchip.[5]
The PositiveID Corporation (previously known as The VeriChip Corporation; Applied Digital Solutions, Inc.; and The Digital Angel Corporation) distributed the implantable chip known as the VeriChip or VeriMed until the product was discontinued in the second quarter of 2010. The company had suggested that the implant could be used to retrieve medical information in the event of an emergency, as follows: Each VeriChip implant contained a 16-digit ID number. This number was transmitted when a hand-held VeriChip scanner is passed within a few inches of the implant. Participating hospitals and emergency workers would enter this number into a secure page on the VeriChip Corporation’s website to access medical information that the patient had previously stored on file with the company.
According to some reports, in 2006 80 hospitals had agreed to own a VeriChip scanner provided by the company and 232 doctors had agreed to inject the devices into patients who requested them.[6] However, the VeriChip Corporation/Applied Digital Solutions was sued by its shareholders for making “materially false and misleading statements” regarding hospital acceptance figures. According to Glancy & Binkow, the law firm that filed the class action suit” [Wikipedia].
NOTE: The chip has an identification number with 16 digits. I predict when the Anti-Christ uses this system he will increase the number to 18 digits; and those 18 digits will appear in 3 sets of 6 figures each; i.e., 666.
ANOTHER NOTE: The bar codes used to buy and sell contain 12 digits. A single digit, then 2 sets of 5 figures each, and then another single digit. I predict the Anti-Christ will raise the number of digits in bar codes to 18 digits, and those 18 digits will appear in 3 sets of 6 figures each; i.e., 666.