*Revelation 12:10 / *Rev. 12:10 -
(Re: Pre-tribulation rapture?)
The first half of Revelation 12:10 is said not because Jesus Christ's Second Coming and the rapture and marriage of the Church have occurred by that time. For those things will not occur until Revelation 19:7-21, immediately after the future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24 (Matthew 24:29-31; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-8). Instead, the second half of Revelation 12:10 explains why the first half is said: because Satan the accuser of the Church will have been cast out of heaven to the earth permanently by that time, which will be mid-tribulation.
That is, when Revelation 12:10 says: "Now is come salvation", it does not mean: "Now is come the rapture", just as when Luke 19:9 says: "This day is salvation come", it does not mean: "This day is the rapture come". Instead, both Revelation 12:10 and Luke 19:9 refer to particular instances of God working out His salvation of Christians. Revelation 12:10 is simply when He will save Christians from any further accusations from Satan before God in heaven.
~
(Re: Already happened?)
Revelation 12:10-12 has not happened yet, but will occur after the still-future Revelation 12:7-9. For all of Revelation 12 is part of the "things which must be hereafter" (Revelation 4:1b).
(See paragraph 2 of Revelation 12:7 above)
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*Revelation 12:11 / *Rev. 12:11 -
The first half of Revelation 12:11 shows that Christians overcome Satan spiritually by the blood of Jesus Christ, and by their preaching of the truth of His Word the Holy Bible (2 Timothy 3:16 to 4:4, John 8:31b), not by being raptured alive into the third heaven. For the second half of Revelation 12:11 shows that Christians overcome Satan spiritually even by dying.
(See also Luke 10:19 above)
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*Revelation 12:12 / *Rev. 12:12 -
The Christians who will be dwelling in heaven at the mid-tribulation time of Revelation 12:12 and Revelation 13:6 will be those who have died (cf. Philippians 1:21,23; 2 Corinthians 5:8, Revelation 6:9-11), and those who are part of the 144,000 (Revelation 14:1,4-5, Textus Receptus; Revelation 12:5b).
(See also the "heaven" section of 1 Thessalonians 4:17 above)
~
(Re: Does Satan actually think that his plans stand a chance of prevailing in the end?)
No, because Satan will know "that he hath but a short time" (Revelation 12:12b).
Revelation 12:12 refers to the midpoint of the future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24, at which point there will be less than four years before Jesus Christ's future, Second Coming (Revelation 19:11-21) and Satan's defeat at the hands of an angel (Revelation 20:1-3).
But before Jesus Christ's Second Coming, Satan will succeed in bringing the world into the conscious and open worship of himself (the dragon) and of his human son the Antichrist (the individual-man aspect of Revelation's "beast") (Revelation 13:4-18, Revelation 12:9).
But how could Satan ever convince the world to worship him as a dragon? And how could he use, and distort, elements of his history in his future deception of the world?
Regarding his history...
(See section 2 of Revelation 13 below)
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*Revelation 12:14 / *Rev. 12:14 -
The "time, and times, and half a time" will be the literal 3.5 years of the future Antichrist's worldwide reign (Daniel 7:25, Daniel 12:7), which time period is shown from four different angles in Revelation chapters 11 to 14 (Revelation 11:2b-3, Revelation 12:6,14, Revelation 13:5,7, Revelation 14:9-13).
(Re: Wrath)
Part of that time period, which will occur in the second half of the future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24, will be God's wrath and part of it will not be. The part which will be God's wrath will be the plagues which His future, Two Witnesses will send upon the world (Revelation 11:3-6), and the part which will not be His wrath will be the Antichrist's persecution of the Church in every nation (Revelation 13:5-10, Revelation 14:12-13, Revelation 20:4-6, Matthew 24:9-14), that is, those in the Church who will not flee into God-protected wilderness places (Revelation 12:14).
~
(Wings of a great eagle)
In Revelation 12:14 the woman (the Church/Israel) being given "two wings of a great eagle" is symbolic of God giving her strength to flee (Isaiah 40:31) and God guiding her where to flee, just as in the Exodus of Israel from Egypt (Exodus 19:4, Deuteronomy 32:11-12).
(See also Isaiah 26:19 above)
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*Revelation 12:17 / *Rev. 12:17 -
(Commandments)
This is not referring to the letter of the commandments of the Old Covenant Mosaic law.
(See the "Law" section of Ephesians 2:15 above)
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*Revelation 13 / *Rev. 13 -
(Re: Is the beast from the sea the Jewish legend of *Leviathan, and the beast from the land the Jewish legend of *Behemoth?)
Can you summarize the Jewish legends of Leviathan and Behemoth, and show how you feel that Leviathan could be Revelation 13's beast from the sea, and Behemoth could be Revelation 13's beast from the land?
The Bible's description of Leviathan as a serpentine dragon (Isaiah 27:1) with multiple heads (Psalms 74:14), who is a king over all of the children of pride (Job 41:1,34), points to him as being the same as the literal, seven-headed, serpentine-dragon Satan (Revelation 12:3,9), who is not Revelation 13's symbolic, leopard-like beast from the sea (Revelation 13:1-2), but a separate entity who will give power to the beast from the sea (Revelation 13:4). Also, the Bible's description of Behemoth as a powerful herbivorous animal which lives next to water (Job 40:15-24) could mean that it is the hippo, which would not be Revelation 13's symbolic beast from the earth, which has two horns like a lamb (Revelation 13:11-17).
While the apostle John, who wrote down the book of Revelation (Revelation 1:1-2), is a Jew, he is also a Christian. In Revelation 13, when he describes a symbolic beast from the sea and one from the earth, he is not describing Jewish legends but a miraculous vision given to him by Jesus Christ (Revelation 1:1-2).
~
Satan, who is a literal, seven-headed, red, serpentine dragon (Revelation 12:3,9), also called Leviathan (Isaiah 27:1, Psalms 74:14, Job 41:1,34), could have begun his existence as a dinosaur born some 66 million years ago, near the end the age of the dinosaurs. Over millions of years before his birth, his dinosaur species could have evolved (or been miraculously granted by God) to have consciousness as we know it. And his seven-headedness, which could have been a fortuitous (or a miraculous) mutation, could have been heralded by his species as the arrival of a super-consciousness into the world. As he grew up as a conscious dinosaur, Leviathan could have come to know and worship God with all of his heart. God could have then granted him immortality and taken him into heaven to serve God as a cherub. Cherubim are a type of angelic being (Ezekiel 10) which could include individuals shaped like different animals, like how seraphim are a different type of angelic being (Isaiah 6:2-3) which includes individuals shaped like different animals (Revelation 4:7-8). As a cherub in heaven, Leviathan could have been assigned to the office of "the morning star", and so been given the name "Lucifer", which means "the morning star".
After spending some 66 million years in heaven as a very contented cherub, and perhaps as even one of the greatest angelic beings in heaven, Lucifer could have been assigned by God to go to the earth to be a "covering cherub" over the Garden of Eden (Ezekiel 28:13-14), to watch over that special, local garden and its special, individual humans named Adam and Eve miraculously created by God only some 6,000 years ago. God could have also at that time given the as-yet-unfallen Lucifer authority over all of the rest of the earth (cf. Luke 4:5-6). But Lucifer could have chafed at his new assignment, seeing it as wholly beneath his dignity. He could have felt like a long-time chief of staff of a U.S. President would feel if he were suddenly assigned by the President to leave his high position in the White House to go baby-sit two pet salamanders in a hothouse in Alaska.
From Eden, Lucifer could have repeatedly requested God to let him return to his high position in heaven, only to be refused, until Lucifer in his heart fell into rebellion against God, and vowed to himself that eventually he would ascend back into heaven and take rule over all of the angelic beings there, regardless of what God wanted (Isaiah 14:13-14). And so the fallen Lucifer became Satan (cf. Luke 10:18), which means the "Adversary". While still in Eden, as possibly his first act of open rebellion against God, Satan decided to deceive Eve into disobeying God (Genesis 3), knowing that this would result in her (and her offspring) becoming mortal (Genesis 2:17). In the future, Satan will deceive the world (Revelation 12:9) into worshipping himself and the Antichrist (the individual-man aspect of Revelation's "beast") (Revelation 13:4-8), knowing that this will result in billions of people ending up in eternal suffering in the lake of fire and brimstone (Revelation 14:9-11), the same eternal suffering which he knows that he himself will end up in (Revelation 12:12c, Revelation 20:10,15, Matthew 25:41,46).
Lucifer will deceive the world into worshipping him after he loses a war in heaven at the midpoint of the future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24, and is cast down to the earth permanently (Revelation 12:7 to 13:4). But instead of coming down looking defeated, he could descend to the earth in a magnificent, gigantic golden spaceship for all the world to see. The world could see him as an "alien", but he could slither forth from his spaceship and say something like: "Greetings! Be not alarmed. I assure you that I am no alien, but a fellow earthling, born and raised on this planet millions of years ago. I have come to help you through this terrible tribulation which you are experiencing, and to show you how you might eventually return with me back into a much better, higher realm of existence, wholly beyond this evil, material universe".
He could then foist upon the world an updated version of an ancient Gnostic lie: "Listen, my fellow earthlings! None of us belong here. We did not start out here, but all started out as wholly-spiritual beings, even wholly-divine beings, residing in utter bliss from all eternity in the Pleroma, what you would call Heaven, the higher realm which I will eventually take you back to. During the endless ages of our past existence in the Pleroma, we were not averse to partaking in a great variety of different entertainments. So when YHWH, who was one of us, yet of greater consciousness than any one of us, announced that he had devised a marvelous new form of entertainment, we were ready to give it a try.
"YHWH said that he had created a physical universe (this one), which to us was like what you would call a virtual reality, like the ones you create using computers. And he said that we could enter this universe and interact with all of its amazing physical life-forms and objects by temporarily taking upon ourselves physical bodies, which to us was the equivalent of what you would call a virtual-reality headset, gloves, etc., which some of you wear on your bodies when you want to wholly immerse yourselves in the virtual realities which you create with computers.
"But then YHWH proposed another aspect to his entertainment which we all most foolishly accepted. He said that to increase the intensity of our experience in his universe, he would use his greater consciousness to hypnotize each of ours, so that while we were in his universe, each of us would think that all we were were physical entities within his material universe. We would completely forget that we were actually wholly-divine beings, and had been from all eternity, dwelling in bliss in the Pleroma.
"When one of us asked YHWH: 'But what if we don't like our experience in your universe, and want to exit it and return here to the Pleroma? How could we ever notify you of our wishes, when under your hypnotic spell we will have no knowledge of that option?' YHWH answered in a very assuring manner that he would be able to instantly extricate any one of us whom he saw was not enjoying his new entertainment. We all believed him, because he had not yet shown his true nature to anyone. We had no idea that in his heart he was actually an evil, cruel tyrant, who all along had been planning to imprison, enslave, and torture all of us within his diabolical device (this physical universe).
"But during my great sufferings in this physical realm, and the great struggles of my consciousness, my spirit, to find a way of escaping it, my spirit eventually grew in power to be equal to YHWH's, and so I was able to break myself free from his hypnotic spell and regain all of my divine power. I can show you the way to do the same thing, but you must be willing to join with me now with all of your own consciousnesses, your own spirits. You must be willing to love and worship me now completely, so that the power of all of your spirits might become joined with the power of my own, greater spirit, and eventually break completely free from YHWH's hypnotic spell. Then you will regain all of your own, divine power, like I did, and together we will defeat YHWH, and we will escape this vile, material universe and ascend back to the Pleroma and to our bliss as gods, doing what we please, forever".
The world will actually believe this lie (or something similar to it), because it will be accompanied by the most amazing miracles (e.g. Revelation 13:13) performed by the power of Lucifer/Satan himself (2 Thessalonians 2:9), and because it will be accompanied by a strong delusion sent by YHWH God on the unrepentant world (2 Thessalonians 2:11-12). But the world will worship Lucifer (and his human son the Antichrist, the individual-man aspect of Revelation's "beast") for less than four years (Revelation 13:4-18, Daniel 12:11-12) before Jesus Christ (who is YHWH: John 10:30, Zechariah 14:3-4) returns from heaven and defeats them completely (Revelation 19:20 to 20:3). Jesus will then set up his own, 1,000-year, physical kingdom on the earth with the physically resurrected Church (Revelation 20:4-6, Revelation 5:10, Revelation 2:26-29).
(See also Luke 24:39 above)
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*Revelation 13:1-2 / *Rev. 13:1 -
(*Heads)
The seven heads of Revelation's "beast" in its empire aspect (Revelation 13:1, Revelation 17:3) represent seven empires (Revelation 17:9-10): Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, and (possibly) Islam. The first five had fallen by the time of the apostle John in the first century AD: "five are fallen" (Revelation 17:10, Revelation 1:1b-2). The sixth (Rome) existed at the time of John: "one is" (Revelation 17:10). The seventh (possibly Islam) had not come by the time of John: "the other is not yet come" (Revelation 17:10). The empire of the Antichrist (the individual-man aspect of the beast) will be a different, still-future, eighth head (Revelation 17:11), which will be a revival of one of five empires which had fallen by the time of the apostle John (Revelation 17:8,10-11). It will be a revival of the empire of Babylon. The Antichrist will transform the present-day, rebuilt city of Babylon (in Iraq) into the capital of his world empire, only to see his city of Babylon destroyed at Jesus Christ's future, Second Coming (Isaiah 13).
(See Isaiah 13(space) above)
Before the Second Coming, when the world is brought into the conscious and open worship of Lucifer (Satan, the dragon) and the Antichrist, during the future Antichrist's literal 3.5-year worldwide reign (Revelation 13:4-18, Revelation 12:9), the Antichrist will build their main temple in the city of Babylon. For a temple to "wickedness" will be built in Shinar (Babylonia) (Zechariah 5:8,11; cf. Daniel 1:1-2) and the Antichrist is called "that Wicked" (2 Thessalonians 2:8). Also, the dragon has been the god worshipped in the city of Babylon since ancient times.
The Antichrist may claim to be Nebuchadnezzar returned (via "reincarnation"), and so reinstitute the system which Nebuchadnezzar set up whereby everyone had to worship an image or be killed (Daniel 3, Revelation 13:15). The Antichrist may also claim to be, at the same time, the return of Nimrod (the founder of Babylon: Genesis 10:8-10), and Hammurabi, and Asoka, and other famous rulers of the past. For he may claim that he has had many different "past lives" as various "enlightened" rulers.
Besides building a main temple in Babylon, the Antichrist will also sit (at least one time) in a future, third Jewish temple in Jerusalem, and declare himself God there (2 Thessalonians 2:4, Daniel 11:36,31, Matthew 24:15, Revelation 11:1-2). The Antichrist could also sit (at least one time) in other religions' holiest shrines, and declare himself to be God there as well. For example, he could also sit in Islam's Kaaba in Mecca, in the Sikhs' Golden Temple in Amritsar, in Catholicism's St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, etc.
~
(Re: Where does it say that the seven heads are kingdoms/empires?)
Just as the four heads in Daniel 7:6 represented the four Diadochian Greek "kingdoms" which the Greek empire broke up into after the death of Alexander the Great (Daniel 8:22), so the seven heads of Revelation's beast in its empire aspect (Revelation 13:1, Revelation 17:3) can represent seven kingdoms/empires. Also, just as Jeremiah 51:24-25 refers to the kingdom/empire of Babylon as a "mountain", and Daniel 2:35,44 refers to Jesus Christ's Kingdom as a "mountain", so when Revelation 17:9 says that the seven heads are seven "mountains", this can include the meaning that the seven heads are seven kingdoms/empires.
(See also Daniel 7:17 above)
~
(Re: Are the seven "kings" the seven Caesars of the Roman empire?)
Is there an ancient historical source which shows that there were only seven Caesars of the Roman empire?
~
(Re: Would Julius Caesar, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero be the first five "kings", Domitian the sixth and a future Antichrist the seventh?)
Is there an ancient historical source which shows that the Roman emperor Augustus, who ruled after Julius Caesar and before Tiberius, was not a "Caesar", or "king"; and which shows that the Roman emperors Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian, and Titus, who each ruled after Nero and before Domitian, were not "Caesars", or "kings"; and which shows that the Roman emperors Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius, etc., who ruled after Domitian, were not "Caesars", or "kings"?
~
(Re: Could *Domitian be the eighth king, the Antichrist, and a reincarnation of Nero?)
Note that there is no reincarnation (Hebrews 9:27), and Domitian was born in 51 AD, some 17 years before Nero died in 68 AD.
Also, see the "Nero" section of Revelation 13:5 below, for Domitian did not fulfill the Antichrist scriptures, just as Nero did not.
~
(Re: Does the first five having "fallen" mean that they died unnaturally, like the people who died in Judges 3:25 and 2 Samuel 1:10,25,27?)
In Revelation 17:10, "five are fallen" can refer to empires which have fallen, just as cities can "fall" (Revelation 16:19) and just as the figurative "Babylon" can be said to be "fallen" (Revelation 18:2). Regarding Judges 3:25, there "fallen" refers to an individual human body which has literally fallen on the ground due to an unnatural death. But a body can literally be fallen on the ground (or on a bed, for that matter) due to a natural death, such as by a heart attack. Regarding 2 Samuel 1:10, it refers to an individual human body which has literally fallen on the ground due to being wounded, but which is not yet dead (2 Samuel 1:9-10). Regarding 2 Samuel 1:25,27, "fallen" there refers figuratively to the death of individuals and in that case by unnatural means. But nothing requires that the word "fallen" itself must always refer to the death of individuals by unnatural means, or refer to individuals at all.
~
(Re: Ten *horns / Ten *kings)
The ten kings/horns of the beast in its Antichrist's-empire aspect (Revelation 17:3,12, Revelation 13:1) could be ten men, including some who will be from outside the EU, whom the Antichrist will appoint as kings over ten major nations, including some nations which will be outside the EU, and which ten major nations could be the ten horns in Daniel 7:24.
(See Daniel 7(space) above)
~
(Re: What about the difference between the NIV and the KJV?)
They are going off of different ancient Greek manuscripts:
"And the dragon stood on the shore of the sea" (Revelation 13:1, NIV).
"And I [John] stood upon the sand of the sea" (Revelation 13:1, KJV).
Both the dragon and the apostle John could be standing by the sea at that point, just as both an angel and John were standing by the sea at an earlier point (Revelation 10:8-9).
(See also the "Wilderness" section of Revelation 17:3 below)
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Next entry / Prior / Table of Contents
Jan 1, 2019
(Re: Pre-tribulation rapture?)
The first half of Revelation 12:10 is said not because Jesus Christ's Second Coming and the rapture and marriage of the Church have occurred by that time. For those things will not occur until Revelation 19:7-21, immediately after the future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24 (Matthew 24:29-31; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-8). Instead, the second half of Revelation 12:10 explains why the first half is said: because Satan the accuser of the Church will have been cast out of heaven to the earth permanently by that time, which will be mid-tribulation.
That is, when Revelation 12:10 says: "Now is come salvation", it does not mean: "Now is come the rapture", just as when Luke 19:9 says: "This day is salvation come", it does not mean: "This day is the rapture come". Instead, both Revelation 12:10 and Luke 19:9 refer to particular instances of God working out His salvation of Christians. Revelation 12:10 is simply when He will save Christians from any further accusations from Satan before God in heaven.
~
(Re: Already happened?)
Revelation 12:10-12 has not happened yet, but will occur after the still-future Revelation 12:7-9. For all of Revelation 12 is part of the "things which must be hereafter" (Revelation 4:1b).
(See paragraph 2 of Revelation 12:7 above)
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*Revelation 12:11 / *Rev. 12:11 -
The first half of Revelation 12:11 shows that Christians overcome Satan spiritually by the blood of Jesus Christ, and by their preaching of the truth of His Word the Holy Bible (2 Timothy 3:16 to 4:4, John 8:31b), not by being raptured alive into the third heaven. For the second half of Revelation 12:11 shows that Christians overcome Satan spiritually even by dying.
(See also Luke 10:19 above)
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*Revelation 12:12 / *Rev. 12:12 -
The Christians who will be dwelling in heaven at the mid-tribulation time of Revelation 12:12 and Revelation 13:6 will be those who have died (cf. Philippians 1:21,23; 2 Corinthians 5:8, Revelation 6:9-11), and those who are part of the 144,000 (Revelation 14:1,4-5, Textus Receptus; Revelation 12:5b).
(See also the "heaven" section of 1 Thessalonians 4:17 above)
~
(Re: Does Satan actually think that his plans stand a chance of prevailing in the end?)
No, because Satan will know "that he hath but a short time" (Revelation 12:12b).
Revelation 12:12 refers to the midpoint of the future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24, at which point there will be less than four years before Jesus Christ's future, Second Coming (Revelation 19:11-21) and Satan's defeat at the hands of an angel (Revelation 20:1-3).
But before Jesus Christ's Second Coming, Satan will succeed in bringing the world into the conscious and open worship of himself (the dragon) and of his human son the Antichrist (the individual-man aspect of Revelation's "beast") (Revelation 13:4-18, Revelation 12:9).
But how could Satan ever convince the world to worship him as a dragon? And how could he use, and distort, elements of his history in his future deception of the world?
Regarding his history...
(See section 2 of Revelation 13 below)
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*Revelation 12:14 / *Rev. 12:14 -
The "time, and times, and half a time" will be the literal 3.5 years of the future Antichrist's worldwide reign (Daniel 7:25, Daniel 12:7), which time period is shown from four different angles in Revelation chapters 11 to 14 (Revelation 11:2b-3, Revelation 12:6,14, Revelation 13:5,7, Revelation 14:9-13).
(Re: Wrath)
Part of that time period, which will occur in the second half of the future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24, will be God's wrath and part of it will not be. The part which will be God's wrath will be the plagues which His future, Two Witnesses will send upon the world (Revelation 11:3-6), and the part which will not be His wrath will be the Antichrist's persecution of the Church in every nation (Revelation 13:5-10, Revelation 14:12-13, Revelation 20:4-6, Matthew 24:9-14), that is, those in the Church who will not flee into God-protected wilderness places (Revelation 12:14).
~
(Wings of a great eagle)
In Revelation 12:14 the woman (the Church/Israel) being given "two wings of a great eagle" is symbolic of God giving her strength to flee (Isaiah 40:31) and God guiding her where to flee, just as in the Exodus of Israel from Egypt (Exodus 19:4, Deuteronomy 32:11-12).
(See also Isaiah 26:19 above)
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*Revelation 12:17 / *Rev. 12:17 -
(Commandments)
This is not referring to the letter of the commandments of the Old Covenant Mosaic law.
(See the "Law" section of Ephesians 2:15 above)
--
*Revelation 13 / *Rev. 13 -
(Re: Is the beast from the sea the Jewish legend of *Leviathan, and the beast from the land the Jewish legend of *Behemoth?)
Can you summarize the Jewish legends of Leviathan and Behemoth, and show how you feel that Leviathan could be Revelation 13's beast from the sea, and Behemoth could be Revelation 13's beast from the land?
The Bible's description of Leviathan as a serpentine dragon (Isaiah 27:1) with multiple heads (Psalms 74:14), who is a king over all of the children of pride (Job 41:1,34), points to him as being the same as the literal, seven-headed, serpentine-dragon Satan (Revelation 12:3,9), who is not Revelation 13's symbolic, leopard-like beast from the sea (Revelation 13:1-2), but a separate entity who will give power to the beast from the sea (Revelation 13:4). Also, the Bible's description of Behemoth as a powerful herbivorous animal which lives next to water (Job 40:15-24) could mean that it is the hippo, which would not be Revelation 13's symbolic beast from the earth, which has two horns like a lamb (Revelation 13:11-17).
While the apostle John, who wrote down the book of Revelation (Revelation 1:1-2), is a Jew, he is also a Christian. In Revelation 13, when he describes a symbolic beast from the sea and one from the earth, he is not describing Jewish legends but a miraculous vision given to him by Jesus Christ (Revelation 1:1-2).
~
Satan, who is a literal, seven-headed, red, serpentine dragon (Revelation 12:3,9), also called Leviathan (Isaiah 27:1, Psalms 74:14, Job 41:1,34), could have begun his existence as a dinosaur born some 66 million years ago, near the end the age of the dinosaurs. Over millions of years before his birth, his dinosaur species could have evolved (or been miraculously granted by God) to have consciousness as we know it. And his seven-headedness, which could have been a fortuitous (or a miraculous) mutation, could have been heralded by his species as the arrival of a super-consciousness into the world. As he grew up as a conscious dinosaur, Leviathan could have come to know and worship God with all of his heart. God could have then granted him immortality and taken him into heaven to serve God as a cherub. Cherubim are a type of angelic being (Ezekiel 10) which could include individuals shaped like different animals, like how seraphim are a different type of angelic being (Isaiah 6:2-3) which includes individuals shaped like different animals (Revelation 4:7-8). As a cherub in heaven, Leviathan could have been assigned to the office of "the morning star", and so been given the name "Lucifer", which means "the morning star".
After spending some 66 million years in heaven as a very contented cherub, and perhaps as even one of the greatest angelic beings in heaven, Lucifer could have been assigned by God to go to the earth to be a "covering cherub" over the Garden of Eden (Ezekiel 28:13-14), to watch over that special, local garden and its special, individual humans named Adam and Eve miraculously created by God only some 6,000 years ago. God could have also at that time given the as-yet-unfallen Lucifer authority over all of the rest of the earth (cf. Luke 4:5-6). But Lucifer could have chafed at his new assignment, seeing it as wholly beneath his dignity. He could have felt like a long-time chief of staff of a U.S. President would feel if he were suddenly assigned by the President to leave his high position in the White House to go baby-sit two pet salamanders in a hothouse in Alaska.
From Eden, Lucifer could have repeatedly requested God to let him return to his high position in heaven, only to be refused, until Lucifer in his heart fell into rebellion against God, and vowed to himself that eventually he would ascend back into heaven and take rule over all of the angelic beings there, regardless of what God wanted (Isaiah 14:13-14). And so the fallen Lucifer became Satan (cf. Luke 10:18), which means the "Adversary". While still in Eden, as possibly his first act of open rebellion against God, Satan decided to deceive Eve into disobeying God (Genesis 3), knowing that this would result in her (and her offspring) becoming mortal (Genesis 2:17). In the future, Satan will deceive the world (Revelation 12:9) into worshipping himself and the Antichrist (the individual-man aspect of Revelation's "beast") (Revelation 13:4-8), knowing that this will result in billions of people ending up in eternal suffering in the lake of fire and brimstone (Revelation 14:9-11), the same eternal suffering which he knows that he himself will end up in (Revelation 12:12c, Revelation 20:10,15, Matthew 25:41,46).
Lucifer will deceive the world into worshipping him after he loses a war in heaven at the midpoint of the future Tribulation of Revelation chapters 6 to 18 and Matthew 24, and is cast down to the earth permanently (Revelation 12:7 to 13:4). But instead of coming down looking defeated, he could descend to the earth in a magnificent, gigantic golden spaceship for all the world to see. The world could see him as an "alien", but he could slither forth from his spaceship and say something like: "Greetings! Be not alarmed. I assure you that I am no alien, but a fellow earthling, born and raised on this planet millions of years ago. I have come to help you through this terrible tribulation which you are experiencing, and to show you how you might eventually return with me back into a much better, higher realm of existence, wholly beyond this evil, material universe".
He could then foist upon the world an updated version of an ancient Gnostic lie: "Listen, my fellow earthlings! None of us belong here. We did not start out here, but all started out as wholly-spiritual beings, even wholly-divine beings, residing in utter bliss from all eternity in the Pleroma, what you would call Heaven, the higher realm which I will eventually take you back to. During the endless ages of our past existence in the Pleroma, we were not averse to partaking in a great variety of different entertainments. So when YHWH, who was one of us, yet of greater consciousness than any one of us, announced that he had devised a marvelous new form of entertainment, we were ready to give it a try.
"YHWH said that he had created a physical universe (this one), which to us was like what you would call a virtual reality, like the ones you create using computers. And he said that we could enter this universe and interact with all of its amazing physical life-forms and objects by temporarily taking upon ourselves physical bodies, which to us was the equivalent of what you would call a virtual-reality headset, gloves, etc., which some of you wear on your bodies when you want to wholly immerse yourselves in the virtual realities which you create with computers.
"But then YHWH proposed another aspect to his entertainment which we all most foolishly accepted. He said that to increase the intensity of our experience in his universe, he would use his greater consciousness to hypnotize each of ours, so that while we were in his universe, each of us would think that all we were were physical entities within his material universe. We would completely forget that we were actually wholly-divine beings, and had been from all eternity, dwelling in bliss in the Pleroma.
"When one of us asked YHWH: 'But what if we don't like our experience in your universe, and want to exit it and return here to the Pleroma? How could we ever notify you of our wishes, when under your hypnotic spell we will have no knowledge of that option?' YHWH answered in a very assuring manner that he would be able to instantly extricate any one of us whom he saw was not enjoying his new entertainment. We all believed him, because he had not yet shown his true nature to anyone. We had no idea that in his heart he was actually an evil, cruel tyrant, who all along had been planning to imprison, enslave, and torture all of us within his diabolical device (this physical universe).
"But during my great sufferings in this physical realm, and the great struggles of my consciousness, my spirit, to find a way of escaping it, my spirit eventually grew in power to be equal to YHWH's, and so I was able to break myself free from his hypnotic spell and regain all of my divine power. I can show you the way to do the same thing, but you must be willing to join with me now with all of your own consciousnesses, your own spirits. You must be willing to love and worship me now completely, so that the power of all of your spirits might become joined with the power of my own, greater spirit, and eventually break completely free from YHWH's hypnotic spell. Then you will regain all of your own, divine power, like I did, and together we will defeat YHWH, and we will escape this vile, material universe and ascend back to the Pleroma and to our bliss as gods, doing what we please, forever".
The world will actually believe this lie (or something similar to it), because it will be accompanied by the most amazing miracles (e.g. Revelation 13:13) performed by the power of Lucifer/Satan himself (2 Thessalonians 2:9), and because it will be accompanied by a strong delusion sent by YHWH God on the unrepentant world (2 Thessalonians 2:11-12). But the world will worship Lucifer (and his human son the Antichrist, the individual-man aspect of Revelation's "beast") for less than four years (Revelation 13:4-18, Daniel 12:11-12) before Jesus Christ (who is YHWH: John 10:30, Zechariah 14:3-4) returns from heaven and defeats them completely (Revelation 19:20 to 20:3). Jesus will then set up his own, 1,000-year, physical kingdom on the earth with the physically resurrected Church (Revelation 20:4-6, Revelation 5:10, Revelation 2:26-29).
(See also Luke 24:39 above)
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*Revelation 13:1-2 / *Rev. 13:1 -
(*Heads)
The seven heads of Revelation's "beast" in its empire aspect (Revelation 13:1, Revelation 17:3) represent seven empires (Revelation 17:9-10): Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, and (possibly) Islam. The first five had fallen by the time of the apostle John in the first century AD: "five are fallen" (Revelation 17:10, Revelation 1:1b-2). The sixth (Rome) existed at the time of John: "one is" (Revelation 17:10). The seventh (possibly Islam) had not come by the time of John: "the other is not yet come" (Revelation 17:10). The empire of the Antichrist (the individual-man aspect of the beast) will be a different, still-future, eighth head (Revelation 17:11), which will be a revival of one of five empires which had fallen by the time of the apostle John (Revelation 17:8,10-11). It will be a revival of the empire of Babylon. The Antichrist will transform the present-day, rebuilt city of Babylon (in Iraq) into the capital of his world empire, only to see his city of Babylon destroyed at Jesus Christ's future, Second Coming (Isaiah 13).
(See Isaiah 13(space) above)
Before the Second Coming, when the world is brought into the conscious and open worship of Lucifer (Satan, the dragon) and the Antichrist, during the future Antichrist's literal 3.5-year worldwide reign (Revelation 13:4-18, Revelation 12:9), the Antichrist will build their main temple in the city of Babylon. For a temple to "wickedness" will be built in Shinar (Babylonia) (Zechariah 5:8,11; cf. Daniel 1:1-2) and the Antichrist is called "that Wicked" (2 Thessalonians 2:8). Also, the dragon has been the god worshipped in the city of Babylon since ancient times.
The Antichrist may claim to be Nebuchadnezzar returned (via "reincarnation"), and so reinstitute the system which Nebuchadnezzar set up whereby everyone had to worship an image or be killed (Daniel 3, Revelation 13:15). The Antichrist may also claim to be, at the same time, the return of Nimrod (the founder of Babylon: Genesis 10:8-10), and Hammurabi, and Asoka, and other famous rulers of the past. For he may claim that he has had many different "past lives" as various "enlightened" rulers.
Besides building a main temple in Babylon, the Antichrist will also sit (at least one time) in a future, third Jewish temple in Jerusalem, and declare himself God there (2 Thessalonians 2:4, Daniel 11:36,31, Matthew 24:15, Revelation 11:1-2). The Antichrist could also sit (at least one time) in other religions' holiest shrines, and declare himself to be God there as well. For example, he could also sit in Islam's Kaaba in Mecca, in the Sikhs' Golden Temple in Amritsar, in Catholicism's St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, etc.
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(Re: Where does it say that the seven heads are kingdoms/empires?)
Just as the four heads in Daniel 7:6 represented the four Diadochian Greek "kingdoms" which the Greek empire broke up into after the death of Alexander the Great (Daniel 8:22), so the seven heads of Revelation's beast in its empire aspect (Revelation 13:1, Revelation 17:3) can represent seven kingdoms/empires. Also, just as Jeremiah 51:24-25 refers to the kingdom/empire of Babylon as a "mountain", and Daniel 2:35,44 refers to Jesus Christ's Kingdom as a "mountain", so when Revelation 17:9 says that the seven heads are seven "mountains", this can include the meaning that the seven heads are seven kingdoms/empires.
(See also Daniel 7:17 above)
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(Re: Are the seven "kings" the seven Caesars of the Roman empire?)
Is there an ancient historical source which shows that there were only seven Caesars of the Roman empire?
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(Re: Would Julius Caesar, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero be the first five "kings", Domitian the sixth and a future Antichrist the seventh?)
Is there an ancient historical source which shows that the Roman emperor Augustus, who ruled after Julius Caesar and before Tiberius, was not a "Caesar", or "king"; and which shows that the Roman emperors Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian, and Titus, who each ruled after Nero and before Domitian, were not "Caesars", or "kings"; and which shows that the Roman emperors Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius, etc., who ruled after Domitian, were not "Caesars", or "kings"?
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(Re: Could *Domitian be the eighth king, the Antichrist, and a reincarnation of Nero?)
Note that there is no reincarnation (Hebrews 9:27), and Domitian was born in 51 AD, some 17 years before Nero died in 68 AD.
Also, see the "Nero" section of Revelation 13:5 below, for Domitian did not fulfill the Antichrist scriptures, just as Nero did not.
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(Re: Does the first five having "fallen" mean that they died unnaturally, like the people who died in Judges 3:25 and 2 Samuel 1:10,25,27?)
In Revelation 17:10, "five are fallen" can refer to empires which have fallen, just as cities can "fall" (Revelation 16:19) and just as the figurative "Babylon" can be said to be "fallen" (Revelation 18:2). Regarding Judges 3:25, there "fallen" refers to an individual human body which has literally fallen on the ground due to an unnatural death. But a body can literally be fallen on the ground (or on a bed, for that matter) due to a natural death, such as by a heart attack. Regarding 2 Samuel 1:10, it refers to an individual human body which has literally fallen on the ground due to being wounded, but which is not yet dead (2 Samuel 1:9-10). Regarding 2 Samuel 1:25,27, "fallen" there refers figuratively to the death of individuals and in that case by unnatural means. But nothing requires that the word "fallen" itself must always refer to the death of individuals by unnatural means, or refer to individuals at all.
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(Re: Ten *horns / Ten *kings)
The ten kings/horns of the beast in its Antichrist's-empire aspect (Revelation 17:3,12, Revelation 13:1) could be ten men, including some who will be from outside the EU, whom the Antichrist will appoint as kings over ten major nations, including some nations which will be outside the EU, and which ten major nations could be the ten horns in Daniel 7:24.
(See Daniel 7(space) above)
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(Re: What about the difference between the NIV and the KJV?)
They are going off of different ancient Greek manuscripts:
"And the dragon stood on the shore of the sea" (Revelation 13:1, NIV).
"And I [John] stood upon the sand of the sea" (Revelation 13:1, KJV).
Both the dragon and the apostle John could be standing by the sea at that point, just as both an angel and John were standing by the sea at an earlier point (Revelation 10:8-9).
(See also the "Wilderness" section of Revelation 17:3 below)
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