I am just so confused. I've read Revelation. Now I'm studying it. It's taken me a couple of months of daily study to get to chapter 6 and it's here that we encounter the Antichrist. I was surprised that the guy on the white horse that showed up when the first seal is broken is NOT Christ. The first time I read Revelation I just assumed that it was. Now that I'm reading again I can see that it's clear that he is the Antichrist.
Fine
So suddenly I get to thinking, there are 3 terrifying creatures in the book. There is the Antichrist, who I assume will be the political leader. Then there is the False Prophet that I thought would be the leader of the one world religion and finally the Beast. I never understood WHAT the Beast was except a terrifying creature.
Now I'm thinking, could they all be the same person (creature)? Like in small towns sometimes a shopkeeper might also be the mayor?
So apparently I just don't understand. Could somebody shed some light on this and please bear in mind that I haven't been a Christian for a long time so my understanding of the Bible is not as deep and profound as your's might be.
I've read the entirety of the Bible but now I'm going back for depth.
Thank you in advance
I have a Thread that Explains Babylon, the Harlot and the Seven Headed Beast and I will link it at the bottom. For starters, you can understand Revelation fairly easily if you remember 2 things, don't listen to every Tom, Dick and Harry, especially on here, they will confuse you because most of them are confused, look at the many different answers you get. Secondly, Revelation is one big CODE BOOK, and its encoded with the Old Testament, once that sinks in you have the key to understanding the book. For example, The Woman in Rev. 12 can only be solved by reading Genesis 37:9, go read it and then tell me who is the Woman, Israel or the Church? That should be easy. Out of 404 verses in Revelation 289 have Old Testament Verbiage in them.
Now as per the BEAST, it is not Satan, Rev. 20:10 tells us it can not be him. The BEAST and the False Prophet await the Devil/Satan in hell when he is cast into hell after being in the bottomless pit for 1000 years.
Rev. 20:2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the
Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
Rev. 20:10 And
the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the
BEAST and the
false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
The BEAST is not Satan, many will tell you different but they are pretty much clueless, as the scriptures above show. Daniel 7 tells us what a BEAST is, it is any nation that Conquers, Enslaves or Rules Israel. Thus in Rev. 13 we see in the Seven Headed Beast the Lion (Babylon) Leopard (Greece) and the Bear (Persia) mentioned because John/Jesus wants us to know this Seven Headed Beast is the same TYPE of BEAST. Only four were mentioned in Daniel, but of course TWO had come before Daniel's time on earth. So Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia and Greece are the 5 who had FALLEN in Rev. ch. 17, and ROME was the one that WAS/IS at the time John wrote Revelation, and of course the Anti-Christ/Little Horn is the one that WILL COME LATER. When he Conquers Jerusalem then and ONLY THEN does he become a BEAST. (42 Months). So lets look at the verses in Rev. 17 that mention this event.
Rev. 17:9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom.
The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. 10 And there are
seven kings:FIVE are fallen (Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia and Greece) and ONE IS (Rome), and the OTHER (Little Horn/Anti-Christ) is NOT YET COME; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. 11 And the
beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.
The BEAST that WAS and IS NOT, is the 8th King and is of the Seven. This is what confuses many. This is only a Demonic Being placed in charge of Destroying Israel he is OF THE SEVEN because he is over them all, he is a "Principality in High Places" so to speak which Paul spoke of. He is not a physical being nor a physical kingdom, there are only Seven of those, hence the Seven Headed Beast.
The Last BEAST is the only Beast with starts a Kingdom and FALLS....The other Kingdoms were started by a King and had a King that was at the helm when they lost power, this BEAST will have no successor, he will be cast straight into hell when he is defeated. See Daniel 7:11 and Rev. 19:20. He is a Gentile Leader/King hence he comes out of the SEA.
The False Prophet comes out of the LAND (Israel) so it is my belief he is a Rabbi of some sort, a False Prophet who works Miracles and points to a False Messiah, even as most of Israel has accepted Jesus as their Messiah like Malachi 4:5-6, and Zechariah 12:10, 13:1 says will happen.
The Dragon is Satan, the Serpent.
Babylon, The Harlot and the Seven Headed Beast Explained
