Remember, Revelation chapters 12-14 describe a spirit war waged against our Abba Father but through us. The enemies weapon is called “deceit” but it is now the “lie” of the enemy presenting himself as the ruler of the earth. Revelation 13:1, “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. 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.”
In Revelation 11:1-2, we saw the Dragan, the enemy himself. Now we see a beast from the earth, the antichrist with a similar look and receiving the enemy’s power. The power to destroy like the predators described above, the leopard, bear and lion referenced in Daniel. Remember the sea is the metaphor for evil and chaos.
The image itself of coming out of the sea is a direct slap in the face of our Abba Father. Jesus came up out of the water to start his ministry on earth with his authority from his Father in Heaven. The sea beast’s crowns are on his horns, blaspheme is on his forehead. The crowns and horns remind us of the church-state system which this refers to. Something on the forehead is a symbol for “on the mind.” Please pray on that.
Revelation 13:3-4, “And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. The seemingly mortal wound was the end of the church-state system. The wound is healed, meaning there is a new strategy in view. “And all the world marveled and followed the beast. 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?” (Imitating our Abba Father, Micah 7:3, “Who is a God like You . . .?)
When the church-state system ended, nationalism and anti-god Marxist/communist philosophies replaced it. “And all the world marveled and followed the beast.” The world today is establishing the “New World Order” that I see as the “healed beast.”
Revelation 13:5-8, “And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months. Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation.” This description of the beast is the original version that “died,” and is now resurrected.
Note the beast had our Abba Father’s authority for the 1260 year church-state system that is repeated again in Revelation 12:5-7. Our Abba Father uses strife in life to drive people to him for relief. This is why I feel so strongly about taking charge of our relationship independent of where we worship. Every worship center feeds its followers and brings people to Christ as our Savior. Blessings to them all. It is the sanctification and what comes next that has to be personal with the Holy Spirit in us to teach us and direct us. We cannot be passive and glorify our Abba Father.
Remember the beast was brought back from what looked like dead (simulating Jesus), it is the same symbolic beast, driven by the enemy, in the next plan for the modern world. The United Nations, the World Health Organization, the World Court etc. are all part of the enemy’s plan and what I see as the replacement for the church-state system. We now have an un-sanctioned enemy pursuing the “all state-no church system.” That again makes the United States, one nation under God, very interesting .
Revelation 13:8-10, “All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. If anyone has an ear, let him hear. He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity; he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.” The New World Order is the non-believing, who worshiped “him.”
Revelation 13:11-17, “Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men.” (Once again, I see the USA, after the Progressives succeed. The two horns could be the two major political parties, both evil at their core. The Sadducees and the Pharisees were two political parties. He “makes fire come down from heaven,” could be our two nuclear bombs exploded in WWII. What is the promise of the Progressives? We will take care of you and provide everything for you, nothing left to do but be happy. A replacement god.
“And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.” The world will be called to obey the New World Order which can only matter if the USA is part of it. There is an irony in their somewhere that we have been voting for our own destruction, choosing government over our Abba Father. Just give us a king!
“He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.”
The number “666” appears three other places in the Scripture, it is an easy research. Ever heard anyone do it? Two are the weight of gold that Solomon received in a year, clearly that 666 is not a man. The third reference is in Ezra 2:13, “Now these are the people of the province who came back from the captivity, of those who had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away to Babylon, and who returned to Jerusalem and Judah, everyone to his own city . . . the people of Adonikam, six hundred and sixty-six.” Ezra lists all of the families and counted their members who returned to Jerusalem. Adonikam had 666 members. Now sit down because Adonikam means something like, “he has risen.”
The enemy who appeared to die has risen, similar to Jesus rising again. The beast is replicating Jesus, coming up out of water to start and then rising from the dead. The mark is a symbolic mark. Placed on the forehead means in the mind. Placed on the hands means to not really believe it, but afraid to not take it, so hide it on my hand. What the enemy wants is for us to not turn to our Abba Father, that is all he needs to win. He is ok if we fake it. Our Abba Father is not ok if we fake it with him.
Let’s look at Deuteronomy 6:5-8, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.” In our Abba Father’s plan the sign on the hand is bound to the heart and mind. The enemy does not care, just copy it and pervert it.
Let’s look at Romans 4:11, “And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also.” We are sealed by our Abba Father when we believe. It is a spiritual seal.
Let’s look at Revelation 7:3, “ . . . saying, “Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.” Our Abba Father only accepts our putting him on our minds and hearts, which he already knows without any mark, he is already in us.
Let’s go back to Daniel and the lion’s den. Daniel 6:4-5, “So the governors and satraps sought to find some charge against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find no charge or fault, because he was faithful; nor was there any error or fault found in him. Then these men said, “We shall not find any charge against this Daniel unless we find it against him concerning the law of his God.”
The end is not really about a “mark,” it will be about believers being forced to break the Word of God, as Daniel was. In the last pandemic, thousands lost their jobs because they refused to trust a government vaccine. The mark of the beast may be nothing more than obeying the enemy’s government in total, surrendering all our God given liberty to the New World Order.
There is precedent with the Maccabee’s signing a peace treaty with Rome instead of trusting our Abba Father revealed in Daniel. All I am doing here is applying the Scripture to my life and sharing it. Do with it what you want.
Some interpreters believe the mark of the beast will relate to the Sabbath. My view on the Sabbath is presented in S7M10. I see Mathew 11:28-29 as the answer, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” We can never go wrong worshipping our Abba Father nor Jesus but what we call Holy Communion is how Jesus told us to worship him and obtain our rest. I don’t see the Sabbath as a vulnerability for us, now or in the end.
