"
It puts under compulsion all people—the small and the great, the rich and the poor, the free and the slaves—that these should be marked on
their right hand or on their forehead, and that nobody can buy or sell except a person having the mark, the name of the wild beast or the number of
its name. This is where it calls for wisdom: Let the one who has insight calculate the number of the wild beast, for it is a man’s
number, and its number is 666."-Revelation 13:16-18.
Good morning ATS denizens. Hope all is going well for you and yours. And that you have the peace of God.
In previous threads I've authored I've went into some detail into
beasts in Bible
prophecy and what they represent.
In Bible prophecy beasts and mountains represent world powers (
see also this
thread.) The passage of scripture quoted above is referring to one such. In the
link provided above the thread goes into detail about a 7-headed wild beast that
John sees in his Revelation. The seven heads represent the seven world powers of Bible history. John said that 5 had fallen, one is, and one is yet to
be when he wrote his Revelation.
“
This calls for a mind that has wisdom: The seven heads mean seven mountains, where the woman sits on top. And there are seven
kings: Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet arrived; but when he does arrive, he must remain a short while. And the wild beast that
was but is not, it is also an eighth king, but it springs from the seven, and it goes off into destruction."-Revelation 17:9-11.
Here the angel reveals to those who have a mind of wisdom that the seven heads of the wild beast of Revelation are seven mountains, and these seven
mountains are seven kings. The 5 that had fallen were: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece. "One is," at the time John wrote his
Revelation, that is the Roman Empire. And one more, a seventh would appear on the world scene. The Anglo-American world power. And there is a wild
beast "that was but is not, it is also an eighth king." It stems from the previous seven and goes off into destruction.
There are two wild beasts in prophecy in Revelation that have 7 heads. The one that represents the seven world powers of Bible history, and then an
image of that beast. That is a beast that looks exactly like it, but there is a key difference. The wild beast that has seven heads that are seven
mountains who are seven kings has 10 horns and 10 diadems or crowns on its head:
"And it stood still on the sand of the sea. And I saw a wild beast ascending out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, and on its horns ten
diadems, but on its heads blasphemous names."-Revelation 13:1.
"
Now the wild beast that I saw was like a leopard, but its feet were like those of a bear, and its mouth was like a lion’s
mouth."-Revelation 13:2.
This beast has features that an observant Bible reader will find familiar. Yes it has features of the beasts in Daniel's fearsome vision:
"
And four huge beasts came out of the sea, each different from the others. “The first one was like a lion...“And look! another beast,
a second one, like a bear...another beast, like a leopard."-Daniel 7:4-6.
So this fearsome wild beast with seven heads and ten horns, with ten diadems on the ten horns is representative of the 7 world powers that have had
direct influence on God's people throughout world history. But there is an image of this fearsome wild beast that is scarlet in color and looks the
same, but it does NOT have the ten diadems:
"And he carried me away in the power of the spirit into a wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet-colored wild beast that was full of
blasphemous names and that had seven heads and ten horns."-Revelation 17:3.
This beast is an "image" of the first wild beast of 7 heads and 10 horns with 10 diadems:
Talking of a wild beast with two horns (this is the Anglo-American world power) the vision in Revelation 13 tells us that this beast (that is the
Anglo-American world power) makes an image of the beast of Revelation 13:1 (that is of the beast with seven heads and ten horns with ten diadems):
"
It misleads those who dwell on the earth, because of the signs that it was permitted to perform in the sight of the wild beast, while it tells
those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the wild beast that had the sword-stroke and yet revived. And it was permitted to give
breath to the image of the wild beast, so that the image of the wild beast should both speak and cause to be killed all those who refuse to
worship the image of the wild beast."-Revelation 13:14-15.
The United States helped put in place the image of the wild beast which was initially the League of Nations after World War I. This beast went into an
abyss of inactivity when it ceased to be during WWII. But it returned to life after WWII as the United Nations:
"
The wild beast that you saw was, but is not, and yet is about to ascend out of the abyss, and it is to go off into destruction."-Revelation
17:8.
This image of the first wild beast of 7 heads and 10 horns with 10 diadems or crowns, does not have diadems, or crowns on its head. It in itself does
not have authority or power. But all the kings of the earth will give it power for 1 hour to act on their behalf:
"
The wild beast that was but is not, it is also an eighth king, but it springs from the seven, and it goes off into destruction."-Revelation
17:11.
This wild beast that is an image of the first wild beast, an image that the wild beast with two horns forms, was as the League of Nations after WWI.
It "is not" during WWII. It returned to life as the United Nations after WWII. In the future all the kings of the earth will unite and give this beast
power to act on their behalf:
“
The ten horns that you saw mean ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they do receive authority as kings for one hour with the wild
beast. These have one thought, so they give their power and authority to the wild beast."-Revelation 17:12-13.
Ten in Bible prophecy represents something that is complete in an earthly respect. The ten horns mean ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom.
These ten kings represent all of the member nations of the United Nations. They will receive authority as kings for one hour all together as they use
their authority to give the scarlet colored wild beast, that is an image of the first wild beast of 7 heads with 10 horns and 10 diadems, power. They
all of them together, every government will rule and have one thought. It is to turn upon the prostitute that is sitting on it, to destroy her.
Six is a man's number. Seven represents divine perfection. Six is one short of seven (7-1=6). That is, it is an imperfect number. It misses the mark.
So man's number, 6, represents his imperfection. The number of the image of the wild beast is 666. We know that wild beasts represent world powers in
Bible history. This wild beast has authority, it is the one with the 10 diadems.
Ran out of room.
edit on 22-5-2023 by randomuser because: (no reason given)