SYNOPSIS – The Beast from the sea wages war against the followers of the Lamb in obedience to its overlord, the Dragon – Revelation 13:6-10.
In Revelation, the “beast from the sea” was assigned by the “Dragon” to annihilate the “saints.” To facilitate this, he was given authority over all nations and peoples. In the vision, humanity was divided into two groups – Men and women who “render homage to the Beast,” the “inhabitants of the earth,” and those who “follow the Lamb wherever he goes”; that is, the “saints” – “They who tabernacle in heaven” and have the “testimony of Jesus.”
SYNOPSIS – The single “beast from the sea” in Revelation is related to but distinct from the four beasts of Daniel – Revelation 13:1-10.
Is the “Beast from the sea” in the book of Revelation identical to the fourth beast from Daniel? Is Revelation simply expounding on that earlier vision of four “beasts ascending” from a chaotic sea? Or perhaps the vision in chapter 13 of Revelation presents us with something different and beyond what Daniel originally saw. Did the vision received by him have historical fulfillments? – (Photo by Mathieu Stern on Unsplash).
The Rider on the White Horse destroyed the “Beast from the sea” along with the “False Prophet,” the “beast from the earth” – Revelation 19:17-21.
The next vision portrays the destruction of the “beast from the sea” and the “False Prophet.” The passage does not state where this climactic battle occurred, other than on the earth. In focus is the destruction of the “beast” and its vassals, and their consignment to the “Lake of Fire.”
The Lamb overcomes the Beast and Babylon because he is the “Lord of lords, and King of kings” – Revelation 17:14-18.
John is provided with the interpretation of what he just saw: “Babylon” is the “great city” that sways the political powers of the earth allied with the “beast.” Her persecution of the “saints” is an extension of its “war” against them. Jesus overcomes the “beast,” “Babylon,” and the “kings of the earth,” but he does so in a most ironic fashion.
Babylon, the “Great Harlot,” rides the Beast from the Sea, with its seven heads and ten horns – Revelation 17:7-13.
The “beast” on which the “Great Harlot” sits is the same malignant monster that John saw “ascending from the sea,” an amalgamation of the four “beasts from the sea” in the Book of Daniel. Now, we are presented with the “lineage” of the “beast” and its final destruction, described with language from Daniel’s vision of the “fourth beast” and its “little horn.”
The first “four bowls of wrath” attacked the economic infrastructure of the empire that was so vital to the ability of the “beast” to dominate the “inhabitants of the earth,” and to wage war “against the saints.” By this point, the system of global commerce on which the World-Power depended was either destroyed completely, or, at least, greatly diminished. The “fifth bowl” attacks the political and religious power structures of the empire.
Disciples Global Network 