Beast out of the Sea

The Beast out of the Sea was a frightful creature revealed to John in the Book of Revelation that represents either a personage, kingdom or both. It is seen rising up from the sea to make war on the God's people.

As a servant of the dragon seen to be Satan in the previous vision, it will blaspheme God and demand all the world to worship it. It will seem to be killed only to rise again. Those who are loyal to the Beast will be forced to prove their loyalty with a mark on the right hand or forehead. Mankind will be in its power as it seeks to destroy any influence God an his people have left. Under the reign of the beast a second beast, from the ground, will arise as a false prophet, speaking for the system and acting as a false prophet on behalf of what will be a totally apostate, unredeemable world religion. Most active Christians will be killed, and all others will exist in hiding. In the course of world dominion, the false religion will corrupt even the Beast who helps it destroy the lives of leaders in all walks of life

Description
It came up from the sea, having ten horns and seven heads. Each horn had a diadem and its heads had names of blasphemy on them. It looked like a leopard with a bear's feet and a lion's mouth. The Dragon gave it miraculous power, a throne, and great authority.

The author of the Book of Revelation — John — noticed that one of the Beast's heads were mortally wounded by a sword but was healed, causing the world marvel at it and to worship the Dragon and the Beast. The people under its power were overwhelmed, convinced that there was no hope apart from them.

However, everything was actually under God's control, for He only allowed the blasphemy and unspeakable evil to go on for 3½ years. But for that time, his authority will be absolute over everyone on the earth. Though true religion will be outlawed. But as overreaching as the Beast's system will be, those saved from its tyranny are assured that they will not be pulled into the darkness

Image of the Beast
There will be a second Beast — the Beast out of the Earth — who will exercise all the power of the first Beast. It will create an image of the first Beast and make the image seem alive, whether by ventriloquism (a common practice among priests to make idols talk), using modern technology (such as virtual reality technology or animation), or something else. The image of the first Beast will cause everyone to worship it or die.

Mark of the Beast
A voice from the image will order everyone to receive a mark on their right hand or their forehead as a symbol of their loyalty to the first Beast; anyone who refuses will not be a part of the society, for no one will be able to buy or sell without the mark. Technology may or may not come into play to implement the world-wide identification system. What is known is that it will be pervasive and mandatory. The mark will seem the right thing for the world by those who live "in the world".

End of the Beast
The reign of the Beast will to come to a dark and painful end in the last of the "bowl judgments"--darkness and drought. The unholy "trinity" will find their subjects as mad at them as they are at God. The vileness of hell will make itself evident as the Dragon and the beasts vomit out of their collective guts evil frog-like demonic spirits empowered to possess the whole world in one last attempt to overthrow Yahweh. The field of battle will called Armageddon, historically a place where wars are finished one way or the other.

The battle will for the universe will be between the Creator and the Corruptor. The corrupted remnant of mankind, as evil as it can be, meets a mercifully quick end. With the "sword of his mouth" (that is, His Word), the creator removes the life of every minion of the system, leaving only the the leadership of the spiritual, political and religious powers that had destroyed the earth. A grotesque counterpart of the marriage supper of the Lamb was called--unclean birds came from everywhere to gorge themselves on the unclean corpses of all kinds. The leadership will suffer for much longer, being "thrown alive" into a holding cell described to be like the inside of a volcano.

Identity of the Beast
From the beginning of time on earth, Satan has been seeking to control mankind. His systems arose early, such as the hedonistic society seen in the linage of Cain before the flood and that of Nimrod after it. Babylon was so much a friend of the Beast that it has risen two or three times in history, and can be seen in much of false religion to this day. Rome and Jerusalem, in their own ways, had perpetuated false religion so much that John used them as similes.

At the end of the Revelation, Jesus shows John who will ultimately win the war. It will not be pretty and the leadership of the world system only gets worse as mankind falls back into "default" mode. It is not likely that this ten headed beast will be contained in one person. However, it may have a charismatic despot at top who has no regard to the rule of law (a man of sin ) and is totally against the trinitarian God of the Bible (Antichrist ).

Continue Reading: Beast out of the Earth