PROPHECY REVELATION, CHAPTERS 13. 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19

Structure

• Beast from the Sea (1-10) The dragon gives the First Beast power (2)
• The first beast is healed of its wound (3)
• Worship of the First Beast (4)
• Battle with Saints (7)

The first part of the first verse of this chapter, “And I stood on the sand of the sea.”

(13:1) in the Synodal, most English translations, etc., turned out to be erroneous.
In the original version, see for example, the modern translation into Russian, this is the last verse of the previous chapter with a different semantics - “ And the dragon stood on the seashore
” (12:18), which is a mistake of some early copyist.

OPEN 13

Bible. New Testament. Revelation of John the Theologian. Chapter 13

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Content

Out of the sea comes a Beast with 10 horns and 7 heads, and 10 diadems, similar to a leopard (leopard), with legs like a bear and the mouth of a lion. The Red Dragon (from the last chapter) gives him his strength, throne and great power. One of his heads is mortally wounded, but is healed.

After this, the people of the earth worship the Dragon, and then worship the Beast from the Sea. This beast gains power for 42 months. He gets the right to blaspheme God, to fight with God's people and defeat them. He is worshiped by all the inhabitants of the earth whose names are not written in the book of the Lamb.

Then a second Beast emerges from the earth - with horns like a Lamb, but speaking like a dragon. His power is from the first Beast, he acts on his behalf and forces all the inhabitants of the earth to bow to the first Beast. The Beast from the Earth performs signs and wonders and also commands the people to make an image of the Beast from the Sea. This image can kill everyone who does not worship it. The beast from the earth forces everyone to put a brand on their right hand or forehead - the number of the beast.

Mentioned

• Beasts of the Apocalypse The Beast That Came Out of the Sea (The First Beast)
• The Beast That Came Out of the Earth (Second Beast)

Revelation of John the Theologian. Apocalypse

Chapters: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Chapter 13

1 And I stood on the sand of the sea, and I saw a beast come out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns: on his horns were ten crowns, and on his heads were names of blasphemy. 2 The beast that I saw was like a leopard; His legs are like those of a bear, and his mouth is like the mouth of a lion; and the dragon gave him his strength and his throne and great authority. 3 And I saw that one of his heads was, as it were, mortally wounded, but the mortal wound was healed. And all the earth marveled, watching the beast, and they worshiped the dragon, which gave power to the beast, 4 and they worshiped the beast, saying, Who is like this beast? and who can fight him? 5 And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and power was given to him to continue for forty-two months. 6 And he opened his mouth to blaspheme God, to blaspheme his name, and his habitation, and them that dwell in heaven. 7 And it was given to him to make war with the saints and overcome them; and authority was given to him over every tribe and people and tongue and nation. 8 And all who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names were not written in the book of life of the Lamb, which was slain from the foundation of the world. 9 He who has an ear, let him hear. 10 He who leads into captivity will himself go into captivity; whoever kills with the sword must himself be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and faith of the saints. 11 And I saw another beast coming out of the earth; he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. 12 He acts before him with all the power of the first beast, and causes the whole earth and those who dwell on it to worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed; 13 And he performs great signs, so that he brings down fire from heaven to earth before men. 14 And by the miracles which it was given him to do before the beast, he deceives them that dwell on the earth, saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image of the beast, which had the wound of the sword, and liveth. 15 And it was given to him to put spirit into the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would speak and act in such a way that everyone who would not worship the image of the beast would be killed. 16 And he will cause everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, 17 and that no one will be able to buy or sell except he who has it is the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. 18 Here is wisdom. He who has intelligence, count the number of the beast, for it is a human number; its number is six hundred and sixty-six.

Interpretation

The sea, the water element, is a symbol of godless principles; a person standing on its shore stands as if on the shore of an abyss from which satanic forces come. The period of 42 months is another figure borrowed from apocalyptic books, from the apocrypha and the Book of Daniel (Dan 7:25; 8:9-14), see Time, times and half-times, it denotes a certain period of persecution of the Church, which is all it will have an end.

Cast out of heaven in the previous chapter, Satan, knowing that his time is short, tries to cause as much harm as possible and to do this transfers his power and strength to the First Beast.

The image of the “beast” is found in the Old Testament to designate the “kingdom” (Dan. 7:23). This parallel is strengthened by the fact that the First Beast of the Apocalypse and the beast of Daniel's prophecy each have 10 horns (Dan. 7:7). The Red Dragon also has 10 horns (Rev. 12:3). Further, in Daniel and in the Apocalypse, 10 horns mean the corresponding number of kings (Dan. 7:24; Rev. 17:12).

There are different opinions as to who should be meant by these beasts. The most common versions:

• the beasts represent Satan and the Antichrist or the false prophet; the first of them is the Antichrist, the second is his assistant or disciple;
• the beasts represent the power of pagan Rome (in preterist theology); the first of them is the papacy, the second is the power that supports it

In early Christianity, versions prevailed about the connection of this prophecy with other prophecies about the Antichrist. The version of the papacy was developed by Protestants during the Reformation within the theological school of historicism. Later, these prophecies were interpreted by Catholic theologians (Francisco Rivera, (Manuel Lacunza)) as relating to the future, to more distant times. This interpretation was called futurism and gained popularity not only among Catholics, but also among modern Protestants.

The book emphasizes that only those whose names were not previously written in the Lamb’s Book of Life worshiped the First Beast, that is, not all of humanity, but only those who did not believe in Christ.

The beast that came out of the sea

When describing the Beast, the author of the book uses expressions going back to the book of the prophet Daniel, which describes 4 great beasts that came out of the sea, unlike one another (Dan. 7:3): the first is like a lion ... (Dan. 7:4), the second , like a bear (Dan. 7:5), ... another beast like a leopard ... and this beast had four heads (Dan. 7:6), ... the fourth beast, terrible and terrible and very strong; ... and he had ten horns (Dan. 7:7). These animals symbolize the empires that the Kingdom of the Son of Man opposes (Dan 7:3-6) - the Persian (leopard with 4 wings), Chaldean (lion with eagle wings), Median (bear) and Hellenistic empires.

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The Beast has the characteristics of all four beasts: the mouth of a lion, the legs of a bear, the body of a leopard and the 10 horns of the fourth beast from the book of Daniel. Combining the characteristics of four animals, the beast that emerged from the sea essentially resembles the image that Nebuchadnezzar saw in a dream and symbolized the future history of all world states (Dan. 2: 31-45). The new beast combines the features of the four beasts of Daniel, and this means that the new world empire includes the properties of all the previous ones, that is, it is the Roman Empire. And Rome in this text is a prototype of the kingdom of Antichrist, a prototype of a kingdom that does everything contrary to the Kingdom of God.

The Beast from the Sea has one head mortally wounded, but then it is healed, and it is she who is the main enemy. Perhaps this is a symbol of a Roman emperor who died and was then considered resurrected - Nero redivivus

or the resurrected Nero (see also False Nero).

The blasphemous names inscribed on the crowns of the First Beast are perhaps the titles of Roman emperors, which were themselves blasphemous, starting with the first titles of Augustus (the word “August” itself, or in Greek “sebastos”, means “sacred, bestower of blessing”) .

Later, in chapter 17, the author describes the first Beast in more detail and explains the meaning of the symbols.

In Christian theology, the Beast from the Sea is considered one of the names of the Antichrist in the New Testament, where he is also called the man of sin, the son of perdition (2 Thess. 2:3).

The beast that came out of the earth

Relatively little has been written about him. It is said that he “had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon.” The biblical meaning of the horn in prophecy is a king or kingdom, so the main emphasis in interpreting the image of the Second Beast is that the two horns are supposed to symbolize two kings or two kingdoms.

This is the assistant of the First Beast, the false prophet. He leads the souls of the inhabitants of the bad kingdom, and at the same time he is similar to the Lamb Christ (he has the same horns). “This is like a caricature, a grotesque of the Lamb slain at the beginning of the world, this is a shadow of Christ, a parody of Him,” he also works miracles and is a messenger - but of Satan.

There is a narrow, specific interpretation of this character - in this interpretation, it is simply some real historical person who lived far from the sea, which is emphasized by the statement that he is “from the earth” (and the Beast from the Sea symbolizes Italy, surrounded by seas). Perhaps at that time in Asia Minor someone, whose name was not preserved in written sources, preached some kind of anti-Christian religion. However, demons have long appeared in ancient texts in pairs, with one symbolizing water and the other dry land (leviathan/hippopotamus).

There is a version that it symbolizes the entire totality of provincial power and priesthood that served the cult of Caesar and forced Christians to worship him. What he says “like a dragon” perhaps means “like a serpent,” that is, like the Serpent Tempter.

Image of the beast, mark and number of the beast

Each one will be given (on his right hand or forehead) “the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” The number of the beast in the text of Revelation is called “the number of men,” and this number is “666.”

In Christian theology, the “mark” (or in other words, “seal”, “sign”) of the beast is seen as the opposite of the seal of God, as a parody of a similar sign of the believer’s membership in the Church. The “mark of the beast” on the right hand or on the forehead is associated with the text from the book of Deuteronomy “and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and let them be as bands over your eyes” (Deut. 6:8,9), the literal understanding of these words has become the basis of the sacred Jewish custom for Jews to have phylacteries on their left hand and forehead when praying, therefore the mark of the beast can be considered as a kind of parody of this custom, as a sign (brand, seal) indicating belonging to the beast.

In preterism, they saw a connection between the number of the beast and Nero: when writing the words “Caesar” and “Nero” in Semitic letters (which had a numerical designation), the number 666 was obtained.

Bible Interpretation, Book of Revelation 13

Old Testament

New Testament

Revelation of John the Evangelist

Books of the Bible:

• Gospel of Matthew
• Gospel of Mark
• Gospel of Luke
• Gospel of John
• Acts of the Apostles
• Epistle of James
• 1 Peter
• 2 Peter

• 1 John
• 2 John
• 3 John
• Epistle of Jude
• Romans
• 1 Corinthians
• 2 Corinthians
• Epistle to the Galatians

• Epistle to the Ephesians
• Epistle to the Philippians
• Epistle to the Colossians
• 1 Thessalonians
• 2 Thessalonians
• 1 Timothy
• 2 Timothy
• Epistle to Titus

• Epistle to Philemon
• Hebrews
• Revelation of John

Chapter 13
Introduction

13

6. SIXTH CHARACTER: THE BEAST COMING UP OUT OF THE SEA (13:1)

A. The Beast Emerges from the Sea (13:1-2)

Open 13:1-2

. In chapter 13, a character appears who plays an important role in the end times. This is a beast emerging from the sea. His seven heads and ten horns, crowned with ten crowns, are understood by many as an image of the restored Roman Empire, which in the book of the prophet Daniel is represented by the fourth beast, which also had ten horns (Dan. 7: 7-8; compare Rev. 13: 3; 17: 3.7). In Rev. 13 and 17 “the beast” is the ruler of the world, while in Dan. 7 he is symbolized by the small horn on the head of the “beast.”

In the language of the Holy Scriptures, the waters of the sea and rivers are often human masses, restless, restless peoples, hostile to God. The “beast” in 13:1 comes out of the “sea,” that is, out of their midst.

Although many believe that the “beast” represents one of the characters of past history, judging by the context, he will enter its arena three and a half years before the second coming of Christ. Under his rule, 10 countries of the Middle East will unite (compare Daniel 7:24 - ten horns - ten kings).

Since the “horn” is a symbol of power in the Holy Scriptures, and ten is the number of completeness, these “horns” (according to some other interpretations) indicate the special strength and power of the “beast”. Diadems are also a symbol of the royal power that the “beast” will receive from the “dragon” (verse 2). According to the origin of its power, the “beast” relates to God, and this is expressed in the blasphemous names on its heads (here the meaning is that his self-exaltation and negation of God are, as it were, written on his forehead). What is said here echoes the words of the Apostle Paul in 2 Thess. 2:8-9 about the “lawless one,” that is, the Antichrist, this first “beast” from Rev. 13, “whose coming is after the work of Satan... with all power and... lying wonders.”

The resemblance of the “beast” to the leopard, bear and lion is seen as a symbolic representation of, respectively, three powerful empires of antiquity: Greece (leopard; compare Dan. 7:6), Medo-Persia (bear; compare Dan. 7:3) and Babylon (lion; compare Daniel 7:4). There is another interpretation, according to which the “leopard” personifies the guile of the Antichrist, the “bear” his perseverance, and the “lion” his arrogance and greedy ambition.

The power of the devil, which he will give to the Antichrist, is the power and abilities inherent in him from the beginning as a spirit of high hierarchy; his throne is the whole world, the “prince” of which he is. The Lord allows him to use power over this world (and accordingly will allow him to partially transfer this power to the Antichrist), but only insofar as the world itself, mired in sins, allows the devil to control itself.

b. The mortal wound of the beast (13:3)

Open 13:3

. Many have tried to identify this “beast” with one or another outstanding statesman of the past, who will return again at the end of the world to become its last ruler. The names of Emperor Nero, Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin and many others were mentioned; however, the specific specific characteristics of the future ruler are “not applicable” to any of them.

What could the mortal wound of an animal that was healed mean? Two interpretations seem most likely, one of which is proposed by the theologian Alford. he believes that the mortal wound symbolizes the fall of the pagan Roman Empire and the emergence in its place of the Christian Roman Empire.

However, it is not difficult to notice that such an interpretation has more to do with history than with the fulfillment of prophecy. But the recent restoration of the Roman Empire, which had lost its predominantly Christian character, could really, within the framework of this interpretation, mean that the mortal wound was healed.

Another possible explanation: when the Antichrist enters the arena of history, someone will inflict a mortal wound, which will be miraculously healed by Satan. The adversary of God does not have the power to raise the dead, but apparently the power of healing has been given to him. It is important in this context that the final ruler will come to power with the obvious and supernatural support of the forces of evil.

f. Worship of Satan and the Beast (13:4-6)

Open 13:4-6

. In the person of the “beast,” people will “worship” (that is, they will worship) Satan himself, giving him the honors that only God deserves. This was the dream of the “son of the dawn” that destroyed him, who fell away from God. As we read about him in Isaiah 14:14: “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.” The fulfillment of this daring dream within the confines of the earth will be the last manifestation of false religion, for the devil will try to completely take the place of God the Father in the hearts of people, putting Christ in the place of the King of kings - the Antichrist. Apparently, this situation will arise at the beginning of the last "three and a half years", marking the beginning of the great tribulation.

The daily operation of forces that are clearly supernatural will lead people to ask questions such as: “Who is like this beast, and who can fight with it?” (Rev. 13:4). These rhetorical questions also contain an explanation of how the “beast,” without leading to a world war, will be able to seize dominance over the world. His reign will continue for forty-two months, which will be accompanied by open blasphemy against God, heaven and the inhabitants of heaven.

d. The Beast's Dominion over the World (13:7-8)

Open 13:7-8

. With words he was given power over every tribe and people, and with language and tribe the total power of the Antichrist over the world is again emphasized. About his “kingdom” it was predicted by the prophet Daniel that it “will devour the whole earth, trample and crush it” (Dan. 7:23). The saints will be severely persecuted in this “kingdom,” that is, those who, in the time of great tribulation, turn to the true God and “worship” Him, and not the “beast” and his patron.

After all, having achieved political dominion over the world, the Antichrist will ban all religions in general - so that people will worship him alone (2 Thess. 2:4). And all who dwell on the earth, except those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life, will worship the beast. In the expression slain from the creation of the world, the words “from the foundation of the world” apparently refer to some moment in eternity, long past from the point of view of earthly time, when the decision was made by the Divine to sacrifice the Son; We are talking here, of course, not about the time of the actual crucifixion of Christ. This passage in some sense echoes what Paul said in Eph. 1:4 that God chose us in Christ “before the foundation of the world.”

According to some, the “book of life” contains the name of every person who is to be born on earth, but as soon as a person dies without believing in Christ, his name is crossed out from this book. This interpretation is based on Rev. 3:5, where Christ promises the believers at Sardis that the name of “he who overcomes” will not be “blotted out” from the book of life, and also in Rev. 22:19, which contains a dire warning: whoever “takes away” anything from the words of Revelation, “God will take away his part from the book of life.”

However, the words recorded in Rev. 13:8 probably means something else, namely, that the saved are written in the book of life at some point in eternity - in anticipation of Christ's death on the cross for them, and their names will not be blotted out from it. The meaning of verses 7-8 is that in the last period of human history, under conditions of undivided dominion over the world of Satan and his Antichrist, only those who come to Christ will be delivered from eternal destruction.

d. Call to Listen (13:9-10)

Open 13:9-10

. In verse 9 there is a call familiar to us from the Lord’s address to the seven churches in Asia Minor (chapters 2-3): He who has an ear, let him hear... Many today dream of a single church and a worldwide religion, and this will become a reality in the last time, only in this church they will worship not God, but the devil, and this church and religion will be satanic.

In such a situation, the call heard by John could only be addressed to those individual people who, in these terrible times, would find within themselves the desire and strength to seek the Lord. And God, in the last days, as in every age and at every moment of time, will speak to those who are ready to listen to Him; this thought is repeated in the Gospels (Matt. 11:15; 13:9,43; Mark 4:9,23; Luke 8:8; 4:35).

Unlike the messages to the seven churches, where the call to “listen” was addressed specifically to the church each time, there is no mention of the church here. And this is another evidence in favor of the fact that before the great tribulation begins, the Church will be raptured. The Book of Revelation becomes clearer if we consider it as an appeal not only to the first generation of Christians who faced severe persecution, but to believers of all times, and especially to those who will live in the last days. In verse 10, God seems to remind those who are disposed to listen to Him that their obedience to His word can cause persecution of them and even their death, but at the same time He assures them that those responsible for their suffering of the wicked, led by the Antichrist, are waiting for Him retribution. The last phrase of verse 10 should be read as a call to the saints for patience, faith and fidelity.

7. SEVENTH CHARACTER: THE BEAST COMING UP FROM THE GROUND (13:11-18)

A. Appearance of the beast coming "out of the earth" (13:11-12)

Open 13:11-12

. Unlike the first beast “coming up out of the sea” (verse 1), John sees the second beast coming out of the earth. And although the same word “beast” (“serion”) is used in relation to both of these creatures, the first clearly refers to the restless god-fighting world, from the environment of which (symbolized by the sea) it appears, while the symbolism of the second is interpreted differently, Thus, in the word “land” they see an indication of the “promised land”, and on this basis they consider the second “beast” to come from the Jewish people. This point of view does not seem sufficiently substantiated. Yes, in essence, neither national nor geographical “references” matter here. Most likely, the second “beast” is the one described in Rev. 19:20 and 20:10 are spoken of as a false prophet.

The second beast had two horns like a lamb, but spoke like a dragon, that is, like Satan. From this we can conclude that this will be a religious figure whose role will be to support the first beast, i.e. the political dictator-antichrist. He, too, will have great power, received both from Satan and from the Antichrist: John sees that with this power he forces the whole earth and those living on it to worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed.

Thus this entire religious system will be an imitation of the Holy Trinity. Satan will try to take the place of God the Father; the first beast will claim the place of the Son - Jesus Christ, the King of kings (even his healing by Satan from a mortal wound is, as it were, an imitation of the resurrection of the Son by the Father ed.); the second beast, the false prophet, will play a role similar to the role of the Holy Spirit, who causes believers to worship Jesus Christ: this one will lead those who “dwell on the earth” to worship Satan. All this will be Satan’s last attempt to replace faith in Christ with false religion.

b. Miracles Performed by the Beast (13:13-15)

Open 13:13-15

. And he performs great signs, so that fire comes down from heaven to earth before people. This is how the second “beast” will act to force people to bow to the first “beast.” People sometimes forget that not only does God create supernatural things, but Satan, to a certain extent, is also able to perform miracles; in the vision of the Apostle John, he uses this power to the end to deceive the inhabitants of the earth and encourage them to worship the Antichrist.

In addition to bringing down fire from heaven, the second “beast” will force people to make an image of the (first) beast. This image will probably be installed in the Jerusalem Temple, which by that time will be taken away from the Jews. The Apostle Paul writes that the first beast will sit in the temple, “showing himself to be God” (2 Thess. 2:4). Perhaps the “image of the beast” will be installed in the same temple so that people can worship it in the absence of the “beast” itself.

This image is mentioned several times in Revelation (13:14-15; 14:9,11; 15:2; 16:2; 19:20; 20:4). It is not excluded, however, that by “image” here we mean both the “image” and the incarnation of the Antichrist in the “image” of the ruler of the world. In any case, it will be a symbol of the power of the first “beast”.

The fact that the second “beast” was given... to put spirit into the image of the (first) beast, so that the image... both spoke and acted, makes this passage difficult to understand - after all, the Bible nowhere says that Satan has the power to infuse life into inanimate objects. The creator of life is only God. Perhaps the implication here is that the “image of the beast” (its image) will only give the impression of being alive and speaking, like modern computerized robots. It is also possible that some combination of “high mechanics” with supernatural power will operate in it - in order for the “beast from the earth” to achieve its goal. And he will most likely achieve it.

The order to worship the image, like the very first beast, will be carried out for the reason that everyone who “deviates” will face death. “Threaten” does not mean, however, inevitable destruction in practice. After all, it will take a lot of time to detect every “disobedient” person on earth. An example from recent history: Adolf Hitler wanted to destroy all Jews, and the hunt for them continued for many years, but he was never able to carry out his plan to the end. However, many martyred people are spoken of in Rev. 7:9-17.

V. Mark of the Beast (13:16-18)

Open 13:16-18

. Trying to strengthen his power and influence throughout the world and forcing people to worship the first “beast”, the second “beast” will make it mandatory to have a mark on the right hand or on the forehead of every person, without which evidence that this person worshiped the “beast” will not be he has the opportunity neither to buy nor to sell, that is, to provide himself with food, clothing, and essential things. This will also force the vast majority of those living on earth to bow to the “beast.”

There are many considerations and conjectures regarding the “mark of the beast.” There have been countless attempts to decipher the number 666 - usually on the basis of alphanumeric equivalents that were accepted in the Hebrew, Greek and other alphabets of antiquity. “Antichrists” were “identified” in this way in many historical figures of the past, including Mohammed, Napoleon, etc., but all this remains more or less unproven. We have to assume that the name of the person behind this number, who has not yet come, but will appear in the future, will then be revealed, and until then, knowledge of this name is useless.

Nevertheless, it is not without interest to give, perhaps, the best interpretation of the number 666, which does not reveal the “name” behind it, but perhaps reveals its symbolism from the other side. This interpretation proceeds from the fact that “six” is a figure one less than the perfect number “seven”, and, when repeated three times, can mean that all attempts to “adjust” (considerations expressed in this regard above) to the Divine perfection and omnipotence will turn out to be in vain, since Satan and his two “beasts” remain “creatures” and cannot become the Creator.

The fact that “six” is a human number is indicated by many circumstances in the Bible, including the fact that a person must work for six days and rest on the seventh. Note that gematria - attempts to find hidden meaning in numbers given in the Holy Scriptures - was widespread in the ancient world. Perhaps the Apostle John had in mind some specific person, which people close to him were able to identify.

However, from the early Christian literature that has come down to us, it follows that there was a lot of disagreement and controversy on this issue between the Church Fathers, so it is better to leave this riddle unresolved for the time being. Let us quote, perhaps, a consideration expressed by the theologian Thorens, which echoes the above: “The Evil Trinity “666” is constantly counterfeiting the Holy Trinity “777”, but inevitably fails.”

The thirteenth chapter is important because it “introduces” two of the main characters of Revelation - the “beast that comes up from the sea” (the world dictator), and the “beast that comes up out of the earth” (his false prophet and chief accomplice). A common but unsubstantiated view is that one of the two “beasts” of chapter 13 will be a Jew. Most likely, both of them will be from the “Gentiles”, since the Great Tribulation period is said to be the last time of the Gentiles “tramping down” Jerusalem (Luke 21:24); both “beasts” will persecute both Jews and Gentile believers.

The thirteenth chapter, moreover, allows us to penetrate deeper into the nature of the coming end times. This will be a period of a single world government and a single world religion - with a single world economic system. Those who do not choose to worship the beast and resist it will be outlawed, doomed to destruction, and the number of those killed in those days will probably exceed the number of believers who will survive. This will be Satan's final attempt to deceive the world into worshiping him, turning people away from worshiping the true God and Savior Jesus Christ.

This chapter also shows that the dream of post-millennialists that the world will become better and better, thanks to the efforts and efforts of the Christian Church and the spread of the Gospel, is not confirmed by the Bible. On the contrary, the last form of world religion will be a satanic and blasphemous religion. Nowadays, many signs indicate that the world is moving in this direction. From this it follows that the time of the second coming of Christ is approaching.

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