King James Version, with Nii Okai's journal notes · 10 notes
1And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
This marked the beginning of the war with the remnant of the seed of the woman and the righteous saints in the earth.
2And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
3And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
4And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?
5And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.
6And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.
His blasphemy was directed to the heavens. The people of the earth were deceived into wondering who could make war against the beast.
What they did not know was that the head of the beast, the dragon, had already been defeated in heaven.
I wonder what blasphemies he said against them that dwell in heaven. Or maybe he disdained them and lied that they were no more than just aliens and deceitful beings who want to lord it over humans.
At this point it could be anything.
7And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
8And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
He had become the god of this world. Now he is, but through subtlety and hidden; but then he will be publicly.
9If any man have an ear, let him hear.
10He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.
Here is where the saints are tried and tested to show themselves true to Christ.
11And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
The first beast came out of the sea. This one out of the earth.
This beast mimicked the lamb, but his voice betrayed him. There is always something about the enemy that betrays him, even when they disguise themselves as angels of light.
12And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
13And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
14And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
15And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
16And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
17And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
The second beast came to make worse the policies of the first beast, that is the antichrist, by taking the beast's policies down to every street corner and every human being.
He ensured compliance by his systems, even tying the worship of the beast to the food we eat.
I won't be surprised that in worship a portion of one's food would have to be given as an oblation to the image.
18Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
In giving us wisdom, we are not given it in line with the image of the beast nor his mark, but the number of the beast, and we are told it is the number of a man, i.e. the name of a known man — and that man's number is 666.
The people of wisdom in the times of John definitely could judge who the man was.
Now that makes me wonder: after writing the letters to the churches, John by all means would give them the book of Revelations, of the things after the specific churches.
And there will be many discussions amongst them of the number of the beast.
Maybe we also can know if we apply wisdom; after all, it is the number of a man.
Three things are given: the name, the mark and the number, yet no clue is given of any save the number.
Based on which, we can get the name, ID the beast, and I guess from there we can know how the image or mark of the beast is like.