Volume 1, Issue 37
9 Apr 2016
 The first mention of “the beast” in the Book of Revelation is found in Revelation 11:7. We assume, and I believe rightly so, that “the beast” of 11:7, which “ascends out of the bottomless pit,” is the same as the first beast of Revelation Chapter 13, which “rises up out of the sea.” Whereas “the beast” in 11:7 is said to “make war against” the two witnesses and to “overcome them,” “the beast” in 13:7 is said to “make war with the saints” and to “overcome them.”
This beast of Revelation is commonly referred to today as “the antichrist.” The word “antichrist” only appears four times in Scripture. Three times in 1 John and once in 2 John. In 1 John, the term is found in 2:22, 4:3 and 2:18, where the plural “antichrists” is also found. In 2 John, it is found in verse 7 of this short, single chapter epistle. It is worth noting that John, the only author of Scripture to use the term “antichrist,” never uses it in the Book of Revelation.
Along with being commonly ascribed to the beast of Revelation, the term “antichrist” is also ascribed to Paul’s “man of sin” and “son of perdition” (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4), as well as to the “little horn” of Daniel (Daniel 7:8; 8:9-10). It should be pointed out, however, that in none of these instances does the Scripture ascribe the term “antichrist” to “the beast” of Revelation, Paul’s “man of sin,” or Daniel’s “little horn.”
A simple comparison of the four beasts of Daniel Chapter 7, which represent the four great Gentile world powers—Babylon (lion), Medo-Persia (bear), Greece (leopard) and Rome (terrifying ten horned beast)—with the first beast of Revelation 13, which has “the mouth of a lion” (Babylon), “the feet of a bear” (Medo-Persia), is likened to “a leopard” (Greece) and has “ten horns” (Rome), will lead one to the obvious conclusion that the first beast of Revelation 13 is both a conglomerate of all of the Gentile world powers of all time, as well as the consummate Gentile world power at the end of time.
It is also possible that the first beast of Revelation 13 symbolizes both the end-time Gentile world power and the individual who will lead it, just as the golden head of Nebuchadnezzar’s image in Daniel Chapter 2 symbolized both Nebuchadnezzar and the Kingdom over which he reigned; namely, Babylon, the first great Gentile world power.
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Don Walton
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